Not being an A type personality, or a B type personality (whatever that is,) I am going with my C type personality.  Someone who hates discipline and routine and thrives on creative ideas and spontanaeity – not feeling one has to do all those things one knows absolutely one “should” do.  I look around at the dining room table (my desk) and see all the chaos of paper, which I have put into organised piles at least once a week and done nothing with, and try to decide every morning what I am in the mood to do.   With the result that I check my email and newspaper headlines and Facebook until I can decide what I “should” do.  Heavens, is it already 3 p.m?  No wonder I’m hungry, where did the day go?  Oh well, might as well wait until tomorrow to do anything really useful…..and so it goes, day after day.

Of course, I am over egging  the pudding rather, as my dear old English friend Peta would say.  Which means I am exaggerating slightly…I do have a routine in the morning for my exercise (a walk or bike) and my healthy shake for breakfast.  I also go round the corner to walk and play with my son’s two puppies at 11 a.m. ish.   If I have morning appointments, then I will do all that earlier, of course.   However, it is very easy to go to the library or the bookstore and simply read magazines and books for several hours – lovely! Then, I come home and look up all the websites of interest that I found while reading.  Oh darn, the whole day has piddled away again!  But how delightful it was…..

So, my new regime is to pick from each of five areas to do each day, in any order I choose.  They are:

1.  Mind –  for education (1 hour daily)

a) book   (b) audio  (c) meditation  (d) write journal/blog

2.  Body - for exercise (1 hour daily)

a) walk, hike, bike   (b) raw food, cleanse, shakes   (c) yoga  (d)  massage

3.  Business – Isagenix and Send Out Cards (3 hours daily)

a) connect with new people    (b) newsletter/send cards     (c) take orders        (d) networking group meetings

4.  Personal/Relationships  - Staying In Touch (1 hour daily)

a) send cards   (b) call   (c) meet   (d) email/FB    (e) do accounts/taxes

5.  Fun – rewards (2 hours daily)

a) library/bookstore    (b) movies, trips    (c) eat out    (d) email/FB/Twitter     (e) donate time/money

= 8 hours daily

So, I might wake up and choose to do 2a, 1d, 3b, 5b and 4d – in that order.

On the other hand, maybe that whole thing is still too much of a routine for me at that!   We’ll see….it was a thought anyway.  I’ll keep us posted with any good results!

I am happily ensconced in my Scottsdale house sit still (and giving thanks for that daily) and appear to be here until at least November 2010.  Other offers have come and gone, but the only one I will be able to take this year is in June for five weeks.  I will, for the third time, fly to Sacramento and house sit for a lovely couple, Edith and Charles, and their dogs – now increased by two labradoodles.

The organic garden and swimming pool is quite delightful, more so in June,

and I look forward to lots more walks with the nearly adult Rosy and Rufus, along with Spike, the original Basenji.  I hope that Rascal, the old terrier will still be with us too – although his body doesn’t take long walks any more.   A change is as good as a rest, my Grandmother used to say, and I will certainly enjoy the change of pace from cats to dogs!

The Endearing Casper of Scottsdale

However, needing a rest is probably not a valid concern,  since my life here in Scottsdale is as restful as one could ever hope.  In fact, if I think about my life at all, I am probably living the ideal one right here – constant sunshine, lovely mountain hikes in very close surrounding nature, locally grown fresh food, lots of community groups to join and be involved with, one of my children, Matthew with his wife and new puppies  ”around the corner,” literally.

The only stress in my idyllic life is the small matter of income. Living on my Social Security would be a breeze, if I didn’t owe so much money to those damn credit card companies.  I take full responsibility for incurring the debts in the first place, but I have to say that the amount one ends up paying back is outright robbery nowadays.   That being said, I am in no way suffering as so many others are with losing their jobs and homes and complete change of lifestyle.  And there’s the rub – maybe it is our lifestyles that have got us into this mess in the first place.

