Getting My Art On

I had a very pleasant day at the shop today.

Not a lot of sales, but strangely there were four different groups that came in at different times, each with one or two men who wanted to have long and detailed chats about art and photography while their friends and partners wandered through the shop!

It’s not unusual for a man to want to chat about such things, but four in one day is VERY unusual!

I spent most of the day setting up the training room for our art workshop on Saturday and even had time for a little practice ... I didn’t take a photo.

Two things to share today.

A dust storm rolled into Griffith on Wednesday evening ...

I remember them well. Close your windows every time you go out because you never know when these buggers are suddenly going to appear and whip red dust through your house! Made that mistake once ... only once!

This is the original track of the cyclone that’s going to form, but apparently it’s going to go even further south and northern NSW will be in the firing line.

I headed to the club tonight and had another nice win on the pokies which will pay for my Goddess Fortuna statue that I ordered through Tinkerbells today.

She is going to bring even more good fortune into my life!

Now I’m off to bed so that I can be fresh for art tomorrow.

Nite all.

Practice

Adoring Husband and I spent a good portion of the day in The Bay purchasing supplies for the paint workshop this weekend.

I found some great bargains!

I had a bit of a practice on the jellyfish this afternoon ...

These are on small canvases and we’ll be using much bigger ones on Saturday.

We’ve had more beautiful rain overnight and today. Everything is green and lush again BUT apparently there is a cyclone forming in the Coral Sea and if it does form, it will head straight towards us!

The only good thing about a cyclone is that some drought affected areas out west might receive some much needed rain.

Otherwise the idea of a cyclone at this time scares me!

Also, it’s rotten timing! We have plans for the next month! We don’t want a cyclone forcing us to cancel these plans!

I’ve just received a message that The Motivator is not well 🤒 so that means I’ll be working tomorrow. Time for bed!!

Get well soon TM 😘

Nite all.

Peaceful Epiphany

I had an epiphany at meditation this morning.

It will be a game changer.

More on that when it’s actually changing the game.

As part of her kinergetics training, The Motivator tested me for some allergies and intolerances this morning. Strangely, gluten wasn’t as bad as yeast, MSG and fluoride. It was just a quick run through because time was short so there will be more testing at a later date.

It’s all very interesting.

There is another art workshop this weekend ...

There will be a couple of young new faces attending this week so it should be fun.

We’ve had a couple of inches of rain today and it’s really coming down heavily tonight. It sounds fabulous on our tin roof and I’m looking forward to falling asleep to the sound of it.

This looks like good road trip material ...

I think I like the blue one, although the green one has lots of space to spread out comfortably.

Nite all.

Low Energy Day

As promised, this morning during coffee with the girls, I said I would post this advertisement from the Super Bowl starring Jason Momoa.



Apart from a brief visit with The Motivator when she read my Tarot cards beautifully, I have done nothing else of note today.

My day actually began on a sad note when I read my brother’s blog where he described the day that he found our mother after she had suddenly and unexpectedly passed away in 2005. It triggered me big time and I lost my breath and fell apart briefly but uncontrollably.

I had to work hard to stop that from setting the tone for my day and it was pure good luck that the next part of my day was having morning coffee with the girls which lifted my spirits.

There was a nap at 4pm.

I made a salad and a peppery mushroom sauce for Adoring Husband’s steak that he cooked on the barbecue.

I made myself a simple smoothie of frozen pineapple, mango and a little bit of leftover watermelon from the fridge all blitzed with coconut water.

MAFS is on TV as I write this and I hope to be asleep early so that I can attend meditation in the morning.

Look at this cuteness!

There’s a bit of rain heading in this direction and they’ve forecast somewhere in the vicinity of 100mm over the next few days so things should green up in the area.

I’ve also got a farewell lunch to attend tomorrow. Hopefully it’s not too wet for that or we’ll be traipsing through mud from the car to the club!

Here’s hoping I have some extra energy tomorrow.

Nite all.

Oz Final

That was a good match.

Djokovic is a great champion.

I love how he understands food and how it effects his mental and physical strength and stamina on the tennis court. I love how he uses affirmations, meditation, manifesting and positive reinforcement to help him believe in his abilities and fight through the tough matches.

