Prize giving

 I've dropped out of the blogging community that gave me so much pleasure since 2009.  1,495 posts about myself, my family, my senior years.  I treasure the lasting friendships.  

I've always been a bit of a talker, especially when I feel comfortable.  I've been a bit of a story teller, too.  I've always like words, our language.  I still do but find I have less and less to say and more difficulty in expressing myself.  Sometime I struggle to find the right word which really frustrates me. Now I understand why some old folk are grumpy. 

I'll visit occasionally to keep my blog as a record.  I found it so helpful in the past when trying to remember an occasion, an event.

The occasion which sparked this post was yesterday at my younger daughter's old high school prize-giving.  She was invited to be the guest speaker, to share some wisdom I guess, with the senior students.  As a student Justine never got to be on stage or receive accolades.  And there she was owning that stage, speaking in front of all the students and teachers, the mayor and our member of parliament.  I never doubted when she was a child that she was smart, she didn't have any academic smarts but has used her other gifts to make a great success of her life.

I found it interesting how different prize-giving is these days compared to back in the days when my kids were at school.  The whole presentation was very professional but the students uniforms were more casual as if they now accept you can't expect teenagers to tuck in their shirts.  Most of the graduating seniors weren't in uniform, the girls could have been  in a fashion parade in their beautiful gowns.  I had one of the best seats in the hall, in prime position for photos, but don't know if publishing them would be politically correct.

While Justine was speaking there was a very loud thunder storm raging outside,  It's continued today, one minute brilliant sunshine then all hell breaks loose.  

The lovely tree outside my door is now in full bloom.

Don't be fooled by that blue sky, it was bucketing down 10 minutes after I took this shot.

A follow up

I titled my last post "Joy".  Since then a lovely neighbour named Joy has passed away.  She was, indeed, a joyful person and is missed.

Those wild ducks that were entertaining me when I last posted caused consternation yesterday evening when neither Mother nor Father Duck returned to their babies and as night approached 6 little ducklings waddled out from under the tree onto the lawn.   Both parents share the parenting of Paradise ducks here.  One of them threw all 6 of them out of the nest sometime yesterday which I  believe can happen when the parents feel the babies are ready to fledge.  But the babies didn't look old enough for that.   Gosh, they were cute.  They followed anyone that moved.  Eventually they ended up quite a way from "their" tree and were taken into care by a lady in the district who is very experienced in raising wild birds and releasing them when they can fly.  I must read up on wild duck parenting behaviour.

Spring is here, some of the trees know it, other are waiting for the weather to warm up a bit, I guess.  Most of the trees around me are evergreen natives except for this one below which I have grown quite fond of seeing in its stark leafless beauty.

This is one that knows spring is here:

I stopped and took that out the car window a few days ago after I'd left the physio and had been told my hand that I hurt when I had a fall recently is coming along nicely and will likely not need surgery, thanks to this little torturous device I wear on my fingers.   I couldn't count the number of times I've wanted to throw it away.  It is very uncomfortable and interrupts my sleep and I don't do well without a good night's sleep.

 

I've made that image as small as possible so you don't have to see my wrinkly hands too clearly.

 

 

 

 

Joy

I've always chosen to spend my leisure time with cheerful people, the more lively their sense of humour the better.       

It is one thing to permit enjoyment in small doses. It is another to place it firmly alongside health, relationships, and financial security as a genuine life priority.  I'm tempted to tell myself that is faintly irresponsible. Years of conditioning have taught me enjoyment belongs on the sidelines, something to be fitted in once everything else is taken care of.

The difficulty lies in recognising “everything else” is rarely finished.  If you allow it, there can always be another task, another obligation, another reason to delay pleasure. When enjoyment depends on completion, it disappears.  It's easy to let the "enjoyment must be earned" mindset to creep in. 

For me, mental health, feeling connected, and a sense of fulfilment do not emerge accidentally. They are built through the experiences we allow ourselves to have. Enjoyment is not separate from a well-lived life; it is one of the core ingredients.

I don't think pleasure and enjoyment are the same thing but they are definitely first cousins.  I can find enjoyment in the simplest of pleasures.  What I enjoy does not need to be extravagant or time-consuming. Small, regular moments often have more impact than occasional grand events.  

I'm not too sure where I'm going with all this.  Except to tell you I had an accident, a fall, a week ago.  Today is the first day I've felt half alive and have felt pleasure in anything.  Thankfully, it is nearly spring and the paradise ducks which nest in the trees out front of my unit have been displaying mating behaviour, and a young male has been getting a bit uppity and creating havoc.  Today I noticed some of the smaller birds squabbling, too.

  Mother Duck all happy one minute.

The next minute she is complaining, got a lot to say and, to me, seems to be acting submissively.  Not that I know anything about duck behaviour.  But Father Duck is definitely on the alert for the optimistic intruder and then there was a short battle in the air which I wasn't quick enough to capture.

