Handover Day

Something to ponder …

I'M NO LONGER INVITED EVERYWHERE... BUT I INVITE MYSELF INTO MY OWN LIFE

Before, I was at every table.

Meals, parties, raised voices over wine.

They called me, they wanted me.

My laughter had its place,

my hands were useful,

my story mattered.

And then slowly...

the invitations slowed down.

Not all at once,

no.

It's more discreet than that, the distance.

People think of you,

but afterward.

They talk to you,

but too late.

We love you, of course...

but from afar.

So I stopped waiting for someone to make room for me.

I started making my own.

I set the table for myself,

with a cloth napkin.

I give myself flowers,

not to decorate,

but to thank myself for still being there.

I walk slowly through the market aisles,

I choose my vegetables like one chooses jewelry.

I invite myself into the day,

into the air,

into the light that streams through the window.

I'm no longer invited everywhere.

But I'm at home in my silence.

I'm comfortable in my armchair.

I'm awaited by my tea.

I invite myself into my own life.

And I'm good there.

Really good.

Today I finally handed over the wedding photos and received the final payment. Happy to have that mini chapter of my life over with.

BGWLBH and I spent the day in The Bay.

We were home by 2pm.

Nothing exciting happened after that.

I watched part of an old 1950s movie “Father of the Bride” with Spencer Tracey and Elizabeth Taylor.

I played with Harley.

I made myself a roast pork, tomato and onion sandwich for dinner (fend for yourself night).

We’ve watched the football. So far, a much more successful attempt at tipping by me. At the last minute, I heard that Tom Trbojevic was back in the Manly team, so I changed my tip from Penrith to Manly. So pleased I did because with ten minutes to go, Manly are winning 26-10. 

I shouldn’t speak too soon because Penrith have a habit of coming back and scoring late.

The nights are cooler now and I can open my bedroom window for a cool breeze. Much nicer sleeping weather.

I have one day left for the 52Frames photo this week and the theme is “Cramped” so I guess part of my Sunday will be taken up with that.

Now it’s time to sleep.

Nite all.

Friday ANZAC

A funny to start the day …

I mowed the lawn today, and after doing so

I sat down and had a cold beer. 

The day was really quite beautiful, and the drink facilitated some deep thinking.

My wife walked by and asked me what I was doing,

and I said, "Nothing." 

The reason I said "nothing" instead of saying "just thinking" is because she then would have asked, "About what?"

At that point I would have had to explain that men are deep thinkers about various topics, which would lead to other questions.

Finally I pondered an age old question: Is giving birth more painful than getting kicked in the nuts?

Women always maintain that giving birth is way more painful than a guy getting kicked in the nuts, but how could they know?

Well, after another beer, and some more heavy deductive thinking, I have come up with an answer to that question.

Getting kicked in the nuts is more painful than having a baby, and even though I obviously couldn't really know, here is the reason for my conclusion:

A year or so after giving birth, a woman will often say, "It might be nice to have another child."

But you never hear a guy say, "You know, I think I would like another kick in the nuts."

I rest my case.

Time for another beer.  Then maybe a nap.

🤣

Today was ANZAC day.

As I do with most subjects, I have strong opinions about ANZAC day and the way we ignore the most important and overwhelming facts about war and the loss of innocent lives - ALL of the victims of ALL of the wars and the way we’ve all been convinced/brainwashed/conditioned to only focus on our loved ones who fought and died as heroes “protecting” our lives and lifestyles.

What I believe we should be focusing on and fighting with all of our might about, is holding the “powers that be” accountable for those lost lives.

The giant corporations who make billions from war - the war profiteers - like arms manufacturers, defence contractors, oil companies, essential goods (food water medical supplies) providers. As always, pharmaceutical companies profit from war in a big way.

ALL of the above make billions from war and are not in the slightest bit concerned with the death toll.

The USA made $318billion in revenue during 2023 just from arms production. That’s more than half of the global arms profit.

