Excuses, Excuses

At the end of the day, we value material everything more than spiritual anything. If that weren't true, we'd be as frantic about missing a meditation session as we are about missing a meeting or being late for work, unless of course, work and meetings have profoundly spiritual effects on our being, or are places where our spiritual efforts are perfectly manifest...

Bhante to the Householder

Today we heard this story from a married westerner, who was told by a Burmese master:

"If the Buddha had done everything his wife told him to do we wouldn't have the Buddha."

Chicken Chasin' & Shovelin' Sh!t ( ft. JuJu the Donkey)

I don't really make plans anymore. I think there was a time though, many years ago that i could make plans and stick to them, that i could decide way in advance what i might be doing a particular day. Now I wake up in the morning and have no clue, i might get asked by the first person who rings my phone "what are going to do today"....
usually I have no plans, i have to make it up as i go along. I am almost living "in the moment" (maybe Eckhart Tolle would blush), but I wasnt trying to. I just fell into the abyss of no time frame (no watch, no schedule), and I can't say whether it is good or bad, only that I remember that alarm clocks are stressful evil noise makers and I think had i stuck with using one i would be mentally ill now.
I dont really know what i am doing with my life, but I know for me, life is for living.

Here is a video of today. I spent alot of hours, shoveling donkey poop that finally defrosted in JuJu's stall.


Xoxoxox

Overpacked

I seem to have a rather persistent problem when it comes to packing a suitcase and that is I completely overpack.  Every single time I just can't help myself and the worst thing of all is that my carry-on luggage could be compared to everything 20 people would need for a 2 week holiday.  It is just ridiculous. 

However, after hauling my usual 10 tonnes of so-called 'I can't live without' luggage on a 20 hour flight from Brisbane to New York a few days I ago it was quite humorous to read an article by Amanda Fortini in the New York Times this morning in which she proclaims her obsession with the overpack too. 

I was comforted by the fact that she too has packing anxiety and as her friend kindly puts it - 'It's like you're traveling by ocean liner.  Will you be accompanied by a porter?'  I WISH I could be accompanied by a porter.  Usually my husband is around and has in the past helped me lug large seashells in my carry-on luggage from Hawaii and cushion covers, mirrors and a painting from LA but this time it is just me and my carry-on and let me tell you it is exhausting running for a connecting flight with 3 heavy bags.  I have vowed and declared that on our return flight next week I will only be bringing 1 bag into the cabin with me and the rest will be checked in.  It will be interesting to see how I go.

It is snowing here in New York which is quite amazing as this time last week I was swimming in our pool with Harry and Max in 30 + degrees.

The Tiny House Blog

 http://tinyhouseblog.com/

Many of the tiny houses pictured in the gallery of the Tiny House Blog are ideal housing for meditators, hermits, and/or those who want to actively contribute to sustainability...enjoy!

From the Tiny Buddha website

http://tinybuddha.com/blog/how-to-deal-with-negative-people-or-difficult-people/

How to deal with negative or difficult people. The Tiny Buddha website has a lot of good stuff...check it out. 

Crazy Wolf, Dead Peacock, and Sunshine

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I am on the hunt for a good chunk of sunshine, but always something comes up where i only get the tail end of the bright ball in the sky.
I try though. There are always things to discover if I leave the cabin, and that makes it well worth it.
This is quite mundane... but so can be reality for us all...

xoxox

To the center of finance and trade in new China

I am off to Shanghai China at sunrise to join the worlds largest migration of people during the Lunar New Year festivities.  Back in a week!

Happy Weekend

Have a fantastic, colourful and happy weekend!

image source unknown

RIP Beep Beep, I Tried.

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my chicken Beep Beep died yesterday in my arms.
I am doing better today, although still really upset ---- i have to foreWARN that the video below is a little bit disturbing, there is a dead chicken, crying , yelling, and grief. It's been a really hard winter for me and I feel that the isolation from other humans has made it even harder. (Which is why i am talking outloud to a video camera everyday, to help keep me sane.) The loss of my animals though, on any level, any animal, any season always makes me extremely upset. Especially when they have to suffer and be sick. I have suffered and been ill, laying on my death bed with celiac sprue before so I know the fear, pain, and peace that comes with the fading of the body.
Beep Beep had something called "sour crop" which I was not able to diagnose till it was too late.

