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Taking Stock January 2023
Cooking: From the Tenderheart cookbook. I got it before Christmas and have decided to cook my way through it.Sipping: Gin and tonic. The perfect easy summer drink.Reading: The Call of the Reed Warbler. I had to reborrow this as I didn’t make it all the way through before I had to return it the first time I borrowed it. Very happy to get it out again and finish it this time.Looking: For worms in the garden. I haven’t seen many, so probably need to work on the soil.Listening: To the traffic. We live on a fairly busy road and often have the doors open.Enjoying: Swimming at the beach on hot…
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Scraped Knees
This is why it’s a miracle I didn’t come a cropper during the Two Bays Trail Run I fell over running easy on the Elwood Beach Boardwalk. Scraped knees are a constant during childhood. You’d think I would have outgrown this by now, but it seems I have to top up the scar tissue every couple of years. I also habitually hit my head on things and bump into the furniture. Yesterday I dropped a cube of parmesan cheese on my big toe … and it hurt. Tell me your latest “ouchies’, and we can commiserate together.
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Friday Thoughts #6
From the Red Hand Files: If we do not attend to the work of projecting delight upon the world, what are we actually doing? If we do not look for joy, search for it, reach deep for it, what are we saying about the world? Are we saying that malevolence is the routine stuff of life, that oppression and corruption and degradation is the very matter of the world? That we greet each day with suspicion, bitterness and contempt? It seems to me that to make suffering the focus of our attention, to pay witness only to the malevolence of the world, is to be in service to the devil…
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Australia Day 2023
Today is Australia Day. The holiday is a contested one. Each city has Invasion Day rallies, and some companies gave their employees a choice as to whether they had it off. Many people, myself included, are unsure what to do with it. There are many opinions about which way to go, but there are no strong contenders for action that will move us forward. I’m keen for some consensus and concrete suggestions that foster reconciliation with and healing for our indigenous peoples to be put forward. We had a pretty low-key day. We began with a run at Albert Park Lake and a BBQ breakfast with our running group. While…
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In the Garden January 2023
I had on my list for this year to do a photography project. As a start, I’ve decided to take photos of the garden each month. This will have the added benefit of documenting the changes over time in our garden. The Rules: We’re partway through the initial redesign and planting of the main garden beds at the moment. The beds on our east and west fences are now fully planted. The light can be a bit harsh in our courtyard, but hopefully, I’ll work out the best angles with a bit more practice. I’m also looking forward to more interesting flowers and critters for macro photography. The white flowers…
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Friday Thoughts #5
From the comments on my post, email seems to cause angst to many people. I mentioned in my post that one of my strategies was to move the backlog of unread newsletters out of my inbox and into a newsletter folder. Oliver Burkeman, in his newsletter this week, recommends this tactic for any backlog. First, isolate the backlog. “After that, your top priority is not to clear out the backlog, but to prevent a new one accumulating, by attending to new incoming items (emails, tasks, whatever) in a steady and regular way. Only once you’re in the swing of that should you turn to the backlog itself, making it a modest priority…
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Embodied Practices
I think this would be a shame because one of the things I value about writing, is the act of writing itself. It is an embodied process that connects me to my own humanity, by putting me in touch with my mind, the same way a vigorous hike through the woods can put me in touch with my body. John Warner, “ChatGPT Can’t Kill Anything Worth Preserving“, The BiblioOracle Recommends Sums up in a few words why I make it a priority to include writing and running in my life. As someone who loves to juxtapose different ideas, argue a case with myself and ruminate on what’s been happening, writing helps me tame…
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Two Bays 28K
The Two Bays Trail run on the Mornington Peninsula was a bucket list item for me, and I decided to do it as soon as I had a year where I was uninjured. So in November 2022, I made the call and registered for this year’s race. I was keen to experience a proper trail race, and now I have. This is a hard trail run. It begins with a 290m elevation gain over the first 3km up Arthur’s Seat. There were rocks, tree roots, steep, uneven descents, mud, sand and stairs. The plan was for me to catch the ferry from Queenscliff to Sorrento, where Hubby would pick me…