Tag: family

A Sense of Spirit · daughter · new · son · spiritual · vision

Introducing…”A Sense of Spirit”

Joanne5 Comments

This weekend I’ve been having a wonderful time with WordPress, adding here, changing there, reading up on this, that and the other.

I’ve even started up a brand new blog, something that I’ve been contemplating doing for most of this year. Well, yesterday, I finally had all of the details worked out and began to put my thoughts into action.

The end result, (even though this is just the beginning!) is “A Sense of Spirit”. I do hope you will take a look at what I’ve got there so far.

It may or may not be your cup of tea and it can’t hurt to take a look, now can it?

I really like the design and colours in my new website. It feels right for what it is, and for what it is to become, with time.

WordPress is a fantastic site for setting up blogs, both free and self-hosted. I’ve finally got my head around the different WordPress sites too ~

WordPress.com is where you set up a free blog, such as “asenseofspirit. wordpress.com”, which is hosted by WordPress and has the word WordPress in the web address, and…

WordPress.org is for the self-hosted blog sites, (where you choose your own domain name and it doesn’t include the word WordPress) an example of where you are now, here at www.HomeLifeOnline.com

There has been many a time when I have been completely stumped by WordPress’s  instructions, on how to set all of the aspects of a blog in place. They can, at times, be just downright vague with their information! Still and all, WordPress is my first choice for setting up a blog.

Don’t forget to have a look around at “A Sense of Spirit” and let me know what you think.

Today’s photo credit goes to “Yours Truly”. It was taken many years ago, in our back garden, when we lived in Sydney and is my first two babies. It is one of my favourite photos of them and I have used it today, for my first photo on my first post, at “A Sense of Spirit”.

 

 

son · summer

Salad by Candlelight

Joanne2 Comments

Salad by Candlelight

7.30 pm, Monday night ~ As I hand write by candlelight at my kitchen table, I feel inclined to use a fountain pen, if only I had one!

Outside the window next to me is a glimmer of lightness, enough to assist the candle in providing me with the light I need to see the whiteness of my sheet of paper clearly.

Only a matter of a few weeks ago we lost power for a number of hours. This time around, the candles we had rummaged through the cupboards in search of back then were close at hand.

How different daily life would have been, pre-electricity days. For one thing, meals would have had to be prepared earlier than they are in my house!

When we lost power tonight I made a dash for the kitchen and began poking around in the dark vegetable crisper in the bottom of the fridge, hoping the salad vegetables would be easily located in the dim light.

Taking photos was a matter of “point the camera and hope for the best”! The salad appeared to be quite presentable, having been prepared with more “feel” than sight, with the assistance of my now well-used candles.

8 pm ~ With the power restored rather fast tonight, much to the relief of Adam, who found it necessary to resort to playing computer games, rather than talking with his friends on Skype, I felt a tinge of sadness.

Without electricity, the house was silent, all but for the sounds of the family’s voices, as we talked amongst ourselves.

No television, no chance of the phone ringing, just writing with my pen and paper.

And salad by candlelight.

Computer Games

cows · daughter · freedom

Over the Back Fence….

Joanne2 Comments
Possum

When my first child left home, rather than being the emotional ordeal some would imagine it to be, I felt very excited for her, as she embarked on the next phase of the journey of her life.

The time was right for her to spread her wings and discover the adventures awaiting her out there in the magical world of adulthood.

I knew she would never be far away from me. Even if distance separated us, she would always remain close to me in my heart.

As it turns out, there isn’t an awful lot of distance between us, as she lives only about a ten minute drive from home and I see her nearly every day of the week, as we work together!

Over the past three or four years, my girl has become more herself, rather than a reflection of the person she thought her parents wanted her to be. And it is a wonderful experience, getting to know the adult version of the sweet little girl we nurtured for so many years.

Although she has matured into becoming her own person in recent years, one aspect of her personality has remained constant throughout her entire life ~ she loves animals.

It is a regular occurrence for me to receive an email containing a photo of her latest “friend” who she has discovered inside her home or out in the garden.

The cute little possum in the night time photo above is one of Hayley’s little visitors.

Over the back fence of Hayley’s house is a large expanse of grassy paddock. In its glory days, the area was once a well kept golf course, which contained a very well known country club, well frequented by locals and visitors alike.

Somewhere over the years, the club managed to go belly-up and the area is now kept reasonably in check by a herd of cattle!

Over the Fence

Not a cow lover herself, despite her love of animals, Hayley knew I would fully appreciate photos of her bovine visitors.

As you can see in this photo, in the foreground is a small metal gate, which leads out from Hayley’s back garden into the expanse of grass, which was once the golf course.

Grazing Cows

Tomorrow I will show you a series of photos which require no words. The expressions on the face say it all! But you’ll have to wait ‘til tomorrow for the whole story.

Clue ~ the story involves the cows….and one of Hayley’s closest friends! 🙂

advice · Changes · daughter

Saying Goodbye to “The Doormat Syndrome”

Joanne4 Comments

Over the last couple of weeks I have had some extremely interesting conversations with my eldest daughter.

That statement could sound misleading, as if we don’t usually have interesting conversations, but we do! Constantly!

The difference with recent conversations is how simple they have been, and spontaneous, and significant.

A regular topic of conversation between us, which began around the middle of last year, has been “change”.

Changes we both wish to make in our lives, with each of us having different purposes for the desired changes, and discussing what actions we would take to bring these changes about.

Some of the changes we have made have been joint ventures, most have been independent of each other.

And I have learned something  ~ Old habits are hard to break.

With being, um, significantly older than my daughter (naturally!) I have become a bit, shall we say, set in my ways?

