penneylaneonline

Every now and then it's good to look in the rear vision mirror at some of the more interesting (read, adventures) things you've had in your life. Those interesting things are alot like a vase stuffed with freesia's. They're fragrantly heady, delicately divine and they last for a longer than a moment. I've jumped out of a plane, free falling to one thousand feet before opening the 'chute. That's a blast! Actually it was a one-time only act of insanity BUT I lived another day to tell the tale.... Sign in to see full entry.

It's the first day of Spring and it's a munificent day outside. Reminds me of poems, prayers and promises, things that we believe in... believing, it's so important isn't it? It's not even that we have to feel we believe in something or someone, it's the deeper knowing. No really, it is. And why is that so important. I don't know about you but for me, it's all about how that inner knowing steers us purposely through the life that we've been given to live. The one that stamps its impression in us... Sign in to see full entry.

Years ago a little four year old boy taught me a life lesson that's stayed with me for a long long time, that's how valuable it's been to me. It was one of the kindest reprimands I've ever received and looking back now I'm sure he wouldn't even remember it if I reminded him. TK's twenty-seven now. My, how time flies. I remember it was a week day, a Friday I think. TK, god bless his little cotton socks wanted to give me a special surprise, so, unbeknown to me and when I was off at breakfast he... Sign in to see full entry.

I come from a family (both immediate and wider) of strong-headed and equally strong-hearted women. There are of course, some disadvantages but also a lot of advantages to those character traits too. For the most part, I'm okay with my personal experiences that the advantages do infact outweigh the other. A feature of strong-hearted women is that when the chips are down they will rally around you. They'll fuss and make you drink stuff you seriously wouldn't give to another human being but their... Sign in to see full entry.

The weather has been indulging in some erratic behaviour of late. It's been raining off and on across the last two days. Warming sun and then showers from a maverick watering can or bucketed dump from high in the heavens. I think the plants have been enjoying it alot. I noticed some aggies (Agapanthus) squelching their toes in the mud and there's some gleeful but naughty giggling going on out there. Sounds like some mischief afoot! One of the things I love about my smorgasbord of friends is... Sign in to see full entry.

Wins no matter how big or small need to be celebrated when they happen. And to be found trying plays a real role in keeping our ambitions or dreams running toward our preferred goal of a win. As they say in the ad, 'it might not happen overnight but it will happen." Is winning everything? Sometimes, ask Erin Brockervich. Winning meant everything to her tort case but more particularly to the people that she went to bat for. What drove her was her belief she had uncovered an injustice. She had,... Sign in to see full entry.

Self-criticism is a bit like bad coffee, life's too short for it. So here's the thing, why do we do it to ourselves? And why so often? Why couldn't self-improvement be a better pitch from which to give ourselves a do-able makeover? You don't know? I do! We can't think any differently because really and truly, it all just feels too hard? Am I wrong? Or maybe, it's because we're stubborn. I know that one from experience. Self-criticism is destructive if it's the only basis that we have for... Sign in to see full entry.

Sometimes a change is as good as a holiday, but on the other hand, a holiday might actually be what we need. We need to take stock when we're faced with that either or scenario. A decision then is what's required, one that whips the gathering cobwebs from the corners of the life we're living and sucks them up like a hungry web collecting vacuum cleaner. How hard is it to make such an undemanding decision like this then? To have a change. This little dog's-leg (australianism for a twist in the... Sign in to see full entry.

Make-believe is a golden place, a space where dreams begin. It's where the childhood rainbow begins and ends and everything that comes after it has the handprints of it as a reminder. In particular, it's for the teenage years when we find that having put aside such 'baby-things' we want to roll around on our backs in the freedom of that place again and years later too, as an adult, when it seems we've forgotten what it's like to dream, we want to nestle in its [make-believe's] embrace for a... Sign in to see full entry.

Do you ever wonder what the benefits of growing intellectually would be to you as a person? It seems to me that we pay so much more attention to what someone else is saying about us and we've tended to amass tomes of information about a great many things yet, despite this, remain stunted in both our social skills as well as our intellectual growth. No all of us mind, but strange that isn't it? If one followed that train of thought to its logical conclusion, wouldn't that mean we ought to be... Sign in to see full entry.