My new motto, for a while, has been – less is more.  The minimalist lifestyle really appeals.  I have a storage unit full of “stuff” that I pay for monthly and, apart from the occasional book or piece of clothing, do not miss in any way whatsover.  Of course, I am living among other people’s “stuff,” so am not deprived of anything really.   However, it has been a lesson that will serve me for the future, once my finances look up.  Living simply with a healthy diet, lots of exercise, some good friends and being able to see one’s family and travel to new (and old) places and learn about other cultures is about my style now.  (The lifestyle is simple, but the money will be plentiful!)  This is my affirmation that will come true this year – because the new 2010 me will make it come true.

I arrived back safely in the US of A at the end of October, but with much trepidation about living through the day of the Presidential election on November 4. I threw myself back on the mercy of Matthew and Gloria for accommodation for about two weeks before my next house sit. It felt good to be home with them.

Anyway, I managed to steer clear of all news for most of election day (too nerve racking to listen to the play by play) and tuned in to PBS on Matthew’s computer/tv in my room (his office) for the evening news. By then, it was becoming pretty obvious what was going on and it was such a relief as the night wore on to learn that the American people finally woke up to reality. I felt (as Michelle Obama professed) proud – for the first time in a very long while – to be a part of an American culture who would not put up with any more of the brutal regime we have been under for so long. Suffice it to say, all seems right with the world now. Barack takes the reins!

I had an enjoyable three weeks back with the three big dogs in Mesa making full use of the water view and a daily walk around the lake. I spent time looking for an apartment to live in that I could afford for the two months (December and January) before my next house sit in February – which is literally around the corner from Matthew in Scottsdale! I did find my apartment (where I am presently ensconced) in Phoenix close to Tempe and the university area, which I like. It is a bit of a grungy neighborhood, but close to nice things and with plenty of healthy food shopping and yoga classes. There is even a lovely organic farm and restaurant five minutes from me and I can ride my bike there. The apartment complex is run by an Englishman and his wife and he has video cameras all around for safety. Mostly Hispanics live here and there are plenty of children and cats – very nice! I really MUST learn Spanish – ridiculous not to speak any. Of course, most of them speak English (at least the children do.) Lots of good cooking smells during the day.

Matthew and Gloria volunteer at a homeless shelter and I went with them this week – because they are city employees they have been “vetted” and I got in on their coat strings. We played with all the children for a couple of hours while the parents had time to themselves. There were about ten volunteers and probably twenty children of varying ages. I made paper Chinese lanterns with some of them that I used to make at school for Christmas decorations. It was fun. There was a sweet Mexican family with Mum, two daughters and two sons that had only been there two weeks or so. We are not supposed to ask them anything about their circumstances. However, one feels the need to help out individuals in a more concrete way with their housing problems or something, but I’d better concentrate on fixing mine first, I suppose!

My next house sit starts in February and will go for a year, or more. The couple who need me have a big house in Scottsdale and he is a civil engineer working on the light rail system for Honolulu in Hawaii. They have been living in a small apartment in Honolulu for a year already, but their nephew who was house sitting suddenly found a great job out of town and left. So, enter myself. The wife, Lani, does not like cities (especially not Honolulu) and is pretty upset that her husband (who loves his job and everything) has been asked to stay for the actual building of the system – which could take many years more. With this economy, they cannot sell their Scottsdale house and buy a nice one in Hawaii. So, they are stuck with housesitters and living in a small apartment. Lani has two cats in Hawaii and two cats in Scottsdale. She really misses her 14 year old cat, Casper, in Scottsdale and may make the effort to transport him to Hawaii (with all the quarantine requirements.) It seems a bit dire for him, I must say. He seemed to like me so I shall give him lots of TLC and hope that I will be a good substitute for Lani.

The gist, for me, is that I seem to have “free” living for several years, if I want it! The rent for their Hawaiian accommodation is paid for, so the only thing I may pay is for some electricity if it goes over $200/month. The only time that might happen is in the summer, when even I will feel the need for air conditioning.

