Someone's Watching

Hi Readers,

I'm anticipating this to be a short post, but I always say that then end up just banging on as more waffle comes to mind!

This post was prompted by a comment about one of my posts from an overseas Reader, and it got me thinking about who actually reads this stuff. And as I started to think about this, I then started to think about how much we are being "spied" upon without really knowing it. I only use that term "spied" light heartedly, as I'm sure we all know that whatever we do we can just about be assured that in some way our actions can be tracked to some extent.

Let me start with how wide this Reader base has been lately. I know that some choose to read these posts each time they get published, and thank you for taking the time to do this. Others stumble across it and stay with me, and I'm sure many others come across it and think "What the hell did I just encounter?!!" and never return!!

I am able to go and view where my readers are by country, and that's as far as it goes. Viewing by city is not given, so your anonymity is protected. Some choose to add comments to my posts, and that is always appreciated, and once again, this can be done anonymously.

So what I have added here are the details of views for the past 30 days, and I always get dumbfounded as to how people stumble across my blog. Across the years there have been regular numbers from certain countries, then other countries show up for a while and gradually fade away, only to be replaced by others.

I always wonder how and why Readers find it. God help these poor souls!!!

This is the distribution for the past 30 days, with 512 being the greatest readership hits from a single country, that being Singapore. 

Poor old Singapore hardly shows up on the map!

While I'm still perplexed as to why people in Singapore are finding it hard to occupy themselves, the influx in readers lately in Hong Kong and Mexico puzzles me. As for Lithuania, what is going on there??

Then I see someone in Israel and another in Romania has had a peek. As for the other 94 locations, they could be from anywhere, as the blog site doesn't list every location as that would just mean another 94 lines of print.

When I look at the details for longer time periods, for example 6 months, 1 year, or all time it becomes just as interesting and intriguing.

I'd love to hear how any of the readers from some of these foreign lands (to me) stumbled across my blog, and why you are staying with me at the moment. Or even just say what city you might be from in the comments section. Trust me, it is anonymous, and I won't come looking for you on my next overseas trip!!!

So now that I know that the drivel I produce is being regularly digested in many countries around the world, it means that I'm willingly putting a lot about myself out to the world. We all know that the internet can be rife with bad guys who want to take your blood and your money, so I take care to be cautious about how much I'm prepared to share. Many of you might think that perhaps I might share too much, or not enough, but it all rests with me.

I'm sure you've all had this experience, where you have been talking about a topic with someone, and then for some strange coincidence you start seeing ads or content about it on your social media pages. Or when you do a quick search on a new car for example, and then you are flooded with content about that car. I know that this has been happening a lot for me lately with motorbikes, as I sold mine last week, and I'm still being flooded with car and caravan ads as my van is for sale, and perhaps my car might go the same way. Just not sure about the car yet.

Not anymore!!!

Goodbye!!!!

The bike was a reluctant sale, but a necessary one that surprised many as they knew how much I loved it. But after a number of hand surgeries over the past two years, and more to come, I found that I wasn't able to ride it safely anymore, and I didn't want to risk the safety of others by continuing to ride it. And now with this bung leg, I wasn't overly confident in my strength to control a bike this big. So yes, I was sad to see it go, but I knew it was the right thing to do and I'm fine with it. And to lose only $500 in value after 8 years was a bit of a bonus!!!

Now that I'm not researching motorbikes I find that my social media feed is not clogging up with bike ads. 

So how does this happen? We chat about things and "nek minute..."

By now, those of you who are really tech savvy will be screaming out the reason why this happens, and I sort of have a very basic understanding of it, but doesn't it show us how so much of what we do can be picked up in different ways.

Or when you click on a link out of interest, and for the next forever how long, you are bombarded with more links about it.

I saw an ad for sausages on tv last night, and the ad must have worked as I have been craving them all day. To the point where I went and bought some this morning, and not to spoil the moment have been wondering how to cook them. I'm tempted to search online but I know I'll get sausage recipes for the next few days!!

For the record, I'm going to have curried sausages with oh so creamy mashed potato!!!

It now seems that we have to be very discreet when talking about things within earshot of our devices, or is that just coincidence and urban myth? I'm not tech savvy enough myself to know either way, so I'll just be careful talking to myself at home!!

