Tell us about...how you show love.

I wasn't going to do this post but last minute, I've decided I will, mainly because I found this book in my new favourite book library so I decided it was a sign. I left it there for someone and they took it.

I show love for my fellow man by collecting all our cans in a box so our can guy doesn't have to go through our disgusting bin. We keep it for him and he knows where to get it from on bin day.

I show love for the less fortunate by donating to the Wayside Chapel (through out the year but they have a Valentine's Day appeal). I like them because they offer immediate help and you don't have to be religious and they don't refuse you if you are gay (like some supposed charities). It's not charity if you make demands on the person in need.

I show love for future generations - my kids, their kids if they have them. by trying to look after our environment. I pay to recycle certain items (I sell things on ebay to cover these costs), I try to buy products in no packaging on minimal impact packaging.

I show love to people by giving them the benefit of the doubt when I can.

I show love to friends by reaching out, especially when I notice they've been quiet.

I show love for my dog by giving her cuddles unexpectedly at least once a day (we have other habitual cuddles that she expects).

I show love for myself by exploring my interests and organising fun activities. I'm also trying to accept ageing and all that comes with it.

I show love for my husband and kids by always trying to turn up. Be the support and cheer squad for their activities and dreams.

There are a million small ways each day we show love.

"There is no remedy for love but to love more." Henry David Thoreau

Cheesy heart chocolates are the Valentine's Day gifts for the kids, husband and I gave each other tickets to Andrea Bocelli. Happy Valentine's Day to you all.

Linking with #TellUsAbout

Still moments

We live in a very busy time, always doing something, always connected to the world beyond our walls with our phone pinging away whether we want it to or not. 

As lovely as that  might be, it's also I think bad for us, and it takes self restraint not to fill up every moment.

"Sometimes the most productive thing you can do is relax"

Having spent the last 2 weekends away relaxing at the beach, I now have a weekend with barely any plans. A quiet and easy Valentine's date at the movies, drinks with friends late Saturday afternoon and then a play Sunday night. So hopefully I can shut off and chill the way I did when there was nothing else to do in the remote locations...

"Happiness is in the quiet, ordinary things" = Virginia Woolf.

Rest & recharge is the order of the day in an ever increasingly busy world!

Linking with #Skywatch and #GaleriaHimmelsblick

Koala

 As you drive into Hawks Nest on the NSW coast, you see koalas in the trees.

These koalas.

On closer inspection, it is the Jean Shaw Koala Reserve and a warning to beware of koalas crossing.

Apparently the koalas can also be found in the trees in town, but my whole stay, I didn't see a single koala, even thought I walked around the reserve and all over town, and into Winda Woppa. Not sure how much is due to just poor luck and how much due to these issues.

While I was disappointed, we were lucky enough to see a mum and baby possum!

(Note no flash was used and I stood a distance and zoomed in not to distress them). 

For those that missed it, here's the link to when i saw a koala mum & bub. 

Linking with #SaturdayCritters

“Reading is a discount ticket to everywhere. ” ― Mary Schmich

I have talked many times about stopping to smell the roses, quite literally, on my dog walks but lately, I've an even greater joy. Someone has installed a new street library and every day there are new books of an excellent standard. 
I delight in the new offering, and will text my book club or friends to see if they want a particular title. I even took a rock climbing one to give to my chiro! 

The other afternoon, there was the most beautiful picture book. It was large format hardback, that opened to A3. It was set in Paris and the lion roamed around all the places I knew so well.

I sat on the kerb in the sunshine and read the book, pouring over the beautiful art work. I returned the book for someone more appropriate (hopefully with a young child and a trip to Paris planned). It was an uplifting and magical pause to my day. An unexpected luxury that left a stain of a smile on my lips, and an wistful ache for Paris in my heart.

It was the joy of spontaneity or unexpected leisure. Reminding me of the truth in Stephen King's words 'Books are a uniquely portable magic'.

Linking with #TrafficJamReboot

Season for love.

Valentine's Day is upon us. As we have a few expensive lunches and an anniversary dinner pending, we are thinking, rather than go to an enforced set menu higher than normal priced dinner (too much food with 5 or 6 courses!) we might go to the movies. We are waiting to see the sessions for September 5 (nothing says romance like terrorists -hehehe) however if it isn't on, then we will drag the kiddo with us to Captain America (because nothing says romance than your kid crashing your date).

So that will be our night, I did offer to get seafood from the fish market but husband thought we should go out - however, we're both not really drinking at the moment and sort of on diets so...movie it is. (We have a very indulgent date for my birthday so I'm not dismissing effort or romance, just being practical on the cost of it all, when a big luxury day together is only a few weeks away)

What are you doing?

Musically, this is a little love song that's getting played non stop in this house. 

Happy Valentine's Day to those who celebrate it.

