This blog diary is about our mosaic life at Frangipani House; art, mindfulness, travel, walking with our little dog on the beach, the beauty in everyday life. Let the beauty of what you love, be what you do.
I started this blog so many years ago, and over the years it was a lovely way of keeping a diary. Then, I was playing around with the settings, and lost all the entries visible once the blog went live. Luckily well for me at least they were still loaded up on the background, but I couldn't access them from the public view.
So I tried so many things until today, and something clicked in when I was looking at my settings and realised that I'd done a custom redirect. A simple change and a click of a button and my blog was back.
Funny how simple changes can make a big difference isn't it? I was listening to Jimmy Carr on Diary of a CEO today, and he mentioned using the question, 'what is one thing you could do today, that tomorrow you would be grateful you did?' Maybe do that exercise, make a different choice in food, or work. Made me think, as I was doing a little bit more of a walk today, stretching my steps out a little further than 10K. I started to feel the steps as I went over 11k. I was glad to reach my favourite coffee stop on the boat harbour.
I still do a double take with Jimmy's wisdom after listening to his ascerbic wit all these years, he is such a wise person to listen to, and it was really wonderful listening to him encourage and reframe some of Steven's words. Have a listen, you might be amazed.
Occasionally, we offer to do some house sitting. It's been a great way to travel and mind a gorgeous dog or two. We really adore dogs, and now that our last one has travelled across the rainbow bridge, it's a lovely way to get a dog fix.
So we were contacted by an owner that we had house sat before, to come and mind their gorgeous dog, at first I said no, long Covid had hit me hard, and house sitting just wasn't on the cards, but then we received a second message and decided to go to help them out.
We were told that they had been doing some renovations, but that the interior had been finished and that there was a few boards being done around the pool that was being finished off. They were also doing a garden roof over the top of the patio.
We arrived to see 3 levels of scaffolding around the house and builders everywhere. We'd been undersold on the sit, and had to wind our way underscaffolding to get into the house.
Nail guns and lump hammers were in action above our heads, not to mention the noise of all the construction.
Now a lot of people travel around house sitting, as they don't have a house. They go from one place to another, so they have somewhere to stay. However, we have a lovely home, and have been down the renovation route a few times, and have absolutely no wish to do anymore. Let alone stay in someone else's home to cope with theirs.
Anyway, suck it up, we were there, and the owners had gone away overseas, and there was nothing to be done. Three days later we returned from taking the beautiful dog we were minding for her walk. As I walked down the driveway to the construction site that was our house sit, I noticed a dog lying near the building works.
As I approached the house, the dog jumped up, ran down the driveway, placed itself across the driveway and bared it's teeth at us, arched, and raised the hackles on it's back. I'm sure I don't need to tell you that this is a massive warning from a dog that you are about to be attacked.
There's nothing to get the old fight or flight response going like the threat of attack. My heart went from calm to pounding in a moment.
I called out to the workers for the dog owner to get the dog under control.
The long and the short of it, was we needed to
approach the owners to tell the builder that the dog was not allowed to be on the site. They had known the dog was on the site. The tradies told us that there had been interactions like this for the past 6 months as the two dogs didn't like each other.
So between the threat of attack and the building construction, we were very unhappy chappies. We'd been house sitting since 2014, and this was the first time that the house sit had gone 'bad' for us. It's been such a shock that we're considering never doing it again.
So if you are thinking of house sitting, do take care, be alert to the fact that things may not be as they seem. If as in our case people say they are finishing of renovating, get them to send photos. if there's tradies on the site, make sure that there's no other dogs allowed.
Welcome, I got myself a bit lost in editing this google blog. So the normal posts you'd see on this initial page are no longer showing... Message to self, do not play around with google settings on blog. But if you'd like to scroll around the side links you'll see some of my past posts. Or head on over to my - frangipani house art blog - click here
I haven't been to the Greek Islands at Christmas, although I'd love to experience it - from the postcards that I saw when I was there, it looks like it might get pretty cold at times. On a trip to the Greek Islands, a few years ago and we minded the most gorgeous little villa perched high above the town of Mykonos.
It was one of those memories that will stay in my heart forever. Of an evening we could look down at the sun setting over the harbour. It was a bit of a hike into town, but we didn't care it was marvellous. We used to use the goat tracks to wind our way up the hill of a night back to the villa.
A little Christmas creating this year
Christmas Baubles to colour, if you're taking part in the current colouring in craze! You are welcome to print the baubles out and colour in. If you decide to share them, just give a link back to my site.
One night there was no moon to guide us, and with only a cigarette lighter to guide our way (you'd have thought we'd have bought a torch instead) we wove our way back home. Hubby in the lead, I followed close behind, when there was a sudden stop and scream at the feeling of hot breath in the front. Turned out that hubby had come face to face with a donkey on the path. He'd been bent over trying to see the way over rocky terrain, and in that position came face to face with the local. Ah fun times to remember.
Greek Christmas Carols from Crete and Peloponnesus
Since visiting them, the islands have never been far from my heart, I could have put down roots and stayed there. It was one holiday I never wanted to return from. I have yet to see any images that truly capture the light and beauty of the place.