When I think back to my late teenage years, and then the years at Teacher's College, I can only be thankful that we didn't have the mobile technology at our disposal then that we do now. When my friends of a similar age talk about this we all agree that we probably wouldn't have got teaching jobs and would have had a lot of explaining to do about certain exploits!!

Today we just have to be ultra careful about everything we do as we just can't be sure that it won't be recorded. CCTV is everywhere, many doorbells capture everything that happens in the street, and practically everyone has a phone and can whip it out in a split second and film or take photos in a second.

I'm not pointing the finger at everyone else here, as I am in exactly the same boat.

 How many times have you been surprised when someone has shown you a photo or short video that they have taken of you that you were completely unaware of? 

Sometimes this can be very funny and not done to cause embarrassment or harm, but too often lately we are hearing of cases where exactly the opposite is occurring.

At the moment I am reading a book where famous Australians share their examples of being bullied when they were at school. This was before the dawn of mobile phones, so I can only imagine how much harder it is for those being tormented this way today.

One only has to read the papers to see how widespread this is with so many of our teens and how some have resorted to the most extreme and unfortunate ways to escape it.

The fact that just about everything that gets posted online is there forever goes to show that we are being watched forever.

Walk down the street and have a casual look as to where there is CCTV. I'm not against it, in fact I feel safer because of it, but it just reinforces that we are being watched constantly. And where we can't see it, I just presume it is still there somewhere.

You might recall a recent post where I mentioned how the Apple Map App in my car predicts where I might be needing to go based on the day and time of day. Geez, half the time I don't even know where I'm going in my car at the moment as I just need to escape the house for a short time as I am going nuts with cabin fever being stuck here all day with my leg on the stool!! Hopefully next week I'll get the okay to start using it again. 

                            Thank goodness for that muffin!!!!

Well Readers, what started out as just a brief observation about who actually reads my stuff has turned out to be a trip down the never ending rabbit hole of "Big Brother Is Watching You"!! I didn't mean that to happen, but the more I wrote the more I realised how detectable we really are. If I chose to drive into town in the next hour, or to QLD tomorrow, I know that my movements will be able to be tracked by way of my phone and the GPS in my car, or even the Apple Tags I use.

Back in my previous life 8 months ago as a teacher we would constantly be telling the kids about the need for cyber safety, and even now I wonder if we are hitting the mark as we still see instances of kids doing abhorrent things online to each other, and that these things might come back to bite them in the bum later in life. My last post mentioned that schools were being increasingly being asked to be responsible for the teaching of so many things troubling society, and cyber safety is one of these that stands out. But it must be done at home the most, as that's when it happens most.

Time to get off the ladder to my soap box Readers, or else I'll start losing Readers faster than I can attract them!!

For nearly 6 weeks now I have been stuck to the armchair in my lounge room, but I think that I can be assured that much of what I have been watching on tv, listening to online and searching for online could be readily discovered if such a need should arise.

Someone's Watching!!!!!

Until my next post,

Cheers 😁

 Kindness

Hi Readers,

A post I'd been thinking about for a while, but as usual was just waiting for something to kick start me into writing it. Last Friday there was a bit in the news, then a number of actual examples that happened to me that got me motivated to put my thoughts down.

First of all, the news reports.

One thing that always bugged me as a teacher, and still bugs me 6 months into retirement is when society gets hold of something that needs addressing and says "Schools should be doing something about this". Are schools the panacea for everything that needs fixing?

Some common examples are:

_ Schools should be teaching all kids to swim

_ Schools should be teaching all kids to ride bikes and road safety

_ Schools need to stop bullying

_ Schools need to teach kids about finance/banking/shopping etc

_ Schools need to teach kids how to cook

_ Schools need to teach kids how to drive

_ Schools need to teach housework skills

_ Schools should be teaching our kids about cyber safety

 And the list just goes on.

I'm not denying that schools need to teach so many things, but in the list above there are so many things there that also are the responsibility of families.

Before anyone jumps out of their chair and comes thumping at my door to take me to task, I also understand the reasons why people might be thinking that schools need to do these things, and why families might struggle with them, although I personally might disagree with them to some extent.

