Eyes open to beauty

My daughter gave me a  box of affirmations "Up the Garden Path"  from Affirmations, made locally in beautiful Bellingen.  The words for today were:

'Greet each day 

with your eyes open to beauty,

 your mind open to change,

and your heart open to love.' 

Paula Finn

I reckon I've done just that today!  Come on and join me......

I was up early and I could see by a glance out of the kitchen window

 that it was going to be something special.

 

So I headed up the hill camera at the ready and Cobba the dog

 running up the pathway ahead as usual!

The moon was still in view 

and this parrot seemed as though it was flying straight into the sun.

 

I turned my back to the sun and watched as my long shadow

 reached down to the trees across the paddock.

The warm rays of the morning sun turned the dry wintery western hills gold.

Cobba snuck off to seeing what was going on at the neighbour's place.

My eyes were drawn back into the hazy glare of the new day.

And I could hear the buzzing of bees around the old plum tree.

A pee wee sat atop the highest branch and dared the other birds to come near.

Translucent petals shone against the sky.

The bees were in heaven!

And it felt like I nearly was too!  

Isn't it great when an ordinary day turns out to be extraordinary? I think, as the  opening words say, it can be as simple as being open to the possibility.

Would love to hear what you think makes a day special.

Time to Reflect.

The sun was already low in the west when I closed the door on the farm accounts, escaping to stretch my legs and breathe some fresh air.  The dog leaped out from under the house, tail wagging. He finds book work boring too! 

A kookaburra kept one eye on us as we passed him by,

 but his gaze was out to the distance.

Down the hill we went at a spritely pace towards the dam

 surrounded by gum trees.

Cobba  frightened a pair of ducks and they took off  in an excited flap to circle above us. Tiny flying insects and water boatmen, and the plop of a water dragon launching from the bank, were all that remained.  

Clouds reflected in the rippled water

                               Cobba waited for me ~  not so patiently!

Gum leaves wafted in the breeze as I trudged up the hill.

There's always something to catch your eye 

(and let you get your breath back!) on the way up.

The sun was setting as I reached home, lovely soft soothing colours.

  I fed the dog, brought in some wood, 

and headed inside without another thought.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As I am about to publish this post I am sitting with a heat pack on my lower back, having done too much in the garden yesterday.  My back is now suffering the consequences.  

It has made me think about just how much I take for granted every day ...... being able to go for a walk, bend down to pick up a feather, reach up to study leaves on a tree....things that you don't think about until you can't do them. For me it is just temporary, but others are not so lucky.  I hope that I will appreciate these things just a little more now.  

How about you?

I'm beginning to see the light.

I have been floundering with my blog since I decided to have a break from selling my potato jewellery. 

Why am I blogging if not to showcase my wares?  I have always enjoyed blogging, but now it seems to have no purpose.  

I read two fabulous and inspiring blog posts, one from Tasha Chawner, and one from Catherine at Foxglove Lane.  They both set me in a spin, and got me thinking.

So when I woke up the next morning and looked out of the window, 

a mist enveloped my world, but unlike most dull misty mornings,

this one was seared by sunlight.

 I was drawn outside, away from the warmth of the fire

and the early morning coffee.

I woke the startled dog from his sleep in his cosy kennel

 and closed the garden gate behind me.

  

The distant sun-glow beckoned me towards it, out across the hill paddock, 

under the fence, to the trees beyond.  The dog was way ahead!

Magpies were warbling, kookaburras cackling, 

rosellas reeling with delight in the morning air.

Like my mind, the spiky branches were a tangled mass

 ~  muddled, darting in all directions ~ a blur.

Suddenly in a flash, fingers of light were thrusting through the trees

 in an ordered fashion ~ not chaotic, all over the place ~  

but directed, purposeful and....yes, stunningly beautiful.

Everything seemed to fall into place.

It all became clear.  I could see above the mist.
  

I wandered back across the fields to home. 

Back in our sunny kitchen my husband was making a cuppa.

"I've had a wonderful walk and taken loads of photos" I said  

"and best of all, I've worked out why I'm blogging!"  

"Because you love it" was his instant reply!  

He knew all along, I just never asked.

Thank you too, Tasha and Catherine!

We need space sometimes to soak up what may be obvious to others.  

A good walk always enables me to sort out my mind.  How about you?

Did you ever go out on a limb?

 Sometimes we feel brave....

I think I could go just a bit further out....don't you?

                               

I'll just go take a look

Oh now I'm not so sure...

And sometimes we don't....

In fact I wish I'd never come this far

I reckon I'll just quietly head back to where I was

I never really wanted to go there anyway

But either way it's OK !

I think we all feel a bit like this sulphur crested cockatoo

 who came for a visit today.  

Sometimes we feel like venturing forth,

 & sometimes we'd just rather stay safe.

Some days are Diamonds, some days are Gold!

Yesterday was the last day of June, and for us in Australia, the last day of the financial year.  Well I'm thinking that the signs are all good for the coming year because the day was truly gold!

Sundown brought golden clouds dancing across the sky

The evening sun shone on the underside of a little moth settled on my kitchen window.

And the ripples of water on the dam fairly gleamed!

It was a golden day indeed, but sadly short lived because today has been, grey, grey grey!!

They say bad things come in threes ~  I think good things do too!

 How about you?

~ Time for a Change of Direction ~

That's right....

There's no easy way to say this so I'll just blurt it out.

I'm taking a break from my Potato Jewellery for a while.

There, I said it!! 

Life has thrown a whole lot of other things my way recently and something has to give. Spuds are very generous souls, and so they put their hands up to say, "We'll take a back seat for a while Jane, while you do whatever else you have to.  We'll be around when you feel like coming back to us."  OK ~  well thank you my potato partners.  You have helped make my decision a lot easier. 

However, don't think for a minute that you will get rid of me that easily!  I've got photos to share that are just jumping out of their seats, shouting "Choose me, choose me!!"

So that's what I'll be doing, sharing photos and thoughts along the way.  Would love you to pop by when you can and join me.

I'm sure you've found at some stage that you can't keep those juggling balls up in the air all of the time.  How have you coped with this dilemma?  Would love you to share your ideas for making life's journey a bit smoother.