I like him a lot.

Dominic Thiem is also a great player and I imagine he will reach number one in the near future and win a few grand slam titles himself.

Now the tennis is over and all the trashy TV shows start this week. Married at First Sight, My Kitchen Rules, Survivor - All Stars and more.

I got my washing done today!

Spent a lot of time in bed this morning - with Psychotic dog Jack who is struggling at the moment and has been off his food a bit.

I just realised that it’s after midnight and I’m expecting a visitor in the morning so I’d best get some sleep!

Nite all.

TM Returns

Adoring Husband and I have been binge watching Grace And Frankie all afternoon.

We’re becoming real pros at binge watching!

After a great day on Friday in the shop, a winning Friday night at the club, a nice sleep in on Saturday  morning because The Motivator had returned, I pedalled in the heat to the shop to catch TM up on what’s happening while she’s been away.

We had a nice couple of hours together and chatted between visitors and customers.

Then I reluctantly returned home on my trike in the heat of the day. The pool water was too warm for swimming so the only option was to eat an ice block on the couch in the air conditioning while binge watching something cool.

And THAT is the extent of my last 48 hours.

Oh and psychotic dog Jack had a nasty night of cramping so spent most of Friday night in our bed. Now he thinks he can spend EVERY night in our bed and is currently crying in the kitchen for us to go get him.

I’m NOT playing that game, though I’m certain that AH will weaken! I’ll keep you posted.

Tomorrow is Sunday and I have a stack of washing to catch up on, but I’m looking forward to a lazy day.

I also have to work on the dragon art because Chicklet’s birthday is very soon! This time nine years ago, I was packing my bags ready to fly to New Zealand for her birth! How time flies.

Sleep time for me.

Nite all.

Unexpected That Was!

What an expected kind of day!

Now that all the holiday makers have left town, I expected that today would be completely dead 💀

I was very wrong!

It wasn’t busy, but the few who came in were ready to open their wallets.

Adoring Husband brought Psychotic dog Jack to the shop so that I could do a quick grooming job on him. We had an appointment with the vet in the afternoon, so we wanted him to look presentable. When I finished the hair cut, AH took him home for a bath, so he was looking spick and span for Dr Amanda.

Not long after he left, I had a new supplier arrive unannounced. He had a van full of clothes, jewellery, scarves and small gift ideas.

I didn’t have the time to see everything that he had to offer. His van was filled to the brim with bags and bags of goodies, but with February, our quietest month of the year just around the corner, there was no way I could justify a big spend today.

I spent an hour with him and purchased a few items of clothing to test the market. He was very pushy and tried his hardest to make me spend almost double the budget I gave him. I had to summon all my “power to discern” and put him in his place as firmly and kindly as possible.

I got the feeling that he was experienced at talking his way over the top of females and having his financial way with them. Even right at the end he tried to con a further $50 off me by offering a discount on something that I had culled from my selections.

After he’d left, I felt pretty good about my assertiveness and I did not spend a cent more than the budget I’d allowed.

AH arrived right on time with Jack and we got to The Bay with enough time to shop at HBW for the handled paper bags that we use at the shop and still were right on time for out vet appointment.

In the past, we’ve taken Jack to two different vets and a dog groomer to have his claws clipped and every time he has screamed like he was being tortured (that’s Jack, NOT AH 😝)

Today, we had warned Dr Amanda. We told her that Jack was old and cranky, that he would probably try to bite her and that he would scream while she clipped his nails.

He did none of those things.

He was nervous and trembling like a chihuahua, but gave her no trouble whatsoever. Jack clung to me the entire time, but she clipped his nails without a growl or a bite or a scream!

She is the dog whisperer.

She said that his heart is good and I showed her a video of Jack cramping. She had never seen nor heard anything like it and had no idea what would cause it. She thought about it for a while a thought of some possible reasons and we talked about how some additions to his diet might help, but at 15yrs of age (that’s 105 in dog years!), we need to expect the strange and unusual.

I’d been stressing about this appointment all day, so we left Passionate Paws feeling very relieved and very happy.