This will now relieve Michelle of the responsibility (that she felt) for taking advantage of the low housing prices in Phoenix to buy a condo somewhere in the Phoenix area so that I could live in it and pay the monthly mortgage – which, at the current rates, would be about half any rent payment. It could be a very good investment actually and is still something we might look at, but now there is a year to think about it and look around. I have committed to a one year house sit to start with and will continue for longer if I want or need to.

]]> http://sandrastravels.wordpress.com/2008/12/12/since-then/feed/ 0 shucher http://sandrastravels.wordpress.com/2008/10/17/time-flies/ http://sandrastravels.wordpress.com/2008/10/17/time-flies/#comments Fri, 17 Oct 2008 09:25:12 +0000 Sandra http://sandrastravels.wordpress.com/?p=72 ]]> Well, just as I am settling in to life in the Australian country, the time is nearly here to leave.  I kept thinking about writing more on this blog since my last entry, but never seemed to be inspired enough to do it.  I have under one week left now.  The spring has sprung and everything is looking lovely and green.

It seems that I am a rain bringer, because they have had more rain than in many years.  The gold mine is happy, because their dam is getting full and that’s what they use to wash out the ore.  With all this doom and gloom in the global economy, Orange will benefit from having the gold mines, I should think.  Mind you, they think there will be a recession here too with unemployment rising generally, people losing money in their superannuation accounts and the effects on the banking industry.   I am fairly placid about it all, since when you don’t have a lot, you don’t have a lot to lose.  I am thrilled with my business which keeps paying me and happy to be able to travel and see friends and family in different countries.

When I was last here, I spent several months driving up the east coast from Melbourne to Cooktown with a friend called Caro.  We spent some time in Melbourne working part time jobs and were lucky to be loaned a flat (apartment) in an upscale area.   One Saturday we decided to throw a party and invited all the people we thought we knew or had met and spent all day preparing food and buying drinks and choosing music.   After we got all dressed up and had been waiting for about an hour, we realised no one was going to show up!  I think we had a good laugh and ate and drank ourselves silly.   The other thing I remember about Melbourne is that no one had told us about the trams before we drove in.  There is a rule that to turn right, you had to be on the left and allow the trams to go before you turned.  We did not know that and nearly had a heart attack when we were nearly run down by a tram because we were in the wrong turn lane!   I also remember the wonderful art museum that had a stained glass ceiling all along a corridor as you entered the building.  Everyone would simply get down on the floor and lie on their backs to look at it.  I wonder if it’s still there…I would love to have been able to get to Melbourne or Sydney, and even Tasmania, but there just wasn’t time or money to do that this time.

In Orange’s centre, there seems to me to be more coffee shops, restaurants, fast food joints, hairdressers, bookshops, clothing stores and arcades full of more shops in between all the buildings than any place in the US.   I just don’t know where all the people who are downtown shopping and eating all day, come from.  Four out of five people are grossly overweight – really.  There are two economic stratas it seems, too.  Those who don’t have enough money, but still eat and shop for very cheap stuff, and those who are, usually, older and more wealthy who eat in the more expensive places and shop in the more expensive department stores.  As the summer comes in, there will be an inflow of tourists from Sydney at the weekends, especially, taking advantage of all the wineries around here and the very expensive restaurants.   They are having a wine festival starting next week and the local people often can’t get tickets to all the events because they sell out to the Sydney-ites first.  The countryside is looking lovely now and so are all the gardens.   Lots of blossoms and flowers and budding trees of all kinds.  The rain has made it a banner year for spring growth.  Here are a couple of photos I took…

One day I borrowed Keith’s car and went over to help a lady called Tina in her garden.   She and her husband own an historic house that has been in her family for generations.  Tina gives tours of the house and garden and keeps it all up herself, housework and gardening.  She makes lovely English teas with scones and clotted cream and home made jam.   Unfortunately, she has a broken leg (nearly healed) and now a broken arm, poor thing!   She needed help with weeding the path and beds and so off I went.  Here are a couple of pictures of the house:

I have found a tea/coffee shop I really like, which is called Anything Grows.   It is a nursery that sells plants and garden things and also has a gift shop.  They serve the coffee, tea and home made cakes at little tables all amongst the flowers, as well as in two inside areas.  It is really charming.  Here are a couple of photos of it.  I bought Ro a water lily plant for her fish pond there and a rain guage for Keith there too.

