I heard this on the radio this morning and thought how true it is and how glad I am that it's true.
I get up in the morning, do my stuff, prepare for the day, make my lsit of to dos (never more than 6 or 7 items, two of which are make a list and prioritise the list, so I get two quick and easy wins. I never add to this list either). Get going and go to work.
At the end of the day I review the day and see how it went.
All pretty humdrum stuff, I'm so glad I don't feel the need to rush round seeking excitement any more. I've slowed my life down and don't get in bed about not doing everything on the list.
What this leads to is time to welcome beauty into my life. This beauty is all around me but often times is so small - like a pretty weed growing in a crack in a wall, or sun shining through rain, a lazy cat, a boisterous dog, or my favourite, a bird.
Is there anything more enchanting than a bird? Just this morning, my sat nav led me astray and I ended up in a town centre park where I saw a Sparrowhawk. (Only I've just identified it as a kestrel!) Not only that but I also had the time to get my camera out of the car, and the patience to stalk this beautiful bird from tree to tree until I managed to get a few pictures, one of which was worth keeping.
It made my day. I love watching birds and I'm fortunate that I travel so much and that I live in a rural area. Great tits, blue tits, tree creepers, woodpeckers, wagtails, starlings, sparrows, owls, sparrowhawk, kestrel, red kite, throstle - they've always been there and now I have the time to see them.
God I love being sober!
And I've got a cottage booked in Tomintoul in the Scottish Highlands for a week in September, open fire, smoking permitted, half way up a mountain, not too isolated, not too busy, just gets better and better.
-- Edited by bikerbill on Wednesday 26th of August 2009 03:30:39 PM
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It's not having what you want, it's wanting what you got. BB
Oh yes, sounds great. mind you I still fish and maybe would still hunt and shoot if the oppertunity repsented itself - some folks ask me how I can fish for trout while enthusing about the beauty of nature - I dunno, I just do and I enjoy it - mind you, the fish go back, so maybe shooting wouldn't work 'cos if you shoot something, you can't put it back.
I have absolutely no problem with people who shoot for food or pest control, I have no problem with fox hunting or hare coursing, but I do struggle a bit with people who say they hunt and shoot and fish but then tell me they don't do it primarily for enjoyment, because I think they're not being honest with themselves.
I'm looking forward to going to Scotland, I've driven through this area lots of times and I'm looking forward to the oppertunity to slow down and look.
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It's not having what you want, it's wanting what you got. BB
Well I am not a hunter, don't fish, and dont know their names, but I love the sound of the little birds cherping in the morning and the Sunlight and how it floods my house in the early mornings. (I have always thought of the Sun as God's Floodlight).
Your Post reminded me of a long drive up the California Coast, with a friend, and saw on the side of the road, a little Motel, the name was "Ho Hum Lodging", we laughed and laughed at that, Ho Hum, How sweet life is when it is layback and we can be aware of just life on life's terms.
Mellow-drama is so "Yesterday's news", can barely remember any of it.
You new vacation plans sounds so wonderful, will that include a drive to the Sea? and are you taking pictures????
So, ho hum my friend, looking forward to your next awesome story of this next vacation.
PS. Love to make those lists too, takes the clutter out of head in the morning and puts it on paper.
Just a little baloney
-- Edited by toni baloney on Wednesday 26th of August 2009 11:32:15 AM
The sparrowhawk tuned out to be a kestrel. Still a beauty.
I intend to do some gentle walking along the valleys - my knees can't do hills that well and we will be in 'the mountains' and we are about as far from the sea as we can get, but I'm sure we'll have the time to go to the coast.
I've downloaded the meetings in the area, I can get a meeting any day of the week within no more than an hour and a halfs drive, or go to Aberdeen about 2 hours away where there are at least 3 meetings a day!
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It's not having what you want, it's wanting what you got. BB
bikerbill- a red kite? Do you live in the UK? I saw a few in Wales last spring, but got the impression that they are (or used to be) fairly rare....are they native to the US as well? Fishing is one of my favorite activities- as you said, the "hunt" without the "kill", unless fresh fish is on the menu, in which case I have no qualms about keeping a fish.
About the "humdrum" of life...I totally understand, trying to ween myself off of constant rush and excitement. Tell myself- "It's OK to have done nothing today that set my hair afire." :)
Yes Dodsworth, I'm in England (Barnsley in God's Own County of Yorkshire, to be precise). Red kites are pretty rare, only seen one and that was in the Lakes.
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It's not having what you want, it's wanting what you got. BB
