Very Tired

AGING....

You grow old, they told me, you are no longer you, you become distant, sad and lonely.

I didn't answer...

I don't get old, I get wise.

I stopped being what others like me to become, but what I like to be.

I stopped seeking the acceptance of others and accepted myself.

I have left behind the lying mirrors that deceive mercilessly.

- No, I'm not getting old.

I just become more selective with places, people, customs and ideologies.

I have let go of attachments, unnecessary pain, toxic people, sick souls and rotten hearts... bitterness and unhappiness are not for me, I release them for my health.

I'm ditching party nights for learning and embracing insomnia.

I stopped living stories and started writing them, I threw aside the imposed stereotypes.

I no longer carry eyeshadow in my bag, now I have a book that beautifies my mind.

I exchanged wine glasses for coffee cups, forgot to idealize life and started living it.

- No, I'm not getting old.

I carry freshness in my soul, innocence in my heart, and it discovers me daily.

I have in my hands the tenderness of a cocoon that, when opened, will spread its wings to other places unreachable for those who seek only the frivolity of the material.

I have that charming smile on my face when I observe the simplicity of nature.

I carry in my ears the chirping of the birds that delight me and accompany the walk.

- No, I'm not getting old.

I become selective, betting my time on the intangible, rewriting the story I've been told, rediscovering worlds, saving those old books I've forgotten half open.

I'm becoming more cautious, I've stopped the outbursts that teach me nothing, I'm learning to talk about transcendent things, I'm learning to cultivate knowledge, plant ideals and falsify my destiny.

- No, I'm not getting old.

I begin to live who I really am.~

~ Bianka Luz 

My favourite girl, Sabalenka, won the women’s Australian Open tennis final.

That made me happy.

Between Harley play times, I watched a couple of Christmas movies during the day.

Adoring Husband is still sick so he’s relegated to his bedroom.

BGWLBH and I both have a sore throat so we are feeding everything known to mankind into our bodies trying to fight it.

I made lasagne and a side salad for dinner.

Now I need to sleep.

Nite all.

Oh! Aussie Day!

You start dying slowly ;

 if you do not travel,

 if you do not read,

 If you do not listen to the sounds of life,

 If you do not appreciate yourself.

 You start dying slowly :

 When you kill your self-esteem,

 When you do not let others help you.

 You start dying slowly ;

 If you become a slave of your habits,

 Walking everyday on the same paths…

 If you do not change your routine,

 If you do not wear different colours

 Or you do not speak to those you don’t know.

 You start dying slowly :

 If you avoid to feel passion

 And their turbulent emotions;

 Those which make your eyes glisten

 And your heart beat fast.

 You start dying slowly :

 If you do not risk what is safe for the uncertain

 If you do not go after a dream

 If you do not allow yourself

 At least once in your lifetime

 To run away from sensible advice

 Don't let yourself die slowly

 Do not forget to be happy!

~ Pablo Neruda

Chilean poet who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1971

I am very sad tonight that Djokovic lost his semi final match against Sinner 😥

I am now watching the other semi final between Medvedev and Zverev. I’m going for the underdog - Zverev.

I enjoyed a 3 hour ZOOM call with The Gypsy this afternoon. It was like a counselling session and a card reading. Very interesting.

Adoring Husband is still ill so I think I’ll be cleaning for him in the morning and probably for the next week.

We had our usual chicken wings for dinner and AH still has a good appetite so I’m not too concerned.

I hear my bed calling now so …

Nite all.

Cyclonic Conditions

The Last American Vagabond (an interview with a pathologist who came out of retirement to study, research and investigate the damage caused by Covid vaccines)

The cyclone has passed over my sister with minimal damage - although she has been bunkered down in a secure location and doesn’t know if her own place is still intact or not.

They lost power a couple hours ago but I suspect that this was NOT a category 3 cyclone as reported because I’ve seen a number of posts on Facebook from people in Townsville and surrounding locations declaring that there was not much in it.

These people have experienced cyclones in the past so I believe they are a good judge.

Anyway I am relieved that the worst is over and she is safe.

I did some art today! I added more to the round canvas …

It’s getting there.

Slowly.

I want to try a portrait next but I’d like to finish this one first.

Dinner was crispy skinned chicken with leftover carbonara, fried rice and I made a garden salad.

I watched the women’s semi finals in the tennis. My favourite, Sabalenka, is through to the finals and that’s all I care about.

Tomorrow night is the men’s semis and of course I’m hoping Djokovic makes it into the final.

Time for sleep.

Nite all.

It’s Coming

Cyclone Kirrily is on its way to Townsville.

That’s where my sister lives. Well actually she is on Magnetic Island which is east of Townsville so she’ll get hit first.

Thankfully it’s not a high grade category cyclone and should only be a category one, “maybe” a category two by the time it hits land, but Squirt and Pelican have moved everything from ‘outside’ their unit to ‘inside’ their unit, so there literally is no room to move.

They will be staying with friends in a house on the island where they feel safer than their little unit.

I will keep in contact. At the moment, she’s exhausted from moving everything so hopefully she will be able to sleep soundly for at least a few hours.

If it was me, I know for certain I’d have left the island on the last ferry and headed south. After cyclone Oswald in 2013 which had been downgraded to a tropical low by the time it reached us, the winds and the tornado and the damage, have scarred me for life and I will never ride out a cyclone in my future.

I feel for Squirt.

