Simple Pleasures

Just like this Japanese snow monkey, we need to sit in hot springs and relax.  Don't you just love the look on his face?
I've been researching these monkeys so I can draw and paint them in my Children's Book Illustration course.

RELAX........

Tea for Two

Here is some of the interesting fare had by my friend Fiona and I when we went to High Tea.  The date was last Thursday at the Observatory Hotel (The Globe Bar) in Kent St.  So nice to do things like this.

              Tea
        Fragrant, plush
Chatting, drinking-in, enjoying
   "This is very civilised."
             Leaf
(Cinquain poem)

An interesting title

You normally get book about wars or mistresses, but the inner workings of a famous person is not so common.

Blast from the past

Really enjoying the modern version of Sherlock.  He really is a willful character.

my travel camera

Reviewed by: Pauline Nolan
(Casual)

Review Date
August 28, 2010

Overall Rating
4 of 5

Value Rating
4 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Review 1 of 1

Price Paid: $0.00 from Walmart (gift)

Summary:

This is an older model now, but still working very well. It's compact size is a bonus for travelling and it does a good clear picture. There is also room for a short video as well.

The 4 x zoom function is also great for those little details you want to get close to, and the flash works well.

There is a good sized viewer at the back (1.5" = 3.81cm) LCD so you aren't guessing where the shot boundaries are or squinting to see the image you are taking.

I like the option of screwing in a little tripod to take pictures with you in it on the timed function or to steady the shot.

Memory - is limited on the camera itself - up to 20 shots - but also has slot for memory card which you can transfer the shots onto as you go.

Once you have learned how to navigate the different functions this camera is fairly friendly. It is hard to accidentally delete shots, which is good. I have done that before and since I use this camera for travel there isn't the opportunity to go back and take it again.

I can't comment on the price as it was a gift, but I understand it was quite reasonable. The main advantage is its size. I can put it in my pocket and it fits in the palm of my hand or easily in my shoulder bag.

Mainly I use this camera for travel and for pictures to post on my blog - you can see there the quality is fine.

Strengths:
Size - compact and good for travel
Good sized LCD viewer
Reasonable price
Working perfectly after 8 years or so

Weaknesses:
Older model - may not be in production anymore
Limited memory on camera itself - but has card slot for exanded memory

Customer Service:
Haven't needed any so far

(posted on Digital Camera Forum)

Just practising for when I start posting articles on ezinearticles.com

Frozen Wave - Perspective

I love these amazing pictures in nature.  Think of all the forces involved.  how do you freeze a wave? Whenever I get worried of feel oppressed I go to things like this to remind me of the enormous forces out there.  You are worried about earning a few extra dollars, but if you tap into the power of the universe (which is also inside of you) this is nothing, a drop in the ocean.

Perspective is everything.  Next time you are feeling low shift up to a wider view - it definitely helps.

Dr Doolittle

I found this great vase shaped like a sea shell and was reminiscing about the movie Dr Doolittle.  He hitched a ride home across the seas with a beautiful pink giant sea snail.  Isn't it wonderful all these shapes in nature - when you copy them you create beauty and peace.

I also remember an fictitous animal in that film called the pushme - pullyou.  It was like a lama with two heads facing away from each end.  When I write it sounds gross, but it was great for a child.

Must remember to think about these things more often - and laugh.

OPPORTUNITY

Dad in the Ganges

They do me wrong who say I come no more,
When once I knock and fail to find you in,
For every day I stand outside your door,
And bid you wake and rise, to fight and win.
Wail not for precious chances passed away,
Weep not for golden ages on the wane,
Each night I burn the records of the day,
At sunrise every soul is born again.


(sent to me by my Mum)

Message via the Sea

The other day I went down to the sea to swim in the freezing cold water and on my way across the sand I found, just before the waterline, this beautiful rock.  It seemed to be waiting for me.  When I picked it up I noticed how light it was and on closer inspection deduced that it was volcanic.  Now there are no active volcanoes near Sydney as as far as I know, so I started thinking of how this rock came to be in just that spot.

It could have come from many places and travelled along ocean currents over many months or even years.  What did the rock have to say?  What was its message to me?  At the suggestion of a friend I put it under my pillow at night and waited to see what came to mind.  In the end I decided it was my writing rock - to help me write a book I am working on and perhaps many more books to come.