After a week of discomfit I am so happy that the ducks have reminded me to find pleasure in small things.

And thankful to my friends and neighbours who have taken such good care of me this past week and for having the trees to look out at when I couldn't move far.

 

Oh, mustn't forget the pretty little orchid a friend gave me.

 

Mushrooms

 I think it's a bit late in the year for harvesting mushrooms but the crop I found about 20 steps from my front door aren't the sort you'd eat and is more of an outcrop than a crop I think.  They really took me by surprise and I've walked around under all the trees in my backyard and there are no others.  Just this lot growing on a decaying tree stump.

I call this my backyard but it is really a common area of our village.  Just closer to my unit than anyone else's.  No-one else ever comes near it, I feel it is totally mine.  And I love it.  I have a stroll around it nearly every day.  Love listening to the birds that visit, particularly the bush pigeons who feast on the berries that the tarairi drop at this time of year.  The ground is covered in them, it's like walking on a squishy carpet,

It was a cold morning with lovely soft light which I thought would be good for capturing the silvery tree trunks of the young tarairi and the little stand of three ferns.   

A little splash of colour caught my eye and it was when I went to investigate, that I spotted the mushrooms. I almost forgot to photograph the clivia which is thriving on the edge of the stand of native trees.

Autumn sunrise

I don't like taking photos of sunrises and sunsets when buildings are part of the scene.  But on this occasion the rays of the rising sun looked to be blessing my neighbour's home.  I'm probably a bit over- imaginative in saying that.   I should have stepped outside to get a better angle but wasn't suitably dressed.

  The same gentle sunrise was casting soft light on the trees and shrubs at the side of my home.

I'm enjoying our autumnal weather and the colour changes in the trees near me.  

This beauty I see every time I go to my front door in the first photo has just started dropping it's golden leaves.

 And here it is today.  You could probably count the number of leaves still to drop. 

Leaves fall, 

Crimson and gold, 

Nature sheds her bright cloak, 

Preparing for winter’s still breath, 

Silent rest.

 

 

 

 

Afterwards

 

 

I've been over 80 for over a year now but I didn't quite grasp the reality of that until I was in Bali recently.  

I've accepted that I don't need to deny being 'elderly' and accepted the physical changes that come with aging, the wrinkles and sags.  I think I've maintained a positive outlook on life and felt happy in my new home in a retirement village.  OK, there are a few physical challenges and health issues but generally I've been happy and content with my lot.

When I've reflected on the years it's more on the joys of life than the challenges.  I've been blessed with good physical genes including the gene for happiness.  That's the one I appreciate most and am most thankful for.  (By the way, I gave up caring about ending a sentence with a preposition when I turned 80.)

But I have to admit Bali almost undid all that.  In Bali I felt old.  Like struggle to keep a smile on my face old, struggle to take 10 steps old.  I've lived in coastal tropical North Queensland and in north-west Queensland but I'd forgotten how long ago that was and the difference those years had made to how my  body would cope with the heat.  And while I was struggling negative thoughts crept in and I remembered that my great-grandmother died in Australia during a heat wave.  When she was 91, Pauline, 91, not 81!

Thankfully, that happiness gene is a strong one.  Once my body had recovered from Bali heat and Bali Belly I bounced back.

I'm pretty sure that my lasting impression of Bali will be the people, the traffic and the food.  The people are the most polite and courteous I have ever met.  Obviously older people are accorded great respect.  When I needed help on stairs (or stepping stones) someone would quickly step forward to assist, as if it were an honour to do so. 

I can't even begin to explain the traffic.  It's just crazy.  The bikes and cars are practically crammed together yet the traffic flows, if slowly.  There is no aggression, the constant tooting of horns is simply someone saying, "I'm a bike, coming through."  There are very few traffic lights and I couldn't figure out any Give Way rules.  

 

 photo courtesy https//thebalisun.com

With both my daughter and grandson being regular visitors to Bali, I ate local dishes that they recommended. Most of them seemed rice-based, light but spicey and built around meat, mostly pork.  Often it would be a plate of rice topped with small portions of different dishes.  The meals were never large but always filling.  There was lots of coconut, herbs, and spice pastes.  It was always tasty.

I won't forget the overhead wires in a hurry, it was hard to take a photo and avoid them.  All the photos I took of the ducks in the paddy fields have wires in them.  A driver told me the wires have got a lot worse since the arrival of the internet.  The ducks live in the rice paddies helping manage pests while naturally fertilising the soil. Their eggs are collected fresh and used in the kitchens although I don't remember seeing duck on menus.

 

Can you imagine a serviceman trying to find the line that has the fault in this lot?

