Back in February 2022 (where has that year gone – oh yeah, happily travelling), I farewelled Programmed and set off on my year long adventure. I also farewelled job security and a regular income. Gulp. But what the hell, you only live once and I was going to live.
And then I
discovered MeetUp and just like that – instant friends!
So what do you do when you finish your first Camino? Hang up your boots? Put down the walking poles? Swear to never do anything like that again? Nope, you decide to do another one, a decision made the moment I walked into the square and stood looking up at that amazing Cathedral.
This time was
going to be different. For a start I was going to be joined by Andrea and B
(and Dominic towards the end). And secondly, we were going to do the Portuguese
Coastal Camino starting from Porto. Also as there were 3 of us, we would be
staying in mainly private accommodation. I kind of liked Albergue life, it was
a great way to meet fellow pilgrims.
Nepal - a little bit up, a little bit down
This little story begins on my 49th birthday (a few years ago). We were in a hotel room in Kathmandu, Nepal where we had spent the last four days exploring this mad, dusty, busy, colourful city. Now I love mad, dusty, busy cities, so it was as good a place to celebrate a birthday as any. The idea to visit Nepal came about due to a bargain voucher - and I do love a good bargain. Exotic Nepal, dreams of prayer flags and temples and of course the Himalayas. The night before we had met our travel buddies, eleven people of all ages (yay, not the oldest) that we would be spending the next two weeks with.
Opening the curtains and flicking on the kettle, the sun was
just rising and the city was awakening. One of my first thoughts was that the next
birthday would be the big five zero. F#*K, where do the years go? I’ve never really given much thought to my age, I didn't feel
“old” and I'm pretty sure I didn't act my age. Age is just a number right? I'm beginning to think this is something that old people say.
A yoga session was the first “activity” on the agenda and I joined some of the others in our group for a bit of breathing and stretching. Balance has never been my forte, hence I’m crap at yoga and there was no way my stomach was ever going to be able to do the “rolling” that our instructor seemed to be effortlessly doing. My attempt was rather more like a spare tyre bouncing around between fits of the giggles. But never mind, may as well, limber up for the trek ahead and a bit of mindfulness never goes astray!
It’s been nearly a year since I packed up my life in Melbourne and flew to the UK. Hard to believe. The time has flown and yet looking back over the year, I’ve managed to do A LOT! I remember those last few manic weeks before leaving. Finishing up at work and literally throwing away everything I owned except for a few sentimental bits and pieces that I put into storage. It wasn’t easy and there were many WTF am I doing moments. So many memories and dreams all thrown away. I’d been talking about downsizing and minimising and suddenly there I was completely free. And unemployed. Gulp, a little scary but it was time to spread my wings and fly away.
It was a little sad leaving my little house by the bay with my amazing Neighbours. Mixed emotions. The last home my beautiful Lucas and Lola knew. But the last year filled with way too much hurt, pain, and anger to remain.
I arrived on a sunny day in London (yep, clear blue sky and gorgeous sunshine), 27 February 2022 and made my way down to Southampton. First couple of weeks were spent catching up with cousins and playing tourist. Lesson number one, it doesn’t rain or is anywhere near as cold as I’d expected it to be.
Way back BC (before covid) I decided “Never Stop Learning” needed to be a thing (dementia be gone). One of the things I had on the things to learn list was to name 20 of Melbourne’s most common birds. List in hand, off I went for a bit of bird spotting and even went along on a bird watching walk at a local park. I did a little story and then promptly forgot. Whilst in Africa recently, my interest was renewed. Maybe it’s an age thing. First you get into growing tomatoes and then you move on to bird watching. Hmm, what comes next? Maybe bingo or bowls.
Now in the UK, I figured time to learn a bit about our local feathered friends. I found two second handbooks on birds and got myself a new pair of binoculars (old pair MIA). Bird watching seems to be a popular past time here and lots of people put out food. Living on the 2nd floor provides limited opportunities for placing bird feeders in trees, but I’ve attached a feeding station to the window, so hopeful that once the trees bloom they’ll pop by.
It started off as 31 things to do in the month I turned 50 and then became 50 things to do in the year I turned 50. Before long, there were over 100 things on that 2015 list and little sub lists had popped up like mushrooms all over the place. I jotted stuff down stuff on bits of paper, in notebooks (I have a notebook fetish, I am not alone) and friends provided me with ideas to add.
I soon realised that adding things to those lists was half the fun. So having decided to start up the lists again, I started where I'd left off for 2021. Not only was 2021 a crap year, but the 2021 list was a sad and sorry sight. 17 out of 44 things completed - maybe not so bad considering lockdowns.
