Leaving for Aurora today. Spending tonight in Sydney at jadedlotus’s. Canberra and Thredbo tomorrow. Looking forward to meeting Kate next week.
I don’t know how much blogging I’ll manage to do while I’m away, but I do intend to write when I can. We’ll see if there’s anything worth transcribing into electronic format.
Five things I am grateful for:
- sunrise. My favourite time of day.
- the mobile phone. I left my phone home yesterday and boy was it inconvenient not being able to quickly send an SMS! I kept telling myself to reflect on the fact that the mobile-phoneless-state is how I lived for most of my life and I was fine…
- air travel. I know I complain about cattle class and how uncomfortable plane seats are, but it would take so much longer to get places without planes.
- chai latte
- hugs.
Our two chihuahuas are an integral part of the household.
The dogs love nothing better than snuggling up in bed with M.
Most mornings after I take them out for a brief constitutional, they hop back into bed while I spend time in my study. It’s no longer possible for M to sleep in, as both dogs bounce on him at around 7am, to wake him up. Part of their morning routine is a t-r-e-a-t (the word makes Paco perk up, which in turn gets Peppi excited.)
We haven’t gone through a winter with Peppi yet. I predict that she will turn into a Doona Burrower when the temperatures drop.
In this photo on the right they were resting on the couch after some vigorous wrestling.
It is interesting to see how different each dog is. Paco is very confident and quietly happy in himself. Peppi on the other hand is rather more nervous and uncertain. When something new is presented to them, Paco wants to come up immediately, tail wagging, to see what it is. Peppi is always unsure, and often gets defensive. Peppi stands back and stares. If she is feeling particularly uncertain, she barks at the new thing, and then moves away.
My mood has been sombre and I haven’t much felt like blogging, with all the terrible news coming out of Victoria. No doubt I am a wuss but I have actually been avoiding much of the news because I don’t want to see any gruesome pictures or read any horror stories of what Victorians have been going through with the bushfires.
I haven’t been thinking much about what I am grateful for, this week, and actually it’s been a bit difficult to find five things, but I will try:
- Bruce Springsteen’s Born in the USA. I have recently rediscovered this album, and it’s been playing constantly on my iPod for the last couple of weeks. I loved the album when I was a teenager and still know all the lyrics. It’s strangely comforting listening.
- Our accountant. (Although I think we will be doing our tax returns ourselves this year.)
- The Swan river. I love crossing it everyday on my way to work. (I wonder what the Nyungar name for the river is?)
- My Pelikan M450. My current daily pen. I love writing with it.
- Opportunities. I am going to Aurora next week.
I leave you with some lyrics from No Surrender by Bruce Springsteen:
Now on the street tonight the lights grow dim
The walls of my room are closing in
There’s a war outside still raging
you say it ain’t ours anymore to win
I want to sleep beneath peaceful skies in my lover’s bed
with a wide open country in my eyes
and these romantic dreams in my head
*Thank you in Malay. Literally, “Receive love”.
