Zen and the art of the ascetic lifestyle

In my endeavour to live a life less full of stuff, I am finding that our house is becoming like a mini-store.

I have rummaged through my whole life full of possessions in order to decide what must go and what must stay. My piles of items reach metres in height. I am horrified that I have so much stuff, that I have no interest in, or need of. I am happy I have reached a place that I am able to release it, it feels good.

Clothes :- I am not, nor ever have been Carrie Bradshaw. I am a jeans and hoody girl, boots in winter, bare feet or flip flops in summer. Out go the vintage dresses and frills and furbelows.

Books:- Once I have read a novel, chances are I won't do it again.

Magazines :- I haven't read them yet due to lack of time, will I ever ? No !

Ornaments :- what the.....?

Jewellery :- though my ears are pierced 4 times, my nose once, I only wear one ring ( my mum's engagement ring ) and a pendant sent to me by lovely Belle. Begone, you foul trinkets of man's vanity !

The road to the land of Wiccan Zen is a long one, paved with distractions, catalogues and pockets with holes. I can see the quietly burning moon waiting for me at the end of my trek.

ANZAC reflection

We didn't make it to the dawn service, though we both wanted to go. We did go to the 11am ceremony and both my boy and myself cried. It was a local ceremony and I preferred it that way.

We watched a film last night called " Behind the Lines " about the war poets, sobbed through that too. We also both cried at the news. We both have very strong feelings about the whole issue of war, and on my part, old men make me cry.

I think ANZAC Day is very special and I am glad we adhere to recognising this in our house and in Australia in general.

Disappointingly, we tried to tape " Desert Rats " but the Collingwood game was on instead. " LEST WE FORGET " ? well it would seem some people already have.

Lest we forget !

Munich...I love him !

If you want to watch a cracker of a film, may I recommend Munich with the delectable Eric Bana..it aint fun but it's a real film, Damn nice photography too. Whilst we're on the subject, may I also recommend Vera Drake...god damnit, there's some good stuff to watch, and me, thinking all I was, was a chick flick watcher....

My dear boy has turned my film watching style on it's head !

Something else you may not know about me...

I have tap dancing lessons every week and I LOVE THEM !

I have a dream with my dancing too !

Something you may not know about me....

I had a fair whack of hair cut off recently, at least a foot length. I now look somewhat like Bernard Fanning, minus the beard and cigarette. Now you may not believe me, but even my beloved agrees !

AWOL

I have been missing in action for a few days, sorry.

My dear dad has been in hospital and indeed he still is, so have been driving in and out of the city with various family members to see him.

Hopefully he should be coming home tomorrow.

Hospitals are funny places, such a variation in the personalities of the nurses, some are such sullen coves and the others are like a double shot of sunshine.

in the past few days I have seen an old man's bottom and penis ( not my dad's and NOT because I looked ). There is an old bloke, next to my dad who is very unusual. One minute he is bouncing around like a teenager and the next he is stumbling around with his tongue lolling out and grapes flying everywhere. He also defecates and urinates all over the toilet as opposed to in it...my dad is a bit beside himself. My dad is very proper !

Beware the beast !

There's a new man at home, he is such a beast. Welcome for the next three weeks to " Maniac " our borrowed ram, a Suffolk with a ridgy face, a curled back lip and a bleat that is so deep and loud, that people pull their curtains shut and hide under the table when they hear him coming ( literally ).

Within 5 minutes of arriving, he had serviced our four sheep, quite blatantly in front of us. I was so horrified I couldn't stop laughing !

His testicles are like two huge Queensland mangoes in a deflated balloon, he is majestic and frightening !

..and so it came to pass that Severina became immensely excited by a grumpy old racecar

It has happened.

Yes, indeed !

I have had my rebirth.

We have bought a Hudson Hornet ( see my beloved Doc Paul Newman Hudson in the picture ! )

Ok so it looks a little more like Doc did after his final race, BUT he will be beautiful.

I am in love.

I have a crush on a car.

He is coming from Queensland soon.

He has special number plates we bought for him. ' Doc 1 '.

I may be more of a " Tow-mater " myself...but I sure am lucky !

Need to reiki my sore throat away !

I have been so busy reiki-ing my family's ailments that I forgot my own sore throat ! LOL

Am feeling a whole lot better today, no sulkiness or moodiness at all. Have been working hard all morning, am about to watch Dr Phil, and then go for a stroll in the woods. It is amazing what a proper night's sleep can do for a person isn't it ? I should learn and go to bed before dawn.

More later, may reiki healing rays be upon you all, dear readers, SEV x

kooka willy willy punchi in da midgi

I woke up in a very bad mood and felt very depressed and walked around the house muttering things under my breath for a while, until I heard something that made me perk up. I am not saying what, it is a top secret. Then I went for a walk, listened to Medwyn Goodall, and things got better immediately after that even more so.

I then heard that the reiki I gave my sister for pain in her shoulder had really helped and that she got the first good night's sleep in ages, so that really perked me up. I don't like it when i wake up morose and nihilistic....

My granola loving babe and a wild beast called Scout !

Dolly Meldrum

One wild beast !

Weekend thoughts...

This weekend I have come to realise that I still have a long way to go until I am as far back to nature as I really want to be.

I have also realised that the Hotel Grand Chancellor in Hobart is CRAP, overpriced and stuck in a time warp. It also employs people who have no idea what a smile is.

I have found out that the HENRY JONES hotel in Hobart is excellent !

I have come to realise that seals are the best things. My lovely family watched a friendly, large and entertaining seal in the harbour in Hobart. I was in love as were my special two.