Right now I’m watching the end of the Djokovic vs Federer semi final match. I really like both of these players so I don’t mind who wins.

I’m ready to sleep now.

Nite all.

Early Start

It was surprisingly easy to get out of bed early this morning.

I woke to the happy sound of “Oh What a Beautiful Morning” from the musical “Oklahoma” which is my selection for the alarm tone. Sometimes I just lie there a let the entire song play. Sometimes I sing along really loudly and very poorly. Sometimes I hit snooze just so I can hear it again in 9 minutes!

I arrived at the shop well before The Gypsy and opened up ready for the first meditation class of the year.

Five of our regulars from last year were absent but there were some newbies who rocked up and there were only 3 empty seats in the end!

It was an excellent class with great discussions and three silent meditations.

I was lucky to have a 30 minute session with The Gypsy after the class and then we chatted for over an hour, which is always great.

The day was very quiet as far as customers or sales are concerned.

I vacuumed and dusted, tidied the kitchen, decided to buy myself the lovely blue Serenade wallet and even got to do some more work on Chicklet’s dragon painting ...

I actually did quite a bit more after this photo was taken.

Adoring Husband ran some errands in The Bay and picked up my lovely lay by from Tinkerbells ...

It goes beautifully with my Larimar pendant and ring.

I checked the pool water when I arrived home but the weather has been so hot and humid, it was like a warm bath. Very unpleasant.

So I changed into comfortable clothes and rested my butt on the lounge chair to wind down.

I have to say that with the early start this morning and not having an afternoon coffee (I’m trying to cut back to just one coffee a day), I’m am feeling very weary and it’s not even 9pm.

I think I shall watch the Nadal match in bed.

Nite all.

Got it Done

I had ‘stuff’ to do at the shop today and thankfully it was quiet enough to do it but not too quiet to be a bad sales day.

The training room is now ready for our first day of meditation on Wednesday morning, which I am really looking forward to!

It was tricky finding spots for the artwork that still hadn’t dried from the weekend workshop because it needs to be where curious fingers can’t poke and prod - yes even adults have poking prodding fingers that can destroy a piece of art - just ask The Motivator about that!

Had some new stock arrive today and already sold three pieces - two of them before they even hit the shelves!

There were also some fun customers come visit during the day as well as a few of my girls this morning after coffee. That broke up the day and delivered a few good laughs.

It was a very hot and steamy day and there were many moans of pleasure from customers as they walked from the heat and humidity outside  into the air conditioned space.

The day passed rather quickly and while it was tempting to jump into the pool when I arrived home, the air conditioning inside was way too nice to leave.

Instead, I did a load of washing and watched a couple of quiz shows before preparing duck with sweet potato and salad for dinner while watching the Feds win his very long tennis match against an unfamiliar (to me) American?

I’m now watching Djokovic, but I think I’ll retire to the bedroom and watch the last of his match in bed. Hopefully he will win quickly but he is having problems with his contact lenses in the third set, so he might not win this one as easily as he did the first two.

I also have some homework from my counselling session that I need to complete so I’ll do that in bed too. That will be a good way to finish my day.

I am a good listener 🤗

That last one is for everybody, but especially the Garden Guru!

Nite all.

Self Caring

I had an amazing 2 hours with The Gypsy this morning.

An hour of counselling and an hour of combined Zen Shiatsu, Cupping and Bowen Therapy. I reckon I could have gone another hour. I had lots of knots and tight bits!

Of course I didn’t do any of the things that I planned in the afternoon. My instructions were to “rest” and “drink lots of water” so I had another afternoon binge watching Grey’s Anatomy and then spent less than an hour in the pool in the late afternoon before preparing to watch the tennis 🎾 tonight.

Nick Kyrgios put in a good effort against Nadal, but I think Nick’s five setter a couple of days ago took a lot out of him and he was unable to fight hard enough for long enough tonight. He ran out of both mental and physical energy.

Now I’m going to follow number three on that list and prioritise sleep. Bed time for me!

Nite all.

