Wednesday
13th February 2019
Once again
I awake to a beautiful blue day of sunshine and calm – birds calling and the
waves gently rolling out on the reef. We’ve started noting the tide times – it was
high tide at 7.02 this morning – not that we noticed as we are generally still
fast asleep then. I have been battling a little to get to sleep but it is a
pattern that started quite a while ago – I am getting enough sleep though for
sure as once I do fall asleep I have
been waking at between 9 and 10 in the morning!!!! In addition the night time perambulations are
on the decrease so that’s a huge relief!! Habits are hard to break. I have also
noticed that I am dreaming again – at first I guess not surprisingly about
packing up rooms in a house with my mum, and Fay and Beulah, then of me getting
ready to snorkel with Johannesburg friends whom I have not seen for ages, then of
my sister Fay and her now deceased husband, Rudd who (in my dream) were diving
and swimming – none of this surprises me as I have been thinking a lot about Fay
and Rudd since we arrived. They sold
their home in Tasmania and spent 7 years travelling around Australia in a smart
RV that had it all AND towed a little 4 x 4 two seater that they ventured off
the track in as it had all the camping and fishing gear as well as a rubber
dingy tied to it. Sadly I can’t swap
stories with her as she has since had a stroke and is not able to speak but I
do think a lot about them and the amazing times they must have had. Dreams can be fun places to revisit family and
friends – I enjoy the feeling of closeness I have when I awake.
So I am
writing on the patio at the long table set to one side. The gardener is busy
with the sieve taking out the coral flowers and leaves that have fallen into the
water since he did it yesterday! The fans are whirring above me, my legs and
arms are covered with INSECT O, the mossie spray we brought from Greyton which
very effectively and of course ecologically, keeps the mossies away!! And so another day stretches wondrously ahead
of us …. yesterday I spoke to my Tennis Tarts book club
gals while they were having this month’s book club and someone asked me if I
thought I might get bored here. Interesting as it had not occurred to me that
we could ‘get bored’. So my answer at
this stage is no, not at all. So what is boredom – I’ve looked it up – a lack
of enthusiasm among other things – and I can’t see that happening – as long as
there is energy and movement in this body surely and a beach and a changing sea
and a pool to fall into right here on my doorstep, busses a short walk away,
places to explore I can’t see boredom happening. I guess boredom is also a
state of mind.
There are
five swallows that spend the night resting at the top of a pillar on the patio.
At first we noticed three sheltering there. John got very concerned and put off
the light near them and turned off the fan on that side. A couple of nights
later another two joined them, sitting on the struts of the awning.
I love the
timelessness of this point in our lives. If we don’t get to it today, then
there is always tomorrow. When we are not doing or planning on doing, we notice
more – and so as I emerge from the toll of the last months and maybe years, I feel
my clock steadying, my senses noticing, my thoughts slowing, my juices moving,
my eyes opening – and a slight realization of less judgement in my mind as I
look at things – more acceptance of this is what is, rather than this is what I
would prefer to to be….
No doubt, suffering
is what we experience when we want things to be different from what they are –
be it the weather, the place, the waves, the temperature, the taste….. the experience,
the person….
But
yesterday we ventured out at low tide with our snorkels, goggles and fins! John
wearing his smart new shortie wet suit and me in an old surfing vest of Josh’s!
We entered the sea directly in front of
the house. I took my boogie board which worked perfectly for me as I get nervous
when the water is deep. It also meant I had something to keep me afloat as I
lay across it whilst snorkeling. We had to go quite far out to get to the reef –
the water was so clear and we saw lots of little fish. I was excited to see a small
shoal – about ten or so – of fish jumping in and out of the water – really speedy
fellows! We headed towards the pole that
Percy had told me about – it turned out to be a very encrusted anchor wedged
into a rock with a pole and a piece of fabric attached to it. In my attempts to
grab the pole I sort of sat on the rocks and immediately felt a stinging
sensation on my bottom!! It wasn’t painful but did result in red welts which I
covered with some Australian pawpaw balm which seems to have sorted it out! I was
very glad that I was wearing the vest as the top of my legs got a bit burnt –
something to watch out for. So I would
say that it was a successful foray into the ocean for our first snorkeling
attempt! I think we will follow Percy’s advice next time and enter the sea
further up the beach.
Let’s see
if I can post a few pics to break the monotony of only words!
The squatters moving in!!!
Will post this while its still here!! Then post the other pics!!
💗 your thoughts on dreaming and on boredom! Xx
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