My First Veggie Garden

My first veggie garden!
pictured: veggie patch with cows in the distance and a new baby potty calf 1 day old, reeifie was excited to have a friend til mom came along!!!

Fridays have always held a magic place in my heart pre australia because it meant the end to the work week and 2 days office free! Now living in Byron Bay Friday means visiting the most colorful farmers market in Mullumbimby. The veggies are organic, locally grown and picked with love and are indeed colorful but its the people and the vibe are magically colorful. Live music is payed by rotating local musicians who always seems to match the music to the energy. Fashionable hippies adorned in their accessories usually including a hat, belt and boots with their children in toe sipping on coffees or waiting to order sushi from the Japanese local. The hippies are exceptionally stylish not in a trendy way just with absolute self expression.

Fridays are also our veggie garden day with Pam Brown at the Browns farm in Tintenbar. Pam has grown and tended to veggie gardens in this spot for most of her life. But as they kids moved out and the years wore on the combustion stove was necessary but upkeep to the garden was not. Shorty and I decided to take this on as our first project. Being the city mouse that I am and having never really set shovel to soil before i was excited for the adventure. I felt confident knowing that i was under the experienced guidance of Pam who had grown gardens before! Pam showed me how to use a pitch fork to turn over the dirt...looked easy enough. WOW farm work is not for sissies!!! So we spent 3 weeks every friday turning over the dirt and chopping it up as Mr. Brown relished in our presence he choose to sit up above the garden 'talking' us through what we were doing and show it 'should be done'. This was the day i gained great insight into the Australian culture...tough love and if in doubt just laugh and agree. But as Shorty Pam and I used all of our body weight and strength to unearth the dirt and Mr. Brown put in his 2 cents i shared with the girls something my mom used to tell me when i was little, "anything boys can do girls can do BETTER!". As far as farm work goes...mom this may not be the case, sorry!!

So the soil is tiled and the sugar cane mulch is down and the rain for the next week will prime the dirt properly and on Friday we will plant our seedlings...

Chapter 2 : living for the journey...not the destination!

Chapter 2:
(pictured: 7am this morning on our way to the doggie beach just before our rainbow and dolphin sighting)
Living for the journey, not the destination!

Until a few weeks ago I believed i was living for the journey, each day to its fullest with little regard for the destination. And i stand here now at 37 with the grand opportunity of completely being able to experience the journey with no destination. I had no experience of purposefully not setting major goals for the future. As simple as this sounds it is a struggle for me to let go of the golden egg, that dream of maybe one day some day ill be_______ ( fill in the blanks).

The opportunity to live my journey is a gift, a gift the universe is giving me right now. All my basic human needs are met and all I have to do is 'journey'. So what does this look like? Well its unclear to me at the present but ill paint you a picture. Early walks on the dog beach with Shorty and reeifie, Ive never seen him so happy. I'm helping to revive a 15 yr old grass overgrown veggie garden, I've been gifted a huge bag of mandarins and lemons with instructions to make marmalade to be able to attend the produce swap. I completely enjoying watching a pair of the most intrusive swooping Spur-winged Plover birds court and mate in my backyard which will continue for the next three weeks, and we have a 30 year old Japanese student, Asuka, who is spending a month here in Byron Bay to improve her english and...surfing! She is lovely and in my eyes very brave to be in Australia with only a limited working knowledge of the english language but a massive desire to learn!! Oh yes, and god bless my hour of work with Linea Pelle!!!

Photography will be part of every day as will meditation, exercise, and cooking, and enjoying the beauty around me. Generally, It feels more like playing on the playground rather than have toos. Were reviving a clown party business, Buzz Buzzz (www.buzzbuzzz.com) we put to rest, and im planning trips, and hoping to make friends in the community. It feels natural to regain the glimmer of a baby in our future.

So the journey is like painting a blank canvas, flowing from one corner to the next unsure what the end result will be and being happy with not knowing.

As Amma whispered to me years ago, " flow like a river, the ends will meet"!!!

Recipe for a Best Day EVER!

Recipe for a 'Best Day Ever'!

A 'best day ever' can happen everyday, day after day! It does not have to be compared to the last 'best day ever' or saved for a special holiday or necessarily even shared with your favorite people.

I was introduced to the phrase 'best day ever, again' by my dearest friend Honeybee. This was during the time that i choose to transition my full time job to a part time job back in March. My days not spent chained to my desk at the office I fondly refereed to as snow days and no matter what happened they were 'best day ever'. It was a feeling of absolute freedom. I was no longer jailed to the office, I was in charge of my day to do for anything i wanted. Since my transatlantic move to Australia 'best days ever' have been few and far between so i am examining what my recipe for a 'best day ever' is so they happen every day.

