Looking into a new life.

So, from embracing the self isolation with enthusiasm because that's what had to be done; I'm no longer the keen as I was. I want to get dressed up, put on the jewels and party. I have taken to going to a shopping centre where the rich haunt because they dress up and so I put on the jewellery and the boots and travel fifteen minutes to buy a couple of items just so I'm amongst the well dressed.

What to do next with my life? I was hoping to postpone that decision with another year of travel abroad but that's not going to happen again anytime soon. So, I am faced with what to do with the next phase of my life. I tried writing but that does not fill in a day. The process is exhausting; I have a new respect for writers, even painters who spend all day in front of an easel. Maybe I have wandered for too long and now I am restless and spoilt from having explored and delved into history and art in places I had read about and longed to go to and then actually went. I am so grateful. But today, after trying to fill in the spaces, I am so depressed I just want to crawl back into bed. Which is so not me.

So, what to do? I have child who sorts out her own life now; I have moved on as a full time mother; I, sadly, am no longer a wife. I have chosen for a while not to be in a relationship, so I can redefine myself and work on not disappearing like a camouflage expert within the confines of one. I am writing, painting and adding pottery to the mix in the next week but time is still not being filled. I am used to being so busy that I longed for a brief respite but this is a new reality that I, and a lot of other retired mothers/wives/parents/fathers etc are trying to navigate. To make our way into a new, unstructured world where we have time to reinvent ourselves again but which is, in itself, a scary prospect.

P.s. This is not a misery post, this is a sorting out of where to go next post when your life has taken a lot of unexpected turns and you're at a crossroad. Please don't feel sorry for me. I have had an extraordinary life with the good, the bad and the ugly. Now I'm sorting out what to keep and what to toss!

A brave new world?

In so many ways this week has changed us. Most of us were babies when the Civil Rights Act of 1964 ended segregation in public places and banned employment discrimination on the basis of race, colour, religion, sex or origin in America. How far have we come? It's now taken a new generation to take up the cause and I admire the way they are using the platform of Instagram to further it. I'm a newbie and without knowing the ins and outs and algorithms of Instagram, I got myself into trouble (in a helpful way) ,by not knowing what I was doing. Still, my platform is small, I'm not an influencer. I leave that to the Instagram savvy. But it was a lesson of political correctness, which is so much apart of today's society, one in which people of my age, flounder. I think I should stick to feeding those who post correctly and go to protests.

I haven't blogged because of what went on in the world this week, people with the right voices and the knowledge to use them need to be heard. We, as a human race, know what to do, we just need to do it! It's a wake up call and maybe it's come out the Coronavirus hijacking of our lives. Maybe Mother Earth has had enough and has sent out envoys to do what must be done to change humanity before it's too late. To me she is a living, breathing entity, goddess, being and mother, maybe she is reminding us that she is more powerful than us all. We have forgotten her for so long, taken her for granted, polluted and raped her resources. Time is of the essence, for the planet and for it's people that have been subjugated for too long.

We had a ceremony under the full moon, that lights up her darkness the other night, and we lit candles for loved ones and for the world that is coming to grips with pandemics and discrimination. We wished for the manifestation of peace and justice for all and an end to this pandemic. But sometimes plagues usher in Renaissance. Let's hope this one does.

Me and my painting of the week.

Six types of Quarantiny.

I've become a dinner/luncheon party aficionado. Something I really haven't embraced with a whole heart since my husband died. But now...bring it on!. I've revamped the gazebo, it's like a Moroccan riad, complete with a fire pit that the daughter fires up most evenings for aperitivo. Having come from six months of winter in Europe, we're not keen on arriving bac here for another winter period, so being outside tricks the mind into believing autumn is being prolonged. Last night, we laughed with our Greek friends. My friend relayed her first week of panic buying (when it was assumed that a pandemic would hit Australia as badly as it did in Europe). She bought Spam! I had to laugh as I remembered my childhood days when we had spam out of the can with a salad for lunch, with the obligatory condensed milk and lemon juice dressing. It was war/depression food, and being Greek, she would be ready for any eventuality. She shopped daily for the fluctuating supply of toilet paper, she has a cans of tinned food which she has never bought before and may never be eaten. She shopped daily for exercise but mainly to make sure the pantry was stocked.

Talking about this, as we ate our way through another meal I had created from the #Jerusalem cookbook, I decided that they were a few types of Quarantinies. There are the Stockpiling quarantinies; investing in food for the house and their emotional wellbeing; basically they cook and plan their way through. Then there's the Workout quarantiny, a lone breed that exercises their way through, coming out slimmer, toned, alcohol free, getting up early; fridge full of different coloured vegetables; a portable gym in the living room; waiting patiently to be let loose back into the wild/world. Next is the Chef Quarantiny, those who are making their way through cookbooks that have collected dust over the years; those who have bought herbs and spices that have never been bought before and then have dinner parties, adding to the numbers invited as the lockdown measures decrease.There's the Creative Quarantiny, ordering kits online, finishing projects that have been languishing in the back of the cupboard for years; starting online courses; deciding that this is the year to be consumer free and attempting to make all handmade gifts for the rest of the year. Then there's the Handyman/gardening quarantiny, who finally has the time to do the odd jobs they've been putting off for years, and getting their gardens sorted out even to the point of tweezering out weeds from their lawns. And last, but certainly not least, there's the Cleaning quarantiny; this is a interesting breed, they can be a mixture of the above but some are all out cleaners. They browse online for cleaning equipment; fluff and dust suddenly can be seen out of the corner of their eye even when pretending to carry on a conversation but those to whom they are speaking, know that their mind is elsewhere. They clean every second day; if working from home they have been known to remake hospital corners on beds, basically they have too much time on their hands. The daughter is one of them and I am eternally grateful, the house has never been this clean. I am a mix of most of the above, mainly the Chef/Creative one with a bit of Workout/Cleaning thrown in. Maybe there's more, let me know. What are you?