I just had a text from a friend wondering what to bring for Christmas lunch, which got me to thinking not about lunch, but about Christmas treats. One of my favourite recipes is for Greek Christmas Cookies - Kourapiedes. A while ago now I happened upon a rather magical cookbook called Falling Cloudberries. The title attracted my interest and then once I opened it, I knew it was coming home with me to live at my house. Tessa's book introduced me to these treats and I've made Tessa's recipe many times. They are melt in your mouth wonderful little bursts of buttery delights and friends just can't get enough of them, once they start.
"Falling Cloudberries: A World of Family Recipes, by Tessa Kiros is a gem. The cookbook is full of personal touches and stories. It is a beautiful collection of family anecdotes, history, and traditions all documented with stunning photography, unique illustrations, and a warm dialogue that will simply pull you in. This book trailer will let you into Tessas exotic multi-cultural family gathered around meals, food and fun."
If you are looking for a lovely Christmas present for someone who loves to cook, who also loves soulful stories, you couldn't do better than Falling Cloudberries by Tessa Kiros. Apart from wonderful recipes, I adore how Tessa has woven into the book her family history and images.
I treasure how people share and create their traditional recipes, and especially at Christmas. This is Irene Mina sharing her recipe and you can find more at Thursday for Dinner.com
"Mindfulness is about being fully awake in our lives.
It is about perceiving the exquisite vividness of each moment..." - Jon Kabat-Zinn
Over the last few years I have been practicing mindfulness and have found it to be of great benefit. What is mindfulness? Mindfulness is simply the practice of being present in the moment. Have you ever stopped and paused, and brought your awareness totally to the present moment? We all have at some point, perhaps it was a sunset that almost took your breath away, holding a baby and being mesmerized by their tiny toes or hands, maybe it was looking at a flower or at an animal?
About mindfulness with Jon Kabat-Zinn
A mindfulness practice:
RAIN - Cultivating a Mindful Awareness
The acronym RAIN is a powerful tool for interrupting habitual patterns of emotional reactivity and discovering the freedom of an awake, compassionate presence. This talk explores the components of RAIN, how it works, what makes it transformational and typical challenges people encounter. The teachings include a guided RAIN meditation.
"Recognising and allowing is the heart of mindfulness practice". Tara Brach.
R.A.I.N:
R - Recognising - "What is happening inside me right now?" - Just name it.
A - Allowing - "Can I be with this?" If you just pause and ask these two questions, you will be more awake. Recognising and allowing, creates a pause. Instead of tumbling into a reactive behaviour, whether it is eating a bowl of ice cream or rushing into responding to an email, or whatever it is, in the recognising and allowing, we've paused...
'Between the stimulus and the response there is a space, and in that space is your power and your freedom' Viktor Frankl.
If you can pause,
in the middle of very habitual behaviour,
you have more choice.
The R and the A, create a pause, and they enable you to begin to investigate (21.35).
I - Investigate - we begin to investigate with interest and friendliness.
"What am I believing?" - don't go searching, don't get stuck in thinking... if something arises allow it.
Have you noticed how much you go around through the day, trying to figure out what is going on?
RAIN can get hijacked by the figuring out mind. It is very skillful to ask 'what am I believing?' Because, whenever we are suffering, there is a limiting belief, (25.38) and if you can identify it, that can bring a whole constellation of what is going on, and less identification.
If there is judgement when you are investigating, it won't work. (26.34) The part of you that is most vulnerable and needs the most work, will hide in the shadows. The only thing that will dissolve judgement that we have in such great supply, is a very purposeful quality of gentleness and kindness.
So Investigate, with an intimate attention.
You can't manufacture kindness, but you can intend it. Because your wisdom knows that is what is needed. (27.46)
Investigate, "What does this part of me need?" But again be aware of going into thinking.
I hold this too with loving kindness
Sometimes we go through the RAIn process and may get to R or A or I, and may not get to the N part of the process. Almost what is important is not getting to the end, but more the intention, and the valuing of pausing and deepening our attention. (36.20)
You can trust,
anytime, you are caught in an old pattern, (36.27)
and you pause, and even just for a few moments, say well 'what's going on?'
and,
'can I be with this?'
that you are beginning a 'rewiring'.
The neuro-circuitry is beginning to change.(36.43)
You are changing habits, even with the lightest version of an incomplete RAIn
Mindfulness helps, and this is mindfulness.
A few challenges people come up with when doing this. What if when you check in, investigating, you can't find felt sense, or you can't even feel your body very much? What I would encourage, in the investigating is just to invite the feelings to be there, and notice what happens and don't worry if you can't connect with your body. Scan through your body, try to notice, but just putting out the inquiry, 'What is happening', 'where do I feel this?' - doing this over and over, it is the invitation that counts. Attention is what counts, in doing this process you are beginning to bring attention to what's there.
Bring kindness to this - bring compassion - as you would to a child.
N - Natural Awareness - Not Identify - There’s nothing to do for
this last part of RAIN—realization arises spontaneously, on its own. We simply rest in natural
awareness
