What am I doing here?

This is not quite my first attempt at writing a Blog, but the final nail in the coffin of my facebook account occurred today and so here I am.

I was tired of the constant invasion of one’s supposedly personal space by unlimited suggestions for games to play (many linked to gambling sites), news feeds i have no interest in, constantly invasive advertising everywhere and less and leas protection of anything.  At least on a blog I get to rant a little and choose what i actually want to get seen and shared, without any of the other capitalistic efforts prompted by an illogical belief in endless growth of profit and control!  Let Me Out!!

My haven is my home nested amidst the Ben Lomond Range of what can be called small mountains or large hills depending on where you are from.  It is a mix of farming and conservation parks and so filled with beauty that it never becomes taken for granted.  Truly a blessing in these days where it seems that we are being programmed to be constantly seeking the new…or at least being told that what we want is “new”.

This is a rambling rave and rant that meanders like my creek in the bottom paddock, overflowing when the input from higher up is too much for the banks to hold in and nearly drying out when the summer’s sunshine creeps into winter and dries up the sky relieving it of the clouds that so often sit there.

It is difficult to keep in touch with all the amazing folk i have met and connected with over the span of years experienced, so am hoping that this may be a better way to keep the connections open and to share events with them all, and hopefully even make new friends as well.

Later as I get used to this new method of communicating thoughts and ideas, there may be photos and artworks displayed for comment.

Till then, i depart to head into town to study.

Revisiting the site

It is now autumn 2024 and so much has happened in the interim. Sickness and old injuries playing up, getting used to the restrictions imposed by those things..and gradually getting things done to make life a little easier for the future.
reconnections with old friends and making new ones as life goes on.
A half hectare block (approx 1.2 acres for those not in metric) of bush with a smallish kit home circa 1970s and a great double garage work-shed which is in process of getting lined and organised to have a workspace for carpentry etc, and a space for my Art studio. Bit of a mess at the moment as getting it together over summer with high temps was not do-able…but with cooler temps arriving at last the shed takes priority to get set up well.

Had a twister though last year and still cleaning up from the dropped tree limbs. Sunshine is great, just the high heat is not. the drive to the house shows the brightness of the sun. All native bush and plan to keep it that way. Resident possums bot brush tails and ring tails as well as some Quenda (tiny brown bandicoots) and lots and lots of birds of varying species. My home is a real haven for them all and i do love it very much.

Looking Back

Even the best of creations

Inventions, ruminations

Do not last

They pass

Into the dim light of forgotten

Myths heroes and heroines

Their creators live on still

In what they have passed on

To family

Loved ones

Influences like wavelets

Formed from

A single pebble

Dropped into a pond

Tis not the works that stay

Alive until this day

Their creators are more valuable for

What they leave

In lives touched

So much

Love that is

Expended

And shared

Freely  without a care

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Working and weariness

Of late have been working away at the renos both on the house and also externally. Little by little it is getting done BUT am sometimes feeling a bit frustrated as can no longer do as much or as quickly as i would like. The cost and consequences of the work is the aches and pains that come after. Sigh…. ageing is not always easy as the mind still thinks young while the body simply protests!!

Sadly, despite the work being almost done in the house, my shed/studio workspace has yet to be completed. Insulation is there and have commenced with wooden supports but getting the lining up is a bit problematic… and still have to work out heights and supports fro the benching – will get there in the end……

Spring is almost done and fire permits now required, firebreaks needing to be done and summer heat just around the corner. Another IBC (Industrial Bulk Container) obtained to make 2 more wick beds for growing vegies over summer and collect besser blocks tomorrow for more raised beds around edge of patio for the herbs…and as support for wire to enclose area for the cat. So my writing has been kind of shelved for some time while all this is being pursued.

Kitchen almost completed!!

One of the wick beds!

Wanderlust

Wanderlust can be a scary word…eliciting responses of mistrust or a kind of stunned incredulity from those folk who have never experienced it and those who have never wanted to experience it. How can those people truly comprehend just what it is, or how it affects one’s point of view or concepts about life.

What exactly is it? Is there a single definition that could encompass all the varied forms that Wanderlust takes? There are as many variations of this condition as there are folk who endure or embrace it, or who do both. so what are its causes, how does it arise, what does it say about those who suffer from it? Sop many questions and soooo many possible answers.

I suffer from Wanderlust. At various times I have attempted to combat this tendency and put down permanent roots in a permanent home base but even now as i approach the remaining years of this life, the desire, the yearning, remains. Sadly there has been little opportunity to satisfy these needs. Restrictions of time, finances, responsibilities and priorities have reduced the extent to which the wandering can take, but despite that, i would not change most of the choices made.

View from Maggiore Castle, Asissi, Italy

Whenever I see images of distant places, mountains, lakes, rivers small towns or villages, my desire for travel expands and often overwhelms and the longing to move, to make that journey, increases. But even more than the vistas not yet or already visited, are the faces of the people one meets along the way. The joys and sorrows, the contrasts of emotions, of ages, of cultures of stories, pulls one out of oneself and into a myriad different lives and loves and ideas. They challenge, warm the heart, enable empathy in both sadness and joy from the happenings in their lives.

Such experiences cry out to be shared to be expressed in some fashion, hence this writing, my art and my poems. Poor though they may be, still they need expression and an attempt to share and thus learn.

Wanderlust, for me, is the desire to live in many different places in order to both share and to learn from the people and places encountered therein. To record all that has been embraced or rejected in any of these environments in which i have been present…….oh what a journey still to come!!!

