Eve of a New Day

38 18 7 33 37 20 40

These were the winning numbers for the lotto ticket I bought. Of the seven numbers, I had four, which entitled me to the princely sum of $20.80, which I spent on groceries for tonight's dinner.

PJ went out, so it was just Z and I sitting out on the deck eating the winnings, talking about all the wonderful comments people left to say why they are happy to be alive.

"Today I am happy to be alive because I saw a tree reflected in a heart-shaped puddle," I announced.

"I'll be the tree and you can be the puddle that holds it," Z said.

And so I was.

Full Tank

Now that I have been blogging for over a year, it's a funny feeling to read back over old posts to see what Meg Before has been up to. How much has changed. How much hasn't.

A year ago today, our 5,000 gallon water tank arrived. It looked like an enormous techno snail shell on the back of the truck that delivered it. I never thought that it could rain enough in my lifetime to fill it.

But rain it did this winter and now our cup runneth over.

School Holidaying

Exercising our legs to keep warm.

Exercising our creativity.

A winter picnic.

A winning niece.

Storages replenished.

Boing Boing

Oh delicious tomatoes! For breakfast and lunch today I ate them thinly sliced on rye bread. We still have some ripening on our vines but because of the early autumn frosts, these are amongst the last of the season.

Oh dastardly frosts! I'm sure there is a good reason you exist, I just don't know what it is. Rain on the other hand, rain I understand completely.

It has been raining here these last few days, which, although signalling the beginning of the colder weather, also declares the end of the bushfire months. The rain has put a spring in my step so bouncy, I can hardly stand still without boinging up and down with rejoicing.

Heavens Above

Although our time in Melbourne was stressful, as we had no idea if we'd have a house or community to come home to, we were still able to have an enjoyable time.

I took this photo of Z yesterday morning in the apartment building where my grandfather lives. 

And I took this picture this afternoon at home – the heavenly rain falling on our deck.

Floating

We spent the afternoon down at the lake again today; swimming, reading, listening to the Hottest 100 playing on a nearby stereo.

Doesn't this look like heaven? I love that this is practically our backyard.

These three girls floated by on their cloud and I had to snap a photo.

Happy Thursday Part 12

Private Domestications

PJ serves breakfast on the deck.

A chicken at the door.

Toenails too long.

Droplets like stars on a clear night.

Product Placement

I love the taste of this water. I have often thought that maybe because it is sourced from a nearby spring it has all the goodness in it that my body needs to flourish. Our bodies are best when we eat locally grown seasonal food, so surely it's the same for local water?

I love the simplicity of the label and the fact it is bottled locally, and in glass.

When I was thirsty and on the go I used to buy water in a plastic bottle, refill it a couple of times then recycle it. This was before I learned about the toxins these bottles leach.

This was before I realised that although I may have been recycling mine, 65% of plastic bottles end up as landfill. 

This was before I read that 314,465 barrels of oil are used every year, just so Australians can drink water bottled in plastic.

This was before I moved up here where there are natural springs aplenty, and where Coca-Cola Amatil source the water for their Mt Franklin brand. Every day we see petrol-guzzling water tankers chugging to the bottling plant in Melbourne from local springs. 

This was before I found out that Coca-Cola pays $2 per megalitre of water they take, which is about 5c a tanker. 5c!!

This was before I read this quote by the American environmentalist Derrick Jensen: "If people will pay for water bottled in plastic they will suffer any indignity.”

This was before PJ became a water activist and made this film as part of his campaign:

Porridge Picnic

Yesterday PJ and Z met me here, at the half way point of my morning walk, with pancakes and coffee on the open fire. This morning it was porridge that awaited me.

Just as we learnt a few days ago that coffee made with carbonated spring water doesn't work, so too this morning we discovered that porridge tastes much better made with water without bubbles.

Carbonated Capers

After a delicious home-cooked breakfast, PJ and I set off through the bush towards a mineral water spring about 45 minutes away. It was a beautiful spring day and we wore backpacks containing a small gas stove, coffee, cups and a stove-top coffee percolator. 

Something went wrong: the coffee rose to the top but it was cold. Maybe because we used carbonated water, we're not sure. We stood around the spring and drank cups and cups of the delicious water, then things soon deteriorated transpired to us taking lots of photos and video clips of each other spitting the water out again.

Our Water Tank

I was working in Melbourne when Dr Roberto Perez, the Cuban permaculturalist came to talk at our Town Hall. PJ went and frantically took notes of good ideas to implement on our own quarter acre. Of all his notes, I think the most simple and the most powerful statements are these:

Catch your own water. Grow your own food. Say hello to your neighbour.

Our water tank arriving this afternoon.