If your chicken is sick and has a bulging chest, lethargic, watery poop, droopy wings, heavy breathing and bad putrid breath they may have sour crop - and can be saved if it is caught early enough! Beep Beep's blockage (which is located below the neck on their chest) was really swollen and huge (felt like a soft rubber stress ball consistency), I tried giving her olive oil with with a dropper, then massaged the swollen crop over and over. She did pass a small amount of it on her own but it was just too much. The advice to hold her on her back and induce vomiting didn't work for Beep Beep at all, nothing came out.
Please read more HERE about this if you suspect your beloved chick might have it.
*
also... anyone wanting to leave a rude comment on this post will be immediately erased and banned as spam, so please keep this one peaceful.



xoxoxoxox

Bhikkhu Bodhi and Buddhist Global Relief

http://www.buddhistglobalrelief.org/active/bgrMission.html

We need a lot more organizations like this. This one was begun by the wonderful Pali translator Bhikkhu Bodhi, who, happily, was not satisfied only translating texts. Hope you watch the video at the link above. 

Instruction from the Vimalakīrti Nirdeśa Sūtra

Vimalakīrti Nirdeśa SūtraChapter 2: Inconceivable Skill in Liberative Technique Translation by Robert Thurman

At that time, there lived in the great city of Vaisali a certain Licchavi, Vimalakirti by name. Having served the ancient Buddhas, he had generated the roots of virtue by honoring them and making offerings to them. He had attained tolerance as well as eloquence. He played with the great superknowledges. He had attained the power of incantations and the fearlessnesses. He had conquered all demons and opponents. He had penetrated the profound way of the Dharma. He was liberated through the transcendence of wisdom. Having integrated his realization with skill in liberative technique, he was expert in knowing the thoughts and actions of living beings. Knowing the strength or weakness of their faculties, and being gifted with unrivaled eloquence, he taught the Dharma appropriately to each. Having applied himself energetically to the Mahayana, he understood it and accomplished his tasks with great finesse. He lived with the deportment of a Buddha, and his superior intelligence was as wide as an ocean. He was praised, honored, and commended by all the Buddhas and was respected by Indra, Brahma, and all the Lokapalas. In order to develop living beings with his skill in liberative technique, he lived in the great city of Vaisali.

His wealth was inexhaustible for the purpose of sustaining the poor and the helpless. He observed a pure morality in order to protect the immoral. He maintained tolerance and self-control in order to reconcile beings who were angry, cruel, violent, and brutal. He blazed with energy in order to inspire people who were lazy. He maintained concentration, mindfulness, and meditation in order to sustain the mentally troubled. He attained decisive wisdom in order to sustain the foolish.

He wore the white clothes of the layman, yet lived impeccably like a religious devotee. He lived at home, but remained aloof from the realm of desire, the realm of pure matter, and the immaterial realm. He had a son, a wife, and female attendants, yet always maintained continence. He appeared to be surrounded by servants, yet lived in solitude. He appeared to be adorned with ornaments, yet always was endowed with the auspicious signs and marks. He seemed to eat and drink, yet always took nourishment from the taste of meditation. He made his appearance at the fields of sports and in the casinos, but his aim was always to mature those people who were attached to games and gambling. He visited the fashionable heterodox teachers, yet always kept unswerving loyalty to the Buddha. He understood the mundane and transcendental sciences and esoteric practices, yet always took pleasure in the delights of the Dharma. He mixed in all crowds, yet was respected as foremost of all.

In order to be in harmony with people, he associated with elders, with those of middle age, and with the young, yet always spoke in harmony with the Dharma. He engaged in all sorts of businesses, yet had no interest in profit or possessions. To train living beings, he would appear at crossroads and on street corners, and to protect them he participated in government. To turn people away from the Hinayana and to engage them in the Mahayana, he appeared among listeners and teachers of the Dharma. To develop children, he visited all the schools. To demonstrate the evils of desire, he even entered the brothels. To establish drunkards in correct mindfulness, he entered all the cabarets.

He was honored as the businessman among businessmen because he demonstrated the priority of the Dharma. He was honored as the landlord among landlords because he renounced the aggressiveness of ownership. He was honored as the warrior among warriors because he cultivated endurance, determination, and fortitude. He was honored as the aristocrat among aristocrats because he suppressed pride, vanity, and arrogance. He was honored as the official among officials because he regulated the functions of government according to the Dharma. He was honored as the prince of princes because he reversed their attachment to royal pleasures and sovereign power. He was honored as a eunuch in the royal harem because he taught the young ladies according to the Dharma.