In all my years of teaching, we always took the kids for swimming lessons. At the most, they would attend 6-8 lessons that were spread over consecutive days at some schools, or once a week at other schools. I'd be hard pressed to find many non-swimmers become swimmers in that time frame, and we would still have parents having a crack at us over this. As a parent myself I know that our boys only learnt to swim after attending regular lessons over a much longer period of time. We took on the responsibility as we were able to, and I know that many families are not in this situation which is unfortunate for them.

I'm yet to see any evidence that the short swimming programs conducted by schools actually teach the kids to swim. Create greater water safety skills, yes. Maybe refine already developed skills, yes. But create a swimmer in that short time, I don't think so, and this is where much of the confusion lies.

Similarly with learning to ride bikes and road safety. We once did "Bike Ed", but this was usually done in the confines of the school yard.

Cooking always gets a gig at some stage, but is usually limited to simple cakes or biscuits as we can't really use hot implements and ovens with the kids.

In recent years a parent asked me to sort out some problems her child was having online with another child. This made me lose the plot, as it was all happening after school in their homes and on their devices. It was only because the kids went to the school I was teaching at that I was asked to intervene, which I didn't, as it was the first day of school holidays!!

Saying that "Schools should be teaching this" sounds well and good, but often the practicalities aren't really considered carefully enough.

And just trying to teach our core subjects adequately enough is a challenge at the best of times, and when results come out in the press saying that our schools are failing us, everyone is pointing the finger. Then they want the schools to take on yet even more.

That brings me to what was a major news item last Friday. Bulletins were loaded with stories that "Schools need to be teaching more about Kindness".

I'll admit now that whenever I hear a sentence that starts with "Schools need to teach..." my hair (or what's left of it) stands up!!

Over the last few years of my teaching career we would devote time to teaching about social skills in specific lessons, but often these stand alone lessons do not address a specific need. They are very useful, don't get me wrong, but are often not personal enough for the kids.

To explain this further, just stay with me for a bit.

I tended to find that some social skills were better taught when there was a need or an example that the kids could relate to. Something may have just happened that provided a perfect opportunity to teach about it.

Yes, we would teach about ways to handle bullying, but these lessons tended to be more effective when the kids could relate to a specific example that may have happened with themselves or others, rather than a fictitious example from a text.

Or it could be as simple as highlighting when someone has done a kind act for someone else, such as opening a door, making a space for them on the floor, or including them in a game.

These are real life, real time instances that the kids can relate to more readily as they have seen them happen and know the people involved. They might only take 10 seconds to address, but leave a memory that could be long lasting and turn into further actions.

So why should it be the schools to teach this? 

Any family knows that siblings are not always "lovey dovey", and clashes occur. That's life.

But they are also teaching moments for families, rather than waiting for schools to teach about kindness and hope that it transpires back at home.

Over the years I have had parents complain about what their kids do at home, and that as a school we need to be teaching them how to be nicer at home. We can teach about being kind to others, but for me, what happens at home is the responsibility of the parents.

Yes, we can offer ideas, but too often I was seeing the responsibility of home behaviours being seen as the responsibility of the school.

By now I have probably alienated many of you, but that has not been my intention.

I'm just trying to suggest that the teaching of kindness is not like a subject, and is primarily the role of families where possible. (I'm taking into account that there are also families that might be dysfunctional, and that kindness is not demonstrated or experienced)

Tolstoy put it simply.

"Nothing can make our life, or the lives of other people, more beautiful than perpetual kindness"

This highlights the need for consistent and ongoing kindness, rather than just isolated acts. This is why I get challenged by calls for schools to be doing more about it, when it is something that needs to be looked at all the time, at home and at school.

By all of us.

The quote also suggests that kindness is not limited to just personal relationships, but can be extended to everyone.

So instead of sending kids to school and hoping that they learn to be kind, perhaps there is nothing wrong with displaying it ourselves whenever we can so that it is more realistic for the kids, rather than them just seeing it as "a school thing".

My experiences with the kids were that modelling always had a greater impact than a formal lesson when it came to things like this.