Today was a 'best day ever' so I began to examine what was different from the other days. For me I realized it was a combination, below is my recipe:

Gretchen's Recipe for a 'best day ever':
- a Cup of self empowerment
- a heap of free flowing freedom
- a dash of productivity
- a whisper of time at the day job
- mixing in lots of creativity
- top it off with meditation and yoga
- all the while adding LOVE
- sunshine is optional
- (a critical piece is having things to look forward to - not sure what this feeling is yet)

For me these are all feelings and the combination is magic for me. My snow days were best days ever because of the new feeling of freedom and today was a best day ever because i did more work than I have done in one single day in months. However as you can see its not a single ingredient, rather its a recipe.

Create best days ever in your own life no matter where you are. Begin to examine what your recipe is and once your able to nail your recipe you will be able to have 'best days ever' over and over and over.

Doing versus being

Doing versus Being
(Pictured: local beach, behind me would be shorty pushing the pram with the 8 month old were minding with reeif and budda, running top speed)

As the city mouse, me, is slowly adjusting to life in the country I am becoming more and more clear how comfortably i operate on my DOING mode in place of my BEING mode. It has served me brilliantly in NYC for years and in the business of fashion for 11 years. And now having chosen the more simple country life i am certain I now have to learn how to experience BEING without DOING.

For my city readers who have already tuned me out, let me clarify.

For a DOER a short list of things to do would be carefully time managed and very focused on how one task was going to be linked to the next. The doer can be blind to the present and to the amazing parade that is occurring all around from the butterflies flying past to the children who are waving as they pass by. But instead of feeling the joy of the present the Doer maybe frustrated with what was getting in the way, such as slow drivers on the road or children talking to a cashier, to be able to accomplish all they SHOULD in the allotted amount of time.

For one who can experience the same scenario as a BEING it would appear more fluid. All the same tasks would be completed in about the same amount of time but it would look more fun and with lots of ease all the while enjoying the butterflies and the children. And as new experiences show up instead of being overly focused on the goal and rushing to the finish enjoying the opportunity that can be right in front of them.

For me on my current Adventure to Oz i arrived and operated in my safety zone of DOING rather than being. On day 40 after have seeing a lot and accomplished far less i began to realize things don't work quite the same here as they do in New York or LA. This city mouse was feeling the country and the only way to feel it was to simply BE.

My first BEING day was a morning when a friend of Shortys asked if we could help out for a few hours for cash so we drove straight to Humptyback Road where mulching was waiting for Shorty and inside a sewing project was waiting for me. As i sewed my triangles face to face one after another for the bunting i saw out the window shorty pushing a wheelbarrow full of mulch as reeif followed her behind..what a sight...and that was the moment i began to just BE.

From that moment on I make it a point to get to the beach almost every day, exercise and meditate, even if only for a few minutes, and everything is falling into place...we are back on the path and back in the flow. We've found the most amazing house with all our needs met including a huge yard for reeifie and we move in on June 6th, the same day my work is ramping up to 9 hrs a week instead of 5!!!

We are being and doing great, we've got a spare room now so pack your bags and book your flights! and if DOING isn't working for you trying just BEING...its is a whole new experience.

This was no ordinary Easter!!

This was no ordinary Easter!!!!

Easter weekend in Australia spanned 5 days including Good Friday thru Easter Monday which happens to fall on Anzac day (http://www.awm.gov.au/commemoration/anzac/) so work, including the banks resumed work on Wednesday!

My 5 day holiday, from my holiday, was choc a block full of Aussie-ness I had never dreamed of..starting with Good Friday...

The Sydney Royal Easter Show (http://www.eastershow.com.au) I had the blessing to see the most georgous chickens I had ever seen fluffy white ones, black ones, spotted ones, Roosters with their herim and all being judged...Alpacas wearing coats because they had not been judged yet, cows being washed and sheered for their big parade, horses of all types, but the one thing took away from the animal portion is if your going to be a farm animal in Australia make sure to make it to the easter show...these are seriously loved animals!

The TImber Chopping was a highlight! With a packed audience the Timber Choppers plowed their shinny axes into the pole then logged platforms into the pole to stand on to reach the next stage til they reached the top to be able to chop off the top 3 feet...thrilling event, so much so we stayed for the next one. The Senior division, they stood on a log with feet separated until they successfully chopped clear through the log. Unfortunately 2 men had 'bum wood' and were unable to complete the event, I loved they blamed it on the log and not the aging seniors...65+.

The Carnival with the fastest rides ive ever seen were a mere blimp on the radar for me. Mostly i was amazed that $34 gets you into the event where everything cost money beyond the gate. Including 'show bags' which is a craze among the fair goes young and old. Show bags are plastic bags manufactured by commercial companies with various items in it ranging from chocolates to plastic toy guns and the prices range from $5 and up!

My true highlight was the chickens or my blender I bought...yes you too can buy blenders, singing meditation bowls or $12k mattresses!!!

Kangaroo Valley
Shorty, Jamie Brown and I headed down for a georgous drive to Kangaroo Valley, we left the rainy Sydney behind and headed for blue sky. Its a hilly landscape that runs into the gorgeous coast where paragliders and cliff jumpers with parachuttes run and jump off the headlands. Easter monring we woke with no easter bonnets or easter eggs in sight...seems that Easter is a little more low key.