So welcome dear Writing Rock, you are a gift from the universe.  (Or it could mean I should go on a trip to Hawaii and that would be pretty good as well!)

The Front Door

Some time ago I had a house energy clearing done.  These are some of the flowers placed by the practitioner at my front door.  There were other arrangements on the stove, in the bedroom and lounge.  She rang Balinese bells to clear energy and gave me a beautiful brass ball to shake happy energy into the walls with.  It makes the loveliest sound.  

Your entrace says a lot to visitors about how welcome they are and you can also attract in good energy by arranging these things well.  The other thing I learnt was to put a red crystal over the door frame to bring in the North energy and hopefully luck and wealth.

Some time ago too, a friend who is an architect from Holland told me to put something just inside the front door that represents you, so when people visit they can see what your interests are.  I have a work bench that I use as a side board - and that indicates my interest in woodwork and carving.  There is a great book on the environments people like to live and work in by Christopher Alexander that I would recommend, called A Pattern Language.

You can get it at Amazon by clicking the link below

http://www.amazon.com?_encoding=UTF8&tag=theperofpau-20

Lake Argyle

Last night I was at a birthday party for a girlfriend with 11 other women.  All of us are swimmers and we were relating funny travel stories as we have been away together on various trips to participate in swimming races.

These adventures are great.  It's nice to travel in a group (even though there can be some friction at times).  It's good to have a shared interest and then the wonderful memories that bond you together.

The photo here is from Lake Argyle in the Kimberleys.  A group of us went there to participate in a 20km swim.  I was in a squad of 4 and we did 10 minute legs.  The locals from Kununurra hosted the event and provided safety boats.  What a fantastic trip.  We saw rock paintings near ancient waterholes, boab trees and the colours of the landscape all around was fantastic.

There were lots of social events: a full moon festival starring Marcia Hines and many informal gatherings as well.  We went to a rum distillary and to the local markets.

The photo is of one of our teams in the lake.  It is very large(about 65km long) and can even be seen from space.  There are apparently a lot of fresh water crocodiles in there but I didn't see any - probably just as well.  They aren't really dangerous, it is the salties you have to worry about.

Anyway, just reminiscing about a great time.  It took many hours to complete this race and I feel proud that I did it.  It's fresh water so a lot harder than the ocean swims we usually do - less buoyancy.

Reframing

This is not a new technique by any means but is worth returning to. How we say things and what we focus on make a big difference to how we feel. How we feel can influence our confidence, relations with others and success.

Imagine you have just walked into a room. Someone is sitting there very angry. You can feel it and it isn't pleasant. Imagine that person is happy and smiling - welcoming you in. Feels very different.

How you feel has a big effect on your health as well, producing different hormonal responses in your body. We have this in our language. If we are grieving our heart is broken. If we are full of anger and rage we say we are full of bile. There are many expressions that show the physical effects of our emotions.

There are many ways to change how we feel like exercise, doing fun things, contact with friends. We can also change our thoughts to a great extent.

Try the following and see what it does for you:

Say you are learning something new and getting it wrong. You could say to yourself: I'll never be any good at this. How do you feel saying this to yourself? Not good.

Now change your statement to: Hey, I'm just learning. I'll soon have it mastered. Feels much better doesn't it?

Some tips on reframing are to change it to the positive, separate the activity from you as a person (you are not hopeless even if you make a mistake) & make sure there is possibility and optimism (take out words like never or always and put in a positive future or make the situation temporary on the way to something better).

Give it a go. If you notice a negative thought, write it down, reframe it and say this new thought, then compare how you felt before and after.

Breathing

There are lots of breathing techniques out there and they can be very useful. Here is one that works for panic and anxiety. It changes the mixes of gases in your lungs to help you calm down.

Firstly, don't be ashamed - most of us experience strong anxiety at some time in our lives. This technique is unobtrusive and may make life easier for you, though it isn't a substitute for working out the causes of anxiety and/or working on them.

It takes practice. Try and do it several times a day if you can, especially during stressful life periods.

Breathe in for the count of 1
Hold for 1
Breath out for 1
Hold for 1
Breathe in for the count of 2
Hold for 2
Breathe out for 2
Hold for 2 ......

