Taking Stock - June

I didn't get to go on holidays and my focus to write has gone AWOL so here I am still blogging...

Cooking: Lunch - in an effort to get everyone to eat together and where possible, outside on the deck. Little things to try and lift the mood and get teens out of their room.

Sipping: Negroni's and conveniently purchased just in time for lockdown, Mr Consistent El Peachy cocktails.

Finishing: Cheever's Bullet Park for book club which I guess won't happen.

Loving: That the sticker guy got straight onto updating the stickers for lockdown.

Remembering: This too shall pass.

Wanting: To throw a party. Apparently my reflex reaction to lockdown is to start party planning once restrictions ease.

Listening: To happy songs. (Not this is NSFW only for a butt revealing bikini - nothing rude but fyi) 

Wishing: This lockdown ends on time...
:
Finishing: The tax. All the business EOFY. Can't say I'm having an #EpicTaxParty but maybe it's something I should. (Full 47 minute version here)

 

Buying: A dart board for some more indoor fun to lure the teens to be active while it's raining.

VIewing: Huge in France, which I find hilarious and just finished Feel Good which was very interesting and more complex than anticipated. Just finished the second season of Lupin and counting down the days until War of the Worlds is back.

Hoping: Australia gets this virus under control again without any deaths.

Staying: Home 

Walking: The dog but otherwise not so much due to weather and too many potentially germy people on the Bay Run

Noticing: I can't write. I have a couple of story ideas but no drive to sit and write them.

Bookmarking: https://covid19nearme.com.au/state/nsw This site allows you to dismiss hotspots once you've seen them (or anything from 2 days ago - en masse - so you can keep checking the latest hotspots before you go out, without feeling like you're doomscrolling for ages.

Feeling: Really down about this lockdown for some reason. I made the kids dumplings for lunch so we'd all eat together outdoors, for the mental health aspect and the vibe was really low. I think I'll have a lot more work to do to keep everyone engaged and happy this time round...

Reading: Just about to start Careful he might hear you for bookclub and sneaking in 5 Seconds (the comic series - nothing exceptional but cute idea). Just finished Smoke which wasn't great but entertaining enough. The Banksy-style cover lured me in.

Hearing: Gladys. It's like we all pause at 11....

Posting: Had a birthday present for a friend and a DVD for Mum that I forgot to take last visit, so posted them both as it's a good time to get  'pick me up's' on your doorstep. I had to get some forms off to someone so I waited until I had to go. I've purchased a book of stamps and will send postcards to friends while locked down.

Thinking: How bananas is the weather?

Shocked: To discover what Norman Swan looks like. After listening to him for over a year on the fabulous CoronaCast, a friend with a crush on him put up a photo of him on the tele and it's all wrong. I had him looking like Arsene Wenger in my head (sort of). Isn't it weird how we project images unknowingly until we discover they're incorrect.

Trying: Not to be so negative about the lockdown which really isn't a big deal. Just psychologically it is.

As always, Insta here for pretty pics and lockdown vibes....

What have you been up to? (Wondering: Why the fonts are being so weird on this post??)

Linking with #TrafficJamWeekend

Share Four Somethings - June

Linking with #BlueMonday

I enjoyed this link up last month so am continuing with it. Not really in the headspace to write at the moment, so short and sweet is perfect for me.

Something Loved: I love the way music can transform my mood. The minute lockdown was announced, I headed to do the Bay Run one last time and spotify offered me up new releases from Bakermat, Seeb, Julian Velard and a 'so bad it's good' song by De Hofnar. I charged round the 7km shaving 6 mins off my time and feeling elated. Here's hoping the power of music can keep me buoyant over the next few weeks. I know it's data mining but I love Spotify. It's the best invention this century (except possibly COVID vaccines but jury is still out on that). 

Something Read (or Said): Currently reading Ivan Coyote's Care Of, really enjoying it. A line 'How many microaggressions are in a macroaggression' really got me thinking. As a CISHET, white, able-bodied woman, I really only experience sexism. Imagine if the attacking  'ism' was more constant, and more hurtful? This line had me thinking for days and I've decided perhaps it is our job to shut down those microaggressions when we hear them. Even if there's no one in earshot to be hurt by them. Maybe we can educate enough people to limit the macroaggression inflicted on minorities?  Maybe it is the moral obligation of others to protect the more vulnerable?

