Future Plans

Hi everyone - Happy Halloween for tonight and also tomorrow for my friends on the other side of the earth.

I have had a great weekend :) Friday night I went to the final Melbourne "Powderfinger" concert (for ever). It was a pretty good concert but I don't like the venue it was at. For my Melbourne readers it was at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl. For my non Melbourne it is an outdoor venue with some seats, but the majority of fans are on a grass hill. Trouble with concerts there no matter where you are situated you can never get a good view of the band. But still, I did enjoy the concert because they are a great band and I love their music.

Sidney Myer Music Bowl - Melbourne

Powderfinger - The Age website.

The rest of the weekend I have spent back in Daylesford. Daylesford hasn't always been, but is now a pretty trendy little country town which is well known for it's great restaurants and peaceful laid back feel. It is in the heart of what is called "Spa Country" as there are loads of mineral springs and places where you can have spa treatments in the area. The reason I have been going up there is because I have two wonderful friends - Tim & Brian - who own and run a beautiful B&B called "Old Chilli B&B. Now here's my exciting news - next year they are looking at travelling overseas for 12months and have asked me to manage the B&B for 12 months from May. Of course I have jumped at the chance and I am really excited about my adventure. So from May 2011, I will blogging about "My Year in Daylesford". It will be interesting to see how I go living in a country town as I am a city girl, but it sure does feel good when I am there - it is so nice and quiet - no traffic noise.

View from the deck - Old Chill B&B, Daylesford

Looking thru the Wisteria Arch at one of the Alpacas ( not sure if this is Bilbo or Groucho)

Daylesford

I am so tired tonight my brain just cannot think of anything to write. So I thought I would share a couple of photos I took last time we went to Daylesford.

Original Cottage at Lavender Farm

BOO!!!

Original Painting in Cottage

 Beautiful Church Windows

Emails!!!!!!

Emails - Love them or Hate them they are part of our lives now. If your anything like me you find a website and think "Oh that might a good site to get the newsletter from" - and before you know it you are getting newsletter emails on all sorts of subjects and you have way to many emails. Well that's where I sit at the moment. After not looking at my emails for a couple of days I decided this afternoon was time to sort thru them and have a bit of clean out. To my shock when I first logged on I had over 200 unread emails!!!  Well after a few hours I have whittled it down to 90 unread emails, but there are still those elusive ones that I have sort of read but I just haven't got around to deleting - why - cause I just might read again properly, or answer the sender - or some other crazy reason. I think sometimes I may suffer from "Information Overload"!!!

Emails - Love them or Hate them!!!

I must admit I do like being able to get information on anything at any time.

I love Quotes

It's nice to be important,

But it's more important to be nice.

If you love something set it free

If it comes back it is yours

If it doesn't it never was.

Focus on ME!!

Hello my lovelies - yes I am back and happy to be. As you may remember from the post at the beginning of October I decided that my October challenge was going to be to "Focus" on others in my life. Well I was successful up until October 11th and then I sort of fell in a bit of a heap. The last two weeks or so have not been lots of fun. Last Thursday it was the 3rd anniversary of my Mum passing away and the first year that I haven't had my attention focused on Dad. So I guess I had all the time in the world to just indulge myself in my grief. The best way that I could think of helping myself cope with my sad feelings was to indulge myself totally. I did have a very enlightening but draining night at "Women's Group" last Thursday. I let a lot of feelings flow and felt like I was able to release some of the pain I felt. So I guess I am now back, in full swing, until next time I fall in that hole.
This weekend I have been away at the annual "Rawson Scrapbooking Retreat". It is run by some
Creative Memories" consultants. From 4.00pm Friday night until 4.00pm Sunday night we spend wonderful time scrapbooking, eating, drinking and talking, not necessarily in that order. The location of the retreat is in the tiny (and I mean tiny) village of Rawson which is about 170kms from Melbourne in the beautiful Gippsland hinterlands. It is such a quiet, pretty place to spend a weekend with friends doing what you love.

'El Camino de Santiago'

Tonight I would really like to share a wonderful blog with you all. It is "My Way - My Path" from lovely Mark. I first started reading Marks blog when he was preparing to walk the "El Camino de Santiago" or "Santiago de Compostela Camino" pilgrimage in north-west Spain. The reason Marks blog grabbed me was because years ago I read Shirley MacLains book "The Camino: Journey of the Spirit". It was her story of when she did the pilgrimage and what a spiritual event in her life it turned out to be. I must say it was and is still one of my most favorite books. Thank you Mark for sharing the walk and your life with us. Just recently I have realized what attracts me most to a blog - it is people just being themselves and sharing their day to day life with us. That's exactly what Mark does - thanks again Mark.

Melbourne, Australia

Tonight I would like to congratulate "Blossom Flower Girl" of "Melbourne Daily Photo" on her blog. This was the first blog I came across that was written fom my home city - Melbourne, Australia. Blossom Flower Girl shares some wonderful photos of Melbourne and also some really interesting facts. It's funny but I thought I knew all about my home but with the help of "Melbourne Daily Photo" I am learning heaps more. Keep up the good writing and shots Blossom Flower Girl, you have a very interesting blog. For anyone out there that hasn't visited Melbourne Daily Photo please do and you can also learn some great facts about our wonderful home

As a final note I would also like to wish everyone out there a very happy and interesting 10/10/10!!!!