I spent today in The Bay with BGWLBH doing a fairly big grocery shop, picking up the FROG box and renewing my lotto tickets. I plan on winning a share of $150million on Thursday!

As far as the tennis is concerned, I’m watching a freakishly good match between the No 2 player, Alcaraz and the No 6 player Sverev.

Sverev won the first two sets. Alcaraz just won the third. This could be a five setter and I’ll HAVE to stay awake to watch it!

It requires my undivided attention so …

Nite all.

Meditation Day

Sea level is rising at Sydney Harbour.

Tide gauges, which continuously measure water height over time relative to land, are a reliable way to determine the extent of long-term sea level rise in an area, according to scientists.

This method has been used to measure sea level at Fort Denison, located in Sydney Harbour, since the late 1800s.

That long-term tide gauge “has recorded a gradual ... but fairly consistent rise in sea level of 0.1mm/yr or 3 inches/century,” according to Gary Griggs, a professor of earth sciences at UC Santa Cruz. “That rate appears to have increased over the past decade.”

Correct me if I’m wrong here but 0.1mm/year works out at a millimetre a decade and a centimetre over a century not three inches or 7.5 centimetres. 

Sorry Fact-checkers but the joke is on you. One centimetre over a century would have to be well within the margin of error and probably less than the surrounding land rise.

I wore a castor oil wrap around my torso last night. I woke at around 3am and unwrapped it because it felt like it was time.

I’m going to wear this wrap every night for a week to see what it does.

BGWLBH had hard lumps in the glands of her neck so she did the castor oil wrap on her neck. The lumps disappeared within a few days. 

I’m hoping the wrap will cleanse/detox/clear my ongoing abdominal/digestive issues because apparently (and our grandparents knew this) organic, hexane free castor oil is the cure all for everything.

I know that it feels beautiful on my skin and nails, so after I’ve finished rubbing it on my belly and in my belly button, I use what’s left over on my hands to massage into my face, neck and hands.

Meditation and Qi Gong were fabulous this morning and I was home earlier than usual because The Gypsy had plans immediately after.

I made up a recipe for home made sausage rolls. Lamb mince, silver beet, finely chopped sun dried tomatoes, onion, finely grated carrot, one finely chopped bacon tail (with the fat), half teaspoon chilli flakes, a teaspoon of mango quandong relish, salt, pepper, 1 egg. 

GF puff pastry (from Coles). They are rectangular so lay the sheet flat on a lightly floured bench top, put the mince mixture in a long sausage shape about the one third mark and wrap the pastry over it using egg wash to stick the pastry together. Egg wash the top and sprinkle sesame seeds over the top. I used a two pronged fork to pierce holes in the top.

I cut each roll into thirds.

Cooked in 200°C oven for 45 minutes.

I wish I’d taken pics because they looked and tasted bloody delicious! Adoring Husband went back for seconds, as did I!

I watched Djokovic win his match against the US player, Fritz - Yay!

I watched favourite female player Sabalenka win her match.

Right now, I’m watching Sinner (seeded 4) and Rublev (seeded 5) play their quarter final. I think Sinner will win easily. He’s already won the first set. I WANT Rublev to win - only because I think it will be an easier win for  Djokovic against him in the semi final lol.

I made a pasta carbonara (from scratch) with salad for dinner which went down very well.

I’m guessing that I won’t know the outcome of this tennis match until morning. I’m turning off the light and setting the TV timer so that I fall asleep to the sound of the game.

Nite all.

Lovely Visitors

“Before I was six years old, my grandparents and my mother had taught me that if all the green things that grow were taken from the earth, there could be no life. If all the four-legged creatures were taken from the earth, there could be no life. If all the winged creatures were taken from the earth, there could be no life. If all our relatives who crawl and swim and live within the earth were taken away, there could be no life. But if all the human beings were taken away, life on earth would flourish. That is how insignificant we are.”

Russell Means, Oglala Lakota Nation (November 10, 1939 – October 22, 2012)

Harley play (always a priority), a 2.5 hour ZOOM call with The Gypsy, visitors from Sydney, tennis, nachos and soft tacos for dinner and an enquiry about Jack Russell puppies.

It’s still HOT.

😩

Meditation tomorrow so it’s time to sleep.

Nite all.

Aussie Gone

One of the saddest lessons of history is this: 

If we’ve been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. We’re no longer interested in finding out the truth. The bamboozle has captured us. It’s simply too painful to acknowledge, even to ourselves, that we’ve been taken. Once you give a charlatan power over you, you almost never get it back.

~Carl Sagan

(Book: The Demon-Haunted World [ad] https://amzn.to/3U7uzGF)

My tennis day began with an exciting and rapid win by Djokovic over Mannarino.

Then disappointment as the 16yr old Russian girl, Andreeva, was beaten in 3 sets. She put up a good fight and did well to reach the quarter finals.

Happy that Sabalenka won easily.

I wasn’t really invested in the other matches, except for the Aussie, Alex De Minaur, who lost in five sets against Rublev. He played well, but not well enough. Maybe next year.

It’s still bloody hot, but the good news is that the cyclone won’t be directly hitting us. We’ll get plenty of rain, as a result of the cyclone, but it will make landfall somewhere around Bowen, which is a good safe distance away from us.

Duck with spicy orange sauce, mash and garlic spinach/carrot/tomato/shallot mix for dinner.

It’s almost 11pm and I’m ready for sleep.

Nite all.