Love India!

I'm having a ball, and yet i have no shower, no air conditioning, no phone, and no chocolate! Im visiting with friends and the NGO I've been coming to for 12 years. My friend and I leave our partners at home, and come here to support the local NGO as friends and encouragers.

In the past I volunteered as an english teacher and volunteered to help write policies and grants, but things have changed alot here in India. The school is now well staffed, and some of the teachers speak  english very well. Our contribution these days is conversational english, and role modelling. We used to also run a hostel for local girls to stay closer to their high school, so accomodation wasnt a barrier to their continuing education. These days, government funds and runs hostels and our hostel closed down. Roads are better, and soon public transport will be better .. this will also improve the access to higher education for our rural girls.

This week, despite a collection of amazing Hindu and local celebrations like Pongal, weve been in conversations with the team about the next steps in a business model we started last year. Its pretty exciting to be a part of these discussions, and to hear about what the team are holding as their vision.

Celebrating Pongal 

Harvest festival

Ordinary Stuff

My homegrown potatoes. I'm so chuffed. I have never grown potatoes before. But, potatoes are such a stable in our diets here, I dont know why I haven't tried these before.

Potatoes are ordinary things, not usually something that takes up a blog post - but harvesting these potatoes filled me with a strong sense of gratitude for the ordinary things in life. So I thought I'd just ponder those things for which I am grateful for recently.

True happiness is to enjoy the present, without anxious dependence upon the future, not to amuse ourselves with either hopes or fears but to rest satisfied with what we have, which is sufficient, for he that is so wants nothing. Seneca

I'm grateful that I can walk, ride my bike, swim and am generally an active person. This allows me to enjoy the  outdoors, help others, do my own housework and so many other ordinary things. As a side note, I am grateful for the health professionals who have helped  me with my mobility and rehab for active living.

 I am grateful to live in an environment that has accessible running water. Water is so important in daily ordinary life, and I dont have to think about it very much. My family who live in some of the driest parts of Australia do have to think about saving and protecting their water sources, and my friends in India also have to work for their water. So I am grateful.

 I am grateful that I can enjoy the smell of Mint, breath in fresh air, walk safely in my streets, sleep in a safe house, and that I enjoy the company of some amazing people in my life.

“Life is truly too short to not be HAPPY and GRATEFUL today.” 

― Teresa Collins, Live LIFE in All Caps: The Teresa Collins Story

Walking with Bailey

 Today was the last day of my staycation. So to make the most of it, Bailey and I went for a walk in our local wetlands. Bailey just loves swimming in the creeks down here. 

 Bailey is happiest most when she is able to run free and swim in creeks and ponds. But she's never very far from me. She joined our lives 12 months ago and is now 2 years. She's such a joy. She takes me places I wouldn't have taken myself. 

 But I just wont follow her into this creek. We cant even see the creek! But she dives into these reeds with such delight, and then I hear the splashing and the pouncing. Once she's in those reeds, she is chasing things... I imagine she's chasing dragon flies. 

Here she's looking down at another creek.

The forest around the wetlands is just divine. Paperbark Eucalyptus. 

The smell of these trees and the forest in the morning is so special.

Thank you Bailey, for taking me for walks and allowing me to rediscover the beautiful places within my 5km radius. I've been blessed to spend time with you and with the wilderness during my staycation. 

Happy New Year!

Welcome to 2019! New Years Eve wasn't a big event for us, as we decided not to leave the 2 year old pup on her own for NYE and instead took her for a sunset stroll along the lake, where surprisingly few people were for such a lovely evening. Then Miss Bailey and my partner and I spent New Years Eve on the back veranda enjoying the fireworks in the distance, and the lightening storm

For the most part, many Australian's will typically have the 2 weeks off work around Christmas and New Years Eve, and traditionally it's a time Aussies head to the Beach!  My sister drove some 12000km to join us at our place for a lakeside Christmas day, while my parents and other sister, congregated at another beach side location further north. After my sister and her family left on boxing I was awakened to the fact that I had no other holiday plans. 14 days off work - and my sister was only here for 3 of them. My partner works in retail so he's generally working over this season.

So, how to spend my vacation? a Staycation of course. I live near some beautiful beaches, an awesome lake and many beautiful national parks. In an endeavour to not become the live in servant, constantly tidying and cleaning around the house, I set myself some goals to get out of the house.

