Day one of a new month is here. That means it is time for this little unyoung to reflect on my New Year promise that I made back on January 1st this year. The promise was to find two new things to do every month and so far that activity is proving to be of a huge benefit to my well-being.
Why? Because the actual task of finding two new things to do is not only keeping me motivated but it is also helping me to stay in a positive thinking zone and as I can on occasion, slip into a not so good a place, that is a really big plus for me.
So, what two new things did I find to add to my March calendar of events?
A Great Day Out.
My friend D and I drove down to the seaside to take a look at the ‘Sculptures by the Sea’ exhibition. The infamous WA Cottesloe beach was adorned with artistic sculptures, and it was well worth the two hundred odd kilometre round trip to see them.
I am not really an art enthusiast as such, but I have to say that I thought pretty near all the exhibits were creatively constructed and displayed and they all left, in one way or another, a positive impression on me.
I think, if my memory serves me correctly, there were seventy entries overall; some were featured on the beach sands; others were on the lawn area and in the trees and some were even located out on the sea wall/groyne.
This was my favourite and no that is not D and I at the back of the sculpture – just some other happy admirers.
The Water’s Edge.
My friend D and I live in the countryside, so a visit to the seaside is always a treat. We consider walking in and out of the water a must and we don’t care one iota if we get wet in the process.
Neither of us like to actually swim in the sea, so no bathers were donned; we are both pool lovers [maybe that’s an age thing? Maybe not because I know it is a fact that there are many swimmers both young and old, who swim at Cottesloe on a daily basis – it is a popular WA swimming beach, complete these days with a ‘shark protected’ area so it is safe, just not safe enough for D and I to swim in!]
We thoroughly enjoyed the time we spent walking along the water’s edge; we loved the feel of the sand squelching between our toes and squealed with delight after we got a bit wet from a bigger than we anticipated wave, as it crashed and rolled onto the shore. It was a wonderful experience and a real treat for we country lasses.
Lunch
We treated ourselves to a lovely lunch at one of the seaside cafes – such a lovely change to our usual rural café outlooks. Not that I am complaining – downtown Northam and the surrounding towns of Toodyay and York have several very nice cafes to dine in and we frequent them often!
Fruit bottling
The second new thing I did this month was to learn how to bottle peaches. Our tree had a bountiful crop this year – I think everyone around us is all peached out for now and so I decided to have a go at bottling some of the surplus ones. I consulted ‘You tube’ and that turned out to be very handy for me because I could watch the actual process happening whilst I worked, and I now have six bottles of ‘preserved’ sliced peaches sitting in the pantry waiting to be enjoyed at a later date.
It was sort of a fun thing to do but I don’t think I am going to become a lover of fruit bottling any time soon nor do I plan to repeat the performance.
None the less it was something I had not done before and any new thing that keeps this little unyoung JAM amused and in the positive zone will never be seen by me as a bad thing.
So, roll on the month of April. I cannot wait to see what I get myself up to or is that into? It does not matter – just as long as I can continue to keep my New Year promise and discover another two new things to do this month.
Until next time – best wishes for a great weekend.