Not one of those wars were on our doorstep or threatening our lifestyles but our leaders decided to send our loved ones to risk their lives for a fight that wasn’t ours. Australia hasn’t been threatened since 1942, that’s 83 years, yet just under 1,000 men and women have died fighting in other wars since then.

Almost 3,900 were injured and an unknown number suffered significant mental health issues, many of which resulted in suicide.

While all of these war profiteers continue to lobby government leaders and heavily involve themselves in the decision making processes, nobody is ever held accountable for our losses and we just meekly focus on our “heroes” and complain loudly about the youth of today who don’t respect the tradition.

We should ALL be protesting loudly about past atrocities, lobbying our leaders to STOP sending our people to fight wars that are not ours to fight and all of those who profit from our losses should provide compensation (from their huge profits) to families who have suffered, not just lives lost, but physical injuries, mental and emotional injuries, loss from suicide and any other negative outcome resulting from war.

I don’t understand how we accept our loved ones being deployed and then celebrate their loss on ANZAC day.

Protecting our borders, coastline and country is the only act of war that should be practiced by our soldiers.

Anyway, that is just a small taste of my opinion - I will stop there.

Today, I used the morning to finalise the wedding photos.

I put the finishing touches on the slide show and taught myself how to add my own music to it. On two flash drives I put the slide show and a file of 170 photos ready to deliver tomorrow.

It’s been a long arduous process that I both enjoyed and detested at the same time!

Apart from playing with Harley and spending 45 mins on the phone with Best Cousin in the World, I watched 3 games of football (not doing so well in the footy tipping this week).

Now it’s time to sleep.

Nite all.

Anniversary Play Date

I had a lovely day in The Bay with Adoring Husband celebrating our 15th wedding anniversary.

Our first stop was Stocklands where we had coffee and a pot of tea as we waited until AH’s hair appointment at 9.30am.

While he did that, I wandered through KMart and found myself some black capri pants, the quality of which, is too good for KMart!

From there we headed to Tinkerbell’s where I purchased a lapis lazuli pendant with a touch of jade, 3 small crystal spheres, a gift for BGWLBH (whose birthday is in less than two weeks) and a beautiful journal …

I also put a gorgeous jade pendant with a peridot stone on layby and fell in love with a pearl and shell pendant displayed in the window (which remains there).

Ricardo’s was our restaurant of choice for lunch where we both ordered lobster from a young saccharin sweet server. She did an excellent job, but overdid it a bit with the sweet personality.

We did an Office Works stop where I found a box that looks like a book, some snoopy stickers and a couple of usb sticks.

Harley was almost out of bones so we visited my favourite butcher to restock, did quick stop at Eli Waters and were home by 2pm.

It was a very pleasant day which we enjoyed very much.

For dinner, AH cooked snags on the barbecue while I prepared a couple of light salads.

I’ve just watched my Broncos annihilate the Bulldogs when I bloody tipped against them! 

Now I’m ready to sleep.

Nite all.

Birthday Complete

Well … I had a lovely birthday and spent most of the day in my room.

I got up at 8am to open my gifts, make tea and take Harley out to play.

I crumbed and cooked my prawns, then took them to my bedroom where I stayed until 3pm when I was required to join Adoring Husband and BGWLBH to blow out a candle on my cake slices and have tea from my new teapot …

I received the teapot, a bracelet and two manifesting crystals from BGWLBH. 

AH and I have a date tomorrow when we’ll purchase my birthday gift and our anniversary present to each other, followed by lunch at Ricardo’s.

BGWLBH bought a cooked chook and a Greek salad home for her and AH to have for dinner, so I didn’t have to cook.

We played trivia for an hour.

I received a phone call from my Aunty Jackie who is 82yrs old and we chatted for an hour. 

I received a phone call from Vegan Chickie and we chatted for 90 minutes.

I received a phone call from my Aunty Fay who is 81yrs old and we chatted for 30 mins.

I received a text from Number One Son.

I received a text from my niece KD.

I received a text from my sister.

I received a text from The Gypsy.

I received an email from Heart of Gold.

I received Facebook messages from the very few friends I have on my new Facebook account.

There are a few people that I hoped to hear from but didn’t.

