Living Things

This was the view from my back garden this morning as I went out to do some tidying up in the veggie patch. The lemon scented gum was lit up by the early morning sun, and there was enough moisture in the air for the smell of the gum to be diffused throughout the garden.

The gum is in our neighbour's yard, and provides great shade for them and for us on the east.

The other trees are also 'borrowed' from the walkway behind our house. This is a very important space in our suburb, and used frequently by people walking their dogs, children going to school. joggers and so on.

I spent the morning tidying up the vegetable beds. I pulled out most of the cherry tomatoes which I was not convinced were living up to their promise. The fruit was tart and that is not what I am looking for in a cherry tomato!

I have pulled out the zucchini in the raised bed -lots of flowers but no zucchinis.

I have trimmed back the cucumber but I think it is probably finished.

The beds will be prepared for new plants.

I find I am learning a great deal at the moment, about how to provide us with food from the veggie patch on a regular basis. We have the glut-followed-by-famine thing happening at the moment. I think the key will be to learn to grow from seed, and to plant regularly in batches, not all at once, but that is going to take some organization to learn.

The lower picture is of the passionfruit vine, which has been growing apace. I am very pleased with its efforts.

Some things are not doing so well. The cape gooseberry is a bit sick, and I have two eggplants in different environments, and neither of them has any fruit.

Just gave everything a foliar feed. Have been pleased that the worms are still fat and healthy, and that I still have things out here in my garden which are still alive. This time last year that was not the case. So I am learning as we go!

Cheer yourself up

Little things make me happy.

Green hydrangeas in a vase.

My Bush radio with a dial that says I can tune to Luxembourg! Reminds me of my English childhood. In my mind's eye I can see my brothers listening to 'pirate' radio in their bedroom.

Gingham tablecloth, beautifully embroidered, found at the op shop for a song. I love the fact that one woman somewhere made it for her home, and I rescued it for mine.

Music -always, and especially when it is live music.

Dancing -not in public! But it does feel good.

Gardening. Losing myself in the moment, noticing what has changed, what is responding to my attentions.

Cooking. I do find this relaxing.

Walking outdoors, especially at the beach.

Embroidered pictures in my laundry -more rescues!

Nearly all of these things make me happy and cost very little. Many require a bit of effort, which makes the reward even more satisfying.

Simple things that make me happy.

Promises to myself

Late last year I wrote on the Aussies Living Simply forum, a post about promises I wanted to make for myself this year. I wanted to make my promise public so that there could be no shirking from the commitments I wanted to make.

I have been reviewing these commitments, because we are already into February, and if I am going to keep these promises to myself, I am going to need to keep them in mind.

I have added some more, which I think will be companions.

I promise myself:

1. I will take my long service leave which is so overdue... I will do it for myself, to care for myself. I will take a trip, I will do a retreat, I will organise craft classes and learn new skills. Action so far: I have asked my work for the long service leave, have booked one retreat and have dates in the diary for visiting Melbourne with DH.

2. I will try as hard as I can to finish the mortgage payments completely so that I can take the pressure off myself if I need to get out of my present job into something kinder for me-less hours, less money but more life.. Action: I have been pleased with the extra payments we are making and we are on track. My job can be stressful, and I think I wrote this during one particularly difficult time, but sometimes it is quite rewarding. Nevertheless, I am keeping this n the list.

3. I will learn new ways of tackling conflict so that I don't get so damaged, and that includes learning to put boundaries around hurtful relationships. Action. I have been working on this one with my spiritual director, and I am booked in to some workshops too.

4. I will be braver than I was. Action: I have been taking some risks, doing some things I haven't done before. Mixed results, but I am not stopping yet.

5. I will let the day's troubles be sufficient for the day. No importing tomorrow's worries into today. Action: Unfortunately there have been quite a few worries which were able to fill up several days at a time. Still working on these.

5. I will put my energies into life giving things and walk away from the places where my gifts are wasted. No regrets, just the wrong place for me. Action: not making any decisions yet, pondering. Taking advice.

6. I will love more, laugh lots, and grow more fruit! Action: Planted passionfruit, cape gooseberries. Need a trellis for the grapes.

7. I will finish my Diploma of Business.

8. I will practice gratitude

That is it for now, but I intend to come back and update it.

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Live so that when your children think of love, fairness and integrity, they think of you.

Pantry tales

I have been challenged by the Aussies Living Simply conversations about a plastic-free kitchen. I have heard radio interviews with people who are challenging our assumptions that all plastic is safe-and have felt the wisdom of it.

