Isabella is the protagonist. She is an international model, avid gardener and self confessed social capitalist. Let her take you on a tour of the Granite Belt in Queensland, Australia. She will also share some of her deepest thoughts, her own spiritual and personal insights and a wonderfully funny outlook on living well, living the moment and accepting her past.
Isabella, again attempting to deny her hippie roots, found herself hiding under the ground cover only to discover the wild purple orchids were in bloom and were in fact the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. This miniature world before her made her contemplate not only her own existence but that of the human race. After a moment of her existential realisation, Isabella ran to the house remembering that there was a bottle of sparkling chilling in the freezer. Another disaster averted.
Curled up in front of the fire, it was only a matter of time before that other bottle of wine was consumed and a second ordered. Surrounded by lots of cushions, Isabella knew where she was sleeping the night.
The restaurant had barely opened its doors (5.45pm) and already Isabella had ordered her entree, main and dessert. Waiting for her wine order she realised that she enjoyed eating at a time best befitting a seniors happy hour. She wondered if there was a happy hour discount. Ha ha – those fools who eat at normal hours had nothing on her ‘eat like an old person’ scheme. And yes, tap water would be fine – another ‘bottled water scam’ averted.
The rendezvous place was agreed upon but Isabella had a strange inkling that mr mystery man had stood her up again. Living without a mobile phone was proving to be more difficult than she had anticipated. Maybe she had the wrong park. Maybe the wrong time. Maybe he had been in an accident. Isabella settled on the fact that maybe mr mystery man was just a turd and she should just move on. Turns out he was just a turd. She moved on.
Many years had passed since Isabella watched her hippie parents chaining themselves to trees. Now missing them dearly – they worked crazy long hours as visual merchandisers in a major department store in the big city – Isabella couldn’t help finally hugging this tree with her body and soul. She never understood her parents in the old days, but she was even more puzzled by them now that they had sold themselves to the corporate world. Isabella realised that their work had set her free.
A huge storm was approaching and we knew we were going to have to finish the photo shoot prematurely. Last time Isabella was caught in a storm she was hit in the head by golf-ball-sized hail stones. She made it a condition of her contract that from the moment she heard thunder she would either cease the session or she would wear the safety helmet she hid in her overnight bag.
As an only child & being home-schooled , Isabella never really grasped the concept of hide & seek. Even now in her 20s she believed that if she couldn’t see you then you couldn’t see her. It made for a very fast game. She later told the story about when her mother had forgotten that they were playing & she was ‘hiding’ for hours and hours. It was fun until the sun went down & she couldn’t find her way back to the house. From that day on she vowed only to play the game during daylight hours.
It was a lovely spring morning when Isabella found the chair that someone had so carelessly and unlovingly discarded for side walk collection. It was destined for the dump if Isabella hadn’t looked out the window of the car at that very moment. The chair, a delicate arrangement of fine ironwork instantly transported Isabella to her childhood. For that moment, she was reunited with her Great Aunty Jessie. The scent of cinnamon and cloves stewing with apples, the sound of gentle humming and gleeful laughter, the discovery of the magic of crochet and the taste of hot, milky, sugary tea. Nostalgic of such a happy time, Isabella carefully collected the chair and made a happy new home for it next to those wondrous daisies. All that was missing was a crocheted chair cushion…. but not for long.
On the Granite Belt 