If one of your late ancestors were to come back from the dead and join you for dinner, what things about your family would this person find the most shocking?
Back in the day, there was a saying that children should be seen and not heard. In our family all members are heard particularly around the dinner table. Our guests, particularly our children’s friends, frequently state that they can’t wait to see where the conversation at dinner goes to this time. There are many things that surprise them:
That we eat together regularly
The topics of our conversations—anything is possible
How animated our conversations get and that everyone joins in
The laughter created is very welcoming
Once they go over the shock of not having a nice quiet meal with the family, I think my ancestors would get involved with some horror stories form their own time to add to the eclectic mix of conversions on the day. It is common for us to continue our crazy conversations all night by staying around the table chatting or while we play cards together to finish the evening. The following acrostic poem describes our conversations well.
It has been over two months since our last coffee catch-up and life has been pretty busy.
If we were having coffee I would tell you I’m feeling a little confused. I began preparing this post as I usually do, by adding links to earlier posts. However, this time, with my new WordPress version the result is a little different. I don’t know if it’s the same for everyone or only WordPress.org blogs. My next question is can anyone re-blog my posts now as this has been a problem in the past and it would be great to have it changed.
If we were having coffee I would tell you about Berry Christmas. My sister and her family do an excellent job of hosting the event—decorating their home in theme colours, preparing gift bags for everyone and organising and preparing food. We had a great day reconnecting as a family—sharing the joys and dealing with the dramas of the past year. Christmas is definitely my favourite holiday, although because I live in a different city south of my family on Christmas day it takes 3 hours to get there. I don’t enjoy the travel but Berry Christmas was worth it.
If we were having coffee I would tell you that over the Christmas period I was initially frustrated that my blog wasn’t working because of problems with my Jetpack. I tried to fix the problem, however when I couldn’t and Jetpack staff where on vacation I decided to surrender to the moment and use my time more efficiently doing other things.
If we were having coffee I would tell you how much I enjoyed my husbands and my date to the city over the Christmas New Year period. We decided to catch the ferry into Sydney. The trip along the Parramatta River takes about an hour and it was a glorious day. As it had been several years since we had caught the ferry we enjoyed every moment. We then had lunch at a little pizza restaurant at the Rocks before spending the afternoon wandering around Sydney’s Botanical Gardens. We saw many places I had never been before. It was a great way to round off 2015.
If we were having coffee I would tell you how excited I was that my first sugar cookie Christmas tree worked out so well. I iced it a blue-purple to match our berry theme and at the end of the day most of it was eaten.
If we were having coffee I would tell you about the champagne fountain trial on Christmas Day. The science of what was the best way to do it kept many people entertained and in the end they were proud of their working efforts.
If we were having coffee I would tell you about the huge moon on New Years Eve that was as mesmerizing as the Sydney Fireworks. Unfortunately, I choose not to take my camera as I am not good at photographing fireworks—a rookie error I won’t make again. The fireworks were fantastic and our viewing place, a hill, is only a 10 minute walk from my house. While we couldn’t see the fireworks coming off the bottom of the Sydney Harbour Bridge we could see the top of it through the trees. We could also see the fireworks going off up and down the Parramatta River and from the other side of Sydney. At times it was like 360 degrees of fireworks. Once the live fireworks have ended we went home to watch the taped version on television and catch the ones we missed.
If we were having coffee I would tell you how much I enjoyed the second week of my holidays being a full-time writer. I spend many hours everyday working on the last stages of editing of my book. With the amount of work I did I was hoping to finish it but no I still have work to do. It is getting exciting however, as it nears completion and the next part of its journey begins. Just when I thought I had the chapters in the right order, I decided to rearrange the early chapters again and to my surprise the order I have changed it to is my second order. I think my lesson is trust your gut.
If we were having coffee I would tell you how excited I was on Christmas Eve to win the hamper at the local bottle shop. I had gone in the draw after buying two bottles of champagne for an early family Christmas party a few days earlier. It was fun investigating my laundry basket full of goodies and deciding who to give each item to.
If we were having coffee Iwould ask you what you have done and how you have been since we last met. Let me know in the comments what you have been up to.
Tell us about a time when you were left on your own, to fend for yourself in an overwhelming situation — on the job, at home, at school. What was the outcome?
I believe learning by doing is the only way to grow—it teaches skills that are never forgotten. Initially the situation may appear overwhelming particularly if it is based on dealing with a sudden crisis, however by using St Francis of Assisi’s quote I have found a way through many tough times.
The whole idea of sink or swim to me bring to mind pictures of young children being forced into the water by their parents as an act of love. The parents need to make sure they learn to get back to the side of the pool and save their life, if they fall into a swimming pool without an adult watching to rescue them. Initially, there is a lot of screaming and protesting. Then as the young child listens to the instructions, they are rewarded by the freedom of moving unaided in the water. They can swim and they are so proud. Nobody remembers the fear—they remember the success.
What are your thoughts on aging? How will you stay young at heart as you get older?