And as Dorothy says, one thing I really have come to realise is...... there's no place like home...click click. One night away is ENOUGH !

Blatant Advertising for a friend !

Friends do things for each other so today I am blatantly advertising a friend and new ebay.com.au and oztion.com.au seller.

My friend is called Harriet and her username on both sites is the-chamomile-teacup

My dear chum, much younger than myself and far more glamourous than myself too is what is known as a " Fairy Whisperer " in that she can speak and communicate with nature spirits.

Please check out her auctions, she is very low priced right now whilst she builds her selling confidence up, and her work is unique.

I am laughingly named as her guru, but she inspires me as much as I ever do her I am sure.

Thanks for reading, Severina on behalf of Harriet !

PLEASE contact her on the-chamomile-teacup@hotmail.com

Found it, the quote I was after....

A building gets torched. All that is left is ashes. I used to think that it is true about everything — families, friends, feelings — but now I know that sometimes, if love proves real, and two people are meant to be together, nothing can keep them apart.

People once believed that when someone dies, a crow carries their soul to the land of the dead. But sometimes, something so bad happens that a terrible sadness is carried with it and the soul can't rest. Then sometimes, just sometimes, the crow can bring that soul back to put the wrong things right.

If the people we love are stolen from us, the way to have them live on is to never stop loving them. Buildings burn. People die. But real love is forever.

I love both of them

One of my most favourite films is The Crow. I am passionate about both lead characters, one a goodie one a baddie !

The beautiful Brandon Lee and the delicious and very naughty Michael Wincott. No-one plays a villain or camp art critic the way he does !

I watched The Crow again recently after not watching it for years, and I was profoundly moved by it. I know it is based on a comic strip, and I know Brandon Lee was killed just prior to the finished product coming out, and I think, both of these factors add to the unique and reflective nature of it.

It is violent, and I am not usually really ( though I like Terminator and Alien too ) into films like that, but in this case, I love the whole life/death, wrongs being put right element to it.

Like the child says at the beginning " Sometimes something so awful happens that the wrongs have to be put right ".

Anyway, two hot blokes on one film, damnit, that's fine !

Quoth she...

Quoth she....

You can dress me as a skater girl, but you'll never steal the crushed velvet from my soul.

I am a uilleann pipe.

Just when you think I am found, I slip away, one step ahead.

On my mind....( baby I got you )

a) How darn good my voice sounds when I sing in the swimming pool room, damnit I am a rockstar !

b) Why am I getting teenage skin again ?

c) I am old enough to be our swimming teacher's mummy and yet I still think I am the same age..

d) Why don't I listen to music more often ? It really pumps me up, and I dance when I listen to it, no matter where I am.

e) Old souls, twin souls, psychic connections, inner and outer knowing, soul mates.

f) How good looking is Jay from Playschool ?

g) How cute is Justine from Playschool ?

h) Hang on, how all the presenters from Playschool are good looking, they never were when I was a kid !

i) Sex, not having it, just thinking about it...not even thinking about doing it, just thinking about the thing that is sex !

j) Diet coke

K) How good is one of my latest favourite albums " The Sorcerer's Daughter " by Medwyn Goodall. ?

l) Men with beards !

What I am singing to as I close the swimming pool each night

Well this is one of the songs I sing to, loudly and passionately

I send a kiss across the ocean blue
It's the only thing that I could think to do
If it’s mood is overtaking you
send one back soon

'Cos I don't even have a photograph
So I can lose myself inside your laugh
I just pray that you'll be coming back to
mend my heart's wound

It's the strangest thing to feel this way
All that your love brings only complicates
I don't remember ever feeling this way
If I got you to thank then you be praised

It's the strangest thing
It's the strangest Thing
It's the strangest Thing

It started out with such a simple clue
And then we talked and so the feeling grew
I looked deep into the heart of you it's a
mesmerising view

It's the strangest thing to feel this way
All that your love brings only complicates
I don't remember ever feeling this way
If I got you to thank then you be praised

It's the strangest thing
It's the strangest thing
So hats off to the month of May
It’s falling leaves and its glistening days

I don't remember ever feeling this way
If I got you to thank then you be praised

It's the strangest thing
It's the strangest thing
It's the strangest thing
It's the strangest thing

For god's sake get it over with !

One of my most favourite films ever is The Wicker Man.

Of course I refer to the 1973 Edward Woodward version.

I had the misfortune, and I mean misfortune,( because I wasted 2 hours of my wonderful life ) watching the remake, with Nicholas Cage in the other night.

Now you may wonder why I bothered to see it through, but I was hoping against hope that it might improve, be less, erm how shall we say, dull ? !

But it did nothing, went no-where, massacred the original, and bored me to tears.

The voices were dubbed in the studio, ( badly ) the make-up was fake tan central and the audio, well I couldn't hear it ( and we have a great system ).

I ended up yelling at the TV saying " please, burn me, break my legs, hang me up with chickens, anything, anything to get me away from this cinematic claptrap ".

Christopher Lee and Edward Woodward and the lovely Britt Ekland never deserved this as their legacy !

When I'm sad, he comes to me-e-e-e-e-e !

I think I shall just go for a walk. It's a grey day and I fancy a stroll by the water with my beloved ipod !

Am feeling out of sorts a little and need some air, some space some clarity.

I am thinking of a song I used ot listen to a lot by the Rolling Stones .....am a bit reminiscent right now !

In another land, where's the leaves and the trees and the flowers were blue

I stood and held your hand, and nobody else's hand will ever do, nobody else but you....

Used to love this song !