We were about to go to church and I was putting on a pair of dress boots and carrying a pair of trainers as well. He asked: 'Why are you carrying another pair of shoes?' So I said, 'my feet don't listen to me anymore'.
Living Life As It Is
Saturday, April 13, 2024
DEFYING GRAVITY
Saturday, April 6, 2024
HUMBLE SERVANT OF THE EARTH
So, I've been invited to give another presentation. This time I title it My Garden, My Canvas. Every now and then, I switch modes. From the usual housekeeping mode, I make a beeline to my laptop and start putting together my thoughts to get ready for the talk. It is actually very intoxicating. Lots of adrenaline pumping. I haven't lost it.
I'm a visual person so I believe in more pictures and less printed words. This means I've to rummage through plenty of gardening photos through the years. I have them all stored according to categories. This is where organising and safe keeping skills honed over the years come in very handy indeed.
Since this is my 14th year in Ireland I have 14 years of gardening memories. From knowing next to nothing about the growing seasons to where I am. From being overwhelmed by slugs and snails to being the human that those slimey creatures slither away from. From being overzealous and over ambitious to being more practical and realistic.
I think I have done quite a lot.
In fact I'm stunned at the power of learning and adaptation to a new hobby. There is an inexplainable glow within as I pat myself on my head and whisper softly, 'Well done, good and humble servant of the earth.'
Money wise it makes no sense to grow my own vegetables or flowers when supermarkets are bursting with cheaply priced produce. Peat free compost, horse manure, fertilisers, slug pellets, gardening tools, gardening equipment - they all don't come cheap.
But the non-monetary benefits!!
Peaceful days
Beads of healthy perspiration, a happy heart and a sound mind. Not forgetting lovely fresh produce right in my backyard. Call me bias, but a homegrown tomato vs a store bought one, is like comparing apples to oranges.
The beauty of tenacity.
Storm Kathleen has just passed and the garden is in a mess. The pergola is wrecked but life goes on and we can rebuild.
So even as I prepare the power point slides I continue to discover.
I want to incorporate a home made video into the presentation but don't know how. How thankful I am for good friends like Robin Wallace who will help me brainstorm over a cup of Milo next week.
Then I found that my 24 year old slide clicker is not working. So before I threw it out, I read the instructions again. Yes, the little instruction booklet is still there in its case. Then I realised that there is such a thing called a battery which needed to be replaced.
So what can I say?
Another year and onwards to more self discovery and the little pleasures of life.
Saturday, January 27, 2024
WELCOME Home ❤️
Saturday, December 30, 2023
THE JOURNEY
It was a cool morning and the final week of 2023 when my friend and I decided to meet up at a local cafe. She ordered peanut butter toast with banana slices and I ordered a bap with cheese and egg. Not one who has a great appetite for breakfast, I couldn't finish the bap and so I ate the good bits - the melted cheese and the egg - and left some bread behind.
Thursday, November 9, 2023
THE CHOICES WE MAKE
I am
thankful for the songs from Spotify, for the almost desolate roads with no traffic
jams and for the free coffee I have just redeemed, having drunk 10 cups over
time. Small things, but all the more precious.
There are
so many things that I want to do and some weeks pass with doing nothing new and
then there are weeks where everything comes together all at once. I find myself
engaged in so many new activities this Autumn and the thing is, I completely enjoy all
of them.
There are activities
that I’m naturally inclined to and there are activities that I am not.
Let’s talk about outdoor sport and gyms.
Not exactly my cup of tea but there’s one thing
that I treasure most and that is good health. I owe it to myself to take care
of my body because life is a gift. I prefer to stay healthy than to give reason
for the doctor to prescribe tablets for diabetes, high blood pressure,
cholesterol and the list goes on. Many regular activities came to a halt during
the lockdown so I decided to join a fitness programme once again.
Truth be
told, crawling out of a warm bed on a cold and wet morning to head to the gym
is torture. But finishing a session makes me feel good all over. Hard work but
rewarding. The personal trainer is all encouragement as I’m not one who
naturally gravitate towards mean machines and dumb bells.
It so
happens that swimming classes have also commenced after a break and when notified
I decided to take that up as well. No harm checking out if I’m Olympic material.
Autumn is
also the season where many colleges offer part time programmes for people who
have learnt too much but still want to learn. So I signed up for 10 classes of
make up techniques – day makeup, evening makeup, contouring, block eye shadow,
socket line eyeshadow, 1940s black flick red lip, smokey eye, strip lash
application and everything else necessary to paint the empty canvas of a face.
Nothing like letting the professional make up artist teach me a thing or two. I
enjoy every bit of it and it’s all coming to an end now so next week I’ll
venture into learning stained glass
techniques, something up my street.
And so I am
very thankful for the choices made.
To reset the
brain– to see the positive and not the negative; to overcome fear and face
challenges; to be disciplined and to have the opportunity to give and serve
others in church, in the neighbourhood and at home.
I am
thankful to be surrounded by a good husband, children and friends.
Most of all
to know that when I reach home, there are logs burning in the stove and the
room is warm.