….and I think I can smell Christmas dinner roasting in the oven and the beautiful scent of the real pine Christmas trees my dad used to chop down every year in the bush, haul up onto the roof of the car and bring home for mum and I to decorate in the lounge room.
My imagination is working overtime, as is my body, seated mostly now in front of my sewing machine, as I spend my days madly sewing away at the last few orders that I must deliver this week.
I’m really looking forward to Christmas this year. The house is decorated, most of my shopping is done and my daughter and I have planned our Christmas cooking days for early next week. This is what Christmas is all about, isn’t it, the get-together with loved ones, the food, the gladness, listening to Christmas carols, relaxing. In Australia, it also mostly includes a swim in the pool after a huge Christmas dinner has been devoured, or falling asleep on the coolest available couch we can find around the house, preferably in front of an open window with a cool breeze blowing through.
For now though, for me, it’s back to work. So much to do, so little time! Yet I’m happy and organised and filled with anticipation.
Has anyone considered what their “word” for 2014 will be yet? Most years I struggle for ideas, this year though I already know what mine will be. But more about that later; the rest of 2013 is still here and to be enjoyed. 🙂
My other daughter (not the afore mentioned who loves to cook), knowing how much I love the Christmas carol “The Little Drummer Boy”, sent me a link to the song which I’d like to share with you all. It gives me goosebumps to hear this song, no matter what version it is I’m listening to. That little boy sure had amazing insight over two-thousand years ago, knowing the birth of this baby to be something special, and here we are, still celebrating his birth so many years later. And what better gift for the drummer boy to give the baby than that of his music. Priceless.
“When someone shares their favourite songs with you, embrace them, because they’re giving you a small glimpse into their soul.”
Why must it be that the best laid plans of mice and men, (and women,) often go astray?
Whilst working at my sewing machine during the past few weeks I’ve dreamed about my planned time away from home, on holiday, in Noosa, spending time at a resort I have visited many times before, picturing the free time I would find, the blog reading I could catch up on, the posts I would be writing, the books I would read from cover to cover, along with spending time visiting some of my favourite landmarks in the area with my family.
Late afternoon at Noosa Beach.
So here I sit at my computer, finally penning (typing, actually) a blog post, on the last day of my holiday.
Where did the last week go? I need another week away!
A great restaurant for a birthday celebration.
Such collective plans my girls and I had made before we left home! We would visit the markets at Eumundi and have a family dinner at a lovely restaurant on the river in Noosaville on the Saturday night, that being an early celebration for Emma’s birthday in December. Those plans were kept. The markets were fabulous, we walked around ooh-ing and ah-ing at everything and buying some irresistible items, after which we realized that we had spent the grand total of five-and-a-half hours shopping! No wonder our feet were sore.
A healthy treat!
Hayley could only spend the weekend with us, so Emma and I had to manage without her on the other days, which was sad, but manage we did, with a trip to the Ginger Factory at Yandina (we took Hayley there the next day as well, just for a quick visit!) and yesterday before Emma had to leave to go home again we went into the Sunshine Coast hinterland to visit Montville.
Montville.
Alone, I have walked around the boardwalk area at Noosa Beach and I’ve also taken a couple of walks along the river, one taking me to a cute little second-hand bookshop that we had discovered years ago when we were here holidaying with our very young children.
The Ginger Factory at Yandina.
I think that today may be the first day that we haven’t had any rain here during the last week. I also think that on some days we have experienced the full gamut of seasons. On my first day here the weather turned so cold that I needed to wear the “for when it turns cold” cardigan that I had packed but never dreamed I would need. Most days have given us at least a few hours of the less-than-pleasant, typical humidity to be expected in this area and something a little unexpected at this time of year as it usually occurs during the hotter summer months is stormy weather, including gusty winds and even hail.
At lunch with Emma.
Notwithstanding the unpredictable weather, we have had a wonderful time here, but where did my quiet moments, which I expected to have each day get to? My days seem to have come down to the question of do I enjoy the moment, or write about the moment? I have chosen to enjoy. The writing can come later.
On Sunday morning the boys came with us for a walk along the shore of the lake.
And the reading, did I get any done? Well yes, seeing as you ask, I did! I finished one book, bought another which I have started to read, didn’t read the book I had brought to read and I bought six craft magazines which have inspired me with some sewing projects for when I get home.
Stormy skies at Montville.
Tomorrow morning I head back home again, leaving Noosa behind, and yet again I will leave with beautiful memories and expectations of my next visit here.
“Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don’t resist them; that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like.” ~ Lao Tzu.
The days have flowed naturally forward for me this past month, in fact they have flowed with so much ease that I am wondering where the last month has disappeared to. It’s not a complaint, but more of a learning process than anything. I’m actually having difficulty in finding the words here to describe how I feel.
Resistance is subsiding. I would love to be able to declare that resistance has disappeared from my life completely, but there are still occasions when I will bristle slightly, catch myself and tell myself all is well. I have learnt how to calm any adverse feelings very quickly.