Build up slowly so you can get to 10.

It only takes a few minutes.
You can do it at your desk or on the bus.
Maybe not while driving until it becomes automatic.

Anyway - give it a try and definitely let me know if you get some benefits.

Lovely Lorrikeets

This morning I had the most beautiful experience. I regularly feed lorrikeets on my balcony. I put a 'line' of honey on the railing and since they normally live in couples they come in two's. Then they start at each end of the line of honey.

Lorrikeets are nectar eaters and they look very funny with their long cylindrical tongues which sort of seem to have hairs sticking out. Sometimes they eat so fast they sneeze. I also have a bird bath for them so they can have a drink or stand in the middle and flap their wings to shower water over themselves (and sometimes over me if the window is open and I am sitting on the lounge). Then they roll over in the bird bath and that is very cute.

This morning I had put out some honey - hard not to as they get quite insistent. In fact these lorrikeets are well organised. They post a scout in the tree at the back of my flats very early in the morning. As soon as I get up this scout goes: eeeh eeeh eeeh ... and then others come swooping in to wait on the railings. If I don't respond quickly they start tapping at the windows with their beaks or peering through the scalloped edges of the blind.

So, there were two lorrikeets on either end of the honey line. I went out on my balcony and they both looked up. I told them how sweet they are and clucked at them - like Skippy - tsk tsk tsk. They answered together in the sweetest trills and then simultaneously went back to their eating.

My translation of their response being: yes we are beautiful and we deserve endless amounts of honey.

They really are a great joy.

Boxing at the PCYC

For some strange reason I decided to take up boxing. I did go to a boxercise type class at my local gymn last year and wanted to go back but never quite got up in time for the 6.15 am start on a Wednesday morning.

So, when a swimming friend told me the PCYC had great boxing trainers I decided to check it out. Last Friday night it was bucketing down and I nearly didn't go, but somehow I gave myself that little push and glad I did. I arrived soaked and a little nervous.

This place is so friendly and the exercise really good. Very soon I was sweating and enjoying sparring with experienced boxers. Even the really skilled are very happy to show you what to do and don't seem to mind at all that a beginner may not give them the workout they want.

Then the teacher, Arnel looked at me quizzically asking: how did you find this class? I wasn't sure why he was so puzzled, but when I looked around I saw only a couple of girls in the sea of men and these were younger women. Maybe I didn't look athletic or something.

Anyway, Arnel was very encouraging. He said they didn't do just punching, but also defence and you get very fit. I told him that's why I was there - to get very fit.

AND I love the authentic atmosphere: posters of Mohamed Ali and Ivanda Holyfield, a real ring, lots of punching bags and a whole room for skipping etc. You should see the skipping! It takes a lot of skill and is very aerobic.

A few years ago at the Sydney Film Festival I saw a documentary on Lucia Rijker. She is a dutch boxer who now lives in California. What a fantastic athlete. She is described as the most dangerous woman in the world pound for pound. A boxing trainer interviewed in that film was asked why would a woman do boxing? He said something that has stayed with me: in our society there are no real channels for women to express that sort of aggression and power. Boxing offers that.

Wayan Dolphin

I made Wayan in my woodcarving classes in Bali recently. He seems to have brought with him the warm spiritual energy from the place. I sprayed him with insecticide before coming back to Australia so that there would be no problem bringing in foreign bugs inside the wood. I had him wrapped in a plastic bag. When I declared him at customs the officer waited expectantly as I unwrapped him. Then a big smile broke out on his face and he said Wayan could come in.

I named him Wayan after talking to the hotel manager in Ubud - His name is also Wayan. He explained to me that in Bali each child is named, regardless of gender, by the order of their birth. Wayan is first, Made second, Nyarman third and Ketut fouth. If you have a fifth child you start again with Wayan. Wayan the manager is number 5. He is a twin and his brother was born 5 minutes before him. There were already 3 sisters so this brother is called Ketut.

Wayan Dolphin is the first - and hopefully soon there will be brothers and sisters to swim with him (if I get to the workshop to do more carving). The next one will be Made Dolphin.

There is something so lovely about creating with natural elements like wood and stone. So here is a picture to introduce you to my new friend, Wayan Dolphin.

