Today there were teddy bears in the clouds

January 12: Today I am grateful for clouds. I went to the beach and I lay on my back looking into our vast, endless, southern sky. The sky darkened late in the afternoon, and a few families packed up their kids, and their plastic paraphernalia and left the sand. I saw several teddy bears in the sky today with plump cheeks and playful eyes. And I saw the torso of a voluptuous woman, and a cat, and a poodle with a big pom-pom tail, and a love heart. The sky's story changed every minute, even sooner when the wind came up, unfolding, swirling, revealing something new, or hiding things from view so I had to guess where they went and what they were doing up there..

January 8,9,10 and 11: I am grateful for skills, driving, coffee and the sunset

January 8: I am grateful for the skills I have that enable me to do my job. The picture looks as though I am heading for the light, but it's meant to show me listening, which is why it is mostly a picture of my ear, Listening is a lot of what I do, and talking; sometimes I talk too much, and don't listen enough.




January 9: I am grateful that I know how to drive.  I drove to the coast today, to a place of peace, a place of sanctuary, a place to continue to revive and recover  I got my driver's licence many moons ago, not long after I turned 18. I sat my driving test in the middle of my HSC exams and I was not so surprised to learn that I had failed said test. My first mistake was driving off without putting my seatbelt on, and it just got worse from there. So, I put my disappointment away and managed to get through the exams,; I passed the HSC, and during the summer got my licence without mishap. Then the ability to drive meant freedom, independence and escape. I guess being able to drive still means these things to me.







January 10: Today I am grateful for coffee, in my favourite cup.

 

January 11: I am grateful for the glorious sunset; we watched the sun slowly sink, making beautiful glittering patterns on the water. We listened to the parrots and cicadas gradually quiet as dusk fell and the stars started to appear. 

January 7: today I am grateful for language

I am grateful for language

Today a man I was talking with said that he thought that  maybe some people might consider him to be a bit of a curmudgeon.
"Well, I suppose I am a curmudgeon", he said. "I  was  wild boy in my youth, a
real chancer. I played cards, I gambled, I pulled things over people. Now, I just want everyone to leave me alone".
Curmudgeon, chancer.
These are words you don't hear very often, and I love them. 

2014: a year of gratitude

365 days of Gratitude

I have just had the luxury of time off work, and I am just beginning to feel a little less tired, a little more rejuvenated. I am so grateful for this time of peace, and I have been thinking about gratitude a lot and have decided to devote some space in the blog to record each day, one thing that I am grateful for. I know Gratitude is good for me, and I would like to spread it around.
 

January 1: I am grateful for holidays

When it gets to the end of the year, I am generally exhausted and rung out, so this year I decided to take nearly three weeks off and I am just now starting to feel the benefits. Yes, I wish for more time, yes I wish I didn't have to worry about making money, but I am so grateful to have had this time to read, to sleep, to dream, to rest, to catch up with friends and family and to relaxxxx...

January 2: I am grateful for “The Hunger Games” trilogy

Wow, what a fabulous Christmas present this was. I haven't read this avidly since "Famous Five go to Smuggler's Top", about oooh...a hundred years ago. I love reading and in the last six months have not been doing very much reading for pleasure. This is classic holiday reading - a real page turner, an easy read, with a brave young woman as hero, plenty of action and exploration of the grand themes of life: love, hate, death, war, power, corruption, humanity, kindness and greed.

 

January 3: I am grateful for water

I am no great shakes as a swimmer, even though I learned to swim freestyle while attending primary school in bay side Melbourne. What I think they neglected to tell me is that you have to actually breathe out when your head goes back under the water. I discovered a year or two ago, while training for a novice triathlon that I hold my breath when I swim causing me to tire incredibly quickly - usually after about 5 metres I have found. And now that my neck is creaky and complaining, I find it hard to turn my head, and I usually get a mouthful of water instead of air .  Then I discovered backstroke, and am learning to swim languidly and slowly, meditatively, letting the water hold me and teaching myself not to struggle, cos I can breathe this way!

January 4: I am grateful for the gift of my niece and my daughter

I have known these two, well, since they were babies, and now they can vote, and drink and drive and do all manner of very grown up things!  They are funny and wise, and clever and talented, they  get outraged and defensive, distracted and focussed,and they can be sweet, and tough, and they enrich my life greatly.

 
 
January 5: I am grateful for time and space to write

My beautiful partner has done the lion's share of work these last few weeks so I can rest and recover, enabling me to do one of the things I love best.  Jack Kerouac advised in his "Rules for Modern Prose" that we should keep "secret scribbled notebooks, and wild typewritten pages, for your own joy". I have resolved to remember that there is joy in writing even if we write to, as Anais Nin advised ..."descend, to excavate, to go underground".

 

January 6: I am grateful for my physiotherapist

My physio, Cathy, is skilled, thoughtful and knowledgeable. She has been looking after my creaky neck, my messy meniscus and pesky pelvis for quite a few years now. I always feel cared for and know I am "in good hands" when I am treated by her.