Last night was the night that we headed out to the Comedy Festival to see the kids’ shows. Jenna and Evan27 (or, as his stage name calls him – ‘Conk’) have such different styles of comedy. It was a terrific introduction for Sophie, Tom32’s girlfriend, to their shows. Let’s face it – if she’s going to be part of this family, she’s going to be seeing a lot of live comedy as the years go by!
It was a lovely night. Jenna’s parents were over from Adelaide so we all met up at Fed Square for dinner, then it was two shows in the one night. It was definitely full of laughter, music and song.
I may be going on another trip this year… but this is because Liga from Latvia (remember her from Antarctica?) might be coming over in November. If she does, it’ll be a drive to Healesville Santuary, a drive down the Great Ocean Road to Adelaide, then a drive up to Uluru.
Then I’ll drop them off there, (she’ll be travelling with another woman called Liga), and I’ll make the long drive home while they see the desert, then fly to Cairns to see the Great Barrier Reef. They’ll be landing in Sydney, so of course they’ll see the Opera House and Bridge. They have around 3 weeks, so with a bit of luck they’ll be able to see a lot.
Anyway, that’s the plan at the moment. She also wants to swim with sharks – and if she does that I’ll have to go with her. It’s only polite. We might not be able to fit it in, though. Who knew Port Lincoln was a 9 hour drive from Adelaide???
As Liga said, “! still have to get my head around the distances in Australia. It’s different from Latvia, where a 4 hour drive gets you to the border!”
Seriously, how could I not book another holiday when one of the places I’ll be seeing is Zanzibar?
It sounds so exotic… so undiscovered. Though, fun fact! Freddie Mercury was born there.
Yes, 2025 is definitely going to be a year when I’m away almost as much as I’m home.
I’m going to Kenya, Tanzania and Zanzibar in April. I already knew that I wanted to back to see the animals of Africa again, but when I saw that this particular tour had an extension to Zanzibar, how could I say no?
It’s sometimes possible to see glimmers of the Southern Lights from Tassie, but it’s usually only through long exposures on your iPhone. I want to be able to look up and see them all spread out before me. Even better if it’s on my birthday.
I don’t know if I’ve mentioned on this blog before, but I’ve made a vow to myself that I won’t be at home on my birthdays anymore. I want to be somewhere in the world, seeing something new and celebrating being alive on such an interesting planet.
Last year for my 60th I was in London, having lunch on the Skydeck with Scott, then dinner in an Israeli restaurant with Corinna from our Antarctica trip. I’ll be at Uluru this year, having dinner on a sandbank while a huge solar light installation twinkles to life below me. Next year?
I’ll be flying into Copenhagen, then taking a flight to Reykjavik. I’ll be meeting up with Morgan, also from our Antarctica trip, and doing a quick 2 day tour of Iceland. Then we’ll jump on the same expeditionary ship that we were on in Dec 2022 and we’ll head off to see Greenland. Instead of penguins, we’ll (hopefully) be seeing polar bears!
After the cruise returns to Iceland, I’ll jump on a plane back to Copenhagen, where I meet up with my next tour group. We’ll gallop all over Scandinavia for a couple of weeks, visiting Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Estonia (for half a day) and Finland. Then I’ll fly home. September will not be spent on Australian soil!
My birthday is, unfortunately, a cruising day on our way to Greenland. But I’m keeping my fingers crossed that Fortunate Frogdancer will see the Northern lights as a birthday celebration. I’m pretty sure it doesn’t matter if I don’t. I’ll more than likely see them see them at some stage on my trip – after all, I’ll be there for a month!
So yes. I was very lucky that all 3 tours dovetailed into each other so well. It would have been rude not to book them. But these are not cheap places to travel to. At all.
I kept saying to myself, “It’s ok. I’m only going there once!” when booking everything. It’s what I said about Antarctica and I don’t regret going there for an instant.
Georgia is studying in 2024, 2025 and 2026. These are the years when I can travel without paying for dog kennels/house sitters. Poverty is keeping her with me until she can get out and start earning a living, so I’m making the most of it. Poppy and Jeff will be 13 in 2026 and Scout will be 11. I should stay around a bit more when they’re getting elderly.
Oh! One lovely thing has happened. I have a blog reader in Vancouver who has offered to show Megs and me around on our free day there. I’m so pleased. Blogmeets are NEVER a disappointment. I’m not sure if Martha reads this blog or the FIRE one, but just in case – thanks Martha!!!
On Easter Monday I had the family over for lunch and to watch my skydive video. David30 and Izzy collected Mum and Dad. Mum was so happy that the cavaliers wanted to snuggle up close to them. It’s much safer for her to be around them when she’s sitting down, as she’s having balance issues lately.
