I can switch off the world if I choose to ....

Inspiration comes to us slowly and

quietly ..... it’s in times of solitude and peace that our minds expand and blossom ..... or so we’re led to believe!

I had a light-bulb moment on my walk today .... the realisation hit me of how much I enjoy being here .... in this space .... in this little community.  It's taken me a while .... and it certainly hasn't been easy .... and it might not be for some time yet ... but I'm really feeling “at home” here for the first time since I left SA.  I’ve struggled with home-sickness ... anyone who’s done a similar move to what we have will know it’s not easy ... it’s no walk in the park .... and made even more difficult when you’re a reluctant participant in it too.

I don’t know what bought on the light-bulb moment ...
maybe it’s because
on my rambles I see so many familiar faces.  If I’ve missed a day or walked a different route I get asked if all’s ok because “so and so” missed me yesterday.  It leaves you with a warm feeling inside ... people notice when you’re not around .... “that zany girl with the crazy hound that carries those huge logs/rugby ball wasn’t on the beach yesterday” ... or at the view site ... or at Glover Park.  Little by little, step by step the hound and I are becoming an item in the

community .... marked down as absent if we don't turn up for our ramble each day!!

There are familiar faces on many parts of my ramble ... the regular dog-walkers on St. Heliers Beach ... the ‘humans with hounds’ that I have coffee and a chat with.... playful Pete and the girls at the coffee shop .... my chatty mate at the building site .... the fishermen that I pass the time of day
with at Ladies Bay - and no, I don’t pass the time of day with the other unclad visitors to Ladies Bay .... the ‘humans with hounds’ that frequent the view site and Glover Park at the same time of the morning as we do ..... so many of them - and all within the space of the same 2 hours on most days.  It’s my ‘smiling’ time ... I get to smile at all and sundry and get so many smiles back in reply .... they have no idea of the lift those smiles give to my day!

There were visitors of a different kind on Ladies Bay today ... no fisherman ... no nudists .... but models and photographers and all the paraphernalia that’s part and parcel of a photo shoot.  Apparently, according to my new “best” friend on the Council’s cleaning crew, they were doing a shoe shoot for a
magazine ... he’d done all the relevant questioning when he’d been emptying the bins .... even asked them if the models were going to be nude!!   Haha ... as if ..... but I guess you never know unless you ask!

The models were heading down to the beach as the hound and I headed up.  I did the courteous thing and stood to
one side as the stairs are fairly narrow and the hound isn’t picky about who she says hello to.  She chose to have a good shake as the models went past ... their faces were a picture .. anyone would have thought they were being sprayed with mud, not sea water ....  I so struggled to suppress the laughter!  

It’s been the perfect day for a photo

The distance she dragged this dead tree!

shoot .... and especially down at Ladies Bay .. it’s quite sheltered from the wind there most days and, when the sun’s shining, there’s little to beat it!  It’s one of my favourite spots for solitude and peace .... especially when I have the beach to myself!

More and more I’m realising though that I don’t need an isolated spot to

The size of the dead tree.

have solitude and peace ... it’s available to me whenever I want it .... wherever I am.  I so often make the mistake of thinking that I need to be alone ... in an isolated spot .... but that’s not true.  I can switch off the world if I choose to  .......... escape to the sanctuary in my mind .....  and just BE.

“If you look for what’s right ..... in others ... in relationships .... in yourself .... in life .... you’ll always find it.”  Mike Dooley