What if there isn't "Anymore"

A friend of mine (Lois) sent me this email today, and I just have to share it with all out there.

It fits right in with my theme for October.

One day a woman's husband died, and on that clear, cold morning, in the warmth of their bedroom, the wife was struck with the pain of learning that sometimes there isn't "anymore". No more hugs, no more special moments to celebrate together, no more phone calls just to chat, no more "just one minute." Sometimes, what we care about the most gets all used up and goes away, never to return before we can say good-bye,

 say"I love you."

So while we have it, it's best we love it, care for it, fix it when it's broken and heal it when it's sick. This is true for marriage.....And old cars... And children with bad report cards, and dogs with bad hips, and aging parents and grandparents. We keep them because they are worth it, because we are worth it.

Some things we keep -- like a best friend who moved away or a sister-in-law after divorce. There are just some things that make us happy, no matter what.

Life is important, like people we know who are special.. And so, we keep them close!

Suppose one morning you never wake up, do all your friends know you love them?

I was thinking...I could die today, tomorrow or next week, and I wondered if I had any wounds needing to be healed, friendships that needed rekindling or three words needing to be said..

Let every one of your friends know you love them. Even if you think they don't love you back, you would be amazed at what those three little words and a smile can do. And just in case I'm gone tomorrow.

I LOVE YA!!!

Live today because tomorrow is not promised.

Do you have Joy in your Life?

That is the question - do you have JOY in your LIFE? I must say I do have the JOY and another person that I am pretty sure has the JOY is Michelle from "Joy Express". I started following Michelles blog before I even really knew what blogs were. Michelle has a wonderful way with words and all of her interests keep her readers very interested. She shares some great photos of her cards that she creates and also her beautiful garden and recently her adventure of sailing the "Whitsundays". Of course her passion with "Past Lives" cannot be ignored. Michelle is not only my blog friend, but I am happy to say she is a face to face friend too. All in all her blog is very entertaining and informative. Keep up the good work Michelle.

Michelle at International Day

Do It Now!!

I think we all have extra special people in our lives who we either see or are in contact with a lot, but when did you last tell that person just how they enhance your life?  I also think we all have people that we wouldn't regard as our bestest friend but they are someone who have been important in a part of our lives at some stage. Maybe we don't see them anymore but occasionally they pop into our head and we remember the time when they helped you become the person you are now. The sad thing for me is that back when they were helping me develop me I didn't tell them just how important they were in my life. So I have decided I am not going to end up being an elderly Davine and feel sad that I didn't tell all those important people in my life just how they have been important in me becoming me.

So starting tonight I am going to mail some cards I have made to the important people in my life.

There are a lot so it may take me a while but it will be worth it.

When did you last tell someone in your life just important they are??

Lake Eildon

Yesterday Shane and I went for a drive to Lake Eildon. Australia has been in drought for quite a few years but thankfully we have had quite a bit of ran this Winter and Spring so far. Back when I was in my 20's I used to go to Lake Eildon quite often, one time eight of us had a week on a house boat on the lake. It was always a very popular place for all water sports especially water skiing and fishing. The drought really had a huge effect on the Eildon area as holiday makers had little reason to head up there as the lake was almost dry. Normally Lake Eildon, is six times the capacity of Sydney Harbour and has over 500 kilometers of shore. Most of the lake is surrounded by national park.  Back in 1998 Shane and I had a drive up there to see just how low the water was. We couldn't believe the shocking sight we saw, the water was replaced by dirt, trees and car tracks. So, seeing we have had some great rain recently we thought it was time to check it out again and oh what a beautiful sight greeted us. The lake is still a lot lower than it was when I was in my 20's but at least it is now a lake. What is it with water - why does water make us feel so good?

Lake Eildon 1998

Lake Eildon - October 2010

Darlene"s Life

Today I want to congratulate Darlene of "My Life For A Year" on her great blog. She was my first blog friend from overseas (out of Australia). I remember back then, I was so excited I had a follower I didn't know. I always enjoy reading her posts as she really gives everyone a feel for her life and also shares some beautiful Canadian shots. Darlene has come so far with her photography capabilities - her photos have always been interesting but they now have excellent composition and colour.  Isn't the world amazing these days when we can say that we regard someone as our friend when we have never met them. I think the main ingredient I love about "My Life For A Year" is that Darlene shares the words and photos of the everyday life, loves, problems and joy of a great Canadian.  Thanks Darlene for sharing your life with us.

Focus

Hi all out there. Would you believe this is the first time in four days I have turned my laptop on!! Between my social life and a bit of unwellness I just haven't had the time. Firstly seeing we are now in October I will share what my "Wellness Wheel" message is for the month, which is "FOCUS". Now that's where the question is - what to "FOCUS" on? I decided that my "FOCUS" this month was going to be on others in my life. So this month I am going to make a conscious effort to contact people I haven't seen or spoken to for a while and also tell those around me just how they make my life more enriched and fulfilled. I am also going to catch up on reading some blogs which I am embarrassed to say I haven't done much of lately and honour that person and there creativity.