SUCCESS

 Success in life is founded upon attention to the small things rather than the large things; to the every day things nearest to us rather than to the things that are remote and uncommon.

 Booker T. Washington

My word for this year is 'success'. I read somewhere that rather than make New Year resolutions it is good to give yourself a word for the year. So my word is 'success' - I'm not sure in exactly what yet. There are a few things I want to achieve this year.

I would like to get my house under control. I am the only one who lives here, but I collect far too many craft materials and don't have enough time to use them or enough storage to keep hidden away. As a result I tend to move stuff from room to room in an attempt to tidy up. I am not quite sure how I am going to do this, but plan to start on my back room.

My back room

I think I need to make small changes and be consistent with them.

I am keen for Peter and I to find a hobby we can do at home and keep us busy together. We do far to much sitting around, working on the computer and watching TV. We are not bored but I feel that healthwise we need to be more active. I think I might start with some water colour painting and see if I can persuade Peter to do some too.


I would like to increase my fitness. I have customised exercises I should be doing for my knees and my back and I intend to get back to doing them on a more regular basis, as well as get back to walking each day. We seemed to stop doing a lot of good things over Christmas and the New Year. We also ate too much and I went right off my Plant Paradox diet. 

I plan to start a more professional blog. I haven't quite figured out the niche yet - probably Plant Paradox recipes and I need to sort out a few financial aspects so I can afford to set it up.

I plan to start writing a children's book. I have had a few ideas for this for a few years.
 
I don't think these are really resolutions - they are more just general statements of what I would like to do. But now I have written them down and shared them I have made myself accountable.

Tim Herrera suggests the S.M.A.R.T method for setting goals and this may be useful for daily or weekly goals.

Specific: Set concrete, clearly defined goals with specific points of success.

Measurable: Whatever the goal is, find ways to measure progress.

Achievable: Aim high, but within reason. Your goal should be a stretch, but something you could actually achieve.

Relevant: Find a goal that matters enough to you that you’ll be motivated to stick with it.

Time-bound: Set a reasonable timeline for your goal, and focus on the small wins along the way.

I think I need to break my goals down into more measurable bites. This links back to our quote at the beginning - attend to the small things. 

I intend to give the 3x3 method proposed by Michael Hyatt in his podcast Lead to Win. a try. This is where you set up 3 goals for the year; 3 goals for the quarter; 3 goals for the week and 3 goals for the day. He has a great looking journal that goes with the method but with the exchange rate with the US dollar it becomes very expensive.

Why do we make resolutions with the New Year? There is no real reason for it.  It's a completely arbitrary time, but it seems a time we reflect on the past year and think about how we can change things as we embark on the New Year.

Here's a baby pig

My daughter posted this little pig below on Facebook and I thought I would share it with you.

Kimchi

Photo source

 I decided to try making some Kimchi. I haven't really used it before. I was interested because it is fermented and according to the  diet program I am following, good for gut bacteria.I found the recipe here  for ginger, carrot, daikon Kimchi (Vegan.) 

The recipe made 2 jars. 

 

So far I have used it in a stir fry and it was quite tasty, and on an open sandwich with tuna.

Poetry

I love poetry and come across many poems in my reading. this is one i would like to share. It is beautiful and somehow haunting.


To The New Year

 W.S.Merwin

With what stillness at last

you appear in the valley

your first sunlight reaching down

to touch the tips of a few

high leaves that do not stir

as though they had not noticed

and did not know you at all

then the voice of a dove calls

from far away in itself

to the hush of the morning

so this is the sound of you

here and now whether or not

anyone hears it this is

where we have come with our age

our knowledge such as it is

and our hopes such as they are

invisible before us

  untouched and still possible



Interesting sites



1. Great rooms of 2018

Photo source

These are the most liked rooms for 2018 on Apartment Therapy. Click here to see them.




2. Mermaid paintings

Photo source

 



Click here to see the mermaid paintings of Ralph Cahoon.





3. The comfort trap.

Photo source

Why the pursuit of an easier life creates a harder one and what to do instead. Click here to read more.

BACK AGAIN #1 September 2017

 

 

It is the first Saturday of Spring. I promised myself I would start blogging again today. Although I am retired from full time work, life remains very busy. I tutor some very special students with different learning difficulties for a few hours a week. Peter and I have also had a few health problems which have gotten in the way of our plans this year.

With rearranging rooms, and not finishing one before I started another, everything in my house had become a bit chaotic. So  I decided to take a more organised approach to my organisation and work on one room at a time. So far I have finished my craft room...

 

 

Craft room

...and my loungeroom.

 

Lounge room

 

Everything that doesn't fit is going into my back room and then I am going to have a garage sale and sell what is left over.

After that I have to decorate each room and paint the whole house. It was last painted 13 years ago by my wonderful brother and mother, and I chose blue. But that is a bit dated now and I have chosen white.

 

I remember blogging about my plans about a year ago. But health issues for Peter and myself seemed to get in the way and slow things down. I still have a budget of virtually nothing, so I am hoping creativity and paint will make a big difference.  

 

In the last few months I have done quite a few enjoyable things. One of these was camping at Belangelo State Forest with some of my family. Below are a few photos. they are not great quality as I am having a few computer issues.

 

Jade cleaning foraged mushrooms and Jasper

 

The forest

 

Foraged Saffron Milkcaps

 

 

Toadstools in the forest.