My daughter may use other more descriptive words, e.g. boring, predictable, even stupid!

Yes, stupid. It may sound harsh, but true. Thank goodness I have my daughter to point out my shortcomings to me!

I’m a creature of habit in many ways. There are regular tasks I carry out and many responses I make to situations, which I’ll admit to making on “auto-pilot”. I am so stuck in my ways and have acted and responded to things in such a habitual way, over so many years, that I don’t even realise I am doing it!

It’s the little things I’ve been stuck in a rut over.

  • Changing my own plans to fit in with other people.
  • Eating food that I would prefer not to, because that’s what everyone else wants to eat.
  • Doing all of the household chores myself, because no one else has the time.

Why does this happen?

I make myself available, I’m predictable. People know they can rely on me.

Why do I allow this to happen?

I like to see the people I care about being happy. And it also prevents arguments and confrontations.

Are there any winners here?

Everyone, except me.

Oh sure, there are many times when I willingly do things for others. My problem has been that I’ve taken helping others to the extreme, I say “yes” to everything, without giving it a second thought.

It becomes a problem when you are taken for granted. I believe a common term for what I am talking about is, “being treated as if you were a doormat”.

When the realisation of the err of your ways strikes, and you start to change your standard response from always being “yes” to sometimes being “no” it can be a shock to those close to you.

Is it possible to change this situation?

The good news is that when those close to you realise that you really mean it when you say “no” to their trivial and selfish requests, they learn to accept the changes.

A new kind of respect takes over and your own self-worth improves.

The doormat syndrome is transformed into a win-win situation; you are respected more by others, plus you feel a strong dose of self-respect developing within yourself.

Here I was, patting myself on the back for the constant focus I had been putting upon the changes I wished to make. Like all new habits, they do require attention until they become second nature.

I was seeing results. The changes I wished to see were actually occurring.

It wasn’t until my daughter pointed out some of the minor “old habits” I had been unknowingly clinging hold of, that reality took hold.

Anyone can change.

If it is possible for me to enforce the changes I want to see in my life, then anyone can do it. I can highly recommend having someone who you trust keeping a watch out for those old stick-in-the-mud ways which are so hard to break. Someone who can say to you, “that’s the old you, you can say no”, just as my daughter has been doing for me.

(Photo from Google Images)

daughter · recipe

A Day of Stationary, Parrots, Eggs and Movies

Joanne3 Comments

Yesterday was a long day.

Worked ‘til four, drove up the coast with my eldest daughter to buy stationary, called in at the supermarket for a few bits and pieces on the way home, made dinner with youngest daughter, watched a movie, checked the time to find it was 11.30 pm and I hadn’t written my blog post for postaday2011, attended to the post, had a shower and fell asleep as my head hit the pillow!

What is it about stationary shopping that makes it so much fun? I would rather shop for pens and notebooks any day, in preference to clothes or shoes!

Does that classify me as odd? Hmm…If it does, then my daughters are odd along with me! Neither of them would pass up an opportunity to browse through a stationary shop. I suspect they actually enjoy clothes and shoe shopping, so perhaps they are more normal than their mum!

Right next door to the stationary shop is a pet store. We popped in for a quick look around, leaving perhaps an hour later! Well, we did get chatting to a very friendly shop assistant, as you do, which eventually became a full-on conversation regarding the taming of parrots!

At home, my younger daughter and I tried out a new recipe that we liked the look of, burritos with spicy pork and pineapple with avocado sauce. Yum! We’ll remember to make that recipe again. Delicious!

We found the recipe in a cookbook that my older daughter recently discovered, chock full of healthy, weight conscious recipes. There’s a vegetarian section, along with healthy versions of meat recipes. They even suggest that eggs are a healthy choice in meal!

That just goes to show you how the wheel turns. When I was a child, eggs were regarded as healthy food, containing all known vitamins to man, except vitamin C. Those were the days when a healthy breakfast consisted of toast, egg and a glass of orange juice. The juice supplied the vitamin C that the egg was lacking!

Next thing, eggs were a no-no; too much cholesterol and said to add weight, not a healthy option for the health or weight conscious person.

Many years have passed and now the wheel has turned full circle. Eggs are back in vogue!

By 8.30 pm I had myself comfortably curled up in my favourite lounge chair, eagerly awaiting the beginning of one of my all time favourite movies…”To Kill a Mockingbird” on Fox Classics.

My family regards the movie as boring. I could watch it over and over again! It would have to be one of the most simply plotted stories, with the beginning of the movie set in 1932, and following through the events in the lives over the next couple of years of the Finch family; father Atticus, his son Jem and daughter, Scout.

Their mysterious neighbour, Boo Radley, features throughout, although we do not meet him until the very end of the movie.

My heart goes out to the genteelly mannered Tom Robinson, the victim of racial prejudice and wrongly accused of a crime he did not commit.

Before seeing the movie for the first time I had read the book, “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee, who based her novel upon events she had witnessed in her own home town, which took place in 1936.

The novel was published in 1960 and became an instant success, winning the prestigious Pulitzer Prize.

Immediately following “To Kill a Mockingbird”, Fox Classics decided to tempt me to remain in my chair even longer, with “The Way We Were”.

I first saw “The Way We Were” at the cinemas in Coolangatta, Queensland, many, many, moons ago! It was after seeing the movie for the first time that I became a fan of both Robert Redford and Barbra Streisand.

How could I resist taking just a quick peek at the movie? Just watch some of the beginning, not for too long, just to remind me of how much I love, love, love that movie!

It did not disappoint. The magic is still there. Mind you, I could watch it any time I wish. I have the DVD!!!

What can I say? I’m a sucker for a love story. 🙂