You can see my coffee cup and plate on the table below where I sat in the sun and enjoyed looking at the fountain and plants.  Quite delightful!

Meanwhile, it has taken me over two hours just fiddling about trying to get these pictures in and you can see the gaps where they should have gone in.  One of the reasons I don’t post here too much – it takes so much time to do so when you don’t know how to navigate.  Anyway, these photos are all taken on my cell phone, so I think the whole thing is pretty amazing!

Most of the houses here have tin roofs – much cheaper, apparently.  In the US a tin roof is very expensive and very desirable.  Hearing the rain on it is quite an experience!  Anyway, here are a couple of photos of the roofs over the verandah curving down – called a bull nose roof, because it curves like a bull’s nose.  There are often Victorian bits of lacy wood stuff underneath for decoration.  I’ve never seen it anywhere but in Australia.

The houses are mostly bungalows(meaning only one floor) and do have fences and hedges around, as in England.  Nearly everyone has a garden with lots of flowers and flowering trees and bushes.  One of the things I like here is that it really reminds me of England in so many ways.   The photo on the left shows a small road “train.”  It only has two carriages, but the really big ones with three and four drive mostly in the middle of the country between the states.  Driving them must be a nightmare, but I am told trying to pass one on the road is even worse!  The roads out there in the middle are pretty straight and long, but you probably can’t see if anything is coming at you from the other way to allow you to pass until it is too late!

The rain did let up a bit for our tour of the lovely historic town of Canowindra and Dudley and Thelma’s farm that I stayed on for so long (now split up and owned by others) and Ro and Keith’s first house and the one they built by hand completely themselves, with a swimming pool and lovely great room with fireplace.  We didn’t go in to that one, but it was on a wonderful acreage in the hills with a river running through and long, red dirt roads all around that her children biked, motorbiked and drove tractors on.  It looked as though it would have been the most wonderful childhood for them.  However, they did really work the fields on the tractors from a young age and so contributed to the farm work.  Ro also had a local restaurant for many years, called The Lunch Bucket, that she ran by herself doing all the cooking and baking in a nearby town called Cowra.  It was open every day for breakfast and lunch and the children all helped there also as they got older.   It all sounds rather romantic, but I think it was a very hard working life on the land and times were often pretty hard – for the parents, anyway!

Since there are no scenic photos for you, here are some of the wonderful orange eggs we eat here (from Orange, hah, hah!) and one of Ro’s daughter, Phillipa, mixing a cake for tea. 

I will endeavour to take more photos this week.   Meanwhile, I really am doing some work and we have got four more people on the Isagenix programs.   The results being obtained by people here are wonderful, even though they more or less do it all wrong.  You can’t tell the Aussies what to do!   But, they obviously need what we have and it is making a big difference for their weight and health.   Australia’s population is now the most obese in the world – overtaking the #1 position from the US.   No worries, right?

I would be a little worried…if we didn’t have the answer!

It reminds me of when I first came to Australia in 1969 as an “immigrant.”  I had been in East Africa for four months camping with a a girlfriend with whom I had worked on The Guardian newspaper in London (many adventures to relate from that trip, but another time.)   When I returned from Africa I was not content to just “be back home” and get another job, so I was looking for another place to travel – which wouldn’t cost me any money, since I had none left!   I hit upon immigrating to Australia, because at that time the Australian government were paying for anyone in the Commonwealth to go there and be useful – they needed workers and people spending their money.  Anyway, it cost me 10 pounds for admin fees and the flight was free.  Since my Godmother, Ro’s mother, was living there I “landed” on her and spent the first three months staying at her and her husband, Dudley’s, lovely farm.  Because I was there so long, I earned my keep by wallpapering and painting several of Thelma’s rooms.  I had been trained pretty well in those skills by having helped my mother many times and also by learning from a friend of hers in the building trade.   I really loved being in Australia and it was super to be with family also.   Ro was married by then and she and husband Keith had a small farm of their own in the same town of Canowindra where her parents farmed.

