I've been having a go at some of the exercises and one that I'm persisting with is 600 minutes of gratitude. That means that for 60 days you have to write for ten minutes about things you are grateful or thankful for. Easy peasy right? No, wrong. Day one was pretty easy- could think of lots of things, day two found me being grateful I did not live in London at the time of the bubonic plague, day three I was grateful that I now only have one elderly cat to care for. As you can see quite a challenge in the early stages, but to my surprise I find myself at now around day 20 being somewhat less superficial. Actually I am using the concept in a far more sensible way. Friday was a particularly challenging day because I had a very painful and honest conversation with a friend which left me feeling very bruised. later in the day as I was thinking about the epsiode I was thankful that I could see the part I played in it and how my actions had given rise to the misunderstanding. I felt that in writing it I could learn from it and I was thankful for that. Also it has pretty much helped let the whole thing go and so I've enjoyed every minute of this lovely weekend.
One of the really fun things I did was a 15km walk called the peninsula challenge. It's a fundraiser for the Otago peninsula trust which seeks to protect the wildlife there. Because the track takes you over 10 private properties you get to see scenery that is otherwise inaccessible. Take a look at these.
the start line is way down the bottom by the trees at the start of the walkway to Allans beach.
It doesn't look that steep but you can kind of tell that these people are finding it hard. 
we made our way carefully down this hill and were ferried across the estuary in motorboats to get to Victory beach 
There you can see Victory beach in the distance - home to very large sea lions!!
Here's me at the finish line. One of my friends had arranged a bottle of bubbly at the end along with plastic champagne glasses. Hip hip hooray ,3 cheers to us! What a fun day. Here's to a fun week.
Marg
Now that you mention it, I am glad I'm not living in London at the time of the bubonic plague, too. Also glad I"m not living in prehistoric times because I don't like being cold and sometimes I think about how cold it must have been in the winters with just caves to live in.
ReplyDeleteThe walk looks lovely. I am rather impressed at the mileage you're running up there Marg. You must be fit as a fiddle.
Oh it did look steep and I can see the struggle. The final stop was aptly named Victory Beach. The photos are wonderful. Looks like you might be clocking up 600kms of fitness as well. That one elderly cat doesn't know how lucky it is.
ReplyDeleteGood on you Marg, that looks like a great walk.
ReplyDeleteOf course I want to know ALL the details of the frank conversation with your friend.
That book by Stephanie Dowrick sounds interesting - I used to be a great fan of hers until one day a friend said to me, "oh yes she's good but she's a bit patronising and a bit preachy" - after that I haven't been able to read her books again without thinking that was kind of true.
Woops I hope that doesn't spoil her books for you. Maybe you thank you list tonight might go something like this, "I'm grateful I'm not as cynical and critical as some people I know."
I'm sure they would thoroughly enjoy a look around especially with their nursing background. They would get the best tour from Margaret and to do that they only need to knock on their door and find them home but I would happily show them around and certainly sling them a cuppa. Tell them to hunt around until they find somebody, we're all up podding peas in Anthony's garage at the moment and next week will be in the big kitchen, white peaches. there's a big group in from this Thursday so they may encounter that. 10.15 and 3.15 will always find people in homes having cups of tea so that's a good time to locate us up at house 3. Look forward to seeing them, don't suppose they could lend us a DVD of that comedian?
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