But I learnt some valuable things. For a start, I don't particularly like cooking, so why the hell would I want to cook through a cook book? I tried making a mosaic piece - ended up frustrated and didn't really enjoy it, so now I know that I'm not the artsy/crafty type.
I wanted to learn a musical instrument. So I got myself a guitar, booked in for some lessons and failed miserably. Arthritis in the fingers and a sore neck - no excuse. Maybe I need to find something easier - like my old school recorder (I think I could still manage "Three Blind Mice") or maybe the triangle?
And as for picking up Frech again, being fluent in Spanish is good enough for me.
Whale watching on the 31st of July each year was a special thing. Well I still love whales, the date is now insignificant, but I still want to see whales at any time of the year!
2021 was a crap year.
With Covid still hanging still over our heads, the year started off OK and then went downhill rapidly - much like this blog. But two years later, I've decided to start again. And while this platform no longer suits, it will do until I finish setting a new one up.
2021, the signs were all there, but I refused to see that my marriage was well and truly over. I think it took losing my baby girl Lola, who crossed the rainbow bridge on 12 March to join Lucas, to finally hit rock bottom and see the reality. Even then, the rose coloured glasses only came off when the whole sordid truth finally came out. Red flags never turn green.
On the list - read 26 books this year. 1 down, 25 to go - better get a wiggle on.
Hugh is a Melbourne boy and a primary school teacher whose passion is building resilience in kids. The book revolves around his trip to Northern India, volunteering and meeting the adorable Stanzin who despite living in an underprivileged community is both happy and positive. So why is that back here in Australia, so many people find it hard to be happy and struggle with mental illnesses?
Hugh set about finding the answer and recognised the key traits the kids in India had were gratitude, empathy, and mindfulness. And so The Resilience Project was born. He started off running presentations at schools and then took the message wider to the NRL, AFL, Cricket Australia and many other corporate clients explaining how we can all live a happier life.
After lockdown, did we dare to think about a few days away? Regional Victoria was once again open for
business and judging by traffic out of the city those first couple of weekends,
every Melbournian and their dog hit the road.
With a few days off at Christmas, and no plans, we thought the Gippsland coast would be lovely. An area affected by the bush fires, so we’d be helping the local economy. Obviously, everybody else had the same idea. OK, we weren’t fussed, a few days anywhere would be nice. Our criteria were up to 4 hours away, dog friendly and not costing an arm and a leg, so with limited options we went with a cottage on a large property in Hoddles Creek.
To be honest, we had no idea where Hoddles Creek was, but a quick check and our holiday destination was just 75 km away in the Yarra Ranges, surrounded by the Kurth Kiln Regional Park. Not quiet as exotic as the Maldives or even Portsea if we were looking closer to home, but a holiday is a holiday.
Christmas morning, we packed up the Christmas Eve dinner leftovers and a few other essentials, bubbles, beer and doggy treats and off we went. Through the lovely towns of Cockatoo and Gembrook in the Dandenong’s and then of course the obligatory getting a bit lost. Never trust a GPS or your navigator on winding, gravel roads.
Settlers Ridge. Owned by the lovely Marie and Dieter, is a 100-acre property overlooking Mount Donna Buang and the Yarra Ranges. They’ve lived there over 35 years, first in a caravan, next in the cottage we stayed in and then in the larger house they live in now. They have an underground fire shelter. It’s pretty cool.
Congratulations! You survived 2020 and the first week of 2021.
2020, the year that in some ways lasted 12 months and 12 years and in other
ways, flew by just as fast as every other year once you reach an “age”.
We moved into 2021 glad to put the “unprecedented” year that was 2020 behind us. Looking back, it’s hard to believe that so much happened around the world, even if we did spend a chunk of it locked away in our own little bubbles.
What stood out? Devastating fires, the initial “excitement/novelty” of lock-down and working from home, the toilet paper crisis, zoom meetings, cooking more at home, cooking less because “we have to do our bit to support local business”, signing up to learn new stuff, not learning new stuff, walking around the block again and again, rainbows and chalk drawings, leggings, PJ's and tracky daks as must have fashion items, realising that nobody even notices you've been wearing the same clothes on rotation for the last 9 months, waving at neighbours, waving at strangers, waving at neighbours/strangers dogs, random household items on nature strips, free books everywhere, a morbid fascination with COVID stats and numbers, bad news addiction, good news addiction, covid calories, crying at “kindness pandemic” stories, crying at happy ending pet adoptions/saving stories, crying over burnt sour dough (hang on a minute, I never actually made any sour dough), cancelled plans, 5km radius, 25 km radius, woo hoo we can travel around Victoria, relief at double doughnuts, optimism.