In Sydney it also kicks off Mardi Gras this year - these were the elevators in our hotel in Osaka. While Japan doesn't legally recognise Marriage equality, it appears 70% of the population does, and many of the political parties also do. This hotel hosted weddings (there was advertising in the foyer), so I'm not sure if this was a promotion due to Pride in Japan, or the Thai law changes coming into affect or just getting ahead of the market....

Given all the hate in the world, I think we should all take this moment to celebrate love in whatever form that takes for us. For our friends (as Valentine's Day is in Finland), our partners, our family or just our fellow humans.

(If people in Sydney are stuck for ideas, the Comedy Store has a Valentine's showcase if you want to do something fun and a little different)

Linking my new favourite song with #WordlessWednesday #MondayMusicMovesMe #TheRandom

The live version is here because the 502's are so fabulous!

#Allseasons linky runs from Thursday to Wednesday each week. 

Link one post that shows something seasonal. Traditional weather wise, a seasonal nature marker or a seasonal celebration. 

Make sure you link back to this  #AllSeasons post. 

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

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

“Flowers always make people better, happier and more helpful; they are sunshine, food and medicine for the soul.” — Luther Burbank

 It is with great excitement my rose has bloomed. Like the Little Prince, I tend this flower but she only gives me one flower at a time, and infrequently.

Down the road, there is a rose that smells deliciously sweet like a lolly. I climb their fence to inhale the aroma every time I pass it on the dog walk. It makes me so happy in that moment when it hits me.

The beautiful frangipani are too far beyond the fence to smell, but that are perfect to look at. Like a painting.

"I would rather be defeated by the wondrous fragrance of flowers than by anything else"  (I can't find who said that so if you know, let me know and I'll amend)

Linking with #TalkaboutitTuesday #FloralFridayFoto #GardenAffair #HappyTuesday #WordlessWednesday

Mardi Gras

We're heading into Mardi Gras season - in Sydney that's  2 weeks from the 14th February until the 2nd March in 2025. The city becomes festooned in a rainbow of support (and one year a lot of glitter and disco balls).

Even tho this little guy had jumped the gun, I will admit he made me smile when his glittery body caught my eye.

So far I have to say the Lunar New Year and Mardi Gras might be squeezing out Valentine's Day in terms of decorations - but we shall see when next in the city.

#Allseasons linky runs from Thursday to Wednesday each week. 

Link one post that shows something seasonal. Traditional weather wise, a seasonal nature marker or a seasonal celebration. 

Make sure you link back to this  #AllSeasons post. 

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

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Holiday Reading

Since we got back from Japan, I've stalled a bit in the reading. My bookclub title is Hanya Yanagihara's other book, and is very long (28 hours on Audible). The first 10 hours is like a slow dull retelling of Washington Square in my head, so I was about to give it away when it finally got interesting about race and Hawaii. Then the book picked up and I'm almost at the end. It's interesting but I don't feel it's worth it. When a book is this long, the story really needs to be riveting, not a long rambling yarn. I feel like we are humouring the author, rather than the author entertaining us. It has some good bits, and I guess if you love her other book, A little life, you'll like this.

This is my other bookclub title. It's a very bleak memoir but the simplicity of the writing makes very profound observations nailed down in a single sentence. Analysis of human behaviour and psychological truths are scattered throughout in a few words. The story is harsh and bleak. It's far form the comfortable middle class experience. I'm really enjoying it. I did feel almost guilty reading it on the beach - a polar opposite experience to the words and world I was immersed in. Tennessee Williams described it as "a true document of human desperation, shattering in its impact".

A few people had reviewed it around the link ups so I decided to give it a go. It's fun and it had a few clever surprises for me. I might try another in the 'series' down the track. It's an easy, old fashioned mystery with a new style update, so to speak.

Linking with #Bookdate #TalkaboutitTuesday #SundaySalon #SundayPost #StackingtheShelves #AnythingGoes

 

A smile is a curve that sets everything straight -Phyllis Diller

I was having a bad day, just the everything falling apart and immediate chaos of my day kind, nothing terrible but it really messed with my mood. I had time to walk to meet my friend at the theatre, so I blasted my happy music and charged off to get some endorphins. As I went past this, I burst out laughing. I've no idea why buy googly eyes gets me every time. Suddenly the bad mood was gone and I could enjoy the rest of the exercise without the woe is me thoughts plaguing me.

"A laugh is a smile out of control" - Wyatt B

Thinking about the state of the world and the disruption being unnecessarily caused to the planet, I turned the corner and say this. I felt like it was a sign (like in Dispatches from Elsewhere). It made me smile, this time in a warm, comforted way.

There is joy in the streets with the unexpected art, those bursts of colour or those modern day commentary.

And all we have to do it look. 

"The moments of Happiness we enjoy take us by surprise. It's not that we seize them but they seize us." - Ashley Montagu

Linking with  #KeithsRamblings #WednesdayAroundtheWorld #MCoW #TalkaboutitTuesday #SeniorSalonPitstop #MuralMonday C&CMonday #WordlessWednesday #HappyTuesday