What men do.

Aspiring to acquire new skills has been my mantra since moving to New Zealand.  I craved this to be a chance to break away from how I saw myself by challenging this self-perception with new routines and new interests.  Some things have worked well – like snowboarding – others have been epic fails – going to the gym every week.  Other things seem to come and go as they please, and I am happy with this – swimming laps for fitness, reading more books and eating healthy are just a few.  The latest craze for me though has been……mosaic.  Gasp! The domain of bored housewives and childcare centre inmates.  However, I did some research and found it to be one of the most ancient and elaborate art forms in the world, with examples still standing from thousands of years ago all across northern Africa and the old roman empire.  A stash of library books later and an all day work shop saw a new terror unleashed on society.  I was ready to create a formidable artistic impression on the world.  So far though the impression is more of a small dent with only one piece completed – a mirror.  No quite the walled garden of an ancient roman artisan but a comfortable place to begin.  There are a few more pieces lurking unfinished in my ‘studio’  as well as a mountain of tiles, boards, mirrors, glass and assorted utensils – all waiting to rally to generate pieces of enchantment and admiration.  Stay tuned to be enthralled (and guess what you’re all getting for Christmas’ for the rest of you lives)!

It's been quite a while since I last wrote anything in this blog.  Time just seems to be short some weeks and at the moment this is occurring week after week.  We have had a few weeks off and gone camping, plus work has been all consuming - physically and emotionally.  Taking a deep breath this weekend has made me realise how incredibly foolish I have been to let my job over power me and that it is time to take a step back and remind myself what the positives are.  I will return soon with a greater sense of clarity and understanding.

Life is great!

There must be something in the autumn wind, or maybe it is the change of seasons or the recent moving of house……but things are going great and here’s why.  I have become uplifted with grace and vigour, leaping into opportunities and challenges with fervour.  An earlier post spoke of much promise and encouraged personal growth and all things bright and shiny.  I am an idealist and I make no excuses or apologies for being so.  However, somewhere along this road paved of sparkling green grass and shiny pebbles, life sometimes gets in the way and pushes me in directions I am less inclined to seek.  It is all too easy to let these things set the rhythm of life and not the pleasant challenges that line the sparkling green grass paths of my fertile mind.  So time to get back to the open field and run towards a few new challenges.  First up, I have been tracing my family roots on my father’s side.  I know almost nothing about my father’s life before us kids and ever since he died, I have been planning to do so.  So, start tracing family tree - Tickü.  Second thing was to get a bit more creative and this is going to see me advance in a few different directions.  First, I have enrolled in a photography course so I can learn more about the impressive camera I bought and hopefully illuminate the walls of our new home with bold statements and memories.  The other creative venture I have embarked on is a mosaic course.  I have always marvelled at ancient mosaics and the lavish and elaborate craft work that many Middle Eastern buildings have, all done with tiles, mortar and amazing patience.  I can only hope to achieve a small fraction of the aforementioned.   So, creative genius - Tickü.  Let those sparkling green grass paths lead me astray.

Becoming a part of Australian history

Who would have thought, eh?  I started writing this blog as a means of keeping a personal journal of this adventure as well as a way to share the fun with those friends and family who choose to do so.  Along the way I have been giving an honest account of how I feel about it all, as well as putting up a few photos and videos to add to the thrill for the readers chasing of my exploits.  Recently I was contacted by what I thought was yet another junk link to my blog by someone wanting me to contact them.  For those in the dark on such issues, the way to leave 'spam' on a website is to leave a message containing a link back to their own website to generate traffic and interest in their products.  This time however, it was a genuine message, from the National Library of Australia.  My humble entries have been deemed as being "of national importance and significance" and as such they were asking for the copyright permission to archive the entire blog and any future postings.  It still makes me blink when I think about it.  Who would have thought, eh........

Time for another dust-off

At the end of this week we will be moving house again.  We have been lucky enough to be living where we are for over two years now, but the owners want to move back in and rightly so.  It is a beautiful cottage in a lovely location and we are surprised they havn't wanted to return to their family home sooner.  So, it's time to empty out the draws and take stock of our belongings once again.  Somne of my first postings were about packing up our lives in Australia in preapration for the move to New Zealand - Scattering the Seeds and Some Years Ago. It was both overwhelming and invigorating - sorting through the memoeries and clearing out the clutter.  On a much smaller scale, we have done this again, and once more I am swept away with the sense of change and renewel which this process brings.  I feel fortunate to have spent this time in such tranquil surroundings and was initially very disappointed to get the news of having to move.  This disappointment has pupated in to a promise of vigour and potential for the future.  We are moving to slightly bigger house not too far away and I am really looking forward to waking up in this new world.  Its only the beginning.....