Happy Place

Morning at Lake Hamilton

 Sometimes the world simply gets too big. 

I'm not going to comment much about recent world events. I have deliberately stayed away from news and current affairs programs. Actually, I do that a lot - most days really. Watching the news unfold in front of me in screaming technicolour doesn't do my heart, mind and soul any good, not to mention the fact that I don't think news reports are entirely accurate most of the time anyway. There's always a myriad of perspectives and I know not all of them are represented in a single news report. 

You may call me an ostrich with my head in the sand. 

That's ok. I'll let you. I'm not offended. I know what works for me and I know that my anxiety levels go through the roof if I dwell on events over which I have no control. I don't think we were meant to know everything but humankind seems to have this insatiable quest to know all there is to know about everything there is to know. 

Try as I may though, news filters through. Let's face it, if you're on Facebook (Did I just make a pun then? Let's FACE it.....FACEbook.......never mind.....) you get news as it's happening so yes, I have heard about the recent tragic events in Orlando and yes, I am aware that billions of people around the globe have aired their opinions about the availability of guns, gun control and the like. 

When things like this happen I find I immediately start creating something beautiful. I guess there's something about the predictability of a beginning, middle and an end that has a beautiful outcome that I find soothing. When 9/11 happened I slowly and systematically started on a Friendship Quilt that became a wall hanging. It kept me calm and gave me another focus rather than dwelling on the horror that I had witnessed live on my television screen.

This time, without even thinking I found myself cutting out 2.5" fabric blocks from the the endless stash of off-cuts and Fat Quarters that I have in boxes in my spare room. So far I have cut out 180 of these little beauties. 

There are 11 piles of 12 squares pictured. I could've sworn I'd cut out 144 squares.......

I found the 12th pile on the floor. 

I lay them all out on the living room rug and decided that I'd do 15 rows of 12 to make it a decent sized little quilt. Laying them on the living room rug was possibly a foolish move because.....well....I have a 10 week old puppy......

Who isn't ALWAYS blissfully asleep on her little sofa!

Tonight I'm going to decide on the placement of colours - which will quite possibly be very haphazard but I like haphazard things. I'll try and post some pictures as the quilt progresses,

Centering in is my happy place. My little home, my kids, my fur-kids and my love for creating beautiful things is sometimes the only world I need to think about. Like I said, I don't think we were meant to know everything. I don't think it's good for me to know everything. I'm doing what I can to listen to my own body, heart and soul to discover the path that is right for me.

Inhabiting this space

Today I've kind of found it hard to get going. It's not that I don't feel motivated, I'm just taking it slow and have this wonderful sense of well-being that's kind of just slowed me down so I can appreciate just being. What's life if not to enjoy? It's too short to spend it being flat out all the time.

I'm enjoying experimenting with gardening. I'm trying my hand at growing carrot seedlings, kale and radishes. I bought a number of herbs yesterday - parsley, rosemary, chives, mint, coriander and...something else. I have capsicum seeds from a capsicum I bought drying on the kitchen windowsill and will try planting them to see what we get. My friend Joscelyn sent me some stevia seeds that she harvested from her plants so I'll plant those too. The cauliflower, broccoli, leek, silver beet and onions I planted a few months back are growing beautifully and the compost heap is becoming all kinds of juicy. I find it kind of exciting really; watching all this grow and knowing it will one day nourish our bodies. I'd like to get some seed potatoes in the ground one day and I'm seriously toying with the idea of getting an enclosed chicken run and getting some chooks. Lets bring the country to the suburbs!

Add to that the knitting I'm doing and I'm starting to feel as though returning to a simple life and working on becoming self-sustainable is an achievable goal. It will be a lifetime journey that will be ever developing and never ending but fills me with a sense of purpose. Ideas fill my head about making things with my hands and giving them as gifts or selling them and this fills me with excitement, realising that this is possible - maybe not to the grand scale I would like it to be, but to some level at least.

Doing things for myself also fills me with a sense of satisfaction. Getting out in my yard and cutting the grass with a push mower (you know - like those old fashioned ones. No motor.) makes me feel independent. Sure, it's not as "finished" as a mower would do it & the edges could do with whipper-snippering but it looks a darn sight neater after I do it than before. Not only that, but it's great exercise!

I'm feeling very solitary, but I don't seem to mind it. Life is just full of simple pleasures and I feel as though I've slowed down, opened my eyes and seen how rich a simple life can be. Yes there are things I am wrestling with spiritually but I feel these too are part of the journey and will resolve if I just give them time and patience.

Inhabiting a really good place. Now, off to do some baking!