Weekend of R & R

Thanks to Adoring Husband for manning the shop while I ran the art workshop on Saturday morning, because we had a really enjoyable time throwing paint around and it ended up being a successful sales morning as well.

He had to call me out of the training room a couple of times but the ladies were fine with that, as was I and I got to chat with some of my favourite customers.

Being on my feet all morning, I have to say I was absolutely exhausted by the time we left the shop at 1pm so I parked myself on the couch and we binge watched Greys Anatomy until the tennis was worth watching. Adoring Husband NEVER thinks the tennis is worth watching, but he usually finds something else to keep himself occupied.

It’s only for two weeks 🤩

I received a lovely surprise today when Chicklet discovered my YouTube channel and sent me an excited message saying “OMG Bozzy Wozzy! No way! You have a YouTube channel! I’m dyeing!”

I put a video up 2.5yrs ago when Tracey and I made the decision to open The Happy Abode and the plan was to make progress videos as we went through the process of building and designing. Of course none of those videos ever landed on YouTube and I can’t seem to find the short videos that I took, so until I do, my fame and fortune will have to wait haha.

It was very nice in the pool today, as was sitting under the Bali hut eating hot chips from the cafe for lunch.

We watched a few of the new episodes of Grace and Frankie this afternoon, but that had to stop so that I could watch Ash Barty play her third round match of the Aust Open. Now I’m watching the Feds play his match. He had a bad start but is finishing well.

Monday morning I’m looking forward to an appointment with The Gypsy for a treatment. It’s been so long since I spoiled myself with a treatment.

I’ll catch up on some washing and tidy up my studio. Maybe I’ll even do some art!

I’ve made bone broth for the dog food and bone broth for me. I had to clean out a couple of drawers of the freezer to fit it all in, but some of that meat that I tossed had to have been in there for a good 5 years! I think it’s time for a massive clean out of our three freezers!

Not right now though. It’s time to sleep.

Nite all.

Weekend Warriors

Due to both expected and unexpected family commitments over the long weekend, my art class has reduced from “full” to just two participants!

I knew it was a risky move to attempt running a class on Australia Day weekend but there you go! The two ladies who will be participating are lovely so it should be fun and easy.

It was another slow day at the shop but I need to thank the women who are turning 40 and 60 this weekend because their birthday gifts have been of great assistance to our takings!

One of our customers told me about Serena Williams playing a good match at the Aust Open so I live streamed it on my laptop and got to watch the final set. What a great game by the girl Wang from China! She was a power house! The great Serena Williams is OUT of the Open.

I decided at the last minute to attend the club tonight and I’m glad I did because I had a nice win on the pokies and I won a pork tray in the raffles.

To top the evening off, I’ve watched the Aussie John Millman give Roger Federer a run for his money in their third round match at the Open.

They are currently two sets each and two games each in the fifth set. John has performed admirably but I have a sneaking suspicion that Roger’s experience will see him through to win. My fingers are crossed for John though.

It’s very tempting to go for a swim before bed tonight. It’s hot and muggy - still 27°C at 11pm.

Before I sign off I’d like to mention that my friend Les (aka The Little Gnome), passed away on Wednesday morning. He was a real character and will be sorely missed at The Seat of Knowledge.

Nite all.

Vetalicious

I do like our new vet at Passionate Paws on Old Maryborough Road.

We took psychotic dog Ruby there this afternoon for a checkup and to have her eyes checked.

She is almost blind and has dry eyes, so we got some drops for her, which have to be administered twice daily.

She has a  heart murmur which is not a problem unless she starts coughing.

She has troublesome anal glands which, much to Ruby’s dismay, the vet unblocked.

She got her nails clipped.

She may have diabetes, but she’s too old to bother treating it, so we’re ignoring it.

She has lost 1.2kgs since the last vet visit about 2yrs ago, so we have to increase her protein intake. The vet recommends kangaroo meat for that because it’s got no fat and it’s less likely to cause allergies.

Last week Colli cost us just under $140. This week Ruby cost us just over $140. Next week is Jack’s turn.

I feel very comfortable putting our dogs in Dr Finnis’s caring and capable hands and I love that her “go to” is NOT a prescription for everything. She has good knowledge of natural remedies for animals too. She is gentle, considerate and practical.