I’ll be the first to admit that the recent anesthetic I had for a small hospital procedure has played its part. For two weeks I floated through each day with my feelings wrapped in cotton wool. Without the thought stresses of everyday living my household chores were completed with ease, a raised voice didn’t bring any feelings of tension, so my world just wafted along on the late winter breezes.
In realising that my anxieties over any given situation would neither make nor break the outcome I could see the benefit in letting go, giving up resistance, staying calm, letting what will be ~ be. I would even go as far as saying that my calmness may have even neutralised situations where other family members were involved.
During my time of still being under the peaceful spell of an anesthetic I made the choice to continue this gentle life after the chemical cushioning had left me, to allow the magic of life to just happen.
Situations are what they are, people do not change unless they choose to do so themselves, the world continues to spin, night becomes day and day becomes night again. The sun continues to rise, the tides ebb and flow. Birds build their nests and look out for juicy worms to catch. A baby is born, someone loses a loved one. And these events will continue, day after day, whether I am stressing, or not.
This must be why there are people who become hooked on drugs or alcohol, I contemplate. When the cushioning is felt, it’s a feeling you want to have stay around forever. How sad it is though, when the addicts don’t realise that chemical substances will wear off, needing to be replaced time and time again. I wish for those people that they eventually can find the magic within themselves, without the chemicals.
Life experience has brought me to the place where I’m now at. The difficulties of life are our greatest teachers. If you have read my last two posts, you will know what I’m talking about, how resistance can take us to an unhappy place. Talking, honestly, the kind of talk in which we wear our heart on our sleeve to our loved ones is a great remedy.
Imaging the worst case scenario, which I did before my bliss-giving anesthetic, only to learn that there was nothing wrong with me in the first place was a real eye opener for me. Worry didn’t change the reality of the situation, but worry may, and probably would have, caused a major health issue. Who needs that?
We will always experience human feelings so long as we are alive. Joy, pain, happiness, sadness, we want to feel emotions, but what is worry, is it even a real emotion? I know it can be destructive, so I am working towards banishing it from my life completely. I hope you can do the same. Show worry, resistance and stress out the door; flow with the tides of life, accept and enjoy what is.
These beautiful kookaburras who came to my garden when we were digging around in the earth, waiting patiently for a worm or some other grub to show itself for them to swoop down and enjoy for their dinner don’t seem to have a care in the world. We have so much to learn from animals and birds. They stay calm, remain patient, don’t complain about the sun or the rain, cold or heat, and they don’t hold any grudges against that dratted bird next to them who catches the worm before they do!
We have the choice, we can choose to put our busy minds into neutral and allow the magic to happen. It takes practise, but it can be done. How cool is that? 🙂
Signs of winter have crept into my part of the world this week and last night really was rather chilly indeed, with the temperature dropping down to around eleven degrees Celsius. Believe me, that’s quite cold for this area!
There are definite advantages to cool sunny days though and last night we were treated to another beautiful autumn sunset, so while I share my world by answering Cee’s questions for both weeks 19 and 20, I will also share last night’s sunset with you all. 🙂
WEEK 19 ~
On a vacation what would you require in any place that you would stay? (This was a suggested question for Cee to ask, from my blogging friend Carol.)
Usually I have an automatic response to Cee’s questions, but I had to give this one some thought. Coffee making facilities came to mind, but I could go out for coffee, I can live without a television, easily, and all places you stay in have a bed….but what I really would dislike sharing is a bathroom. So that is my answer, I would require an adjoining bathroom in any place that I would stay on vacation.
If you were or are a writer do you prefer writing short stories, poems or novels? I don’t believe that I would have the patience to write a novel, but short stories I can do, and I enjoy writing them. When I think about it, every blog post I write is a short story really. I do enjoy reading, and writing poetry too, but short stories are top of the list.
What’s your favorite song of the moment?
Oh that’s such an easy question to answer, it’s the song that is playing on constant repeat inside my head! The Australian version of The Voice is being shown in Australia right now, and one of my favourite contestants, Luke Kennedy, sang a duet of the song from Les Miserables, “I Dreamed a Dream”. It hasn’t left my head since that night! I’ve loved this song since I first heard it sung by Michael Crawford.
If you were to buy a new house/apartment what is the top item on your wish list?
If I were to buy a new home, my number one criteria would be that it had to be old. I’ve always wanted to renovate an old home, a one hundred year old home would be ideal, and I would like to restore it to its former glory.
Now onto Cee’s questions for WEEK 20 ~
Do you like winter, or not, and why?
Winter, oh how I love winter! I’m a cold climate girl. I grew up in The Blue Mountains, west of Sydney, where it actually snows during winter in some of the higher altitude towns. There are four definite seasons in the mountains, each with its own individual beauty, and during summer it doesn’t even get dreadfully hot. I love it!