Ubud

My oldest son and youngest daughter put their heads together and decided to treat me to 3 days in Ubud before I returned home from Bali.  We stayed in The Udaya Luxury Resort in Ubud which sits in the central highlands of Bali surrounded by jungle and rolling foothills - and an extremely busy town centre.  It's only about 35 km (22 miles) from the airport in Denpasar but is about a two hour car ride.  I'm sure the traffic has a rush hour but it just seemed to be constantly frantic to me.

 

The Udaya 

 

With an average elevation of around 200 meters (700 feet) above sea level, Ubud was noticeably (and thankfully for me) cooler than around the beach towns.  It was a welcome respite from the heat.

 

Once again I faced the challenge of the stepping stones.  Below are the stones leading to my room. 

 

 

 

When I saw the photo below I was stunned to see how old that lady looked, stepping gingerly, hand out to grasp the platform beside her in case she stumbled.  But I was in safe hands with my grandson leading the way and my sil bringing up the rear.

 

This beautiful statue was set into the wall outside my room.   I asked a staff member about it and didn't need to understand her words (I couldn't) to know she was there to protect or bless me in some way.  (The smile and body language told the tale.)  She did a good job, I slept very soundly in my lovely bed.

Tegalalang Rice Terrace, a UNESCO World Heritage site, is a series of cascading rice fields.  To me it looked like a jungle with picturesque rice terraces in the 'tamed' areas. 

 

Along an edge of the ravine were a series of adrenal inducing activities for the adventurous of spirit.

 

Grandson Aiden chose the zipline.

His mother, Justine has always had a fear of heights but these days pushes herself to overcome it.  She climbed up into this nest and squatted down to feel safe.

Then, I daresay after taking a deep breath, she stood up.  I was very impressed. 

This love heart frame was there for tourists to sit in and have their photo taken but I liked how it framed the view on the other side of the ravine.

I was lucky enough to be in the right spot at the right time to see a rice paddy being ploughed.

Glamp Nusa

Glamp Nusa, is a new Bali resort which specializes in weddings.  They pride themselves on exceptional 5 star service and certainly deliver just that.  This was my first experience with glamping, it's a long way from any previous camping I've done.  This was the venue for the wedding that 40 of the happy couple's closest family and friends had travelled to attend.

My tent was beside the koi pond, opposite Jami, my granddaughter on the other side of the pond and with my son and dil  my closest neighbour.  It came in handy having Jami so close when I decided to walk around on the lush grass barefooted while I took photos and got stung by an ant.  Jami is a seasoned traveler and had some cream to sooth the sting.

 

The resort was next door to a paragliding business and the colourful kites (is that what they're called?) as they glided past added a lovely splash of colour.  

 

Here there were no stepping stones to negotiate but a little bridge to cross.  Obviously this is where the koi are fed as the minute one approached, the fish swarmed to the bridge.

My grandson and his lovely bride chose a cliff top as their wedding location.  

My younger daughter going to inspect the set up.  

The flowers were glorious.  See those yellow-orangy garlands?  They are also fresh flowers. 

The guests were asked to not take photos so I don't have any to share except this quick snap I snuck in after the formal photos, of the happy couple having a quick refreshment.   I have received a lovely video of the wedding but can't link it. 

 

The paragliders had been asked by the resort people to not come past during the ceremony but after it was finished they did what looked like a fly-past.  A wonderful sight. 

 I hadn't been looking forward to having dinner outdoors but the minute the sun dropped below the horizon, the temperature dropped to something approaching comfortable.  

 

 

 

This is my shot of the day.  As all the guests were enjoying pre-dinner cocktails I looked around and noticed in a back corner my son, younger grandson and father of the groom enjoying a catch up.  Goodness knows what they had turned to look at!

Sanur sights

The entrance to a home along our access road in Sanur, Bali.  I think the sign said, "Please use the side door", so this one must have been purely decorative.

Something else purely decorative:

 

Icon shopping mall

I think perhaps it is ICON in capitals but can't find out if that stands for something or if it was built 2 years ago to be iconic.  It is 4 floors of all things bright and shiny, a mix of international brands you can find in any mall world wide and a few local products.  I think the most Indonesian thing in the place was this installation.  I don't know how else to describe it.

 

 

The night markets, in contrast, were all things Indonesian, a sensation of sights and smells - and smiles. We only ate what my grandson, a regular visitor to Bali, recommended.  I have no idea what it was but it was very good.  And I enjoyed every drop of the cold  beer we had to go with it.

 

 

Family discussions about what to eat.

 

 

The bike parking lot outside the Arts Market at Sukawati. And. below, canang sari near the road entrance to the parking lot.  They are small, handmade daily offerings placed on the ground, doorsteps, and shrines throughout Bali to express gratitude and maintain cosmic balance. 

 

This alleyway, in full sun, to a beachfront restaurant seemed endless.