Then there were the words and phrases that will be forever in our vocabulary. “You’re on mute” “stay home, stay safe” "social distancing" “mask-up” “unprecedented times” “it’s Ok to not be OK” “get on the beers.” Gotta love Dan! I’m missing his daily updates.
What will be remembered in 100 years? Will the world have learnt anything? Maybe it’s made us more resilient, better able to adapt to future challenges that will inevitably be thrown our way. The pandemic isn’t over, far-from it. 2021 isn’t some miraculous turning of a page, forgetting all about the previous year and going back to how things were. But there is hope and that’s a good thing.
Personally, I have loved working from home and definitely don’t want to go back into an office on a fulltime basis. Life has slowed down and I’m not in a rush to fill the calendar with stuff. I like pottering. I like taking Lola for a slow walk around the block. I like stopping and chatting to neighbours and patting random dogs. I still haven’t been to a big shopping centre and have no real desire to do so. I do miss travelling, but who know what international travel will look like over the next few years. For now, long weekends away are enough. State borders shutting down unexpectedly are frustrating, but you know what, people are just learning to change plans and be flexible.
This post was actually going to be about Christmas away in Hoddles Creek, but I got slightly side-tracked by looking back over the year and just writing random words.
Hard to believe that our little fur-baby Lola is 15 today. Seems like only yesterday that she joined our family weighing in at under 1kg. She might be getting older and slower, but she still brings us joy everyday 🐾🐾
With her hearing and eyesight going, she's become a bit grumpier (haven't we all) with other doggies we meet when out and about. Luckily most dogs seem to realise that she is a senior lady and just give her some space. Still on her allergy shots, cushings medication and her arthritis isn't going anywhere, but that doesn't stop her from enjoying going out or 2 or 3 little walks a day. And on longer walks, well the pram has come in handy.
Nothing wrong with her sense of smell and appetite though. I think she would have had a red hot go at eating the whole chicken if we'd let her.
So happy birthday Lola the Explorer - your exploring days might have changed, but you're still our gorgeous little girl 💟💖💗
Laz's Lane and Rita's Way
are community laneway projects in Carnegie and having lived there for a few
years, I’ve been meaning to go back and visit. What a wonderful surprise!
I think the story behind them
can best be described by the info found on site:
Laz Stark lived in Graceburn
Avenue in Carnegie and was a bit of a local legend. After Laz died in
2018, residents decided to turn the laneway into something special and named it
after him. 
Rita's Way is named after local artist, Rita Santucci, whose colourful mosaics and artwork can be found dotted all around Carnegie. Rita’s Way is a newer project, just on the opposite side of Koornang Road. It too includes lots of beautiful ceramic art, paintings, and planter boxes and is a work in progress.
You can read more about Rita in this article from The Age.
And if you want to know more follow the Carnegie Community Laneways Facebook page.
Always loved a good list and back in 2015, the year I turned 50, I started the 101 things to do in 2015 list. That then kind of expanded into a bucket list of all the places and things I wanted to do before I kick the bucket. Many things were unrealistic but adding to it was nearly as much fun as planning days out to tick things off.
For the
next few years, I added and ticked things off regularly. Then when I had a whole year off, it kind of
stalled a bit. That was back in
2019. As for 2020, well, let’s not talk
about that one.
So I spent some time re-visiting the lists. Removed a lot of things and started a new 52 things to do in 2021 list. Plenty of space to add things as the year progresses. Also as my word of the year is HEALTH, I though I’d better throw in a few things around that.
Still
working out what my year of HEALTH will look like – but if Rebel Wilson can dedicate
a year to feeling better, so can I. Of
course I need to lose some weight and get fitter. I just signed up to NOOM. Actually I started the 2-week trial 2 weeks
before Christmas (probably not the best time) and unsurprisingly, haven’t lost
any weight – but haven’t gained any, so that’s a win at this time of the year. My
4-month program has now kicked off and I’ve given myself to the end of April to
lose 10kg. Each day you work through a
few little psyche tips and quiz’s, weigh yourself and log your food. Which is
actually quite scary and makes you much more conscious of what you’re actually
eating and in my case that’s not enough vegetables and way too much crap.