He was compatible with ordinary people because he appreciated the excellence of ordinary merits. He was honored as the Indra among Indras because he showed them the temporality of their lordship. He was honored as the Brahma among Brahmas because he showed them the special excellence of gnosis. He was honored as the Lokapala among Lokapalas because he fostered the development of all living beings.

Thus lived the Licchavi Vimalakirti in the great city of Vaisali, endowed with an infinite knowledge of skill in liberative techniques.

Matchbook

I have been a follower and admirer of Katie Armour's blog, The Neo-Traditionalist for quite sometime.  She is always coming up with the most stylish things.  So when I found out she was starting an online mag with fellow editors Jane Lilly Warren & Fallon Hogerty I was very excited.  Yesterday the girls launched Matchbook which no doubt many of you are already aware of.  I was thrilled to be included as above and I loved the interview on Rita Konig.  I think they have succeeded in creating something a little different and I can't wait to finish reading their launch issue tonight. 

6. Experiment with Photoshop - Red leaves

I wasn't sure about this one at first - but I've come back to it and decided I do like it.  The leaves were reddish but I played around with the saturation in different parts of the image.

Hold Out

Beep Beep the chicken is SICK :(

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my donkey riding, shoulder sittin' spunky fun smart wonderful chicken Beep Beep is really sick.
3 days ago i found her suddenly acting lethargic and the other hens had pecked her till she was bleeding out her ear. I rushed her inside the cabin and cried for an hour.
...
I have given her apple cider vinegar, ginger and usnea in her water... but i am not sure she is going to make it. It's been a chicken roller coaster this winter, but this chicken... is... my baby. She was a chick when i first got her, and JuJu had nailed her with her hooves and almost killed her. Beep Beep eventually learned to be great friends with the donkey and rides her back everyday. I really dont know what to say - I look forward to spring time when life is something full of hope and ease.



Xoxoxo

5. Experiment with Photoshop - Pushing things a bit

One of the things I've noticed about other good photos - and I often find I like - is how in the processing the author is brave enough to "push things a bit"...
There are a million ways of doing this - highly saturated colour, different blending modes, textures, you name it...
I think the skill comes in adding impact without taking it totally OTT in a tacky way - not as easy as it may look.

 

                                                                           

In the spirit of having fun and trying some different things, I took two fairly ordinary photos of mine, both different kinds of architecture in bold shapes, and played around - mainly with the saturation. I think I quite like the results.  Comments anyone? And more ideas to try, perhaps?
Incidentally, the top photo was taken in Tenerife and the bottom one is part of The Lowry theatre and arts complex in Salford, Manchester, which is in a great area for photos of modern architecture - but on the day I went had really washed-out skies.

Today

Today I collected together a little group of mismatched, brightly coloured fabrics for some cushions for a client's sofa.  I never tire of putting different fabric combinations together and I always try to make sure each client has a different combination so as to keep their look unique to them.  Lately I have been so inspired by fashion and the combinations of different fabrics fashion designers have been using in one outfit.  I love the way Easton Pearson mixes fabrics and incorporates beading, frilling and special details in their designs.  The top image is actually a collection of Easton Pearson dresses from 2008.  I like the colour combination used in those 4 dresses and would love to create a room scheme using this image as inspiration.

image 1 - jane roarty stylist

To The Lil' Local Library and Beyond- (a bit of fail)

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The girl on the phone told me the library opened at 3:30.
Away I go.



xoxoxox

From Buddhist Geeks: Teaching, Reading, Learning Anger

http://www.buddhistgeeks.com/2011/01/teaching-reading-learning-anger/

The Basics of Non-Violent Communication

It's amazing to me how fundamental our language and communication problems are in the west. I have no idea about the "east" as I have not been socialized there.

This is just the first of several in the series, which I encourage you to watch on YouTube. 

Just a few pictures I love to begin the week...

image 1 via haute rummage, image 2 via julia, image 3 via aged & gilded

Harsh Winter

Record low temperatures have resulted in an abnormal amount of ice being sent into the Yellow Sea. The Han River sent vast amounts of ice into the sea which caused the ferry from Oepori to Seokpori to stop from crossing.
In turn it resulted in me not having to go to school for three days. No complaints as I had three borings days spent on Ganghwa Island – sleeping late, going to gym and spending time in front of my laptop.