Evan27 – always a shy little flower.
Georgia gave both Jenna and Izzy a shoulder massage. Here she is giving Izzy the treatment. One benefit of doing a course like remedial massage, even if you don’t end up using it professionally, is that the family will have instant access to treatments forever!
Georgia and Izzy both saw me aiming the phone at them.
It’s not often that I get excited when I hit a goal. Usually, I’m already focusing on the next one. Stupid, I know. But this one was a little different. It was a long time coming.
I first heard about skydiving when I was a kid. Instantly, I knew that one day, I’d do it. Heights don’t particularly bother me, and I’ve always had a bit of a thirst for the unknown. Jumping out of a plane was a big tick off my list of Things To Do.
Then, of course, life happened. I had to put my individual goals to the side to focus on bringing up my children and giving them the best start in life I could. Being a single parent to 4 kids is a busy life.
(To be fair, I sneaked in a little bit of travel, with the whole family going to Bali and Thailand, and David15 and I having a quickk junket to Singapore the first Christmas he didn’t stay with the kids’ father. I sent the music kids to the US when they were in secondary school, as well as the trips the school made to The Red Centre and Tassie. I wanted the travel bug to get them.)
Now – it’s finally MY TIME.
I achieved Financial Independence three years ago and retired. I have no ties other than the dogs, as my kids are all independent. I’m so lucky that Georgia29 still lives at home and is likely to stay here for the next 3 years while she finishes her course.
I have 3 years to travel. Georgia29 looks after the dogs and the garden when I’m gone, which saves me thousands of dollars. I’m free to explore.
But not every goal is travel, unless you count jumping from a plane and plummeting to Earth as travel. I asked the kids to club together for my birthday and get me something I really want. Something that wouldn’t clutter up the place and just be forgotten.
I wanted to skydive for my 60th.
Here I am with all the gear on. We’d just finished watching a safety video and I had to race to take my rings off and put them in the locker with my bag. These rings are precious to me… I bought the emerald in Phuket and the sapphires were a 21st present from my parents. Imagine if they whipped off and fell away during the dive? I’d be crying, “Nooooooo!”
People were asking if I was nervous. I can honestly say that there wasn’t an ounce of nervousness in me. I was calm. I was going to do this and I knew I’d enjoy it. I wasn’t excited or jumping around. I was still and certain. I didn’t start to get a bubble of excitement in my stomach until we were driving into the airport.
We drove from Elwood to Moorabbin airport. I’ve driven past here probably thousands of times and never been inside before. We all got into an impossibly small plane and the instructors strapped themselves to us. There were 7 of us doing the jump.
Then up we flew. Up, up, past the clouds and over the top. We were high. Melbourne and the bay were stretched out below us. Then, the instructor closest to the door swung it open, nodded to his passenger and then they almost rolled out the door.
The other couples closest to the door shuffled along and Out! Out! Out!
It was so quick. They definitely don’t give people time to chicken out.
The plane swung around to regain its position. Then it was our turn. I smiled and shuffled toward the open door. I grabbed hold of the loops in front of the harness, as we were told to do.
Then we were out.
And flying.
I couldn’t keep the goofy grin from my face while we were freefalling.
We had around a minute of freefall.
That minute lasted a long time. It was beautiful up there.
The was a peace and serenity that I can’t describe. The wind was whipping past us, but along with the sound of the wind was a high note, just at the edge of my hearing.
The city and the bay were below and there we were, arms outstretched and flying so free. It was only a minute but I feel that it changed something inside me. There’s a pocket of peace and happiness in me that wasn’t there before.
Then there was a tap on my shoulder to tell me to grasp the loops at the front again. Then with a whoosh, we went upwards as the parachute was opened.
The instructor operated the parachute so we whirled and swooped, allowing us to see everything as we slowly descended.
Down there, my friend Alice from work was in her backyard filming one of us coming down. Of course, we’re convinced it was me that she caught!
I was so happy up there. It’s the best feeling.
Then, sadly, we were heading into land on Elwood foreshore. Look at my expression. I wanted it to last for longer, even though it lasted far longer than I expected.
I’ll carry this experience in a small part of me forever.
Look at me with my feet held firmly out. We’re told to land on our bum, and not to lower our ankles or they could be broken. I’m going to Canada and Alaska in 6 weeks. No way I was going to risk ruining that trip!
Deana from England gave me some pink socks and I told her they’d be jumping out of a plane today. Here they are, gracefully making their way back to earth.
The landing.
Hair bedraggled from the wind but so happy – there I was. I’m not sure I have a Bucket List, but if I do, this was one important item ticked off.