If I saw kindness being displayed, I'd highlight it at the time so that they could see it for themselves. The spin off usually was that many of them would pick up that behaviour too.

By now you can be forgiven for thinking that I'm sitting cross legged on the floor, wearing a kaftan and burning incense as I pontificate about being kind.

Well, I can't cross my legs for a start due to their current condition!!!😖

Even I think I should be sitting in a cave somewhere chanting !!

But a few experiences lately happened at the right time as this news article hit the airwaves.

Firstly, I recently put my motorbike up for sale (reluctantly) as due to my body problems I don't think that I can ride it safely anymore, and our boys don't need to lose another parent due to being pig headed and expecting that I can still ride it.

I suddenly got a buyer for it and needed to get a Roadworthy Certificate (RWC) in order to sell it. Usually these can only be booked in advance, but by a stroke of luck I went to a nearby mechanic who, after hearing my story, said he'd do it the very next day.

There was one slight little problem that had the potential to delay it, but this bloke went way beyond what I would have expected to get it done in time for me. And at no time did he say that it was a problem, he was just so nice, cheerful and friendly about it, even when he didn't need to be. Maybe being on crutches helped!!

Due to the fact that he was just so kind and welcoming, on top of the amount owing for the RWC I gave him a 6 pack of beers just as a gesture of thanks for the way he looked after me. Just paying the amount owing didn't seem enough in my book. The gratitude I received was humbling, but beautiful, and I didn't give him the cans in order for this. It was because I wanted him to know how much his kindness was valued.

When he told me how many times he gets abused by impatient customers, I felt he deserved this even more, as he just refuses to react badly back to them.

As I walked out he was serving another customer, and I could hear and see how kindly he was treating this customer, and it just made me smile.

This was an example of someone acting out what Tolstoy was banging on about, and I bet he didn't learn this just from being taught about it at school.

Kindness.

As some of you might know, I have been laid up for the past four weeks ( and many more to come) and have been the recipient of more kindness than I can imagine. I'm not surprised by the way, as these people have hearts of gold.

In order to get my RWC last Friday, I needed to find someone who had a motorbike license, and who also happened to be available. Step in one of our closest friends who didn't even hesitate to help. For all I know he might have had much more important things to do, but he just stepped up without hesitation. He didn't learn to do that at school, and he and his wife, as well as the rest of his family are living examples of kindness. I have no doubt that the way their kids are is because of what they have learnt from their parents.

Then there are the other close friends who have popped around to look after the garden while I have been away, and ask for nothing in return. They do it for no other reason than as an act of kindness. These same people are always onto me to know when I need transportation to or from hospital, or to appointments. Because I get pig headed and stubborn, they will more often than not just tell me what is going to happen, rather than ask if they can do it ! I love them. And recently, this same friend came around to check on me, and without asking just went straight to my fridge and put various food items in there, not needing to ask permission at all as she knew I would lose the argument.

And her lasagna is THE BEST EVER!!!!!!!a

I'm just waiting patiently for the chance to pay it back.

This morning I get a text from another dear friend to say that some snacks would be dropped at my front door. When I heard the door alarm go off (it's motion activated) I bolted for the door as fast as I could go on my crutches before she could run off. For someone to be so kind to do that, I had to offer a cuppa at least, and we had a great catch up for an hour or so. Genuine kindness.

Last Friday I had another visit from some dear friends from our days when we lived in Ballarat. We taught together, and as we started our families we were part of a very close family group. We haven't seen each other for some time, but I've been finding lately with all the friends I've been so lucky to catch up with recently, we just continue on from where we left off. Like many others, they just went to my fridge and loaded it up.

Rather than try and stop people from being so kind in this way and telling them I don't need it ( when in reality, I probably do) I have learnt that it is far better to be appreciative of their kindness rather than try to dismiss it, because I want them to know that I am extremely grateful for their kindness. I still feel guilty being the recipient, but if I was in their shoes I'd probably be doing the same thing.

And now the best for last!

 I was at a friend's house on Friday, and they just happened to be looking after one of their grandkids, a beautiful 3 year old boy. As he became more familiar with me, he asked to show me his room that he had in the house, so I followed behind, all the while he was looking sideways at this weird guy with the funny steel legs!