Also reading the slight little edition of James Baldwin's Dark Days. The first essay, while covering racism has the most beautiful ode to great teachers and what makes a great teacher and the impact they can have on a person's life. I liked it so much, I got copies for all my teacher friends. Having never read any Baldwin, he's a powerful and intelligent writer so open to suggestions of which work of his I should read next.

Linking with #RubyTuesdayToo

Something Treasured: A friend's 50th got cancelled because of border restrictions and pending COVID restrictions and we had dinner with her the night before the at that time unknown lockdown was to begin. I am treasuring that feeling of freedom and frivolity with friends. It may be a long time before we get to do it again.

Something Ahead: Next weekend's big events got cancelled with lockdown - Hot Dub Time Machine will move to it's fourth date since mid 2020. Ditto, while not officially cancelled, Tim Minchin will also probably be moved, again, having originally been set for March 2020. So optimistically hoping Furnace goes ahead on the 15th July (though that will be doubtful with dancing, which was the whole point of us going). Lesson learned, just go while you can. Don't put off what you can do today!

This feels so very long ago now!

Linking with #ShareFourSomethings 

Plastic Free July

I'm not a big fan of Dry July etc, so not really pushing the Plastic Free July challenge but we can all do our part to reduce plastic pollution (big shout out to Lego who are changing their methods after fifty odd years of a best selling product, we can all investigate changes we can make.

My top tips are Zero Co for house hold products. You buy the products in bags and put them in other containers (they sell permanent dispensers made from ocean waste they've collected) or I even put some in old containers I have lying around). Buy in bulk to avoid paying for postage and then send back 15 empty bags when decanted. I order about twice a year, initially more than that while I worked out which products I churn through, and which take longer. I like all the products but the stain remover is great!

I use Dirt Laundry liquid in part purely to share the love around. Initially get a glass pump and then fill and refill. I now get the bulk pack, so that takes ages to use. You get a reply paid envelope with every third order (I think) so you send a collection of the packs back at a time. You can also click to get reused bags when you order. They now make a stain remover but that wasn't available when I last placed an order.

Apart from the waste reduction, I like that I never run out of cleaning products. I always can just top up! 

The last one is Tru Earth.  I saw it on Facebook and was intrigued, I buy it from Flora & Fauna to top up a shop (to get free postage). I get the scented one and it's great, especially for a load of towels or sheets. When you've finished, all that's left is the cardboard envelope for recycling. 

Note Flora & Fauna also sell wooden toothbrushes (hot tip, get different animals on them so people know which is theirs), shampoo and conditioner bars (I've purchased these but not used yet, so stay tuned - they smell lovely but can't recommend until I see how they work on my long hair).

Also check out what you can recycle with Banish. I finally filled a shoebox fill of pill packets and sent them off. The next day I got my $15 voucher and I've placed an order for a lovely moisturiser and bath salts - their shop has all sorts of things from practical household items to gifts.. They take a myriad of other items that are hard to appropriately recycle. (Note my mum added to the collection so if some are for weird old lady or men's diseases, they aren't mine....) 

I also eBay to recycle and use the money I make to pay to recycle textiles with  Upparel or plastics with Banish. Our bins now help with composting and food waste so that helps a lot. I box up our drinking bottles for recycling and give them to this guy that collects them to save him going through our bin, or any being missed. He just picks up the box once a fortnight.

We have solar so I work as hard as I can to run all the machines during the peak hours of sunshine. Extra bonus is it saves us money.

Small changes in our everyday products will ripple into bigger changes in the ocean waste. Don't get on the band wagon for a month, make the changes that can last a lifetime!

It really needs to start with us.

None of this is sponsored, it's just all products I've switched to over the last year or so.

Linking with #Tell UsAbout Greening because I am asking you to PLEASE consider your consumption and find ways to minimise waste. Especially wasteful packaging. (I found this prompt stumped me. I will be interested to see what others do with it.)

Lockdown Lite

 Last week there was a post about helping your mental health after coming out of lockdown. It had 3 points and the second was 'Remember those you have lost'. It took my breath away like a swift punch. For some countries, this is a given. For us, it's extremely rare. So our inconvenience of yet another school holidays with plans collapsing, or stuck at home, is really a small price to pay.

For those not under orders, can you get out and spend like crazy to help the businesses that must be buckling under the loss.

For everyone, stay safe and mask up and if required, stay home. 

I am hoping for everyone our second week of holidays can be 'normal'...

