solace – Page 23 – twenty-one words

Stop and smell the roses

November 9, 2015May 26, 2022Posted in gratitude, moments of beauty, native flowers, nature, solace, spring, staying humble, staying true, What I love about ...Tagged gratitude, moments of beauty, nature8 Comments

Native plants and vegetation are my passion.
(We all know that.)
So you won’t be surprised when I say I haven’t always been the hugest fan of roses.
They’re not native to Australia.
Sometimes they seem overblown to me, and showy — blowsy, even.

But once a year, the rose bushes outside a library I visit frequently put on quite a show.

Somehow, these roses please even my curmudgeonly spirit.

They are, simply, quite lovely.

They bring joy, not just into my day …

but into my very soul.

I think I’m slowly joining the rose-lover’s world …

Late spring

November 5, 2015May 26, 2022Posted in native flowers, nature, solace, South Australia, spring, staying humble, staying true, What I love about ...Tagged nature, solace, spring3 Comments

In late October, I went for another bushwalk.
In blossom were fan flowers:

muntries:

and those papery, daisy-like flowers, the common everlastings:

I encountered other inhabitants of the area, too —
many of them.

It was mid-morning — grazing time, I think, before the sun gets too hot.
I don’t like disturbing roos:
when threatened, they can be aggressive, especially if they are guarding joeys.
And besides, I’m aware that I’m on their territory, not vice versa.
So I stepped away and left them happily to it …

… Do you think it’s comfortable in that pouch?
It doesn’t look it to me!

When all is said and done

November 2, 2015October 20, 2015Posted in a thought, anxiety, favourite quotes, solace, staying humble, staying true, Uncategorized, What I love about ...Tagged anxiety, mental health, solaceLeave a comment

Other people’s words about … staying still

Do you ever have the urge to just move?
Metaphorically, I mean — not physically. That feeling inside — that longing not to feel stuck anymore.
I do. (Midlife crisis, anybody?!)
I don’t think there are any answers to this longing. I think the more we try to move — to push on, to change — the more we forget the grace there is in surrender.
In simply staying still.
Maybe you’re not an ABBA-tragic like me (I know! I know!). But today I give you a song that helps me with this.
Have a listen.
See what you think.

Listen to the song: ‘When all is said and done’, by ABBA*

* Note:
Click on the orange ‘play’ button at the top of the page in this link to listen to the song. It’s one of my favourites. The song is about the end of a relationship … but I think it works equally well if you think of it as talking about the end of a phase in your life. (Bear with me here. I know ABBA aren’t known for the literary nature of their lyrics! I did warn you I was an ABBA-tragic … )

Me and Mrs Jones: Telling it like it is

October 29, 2015October 9, 2015Posted in a thought, anxiety, favourite quotes, health, solace, staying humble, staying true, UncategorizedTagged blogging, solace1 Comment

Other people’s words about … social media

As I’ve mentioned before, I don’t do Facebook or Instagram .
(Or Pinterest … Or Snapchat.) And I never, ever take selfies.
Blogging is as far as I go.
One of the reasons is this:
It’s a bright, shiny world out there on social media.
Everything is beautiful in Insta-World.
But that’s not real life.
Life is a series of moments — some of them beautiful, some of them not —
and social media doesn’t capture that.
Here’s what lovely blogger Sheena has to say on the subject:

Social media is great, right? It’s the perfect way for me to stay connected to friends, see the world from different points of view, I can use it to work from home, and let’s all agree….it’s fun! It’s also the WORST….we all paint this picture of the perfect little world we live in–only showing our best of the best moments….it’s not at ALL a real representation of life. And I think sometimes it’s too easy to get caught up in that, don’t you think?

You’ve heard the term “Keeping up with the Joneses”, right? Did you know the phrase dates back to the early 1900s? I mean really, what was it that Jones Family was doing that was worth keeping up with–growing better potatoes? Riding a faster horse? Now, with social media, we know every little detail of the Joneses life. Where they are going and who they are with and how they got there! What they are eating and when they are eating it! What their perfect house looks like, what their perfect kids look like, and what their perfect face looks like, because now the Joneses share lots of pictures of their outstretched arms and close-up faces. They definitely didn’t have to worry about selfies back in 1913.

Those Joneses are BUSY, and they are everywhere. Doing everything. And rubbing it in your face.

Behind the square (1 October 2015)
from the little red house

My take?
Life isn’t picture-perfect.
And that’s —
just —
fine.

Spring joy

October 19, 2015May 26, 2022Posted in Australian bush, birds, native coastal vegetation, native flowers, nature, solace, South Australia, spring, staying humble, staying true, What I love about ...Tagged birds, nature, solace2 Comments

I took a walk through the bush again in late September.
Skinks rustled through the undergrowth.
Whistlers burbled; shrike thrushes sang; blue fairy-wrens and fantails darted about.
And there were wild flowers everywhere, including common fringe-myrtles;

Common fringe-myrtle (calytrix tetragona)

paper flowers;

Paper-flower (thomasia petalocalyx)

smooth rice-flowers;

Smooth riceflower (pimelea glauca)

and grevilleas.

