The Blog Baton 3

Last night I taught my final class for this semester's blogging course. I made my signature ginger cookies - the word BLOG for each student - which were heartily enjoyed by students and teacher, alike.

Here are some of the blogs that were created. Please join me in welcoming them to the wonderful wwworld that is the blogosphere:

www.ebden-small.blogspot.com

www.themorganology.blogspot.com

www.thelineforhome.blogspot.com

www.insidebaliguide.blogspot.com

Over the last few years I have celebrated many an event (and non-event) with these cookies. Here are some of the photos I have managed to take before the words were eagerly eaten.

And previously: The Blog Baton 1 & The Blog Baton 2.

Guest Blogger: ETG 3

Image from here.

I am an enormous fan of opportunity shops (thrift stores). I love them. If I am on foot when I pass one, I can’t go past it. You just never know what might be in there. And that’s the beauty of them: you just never know. You may find a treasure, you may find nothing. There’s no certainty. Shopping elsewhere, you can be fairly assured of what you’ll find, and security is certainly an important and necessary thing. But an opportunity shop…well, it provides you with opportunities. Can I use that? Can I wear that? Would that go with those red shoes of mine? What would I do with that?

And today was no exception. In amongst the faded Mills-and-Boons and the old Womens Weeklys, I spied Present Moment Wonderful Moment by Thich Nhat Hanh. For $2! He is a Vietnamese Buddhist monk and he is a great advocate of the principle of Mindfulness. For some time, I have been aware that there are some thought patterns and behaviours of mine which could do with, shall we say, a re-adjustment. As a result, I have been thinking a lot about different ways of seeing the world. The notion of Mindfulness has much that’s appealing to say on this topic but I have found it to be a difficult notion to define for myself, to understand in a way which provides me with a personal meaning for it and ways in which I can make it a part of my life. Even my GP said to me, “Mindfulness…yes. Very interesting. But I’ve often wondered—(his voice dropping to a bewildered whisper)—just what is it?”

Well, Thich Nhat Hanh sums it up beautifully. Certainly he talks about such important and complex topics as meditation practice, but he also brings Mindfulness to bear on washing the dishes, brushing your teeth, cleaning the bathroom, eating, throwing out the garbage and answering the phone. Be aware of each dish and the sensation of the warm water on your hands. Don’t make time spent doing housework unpleasant, being in a hurry to move on from it. Brush your teeth in preparation for a day of compassionate speech. Answer the phone with a smile and so sending that positivity to whoever is on the other end.

The profane is the sacred, Thich Nhat Hanh tells us. There is beauty and meaning in everything, not just in the extraordinary or the expensive. Treasure is everywhere, you just need to stop and look and take your opportunities as they present themselves.

Previously in the Land of Meg:

ETG guest blog 1

ETG guest blog 2

The Rotary Test

The local Rotary club had a big function on last night. I wore all black and worked there as a waitress. I brought people food and collected their plates then I ate delicious leftovers and laughed until my cheeks hurt with the kitchen staff.

I came home late and was all sped up. I talked to PJ for hours about all the minor details of my evening; about the fussy eaters who kept me going back and forwards to the kitchen, about all the staff (including me) taking buckets of leftover scraps home for all our different animals, about the gas stove not working, about the large waistlines of so many guests that made it impossible for us waiting staff to squeeze past them.

Between the kitchen and the dining room was a tall side table pushed up against the wall that gradually became filled with gifts that people brought. I thought it must have been someone's birthday, but after we cleared the main course plates, they started raffling them off. Leaning against the wall on the tall gift table was a piece of A4 paper in a plain black frame. I wanted to tell PJ what was in it when I got home but I couldn't remember, so I jumped online and found it:

The Rotary test, which has been translated into more than 100 languages, asks the following questions:

Of the things we think, say or do:

Is it the TRUTH?

Is it FAIR to all concerned?

Will it build GOODWILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIPS?

Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned?

I Don't Know

The other day when Z and I were walking up to town we saw a whole pile of these discarded on the side of the road. Picking one up, he asked me what they were. I told him they were for packaging fragile things. We filled my bag with them to throw away when we got to town, and kept walking.