Everything’s back to normal for now, but I wouldn’t mind if it had to happen again. Commuting all the way out to Seokmodo, freezing my balls off and slipping on the ice as I navigate my way past shrimp barrels aren’t all that great when there’s only two students to teach at school of which one doesn’t even know the basic rules of Jenga.

We are currently halfway through winter and it’s not as bad as I expected. Today saw a big snow storm and I am hoping the route to school will be snowed over by tomorrow. If I make it to school I’ll skip on the Jenga, not even mentioning Dominoes and stick to the old faithful wordsearch and colouring in pages.

In a week from now I’ll be in China. Still freezing my balls off, but it will be a change of scenery and something exciting to look forward to. 

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Perfect

I have been searching for the perfect blue and white tiles for a wall above a bench in our kitchen and I have found them.  Patchwork blue and white tiles....could there be anything more beautiful than this?! And they have used brass taps which I love.  A huge thank you to  my blogging friend Emily for posting about these.

Today I Love

I thought I would collect together a few little items I absolutely love which were sitting on my desk today.  Obviously fluoro pink is currently a favourite hue.  I must say it is hard to get things in fluoro pink so whenever I see anything in the colour I grab it including the fluoro pink envelopes, the fluoro papermate pens I recently found at our local newsagent and a little snippet of boucle fabric with fluoro pink, fluoro green and fluoro yellow threads running through it.  We also just received a new collection of vintage suzani textiles  in the shop today and this one above is my absolute favourite!

Instruction from the Lokavipatti Sutta

In the October 2010 Lamrim retreat in France, Excellent Kyabje Dagpo Rinpoche spoke about Dromton Gyalwey Jungne's contemplation of the eight worldly concerns. (Image here is of the great Lama Dromtonpa.)

The way in which Kyabje Rinpoche conveyed this story, I was totally moved, floored. Moved to the floor though already sitting, so to speak. Recently I was reminded again of that masterful teaching as I was reading the Hermitary website thatch entry of January 18, 2011:
 

http://www.hermitary.com/thatch/?p=1101

There in that blog entry I was led to the early Sutta in which the Buddha teaches on the eight worldly concerns. The Sutta is found in the Anguttara NIkaya, a collection of Suttas based on numerical content: 8 worldly concerns in this case.

Enjoy.

AN 8.6

PTS: A iv 157

Lokavipatti Sutta: The Failings of the World

translated from the Pali by

Thanissaro Bhikkhu

© 1997–2011

"Monks, these eight worldly conditions spin after the world, and the world spins after these eight worldly conditions. Which eight? Gain, loss, status, disgrace, censure, praise, pleasure, & pain. These are the eight worldly conditions that spin after the world, and the world spins after these eight worldly conditions.

"For an uninstructed run-of-the-mill person there arise gain, loss, status, disgrace, censure, praise, pleasure, & pain. For a well-instructed disciple of the noble ones there also arise gain, loss, status, disgrace, censure, praise, pleasure, & pain. So what difference, what distinction, what distinguishing factor is there between the well-instructed disciple of the noble ones and the uninstructed run-of-the-mill person?"

"For us, lord, the teachings have the Blessed One as their root, their guide, & their arbitrator. It would be good if the Blessed One himself would explicate the meaning of this statement. Having heard it from the Blessed One, the monks will remember it."

"In that case, monks, listen & pay close attention. I will speak."

"As you say, lord," the monks responded.

The Blessed One said, "Gain arises for an uninstructed run-of-the-mill person. He does not reflect, 'Gain has arisen for me. It is inconstant, stressful, & subject to change.' He does not discern it as it actually is.

"Loss arises... Status arises... Disgrace arises... Censure arises... Praise arises... Pleasure arises...

"Pain arises. He does not reflect, 'Pain has arisen for me. It is inconstant, stressful, & subject to change.' He does not discern it as it actually is.

"His mind remains consumed with the gain. His mind remains consumed with the loss... with the status... the disgrace... the censure... the praise... the pleasure. His mind remains consumed with the pain.

"He welcomes the arisen gain and rebels against the arisen loss. He welcomes the arisen status and rebels against the arisen disgrace. He welcomes the arisen praise and rebels against the arisen censure. He welcomes the arisen pleasure and rebels against the arisen pain. As he is thus engaged in welcoming & rebelling, he is not released from birth, aging, or death; from sorrows, lamentations, pains, distresses, or despairs. He is not released, I tell you, from suffering & stress.