Our two families got together during the war when my mother and three of her friends from the WACS rolled up one weekend to Dudley’s farm in Lincolnshire looking for a place to stable a horse belonging to Diana, one of the girls.  Diana wanted to get the horse away from the London bombings and they literally just chose a farm to knock on the door and ask.  They were greeted kindly by Dudley and Thelma, invited in to drinks and the rest is history.  Everyone became firm friends and my mother would often go down and visit Dudley and Thelma in Lincolnshire, so when she got married and got pregnant she asked Thelma to be Godmother to her child, me.  She also asked another of the original girls, Mina Tedder, to be a second Godmother to me.  (I suppose in the war you never knew who would be there for the long haul.)   Mina was also asked to be Godmother to Thelma’s younger daughter, Ro – with whom I am now staying!  Ro and I knew Mina as Teddy and she was the only daughter of Lord Tedder, who was a mucky muck in the armed forces during the war, and who knew Eisenhower pretty well.   Teddy always thought her father was the forgotten hero of the war and finally managed to get a book written about him (after his death) about ten years ago.

Anyway, the other thing is that all loos (toilets) in Australia (private and public) have two buttons for flushing – one of the left for half flush and one on the right for full flush.  You can guess which one you need for which, but it is all to save water, of course.   The other thing one has to remember is that when you need a bathroom while shopping, you have to find a public one in a mall or in the street.  Most eating places and tea rooms or coffee shops do not have them.

Oh, the other thing I found out today, while recording my receipts in my account book, was that many of them said “rounded up” or “rounded down” before the total amount.   When looking at my change I realised that there are no pennies any more over here, which is why they round the total off.  So, if you buy gas and it is $20.02, then it is rounded down to $20.  If it is $20.03, then it is rounded up to $20.05.  It all balances out in the end, I suppose.  There are also no one dollar bills, they have those in coin, so the money is actually more heavy in the pocket – but without pennies much less of it.  (Since most young people in the US seem to discard pennies all over the place as being worthless, it would seem a good idea for the US to adopt the same practice.)  Australia actually has one dollar coins and two dollar coins (golden color) and large silver 50c coins, along with silver 20c, 20c and 5c coins.  It is very similar to the English money system.   The bills are $100, $50, $20, $10 and $5 – all in different bright colors with a transparent window in them.

What else is different over here are the “road trains.”  Huge lorries (trucks) with two, three and more cars being pulled behind them to drive the huge distances across the desert and through the bush country.  In town here, they are mostly just two car ones, but they are big.   When I tried to find some model road trains from Australia to send my grandchildren, there were none.  All the toy stores seem to have only US models, probably made in China.  There aren’t even any English model cars, taxis or buses.

Here are a couple more photos I have managed to take:  Many of the close ups come out really fuzzy because it is almost impossible to take a photo on the phone without moving it.

Happy cat, Ted, napping on my tummy - which looks bigger than it is, really!

Pond on the patio, which now has a wire mesh all over it since we witnessed a carrawong bird stealing a goldfish from it the other day! Naughty bird, as Hugh (aged two) said. I am trying to get a photo of the carrawong.

Ro standing by a wattle tree on our walk to her brother's house in town

Granny Ro Ro battling to change young Max's nappy (diaper.) She doesn't "do" dirty nappies, but was persuaded just this once!

Ted in kitchen - awaiting food

Views from the wall of windows in the fitness centre I have joined. Nice!