Linking with #WeekendinB&W and #WeekendReflection (cos if you look closely, there is a small self protrait of the photographer) and #WordlessWednesday   #PicturePerfect  #WWOAT #SundayBest

Sunrise

EDIT: Scrap all that about the three week break. This coming week's #AllSeasons linky is here.

 Finally got a decent sunrise. Not as spectacular as some, but enough colour to make me smile. As no one put their hand up to host #Allseasons, I will leave this linky open for three weeks - though my holiday plans just got cancelled with this out break so I may be around more than intended....such is life, at the moment.

Please only link one nature/seasonal post a week though, and please comment on the post before yours, if not more. Don't dump and run. I will start to delete those....

See you on the flip side, mask up and may the borders be ever in your favour!

Linking with #DND #SkyWatch

This is the new home for #AllSeasons.

1. All Seasons is open from Sunday through Wednesday midnight, Sydney Time. However for the holidays, it is open for the next three weeks.
2. Please link one post a week for the next three weeks. More than that and I will remove the additional posts.

3. Please comment on the post before yours. Don't dump and run.
 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Ghosts

 This is one of the past winners of the Archibald Prize, currently on display in Archie 100 (you can check it out with your ticket to the Archibald, Sulman and Wynne at the Art Gallery of NSW),. It's such a joyful painting. She is radiating confidence and contentment. The past appears as the bold image, and the present - the onlookers - appear as ephemeral ghosts. Maybe in these strange uncertain times, we need to anchor on the happy times of our past, working on replicating them in our present?

If nothing else, dress up and have a drink or coffee with friends. Enjoy yourself until your contentment beams out of you.

Linking with #WeekendReflection and #PicturePerfect

Reasons I love where I live #73

 Last night I had dinner with the family and then watched some tv with my husband. Then at 9.30 I zipped off down the street to see George Maple. Had a dance, and walked back home all before 11.30. I love that COVID didn't stop the gig, I love that I can duck out to do these things without impacting on family time. In lock down we lost access to a lot the things I love about this area. Having them back is filling me with appreciation.

Please can we not ever lose them again. Mask up, check in and out, sanitise like crazy. Organise your vaccine.

Linking with #WordlessWednesday #WWOAT  #TheRandom  #HappyTuesday #WeekendinB&W , #SundayBest  and #WeekendCoffeeShare 

Going old school cos the clip is also B&W

The Secret Garden

 

The latest installation at The Grounds in Alexandria is a joyful riot of colour. Pretty flowers adorn every surface of the laneway.

Tie in your visit with some of the many school holiday activities on offer or go early or late to avoid the crowds. There were people changing clothes for mini photoshoots with their friends when I was there at about 1.40pm.

You can even take home a piece of this beauty in the form of a gorgeous apple cake.

Flowers are a smile from nature and this cacophony of colour will spread that smile through your being.

If you need a little pick me up, this will definitely do the trick!

Linking with #WWOT #WonderfulWednesday #NaturesNotes #FloralFriday #GardenAffair

For the #Allseasons people, I will be taking 3 weeks off at the end of next week. If anyone wants to host, let me know. Otherwise, I'll just leave the link open for three weeks until I return

1. All Seasons is open from Sunday through Wednesday midnight, Sydney Time.

2. Please comment on the post before yours. Don't dump and run.

.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Canberra - Share my Snaps!

 A month or two ago, we had a quick overnight in Canberra for a wedding. It was out on Pialligo Estate in a charming olive grove. It is a beautiful location and we had a great time. While only 10 minutes from our hotel, it felt like we were in the country side, and quite removed from the city.

Sometimes just the idea of being in the countryside is enough to refresh and revive you.

The next day we say the Van Gogh before it finished and had a quick lunch at Tipsy Bull before heading home. It was very short break but a refreshing change of scenery all the same.

We stayed in a hotel we hadn't stayed in before and that added a refreshing element of unfamiliar to the weekend. 

I found this one (above) striking and the light in it so memorable, though it was the sunflowers that everyone had come to see. And isn't that life? We turn up for something but it is something else completely that makes the experience so memorable. We went for the wedding but came back feeling revived. 

And of course, it wouldn't be a trip to the National Gallery without a pitstop at the Yayoi Kusama. Sometimes the familiar brings joy too.

#BlueMonday

#RubyTuesdayToo

Linking with WeekendReflection