2010 - the year of stepping into my life

2010

the year of stepping into my life

not a tiptoe

I jumped 

I stamped

Each day in January I will be writing a small stone like this one as I am participating in the river of stones project. I posted this small stone on my other blog, pausing to pick up small stones, this morning. As the year finishes I have been reflecting on how it has been and thinking about what 2011 may bring. 

What a year 2010 has been! Each year for the past few years I have chosen a theme for the year. I usually do this early on in the year but not necessarily before January 1st. I have been tossing a few ideas around but haven't yet decided on the theme for 2011. The theme for 2010 was 'stepping into my life'. The idea behind this being that my life was actually already there waiting for me to fully inhabit it. I didn't really need to develop new skills but instead wanted to more fully connect with what I already have. It proved to be a fantastic theme, just right for 2010. 

Often on December 31st, for the past few years anyway, I have found myself hoping that the new year will be better than the one finishing. This year, though, I am actually thinking that  if 2011 is as good as 2010 I'll be happy. There have been low points during the year for me (quite low actually) and I won't be about to complain if 2011 is better than 2010. Overall though I am very satisfied with how the year turned out for me. 

Some of the highlights:

published artwork

I had three pieces of artwork published in two of Patti Digh's books - 'Four Word Self Help' and 'Creative is a Verb'. I remember at this time last year waiting (impatiently) for the call for art. It was so exciting to participate and super exciting when I found out that my art had been chosen. I am so grateful for having had the opportunity to do this. I loved creating the art in response to the words written by Patti. 

discovering gardening


I grew some vegies in the backyard this year and discovered that it was actually lots of fun. I have always said that I am not a gardener so I was surprised when I started and found out that I actually liked it. The snow peas were a great success and I also enjoyed Silverbeet, onions, carrots, radishes, Italian parsley, broccoli and more. Now I am waiting on a great crop of tomatoes to ripen. 


Zumba


I have been to a few classes of the latest fitness craze, Zumba. It's been lots of fun even though I feel like my arms and legs are constantly going the wrong way. This is a big achievement for me as I have always been nervous about doing active things in groups. It feels good to be active and it is quite motivating in a group. I look forward to more of this in 2011 especially as my sister gave me a 10 class pass for my Christmas present. 


poetry


Earlier this year I attended a Speed Poetry Assessment at the library. What a great thing to do. I am glad I went and got some feedback on a couple of poems. From doing this I also found out about a new poetry group. I have been a couple of times and plan to go more in 2011. It is a difficult thing to get feedback on my writing but also very useful and motivating. It has lead to more writing and lots of revisions. 


return to teaching


Maybe when I was choosing the theme for 2010 I was thinking about what I wanted to do career-wise. I qualified as a teacher in 1994 and taught for a year and a bit before I had Alysha and then 4 years later, Brianna. It had been a very long time since I had been in a classroom as a teacher. I was very nervous to say the least. I put my forms in and announced my availability on August the 3rd. It was a bit later than what I had originally planned but at least it happened. On August the 4th I got my first day of work in a year one class. I didn't know at the time but this would turn out to be a very special class for me. I ended up getting a nine week contract for 4th term. It was challenging but a great experience. I really felt that it was the right place for me. I had certainly stepped into my life! 

one of many presents I received at the end of the year

I have been receiving Reverb10 prompts by email. Reverb 10 is an online project encouraging reflection on the past year and thinking about what's next. I haven't gotten around to writing much this time. Next time I hope to participate more. The prompt for December 27 was – 

"Ordinary Joy - Our most profound joy is often experienced during ordinary moments. What was one of your most joyful ordinary moments this year? (Author: Brené Brown)"

I am planning to write about this one. It will be hard to think of one joyful ordinary moment so I think I will write about many. So many occurred while I was teaching. How fantastic to have so much ordinary joy while working!

2010 has been a fantastic year. I wonder what treasures 2011 will bring? I am happy to accept those that simply come my way but I know I'll also be digging for more!

Happy New Year!

Love this! - cow picture by Alysha

Doing some tidying up around the house today. 


There's a lot to be done! 


I came across this picture Alysha drew sometime this year. 


Love it!

a hatching toy platypus

Brianna got a hatching egg toy from Alysha for Christmas. Inside is a toy platypus. 


We put it in water on Christmas Day morning. It looks so cute today poking out from the egg.

What a great present - $10 from the Australian Geographic shop. There were also emus and frilled neck lizards as well as dinosaur ones. 

It's January in 4 days!

Four days to go until January. 2010 has been a good year and I am looking forward to the start of a new one. 


As I have mentioned on here previously I am taking part in an online writing project during January - my form of new years resolution I think. Here is part of an email I received from the project facilitator, Fiona Robyn:

"Hello – I’m taking part in a new project starting on January the 1^st and I thought you might like to join me.
In an attempt to pay more attention, I will be noticing one thing properly every day (a bird eating berries, a child playing in the street) and writing it down. People from across the world will be joining me and we’ll be creating a ‘river’ of these short pieces of writing.