"Now, gain arises for a well-instructed disciple of the noble ones. He reflects, 'Gain has arisen for me. It is inconstant, stressful, & subject to change.' He discerns it as it actually is.

"Loss arises... Status arises... Disgrace arises... Censure arises... Praise arises... Pleasure arises...

"Pain arises. He reflects, 'Pain has arisen for me. It is inconstant, stressful, & subject to change.' He discerns it as it actually is.

"His mind does not remain consumed with the gain. His mind does not remain consumed with the loss... with the status... the disgrace... the censure... the praise... the pleasure. His mind does not remain consumed with the pain.

"He does not welcome the arisen gain, or rebel against the arisen loss. He does not welcome the arisen status, or rebel against the arisen disgrace. He does not welcome the arisen praise, or rebel against the arisen censure. He does not welcome the arisen pleasure, or rebel against the arisen pain. As he thus abandons welcoming & rebelling, he is released from birth, aging, & death; from sorrows, lamentations, pains, distresses, & despairs. He is released, I tell you, from suffering & stress.

"This is the difference, this the distinction, this the distinguishing factor between the well-instructed disciple of the noble ones and the uninstructed run-of-the-mill person."

Gain/loss, status/disgrace, censure/praise, pleasure/pain: these conditions among human beings are inconstant, impermanent, subject to change. Knowing this, the wise person, mindful, ponders these changing conditions. Desirable things don't charm the mind, undesirable ones bring no resistance. His welcoming & rebelling are scattered, gone to their end, do not exist. Knowing the dustless, sorrowless state, he discerns rightly, has gone, beyond becoming, to the Further Shore.

Happy Things

I think this is a wonderful idea along with something my mum told me to do last night when the rain started.  She told me to go out and breathe in the smell of the rain as she said it would make me feel happy so I did and it worked!

image - via pink wallpaper

Beep Beep the Chicken RIDES JuJu the Donkey

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JuJu the donkey gives rides to Beep Beep the chicken.
I LUVVvvvvVVVvVVVvVvVvvvv freakin LUV them!!!!!



xoxoxo

Pretty

These pretty pictures which I spotted in my picture file on my laptop today inspire me.  The colours, the floral wallpaper, the ruffling tulle...

image 1 - michelle holden photographer, image 2 - tumblr source unknown

Talking With My Ass (donkey!)

xoxoxo

Unification

Moving Forward

It's really hard to come back and post about the mundane things I post about here on my blog after our city and surrounding areas have been through the worst natural disaster in over 30 years.  I have been stalling and not really wanting to post about anything. 

I have been out to some of the worst affected areas and I have helped in my own small way.  It is really awful and probably worse than you can imagine.  I feel guilty because we weren't flooded.  I feel sad and absolutely scared for the people who have lost everything.  The elderly couple I met on the weekend have lost everything and it is just so hard to imagine how they will get over this.  I think it is the elderly I feel most sadness for as the young ones have time and the ability to recover but the elderly don't. 

Everyone I know has in some way given to those affected.  I am proud to be a Queeslander and I am proud to be part of such a caring, giving and generous community of people.  This week I will be posting about some of the wonderful ways we can help via donating to certain charities as I have been asked by so many of you living interstate and overseas.

It is time to move on, help rebuild our city and our neighbour's lives.  It will be very hard but with the response we've seen in the last few days, I think we have it in us to do great things.  I for one will do everything I can to help this week, next week and the coming months which lie ahead.

image - leanne shapton artist

Looking for a Bath... Finding Adventure? Alotta Angels?

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Not having a bath for a month, motivated me to get out from the cabin one more time, before this week's set of snow storms arrive tonight!



xoxox

Don Cupitt: On Religion, Language, Belief

Why are traditional forms of religious language often no longer expedient and often no longer communicative, transformative, or liberative? What would a contemporary vocabulary for the impulse to fulfillment/transcendence/self-mastery, etc., universal responsibility, global ethics, and sustainability look like? These are the questions that come to mind in relation to some of Cupitt's ideas.

Marshall Rosenberg's Non-Violent Communication, Part 1

Going To and From the Grocery!