Are you a listener or talker?
Definitely a listener, especially when I first meet a new person and don’t know them very well. I think that everyone who knows me well would agree that I’m a very good listener, but I can talk once I get going too!
What is your favorite juice or fruit drink?
Is there such a thing as chocolate juice? 😉 There should be, but seeing as there isn’t, I think I would have to say pineapple juice. It’s a juice that I don’t drink often, but when I do, I love it.
What do you have to be so happy about?
My four children. Sure, there are other things that make me happy (like beautiful sunsets!) a day at a time, but ask me any day, of any year, for the last twenty-eight years (‘coz that’s how long I’ve been a mother) what makes me happy, and I would consistently say my two sons and two daughters. They are the highlights of all of my life’s happiest days, and that’s every day.
Late last year, while I was up to my elbows in sewing school uniforms for a few local schools for the beginning of the school year this year, I happened to get a phone call one day that had me buying myself an early Christmas present.
I have subscribed to a craft magazine for some years now, and the company was offering their subscribers a deal “too good to refuse”. I must say I was sceptical and had no intentions of buying whatever they had on offer.
Quilting ‘fat-quarters” all neatly arranged in a sewing storage box.
So, the spiel began, I half listened. A few words caught my attention, fat quarters, sewing lamp, quilt wadding, scissors, sewing box….usual price ~ a trillion dollars, but for you today ~ dirt cheap.
“Would you care to repeat that?” I asked the very patient sales woman, as I apologised for being preoccupied with having so much work to get through.
She obliged, I did the mental sums; this was a great deal! And I rarely spend money on myself, and these were items that I would get a lot of use out of….
A beautiful wooden sewing box with a padded hinged lid, and drawer beneath.
I’m not sure if the sales woman did a good job of convincing me that I had to have these items, or if I convinced myself. Regardless, I hung up the phone after exchanging pleasantries with the friendly woman on the other end of the line, feeling quite excited about my unexpected purchase.
A few days later, (which seemed like such a long time as I really was looking forward to my purchase arriving), two large boxes arrived at the post office.
I’ve had this scissor set for several years now, but aren’t they pretty?
It was so much fun looking through my newly purchased craft items, but back then was not the time to be lingering over them, I still had work to get through. It is only this week that I have finally unpacked the boxes and found homes for all of my new sewing necessities.
Let me tell you, I’m not a woman who gets overly excited over new clothes and shoes. I like to wear comfortable clothes, mostly jeans and tops that are made of soft fabric, and around home I usually go bare foot, except during cooler weather when I wear my fluffy deep pink “ugg” boots. But give me two boxes of newly purchased craft and sewing bits and bobs and I’m in seventh heaven!
Empty compartments, waiting for some love.
The last time I received a new sewing box was for my tenth birthday. My sister gave it to me and it was the last birthday present I ever got from her, as shortly after my birthday she joined a religion which does not celebrate birthdays, so my old sewing box is something I have treasured for many years, although it is rarely used now. Instead, I use pretty tins that once contained biscuits, or old chocolate boxes to store my sewing treasures. I even use an old tobacco tin that once contained my dad’s pipe tobacco!
Added character to the bare wood.
Unfortunately the nostalgic odour of dad’s pipe tobacco is long gone now, making it easier for me to part company with an old memory and make way for my new sewing box, a part of my super-beaut buy!
It is a stained wooden box with a padded hinged lid and one single drawer underneath. Both the top section and the drawer are partitioned, to keep small sewing paraphernalia separated and neatly ready for use.
All felted up and ready for bits & bobs.
All that was missing was that each section needed to have a lining, to give it a more homey feel, so I searched through my stock of felt pieces and found two pieces of lilac coloured felt and one deep purple, which would suit the colour of the wood beautifully.
Neat little boxes, to hold sewing items, neatly!
So today, I fiddled and measured and cut and glued, then sorted old tins and boxes, finally arranging all of my needles, tape measures, pins, elastic, scissors, and everything else that had been in something of a muddle for years, into my new sewing box. I hadn’t thought these things to be in a muddle though, not until I saw the end result of my labour today, with everything so organised.
A place for everything and some room to spare.
With the shelves beside my sewing machine in my sewing cupboard all cleared off and cleaned, I arranged everything back onto the shelves, and now I’m all set to go!
What I’d really like to hear about now is this ~ do you have a hobby that makes your heart sing, one which you can become so engrossed in that you lose all track of time, almost as if you were a child again and had just discovered your favourite toy to play with?
All ready to begin the next project.
I think that everyone should have at least one hobby that can brush away all the cares in the world.
So funtional, and so pretty!
I know that I have several, but they are stories that will have to wait for another day. 🙂
“Me thinks it is a token of healthy and gentle characteristics, when women of high thoughts and accomplishments love to sew; especially as they are never more at home with their own hearts than while so occupied.” ~ Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Marble Faun, 1859
In My World 