You can write them down in a notebook or on a blog – and it doesn’t matter if you’ve done any writing before or not. The purpose of the project is to help us to pay attention, and to start the year as we mean to go on.

If you’d like to join us find out more at http://ariverofstones.blogspot.com or emailfiona@fionarobyn.com for more information."

It would be great if you could join in too!

I will be putting my writing for this project on my other blog, pausing to pick up small stones. Please take a look. I have already written a few. It's been fun to practice without the pressure of doing one each day. (It has ended up that I have added one each day though!)

I am looking forward to this project beginning in four days!

Wylde Women's Daily Wisdom in my inbox

I love getting a daily piece of wisdom in my inbox from Tammy Vitale. I recommend visiting her site and signing up!


Two days ago this piece seemed almost to leap out of the screen when I opened it - 

QUICK!

Who are you today?

Are you the same as yesterday?

Who Might you be tomorrow?

It reminded my of this piece of artwork I made last year

If I tell you who I am today, does that mean that you know who I am tomorrow?


One thing I love about this piece is that I finished it completely in a couple of hours. I often take my time developing ideas for my art and I think that is great most of the time. But I do love that this was a more spontaneous piece. I made it during a session of a group I attended. We were exploring the use (both positive and negative) of masks in our lives . 

Boxing day - a Zhu Zhu track, mini cupcakes and a hatching egg

I've had rather a busy morning. Brianna woke up quite early, eager to play with some of her newly acquired toys. She wanted a track, like her cousin has, for her two new Zhu Zhu pets to play in. Zhu Zhu pets are interactive toy pets, about the size of a guinea pig or hamster. What started as a simple track quickly became more complicated. I was enjoying the design process. We worked together, trying out different ideas, solving problems and wishing we had some masking tape in the house. The result is a great play area for the two Zhu Zhu pets, Shamrock and Harlow, including doorways, ramps and a roundabout. I knew there was a reason for the recent collecting of various sized boxes and toilet rolls! There will be further adjustments later (especially when we have masking tape) and we hope to paint it too. For now, though, it should provide lots of fun. As Brianna said, 'It's fun to watch them.'

bird's eye view of the track

and from the front

Shamrock goes through a doorway

and around the roundabout!

Harlow pushes the door at the end of the tunnel

Harlow going through a doorway - that christmas decoration box came in handy

After the track designing we moved onto some mini cupcake making and trying out Brianna's new 'Fantastic Cupcake Maker'. We made some fantastic chocolate mini cupcakes.

We checked, too, on the expanding egg toy Brianna got for Christmas from Alysha. The egg is placed in water and in a day or so a toy platypus will 'hatch'. It's starting to crack a little this morning. 

snacks and a note for Santa

Brianna left these snacks and note out for Santa last night. She used Google to find out the names of the reindeer.

about two small stones

I have just posted two more small stones on my blog pausing to pick up small stones. I am participating in a river of stones during January and will post a small stone each day. I think that sometimes I will want to write a little more about the small stones and I will probably want to reflect upon my participation in the project. I will do that on this blog and keep pausing to pick up small stones for the storage of the small stones. 


Today I posted these two small stones:


breathe in 
wafting hopes 
and expand


   ---


dip into your past
splash around
dry off
and return


   ---


I wrote both of them a couple of days ago, so I am cheating a little. In January I plan that each stone I write will be posted on the day I write it. That, I think, I am going to find very challenging. I often like to sit with my writing for a while before sharing it, so writing and posting one a day is definitely going to be stepping outside of my comfort zone. I don't consider what I will post to be fabulous, finished writing but more of creative exercise that I am willing to share. I am hopeful of discovering some real gems though!


The second stone here came about when I was thinking about my new blog Silent Sometimes. I enjoy reflecting on the past without getting stuck there which is why I set up the new blog to reflect on some of my past experience and to keep this blog more in the present.


And one last thing to say right now...Happy Christmas eve!

My poems won't stand still

written yesterday/today

My poems won't stand still

I want my poems neat and tidy

Filed away

Together in a book

with dates as to when they appeared

My poems don't agree

They keep moving 

Shuffling words around

Sometimes whole lines go away

Invite other words to play

Joining together

Splitting apart

They just won't stay still

Some try to hide

Others scramble to be seen

My poems won't stand still

The December garden update

This free collage customized with Smilebox

Here are the December garden photos thanks to the fun that is Smilebox. There are tomatoes galore in the garden at the moment! The chilli pepper plant in the photo looks quite thirsty. It seems to be feeling better today thanks to some water, as well as the tomato plant next to it being tied to a stake. The celery seedling is still alive but hasn't grown much whereas the pumpkin (from the compost) has. And the most exciting news - there are baby worms in the worm farm! 

Also, thanks to advice from my dad I have removed the poisonous plant growing - Deadly Nightshade. 

This morning I've removed all of the Silverbeet which went to seed and now have a garden bed ready for some more planting. Hmmm, what to plant?