Now, I guess I’ll be rushing headlong towards 70!

Time to sleep now.

Nite all.

My Special Day

I slept poorly last night.

I have no idea why, but I tossed and turned ALL night and couldn’t get comfortable in the bed.

When the alarm went off at 7am, I had been awake for a couple of hours.

My phone had a heap of notifications and even though I didn’t hear any ‘pings’ during the night, I guess they could have been the reason I had such disturbed sleep.

Anyway, it didn’t seem to affect my day which was spent in The Bay with BGWLBH.

It’s my birthday tomorrow (or today as you’re reading this) and I am 65 years old. A bit of a milestone.

My plan is to spend the day in bed - not a “oh I feel so sorry for myself” day - it will be a “I love myself and this is exactly how I want to spend the day” kind of day.

I purchased a truckload of junk food and some raw prawn cutlets. BGWLBH purchased 6 pieces of GF cake of various flavours and Adoring Husband will be cooking my meals and waiting on me hand and foot.

Queen for a day!

The day after, on 24th, it will be AH’s and my 15th wedding anniversary.

We are booked into Ricardo’s Restaurant for a lobster lunch and we’ll visit Tinkerbell’s to buy some crystal (which represents 15 years) afterwards.

In June, it will be 22 years since we met! Doesn’t time fly!

Tonight I made nachos for dinner - nice and easy - and we all played online trivia for an hour.

Now I’m snuggled up in bed ready to try for a better nights sleep.

Nite all.

End of Easter

I had to rush a photo for this week’s 52Frames theme of “over/under-exposed”

I’ve submitted the worst photo ever, but at least I’m keeping my streak of submitted pics up!

I had some great ideas in my head but no motivation to leave the house to put them into practice, so really, my failure was self inflicted.

After many attempts in all areas of the house and yard, I decided on a section of one my pieces of art and under exposed it as if it was dark under the ocean …

I’m a bit embarrassed to share it here, but you know, take the good with the bad.

I watched two recorded Twilight Zone episodes and last week’s Taskmaster until my quiz shows came on, then I got a quick Harley play in before the football started. 

The football result was disappointing for Adoring Husband and I, but only one person in the tipping comp tipped correctly, so it didn’t have a huge affect on things.

Thankfully, I had made two lasagnas last night, so all I had to do was turn on the oven and top up the leftover salad for dinner.

Farmer Wants a Wife started tonight!

No meditation tomorrow.

Maybe a Bay day???

Time to sleep.

Nite all.

It's Easter Sunday

This is exactly what I was talking about last week …

Today I chose to wash my bedding. 

The 'thing' about washing my bedding, is that what seems like a good idea in the morning, is often a terrible idea by the afternoon.

I've told you before about the real struggle that I have on 'sheet washing day' - pulling off the king-sized bedding, the 6 x pillow cases and 2 x body pillows and the super king-sized duvet.

We have a big washing machine but the bedding doesn't all fit in it so it takes two loads to wash.

It's then a struggle to hang everything on the line, but the easiest part is taking them off the line dry.

While I feel motivated for this chore in the morning, by the time I have to remake the bed in the afternoon/evening, my energy AND motivation levels have reduced considerably so the effort involved is beyond blah.

At the time, it feels almost like I wish it was the end of the world.

It takes at least 30 minutes to remake my bed because my mattress is freaking huge and deep and heavy and putting all of those pillow cases back on the pillows, rearranging 6 x pillows, 2 x body pillows and 5 cushions, plus the duvet and the throw rug.

Ugh.

The reward, however, is that lovely feeling of sliding in between fresh clean sheets.

While I waited for my sheets to wash, I watched the kids movie, "Harold and the Purple Crayon" which I really loved. 

I spent some time in the kitchen making a raspberry/blueberry cheesecake and a lasagna for dinner. The lasagna was easy because I'd already prepared the meat sauce last week. I served it with a garden salad and delicious dressing.

Then the footy was on. It was a more successful day for tipping so I am still 8 points in front.

That was my day and now, after all that bed unmaking and making, I need to sleep haha.

Nite all.