Wednesday 13th February

I have decided to go back on my writing and post them. I was waiting to try and make it more interesting with photos but I am having problems getting the photos from my phone to the lap top and then into the blog - so here goes - a catch up of a few days - apologies for no pictures at this stage but at least it will get me up to date with my thoughts, posted in sequence as they were written.....

Wednesday 13^th 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!