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| Shared joy is a double joy; shared sorrow is half a sorrow. (Swedish proverb) |
Only your real friends will tell you when your face is dirty.
(Sicilian proverb) |
Your friend is that man who knows all about you, and still
likes you. (Elbert Hubbard) |
You can always tell a real friend; when you've made a fool of
yourself he doesn't feel you've done a permanent job. (Laurence J. Peter) |
Friends are family you choose for yourself. |
| 2006 January February March April May June July August September October November December 2 October, 2006 I am learning to appreciate what I've got, every day of my life. I should not forget about how lucky I am, ever. Yesterday, we've been enjoying sitting in our backyard, admiring the plants, blossoming flowers, fruit trees coming to life with green buds (a welcome promise of fruit in the future). With my head on Lukes lap, relaxing on the outdoor swing, I felt like in paradise. This is truly a beautiful place. All the plants, birds, creek (yes, there is a creek in our backyard, how delightful is that!), the sun, I breathed that all in, for a good long while. We are so lucky. We got ourselves a pair of second-hand roller-blades each, for about $10 all, and I took a few steps in mine. I did not forget how to do it, great! I look forward to us going together for a ride. Bouncing on a trampoline is a joy too (there is a huge one in our backyard, we got it for free at a tip-shop, place where people dispose their rubbish, from someone who did not need theirs anymore). And, of course, we were so lucky to get our house, one of the last houses like that in Hobart. Cheap, with a huge yard, just right for growing fruit trees. We went for a drive around Hobart and got bags of apples from local growers. We got bags of cheaper oranges as well. We are making an effort to do all we can to minimize the grocery bill and stay raw. Our friendly local fruit-seller kept boxes of cheaper bananas for us, again. :))) Awww, and in the op-shop, when I tried some short dresses on, Luke admired how good I looked. I got myself a couple dresses, for a $5 total. I felt grateful for these free gifts, but above all, I felt grateful for a free gift of health that I was given from the nature. Turn to nature, and it will reward you with the best gifts you can ever get. (Turning to nature, amongst other things, means eating what it provided: fresh fruit and vegies.) 3 October, 2006 Hooray, I am moving to the 21st century too! I did my first mp3 recording, it's here! Well, there isn't much there ha ha ha, but, just give me some time... I started recording my lectures too. Isn't it wonderful? Now, my students will be able to hear my lectures again and again and again (but, will they lol?). Seriously, I think it is a great technology. I say, if it's there, use it! I see endless opportunities, distant study to start with. I am the first person in our department to get excited about it! 12 October, 2006 The following is not a raw food event, but how could I not record this in my journal? Today I learned that I was successful in my application for an ARC grant to fund my research. Hooray!!!!!! This is my first grant (I am only an early-career researcher), and so it feels ground. I was checking several times that I read correctly my and my collaborator's and name on the list of successful grant applications, just to make sure that it was real! I shared my little joy with people at Raw Pleasure forum. I am amazed at how this forum grows. I am hoping to meet some of these beautiful people some time. :))) Ohh, thank you the Universe, so (--------------------------------------------------------) much! 13 October, 2006 This is funny. I decided that I am a salt addict, even cheated a few times and sprinkled some salty spice on my raw pizza, quite heavily, and then a day comes and I feel no inclination to it whatsoever. I don't understant how I could like that, yuck. The addiction have evaporated, effortlessly. Another thing, long time ago I used to think that eating fruit only is hard, but then a day comes that I want to do it all the time. And, if I could ($$$), I would live off durians, mangoes, watermelon and similar such delights only. Yet another thing, I used to think that staying raw is a challenge, but then a day comes, when I am worrying whether I will be able to afford buying only raw, because I can't stand cooked. Conclusion? Hard and effortless are two sides of the same coin. The point is to let yourself free to the right side. 19 October, 2006 We are dramatically changing our approach to feeding our family. Not so much in the sense what we eat (raw is still our favourite), but rather, in the sense how we get our food. Our long-term struggle with budgeting motivated us to be more active in our pursuit. That is, we are going to grow as much of our food as we can. Luke has already planted some fruit trees and started growing lettuces and tomatoes in our little glass house. There is need for more. Last night we decided to build a large glass house, the size of our loungeroom, so that we can grow all our greens, tomatoes and many other plants in it. Once our garden is in full production, life will be much easier. But for now, we will have to cut on some costs, so that we can pay the bills and save up as well! So, despite my love for fruit, I will have to cut on the consumption of some expensive items. So, for example, we reserve buying bananas ($7 a kilo) and watermelon ($4 a kilo) for the kids only. Last night I made a lovely salad for Luke and I, half the cost of our coconut dinner. Our fortnightly budget limit (after deducting regular costs such as mortgage, insurance and coucil rates) is about $1000-1100 for all the bills, food and clothes. So, if Luke does not work (he doesn't now, he had a hernia operation), it is very hard for us to manage that when we buy fruit, which is not cheap here in Hobart (we spent $300 on bananas only last fortnight). We also decided to put a stove back in the kitchen, so that we can use it, if we ran out of money and choose to eat some cheap steamed vegies (I hope that we won't have to, of course). I got many useful hints from the friends at the Raw Pleasure forum. There are some great threads there on gardening and sprouting. I am so glad that I can communicate with those guys! Oh, in case you wanted to, here is the link: http://www.rawpleasure.com. 19 October, 2006 We decided not to install the stove just yet. Blaim me for that ha ha ha. When I make decisions, I deliberate and deliberate. This morning I thought that, if the only reason we get the stove was to steam vegies (other foods do not appeal too much), maybe we can have them raw? I was hoping that we could save up some money buy eating potatos and beans, but when I visualized eating them in order to test this idea, this did not feel too good. So, I am going to try first whether we can substantially reduce our costs by using other, raw tricks. 23 October, 2006 I started my first ever patch yesterday!!! I was so determined to fork as much as I could, and did about 4/5 of the patch. It felt great! Besides having a good workout, I enjoyed so much simply being in the garden. I was astounded at the beauty of the world surronding me. Amazingly looking roses, yellow, pink, red, whitish, pale-purple of sort, I felt like being inside the Alice in Wonderland book. Touching the soil, finding all the different bugs in it, such as the fat grub which I quickly covered back with soil when it expressed its discomfort by moving vigorously its body, heavenly experience. Walking, breathing, feeling the breeze and the light rain, the mountain looking at me, the creek whispering nearby, the birds, awwww... Bliss.... Talking to Julia and Odys: here. Having fun with mp3. :))) next |