Purple
a Monday Moment by TW
Purple is in at the moment. Have you noticed. It seems to be everywhere. Dresses, skirts, shoes, mens shirts, ties. It’s like a purple comeback.
Not only is it everywhere in the stores, it seems that Spring has also brought purple back. Love it or hate it, the Jacaranda Tree is in full bloom, all over Sydney.
I say love it or hate it as I know that people who park their cars under these trees or have one close to their front lawn must hate the thousands of purple blossoms that fall. They seem to be never ending and they make a huge mess.
I love them, as not only do they brighten my walk to and from the bus stop, they have also taught me something about myself and the world around me.
The Jacaranda Tree effects everything around it. It blows in the spring, sheds its blossoms and not a surface close by is safe from being absolutely covered in purple. I have laughed many a time seeing a car drive past, obviously parked under its branches and covered in flowers.
It made me realise that we too effect everything around us. The way we act, the words we say, how we project ourselves. What we do in a day can either have a positive effect on our environment, like the beauty of the limbs and the bright purple blossoms, swaying in the breeze, or be a negative nuisance and end up ruining other peoples space, like the messy purple blanket that is shed.
We are all part of this crazy world and we all have an effect on how it turns.
Hopefully we can make the space we take up a little brighter, and a little more purple… in a good way.
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Tags: Blooms, Blossoms, Effect, Jacaranda Trees, Positive, Purple, Spring, Sydney
Quote for the week
“Time is a traveler. Where did it go? It left, but it didn’t leave you empty handed. No! It left you with the gift of
beautiful memories, that you can keep in your heart for safe keeping, to cherish forever, and ever.” — Jane Adams
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3 life lessons by Mac
a Sunday Starter by ND
I love animals. Having grown up on acreage my parents were happy for us to have different kinds of animals in our background. We had your standard cat & dogs, and then we had some horses, lil chicks, cute ducks & noisy geese! It was fun having different animals.
My first pet was a beautiful extremely fluffy Persian cat named, Peter. He wasn’t your normal cat. He would follow me around, go on expeditions into the bush with me, sit on my lap when I asked him too. He was an amazing cat!
When Peter passed I thought cats were for me, so I got another one. But after too many attempts of getting a new cat I decided that maybe this animal was not for me anymore 😦
I had a couple of years without having a pet and it was challenging. There was like this void in my life. There wasnt that ‘friend’ to greet me with unconditional love when I walked in the door. I didn’t realize how much patting an animal helped therapeutically to my soul. I missed my friend! I needed to go in search again for a four legged friend.
Enter our trusty bigger than life dog, Mac!
We’ve had Mac for 9 years now & what a blessing he has been. He is a happy dog who’s always smiling, his tail goes crazy when he sees us. It is so refreshing to come home & see him after a below average day. I dont know how it happens but within 10 minutes you’re worries have dissipated to a very dull memory after being around him.
Animals are life changing!
I was sitting out the back with Mac one day & started to day dream about his day. Here’s what I came up with:
1. He Hunts (work) – it may look a little different these days but they still hunt, they work by protecting their (our) homes. We also hunt. We go to work to provide for our families.
2. He Rests (sleep) – after a crazy day hunting/ protecting he needed rest. We too need rest. We need to be able to unwind after a hard days work. Our bodies need this time to rejuvenate properly so our minds, our souls and our zest for life are in tact.
3. He has Fun (being in the moment) – animals dont need much to have fun. In their natural habitat, they play just like our little ones do; having play fights or lying around with friends. In their pet environments, all they need is a person and a stick, or a ball, or a lap. Whatever it is they a just happy to be with you, their friend. We too need this. After a busy week, we need to forget about what’s happened over the last 5 days and allow ourselves to ‘be in the moment’. Switching off our minds from work worries, the Internet, the iPad. All these things drag us away from what is important to ourselves, our family and our friends We need to reevaluate life so we can re-engage with it and have some fun!.
I am constantly reminder that growing old is mandatory but growing up is optional.
Sometimes, we need to stop & remember what life is about.
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Tags: balance, change, Freedom, friendship, happiness, life lessons, pets, simple life
Be Brave!
a Happy Friday by ND
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Tags: brave, music, no fear, strong
Quote for the week
“You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You’re on your own, and you know what you know. And you are the only one who’ll decide where you’ll go.” – Dr. Seuss
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Tags: Dr Seuss, feet, journey, life, Shoes
Straight ahead, sideways
a Tuesday Thought by TW
I’m 31 and I’m still waiting for the baby bug to hit me. Plain and simple.
The travel bug certainly latched on early in my life and is yet to leave my side. I’m not sure if I have to let it go to allow the other to take hold. Who knows, maybe I’ll never be a mother.
Although kids are far from my list of goals at this point in time, it doesn’t mean that I don’t love being around them – namely two, my niece and nephew, Riley and Ryan, aka R1 and R2.