If I hadn’t achieved Financial Independence, I would’ve been in a classroom, looking out of the window when the kids were working and dreaming of where else I could be. Most days of my retirement are mundane and contented, just ambling along doing the day-to-day tasks that I need or want to get done. Just days of simple little things.
Before my birthday last September, I knew I didn’t want the kids to waste their money on a gift I didn’t want. You know, something that would just end up as clutter.
So why not ask for a gift that could possibly see them get their hands on their inheritance WAY earlier than I planned, ammirite?
Haha. I don’t think I’m going to die. But I’ve left it too late to bungee jump, but I can certainly still step out of a plane and see what skydiving is like!
I kept forgetting to redeem the voucher, but with winter getting closer, it was time to scan the weather forecasts for a nice clear day and get onto it.
If you think of this post at around 10:30 or so on Monday morning, give me a thought. I’ll probably be plummeting towards Earth about then.
It’s all too easy to book travel these days, isn’t it? Now that I’ve decided that the next two years or so are going to be all about TRAVEL, I’ve been lining up the holidays.
This was Kangaroo Island in January. Added onto Adelaide, it was a very pleasant week.
Canada/Alaska in May/June. This one will be a little over 4 weeks.
The Ghan, The Red Centre and The Top End in September for my birthday. 15 days for this one. Do I like the heat? Do I love having flies all over me? NO. But I feel that, as an Australian, I should go and have a look at these places ONCE.
Japan in March. I fly out a week after I get back from Vietnam.
I was going to book Japan for April, but soon realised that if I did that, I was going to pay $1,000 more because April is high season. Yikes! That’s money I could put towards another trip!
Georgia is going to be living at home for another 2 – 3 years while she does her coding course, so the dogs will be able to be left with her and I won’t have to pay for boarding them out. This is a big financial consideration.
The parents are getting more frail, but are still happily living at home. I want to gallop all over the world while they’re still ok and they don’t need me to run around after them.
I don’t have any grandchildren. This means that my time’s my own. I have a small window of time where I can be totally selfish and do anything I want. At the moment – that means travel.
It’s so easy to see a great deal and click on it. Hello Japan!
But what I need to do now is slow down and really give some thought as to what are the things I want to see. You know… the things I REALLY want to see.
I also have to rank them in terms of physical ability. I’m working on getting fitter, but I’m never going to be able to climb Mt Everest, for example. I need to be conscious that as I age, my fitness will go down. So which things on my ‘REALLY want to see’ list need to be done sooner, rather than later?
Mum and Dad took a trip to South Africa in their late seventies and it took months for Mum to get over the exhaustion. I don’t want to experience that.
My reasons for choosing Vietnam and Japan is that lots of people have said that I’d love Vietnam, and as for Japan – I haven’t met a single person who hasn’t loved it. And lots of Aussies go to Japan. So there you go.
Our Antarctica group on Whatsapp was sent a video of Corinna on a tour in Iraq that Morgan was leading. She was blowing out a candle on a birthday “cake”.
There are so many weird and wonderful places to see!
And here we are, right in the middle of them. Yes, one really hot day yesterday, then now (at 9 AM) it’s almost 30C. The house is all shut up and the shutters are closed on the bottom two sections to lessen the amount of sunlight getting in to keep the house as cool as we can.
Soon I’ll put on the aircon, and then the shutters will also help to reduce the amount of cool air that’ll seep through the glass. I’ve already watered the front yard when I let the dogs out for their morning run on the grass, and soon I’ll venture outside and give the backyard plants a drink.
Then it’ll be inside for the rest of the day.
I chose this photo to be at the top of this week’s Skinflint post because a few days ago, I took myself to Ripponlea for a retirement Little Adventure. I had a lovely time and I blogged about it here. I’m so glad I decided to do the Little Adventures. It makes me leave the house and see and do things I otherwise wouldn’t.
Normally I’d say that a day spent inside the house hiding from the heat is a great sewing day, but I can’t do any sewing because my sewing machine, Mr Darcy, is off at the sewing machine spa having a service. I somehow managed to screw up the bobbin, so I have 2 weeks to wait until he comes back again, hopefully with a not-too-expensive bill.
So it looks like today might be a reading day. Gee, that’s always hard to take!
One of the plants I bought for my Christmas spruce-up of the house is this gardenia. Here’s what greeted me this morning. Doesn’t it look wonderful? It smells divine, too. This is Mum’s favourite flower.
Yesterday I went to look at a house for sale with Tom31 and Sophie, then asked them back to my place for lunch. We ended up spending a very nice couple of hours as we chopped and grated ingredients for wraps, then sat around in the aircon and chatted.
Sophie’s starting to open up more now as we slowly get to know each other. She’s a very nice person and she’s revealing qualities in Tom31 that I haven’t seen since he was small. He’s head over heels in love and I couldn’t be happier. I’m crossing my fingers that Sophie is ‘the one.’ She fits in so well with the rest of the family.