I like her a lot.

A quiet day in the shop and some new stock was delivered so my morning was filled with getting that sorted and there should be some more delivered tomorrow.

The weather has been wet but oppressively hot and uncomfortable. We have left the air conditioner on all night for two nights in a row.

Ugh.

Time for some sleep. Nadal has just won his match, so I’ve had my fill of tennis for the evening.

Nite all.

Tennis Tragic

I apologise for not giving you my full attention, but ... it IS tennis season ... and you KNOW how it takes my attention away from everything except life’s absolute essential activities!

Essential activities such as toileting, cooking meals and going to work.

It was an especially slow day at the shop with just two good spending customers and two browsers for the entire day.

This gave me time to reduce my emails from 29,800 - ish to 7,400 - ish. Still a way to go! I receive approximately 80 emails per day. Some work related. Some study related. Some shopping related. Some health related. Some website related. Some art related. Some personal, from friends and family.

I don’t check them every day. Sometimes it’s three days until I check them and then I’ll just glance through to make sure there is nothing important that I need to tend to. So they quickly build up in numbers until the number is too intimidating to even contemplate.

As part of my upcoming “Happiness, healthiness and heartiness” course, I created this ...

There are other sheets to accompany this and I am gathering snippets of advice from different customers as they come through the doors - every little bit helps. My girls (you know who you are) will be the final ‘quality controllers, proof readers and advice givers” when I’m ready!

All the storms have missed us in the last few days, the weather has been oppressively hot with hot winds to match and our pool is like a warm bath. It’s gone beyond tepid and Adoring Husband loves it! It certainly does NOT do the job of cooling you down!

Beautiful Girl With Long Blonde a Hair arrived home safe and sound 😊

The Motivator has finished her course and is enjoying some down time and being kind to herself. Her partner, The Fisher King, came for a visit today and told me about the dramas of juggling tides with the weather conditions while he attempts to make a living from fishing. So many variables involved to make a good fishing day.

Now it’s time to get back to the tennis. Fabulous Federer is into his third set now and I want to watch him win in the effortless and classy way that he always wins.

Nite all.

Done and Dusted

As we speak, Beautiful Girl With Long Blonde Hair is sleeping soundly in a motel bed in Inverell.

She beat the storm ... just ... and was concerned when some hail was involved and there was no protection for her lovely new blue car! Luckily the hail was small and didn’t last long.

So our week (and a bit) together is over, but she will return in ten weeks for our road trip.

We had some quality time together and she got to laze and lounge in and around the pool, reading and swimming and sun soaking. We played lots of trivia, shopped, gambled, cooked, worked, walked, socialised and were our usual silly selves.

It was a great week (and a bit).

She left this morning before I was even awake - just the way we like it - no sad goodbyes and no tears.

This morning I had a lazy start and only got out of bed at about 10am to follow Adoring Husband into the pool. I even took two of the psychotic dogs into the water! I think they liked it and they were both very animated and happy when they climbed out.

I sat under the Bali hut by myself for a couple of hours, which was just divine.

I practiced three of the fluid art methods using exactly the same colours to show my class on Saturday how you can never predict how the colours will show themeslves.

The top one is a ‘flip and lip’ which means flipping the cup of paint upside down and then as you lift it, you swirl the lip of the cup through the paint.

The middle one is a ‘galaxy pour’ where you pour the paint out of the cup onto the canvas at different speeds and different heights from the canvas.

The final one is a ‘flip and drag’ where you flip the cup of paint upside down onto the canvas and as you lift the cup, you drag the paint over the canvas.

I used turquoise, dark blue, green, butter yellow, red, white and black in all three paintings. Not measured, but pretty much the same amounts in the same order in the cups for each.

They are very very different!

I made some sweet potato, onion and lamb fritters tonight which I enjoyed very much with a garden salad and reheated baked veg from Sunday night.

I’m excited that the Australian Open tennis has begun today! I watched Ash Barty win her match tonight, but unfortunately five Aussies have already been knocked out on day one, including Samantha Stosur. She has never had success in the Aussie Open.

