... to Save Money

An Easy Way to Save Money

This is going to be an exciting year for us - a new grandchild and a big trip - so I have been on a 'spend less, save more' kick for quite a while!
  I thought I'd pass on this easy, blindingly simple, painless way of saving money that has worked for us.
                      Never Spend a $5 Note

  Every time I get given a $5 note in change I tuck it into the back of my wallet, then when I get home, transfer it to this jar.
  At the end of each month, I bank what's in the jar. The $5 notes have added up to amounts that have been surprising!
  If you're saving up for something special, why not try this idea. It really is that simple!
  

... to Learn Something New

At the End of the Day

 'Make every day a school day,' says my friend Sue. 

  And she's right. In this wide, wonderful world there are so many fascinating people, plants, and animals; words, ideas, and plans; structures, inventions and technologies; books, movies, art and music to discover. So much to keep you excited about learning!
 At the end of each day I like to spend a few minutes reflecting on what has happened over the intervening hours and what new things I have learnt. 
 And today, while reading a gardening book, I came across a word, a lovely word, I hadn't heard of before.  Miz-maze.
 A miz-maze is a labyrinth made out of turf. Or a state of confusion! Which led me to look on websites about labyrinths and Iron Age forts and the difference between a maze and a labyrinth (labyrinths have a continuous path and no dead ends) and Druids and centuries old school traditions in Winchester and ... in fact I was in a virtual Google miz-maze.
 You can tell I love research, can't you? What new thing did you learn today?

... Be Grateful for Volunteers

for Volunteers

If you stop for a moment and think about the work volunteers do in your community, you'll realise just how many organisations and clubs and societies use volunteers in all sorts of ways.
  I am particularly thinking of some people in our little country town who have been heroes this week. You see, we are in drought conditions here, with no rain forecast and windy conditions. The countryside is scorched brown, there are water shortages and feed for the farm animals is scarce.
  Three days ago a scrub fire broke out on the shores of the harbour near here. It took hold in the night and swept through conservation land. Since then, many hectares have burnt. Helicopters with monsoon buckets were brought in to drop water on the flames. Fire fighters had been actively fighting the fire for two days, and once it was brought under control yesterday, they've been dampening down hotspots, dealing with flare-ups and keeping watch over the area. 
   The fire fighters in our town are all volunteers. When the emergency siren goes, they leave their jobs or homes, whatever time of the day or night, to rush to the fire station and go where needed - to a vehicle accident, to a medical emergency, to a fire.
  These last few days for them have been extra hot, stressful, tiring and dangerous. I am so grateful that we have such volunteers in our area.  

... to Step Out of Your Comfort Zone

Port Albert on the Kaipara Harbour

I often go down to Port Albert to sit and read or write. I like being beside the water and it's not far from home. And there are huge flocks of birds there - oyster catchers and pied stilts especially which I like to observe. 
   This photo looks lovely, doesn't it? But it's not always so picturesque. When the tide is out, it looks like this:

Low tide at the wharf

And that's when I step out of my comfort zone. You see, I hate heights and the long wharf stands high above the mud flats at low tide. And I have this silly irrational fear that I'm going to have an Alice in Wonderland "Shrink me" type moment & fall through the gaps between the boards! Which was not helped by an official hazard sign on the shore stating the obvious - that you could fall off the wharf and drown!
  But today there were kingfishers at the end of the jetty, landing then flying and diving for fish, going round and round from the handrails to the water and back again. And I wanted to photograph them so, clutching the rail tightly and stepping ever so slowly, I made the long walk from the shore to the end of the wharf.
   By which time the kingfishers had seen me coming and abandoned the area completely!

... for Words of Comfort

It has been a very sad three weeks with the death of a close friend. I have found it difficult to write while I grieve for her, and confront my own mortality. 
   Today I found a quotation, in the poem 'Auguries of Innocence' by William Blake, that, in a strange way, was oddly comforting.

    Man was made for joy and woe;
    And when this we rightly know
    Through the world we safely go.

I hope these words may be a comfort to you if you need them.

... to Think How You Live Your Life

A Greek Sculpture from Chania, Crete

This week I have been reminded of a passage from the novel 'Zorba the Greek' by Nikos Kazantzakis.
  Zorba visits a little village and comes across an elderly man planting an almond tree. He wonders aloud why the man is bothering to do that when he is so old.
  The man turns to him and says, "My son, I carry on as if I should never die."
  And Zorba replies, "And I carry on as if I was going to die any minute."
   Which one of them was right?
   How do you live your life?

... to Appreciate Your Friends

An early twentieth century postcard

This postcard was sent by Beth to 'Dearest Edith' in September 1910. (The Rontgen Rays mentioned in the verse are the newly discovered X rays.) Beth is expressing her concern for her friend as she was when they last saw each other.
   'You did not seem to be so cheerful as before. I hope you are not worrying over anything, Dear, because I don't want you to.'
  Nowadays we are likely to make a phone call or send an email or put a message on Facebook. 
  Or perhaps you let the days and weeks slip by without making contact, assuming your friends will always be there and know that you appreciate them.
  How about taking the time today to make that call or send that email. Let each friend know how much she or he means to you. How each, in their own way, has added a glowing thread to your life.