Back to Centre.

We found this lake many, many years ago while riding horses.  Some 30 years in fact!  The brigade has been trying on and off to find it again ever since Angus came across it while fighting a bushfire, and so far it had eluded the searchers, but there it was after all, hiding away in the middle of the bush. We took the 1.4 and took the trails I'd taken on horseback all those years ago.  I was a little bit chuffed to find it where I thought it should be!  It's a great site to use to practice drafting water into the vehicles, and for a little BBQ picnic afterwards!

Last week Andrew was spraying some intrusive tough weeds up at the block (African Love Grass: We do not love it!) and the dogs decided that his mask made him an evil stranger. They wouldn't be convinced by him that he was daddy, so he gave up trying to talk to them and got on with the job, and they came to sit each side of me and be my Black Watch, as mum calls them. I love this row wow bark of Rosie that she does when she is genuinely feeling guardy and a bit worried, as opposed to faking it for fun. It's cute.

The birds in the background are White-tailed Black cockatoos.  They are back in town. It was a lovely evening, made even better because I wasn't the one doing the work!    


I have been getting so jittery, what with one thing and another. I was finding it hard to settle down, but a visit to my inner landscape and a chat with Odin and then Brigid set me back on course.  It is wonderful to be able to access the wisdom of these deities in my life.  I am very thankful for their presence.

With this return to self in mind, I had a centering weekend of doing the homely things I love.  This was made easier because Andrew was off at a training course all weekend, so I had the cottage all to myself (Mwahahaha!)

So, what did I do?  I played a lot of music, both my own on instruments and from itunes and youtube  One thing I did that I hadn't done before was buy and listen to the whole of a Wardruna album in one go.  That was a journey and is definitely the way to listen to their music, but this is one, Odal, of my faves from the album I bought: "Runaljod: Ragnarok".

I did chores in the garden, too, the sort of never-ending ones here like picking up sticks. The chooks came out with me.  They always like it when I do this sort of job because they think I am foraging with them.  It feels very nice to me too.  Very communal and friendly.     

I finished the Baby Buckbeak Amigurumi that I've been neglecting for ages too.  He's a Hippogriff from the Harry Potter stories.

He's cuter than I thought he was going to be when I was halfway done, but a bit of taking apart and restitching of parts and he has come good.  I like how he sits up with his little claw feet in the air!  I wouldn't recommend this pattern for beginners, because it has some gaps where you need to have enough experience to come up with your own solutions. It's a cute result though!  
 
The weather was lovely all weekend.

The chooks took full advantage of it, sunbaking and foraging blissfully.  I'm a bit worried about Sbock, the orange chook here.  She looks like she is a tad off.  More slower movement and a slow blink than anything overt.  Not much you can do with these orange hybrids, they just have a short life and that is it.  Sbock is the last of her generation.  Poor Nanny Ogg will be sad when she goes because she is her oldest living friend.  Nanny is doing great.  She must be close to 8, I think, or even older.  She's seen a lot of orange chooks come and go. 

 

That pose is the sunbaking posture, though, not from any illness.  I had to laugh one time when one of them came right by where I was sitting and just suddenly plopped down with a wing up. I thought she had fainted or dropped dead, but all she was doing was instant sunbaking!  Others came to join her straight away. It must be catching. 

The youngest three; Rover, Spotty and Fido are cheeky monkeys.  I love having free range chooks but they are hell on vegie gardens, and apparently no table is safe either!

Saturday night broke the centering weekend in half with a nice bit of chaos, having a family games night at the station for the brigade's kids.  Andrew did a good job of wrangling some of the younger kids down to playing an actual game instead of running around like loons.

And he turns out to be a bit of a Jenga wizard.

 Sunday was more music, more crochet, more chores.  All done peacefully and mindfully.  I even videoed myself playing another song on guitar, but I'll post that on Friday.   

Did I get re-centered?  Yes I did.  It was good!  It's always good to come back to what matters to you, and what matters to me that has been missing from my 'life pie' is plenty of alone time to use my hands and mind in peace.  It's easy to forget how important that time is. 

 

Not that you are ever really alone with dogs.   

Today?  Today is back to the practical.  Exposed rough stone is lovely and romantic to live in, till the time comes to try and clean dirt and grease off the rocks behind the oven!  Euuuwwww!  It's all scrubbed now, just have to see how it comes up when it is dry.

    

Ah well, as the saying goes, "Before enlightenment, chop wood, carry water.  After enlightenment, chop wood, carry water."  It's not what you're doing, it's how you're feeling while you do it that counts!