This post is in response to the prompt for Day 9: Describe a moment of beauty that you witnessed this year. To participate or find out more information about #Manifest20 click here:
Here is a picture of our lovely baby Caroline with me at North Wollongong Beach.
I am 44 in this photo. I think our dog was already 13 or 14 years at the time.
Caroline has just turned 41 now!
I like to mention here three books I did read one year ago and that made quite an impression on me. Last year I copied some details about these books without mentioning my own opinion about any of the books. But as an introduction to the first book I wrote:
DI MORRISSEY seems to be my favourite author at the moment. The most recent book of hers that I read is: “The Winter Sea”.
Peter said, I should write something about what I felt about these books.
So, the first thing that came to mind is that in each book there are some main characters that I feel very comfortable with. And of course there are some other characters that I would not feel very comfortable with but even the more ‘bad’ characters do have a few likable features. That means the characters feel quite real to me.
In each of the three books there are some male/female relationships that are great to read about. In each book there are some rather strong female characters. But even these very strong females do like a good man a lot! Despite a number of difficulties all these females end up with simply good men – at least for a while.
‘The Winter Sea’ novel by Di Morrissey is for the most part set into an environment that I am very familiar with. It deals with a family history that encompasses nearly one hundred years and shows what happens to immigrants to Australia that come from different backgrounds, for instance Italian and Irish.
Greg Iles is a New York Times bestselling author. He wrote BLOOD MEMORY. Cat (Catherine) Ferry is a most interesting character. It shows what may happen to a person that has been abused as a child.
Well, the third book ‘THE GOOD DAUGHTER’ by Karin Slaughter, is a very well written book too. There are actually wo daughters, both of them I see as main characters. To my mind both are ‘good’ daughters, even though they are totally different. Maybe one is more the good daughter of the father, the other one the good daughter of the mother. So which counts for more?
The following three links to my auntielive site show you some interesting details about the three above mentioned books:
https://patchworkmomma.wordpress.com/2019/11/30/december-writing-challenge-join-manifest20/
On November 30, 2019 Robin – Patchworkmomma- wrote:
“How would you like to manifest your dreams this coming year? Join me in a month of reflection. Throughout December I will post daily writing prompts on the #Manifest20 page accessed from my blog menu at the top of my site. The idea is to reflect about the previous year and set intentions for 2020. It’s the start of a new decade after all! Anything is possible.
This idea is not a new one. Ten years ago I first participated in the Reverb10 project, created by Gwen Bell, and met lots of lovely people (virtually, that is). To read a little about the history, click here. The original bloggers who started the project quickly moved on to other things the following year. Several bloggers picked up where they left off, but over the years the community sort fizzled out as careers changed, babies were born, and other life events took over. I’m suggesting continuing the December writing challenge with a new name: Manifest20. ….”
Quote from Project Reverb:
“Answer one prompt. Answer all the prompts. Answer some of the prompts. Maybe just answer the prompt in a Tweet or as an Instagram post. Or perhaps answer the prompt with a photo or graphic. Be creative, let loose.”
For more information please go to:
https://patchworkmomma.wordpress.com/manifest20-prompts/
7. Post your favorite photo of yourself taken during the past year.
8. If money was no object, is there anything you would purchase that would help you fulfill a dream next year? What would it be and how would it change your life?
I was pretty busy over the weekend this is why I now want to catch up with Nr.7 and 8:
I start with Nr. 8. I think money is always an object, sort of. I reckon Peter and I live a fairly comfortable life in our retirement since we own our own small three bedroom cottage. We have always been very careful about staying within our means.Sometimes wethink that it would be nice to have a bit more money. But we are not the sort of people who constantly think about doing something just to have more, more, more.
There are certain basic things we would like to have in our old age that would make life a bit more comfortable for us. We would like for instance to have enough money to pay for some regular cleaning services. We are getting more and more feeble. Some cleaning and maintenance jobs are just getting too hard for us!
Now to Nr. 7:
I walked to this tree on a cool winter morning in August 2019. Peter took this picture of me. This is one of my favourite trees. I am glad I can still go on these early morning walks with the help of my walking stick. I really enjoy walking in the morning. Often it is cloudy now or even smoky from all the bushfires. So an early morning with clear air and a bit of sunshine is very special!
Now, in December, we are in the midst of summer in Australia. The last few months it was often hazy with clouds all over the sky, yet we had hardly any rain and everything dries out a lot. And this nearly everywheree in Australia. So the bushfires all over Australia are extremely worrying this year. Some bushfires have been going already for many months and are steadily on the increase, threatening communities. The firefighters have a hard time keeping the flames away from built up areas. A few people already lost properties that could not be saved from the approaching bushfires. Some of the firefighters, poor chaps, get hardly any rest and have at times to cope with less than three hours sleep! It is always good to hear when new helpers arrive to support the struggling firefighters. A lot of the firefighters actually are volunteers. There is a rumour that some volunteers get their normal pay only by forgoing some holiday pay. I think they should get extra holiday pay! How about government payouts for the firefighting effort? I wonder whether this is being considered. . . .
Today I want to write about Nr. 6!
So, what surprised me in 2019?
Did it surprise me that Greta Thunberg continued to get so much media attention? She is a very determined young woman, only sixteen, but she stuck it out, did not hesitate to live by her principles. To find supporters that made it possible for her to travel for instance by boat to the Americas and back again. Well, this was quite an achievement!
Yes, in a way it did surprise me that Greta was able to get such an enormous support!
I want to keep it brief. So I only want to mention, that I find it surprising that so many people these days are able to live into their eighties or nineties. I would be surprised, if Peter and I were able to make it to the nineties! Somehow, I cannot quite imagine it. I am surprised about every year that we are still alive.