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Going to the grocery aint what it used to be.
Walking a mile to a plowed road where the truck is parked, scraping snow off the truck, getting down the mountain safely, (i didn't film inside the grocery, sorry, that place was a crazy house!), and then the hardest part.... coming back up the mountain and hoping to get to my front door.
Pretty mundane, but pretty complicated.
Luckily I had a special friend who rode with me...



xoxoxx

Ani Choying Drolma Chants Avalokiteshvara Dharani

Instruction from the Flower Ornament Scripture

From the Flower Ornament Scripture (Avatamsaka Sutra)

Translated by Thomas Cleary

Shambhala Publications

Section on The Ten Abodes
 p. 385-86
I have edited slightly.

"What is the enlightening beings' abode of preparing the ground? Here the enlightening beings develop ten attitudes toward all living beings: altruism; compassion; wish to give happiness; wish to give security; mercy; care; protecting; identification; considering them as teachers; considering them as guides. Here the enlightening beings should encourage and study ten things: study and learning; uncluttered tranquility; association with the wise; gentle, pleasing speech; speech appropriate to the occasion; fearlessness; understanding; acting in accord with the teaching; avoiding folly and delusion; stability. What is the reason? To cause enlightening beings to increase great compassion toward sentient beings, and to immediately understand whatever teachings they hear without relying on the instruction of another."

Changdeokgung Palace In The Snow

 

Meme - or is that Me Me?

It's past midnight, I can't sleep (I knew I shouldn't have had that late evening cup of tea!) so what better to do than browse a few blogs?  Well, maybe there is something else (I'll leave you to judge whether it's 'better' or not!)  Kat Mortenson has challenged me to a meme.  Now, I have never participated in a meme on my blog - and it won't become a habit - but this one seems a little more interesting than some, so here goes:

(Apologies that the light print is a little hard on the eyes when there's a lot of it.  I like the grey background for photos so it has to stay, sorry.  Suggest you zoom in a bit!)

1) Why did you create your blog?

My first and 'main' blog, Saltaire Daily Photo, was a challenge to myself.  I'd been reading some of the City Daily Photo blogs (Venice, Paris) and thinking for a while that someone ought to showcase the fascinating and historic World Heritage Site of Saltaire, where I live...  and one day quite suddenly I realised that someone could be me.  I tried to argue myself out of it but then I thought, well why not?  So I gave myself the challenge to post a photo a day for a year - and rather to my surprise I managed it... and by then I was thoroughly hooked on blogging and knew that my photography was getting better, so I have carried on.  I developed this blog, Seeking the Quiet Eye, as a place where I could be a bit more experimental. For why I chose the title, please look back at the first post.  It has not really gone in the direction I first envisaged, but I don't mind.  These things tend to develop a life of their own!


2) What kind of blogs do you follow?
Mostly photography blogs, quite a few of the City Daily Photo ones.  Any with photos of places I'm interested in - local to me, those close to where I grew up, places I've visited, some I'd love to visit. Those that are well-written.  I tend to find new blogs by looking up the authors of comments on other people's blogs that I find interesting or amusing and that resonate somehow with me.  I find I enjoy too, those where people are open about themselves (but not self-centred), share their creativity (poetry, crafts, cooking) and make me laugh.  I mentioned some in my previous post.  Here's a few more - by no means an exhaustive list:

Chronicles from the Shore                                                Fearless Nesting
Adventure before Dementia                                              Square Sunshine
Vicki Lane Mysteries                                                        Paris Through My Lens
didyoubringyourcamera                                                    Heartshaped 

3) Favourite make-up brand?
(Well that's change of focus!) Don't know if I have one - most of my stuff comes from Olay, Body Shop or Boots No 7.  I wear make-up every day but I can't see the point of spending a fortune on it, though I have a belief that it's worth spending more on 'wet' stuff (serum, moisturiser, foundation) and less on the powdery things (eye shadow, blusher etc.)  Even so, I don't believe a £50 jar is necessarily any better than a £10 jar.  But I do swear by Boots No 7 Protect & Perfect Serum. It really works! as well as feeling lovely on my skin.

4) Favourite clothing brand
The one I loved (Offshoot) closed down. I buy some clothes from Jackpot which is a Danish brand with an organic range. I also buy far too much from M&S (safe and dependable but not very exciting).  I am having a bit of an image crisis at the moment. Shops & magazines seem to imagine that women the far side of 50 can afford to spend more. I can't, but cheaper high street ranges don't seem to cater anymore.


5) My indispensible make-up product... would have to be mascara, as I have blonde eyelashes that look non-existent without a slick of black.