Misty Evening

Here I sit in a high rise
Bathed in fluorescent light
And gazing out at the night
A blanket of mist has descended
Slipping into every alleyway
Spreading moist cold air
Through car parks and shop fronts
Obscuring the night sky
So that only blurry yellow lights
Wanly shine through
From other buildings
Shaped like blocks of cheese
And interspersed with dark green
Patches that could be trees

The Pause

There is a lot of writing and speaking out there about you choosing your emotions. You being 100% responsible for everything that happens in your life and that no one can make you feel anything - only you can decide how you react to experiences in your life.

Is this true? It's not really helpful when you are feeling strong emotions or thinking negative thoughts. We all have unconscious programs we acquired growing up that turn on in the blink of an eye. This is a good thing. Just imagine how little we could accomplish if we had to consciously be in control of every action. For example, when you start learning to drive a car you are clumsy and you have to pay conscious attention to everything. I remember being near our home with my mum teaching me to drive. I turned the corner to see a 'huge' bus bearing down on us from the top of the hill. I stalled the car in fright. In reality there was plenty of room and now buses, if I notice them, are normal size. Now I can drive from A to B without even remembering how I did it. My unconscious is in charge and will only engage the conscious in an emergency.

So it isn't a bad thing that you can react so quickly or not have to control every thought or action to live your life. The problem comes when we look back and say: I wish I didn't feel like this or say or think that. I want to do it differently.

Well, you can but you need to create a pause or gap between the event and your reaction. This pause gives you the opportunity to choose your reactions and ultimately your feelings and thoughts.

When people say: you choose your emotions and thoughts, I like to rephrase it to: you can choose your feelings and thoughts. This shift is less judgemental and more in line with how our brain works.

Back from Bali

Here I am with the famous palm reader, Ketut Liyer in Bali - from the book Eat, Pray, Love. The movie starring Julia Roberts will be released in July to coincide with Obama's visit to Indonesia. Ketut was going to play himself but had kidney stones so they had to get an actor.

Ketut said the following after examining my palm, my knees, my face and ears and the back of my neck/shoulders.

I will live until I am 100 years old.
I am very very smart - and tend to think too much.
I have good ears, chin, nose and cheeks - very healthy & strong.
I have merry eyes.
I can wake up 3 times a night (not sure what that means).
I will marry very soon - to a good looking boy and this marriage will be very harmonious and last until I die.
The neck/shoulders are in the shape of a gardenia - this is the perfume associated with me and means there is a lot of spiritual energy coming through me.
I will not suffer from arthritis - no problem with knees, but I should be careful driving as I tend to go too fast.
I am very artistic and also good at writing - I should publish.
I will be very wealthy if not already.
There are 2 gods in me: The Moon God and Saraswati - the latter meaning I am quiet (very true).
There are 2 animals - a tiger which means I can be very angry (true) and a small pigeon.
The tree associated with me is the Banyan tree.
Ketut said if he were younger he would marry me himself, but he is 96 yrs old now and lost half his teeth (he opened his mouth to show me!)

Anyway, a very interesting encounter. I didn't really have a question to ask him.

Beautiful Balmoral

Finding it so important to relax and take in nature. We forget these things, run around like mad and then are always stressed or crabby. This morning I was going to go in early to my office and do the accounts, but instead I woke up to the sounds of lorrikeets on my balcony. I fed them honey and admired their colours as they splashed in the bird bath.

Then I went down to the sea. Coming into my swimming club I met with my friend who has no hair left from her cancer treatment. At first she wore a scarf and a hat. Now she just goes bald. I admire her so much, and she does have a beautifully shaped head.

I dived into the crystal clear water, looking at the dappled light playing on the sand below. Little fish swam around me and when I stood up I was bathed in the morning light. Looking out to sea through the heads of Sydney Harbour was just stunning.

Then I went for coffee with friends, sitting across from some ancient fig trees and said to myself, how lucky am I. So good to drink in all these things and to appreciate what is all around us.

Mark Joyner's blogging

I'm evaluating a multi-media course on blogging from the folks at Simpleology. For a while, they're letting you snag it for free if you post about it on your blog.
It covers:

• The best blogging techniques.
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• How to turn your blog into money.

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