"...I can hear it in the ocean and it's always the same..."

Tasmania has had a week of unusually warm Autumn weather.  This same week has had a bright large moon visible all day by Mt. Wellington, growing brighter as the daylight wanes, to reveal all it's splendor over the ocean.  Each day after Yoga I have been bush walking or swimming.

I have also been reading 'the sound of a wild snail eating' by Elisabeth Bailey, loaned to me by my (bestie) neighbor.

I admire a slow book, a book written about a subject that is small, or slow or very constrained as this one is.

I have felt all the more appreciative - We leave in one week, soon the slow darkness and the sound of the high tides will be replaced by motion, by light, but people, people, people.

There is happiness to be had everywhere, and the mixed sadness of each leaving, and the mixed excitement of each arrival.

 

"...waiting through the summertime...to melt your hearts in wintertime..."

I can't meditate.

I associate the exercise with white noise.  If you don't know what white noise is, then you are probably young, and susceptable or worse looking for parenting tips, so do NOT google this phrase, do not use it to help with 'nap time'.  The only books on meditation I have liked have been books by monks, that read more like a take on positive psychology, a practice that I do believe in.
Often when I am in the ocean- floating I feel as close to perfect happiness as I know.
Of course a key to meditation is comfort and if you go swimming in Autumn you might want to make sure you bring your neoprene socks and flippers because it's cold in there.

But I can't resist the warmer Autumn days- especially when the moon is out as well.

Tinderbox Hill Trail

What do I like about this trail? The distance is good about just a little over 2 miles, and most of the walk is steep.

The trail has been organized- sign posted and cleared, this took away the more bushy aspects-that I really liked, and also the land nearby is now privately owned so the end of the trail is just a 'no trespassing' sign which frankly I find unfriendly.

However I did see a pademelon which always makes me happy.

As you can see my pademelon leaves much to be desired.

Here is one borrowed from the interweb

 

Spot the space station!

I am trying to get in as much of Autumn as possible.

I have been up early and out late (okay the out late part is not true, but it's fall which mean it's dark early so it feels late!)

Zok and I have been going out when it is clear to see the space station go by.  I love doing this, the station looks like a bright planet sailing by- it's cool.

I have been out weeding and planting for volunteer work, and doing my best to get the house ready for our departure, this means chores such as pruning, cleaning out the rain gutters, sweeping the roof (I know, corrugated tin roof with no pitch aka flat). 

Taking time to listen to the crashing waves of high tide, and viewing the milky way from the back deck (newly scrubbed and re-coated for winter).

I've heard rumors of the Southern borealus  but I don't personally know anyone who had seen the lights.

I am sad to be leaving, but Zok says I say this each time we leave anywhere.

 

"...Our land abounds in nature's gifts Of beauty rich and rare...

 

*IF you were to see some fairy penguins they would look a bit like these guys...they are quite small

 

On a stormy mid-morning after Yoga class, I went to join a group of volunteers planting one of the sea cliff sides with new native plants.

These plants may or may not be to help out a small flock of fairy penguins.

Fairy penguins that I can neither confirm or deny live nearby.

However, if you are ever out my way...

 

 

"...And what is that, besides something spelled out in light bulbs, I mean - besides something called a temperament..."

When I was young and living in Los Angeles, I would think a lot about what the city and its neighborhoods must have looked like years before my time.

I would hear interesting stories, often when I was hunting for a new apartment.  I mostly wanted to rent guest houses, or parts of large apartments that were sectioned off to make a bit of extra cash.  There was usually a long chat with the person showing the apartment, and I would hear about areas that were once all farm land, full of citrus trees.  I would hear about trains that once went right down what was not some large road full of cars.

The reclaiming of downtown, has created the opportunity to get at least a good look at some of the buildings- older theatres are also being used more for shows and part of the appeal is being able to see inside the buildings.

Hotels like 'The Ace' have opened up.  Neighborhoods that were always nice pockets surrounded by areas that were less so are now all connected so one can just walk from one area to another.

I feel good downtown, because the area has changed as much as I have.

 

"...I'm a stranger here myself..."

The other day I remember how a friend of mine, who has lived in Los Angeles her entire adult life- while I although moved with her at the same time to L.A., did not stay.

On a trip, back to L.A. from the Northwest, while I was talking about my love of the area, she got very snappish about my comments.  I wasn't trying to detract from the charms of L.A., but I had definitely changed - personally- I had given a larger part of myself over to a state that was not California.

This in a way, is like defecting to another country.

Now, around ten years after I did actually leave the country, I think I have again changed in some integral way - moved not just physically but mentally away from the place of my origins.

I feel parts of myself that will always be rooted in some of the customs, and I feel different from the people I meet that have only ever visited the U.S. but at the same time I feel separate from not one of the natives.

I feel as if I better understand the concept of simply 'growing apart' from people, or from a place. There is a real outsider feeling to revisiting a place that has undergone a huge formative change- some friends and I went to a show in downtown Los Angeles, where the changes are still happening.  I heard people talking about living there, and walking to the show and how great the area is.

This is a complete change from the 1980s. 

Being able to just walk around downtown, and have time to look at the beautiful buildings- this was just not really possible twenty years ago.

We had a really good meal, followed by ice-cream at a place where the power to make the ice-cream is created from bike power.

http://www.peddlerscreamery.com/