 I've riding more than 300kms in the time between Christmas and new years eve - some of that with friends, some just on my own. And most of those bike rides took me to the waters edge somewhere. I feel so blessed to have such a beautiful surrounds.

I have also enjoyed my gardening, and some good summer reading time.

I have some reflections brewing, but I'll share these later, for now - HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Thank you for sharing the past 12 months with me again, and may the next 12 months come with some of the same - events like Paris in July, and Japanese Literature Challenge - and maybe something new for this blog... wait... I'll share more soon.

It's time to resurface and come out to play again...

I was walking in the garden this morning, thinking about all the beautiful flowers I have during this season, when I realised that Christmas is less that 10 days away! I was brutally awakened to just how fast this year has been flying, and then how busy I have been - so busy indeed, not to notice that Christmas is upon me - and I haven't been blogging since August!!

So what's been occupying me? Well, I finished my MBA (I hope), so I wanted to give my last assignments some good effort. I have also been incredibly busy with work, trying to get a very large project off the ground - which I'm please to say is now running with some great engagement from my  stakeholders. And, on my weekends, I've been focusing mostly on getting my garden up and functional for summer - which, as you can see above - is producing some good food for the table.

This is the flower of one of my favourite vegetables - the leek. Leeks are great for anytime of year, although sadly most of mine are now in seed - but it's a beautiful flower - so I let them go.

I love the self sown secrets in my garden - these little tommies came up in the rose garden - and they are just like little bombs of sweetness. We have to race the dog to these...

So what's happening next here at Thyme-for-tea? Well, I think summer brings with it some new adventures... 

• bike riding - for pleasure and fitness
• swimming - I plan to try more beach swimming this year, as I live all of 5 km from the beach!
• gardening - for which I love and it brings me peace
• reading - I'll tell you wants on the list in a minute
• time with my Dog, and my partner and friends....

Here's my reading challenge - and for those who know me - its HUGE! 

The ambitious major new novel from this internationally celebrated writer, on the scale of his bestselling 1Q84. With its massive 704 pages!

 So until another day - Have a great week.

Out to conquer and achieve my goals

So despite the rain, despite the long list of chores to do, despite the hubby being less than inspired, I am pretty happy with myself. I have been trying to increase my total kms each month since I got home from a month in India in April. Winter doesnt help my motivations, and my working commitments have been the only numbers rising in my life. I find that ive been working 9-10 hrs alot of days, leaving less hours in a day to fit in my walking, cycling and swimming goals. Im going to take charge of this...

While my career is somewhat important at this stage in my life, I'm also very aware I need my good health. And that takes work.

I've set some goals to get me motivated, some of the goals are based on how many kms I can walk per week/month, how many kms I can cycle (including hills) per week or month, and how many sessions I get get to the pool. My ultimate goal will be to complete a nearly 200km community ride at the end of January 2019, as part of the Tour Down Under.

Work will just have to stay within its boundaries. Especially as I am about to go back to uni to finish the final subject of my MBA. ..... managing time is always a challenge.

Currently reading (Thanks Bellezza for reccomendation)

Sprint is on its way

No winter lasts forever - No spring skips its turn .... Hal Borland

Spring is definitely on it's way, and I'm loving it. My morning walks take me past some beautiful sights, like this gorgeous Magnolia in bloom. I love looking into the yards of my neighbours, and watching what they've planted or what mystery is coming up. One of my neighbours has a very productive veggie garden in the front yard - and I've noticed they've got lots of garlic, beans and probably zucchini coming up. It motivates me to get out in my garden too. I also love watching who keep flowing bulbs. The surprise of seeing freesias, jonquils, or daffodils turn up over night is such a joy in spring.

  Spring is not quite here tho, as it's still chilly and windy, reminding us that the changing of the seasons is not on a single date. The transition period is important for the land, the trees and the flowers. Transitioning seasons is also important to me - I find this transition time very important to my wellbeing and sense of person. If I allow the transition period to pass without due attention to it myself, then I feel out of sorts and unprepared.

The transition to spring is for me an important time for re setting goals - now the days are getting longer, and mornings are not so cold, and my friends are coming out of hibernation. It's time to reset the balance - a time to find what's important to me in this new era. Social life, healthy life, intellectual life, and personal wellbeing.

The challenge is that the world around me is also waking up to the new season - and business is abound. Work commitments, my voluntary circles are asking more, and family activities are being planned.

Here's to finding the balance, being fair to myself, and remembering to enjoy the moment - smell the flowers.