Pick of my posts - 2023

 A quick look back on the year through the blog.

My favourite from January was Take time to find out what your dreams are on excatly that! In February I was reminded there are a lot of self imposed rules we don't need to follow because Only dead fish go with the flow.

On my travels in March I was reminded that Curiosity is often rewarded. (Later in June I revisited the importance of Curiosity, and again in September!)

In April I talked about the different ways we Grieve and lamented the loss of Whimsy as we age. May was full of enjoyment of lazy days. June saw focus on the little things.

In July at a trip to the Hunter Valley, I realised No two children have the same parents.

In August I went right out of my comfort zone, and surprisingly had a great time. I was also thinking about the past, and it's affect on us.

In September I had a lesson in how to accept my changing body. and was finally back in Singapore for the F1 after the lockdown hiatus! October was a quieter month, walking around Sydney.

November I realised the reason I love magic, the importance of friends that make you feel good about yourself and had the horrific discovery that your feet change shape with menopause!

December saw me discussing the invisibility of age. 

And here we are. A good year when you look back on it. Though always going too fast!

The photos are unrelated, I just like them and didn't know what to do with them.

See you in 2024.

Linking with #WeekendCoffeeShare #SkyWatch #GaleriaHimmelsblich #SundayBest #WWOT 

Share Four Somethings - the last one.

Something I'm Loving Every year we head off to the Furnace & the Fundamentals Christmas show, which is this crazy festive gig where the words of songs have been changed to Christmas theme and everyone dresses up. It's a lot of joyous fun and a gang of us go to dinner before so it's quite the Christmas party. It was on last night so I'm still coming down from the high of music, singing and dancing. And it really does feel a little more Christmas-y now!

Not really a Christmas song but I am loving this new one by Ezra Bell.   

 

Something I'm  Reading A lot of Japanese websites - someone said you had to prebook your trains over the holiday season so I've madly been booking the tickets with much confusion, and trying to get a handly on how to pick them up. Compared to last trip, this one seems very disorganised....but the Insta pics should be pretty if you want to follow along here.

Something I'm Learning I am well aware Chirstmas is a hard time for so many people - newly divorced, grieving, those with disordered eating, those with sobriety struggles, the LBGT community, those without families, those estranged from family and the list goes on. I put up a meme on FB that said 'It's still an accomplishment if all you did this year was survive...and I'm proud of you' and I was surprised at the people that chose to comment on it. Meaning even among friends there are things below the surface I'm not aware of. So this Christmas, on your socials and at the table, be kind and gentle with people because you don't always know what's going on for them. Be a safe haven in this growing choppy sea....

Something I'm Eating I had these plans of having a Christmas dinner with just our family before the shenanigans began but finding a date for all 5 of us was too hard (and we are together Christmas eve and Christmas day with my family and my in laws) so I cooked the turkey anyway and my son & I had a little Christmas dinner. I've spent my whole life listening to how hard it is to cook turkey but it's really not and you just whack it in the oven so I've no idea why people go on about it the way that do....every time I've cooked it, it's never dried out. And I can't cook anything so it really has to be a pretty basic skill....sometimes I think people just like to make a drama out of nothing because they enjoy the drama.

I'll be off the blog until mid Jan but Insta will still be working....(the other socials and email not so much). May there be food on your table, Love in your home, Peace in every country (this makes me sad but I wish it so I'll say it),Radiant health and endless happiness. I wish you a safe and happy celebration, or just comfort and support.

Take care everyone. Be kind.

Linking with #ShareFourSomethings and #TheRandom  #TrafficJamReboot

Watching the Christmas Traditions disappear...

I have written before about the fading Christmas traditions as the kids grow up so I'll try not to repeat myself, but there is a bittersweet element to some of them now, knowing that it's probably the last.

Linking with #SkyWatch and #GaleriaHimmelsblich

I took my daughter and her friend up to see the Christmas lights. What started as a large group of families, about 40 or 50 of us in about 2010 has dwindled to just 3.

However, they still had fun in the hotel pool, made the gingerbread houses and played under ther dazzling lights at the Hunter Valley Gardens Christmas Spectacular.

And in less than 24 hours we were on our way home. 

But still, it makes me happy to know she'll have these childhood memories.