Back to Work

Finally…… have begun to get back to working in what will eventually be my studio…a bit messy but…. it is a space to work in. Have been exploring a few old things and turning them into new. It is good to be there in that space.

Creating…whether it be the decor of the house or the art that is gradually emerging from efforts made, is kind of meditative. At times frustrating and always falling short of where it was, at first, intended to go, the work soothes and completes me. Giving a means of expressing what is hard to put into words….a feeling, and exploration, that thing which needs to be discovered yet is always elusively out of reach.

Sometimes i get the feeling that is is the messiness of doing that releases the tensions that build up through time and events, both past and present… a kind of therapy for the soul. However this only works in a beneficial way when you let the work pass through you and leave the ego-self behind.

There are times when what appears on the canvas is a surprise… one learns from it in the doing, sooooo must do more and more to get back to the true essence of being.

So here are some unfinished works in progress that have been palying with recently. More will come with time…..

Daily Prompt

Adroit

How can this be described…

According to the dictionaries consulted it seems that the emphasis in defining a meaning pertains either to the body (nimbleness, being deft and skillfullness). Then the other attributes ion “handling situations” and having resourcefulness  yet…..

It also implies both effectiveness and efficiency…and is a quality that needs to be linked to others as it seems unable to stand alone.  Adroit at what? In what situation?

We have a language of context and language itself is a kind of descriptor of contexts

Sooooo…

Have I been adroit at this?

Farmers learning about soil…Being adroit in collecting samples!!

Creative Rethinking

Having moved across the country, and in a sense, returned home (the State where I was born) a little time for reflection is required. For too long, due to isolation, my emails and contacts have been focused on what had been happening daily or seasonally with the farm and house etc. But that is merely reportage and not necessarily v interesting. So, pause, sigh, i have had to rethink and re-direct my thought processes, which, altho a challenge after all this time of plodding recording, is actually rather exciting!

It has been brought home to me that place only matters if it cannot be modified or adapted to one’s needs. That means that those things that are truly important have to be re-evaluated. For me the one single necessary element would be Beauty.

It can be created with a single piece of art or plant or pottery. It provides hope and soothes and is never overlooked. All the wonders of nature can be captured just by looking at a loved item, which speaks to the soul….and music is part of that beauty. Music moves us and as Rosanna Lea writes in one of her songs…. “..so this music that you’re hearing is only moving air, so ask yourself just what it is that makes every little hair stand up on the back of your neck, reality check....”.

Tears fall too easily-from a song, from lyrics, and books, and so many little moments, of simplicity and peace. Joy does not prevent them, rather welcomes their power to cleanse and release those feelings that, if imprisoned within, could overwhelm. They re-ignite that spark that seeks expression and stimulate creativity. The rain that engenders growth….

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Heat, Heat and More Heat!!

With temperatures of 30 plus, seemingly endlessly, one would have thought that acclimatisation would be enhanced. It does NOT feel like it!! Fan on each night and window open to catch whatever breeze may come and (sigh) aircon on daily……..hate using it but…..this is life for now.

Gave plasma yesterday. First time in many years due to where I have been living. Felt good to be able to do that again, but will have to watch the food offerings after as most of it is rubbish food and not what it was like before. Nursing staff brilliant as per usual and got to read some of my latest Michelle Sagara ‘Elantra’ series book. Also got lost (again) on the way there but hoping that will eventually be able to not do so! Getting used to, or adapting to navigation ina new place is often tricky and is not assisted by some of the weird street names…where a street continues with a diff name but a sharp turn at a cross-road has the same one. heading to same place today for a Drs appt so am hoping it will be third time lucky.

A Change of Place, a Change of Pace

Finally have given in to entreaties from my offspring so have fare-welled my little farmlet and the rural life and moved across the country to Western Australia.

This makes me closer to my eldest daughter (a point much stressed by them all) and also closer to services …medical, dental transport etc. Downsizing takes a bit of getting used to and is exacerbated by the fact that my wee farm has not yet sold so am in a kind of limbo state in terms of making the place my own…no money to do so and only renting at present.

I have a whole trimester of no study (apart from maintaining levels attained) in which to try and establish my own “stamp’ upon the place so am anxious for the sale of the old place to happen. Have posted one small pic of the place (back patio) but will have to take some more pics of before and after as work gets done. Lots of ideas……

The back patio area

One challenge has been moving in summer …coming from high (for Australia) altitude to sea level and temps from mid-20s celsius to (now ) mid-30s, so adjusting has been very much to the forefront. Since most of my clothing was geared towards where i was living, there is a sparse quantity of suitable stuff…but am not intending to get any more till sale has gone thru of the NSW place.

It is beautiful here too with water close by and green parks and trees so am looking forward to settling in.

A New Vision

Have just returned from over a month away while having a cataract op. Had been unable to drive fro over 2 months so really needed the op to be able to see to drive.

It has sparked a new vision inasmuch as it seems to have regenerated my artwork. So today have prepped 4 new canvases that had been awaiting works for many a long day. Also added to the research for the triptych and now have images to merge into the painting fpor the figures…still have to find the horses and camels to add in as well. The other canvas has also been investigated for the style of image wanted for the spirit walker.

Will have to take pics of them as they are finished. Did two portraits (of the grandsons) whilst away and was ok with the results given time and materials available. Maybe need to do a few more for the other grands and finally get on to a long held dream of sculpted forms for my own offspring….time will tell.

Moving and the prep required for a smooth transition is both exciting and terrifying all at once. Have already started sorting a few bist and pieces, advertising stuff to sell off and packing, packing, packing…amazing just how much can accumulate in a short few years. A good way to eliminate unecessary clutter and realise what is important and what is not.