Your Best Year Yet

To become fully alive a person must have goals and aims that transcend himself. Herbert Otto

I like to use the ten questions of "Your Best Year Yet" to put my past year into perspective and identify some directions for the new year. There is a free online workshop that you can do (click here) - although this year I bought the book secondhand via ebay. The end result is a one-page document of some carefully thought-out, relevant reminders and goals for yourself.

I'm not sure that any of my aims will help me 'transcend myself'. They are humble goals, as I know from experience that I do better if I build in a reasonable chance of success. Nevertheless, when I read my page of goals, they put a smile on my face and invite me to enter into them wholeheartedly.

I'm looking forward to what 2008 will bring our way. Perhaps another move (not such a cheerful prospect), but if not, there will no doubt be other challenges. What gives me hope is that we've weathered a great deal as a family and I know we will support each other no matter what. Here's a toast to the simple things in life - family, love, friendship, laughter, and the ability to recognise these for the treasures they really are.

Happy New Year!

A Tree Just Fell on Our House

Yes, I'm not kidding - but thankfully it's not a huge tree and it only just hit the guttering on one corner. We've been experiencing some strong wind this weekend and Garry has been worrying about trees falling - it seems he was right to be concerned. This time all is well (although it has caused some extra work and flattened a beautiful tree fern). No doubt you will hear more on Garry's blog before long...

Underwater World

Garry's Aquarium is looking truly amazing. All four of us find ourselves just sitting and watching the fish at various times throughout the day. My personal favourite is the bristle-nosed catfish, named Mel, who spends her entire day quietly cleaning the tank. Among others, we have two swordtail females called Mandy and Margie, and a male swordtail called Excalibur.

Due to our ignorance, the third female swordtail was named Detective Spooner (from the movie, I, Robot), as we mistakenly thought she was a male. Christopher is hopeful that Detective Spooner is pregnant, as she's looking decidedly well-rounded. We also have two little diamondhead neon tetras called Luke and Leia (guess who's been watching Star Wars?).

Giant Soccer Ball

We gave Christopher this large blow-up soccer ball for Christmas, and as you can see, it's quite a success!

Just call me Lucy

I've walked down to our dam/pond? every day for the last couple of weeks - sometimes only just making it in between downpours. I love the way it smells after rain, so strongly scented that you can almost taste the eucalypt. There's one section of the path where all you can see on the left is ferns sloping down the hillside, with the track winding through the trees just ahead.

That little spot always takes me back to the bushwalks of my childhood. I used to pretend I was Lucy (from "The Chronicles of Narnia") and that if I walked quietly enough I might come upon Aslan or a dryad around the next bend.I'm looking forward to seeing "Prince Caspian" when it comes out next year. The trailers at narnia.com look pretty good.