Having somehow avoided looking after them for the past 6 years, last weekend was my time to shine and take on the challenge of babysitting. Sounds easy right? 16 year olds do it, surely a mature woman such as myself could handle this simple task. What I didn’t realise was that on this seemingly normal day in October I would learn a life lesson, and it came from a three year old.
After waving Mum and Dad off at the door (thankfully no tears) and one hour of gymnastics involving pillows, doonas, somersaults and cartwheels (thankfully no tears or injuries), we headed out into the sunshine and up the road to the park.
Initial fears of crossing the road on bikes and scooters, with ears peeled for the sound of cars, were quelled and we arrived at the playground. Phew, made it. The second task of mediating world war three as to who got what swing was quite easily diverted and a lesson in sharing was provided. Nice work Aunty Tan.
Pushing my little nephew higher and higher, watching his little legs dangling down and his little hands holding tight was lovely. I even managed a double session of pushing both R1 and R2 in unison.
This babysitting work is easy.
As the swinging continued R2 started to notice that Aunty Tan’s pushing skills were not exactly up to scratch. Swings are supposed to go straight up and down,…right? What was this side to side action we had going on.
Get ready, here comes the life lesson.
“Aunty Tan, sometimes you go straight and sometimes you go sideways.”
Plain and simple. There it was.
I continued to push R2, angling him a little to get him going straight ahead, thinking about the times in my life when I’ve gone sideways, all of the times when I’ve thought I was off the rails, headed in the wrong direction, unsure of what I was doing and where my life was headed.
The way my three year old nephew said it was a statement I’ll never forget. Life never just goes one way. It’s not ever going to be a clear path or an easy road. There are many paths we follow. Some are straight ahead and some are sideways.
What’s important to realise is that whichever way you’re headed, you’re still swinging.
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Tags: Direction, Goals, life, Nephew, Niece, paths to take, R1, R2, Sideways, Straight Ahead, Swinging
We’re all Human
a Happy Friday by TW
It’s Friday! A day when most humans get a little happier and the world seems a little brighter with the weekend dancing ahead of us. The wonderful thing about being human is that there are truths we can all relate to. Here are some that made me laugh and made my day even happier.
1. I think part of a best friend’s job should be to immediately clear your computer history if you die.
2. Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize you’re wrong.
3. I totally take back all those times I didn’t want to nap when I was younger.
4. There is great need for a sarcasm font.
5. How the hell are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet?
6. Bad decisions make good stories.
7. You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you know that you just aren’t going to do anything productive for the rest of the day.
8. “Do not machine wash or tumble dry” means I will never wash this – ever.
9. I think the freezer deserves a light as well.
10. I would rather try to carry 10 over-loaded plastic bags in each hand than take 2 trips to bring my groceries in.
11. How many times is it appropriate to say “What?” before you just nod and smile because you still didn’t hear or understand a word they said?
12. I love the sense of camaraderie when an entire line of cars team up to prevent a jerk from cutting in at the front. Stay strong, brothers and sisters!
13. Shirts get dirty. Underwear gets dirty. Pants? Pants never get dirty, and you can wear them forever.
14. There’s no worse feeling than that millisecond you’re sure you are going to die after leaning your chair back a little too far.
15. Even under ideal conditions people have trouble locating their car keys in a pocket, finding their cell phone, and Pinning the Tail on the Donkey – but I’d bet my ass everyone can find and push the snooze button from 3 feet away, in about 1.7 seconds, eyes closed, first time, every time!
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Quote for the week
“We believe that children are agents of transformation, because changed circumstances might change a person, but a changed person will always change their circumstances” – Compassion
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Iheart
a Tuesday Thought by ND
A couple of years ago I went to a conference hosted by Hillsong church, called Colour! It’s a fabulous conference where speakers from around the world come to share their stories & uplift the womanhood. The conference generally has a theme to it, this particular year the hosts had a vision to rescue as many children out of poverty through an organisation called Compassion.
Sadly, it’s not the innocent children that choose who their parents will be or where they will be born, but these 2 factors will affect their lives forever.
As the speaker was talking about these beautiful children, I felt this pull on my heart to contribute, but how? I couldn’t make massive changes to their community. I couldn’t provide them with clean drinking water. I couldn’t provide more food. I couldn’t change their situation!
As the speaker was finishing the host put a call out with an action plan. ‘….if you’re interested in helping one of these children to have a better life, we would love for you to sponsor them. It’s only $1 a day, but this will change their world. It will provide them & their family with food, clothing, medical checks & schooling….’ I was so excited. I could help. I could make a difference.
I’ve learnt that to save a community you need to start with one. It takes 1 person to put out their hand to another & before you know it, you’ve made an impact in that persons life.
A simple smile. An encouraging pat on the back. A friendly postcard. They may be small in size but when the ripple effect takes hold, it can do great things!
If you’d like to check out Compassion Australia, here’s their link www.compassion.com.au
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Quote for the week
“There is nothing better than the encouragement of a good friend”– Katharine Butler
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Amen Sister 