Then he had to show me the cubby house that his Gran had made in the lounge room.

"Can I go in it ?" I asked.

"No. You're not Gran" was his basic reply, clearly putting me in my place.

A little while later while we were all in the kitchen chatting, he was eating cut up orange and kiwi fruit from a bowl and all of a sudden came up to me and offered a piece of orange. "Would you like some Bernie?" in his own little way.

Of course I said yes, ate it and said how beautiful it was.

This was the moment that just exemplifies how kindness is taught by how we live, all that we do, and how we treat others, and this little man has it in spades. 

I'm sure that by the time he starts school, he'll know how to treat others with kindness as he is already doing it now. 

If I was still teaching, rather than use a pre-planned example of kindness from a text, I'd be using this example of what genuine kindness is all about.

A 3 year old teaching a 61 year old, we're never too old to learn.

Well Readers, I hope I haven't sounded like the preacher from a secret cult, or someone who has been eating the wrong mushrooms ( not those ones, if you know what I mean Victorians!!), but I just wanted to get off my chest how annoyed I get when schools are told they should be teaching this or that, when much of it starts at home.

I am just so blessed with how much kindness I have been the recipient of over the past 4 weeks, but even more for the past 3 years when our lives were changed forever. I still can't shake the guilt of being afforded it, but I am eternally grateful.

A bit of a rant at the start, but I've calmed down now!!!!

Until my next post,

Cheers 😁

 Aaaahh...So Good!!

Hi Readers,

This post is very light hearted. Or that is the intention. I remember beginning a previous post the same way but then got distracted and took off on a series of other ideas that came to me while I was writing. Hopefully not today!

But that's the beauty and attraction of writing, your mind wanders and there are no rules as to what to write. Not for me anyway. Beforehand I only have an idea in my mind to write about, often prompted by something I have heard, seen, read, experienced etc. The more I write about it the more other ideas come to mind. I don't write down a plan of things to write about, so everything you get is pretty impulsive.

Plus, I just enjoy writing, and if you don't really like it, then I can't help that.

So here we go.

Last night I ended up sleeping on the couch in a semi upright position as it became too painful laying down in bed. You see, I have another bloody body part prairie dogging (see previous post) for attention, a shoulder that I hurt playing footy back in the day, had surgery on it a few years ago, then hurt it again last year after crashing my bike.

I just can't get comfortable with it in bed, so sitting up slightly on the couch puts me in a position that's just a bit better. Not much, but I have been able to get a few hours sleep at least.

I grabbed a spare doona out of the cupboard in one of the other bedrooms, and boy do I wish I knew about this doona sooner!!

The doona on my bed is good, but it just lays over me. As it should.

This one on the couch is different. It just finds every nook and cranny in my body, keeping me toasty warm and very comfortable. It doesn't stop the shoulder from hurting, but is a lot more comfortable. I found it won't work as well on my bed due to the positioning.

The best way to describe it is that it feels like a big warm hug from someone special. It just makes me feel safe. It didn't feel like a doona, it felt like a long lost friend.

Ever had the same experience? Where you are not just warm and comfortable, but feeling like you are in a special place?

So this got me thinking.

What other totally simple things are just so basic, that they are so much better than so many other things? Nothing else beats them at that time.

As I'm pretty much housebound and couch bound at the moment as I have to stay off my leg, I need to find quick and easy alternatives to so many things that I have otherwise taken for granted. This involves what I eat, what I wear, how I keep myself occupied and what I watch on the tv.

First of all, food.

When we first started having kids, we quickly learnt to eat one handed, as the other hand would have been tending to a baby or toddler. That's what it feels like now. If I'm at the bench preparing something, I'm just so conscious of having the other hand steadying myself on the crutches or holding on to the bench. I've already had two tumbles, and I'm just so worried of buggering up the surgery if I put weight on my foot unexpectedly. I have another 3 weeks at least before I can start putting weight on it, and even then it will be so gradual.

A simple food that I had forgotten how good it can be....Soup!

Rather than opt for the tinned versions, I go for these soup sachets that are so simple, but so good. Throw in a few slices of toast or grain rolls and I'm set.