There are several problems with plastic:
* it is made from petrochemicals which are of course damaging to the earth's sustainability
* it does not break down in the landfill so it adds to the burden of the rubbish on the earth
*heating food in plastic may leach chemicals into the food. Of course there are containers sold as being suitable for this purpose -some people are wondering how safe they really are.
*storing food in plastic over a long period of time may leach plastic into the food due to 'offgassing". This may be especially so for some foods more than others.

I am more interested in using glass and ceramics for the fact that they are safer for the earth, than wondering if all plastic is dangerous to our health, although I am happy to keep an open mind on this.

I have been gradually adding to my collection of containers for foodstuffs which are made from glass or crockery. I have found a number of them in op-shops which is great, because it means that when I use them I am extending their useful life and the energy required to make them is not required again to make new ones for me.

I must admit I also like the look of them, and the feel of them!

The picture is of one of the shelves in my pantry which is where I store the goods for my home-made muesli. I like to keep a variety of ingredients like:
*rolled oats
*rolled wheat
*oat bran
*processed bran (for 'crunch)
*sultanas
*flaked coconut

We make up a batch of the muesli which goes on our breakfast, on top of the good ol' aussie Weetbix we eat every morning. We top it with sliced bananas. prunes and home made Greek Yoghurt.

Keeps us going all morning !

Routines and when to break them

One of the joys of being on holiday was the fun of breaking out of our routines: changing our sleeping patterns, doing things of the spur of the moment.

Now that I am back at work, it is necessary to get into some routines, just to survive.

The Morning Routine is a lifesaver -DH and I walk around the streets for half an hour, talking and enjoying the morning. Then we say the Daily Office and have coffee. Then we are ready to go to work.

I have a Menu Plan for summer and winter. This enables me to know what is for dinner each evening, and to shop accordingly. It cuts down the unnecessary decision making, and because it is there for anyone to read, anyone who is home can help get things ready.

I also am making sure this year that I spend two hours on Saturday morning doing a ' house blessing"-the basic cleaning that means that the place will be tidy and peaceful all week.

After these things are done, it is 'my time'. The picture is of my knitting and some of my recent reading.

All of these routines are necessary for an orderly and productive life, but every now and again we still enjoy breaking out. Today we went on a train trip the whole length of the line from Clarkson in the north to Mandurah in the south -1 hour and 25 minutes away. It was great fun to get away and avoid our responsibilities for a while.

Now it is back to work for another week, and my routines will help me keep things under control until next weekend and some 'me time"

"Gratitude bestows reverence, allowing us to encounter everyday epiphanies--those transcendent moments of awe that change forever how we experience life and the world." ~John Milton

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life.

It turns what we have into enough, and more.

It turns denial into acceptance,

chaos to order, confusion to clarity.

It can turn a meal into a feast,

a house into a home,

a stranger into a friend.

(Melody Beattie)

The Christmas things are packed away, the holiday is over and I am back to work.

In a world of uncertainty and unhappiness, there are many things that I am grateful for this week.
1. My job - I have a very varied job, often challenging and sometimes I work too hard. Yet it is a good place for me and I am grateful for it.
2. My home-I love this place and each year makes it more special. Some people would see it as a bit small. It could do with a bit of work still, but over the twelve years that we have lived here, each task accomplished has made it more special.
3. My family -each of them unique and gifted in special ways. We are kind to each other, and there is a lot of laughter. That is a great gift.
4. The summer in Perth. I love the warm weather, the hard blue skies, the sea breeze! I love walking on the beach in the morning. I love the foods that are in season and local -grapes, melons, plums, mangoes.
5. My garden -this year the changes I have made are working, and to date I have not lost anything to the heat. I had a small mandarin that was struggling, so DH and I invented a temporary shade structure to help it get through -an old umbrella lashed to a stand! It seems to be working. We are now harvesting small but tasty roma tomatoes and long, curvy cucumbers.

"Stop waiting for happiness. Happiness is right here, right now."

Leo Babuta,writer of http://www.Zenhabits.net.

Epiphany at New Norcia

We travelled about 100 km north of us, to join the Benedictine community at New Norcia for their ecumenical Epiphany carol service. As we are 'friends of New Norcia' this is one of those regular events which attracts us back to this very special place.

The music for the service was provided by the Georgian singers, and their voices were beautifully blended. We had nativity readings, poems, new and old carols, and of course three children dressed as Wise Men.

This Benedictine community has a long tradition of hospitality and encouraging the kind of spirituality which Benedict encouraged - a simple and balanced life: some time for work, some time for prayer, some time for rest. I hope to come back this year to one of the retreats. I want to continue to work on finding that balance between work and spirituality and rest this year.

Another nice thing about the trip to New Norcia is getting out of the city to see the country . The Western Australian bush looks dry at this time of the year, but it knows how to survive the heat, and will be ready when the rains come again.