The orange tree outside my backdoor is blossoming. Her piquant citrus breath seems to permeate the right-hand corner of my backyard. It's lovely, makes the yard smell so refreshing. The gentle breeze that's ruffling the locks of *Himself (my handsome Macadamia Nut tree) seems to take orange tree's breath away, carry it off up and over the wooden fence to other worlds. Don't you just love this time of year, Spring. Now this may seem like rather an unlikely backdrop against which to talk about... Sign in to see full entry.

Have you ever noticed how when you lie in a deckchair outside in the open air, eyes closed, how much more your whole body seems to absorb the sounds and smells of your surrounds than if you were to consciously set out to inspect those things more closely with your eyes wide open? Ever notice how your skin seems to tingle at the sound and clarity of a bird twittering in the tree tops or how the sun has a distinct smell of its own as well as a kneading touch against our skin. It does. We can smell... Sign in to see full entry.

Gratitude is like a red balloon that's been let go of and begun drifting ever upward into the stratosphere. Least that's how it ought to be. To me, gratitude is akin to a beautiful bouquet of balloons, multi-coloured and sent with love, delivered to our doorway with a wide smile. It's like the smell of a beautiful incense spiralling its way heavenwards in appreciation of the goodness of life toward us, a thankfulness for those gifts of kindness and goodwill bestowed on or toward us. Does that... Sign in to see full entry.

Joy is... imagine that... Sign in to see full entry.

My penneylane pal John Hafer uses an expression that I like, "live LARGE". Actually I like it alot. I like the concept even more when it's translated to actions. I like that it's so expansive and spacious in describing the range of possibilities for its expression in my life. And so should you. Now if Shakespeare were alive today, he'd be a happening guy, thankfully for us he lives still in the legacy of his works, quote he: "All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players.... Sign in to see full entry.

I love being on a boat in Sydney Harbour on days like this. There's a slight on-shore wind and the sea is sparkling like a Cerrone diamond necklace at an Opening Night Premiere. Makes a girl feel like the belle of the ball and a million bucks to boot. What is it about this scene that resonates in our soul like this? Is it the beguiling intensity of sea's eyes, the piercing sharpness of their insight into our heart- spaces? Or is it his salty breath that we can't help but inhale and love the way... Sign in to see full entry.

Of all the emotions, sadness has to be the one that seems to leave us winded, gasping for breath and feeling like we got king-hit. Sometimes it comes to us from out of nowhere and at other times it's like an epic saga that seems to have been going on for a long long time. It's no wonder then that from it can come depression. No one likes to talk about depression because of the social taboo attached to the condition. And yet, we must and we should. We should because it's real and we must because... Sign in to see full entry.

There are some rather 'unforgivable' social sins, like using your butter knife to spread butter on your toast and also to use it to take up and spread jam with that fall into the category of gross. Well, at my house they do. The unforgivable thing about that practise is the bits of butter and toast crumbs that get left in the jam jar or dish. Let's just say, it rarely happens in my house! I don't know where I got that disaffectation from, I just find it grossly off-putting. Or maybe I'm just a... Sign in to see full entry.

When I think about all the animals I've had for friends over the years I feel better than lucky, I feel fortunate beyond words. There's something about it, that friendship that fills a place in our lives, that is by design, animal-shaped only and no amount of shoving is going to fit a human of any description into it. I've had a cross-section of cats, dogs, budgies, mice, calves, cows, horses, lizards, ducklings, an opossum, oh and a dancing flea. Cross my heart and hope to die. It's true. I got... Sign in to see full entry.

The healing properties of laughter have never gone unnoticed as far as I can hear and I'm reminded that this wonderful self-prescribed tonic often needs a leg-up to the fore-front of our memories from time to time. So here, let me give you a boost. Laughter is one of those easily taken forgranted things that can seem to play an unassuming role in our lives and we can often give it a backseat in our life theatre. It hardly seems a wonder then when we wake up one morning further down the track... Sign in to see full entry.