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Sonia Neale

Love, life, cakes and candles


This morning I woke up early, grumpy and tired. Mooched around the house drinking coffee and feeling sad for myself. Then I spotted my big, beaut, bonza, best and favourite candle, that I’ve nurtured for well over a year and never lit. This was a special candle waiting in the wings for a special occasion. Even though I would welcome the whiffs of warm salted caramel that would waft through the house, I never deemed an occasion quite salted caramel candle-worthy enough to set it on fire.

Seize the moment. Remember all those women on the ‘Titanic’ who waved off the dessert cart,” exclaimed Erma Bombeck many years ago and I could now hear her speaking exclusively to me, right into my pink and shell-like, “Seize the moment, light the damned candle.” So, in the celebration of life in general and my life in particular, I decided I would light the damned candle. Yes, crabby and crotchety me, grumping around the house and having a pity party seized this moment with all the fervour of those women who didn’t wave off the dessert cart on that sinking ship.

Why do we save our stuff? Why do we eat off cracked Big-W discounted plates while our grandmother’s Old Country Roses Royal Doulton remains hidden in the boggy bowels of the kitchen cabinets? As I pondered this, I finally put match to my precious candle to see what would unfold. Turning off the electric lights, my pathway illuminated only by this sweet-smelling jar of butter-yellow bees wax, I gathered my yoga mat and meditated on the meaning of self-love, life, cakes and lighted candles.

The result of my early morning musings? Grab the chocolate mud-cake and the tiramisu off the dessert trolley! Light the salted caramel candle! Dig out the dusty Royal Doulton heirlooms and accidentally break a few!

Don’t just seize the day, shake the living daylights out of it!

Cake Photo: https://www.bhg.com.au/tiramisu-cake

Candle Photo: https://www.bathandbodyworks.com/g/home-fragrance

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