Spider-flower (grevillea lavandulacea)

Every month brings a new season in the bush.
Every month brings a new, different kind of joy.

Soup for the soul

October 8, 2015October 7, 2015Posted in anxiety, cooking/baking, health, solace, spring, staying humble, staying true, What I love about ..., WinterTagged mental health1 Comment

Soup from my father’s kitchen

During winter, my father cooks up a weekly batch of vegetable soup,
which he and my mother eat for lunch each day.
The soup flavours vary —
pumpkin one week, tomato the next, broccoli and green bean the next.
And he always sets aside some for me.

Winter’s well behind us now, of course.
(In the first week of October,
the temperatures soared over 30 degrees Celsius.)

But I’m still enjoying my father’s soup,
which is tasty, warming and good …

… and which he makes, always, with love.

The chef gets healthy

October 1, 2015September 3, 2015Posted in a thought, anxiety, books, cooking/baking, favourite quotes, health, life, on writing, reading, solace, staying humble, staying true, What I love about ...Tagged books, reading3 Comments

Other people’s words about … life

Cookbooks are all about food and cooking, right?
But here’s what I found in a cookbook I borrowed from the library recently:

I generally don’t get into the whole ‘life quote’ thing; I pop them in a basket with mason jars and hip-hop yoga. But there’s a snowboarder I follow on Instagram called Kevin Pearce … who listed the non-negotiables in his life and it really stuck with me. I adapted the list to suit my life, but the fundamentals are still the same. When I am disciplined about making time for these rules, I find everything else falls into place easily and I am a better person, inside and out. That’s a good thing, right?
Make space for this:

Start the day with exercise.

Do yoga or meditate (even just 5 minutes): morning, noon and night.

Eat a healthy breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Prepare food in advance so there’s no excuse to eat crap.

Drink lots of water, at least 2 litres a day.

Get outside, look around (not down at your screen) and listen.

Be present!

Take care of hygiene.

Read and learn something new every day.

Keep in touch with friends and family.

Lead with your heart and keep your mind close behind.

Remember that conscious breathing will always centre you.

Be appreciative and be patient.

Surround yourself with awesome, like-minded people.

Sleep and rest, as much as you feel you need.

from ‘The Chef Gets Healthy’
by Tobie and Georgia Puttock

I have to confess: the recipes in the cookbook didn’t do much for me. I like my carbs! (Tobie and Georgia have eschewed carbs in the name of health.)
But I loved Tobie’s list.
It’s a recipe for life, not just for food.
And, as with all the best recipes, you can adapt it and make your own.
It’s a starting-point, I think —
a good one, too.

Life cycle

September 28, 2015May 26, 2022Posted in Australian bush, native coastal vegetation, nature, solace, Uncategorized, What I love about ..., WinterTagged bush, nature, Winter1 Comment

One of my favourite native plants is the grasstree.
In the last few weeks, walking through the bush,
I’ve glimpsed grasstrees at all stages of their life cycle.

Some were growing and establishing themselves:

Some were flowering:

And some were dying and decaying:

At each stage of their life
grasstrees seem to me unique, strange, prehistoric …
and beautiful.

About a dog

September 21, 2015August 23, 2015Posted in a thought, books, favourite quotes, reading, solace, staying humble, staying true, What I love about ...Tagged books, reading2 Comments

Other people’s words about … pets

No words from me today — just a quote.
Anyone reading this who has a dog will, I think, smile and nod in recognition.

The dog stretched out and dropped his head onto my lap. Instantly he began to snore and I admired his opportunism and the detail of his design. The seams of his eyelids and the way they met perfectly, sealing him shut. The backward slant of tufty eyelids; a dense ridge of tiny hairs. And the odd crazy whisker that sprouted from his head, feeling its way out into the world. I flicked one and he twitched but he knew it was just me. And with my other hand I stroked him long and hard and felt the thick grease of his fur rise and coat my hand. He soothed me; he always did.

From In my house
by Alex Hourston

Twenty-one breaths

September 17, 2015May 26, 2022Posted in a thought, anxiety, gratitude, health, life, Paths, reading, solace, staying humble, staying true, Uncategorized2 Comments

Recently, I’ve been reading about the power of breathing.
As I understand it, when we’re busy or stressed or even excited,
we activate our sympathetic nervous system,
moving into ‘fight or flight’ mode.

But when we stop —
to sleep, rest, meditate, relax,
or simply just to breathe —
we activate our parasympathetic nervous system.
And it’s then we can heal ourselves:
of anxiety and sickness and angst.

Winter sunset at Aldinga Beach — Winter sunset

So now — in keeping with my blog’s theme —
I stop several times daily to take twenty-one deep breaths.

♦

In (through the nose).
Out (through the mouth).
In.
Out.
In.
Out.
Healing.
Healing.
Healing.