Djokovic is playing right now.

Morning coffee and work tomorrow so I think I’ll head to bed to watch more tennis.

Nite all.

Night Swim

Considering nobody walked through the door until 11.30am it was a good morning in the shop.

Adoring Husband and Beautiful Girl With Long Blonde Hair arrived at 12.30pm and we filled in 30 minutes until closing time.

Then we were off on our lunch and movie date.

Aquavue and Jumanji.

Aquavue disappointing.

Jumanji a bit of fun.

Stop off at Craignish cafe for a hamburgers without bread for dinner (their only gluten free option). I gobbled my food down on the way home and lucky I did!

Arrived home to a psychotic dog mess so while AH and BGWLBH ate their dinner, I huffed and puffed through the house cleaning mess and dogs.

My best option from there was a night time swim under the stars. It was lovely and I’d have liked to sit under the Bali hut for a while but the mozzies scared me off.

In bed by 9.30pm and definitely ready to sleep!

But just before I sign off, here is Vegan Chickie looking fabulous before heading off to a wedding!

Nite all.

Move Along

Beautiful Girl With Long Blonde Hair and I left on foot and on trike to go visit the boys at The Seat of Knowledge early this morning before work.

The boys were pleased to see BGWLBH.

I think the Seat of Knowledge is pretty quiet these days now that The Gnome has gone into care. When I first came to town, there were ten old blokes who spent at least an hour every morning on the seat.

Three of them have passed on, two have moved out of the area, one is unable to leave his house, one is in care, one visits infrequently and that leaves two old boys who now sit there every day.

I told them it was time to recruit some young blood to continue the tradition!

Our visit lasted about 30 minutes.

By the time we bought our coffee and arrived at the shop, it was almost 8.30am.

Adoring Husband arrived to help open the shop and then drove BGWLBH home. They spent the morning in The Bay again.

My day at the shop was pretty quiet as far as sales go, but I was visited by The Brains Trust, Beauty and Blonde Bombshell and not all at the same time, which was lovely.

I kept myself busy doing the write up for our new happy/healthy workshop, paying bills, starting an email register for our workshop participants and other ‘stuff’.

I pedalled home, sat under the Bali hut for half an hour with BGWLBH, had a swim, did some washing, took clothes off the line and put the clean stuff away and then sat down to start a game of trivial pursuit.

We were halfway through that when we prepared a quick dinner of chicken and salad before continuing the game. It was from a difficult box of trivia (we have just about every box of Trivial Pursuit ever made) and we struggled for a couple of hours until AH and I conceded defeat and gave the win to BGWLBH who had the most pieces of pie.

It was only 8.30pm but we all headed straight to bed and here I am sitting up in bed typing this while AH watches “The Fugitive” on TV.

I think I’m ready to sleep. We have a big day planned tomorrow!

Nite all.

Another One Bites the Dust

The days seem to be passing extra quickly!

I think it’s because Beautiful Girl With Long Blonde Hair is going home soon and I’m working every day so I don’t get to spend as much time with her as I’d like. Trying to squeeze all the fun stuff into the hours we have is tricky!

It was another good day at the shop and some of the ladies came to retrieve their art from the weekend workshop. They also put their names down for next weeks class. One of them gave me a huge hug and said how pleased she was to have found me! How nice is that!?

I wrote up a blurb about myself and my photography, then laminated it and attached it to the shelving where some of the photos are displayed.

BGWLBH picked up my photo from the framers while she was in The Bay doing some shopping, and Adoring Husband delivered it to me this afternoon. The lady who ordered it will pick it up tomorrow.

I ordered some stock, did some cleaning, enjoyed some customer time, and received lots of pics from Vegan Chickie ...

That was my best entertainment for the day. I’d love to see something like this myself! One day.

I also enjoyed a dip in the pool this afternoon, after which BGWLBH and I teamed up to create a deliciously healthful dinner of duck breast, sweet potato chips and a variety of salads.

Two games of trivia. BGWLBH won the first one, then she and I drew the second game. At 9pm it felt like 11pm so we abandoned play and all headed to bed.

TGIF tomorrow.

Nite all.