On the first few times I was doing soup I automatically found myself dunking the bread/toast/rolls into the soup just like I did when I was a kid. How's that for muscle memory more than 50 years later!! I Know I've had soup in public many times as an adult, but never would I dunk my bread !! Now when I'm "Souping", I'm dunking like there's no tomorrow, and it just brings back so many memories from growing up.

.                                

Not just the dunking, but the flavours from my childhood came back too.

Soup was something we were always given when we were sick, but as I'm not sick at the moment, it's still such a comfort food.

My next dietary  sensation...

Yep. Baked beans!!! I have been told to ensure I eat lots of fibre as I'm sitting around all the time, but I need no encouragement to get into these bad boys!

Love them on toast, in pasta, in a toastie (more about that soon) but the absolute best way is straight out of the tin that has been in the fridge for a few days. 

I like my beer cold from the fridge, so the baked beans are the same. There's just something about eating them cold, and straight from the tin, as if it's breaking some culinary rule. I just love it!!! And while on the subject of baked beans, let me address the elephant in the room.

Yes, they do to your body what I know you are all thinking about!!! Just like spicy food makes me sweat ( ask my family about that!!) baked beans make me fart.

And I'm sure they do the same to you despite how much you might disagree with it!!

Not denying it, but the simple joy of enjoying them so much this way is well worth the resulting "bottom burps"!!

Toasties.

As I find it hard getting things from the stove/oven, and I'm paranoid about dropping them, I try to do as much as I can from the bench. That means using the toastie machine.

As there are no rules about what goes into a toastie, well not in this house at least, it's anything goes! Has there ever been a greater way to use leftovers?

Apart from the given minimum standards ( cheese, tomato and baked beans) anything that can be officially, partially or somewhat described as food has a place in a toastie.

And since all my spices are kept in the drawer just below where I use the toastie on the bench, that means minimal checking of which spice gets a guernsey. I just reach in, fang it and hope for the best. Sometimes I get it wrong, but more often than not I'm patting myself on the back for yet another culinary discovery!!

Have you ever experienced the joy of slurping up mashed potato and gravy in a toastie ? With many other additions of course.

I think much of my love for toasties was formed with my brothers at Colbinabbin after  nights on the sauce. The night would always end with us trying to come up with the best toasties ever, eating versions that we would never attempt if we were sober! I distinctly remember after our Dad's funeral how we put all the trays of leftover salad sandwiches through the toastie machine and loved them. I doubt if I would now.🤢

Wraps. Well Readers, rather than rewrite history, a wrap gets the same respect as a toastie. Just plonk in what you need and it's ready!! Just remember that they must contain one of, or all of the key ingredients of baked beans, cheese and tomato.

The beauty of wraps is that they can hold cold or hot fillings, or a mixture of both. Plus, they go well in the toastie maker.

Pasta. Whoever invented it, salute them now. Just use the same food selection skills employed when making wraps or toasties. The golden rule is that if it can be classified as food, in it goes. Our boys and Jen would often look at me in disgust when we had "scrap nights", where everyone just got whatever they wanted. My specialty would be "Pasta Surprise", where anything or everything would be thrown in, then often baked under a layer of cheese. One could never really identify what exactly was in one of these inventions, hence I never was asked to share!!! But I can still whip up a good one now even on one leg. Sometimes we just overthink things when making wraps, toasties or pasta, but I try not to!!

Cherry Tomatoes.

Just like I sometimes can't be bothered at the moment with cooking, I'll just grab a handful of something from the fridge, and lately I've been loving doing this with cherry tomatoes. I usually have them in the fridge but they are always used with other things ( wraps, toasties, pasta etc)

But now I just love eating them on their own, and I grab a handful of them just like someone else will grab a handful of lollies or nuts. It must be healthier for me, so that's a plus, and now I'm buying different types of them at the supermarket. I've also found that Coles sell different ones than Woolworths, and IGA have some different ones too. So if you ever open my fridge and see 3-4 punnets of different types of cherry tomatoes, now you know why.

 

Good old standard cherry tomatoes.                     But these Grape tomatoes are the                                                                            absolute best!!

Grilled Cheese on toast.

