Category: Thoughts

Blink and you’ll miss it

Blink, blink. HOSPITAL. SILENCE.

So begins a poem by Bruce Dawe written in the 1950s and studied by me in the 80s, a story of one man’s life, from birth until being buried.  The poem itself is a satirical look at modern society and its materialism, but for me it’s the idea of documenting what happens between the blink blink statements that really resonates.

Back at the start of this month I had the best of intentions to be here more. Here as in documenting my life journey and lessons for myself and anyone else who may be interested. Here as in being mindful and stopping to appreciate what I have instead of dwelling on what I don’t.

And now it is almost the end of January and I’ve been too busy doing to stop and document. Doing something different like flying to another country on the first day of the New Year to celebrate my birthday (Georgetown Penang, highly recommended). Doing more with my body including returning to the gym and making exercise part of my day instead of an afterthought, and finding a healthy balance between being more mindful about what I eat and drink to get myself back on track along with socialising and celebrating with friends and family.

In just over two months it will be the final countdown to our 10th cruise, which we will be flying to the other side of the world to join, and I can see the time between then and now just flying by in the same way that the past month has done.

In just under two years is another milestone birthday, a date already on the horizon with preliminary planning and discussions of if/how/where/when to celebrate/commisserate.

Not that I am complaining of course, life is a gift and all that. Just sometimes I need to remind myself of how much I have done with my life between the blinks and be more mindful of how much time I have left.

Blink, blink. CEMETERY. Silence.

 

Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow

As well as having a heavenly scent, the flowers on this plant in my garden also have a story to tell.

I chose and planted it when we returned from our first ever cruise on Dawn Princess from Fremantle to Sydney in March 2010. The cruise we boarded on the day of an infamous hail storm, when my now-husband proposed and we met our wonderful cruise buddies.

What is amazing about this plant is that every year around this time it puts on the most wonderful tricolour floral display; the flowers range in colour from purple to mauve to white, depending how old they are. Hence its nickname of Yesterday Today Tomorrow.

Yesterday I was a young mother with long hair and lean limbs, living and loving every moment of every day of my life with my ‘babies’. Today my hair is still long but my limbs are no longer lean, and my children are young adults living and loving every day in their own way. Tomorrow they will hopefully be blessed with children of their own and they will recall their yesterday with me and remember to make the most of their today.

Yesterday I never imagined the today I would be living, full of love and life and tomorrow plans, with so many wonderful friendships and journeys and memories.

Today I am OK and Tomorrow I will be too.

Sometimes all I need is to stop and admire these flowers to remind myself of that.

You never know what you’ve got til it’s gone

Earlier this week I called my general practice to make an appointment with the GP I’ve been seeing regularly over the years.

She counseled me through various ailments and issues, from insomnia to a hysterectomy she’s been there.

What a shock it was to hear that she’s ‘no longer with us.’ As in she died, dead, brain hemorrhage. Two weeks ago. My counsel and my confidante. Gone.

Maybe it’s the only child syndrome. Or the fact I have taken a very long time to really truly open my heart to anyone and admit I have needs and wants and human frailties that others seem to have no problem with revealing to me.

It hit me for six.

So today I met with her replacement, in her room, helping fill in the blanks. Feeling like all I want to do is curl up into a ball for a hundred years because all my issues and frailties seem so insignificant.

The moral of my story?

Still working on that to be honest.

One Small Step for a Woman

It’s funny how sometimes life seems to go full circle, well for me it does.

On a previous post about the start of our amazing Arcadia cruise I shared how the young girl seated next to me on the flight was about to embark on the Camino de Santiago.

At that time I had never heard of it but fast forward two years and all of sudden it is where a number of female friends are planning to go or are already there.

It certainly sounds like an amazing experience, but why is it something that women seem be especially drawn to?

Lack of sleep, lost toenails and chafing aside, there are plenty of places closer to home where a similar experience is offered, although not with the religious ‘undertones’ of the Camino.

Is it because we women still haven’t found what we’re looking for?
Or dare I ask is it only something that single women are seeking?

I have this thing with cushions

As I’ve been known to say in response to someone stating the obvious, “no shit Sherlock!”