6) Favourite colour - to wear, blue, always - any shade of.  But I look good in pink and red too.  Years ago, in my teens, I had red-gold hair and my art teacher (!) tried hard to persuade me out of blues into greens and browns.  But I don't like sludgy colours and don't think they suit my skin tone. Most unfavourite colours would be mustard and lime green!  Funnily enough, I don't like to decorate with blue.  My house is mostly creams, soft yellows, duck egg, a bit of grey.

7) Perfume - always floral.  For years I have worn Estee Lauder 'Pleasures' but I can't smell it anymore! I'm trying 'Stella' by Stella McCartney - lovely roses.  I like Lancome's Trésor too - old-fashioned girl.

8) Favourite film - too hard to choose! Romantic ones I guess. Ones I can watch again and again are Brief Encounter, Casablanca, The Holiday (just fun!) - and Mamma Mia if I need cheering up!  But there are hundreds I have really enjoyed, going back forever.  Films (and music) from the late 60s/early 70s are the most nostalgic for me - things like Bonnie & Clyde, Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid, The Graduate, Dr Zhivago, 2001 - A Space Odyssey.


9) What country would you like to visit and why?  
USA - because I read and enjoy so many blogs from there.  But it's such a big country, I wouldn't know where to start!  Italy, because apart from a brief trip to Venice (which may be in Italy but is a place apart) it's a European country I've never been to - and I think it's very photogenic and historical.  I'm fascinated to read about and look at photos of places like India but I'm not a brave traveller and don't like the heat, so I have no desire to actually go there.

10) Make up the last question and answer it yourself....uum...
Why did you choose the blog name jennyfreckles? 

When I was chewing the end of my virtual pen trying to think up a name, the pop song "Jennifer Eccles" by The Hollies started up in my head. (Since it was a hit in 1968 and I can remember every word, that really dates me!)  So, jennyfreckles it is.


I'll have two questions!
If you could change one thing about yourself?.....
I would give me my hearing back.  I've become progressively deaf since I was 25, and am now severely/profoundly deaf in both ears. I wear hearing aids and get by, but it is an isolating condition.  I've become much more introverted as a result, as well as having to give up the career I loved (running training courses) and get a boring office job.  On the other hand, photography has become a passion and as a hobby it's ideal for a deaf person.  I doubt I would have become so focused if I weren't deaf - I'd be trying to do too many other things!  So the way deafness has shaped me isn't by any means all bad news.

[Photos from the web, except for Salts Mill which is mine]

Fixing My Spring Water... In The Dark

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Most of ya'll know by now, i have been having every water problem thinkable since winter started. The last few days I had an increasing problem with sediment coming from my outside pump (cause of course my inside water has been frozen for weeks)- there was not just a lil dirt in my drinking & cooking water, but a dead salamander so decayed it's legs were gone, large pieces of bark and leaves, and the clincher that sent me out into the night... little shavings of plastic with bits of plumbing glue on it (somehow from back when the piping was put underground.)
I will drink salamander decay water ANYDAY over plastic!!!!!
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xoxoxox

Winter Comfort

I’ve been blessed to have had Clementine come and visit me in South Korea for a third time. The first time was in May, the second time we went to Indonesia and around Korea during July and August and now again for Christmas.
I can’t express how grateful and lucky I am to have had her come and visit me over the festive season. Clementine stayed for two weeks. Two weeks that went by too quick and two weeks I wish I could have all over again.

My time in Korea is drawing to an end. We are now already in the middle of winter. The winter I was so terrified of, yet I am coping fine.

Clem’s visit was a great boost for my final leg here. I now have less than 3 months till I am back in Cape Town and then on to who knows what? 3 months that will go by just as quick as the past 9 months here.

I am having great experiences here on the Korean outskirts and being able to share it with a special person makes it even better.

 

I have one more vacation at the beginning of February and I am planning to go to China again. I will take the same ferry, but this time I will go south from Qingdao to Shanghai. I have not planned much and I am a little scared that I might not find a train to Shanghai as it will be Chinese New Year and everyone travels cross country to be with their family. It’s cold here in Korea and I will go by public transport to another cold city. When I get there the realities will unfold and I will make a plan, but for now I will only hope to catch a train. I’ll fly back from Shanghai to Seoul to finish my last 2 months before heading back to sunny South Africa and on to the next adventure…