Now in
the past, the only commitment I’ve really stuck with is avoiding the gym, so
now the challenge is to NOOM each day, walk daily, start the day with 30 sit
ups and 30 push ups and do 20 minutes of weights 4 times a week. Small steps.
More
veggies required. I’m going to cook
through a vegetarian cookbook, with my ultimate goal to stick to a 95%
vegetarian diet by mid-year.
What
else am I trying to incorporate into my year of health? Daily Meditation. Dabbled a few times, but pretty crap at
it. So just trying 10 minutes at a time.
Breathe in. Breathe out. Easy. Not.
Also decided
I want to go on a little retreat this year.
The ones in Byron Bay look lovely but are expensive and one slight
problem is that I don’t really like Yoga, apparently that’s OK. I also looked at Aruna Giri in Healesville – but then
saw that it involved silence and maybe (OK definitely) that’s not for me. I think I need to start off “lite” so have
decided that the 2-night Inner Joy Retreat at Happy Buddha in the Blue Mountains is the perfect beginners retreat. Now if only we’re allowed to travel……
I’m also trying to get back into the
habit of reading. Somewhere along the line last year, maybe because of no train
travel, my reading dropped right off. Which is a shame, because I love reading. So a
relaxed target of 26 books on the list. Oh
and I’m listening to random podcasts when I take Lola out for her little walk each
day.
Not sure where I'm actually going to find all the time to do the above and work, but I'm going to be so friggin healthy, calm and in the moment, that I won't give a fuck.
Turning 55 certainly made me think that if we’re going to hit the road soon as Grey Nomads, we better be ready.
New Year’s Resolutions, goals, plans for the year and lists. If 2020 taught us anything, it’s go ahead and make them – but be flexible and be prepared to change them. If my 2019 list of things to do was neglected, then what can be said about my 2020 one?
Time to
re-visit the lists – not to add anything, but to take things off. Why? Because 2020 has shown me that my bucket
lists need to be smaller. Do I really want to “Visit the Kennedy Space Centre
in Florida” or “Drive a Ferrari/Maserati/Lamborghini?” No. I don’t even like driving. Because 2020 was a year to re-evaluate what’s
important and what’s not.
I also like to choose a word for the year. My word for 2020 was BEGIN. Maybe it should have been STALLED. Do I keep the same word for a second year and take 2? Do I choose a new word?
I revisited
the great list of words I had last year, deleted a few, added a few and still
have a long list of possibilities:
|
FLEXIBLE |
RISE |
ENOUGH |
ACTION |
|
KINDNESS |
RESPECT |
DETERMINATION |
CHANGE |
|
CALM |
CARE |
STRENGTH |
DIRECTION |
|
CHALLENGE |
HEALTH |
LISTEN |
POSITIVITY |
|
FOCUS |
ACCEPT |
RELEASE |
CONFIDENCE |
|
BEGIN - 2020 |
FREEDOM - 2019 |
BRAVE |
DIRECTION |
|
HOPE |
ENERGY |
PRESENT |
LEARN |
Once again, I narrowed it down to 5 and then waited for one of them to jump out at me. I’m leaning towards HEALTH. A year to focus on improving my health. And I think I'll keep Begin - because I kind of feel it didn't get a chance.
I do love a good brownie. Preferably chewy in the middle and a bit crunchy around the edges. However, we are trying to cut down on sugar (it’s been 29 days since my last chocolate – although there have been a couple of chocolate biscuits), so when I spotted these “noshu” 99% Sugar Free brownies, I thought I’d give them a go.
So
last night, I decided I’d whip them up (just call me Sara Lee). Alarm bells rang when I did the spatula batter
taste test and was left with that artificial sweetener taste in my mouth. Panic
not I thought, smells OK, chocolatey, the things just need to cook.
30
minutes later, out they came. I
impatiently waited for them to cool a bit and then cut off my fave bit – the corner. Still warm. Mmmmm, get in my belly – guilt free
chocolate goodness.
I
managed to swallow the mouthful and was left with this awful taste in my mouth. The box lied. These are not delicious. These
are not fudgy. These are not brownies. I
should have mentioned that they are also gluten and grain free. And as for the suggestion on the box to add “Noshu
sugar free choc chips,” I don’t think it would have been any sort of
improvement.
Never
been a fan of artificial sweetener. Luckily,
I rarely drink soft drink, so I’ve never needed to grow to like Coke Zero.
As
for these “not-brownies” well you’d need to be either very, very desperate for
a chocolate hit or stranded on a deserted island. And that’s why I ended up having to eat 4
chocolate biscuits to get over the disappointment and get rid of the yuck taste
in my mouth.