I mean, what’s not to like?

They’re portable, they can change the style, mood and feel of a room, and I also recommend purchasing them on holidays as the ultimate souvenir.

Case in point, the one day we had to expore Muscat, Oman, on the Arcadia cruise I was in heaven exploring the Souk full of exotic scents and sights. Hubby rolled his eyes when I showed him my souvenir purchase, ANOTHER cushion cover.

My current count is twenty on display throughout my home. Seven in the lounge, including three I knitted a few years ago when I was working my way through the small projects in a learn-to-knit book, so obviously sentimental favourites. Five in the family room, four in the master bedroom, three in the spare room, one on a chair in the study and four ‘spares’.

My family and close friends are obviously onto me, a cushion with cats on it and others in my favourite shade of ‘seafoam’ have been among my highest prized gifts.

Visitors rarely appreciate the time and effort involved with their artful display, and recent houses sitters completely removed all from the family room so they could make themselves at home. Hubby’s the least amused, especially when he has to remove my artful arrangement from the bed before retiring every night.

For anyone who’s interested I’m going start a pictorial documentation of my collection on Instagram with the hashtag #ihavethisthingwithcushions

If you see any on your travels please think of me and at the very least take a photo to add to my collection.

Seven Year Itch

dav

I celebrated a milestone on Wednesday, seven years ago my now husband proposed, on our first night on board our first ever cruise.

Fast forward seven years, nine cruises, a handful of new friendships and a lifetime of memories and I can honestly say I’m done.

No it’s not my marriage that’s giving me itchy feet, hand over heart my love for the wonderful man I am privileged to have as my life partner is exponentially stronger than I ever thought possible.

It’s cruising from Australia with Australians I’m done with.

There’s still so much of the world, including Australia, I want to explore but for now there’s no ship on the horizon I plan to board from or return to Australia.

Maybe it’s because we’ve done so much in such a short period of time, or that the serenity of traveling by sea has been tarnished because of and by our laidback larrikan reputation that was unfortunately evident and reinforced on our recent Australia based cruises.

Don’t get me wrong, cruising on the Ovation of the Seas is a truly amazing experience and highly recommended. The ship itself is absolutely awesome, and apart from some teething problems, the crew did their best to ensure our experience on board was entertaining and positive.

For me it’s just a shame that Australia based cruises now include the bonus of bearing witness to the Aussie attitude of ‘I’ve paid my money, I can do what I like.’

“So what if it’s formal night? You can’t stop me walking around the ship or sitting in the front row of the theatre in my boardies and thongs!”

“I’ve paid for the drinks package so I’m going to drink my body weight in alcohol every day, that’s what I call value for money!”

“And my kids love cruising too! They can run amok throughout the hallways, stairs, lifts and especially in the pool, and heaven help the idiot who tries to pull them into line!”

Sorry, that’s just not my idea of a good time, so for now it’s somewhere over the horizon I plan to explore, starting and ending on a far distant shore.

Here Comes the Sun

Only three more sleeps until we embark on our third cruise this year, two nights on board Sun Princess. Having already travelled on the Dawn, Sea and Diamond it is going to feel very familiar which means we should be able to hit the ground running and make the most of our time on board.

Packing for two nights and days at sea with no formals should be a breeze, but of course that means planning exactly what to wear and when in advance which has never been my specialty.

Not travelling with our usual cruise buddies this time, instead with a large group celebrating a milestone birthday of a mutual friend.

It will be interesting to see how our large party is accommodated on board, and also to see how our friends enjoy what for many of them is their first cruise experience.
Crossing my fingers for smooth seas and a mild breeze.

Sea Princess Positives

It’s been three weeks since we disembarked and now that post-cruise
depression is kicking in it feels timely to reflect on the positives of our
recent cruise experience.

A friendship started on board our Diamond Princess Christmas New Year cruise with the wonderful Joao Paulo, now Head Waiter in the Rigoletto Dining Room on Sea Princess, resulted in a truly special and memorable 50th Birthday Celebration for my man while we were on board.

