Wonder What the Poor People Are Doing?

I have been on holidays the last two weeks but have been at home working most of the time. However last week I went down to the beach and I went for a drive to a nearby town today with a friend. We had big plans of doing so much more than we actually got done. Yet we had a lovely time. Browsing through a really interesting shop that was full of jewellery,  clothes, scarves, books and much more. We just didn't have time to look at everything. We didn't have time to go op shopping. We didn't look in all the towns we thought we would. We didn't do the food shopping we had imagined ourselves doing. We did get to stop at a local park and have some food and hot tea while the dogs had a lovely run around. While we were sitting there just chatting and laughing at the faces her six month old son was making,  while the dogs sniffed all about the place, I said 'I wonder what the poor people are doing today?' Now both this friend and I are living on very small budgets money wise but we both felt very rich and very happy to be in that situation. Money cannot buy a beautiful sunny day. Nor does it buy the easy friendship and conversation that we shared. It doesn't buy the wonderful personalities of the dogs we own or the uniqueness of her dear little boy. We are blessed to be able to spend our time like that and it made us both feel rich. It is that special time that makes the harder times so much easier to deal with.  Remember to count your blessings.

Time to reflect and regroup.

Gosh it is days since I was on here but I seem to have been flat out sorting out all the requirements of next weekends 21st. I have been back to the venue and checked out all the little things like where the power points are and where the tables will fit and what detergents and buckets I will need to bring with me. I got home late at night that day and had four phone calls one after the other which took me well up to bed time! I was exhausted! It was a very good day though as I know exactly what needs to be done and who will be doing it. I also simplified some of the ideas that were being talked of. Simple set up, simple food, simply good old fashioned fun of people all communicating with each other and all there to celebrate one person's day. At least that is my wish for the day.

It is obvious why not a lot of people do the 21st party thing but that is because it is a lot of work and not everyone has the time to do that. If you get someone else to do it for you it seems to cost a fortune. I had gone to a website looking for a venue and then had the girl chasing after me to find out what I had chosen. After a while I eventually told her that I had not used any of the commercial venues. Someone told me I was doing the CWA thing and I am not sure that it was altogether being complimentary. After some thought though, I decided that if that was how it could be described then congratulations to me and my daughter that we could find value and joy in good old fashioned ways of doing things. In fact I think it would be great if it became the new fashioned way of doing things.


Perhaps not as old time as this!

I am so happy. It has been like my beloved autumn lately. I just love this season. I love getting out of bed to cold and dark. You have to force yourself out of the warm bed and into the shower before getting dressed. Lovely breakfast to warm up your inside and then out into the day. Cold hands and toes. Into your work place. Then lo and behold within a few hours we have beautiful clear sunshine. I especially appreciate the sun as we have had so many days of high humidity which I dislike. Then when it gets to late afternoon you had better have the house closed up from letting all the sunshine in all day and get the washing in. The cool and damp soon settles in and it is nice if the animals are all bedded for the night and us people are inside where we can be dry and warm. It also means that I can use woollen jumpers and such to keep warm. Bliss in my eyes.

I see autumn as the time that lets us know that soon it will be time to hibernate and regroup our thoughts, households and gardens to be ready for the coming of spring in 5-6 months time. Perhaps this is how we should run our lives. When things seem to be not quite so bright and happening then maybe we need to just recognise that and settle back and let everything run simply and quietly. It is probably important that we should acknowledge that with a bit of quiet time (winter), our energy and that of those around us will reemerge (spring),  and before we know it everything will be moving at high speed and high energy (summer).

Then of course the cycle will find it's way back to autumn. The cycles of our life might take a lot more than three months to complete though. Here in Victoria I think the majority of decision makers have forgotten that we were a state of high rain and cold weather. Now that we have been given a little of that this year after a 12 -14 year absence, there seems to be a lot of confusion. I think people ignored the signs of autumn. To do say may be at our own peril.