I’m
not much of a baker (let’s face it, I’m not much of a cook), but I used to make
brownies from scratch until I discovered that not all packet brownie mixes are
bad. In fact, the Green’s Triple Choc
Fudge Brownies are delicious and a bargain when half price at Woolies!
Verdict? Stick to the real thing or skip them all together. Oh and if you want to make your own from scratch, this is
my favourite recipe:
125g butter
1/2 cup cocoa powder
3 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla essence
1 1/2 cup caster sugar
3/4 cup plain flour
1/2 cup of chopped walnuts
1. Preheat oven to 160
degrees and line a medium square baking dish with baking paper.
2. Melt the butter. Add
cocoa and beat until smooth.
3. Beat the eggs and
vanilla essence and add to the cocoa mixture.
4. Add the sugar and walnuts
and fold in the flour until just combined.
5. Bake for 25-30 minutes. Depending on how gooey you like them
My
current work set-up (dining table in the lounge) is right next to a large
window giving me a good surveillance point for all the comings and goings of
neighbours and their dogs. I feel like like a Spanish Abuela peering over a
geranium covered balcony. I recognise the
regulars by their dogs rather than their mask covered faces and occasionally
wave when they happen to glance in. We’re all nosey like that – looking in
at windows.
Read
the above quote today and it got me thinking about all this walking. Maybe not
today because the weather was crap, but on most days, there is more
foot traffic than ever before. Of
course, with our limited freedom, it seems a shame to waste it and it’s a small
attempt at reducing the extra chocolate calories going straight to my arse. Sounds right in theory, not sure my input is
being offset by my output.
All
this additional walking around our 5km must be a good thing right? We’re meeting neighbours with a wave and a
muffled hello. Emilio has spent so much time out in the garden/garage that he’s
picked up several new clients and had a lovely lady drop off a bottle of Spanish
wine – she has a collie.
So
if Nietzsche got it right, there should be a lot of great thoughts and ideas
out there right? Could it be that over the next few years we’ll see a huge
surge in - well everything really. Or are
people just walking about thinking what’s for dinner, dreaming of their next
holiday and wondering how the hell they’re going to survive any more home
schooling before turning into complete alcoholics.
Some
people make phone calls (pays listening in, never know what juicy titbits you
might discover about Ms Jones on the corner), some listen to podcasts and some
to music. I now have a fancy new pair of wireless, noise cancelling ear buds
thanks to Emi, but I only ever wear one ‘cos I worry about being reversed into
and missing out on those juicy conversations.
I’ve been trying to get better at keeping in touch and making a phone
call whilst on my walks, but sometimes the lure of late 70’s/80’s music is too
strong and I have to play it – loud as possible. I like to sing- a-long and maybe break out a
dance move. Do people look and think,
that’s the crazy lady from number 5? Probably not. People are caught up in
their own lives to really give a second glance at anyone else. Unless you’re
not wearing a mask – then you get the “death stare.” I religiously wear my mask.
Crikey,
side tracked. Crikey? I don’t think I’ve ever used that word before. Where did
that come from? Maybe because Bindi Irwin was in the news this week with a
gender reveal. Bit strange describing
the size of her unborn daughter as a hatchling Aldabra tortoise. How big is that? Are we talking baby mice
size or new born pug puppies? Anyway,
all the best to them.
Back
to walking. Sometime during my year of unemployment/freedom, I came across the
wonderful Women on Walks group run by the inspiring Annie. I wrote a story about the group a while ago. With group walks currently off the table, Annie
came up with a plan to keep us walking and connected by setting little
challenges and counting virtual kilometres.
The
first lot of challenges were taking photos of “things.” Gates, door, paths that
sort of thing. All of a sudden I started noticing things I’d walked
past countless times before and paying attention. We weren’t just
walking around, we were on a super important mission. We moved onto numbered letterboxes. Low numbers are easier than the high ones. The
disappointment was real when after walking 15 minutes along a street, the
number was missing. I found myself walking
down streets I never knew existed. I even got a little bit lost one day and
admit to having to look at google maps. And now we are just finishing off
letters. So much creativity and
virtually we’ve been around Australia, New Zealand, over to China and ended up
in Portugal. All our stops have been
documented with awesome info and pics of all the places we visited along the
way.
Looking
forward to meeting up with all the WOW’s on a real walk soon. In the meantime,
I’ll keep walking and waiting for all those great thoughts to just come flooding
in.