 

  Mothers' day was lunch at Berrima, at Zen Oasis, an unusual Asian vegetarian restaurant. The surrounds were full of surprising sculptures.

 

Giant butterfly sculpture

 

  A lovely, interesting fungus in my front yard.

 

Unknown fungus

 

The past few months have been full of great walks on the beach with Peter.

 

Towradgi Beach

 

 

Towradgi Beach

 

To top it all off I had a birthday. Peter bought me these beautiful flowers among other things.

Peter's flowers

My wonderful son-in-law Bill, whom I love very much, promised to take me out for cocktails, so Jade and her partner Frew, Rhiannon and Bill, and Peter and I went to The Little Prince. I drank 2 flaming shots and 3 cocktails. One of these was particularly delicious, containing fairy floss, but my favourites were the flaming shots. They were most spectacular but I have no idea what was in them. I rarely drink but I did enjoy these and surprisingly was not in the least affected by them.We did go and buy dinner in the middle of these drinks, from the street stalls selling food in the Wollongong mall on Thursday nights. 

Thank you for taking the time to read this, and I will leave you with a poem that I came across and found thought provoking,

 

Lindy :-) 

 

 To the Western World

by Louis Simpson

A siren sang, and Europe turned away

From the high castle and the shepherd’s crook.   

Three caravels went sailing to Cathay

On the strange ocean, and the captains shook   

Their banners out across the Mexique Bay.

And in our early days we did the same.   

Remembering our fathers in their wreck

We crossed the sea from Palos where they came   

And saw, enormous to the little deck,   

A shore in silence waiting for a name.

The treasures of Cathay were never found.   

In this America, this wilderness

Where the axe echoes with a lonely sound,   

The generations labor to possess

And grave by grave we civilize the ground.


Interesting sites


1.

Garden House

Photo source

The new Binh House by Vietnamese firm Vo Trong Nhia Architects can actually grow enough food for three generations of one large family. Click here to read more.

2.

 Giant ship worm

Photo source

Want to see a video of a giant ship worm? Just click here.  

3.

 Student crime solving club

Photo source

 Student club devoted to solving crimes. Read more here.

  

GLIMPSES OF 2013

Happy people plan actions, they don't plan results 

Dennis Wholey

2013 went so quickly. It was an unsettled year for me. I was living on money from long service leave and my redundancy payment.  I spent the year not knowing what type of welfare payment I would be entitled to in October. New Start would have given me $250 a week. I would have to sell my house. My doctors suggested I try for a disability pension. I have a number of health problems which makes looking for a job very difficult, but I was surprised at the ease with which I was awarded a pension.

While a pension doesn't pay a great amount, and I am having to pull my belt very tight, it makes keeping the house a possibility. And if I can manage some sort of craft business, and maybe sell some Nu Skin products I will be very happy.

.
Below are a few glimpses of my 2013.

January

February

March

April

\

May

June

July

 

August

 September

October

November

 

December

I feel quite positive about 2014. I have a great belief that God will look after me. At the rate my life changes these days, who knows where I will be by the end of the year.

Best wishes to everyone for 2014.

Interesting sites
 1.

 Tiny House used as office

Photo source

 This is a modern Tiny House used in a backyard as an office. Click here to read more.

2.

Get blown away at Maho Beach

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Planes come in so low over the heads of these people on Maho Beach in the Caribbean that they can almost touch them. I can't imagine this ever being allowed in Australia. Click here to go to the site and see the 2 videos. They are definitely worth watching.

3.

Photo source

 Click here  to visit Owey Island, in the Atlantic west of Donegal, Ireland. It is really beautiful!! I would love to live there.

SPRING HAS SPRUNG

 Another week has rolled on yet again.The weather has been beautiful. It is going to be our warmest winter on record. Our last summer was the hottest summer on record and we had out hottest day on record. It certainly makes you think about climate change.



Spring is almost here - only 4 days to go. The ornamental plum trees on my neighbour's footpath are in full bloom.

My native rock orchids or Dendrobium speciosum are also blooming.

I still have Jasper. He is very happy to lie on me whenever he can. Here he is below lying on my hip on the lounge. He is great company and I am going to miss him when he goes. The main difficulty is that I don't have a yard suitable for dogs and this causes a few problems.

P:-) is spending a lot of time in my back room getting the part where the ceiling and walls join perfect. Instead of putting up a cornice he is doing it square set which means it is just going to be at 90 degrees.

It is taking him a long time but he is doing a great job.



Interesting sites

1.

Eco-lodge in Sweden

Photo source

Click here to read about this eco-lodge in Sweden. Make sure you listen to the wolves while you are there.


2.

 Yacht frozen in ice

Photo source

 Mar Sem Fim (“Endless Sea” in English) is a Brazilian yacht that was shipwrecked, sunk and subsequently got frozen in ice in Maxwell Bay of Ardley Cove, Antarctica, about 1,200 kilometers south of tip of South America, in April 7th, 2012. Click here to read the story.

3.

 How to be happy when your world is falling apart

Photo source

Although this article is entitled How To Be Happy When Your World Falls Apart it has some good advice for everyday living. As a person who hates to be criticized I found point number 5 below very useful.

 5.       Don’t take anything personally.
Whatever people say and do is all about them.  They’re trying to satisfy their own agenda.........

 Click here to read the rest of the article.