I believe has two choices when it comes to ageing.
Embrace it
Succumb to it
Personally, I choose to embrace it. My life has become my own since I turned 50. Suddenly I can do many things off limits before because the families priorities needed to be different. My time and money is my own so now I can:
Buy what I like when I like—not that I do but I can
Travel overseas
Go away for weekends with little notice
Eat out for meals without considering the cost
Spend hours blogging
Spend more hours writing my book
Cook when it suits me
Start planning my retirement
Have an I don’t want to do anything day whenever I need to
Control my own sleep
Yes this old body of mine can’t do everything it used to, but my mind can do a lot more. Over my 50+ years I have developed a lot of coping strategies and emotional intelligence that I plan on using to keep my body and mind as young and active as they can be for my next 50 years. As my brain like all of the muscles in my body needs to be used daily to keep it working I will continue to focus on the positive and follow Martha Stewart’s top 10 tips on how to age well.
Eat well
Maintain a healthy weight
Be active
Get quality sleep
Wear sunscreen
Collaborate with a good primary care doctor (GP) regularly
Remember those lovely genies who grant wishes? Well, you’re one and you’ve just been emancipated from your restrictive lamp. You can give your three wishes to whomever you want. Who do you give your three wishes to, and why?
After weeks of preparation the Coates Hire Sydney 500 starts today at Sydney Olympic Park. I was lucky enough to spend a few hours yesterday watching the last practice event. I took many photos from various angles and vantage points however in the end photographing cars speeding at over 200 kilometres an hour isn’t easy to get right.
The action continues off track down the centre with many displays and car style shops and merchandising vans. There was literally something there for most tastes.
Tell us about the top five places you’ve always wanted to visit.
When planning my holidays I like to divide my time between Australia as well as international travel. For this reason I am going to write a buckets list for each.
Australia
North Coast of Western Australia
North Queensland
Tasmanian Wilderness
Northern Territory
South Australia
International
Alaska
England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales
Iceland
More of Canada
More of New Zealand
Starting with the South Island of New Zealand early next year these places are the basis of our next 10 year travel plan. I love the planning and discovery stage of new adventures as I gather the information and start to think about what I will see when my day finally comes and I’m off to great places.
Oprah arrives in Australia today so I thought it might be fun to take some of her sage advice and make it this weeks Wisdom Wednesday’s quote.
Oprah’s quote is very powerful and one I agree with. Sometimes despite the grass seeming to be greener on the other side making a decision to cross or remove any option of crossing in the future is difficult. Sometimes you have to get advice from the experts, weigh up the pros and cons and then take a leap of faith. Either way it’s not simple. But to move forward you have to make a choice—one way or the other.
It is 12 months ago today that my husband and I accidentally discovered Mallard Cottage, Quidi Vidi, Newfoundland, Canada. We were walking in the snow enjoying the picturesque scenery as the city turned from green to white, when we arrived at our destination—Quidi Vidi Village—a small fishing hamlet just outside St John’s. We arrived mid afternoon and hungry from all the walking decided to stop at Mallard Cottage for some coffee and cake, before continuing on our journey. Boy were we surprised. Coffee and cake were $10 from memory for—all you can eat homemade old-fashioned cakes. There were about 10-12 to choose from. They were amazing. We sat and relaxed for over an hour between us tasting at least a small amount of every cake—okay I admit it some thing more than once—because we could. Unfortunately we were too busy eating to take any photos, sorry.
While we were eating our cakes the friendly wait staff began telling us of the properties history. Mallard Cottage is one of the oldest wooden buildings in North America. Originally built-in the early 1700’s it is older than our country—Australia. This felt weird to think about given the beauty of the restoration and how perfectly it blended old and new. It also turns out that our accidental find has developed a reputation as one of the best restaurants in St John’s area. No wonder we want to go back. If your ever in the area, it is well worth the visit.
In your native language which letter or character describes you best? Why?
I have always associated with the middle letter of the alphabet — M. It is the first letter of my name as well as many other things I relate to.
Mother
Mummy
Marsupials
Mentor
Manager
Mickey Mouse
Marmite
Moet
Motivation
Meat
Mountains
Motoring
Memory
Madonna
Moment
Marmalade
Macaroons
Mindfulness
Mental Health
What is your greatest extravagance?
These days I would spend the most money on books. I love bookshops especially secondhand ones and regularly several spend hours in them and buy many books in one hit.
Do you prefer exercising your mind or your body? How frequently do you do either?
I exercise my mind daily at work so I enjoy stopping it from working with some quiet time. One way I enjoy doing this is through getting physical. Time limits the amount of exercise I do and I do miss spending time at the beach. Bring on retirement so I have more time to exercise.
List at least 5 things that makes you laugh.
Spending time with family and friends.
The Golden Girls
Dancing
Television shows I watched as a child e.g. The Brady Bunch
Watch young children and animals play
What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?
Our speech night went well at Toastmasters and this week I am looking forward to several laughs catching up with family.