We lived on this as kids, and our boys loved it after school most nights as they filled their guts just before dinner!! As teens they just ate non stop, as any of you with kids would know. Now that I just need something quick and easy, grilled cheese often gets picked in my "Food Best Team". I've hardly had it over recent years as there has usually been an expectation to cook up something decent, but grilled cheese on toast is still very decent. Yet another childhood favourite that invokes so many memories of the happiest childhood that I experienced.

There is stuff in my pantry that that was probably purchased well before dinosaurs became extinct, I should get that all sorted I keep telling myself. One day.

Anyway, I found some cordial in there! I don't think I've had cordial since I last played football. The only other time I have it is when on school camps. I was wondering why I had a few bottles in the pantry, and then I remembered that it was one of the few things that Jen could keep down when she was sick, and even then it was only mouthfuls. So now I have been having a crack at it and I had forgotten how good it is. (Sorry nutritionists!!)

Just another random food that is just so easy to prepare, sometimes too easy, that we just don't bother with it at all. And once again, when I taste different flavours it takes me back to other times in my life.

Readers, I sincerely hope that you, like me, take your personal hygiene seriously.

When I have a shower I'm usually in and out without much of a thought. It is so mechanical and I probably wash myself the same way every time. I use the shampoo the same way, scrub myself the same way, use the body wash the same way etc. The same body parts get washed in the same order. And for those of you raising your eyebrows because I mentioned shampoo, I do still have some hair left!!!

But now, I have to sit on one of those shower chairs with my leg resting on another stool. Everything has changed, and over the past week I have just enjoyed the warmth of the water pouring over me, as I no longer need to use the hand nozzle. 

So good!!! I just appreciate the joy of a good shower so much now, especially as I need to be so conscious of not having a slip and fall, which I've been close to a few times.

Music.

Those who know me well would know that I practically have music playing most of the time wherever I am. Usually I'm doing something else, and don't pay a lot of attention to it, but I love the comfort it gives in the background.

However, over the past three weeks in particular while I'm just slothing about, I tend to pay more attention to what is playing, and what memories different songs invoke. Often I don't get a choice here, it just happens, and I let it happen.

Some songs I may hear a few times in a week and think nothing of it. Other times I'll hear a song I haven't heard in ages and it stops me in my tracks as It takes me back.

This happened just yesterday when I heard the song "The Year of The Cat" by Al Stewart. I've always liked this song without giving it much attention, but yesterday I took the time to really listen to it, and only then did I realise how good it actually was.

So good!

                                           

Then with Brian Wilson from the Beach Boys leaving the building last week, I was taken back to many of the Beach Boys songs that were so influential in my teen years.

Now before you all accuse me of not moving on from the 70's and 80's.....well, you could be right!!!!

Clothes.

I'm sure at the moment I'm just rotating through the same 2-3 pairs of tracky dacks ( Overseas readers, that means tracksuit pants) and one uggy 

Overseas readers, this is an Uggy, or Ugg Boot.

And a flanny (flanellete shirt)

Overseas Readers, another example of Australian casual home wear!

While these clothes are super comfy for home, and just sitting around, I draw the line at going out around town in them, so something more socially acceptable is chosen for these occasions.

These clothes must have gone to the same school as the doona I mentioned earlier. When I put them on I feel like I'm sinking into the arms of someone I love. 

I'm sure you know what I'm talking about, think about a piece of your own clothing that makes you feel this way. When we wear them we feel good.

Imagine how happy we'd all be if we wore what makes us happy to work!! It might not conform to all the social norms we have to adhere to, but we wouldn't be stressing about "looking good" or dressing so uncomfortably or impractically for the work we do.

I'm sure many of you will disagree with me here, and maybe I disagree with myself to a point, but just imagine.........

So just stop and think about those very simple, forgettable things that in reality have helped us to become who we are today. Today has just been a ramble that hasn't required much deeper thinking at all.

What are some things that are just "So Good" to you? When did you last experience one/some of them?

If it has got you thinking, then go and do one of them now, you'll be surprised at how a domino effect starts!!

Another ramble, but at least it has given me something else to do today. 

So Good!!!!

Until my next post,

Cheers 😁