Like everything, they'll fade as bigger ones take their place but for now, it's still the highlight of her 'Christmas traditions'. I can't lure her to see the decorations in the city...even with the promise of dinner. My little kids are no more, and moving on with their lives and I am waving them off in the distance. It's as it should be but there's a sadness for me too.

Fortunately, I'll see the city's displays when I head to town for Furance & the Fundamental's Christmas show - MY favourite Christmas tradition. 

May whatever you do at this time of year be gentle to others and bring a smile.

Linking with #AwwMondays because it makes me say aww thinking about my once little #MCoW ones.... #WWWhimsy #TrafficJamWeekend #RubyTuesdayToo #BlueMonday

“All the bright precious things fade so fast, and they don't come back.”

On Saturday night we dressed in our finest evening and 1920's gear and headed in search of the green light, and the rumours and gossip on one of Gatsby's fabulous parties. 

The show is from the people that made L'Otel, and is the immersive experience of cabaret and dance performed around you.

“Once in a while I go off on a spree and make a fool of myself"

Great music and spectacle, it's a joyous experience with cocktails, canapes and if you want to indulge, you can order a bottle of chmpagne to continue the party.

The frame work is around the Great Gatsby, visuals familiar to those who know the book. But that is not so necessary. 

 The show runs from , and felt it in others"16 December 2023 – 25 February 2024 so get a group together. Tables are for 6 but you can be smaller groups and share a table with strangers, which can be quite fun for preshow sociability.

Tickets available here.

We had a great time, and it's elevated fun to feel you've been transported to another time, but after the show, in the bathroom, all the women started singing the Tiesto song (that's used in the show). Two women started it but everyone joined in like a choir with the melody echoing around us. It was the most beautiful spontaneous & uplifting moment. I really wished I'd been able to record it. (but you know, hygiene). Then just like with Gatsby, the music stops and what is past can never be recreated....

“I was within and without, simultaneously enchanted and repelled by the inexhaustible variety of life.”

Linking with #MondayMusicMovesMe

(All the quotes are, of course, by F. Scott Fitzgerald in The Great Gatsby.)

December Reading

Fun Home - This is a graphic novel but dealing with some very complex family dynamics. She links parrallels and quotes both Camus and Fitzgerald, both of home I loved. It deals with suicide and homophobia so there is a fair bit of uncomfortable tragedy in the tragi-comic tale. I thought it was good, but it wouldn't be for everyone. I beleive it was on recently in Sydeny as a play, but I didn't go.

Under the Net by Iris Murdoch. We did this for bookclub. I found it funny and entertaining but I didn't get into it, and it was an effort by the end. I've no idea why, because when we discussed it, there was a lot I liked about it. 

Russian Sleeper Cell by Nathan Monk. I really liked his first book which was more of a look at society and an insight into how the world view has changed for Millenials (due to the damage on way of life left for them, and how expectations of the older generations no longer fit reality as even a possibilty). This is more of a normal crime book so far. But we shall see...while only halfway through, there's been some interesting observations on Christianity, charity and politics.

I Don't. Clementine Ford's book on how society maintains the patriachal push for marriage & why it does so. I found it very interesting, even if I didn't 100% agree with everything she said. I'm married and I was a stay at home mum, my choice when my second child turned three, and I view that as a luxury that my marriage afforded me, rather than a systemic enforcement of poverty and inequity. However, I agree with the chapter on the diamond ring and the fairy tale brainwashing. I do think it's interesting the way we talk about it and focus on it. I have to say, I have been noticing the ring focus in engagement instagram reels since reading this book. Ha! Again it won't be for everyone but I think she tosses around a few ideas worth thinking about.

Linking with #MonthlyBookworms and #WOYBS

Last #Allseasons for the year.

This #Allseasons post will be open for 2 weeks, instead of one, and then the blog will be shut until mid Jan. 

Keep an eye on my Insta if you want to see travels in Japan.

Linking with #WeekendReflection

Over this holiday season, I wish you good health and a safe and happy celebration, or just comfort and support.

My seasonal wishes to you all: May there be food on your table, Love in your home, Peace in every country (this makes me sad but I wish it so I'll say it),Radiant health and endless happiness. 

 For those of you who have a difficult time at this time of year, I raise a glass to you and say 'Here's to being yourself and being loved for it!'

Linking with #HappyTuesday

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