Monday 22 June 2015

Getting Excited to Start Blogging Again Soon


We have one more day left of sight seeing on our 6 week European holiday. We have been on the trains through Austria, Italy, Spain and then flew to Paris from Madrid. It has been a wonderful holiday and it has gone smoothly most of the time. We were each quite sick for 2 days and we did get grumpy with each other a couple of times but hey, six weeks on the road, who wouldn't?

While away I have given a lot of thought of what I want to do when I get home to a very cold Tasmanian winter.  First I want to be home in my pyjamas for 2 days eating vegemite toast and coffee and hugging my animals.

Then I want to downsize our possessions.  I have inherited several hundred books from our friend who died and I plan on hosting a large book sale. I also want to get rid of quite a few books I have that are duplicates, been read, won't be read. I want other people to have them to enjoy and I want to dedicate all the space to my Penguin collection and get that looking a bit more professional.

I have been contacted by SBS television in Hobart by a person who is doing a program about why people collect items and what the collections mean to us.  She found my collection on the internet and is interested in featuring it and I think it could be fun if it goes ahead. SBS is a great multi cultural television network across Australia that is partially funded by the government. I really respect their programming so to be a part of something, however small will be interesting.

I want to blog more seriously and I have given up several outside committees that I was losing interest in to make more time. There are new things I want to do and try and I believe now might be a good time to start. I'd like to read more classic books. I would like to read more of my Penguins.

I have gotten through a few books during this holiday. Mainly on long train rides or at night when I couldn't sleep for worrying about my pets.  I have one dog who will be 15 this year but he is doing fine and I am looking forward to seeing that for myself.

I read David Copperfield by Charles Dickens and thoroughly enjoyed it. I also read a book , Throw Our Fifty Things by Gail Blanke, a motivational speaker from the United States. It was on loan from the library in eAudio about getting rid of 50 things in your house. 50 things being 50 categories, like records you don't listen to counts as one. She takes the reader on a walk through the house and hits every part of it including an attic, which I don't have and the garage which I do have, ah-hem.

I am reading Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson now for the adventure book due July 1 with my High School Class of 68 book group in Michigan. I have to say it has been on my shelf for decades and I never read it. When I googled "good adventure books" it came up first. So I thought now is the time.  It is quite suspenseful and did keep me awake the other night longer than I planned.

I am also continuing to read the South America bicycle ride of Anne Mustoe and am almost finished with that. A good book to read while riding the trains as at times I would get bored , then read her book and am glad I am not on a bicycle. It's all relative I suppose.

I hope to be back online regularly beginning in July so we'll see how we go. It's always good to get completely away from your everyday life because you can then visit it in your mind and see what things you want to stay, what should be deleted and what new things can begin. I look forward to it.


I had to add these photos because they are the love of my life.

12 comments:

  1. I'm glad you're home safely from your trip. I was rather wondering where you were. I just read part of your post to my husband. We have a 14-year-old cat, the last of our bunch of six cats and an Irish Wolfhound. It's been a very rough nine years for us. She's doing fine, but we hate to leave her for even a week when we go to Maine or Boston. I wish she liked to travel, but cats aren't usually good at that. Nor am I, really. Welcome home. I'm looking forward to your posts.

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    1. Wow that was a fast response. I was still editing the post when your comment came through. I am not home quite yet but will be on Saturday. That was the paragraph I was editing. We are so looking forward to seeing our little fur babies. They are a huge part of our life but we must still have a life outside of them and our house sitter has been very good with them. Glad to hear from you again Joan.

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  2. Enjoy the rest of your trip... sounds like an amazing six weeks! I'm sure your homecoming will be happy, albeit cold. The television show sounds like fun, too. Hope you keep us posted!

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    1. Yes I certainly will. I hope I don't become too famous. I couldn't handle that, haha. I am certainly looking forward to getting some routines back!

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  3. One of the things I love about the end of a trip - particularly one of a few weeks or more - is thinking about what I will get stuck into when I get home. Unfortunately I often don't achieve what thought I would, but the planning is always a good exercise. A downsizing booksale sounds like a very sensible idea, and I love the sound of the SBS program.

    BTW I'll be in Tasmania for a couple of weeks in mid October. I'm not sure if we're going anywhere near where you live, but I've be happy to meet for a coffee if we were and you were happy to do so. If you think it might be a goer, please email me at wg1775[AT]gmail.com

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    1. Thank you for the comment. I have answered re the visit privately. I know what you mean about making grand plans and then getting home and it all falls in a heap. I hope not. I would be disappointed in myself. Something has to give in this messy book household. Wish me luck. ☺☺☺

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  4. The clarity that being away from one's 'regular' life brings! I hope the SBS opportunity comes through - collections and the motivations of collectors are fascinating. Welcome home for the weekend - I hope the Vegemite will be ready and waiting!

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    1. Thanks Vicki on all counts. I am more than ready to get home and back to my routines and pets not necessarily in that order.

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  5. I love the photos of your fur babies. I have one 13 year old fur darling that I can't bear to leave - she travels with me everywhere that I can take her.

    A new perspective is wonderful, but home is special. I always remember the touching scene in "Wind in the Willows" when Mole smells his home. Off to refresh my memory of that scene.

    Welcome back.

    Sue

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    1. Thank you Sue. I understand re your beloved pet. I will have to get my copy of Wind in the Willows out again. I reread it about every 5 years. Absolutely love it.

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  6. I loved following your travels on FB and I also like the image of cold but cozy two days with your animals. I have never read Treasure Island but I have read the more recent book Treasure Island!!! and found it quite fun. Essentially a rather unreliable narrator decides to live her life according to the adventurous code of Treasure Island. You might find it interesting.

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  7. Thanks Thomas, that book does sound really good. Yes I did have a lot of fun with that book.

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