Then, we rushed home for tea time that Ro was hosting for Pat, an older friend of her mother’s (my Godmother, Thelma, who died this year.) Pat was there with her granddaughter-in-law (Mel) and Mel’s two children, Pat’s great grand children, of whom she has eight all told! Pat is 85 years old and looks very healthy. Years outside in the garden and generally living life on the land, I suspect. Mel was there to hook up with Ro’s daughter-in-law (Jane, who is married to Alistair, Ro’s elder son) and her two young children who all live with them for the moment. We had delicious home made tea cakes of Portuguese tarts (creme caramel in filo dough) and a home made sponge cake with REAL double cream and fresh passion fruit. No, I did not have any room for them, but did taste a tart in the evening. No dinner for me, I was so full. So, I had a shake just before bed and felt excellent this morning. Who says you can’t have your cake and eat it too?!

This morning it was downtown on my bike – downhill all the way there and uphill all the way back – to check on a couple of new friends in town I am talking to about Isagenix. I helped Keith load up some old lumber to go to the tip (dump, in the US) and played with young Hugh for a while outside. I tried to get a photo of a currawong bird, who is making a nest in the tree on the patio, but he kept flying off when he saw me. They look like a huge magpie. There are really not that many smaller song birds here, which I miss.

Ro’s daughter Pippa is here for the weekend from Sydney and so the house is jammed with people. I am dossing down in Ro’s office on a rollaway bed – which is cosy, because I have my computer there and the loo (bathroom) is opposite and the kitchen is right next door. Sometimes, Ted – a lovely chocolate colored Himalayan cat – will come and keep me company. Ro and family were never cat people, but they adopted him from some friends moving away and simply adore him now. I will test my skills for taking and downloading a picture of him later today – so keep checking back. Meanwhile, here are a couple more local photos.

Back patio

Back patio and garden - bare in winter, which is now

View from front

Busy road in town!

Taken on my bike ride home

Downtown Orange - really busy!

Me on the borrowed bike, now with a new saddle, new inner tube and a cable for locking downtown.

This is my borrowed bike.

Meanwhile, it was time to do my laundry today. Ro has a washing machine and dryer. There is also a drought. So, the first thing to do is unhook the drain hose from the washing machine and hook it up to a hose outside so the grey water can go into the garden. Clever, huh? (They use a biodegradeable soap powder.) Because they try to save energy, the clothes are then hung out on the washing line in the garden. I did manage to sneak my jeans into the dryer for five minutes first to clear the wrinkles though, since I don’t iron stuff anymore, and then hung them out to dry. It’s kind of fun to feel like a pioneer again! Actually, it makes a whole lot of sense and is much more fun, in a way. The air is often pretty cold, but the sun shines during the day for drying. It does take a bit longer, so you have to gauge the clean underwear you have left to wear!

Our meeting last night for Isagenix was a complete success – from Ro’s point of view. She got lots of sign ups. None of the five people I had spoken to showed up though! Not surprising, but I will go downtown and hook up with them one on one now. Everyone was really enthusiastic and quite amazed at the results people are having. There are a LOT of overweight people walking around Orange, but the economy is tight and so they are busy buying a lot of fast food and junk food – same as in the US. However, I don’t think their local cows and vegetables and fruit are pumped full of hormones and antibiotics, as in the US, so the meat here looks and tastes wonderful. Ro gets raw milk and eggs from one of her employees who has a farm, so that is very healthy. There’s only one health food store (no fresh organic produce though) and I have already bought some stuff there. A couple of the local supermarkets do have organic fruit and veg, but nothing like a Whole Foods in the US. You have to go to Sydney for those.

The air is much cleaner here and the countryside is pretty. Yes, I will take some picture on my US cell phone and download them soon. There are parrots and magpies and blackbirds and sparrows in the garden. I saw a mob of kangaroo grazing by the side of the road on the bus coming here. They don’t have squirrels in Australia, which is why Ro’s daughter Pippa went bananas when she stayed with me in my Kent condo several years ago on looking out the window at all the squirrels trying to eat my bird food. I suppose I would feel the same on looking out and seeing koala bears. Not likely here, though.

No worries, mates. Be back this weekend, maybe.