Anzac Day (http://www.awm.gov.au/commemoration/anzac/)
A day all Australians celebrate the fallen Vetrans. All around Australia they have dawn services where they honor the fallen soilders then then head off to pubs where they are able to play/gamble for one day only a game which the soilders played in the trenches called 2UP. Bars are packed to the eye balls overflowing into the rain. We met up with friends at the Australian Hotel where i began my education. They serve KB beer which has been discontinued and is produced just for the holiday, nostaligic for even the kids of parents who induldged. It was my mission of the day to take a photograph of vetran with the most metals. They display metals they won as well as they fathers, brothers or uncles. Seems i got too caught up in 2UP and KB I never got my photograph.

My Easter holiday was filled with my favorite Australians showing me their favorite Australian traditions. I was in awe mostly about how passionate Australians are about Australia and this is not only a specific social group the passion scanned the spectrum. Being a country where the population is just nearly the size of California they stay loyal and tight, I was touched by the enthusiam.

I am happy to be here although I'm longing for spring days in Venice California and New York City as we are shifting into winter and 5.30 sunests! I will post more pictures separately as the blog template is not allowing me to insert pictures! Stay tuned!

Reeifie's free in 5 DAYS!!!!

Reeifie's free in 5 days!!!!

Reeif asked me last Thursday to let everyone know that he is fine. He' s just about running row 3 at the Eastern Creek Quarantine station. His caretaker Tracy is lovely and noted on my last visit he finishes his food by the time she can circle backward, his tail wags when she enters the cage and they are now fast friends...even when she enters to clean the cage and he goes for his morning jog to the end of the isle and back!!

His spirit is definitely alive and well, as you can see, and he too is counting down the days til he can run wild in Queens park on Sunday afternoon. We have scheduled a date with, his first bestie, Bailey on sunday afternoon and we will sit and watch while enjoying wine and cheese and let the memories of quarantine fade away.

Thanks for all the love and support from the witch in Sydney to my dear friends in LA, Colorado, NY, PA and between!!!

Reeif's not so fun adventures in OZ

Reeif's Adventures in OZ

When i visited Reeif last week in quarantine it brought a tear to my eye. I had expectations that he would have calmed after seeing us last week and knowing we were all together. We also had a witch in sydney put a calming spell on him. Unfortunately, there was not alot of change.

He has lost weight and i could feel the bones in his bottom when i cuddled him, the under eye area was black as night and crusty, and he is still not warming to the caretakers. This picture is after a bath, believe it or not. Hopefully, next weeks bath will get rid of it all together.

His spirit is strong once he saw me he was immediately doing circles and kissing me!!! I was able to take him to an exercise yard for 30min, which we loved as I was giving him treats between playing fetch. Then off to the grooming room and back to cuddle i his cage. I was relieved to see some of his blankets we sent over in the crate were back from the laundry, so his pink fluff would remember him of home.

Please continue to send reeifie love, he seems to need it right now. I was able to make appointments to see him again on Thursday...Needless to say Reeifs adventures will certainly be more colorful after his release on May1!

My Ruby Slippers

My Ruby Slippers

My very first pair of ruby slippers were a gift from the dearest honeybee in all the land. At first sight, they were just a pair of red stripped slippers, but as i put them on to warm my feet up mid flight while moving to Australia it became clear to me these were infact my very own ruby slippers. As I venture on this journey of mine called life and flying to my next great hurdle its clear that I have been gifted magic red slippers to allow me to remember that Im on the journey and at any moment i can choose to click 3 times and come home.

Weve been here now for 8 days, including 3 cities, 7 different beds, tears and laughs and fears seem to be the most constant. We arrive on the 3rd and i was overflowing with tears for the first 48 hours and i was rendered speachless. There was not one thought it was sheer overwhelm coupled with my spirit not being able to fly as fast as V Australia. Day 3, the tears had dried up, and my voice returned, although im still short on words these days. Shorty off to her first day of circus school and my job was to get grounded, so i did what anyone would do...laundry...WHAT...i hate laundry, but laundry, yoga and a bath it is. Were in Sydney for the month of April waiting for Reeif to be released from 'Prison' otherwise know as quarenten on May 1. We were able to visit last Thursday and he perked up, tail wagging, kisses the whole thing. Tracy is his caretaker and she is warm, friendly and a touch worried about reeif . She said he would just lay in his hammock, ill send a pic next time i go, and when she would come into the cage he would just back into a corner...not reeifies character at all! HE had just one blanket, and Tracy mentioned that he had many more but he kept dragging them out to the outdoor section and with all the rain they had to be taken to the laundry every day...so she left the only one he had not dragged out...again uncharacteristic behavior for reeifie. He lit up at the sight of the toys and treats and an Australia witch has put a calming spell on reeif...Im taking a 2 hr train ride and walking 40 min each way tomorrow, so ill give those interseted an update afterwards.

So how are we doing...id say were adjusting and trying to have fun in the process...thanks for all the love weve received...keep it coming!!