It’s a little bit windy today. I’m thinking that I might keep the elastic band around the windchimes for the sake of neighbourly harmony.
Mum and Dad have always owned dogs, but when the last one died a few years ago, they decided that it was too dangerous to get another one, due to Mum’s mobility and balance issues. Of course, this doesn’t mean that they suddenly hate dogs! It occurred to me that taking a dog with me when I go with Mum for a walk might be a good way to lift her spirits.
(Plus I get to kill 2 birds with the one stone – walking dogs and seeing my parents.)
For the first walk, I decided to bring Jeffrey. No reason other than he’s a good boy.
You should have heard Scout’s screams when I picked up Jeff and shut the front door behind us. She is so jealous of Jeffrey, so to see him getting a WALK without her being with us – OUTRAGEOUS.
When I was a child, this place wasn’t called ‘Basterfield Park.’ It was called ‘the paddock’ and it was full of pale yellow grasses that waved over our heads. The neighbourhood kids would go in there with no fear or thought of snakes (!) and trample down sections to make our own little cubby houses there. It was fun.
Just when I grew to consider myself too old for such childish games, the council started developing the place. A huge hole was dug to make a lake with an island in the middle. Vast plantings were put in and the paddock disappeared. Now, a few decades later, the trees are mature and the place looks lovely.
Every day, unless the weather’s too hot or too cold, Dad takes Mum’s walker outside, helps her down the front steps and off she goes on a walk. He was petrified that I’d let Jeffrey tangle himself under her feet, but Mum and I were determined, so off we went. This was actually the reason I only brought one dog. Far easier to watch where one goes, rather than three.
There’s a winding path that goes around the park. I liked this bird sitting on top of the Vietnam war memorial. The occasional house-husband pushing a stroller walked by us. Each one also had a small dog on a leash.
It was a pleasant visit. We walked slowly around the park, sitting a couple of times so she and Jeffrey could rest. On the way home, we walked down the street where I grew up, with Mum filling me in on what has happened to the people who live in just about every house. I suppose when you move into a brand-new neighbourhood in 1960 and live there for the rest of your life, you tend to get a feel for what goes on around you.
Mum loved having a cuddle with my boy.
“Do you miss having a dog?” I asked her.
“Yes.” There was a long pause while she stroked Jeff’s ears. “I miss it a lot.”
Yesterday I jumped in the car, drove a whole 20 minutes and had lunch with Izzy in her break.
As you know, we saw David30 on Sunday. There’s no rule that says that we have to only socialise with both of the couple at ay one time, and I really want to have a strong relationship with my son’s wife. It’s a bit difficult to have one if David30 is hovering around all the time!
We talked so hard that she went over her allotted time and had to race back to work. I feel really fortunate that she’s willing to spend time one-on-one with me and I hope that, over time, we have a relationship that is strong on its own, not one that is purely dependent on our shared love for David30.
When she stood up to go, I said, “I hope we can do this again.”
She laughed and said, “Of course we can! I’m always here!”
First – I’m amazed that a boy who was raised by me even has an inkling of how to use tools. It’s a miracle.
Second – I asked him to pop over just to hang the windchimes that I bought on Kangaroo Island. But he walked in, saying, “Right! Whare are the little things in this place that need fixing?”
My windchimes are now operational.
They’re not exactly what you call ‘quiet’, so I’ve left a stool on the front verandah so I can put then away if it’s too windy. But today? It’s all very still with a little noise from them every now and then. They sound lovely.
When I was showing them to Tom31 a while ago, he said, “Do you want me to go to the next suburb to make sure they can hear them too?”
So yes. I may have been a bit carried away when I bought them.
We’ll see how long they stay up there.
We came inside and David30 got stuck into my cutlery drawer, insisting that I take most of the cutlery out, as the weight was starting to make the drawer fall apart. I took the chance to wipe it clean. He also helped me empty out a couple of wicking boxes into the green waste bin. I’m gradually going to refill the wicking boxes with new potting mix and rejuvenate that whole area.
While he was chatting with Georgia29, asking about what’s happening with the hormone treatments, I handed him a peg that came apart. It was from my travelling clothes hanger set. David30 fiddled with it and fixed it. It was really quite handy having him around.
“Make a list of things that need fixing, then every so often I’ll come around and fix them for you,” he said.
He’s a really nice guy, that one.
You can see that the house is getting to where I want it to be. (If you zero into the photo on the right side, you’ll see the windchimes.) I’m sitting on the couch inside, Jeff snoring beside me, and every now and then a beautiful sound emanates from them.
Dancing With Frogs 