Here I sit in the fading light. On the verandah at Augusta house.Looking out to trees and more trees and only the occasional sound of tyres as people return home at the end of the day. Even the birds are quieter . But I’m watching the growing wasp nest near my head. Those wasps had better enjoy their last night .
You’re not staying
Time and more time. Here there are fewer things to be done , and it takes a while to create a new routine to the day , so late rising and sitting here with coffee and sitting some more. While Doug cuts up logs .
Busy
Then the short drive to the town and more coffee at the something or other Robin.
Today I had a swim at Flinders beach and it was surprisingly warm . The sun has been out all day and only now is the slight chill coming in , and time to light the wood fire.
So it’s been a day of coffee, swim, basking in the sun, walking, op shop ( good one here!) , hardware store to tighten the electric saw, food shopping, reading and writing. Because I have time, I cannot escape writing. Busy Augusta day.
Visiting Cockburn for a grandsons party. 5 years old and just started ‘ big school’. Díaz , his brother, doesn’t like all the noise and people running around or cooing over him , trying to remove him from his Mums hip . He is firmly ensconced on that hip and wailing loudly.
So here I am outside the 🎈 party 🎈 room with all the climbing frames and play stuff , with a protesting Díaz .
And here I am blogging again. ( Time, no book, a critical frame of mind and/or caring= blogging) . First thoughts and some of them possibly biased, Fremantle yuppified, dated. But here they are : signalled in the header .
Here there are all the things we say we need ; shops, car parking , train and bus food ,dental and medical , chid health, fitness …. List goes on. Pavements are clean and straight, shops invite in with signage and air conditioning , modern finishes , houses all in a row and apartments facing the street straight and white and clean .The requisite open green spaces and trees interspersed .
It’s just so new, so boringly designed , so bereft of soul . Square upon square, Large blocks on either side of this road as I walk to the Cockburn station, cake over and kids and parents dispersing , Díaz returned to his mums hip
In defence of my critique, I have to say there are lots of young families walking around shops , bringing their children to the pools , visiting the gym or play center. Also a range of colours and dress. Cockburn is more affordable for young families , has more easily reached facilities. Probably it’s cleanliness and the lack of street sleepers and yelling also attracts .
But …. Please let’s keep Fremantle with some of its rough edges.Rough edges and imperfections add life.Hold tight .
( This was written a few months ago and I have just discovered it lurking in drafts . Maybe it should stay there , but I’m putting it up ) .
So finally we have reached the end of Christmas/ New Year celebrations. Sitting in the shade under the playground at Geordie Bay, Rottnest ( no space on any of the chairs and tables as this small island is filled beyond capacity). It is definitely a time to take stock .
Taking Stock is a serious business , even for cats
I wonder why we go on about making resolutions each new year. After all, many of us have not achieved the ones made 10 years ago. I admit that I have trotted out the same goals/ intentions/ resolutions each year for a very long time . Always recycled, sometimes discarded, often modified and occasionally partially achieved , initially anyway . But we know how hard it is to change habits so why do we keep making new resolutions . Hey , I’m sticking with the old ones, just chipping away .
I’m sticking with the old while recognising the hard facts that age and circumstance play a big role in achievement. I have always had a list of very specific actions related to broader themes. ( Yes I have in the past spent too much time on SMART goals and have fiddled around writing and re -writing lists within lists within lists…..). Dance has been on my list under FUN. I have named types of dance to try , where they are, how often sessions are held, cost . . But 10 years after that first sortie into change , or rather regaining my sense of being , I really struggle with moves in swing dance and flamenco , both of which I love .
That original spurt of attachment or insight remains . I am not altering my earlier enthusiasm for real dance to embrace “ over 55’s” exercises or ‘ chair yoga’ or whatever the current marketing pitch for the aging population . So I’m stubbornly keeping that resolution in my head and pondering , doing little bits . What I have to do is drop the bar : I am not going to be a wonderful flamenco dancer or do those smooth, fast and fun Swing moves. But I can do a modified , albeit fudged version , of the dances I like. I can just incorporate whatever bits of whatever dance style into my dance. !
Dancing 💃
I blame Gretchen Rubin’s The Happiness Project ( Harper:2009 . Many revisions) for years of writing specific goals. Despite my somewhat dismissive tone, her book is worth reading. Just because of offering a structured yet flexible approach to adjusting some of the eternal niggles of family life. Her central premise “if my life is so wonderful , why am I not happier?” Is a useful jumping off point . . Only now do I recognise that happiness is not a constant; chasing happiness is like chasing rainbows, or shape shifting entities . The endpoint rarely meets the imagined. Nonetheless human beings are pursuers of happiness, with all its myriad of meanings , interpretations, contradictions and imperfections .
So my drive towards a happier, better life has always revolved around kindness ( good to have a core value thrown in ), having fun and being adventurous . Curiosity I believe is the basis for being and feeling alive . Pretty simple , and I don’t need to overanalyse and prescribe and measure . I’m happy now but may not feel happy just now or tomorrow. Unadulterated happiness is rare and wonderful . If it were a constant it would be another pretty ordinary part of life. So…
Just this instant I have bought a bright headband and a striped skirt at Rottnest’s Indianic clothes shop. Overpriced, but it’s the beginning of the 2023 me in action: Brightness and FUN. Adventure and kindness will follow.
Surely brightness ( sic goodness) shall follow me …..( psalm)
I was Ok with 🎁 presents shopping , sort of list in hand. Until I entered Target.
Greeted by red versions of merry Christmas, lollies and rolls of Christmas paper, decorations , and reams of things to buy . Yes, and the requisite jingles to do my head in .
I’m bewildered. I’m looking for a Marvel? Lego set that doesn’t cost over $100 . My grandson needs at least a 15 yrs up set . First I have to find them in the collection of toys that takes half of the top floor, then I have to find the right one . In the meantime, on the way to the toys where there are other zombies wandering around squinting at shelves, I am distracted by the baby clothes. Neither of my grandchildren need clothes, but these little shirts and shorts are soooo cute.
I haven’t been inside here for ages . I must admit it’s quite refreshing to be looking around in a non op shop. It’s refreshing but also confusing and guilt making. Here am I attracted to goods I don’t need, while some people are scraping together coins for food ( or a smoke the cynical middle class , justifying me whispers )
I make it to the Lego holding just one thing : an electric jug for visiting family . A bright red cheap one that will work ; op shop ones sometimes do sometimes don’t. They are not red, and at current op shop prices not all that much cheaper ( see how I can rationalise )
Made it to Lego
After half an hour of wandering around squinting like everyone else, and there are more squinters now as it’s getting later, I leave minus the Lego . However I have $54 of coloring in books, crayola crayons, a hair band and a cute little matching shirt and shorts set;and the electric jug.
And back tomorrow ?I’ve done Target .Merry Christmas .
Sambasue21 