Just recently I was surprised that independent Senator Jacqui Lambie voted with the government to repeal the medevac bill. It does not seem to make sense, not at all.
Here is an interesting link to an article about the repeal bill:
Australia is at present in the grip of enormous draught as well as disastrous bushfires with soaring temperatures and extremely strong winds. The government says, this is quite normal for Australia. A lot of people here want to talk about it why there is so much climate change, but the government says there is no need to talk about it or to do something about it. Am I surprised that our government acts this way? No, not at all. The Australian voters voted the present government in. It surprised me at the time. And I’ll be still more surprised, should they be voted in again at the next election.
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https://patchworkmomma.wordpress.com/2019/11/30/december-writing-challenge-join-manifest20/
On November 30, 2019 Robin – Patchworkmomma- wrote:
“How would you like to manifest your dreams this coming year? Join me in a month of reflection. Throughout December I will post daily writing prompts on the #Manifest20 page accessed from my blog menu at the top of my site. The idea is to reflect about the previous year and set intentions for 2020. It’s the start of a new decade after all! Anything is possible.
This idea is not a new one. Ten years ago I first participated in the Reverb10 project, created by Gwen Bell, and met lots of lovely people (virtually, that is). To read a little about the history, click here. The original bloggers who started the project quickly moved on to other things the following year. Several bloggers picked up where they left off, but over the years the community sort fizzled out as careers changed, babies were born, and other life events took over. I’m suggesting continuing the December writing challenge with a new name: Manifest20. ….”
Quote from Project Reverb:
“Answer one prompt. Answer all the prompts. Answer some of the prompts. Maybe just answer the prompt in a Tweet or as an Instagram post. Or perhaps answer the prompt with a photo or graphic. Be creative, let loose.”
For more information please go to:
https://patchworkmomma.wordpress.com/manifest20-prompts/
I already made an effort to answer the first four. Now to Nr. 5. What musical discovery did I make this year?
I can only say that music is very important to me. When I get up in the morning, one of the first things I do, is switch on the radio to see whether there is something good to listen to on the ABC’c classical music program. When I move around to do things, I like to have some music in the background. Good dance music I like too, for to move to some music makes moving easier! Even some Jazz or Country music makes me want to move around a bit.
I think it is great that I can find a lot of music on YouTube! At the moment Peter and I aim at listening to a Berlin Philharmonic Concert every Sunday. We have a lot of these concerts on DVD, and listening to one of them and watching the orchestra playing is a special Sunday treat for us. We hope to be able to keep these Sunday concerts going well into the next year!
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtRkmSO4PrhJ4TzNOmFIwjw
“Discover the Digital Concert Hall of the Berliner Philharmoniker! Until 25 Dec 2019 with bonus edition: Kirill Petrenko conducts Beethoven’s Ninth”
https://patchworkmomma.wordpress.com/manifest20-prompts/
4. What goals did you accomplish in 2019 that you’re proud of? How will your achievement continue to benefit you or others in the future?
I am elderly, this is why I walk with the help of a walking stick. In the morning, after a bit of stretching, I manage quite regularly to go out for a little walk. Peter, my husband, does the same. He can still walk twice as fast. So he walks ahead. He walksa bit further than I do. I usally walk to a section of some trees that I love. Near these trees I often wait for Peter and he meets me then on his return from his walk. We talk for a few moments. Then he walks on along the footpath back home, while I walk back home along a grassy area. I love to walk along there in the early morning sun. For me this is quite an achievement that I can still do this. Mind you, I carry my walking stick. This gives me good support so that I am not in danger of having a fall in case of some unevenness in the grass.
The last few months we had hardly any rain and everything dries out too much. All over Australia are lots and lots of bushfires and grassfires. We had a few heatwaves and great gusts of wind. But no fires close by and hardly any smoke. But Sydney is suffering from a lot of smoke right now from bushfires in the west of Sydney.
I like to spend some time hugging these trees.
When I walk across the grass, I can beat Peter:walk along the footpath islonger. I then wait for Peter at the other end, and he is happy to see me and stops for a moment to talk to me. Sometimes I meet some of my neighbours during my outing in the morning and they stop and talk to me for a while.
For 1.: I chose writing
For 2.: I chose Greta – Robin chose Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC)
Here is a video about another great young woman in politics I discovered:
This woman, daughter of a refugee family, born in Berlin in 1978, achieved already a lot in politics, but sadly is threatened by some far right people.
Now to Nr. 3: What made me feel joyful in 2019? I would have to say overall this is writing. To create more joyful moments in the coming year? Well, if at all possible, I want to continue writing at least a little bit on a dayly basis, and when this is not possible, then at least I intend doing a bit of reading. I also intend grabbing opportunities to communicate with as many people as possible. I know, there can be a lot of joyful moments in my life, if only I stay positive. There seems to be always something in my long life I can be grateful for.
And here is a link to a post by Patchworkmomma about a joyful holiday in Thailand:
It has been just over a year since Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez became the youngest woman ever elected to Congress in the United States. She was sworn in on January 3rd 2019. Over the last year I have been continually inspired by her courage, compassion, and integrity. If she is already this formidable at age 29, I can only imagine how much stronger she will become with more time and experience.
Her values align with my own. I think it’s refreshing to see someone in power who wants everyone to have the same opportunities. I admire how articulate and unwavering AOC is in each of the following videos, addressing issues which are important in America and beyond:
The fact that AOC’s campaign was a grassroots success story is another cause for celebration. In the second video she breaks down in simple terms how flawed…
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AuntyUta 