Happy New Year... May 2019 bring many blessings, wonderful adventures and great companionship along the journey.
Mele Kalikimaka
however you celebrate the season,
we hope it's full of love, friendship and joy.
One Day Drives... A Forest Walk
What a beautiful country we live in. How lucky are we to be able to visit so many amazing areas. We decided to visit an old favourite place for lunch, and discovered that it now has new owners and a new name.
Still the same gorgeous view and lunch was lovely.
Fairy Wren Image: Birds In Backyards.net.
A New Chapter
We're beginning a NEW chapter in our lives, starting with a new home, in another state. We'll still be house sitting, but for now, we're busily planning and packing and sorting.
It's amazing how much stuff accumulates over the years. In addition to the items that seem to multiply in our house, after my mum passed away last year, I've also inherited quite a few of her things. Including her dog Emma. Emma has settled in nicely and is a lovely addition to our home.
I'm not sure what is happening with Emma and the visiting neighbourhood cat, Chairman Meow though. Chairman Meow sleeps on our deck in the winter, and I've taken pity on her and fixed her up a bed in one of our old dog boxes. It has a comfy pillow and covering so she can get warm and stay in out of the chill.
I strongly suspect that Chairman Meow gives Emma her psychic cat eye when I'm not looking. It's funny as a circus really, it looks as though the cat is ignoring the dog and poor old Emma runs quickly past her, or simply refuses to go out onto the deck.
So what do these pictures have to do with where we are moving to I hear you wonder? Well... we'd been trying to find a place to live in Lennox but no where has appeared, so we are heading past it to another destination.
I have to say though, I'll be looking forward to the not-so-distant weekend trips from our new home, to Lennox in the not-to-distant future. Who knows, maybe we can meet for coffee at The Point.
Our very favourite home we lived in for a time. Who knows maybe one day...
Crowdy Bay National Park - Diamond Head
A lazy Sunday morning having coffee and reading Danny Gregory's, Everyday Matters this morning. One chapter stood out to me, he had written about really 'seeing'...
When you look at something you are filing it into a category, "I'm in the park", "Here's Soho", "Light's green." It's easy it's fast it's the way to cope with NY. But when you just let yourself SEE, it's like opening a window on the first day of spring. Things flow in, sharp, differentiated. Instead of whipping past, you study things you didn't really know existed."
I've been studying and teaching mindfulness for some years now, and it is interesting, if you start to slow down... and take your time when looking, what you do see. I'd never seen rainbow surf till a couple of years ago, but now if the light is right, just on dusk, when the sun is low in the sky, you will see rainbows on wave crests. It still amazes me that it's taken me till my late 50's to see that, given that the beach is my happy place, my walking place and general go to place.
I've been wanting to head down to Diamond Head, and today seemed like a good day for a bush walk, so we packed up a picnic and headed off. With Danny Gregory's writing in my mind, I slowed down and attempted to move past looking and into seeing. Split Rock at Crowdy Head National Park pictured above.
The stones in this area are so interesting, and a range of basalt, granite and all sizes and shapes. Ideal for stacking, and it was a delight to see all the stone stacks that people had left behind. We both joined in and created one as well.
Dannys' words stayed with me this morning as I balanced on stones, steadying myself against the wind that was buffeting me, in order to take photos. On the way back I kept looking up at this stone formation, and as I slowed down stopped and looked, my eyes focused in on a giant stone heart. What a delight to see and a reminder to stop and really see.
If you're ever in the vicinity, and like camping, there are spots for your van or tent, with lots of kangaroos and wallabies grazing, it would be a lovely place to spend a night or two. Or take some overseas tourists there, to see the wildlife close up.
We did the shorter of the walks, from Diamond Head Campground to Mermaid Lookout, as the afternoon was closing in and the temperatures dropping. Next visit we will allow more time, and do the longer walk that takes in Natural Arch.
More info on Diamond Head walks: click here
Favourite places.
A hidden sanctuary close to a main road - you could be miles from anywhere once inside.
We've been searching for a home in Queensland and we have found a house we really like. While the negotiations still seem a long way off at this stage, with that prospect in mind, I've been starting to clear things; throwing out old papers, recycling clothes and moving on unwanted items.
The last two days has seen me getting our family photos into categories and into boxes. It was with a great sigh of relief, a great lot of fond memories, a few chuckles and a few little tearies over lost family members in the process. Anyway, I have finished those, but I'm sadly behind in keeping my digital photos in order.
Today I've started the digital organising and much the same as the photos, we've been having a few funny memories and a few sad ones as we sort through old videos, and photos. Old floppy discs and old computers are on their way to recycling, and after throwing away the floppy discs, I wonder how much longer we'll be using CD discs. Or how much longer we'll be able to access them.
Anyway, here are a few of our favourite family photos, I hope you'll enjoy a trip down memory lane with us.
It was always a joy to wander through the garden here at Seaforth, the little vistas that drew my attention, always something to admire.
hope you're having a great day, and making some lovely memories.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)