Thanks Joao for the special service, cake and seafood pasta personally
prepared by Chef Carlos, along with the celebration serenade from
Edward, Marina and what felt like the full contingent of waiters on duty.

Adjoining balconies with our cruise buddies made for many memorable sailaways and also allowed for air-dried laundry on the odd occasion. Nothing beats the feeling of waking up each morning with a different view, as well as the opportunity to witness so many stunning seascapes, sunrises and sunsets.

The AU$59 per day drinks package is ridiculously good value considering it included bottled water and ‘specialty’ coffees as well as any other drinks less than $14. Likewise the twice daily Happy Hour – buy one drink less than AU$14 and get the other for AU$1.
Thanks to our extended journey we were able to take advantage of both during our 12 + 14 night itinerary.

Really enjoyed the entertaining and informative Art Auctions and look forward to receiving my winning prize in the mail sometime soon.
Likewise the opportunity to watch new release movies under the stars as well as be entertained by some very talented entertainers.

The Princess@Sea Intranet is a wonderful innovation; here’s hoping
Princess invest in face recognition technology for the on-board
photographers then I could truly have everything I need to know available to view on my Smartphone.

Zumba, line dancing and using the stairs every day in theory helped keep my cruise-belly-bulge under control; it’s just a pity that every single meal I enjoyed on board was so delicious and hard to refuse. Highlights for me included the delicious birthday cake, a bottomless Bircher muesli bowl and the wonderful Natalya remembering the coffee orders of our party of four.

Next on the horizon is another short Princess Cruise, two nights
celebrating a friends 50th birthday in early December.
Not exactly an opportunity to ‘Escape Completely’ and ‘Come Back New’ but I am still looking forward to the another cruise on a Princess vessel.

We Are Australian

Sea Princess has just arrived at Marina Bay Cruise Terminal and for some this marks the end of their cruise from Fremantle. Personally I will be only too happy to wave goodbye to the Aussie bogons on board who have unfortunately only reinforced the stereo typical view of us overseas.

The second half of our cruise includes day trips to Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand and Indonesia and will also include three formal nights, and it will be interesting to see how our fellow passengers interpret the ‘smart casual’ dress code for the other nights on our journey home.

Described as ‘Dressing as for a nice restaurant at home’ was interpreted as wearing cut off jeans, singlets and thongs in the main dining room by a few of our fellow passengers on the first half of our cruise.

Attempts by the Head Waiters to discretely recommend dining in the other venues more suited to casual attire were met with contempt and even hostility and unfortunately only proved to reinforce the Aussie Bogan stereotype we also encountered on board Queen Mary 2.

As was the case on the Queen I am sorry to say I have felt ashamed of the reputation being reinforced at sea by some of our compatriots.

One of the best thing about going on a cruise is the ability to choose your own experience thanks to the wide variety of dining and entertainment venues on board.

For those who prefer a casual cruise I respect your right to choose but please show some respect for your fellow passengers and especially the wonderful wait staff and stay away from the main dining room.

Settling in @Sea

It’s our third day at sea, officially our fourth day on board, and I’m pleased to report that I’ve already settled into a nice routine.

My sea day starts with Zumba in the Vista Lounge before breakfast in the Horizon Court, back to nag hubby out of the room for a coffee then touching base with our cruise buddies to plan the rest of our day.

An innovation on this cruise is the Princess@Sea Intranet with all the daily events and a calendar available on my phone which means that the newsletter left in our stateroom each night is effectively redundant.

At a glance I can see what’s on and where, the current weather and even the balance of my shipboard account. There’s even a messenger app which makes it easy to keep in touch with our friends on board.

Tomorrow is our first port of call, Lombok, where we’re looking forward to exploring a new horizon for the day.
The weather outside is humid but not too hot but I’m bracing myself for a blast of heat when we leave the sanctuary of Sea Princess.

Tonight we’ll be greeted by our friend and Maitre D JP who will hopefully have found a couple to join our party of four in the dining room. As nice as it is to be traveling with our cruise buddies it’d also be nice to have some fresh stories at the table.

Right now I’m off for a nanna nap before it’s time to get ready for our evening.