Z told me how he'd like to fill our whole house with them while we were inside it, so it'd be impossible to go from room to room. I told him that that wouldn't be such a good idea, which led to a discussion about the evils of polystyrene and plastic and how they pollute environments and don't break down.

"I can break them down," he said as he started to shred what was in his hand. As we talked some more about toxins and ecosystems and wild animals, he understood why we had filled my bag with the litter that, before we saw them, had already started to blow all over the place.

"Why don't the factories stop making them?" he asked.

"Why don't the police put the people who make them in jail?" he asked.

"Why doesn't God tell them to stop?" he asked.

We Walked

Today PJ and I joined the Great Dividing Trail Association on their last walk of the year. We met at 8am for breakfast inside the volcanic crater of Lalgambook (Mt Franklin) and then walked 14 km to the picnic spot, a beautiful bend on the Jim Crow Creek.

Our walk leader, the very knowledgeable and very lovely Barry Golding stopped us every so often to talk about our surrounds; geologically, archeologically and historically in terms of the land's original owners, the Djadjawurrrung.

While several of us pooled our food for lunch, Barry asked us what we had learnt.

I learned, among other things, about Murnyong, also called the yam daisy; a perennial herb similar to radish in shape that was a preferred food of the Aborigines in central and western Victoria. I learned that I don't like what wearing hats does to the acoustics of how my voice sounds. I learned that some people are happy to talk about their limps and some are not. I learned that lines in rocks in Australia run North South. I learned that sharing food with people is one of the best things you can do.

The Opposite of Hope

Last night PJ and I went to Z's end of year school concert even though Z had a fever and stayed home with his mum. I'm so glad we decided to go anyway as it was a great night: a colour-filled, hodge-podge programme followed by supper made by the parents.

Last year when we were considering what kind of school to send Z to, this is exactly the kind of school we hoped for. Sitting in the hall last night I was very aware of how, as parents, we have such high hopes for our kids. I was also very conscious of my usage of the word hope and how many times it was spoken or sung during the night.

I hope you enjoy tonight's performance. I hope you have a great Xmas. I hope my muffins turned out OK.

I like PJ's definition of hope. That to say I hope is to negate accountability and presume that things will change by external means.

When we say I hope, we are really saying that we are powerless, that we have already given up. Hoping that things turn out a certain way is like believing in God or like being superstitious. It is rejecting responsibility. It is a passive aspiration.

And of course I don't feel passively about Z or about any of the other kids at his school or about any of the other things in my life that I feel hopeful for.

In Eastern philosophy they say embrace hopelessness; that we need to smell the shit, know the shit, and stop deluding ourselves.

Am I deluding myself? Am I ready to live without hope? Is the opposite of hope really despair?

The Blog Baton 2

Last night I taught my last class for this semester's blogging course. It took me a while to wind down afterwards, I was so excited and happy for my students.

As PJ and I sat having a late dinner, our neighbour A came over with this bunch of Russian kale from his garden. And again I got to thinking about sharing and mindfulness and how these things make up the backbone of communities both virtual and actual.

Here is a snapshot of what some of my students created:

www.doxayouthfoundation.blogspot.com

www.petrusspronk.com

www.linda-treehugger.blogspot.com

www.writersdigress.blogspot.com

And from last semester: The Blog Baton 1.

The Blog Baton

I am a huge proponent of small business not corporatised business in the same way I am all for local and regional autonomy, because the dissemination of power means more diversity and more choice for more people.

Which is one of the reasons I love living in the country: the decentralisation of sovereignty, and why I love being a part of the blogosphere: the decentralisation of information.

Last night I taught the final class for this term's course on blogging. Just as I felt when I taught English in Thailand, I felt so proud when my students got the hang of what they were doing.

Here is a snapshot of what some of them are doing:

www.claudiasgreenacres.blogspot.com

www.hotartglass.blogspot.com

www.bookcamel.blogspot.com

www.nottheadvocate-jab.blogspot.com