Daily Ramblings

Getting complicated...

2007-02-21T15:26:00.000Z

Thoughts on volunteering have gone to a new blog, which, if we go, will become the blog of our two years abroad.

Volunteering

Volunteer in third world country?

2007-02-20T21:23:00.000Z

Hub has applied for a volunteer position and the organization is interested since he's well qualified. They allow non-volunteering spouses to go as well. Yikes! Going to an assessment next month where they will check us both out. Been looking at profiles from several sources of the countries they send people to. I've been dismissing countries that say things like guns and machetes used on foreigners, or recent bombings, or several tourists kidnapped and/or murdered, civil unrest resulting in deaths, arson attacks on local schools...... wee things like that tend to make me just a bit uneasy. There are at least four countries I'd be comfortable going to. At present there are no vacancies for his intended position in those countries. The available positions on their website are for three of those less than safe countries. Of course, hub says I'm worrying needlessly. Two years is a long time to be away from home and it's many comforts. We'll see.

This is home

2007-02-19T19:16:00.000Z

Been thinking about where I want to live. And, yes, I do love a warm climate and lots of sunshine. But what will I find somewhere else aside from that? What happens when the sandy beach, warm weather and the swimming pool are no longer a novelty? I want to stay here with Scottish people, culture, history, and the landscape and character of the country. This is my home. Spending 2 or 3 months in a warm climate during the winter is probably the best option.

Overcoming the need to be right

2007-02-14T16:42:00.000Z

Well, I've extricated myself from an online *news* forum that had been taking up too much of my time for the last couple of weeks. Don't know why I want to debate unwinnable topics with people who are so ignorant....homophobes, those against smoking bans, evangelicals, bush supporters. Certainly didn't help me toward my goals of peacefulness and mindfulness. The amount of ignorance, bigotry, hate and just plain stupidity is astounding, although I don't know why it surprises me. I will admit to having a bit of fun with good sarcastic retorts. And I did enjoy reading many highly intelligent and articulate posts.

But that's it. I've logged out and won't go back on.....

Retire where?

2007-02-05T17:38:00.000Z

I'm getting loads of suggestions from people on where to retire since we are looking for a warmer climate. We adore Scotland, but the weather sucks.

We're still researching South Africa but have also looked at various islands in the Caribbean, in the Pacific, off of Africa... Spain and warmer European countries. And they all come up nope, nope, nope.... When dh actually started looking online at some southern US states I was horrified. I got a weirdly unpleasant feeling in the pit of my stomach. Have I become anti-American? Or have I just become another person since being exposed to different cultures?

I was looking at photos of some beautiful islands with very white, gorgeous sandy beaches, turquoise clear water, and some had a few mountains as well. But I wondered if I'd get bored. What else was there besides this beauty and the warm/hot weather? What would be missing that I found so attractive in SA is the ancient culture - the art - the fact that it's the cradle of civilization, the chance to see wild animals and go on photo safaris.

Time waster

2007-02-04T14:19:00.000Z

I've been drawn into arguing/discussing on a huge forum with many topics. I wasn't even looking for another forum, it just happened to be attached to a news item I was reading. Now I'm arguing unwinnable arguments....banging my head against a brick wall. The narrow-minded are so infuriating....Bush supporters, homophobes, fundamentalist christians, smokers who oppose bans on smoking in public places, pagan haters... Maybe I'm just trying to get even for 10 years of having evangelicals trying to shove their opinions down my throat, and having to bite my tongue when co-workers brought religion into the office.

Snow!

2007-01-18T10:49:00.000Z

Made an exception today with a weekday pic.... woke up to the first snow this year and typically it will be melted by tonight or tomorrow.

Playing with photos....

2007-01-13T16:21:00.000Z

I've occasionally played with doctoring my photos and I like many of the results.... b & w makes certain ones much more dramatic as any professional photographer knows.

Eating animal flesh......

2007-01-12T22:58:00.000Z

I'm now a lapsed pescatarian. Never thought it would happen. During 2005 I was beginning to have dreams that I was eating meat. When the meat was red I awoke feeling queasy. When it was chicken or turkey it was fine.

I hadn't missed meat at all since originally giving up meat in 1994 as a vegan, went on the vegetarianism after about 6 months, then added fish a few years later. I gave up red meat and all pork about 20 years ago. Just the sight of raw red meat in a grocery store would make me quickly turn my head in disgust.

What happened? Hell if I know. Anyway, I went through several months in the first half of 2006 when I thought the best thing to do would be to buy some turkey or chicken and just eat it. Hopefully I'd be disgusted and that would the end of it. It took me a long time to do this. After much discussion with friends on a forum whom I asked for help in figuring out why I couldn't just do this, take a bite of meat and be done with it. Someone finally suggested that when I did that I'd be losing one of my treasured labels - a pescatarian, a non-meat eater. I could no longer feel superior and look down my nose at people who ate meat. (Adding here that the reason I quit meat was health. Ethics was not the driving force but was a consideration.)

So finally I decided to just do it. I had made a trip across the water and picked up the best quality sliced chicken breast (I thought I had picked up turkey breast..) from Marks and Spencer. After I came home I made myself a sandwich - chicken, lettuce, mayo on a fresh wholemeal roll I'd bought from the same store. To my dismay it tasted gorgeous! That did it. I began to crave chicken.

Then bacon (British, not the fatty American kind) started toying with my weak mind. Some time later we were out somewhere and Danny purchased a bacon roll. I asked for a bite to satisfy my curiosity. Uh oh... tasted delicious. I went in search of the best bacon rolls in my area...and I found them. I started buying bacon and rolls and bringing them home to make my own bacon rolls. Ack.....what had I done?!

A trip to South Africa in December was planned. I wondered what I would do. I didn't want a replay of our Australia trip the previous year. I must have eaten fish 6 days a week for 3 weeks. I love fish. But shit, I got sick of it! I knew South Africans were huge beef eaters. But I really didn't think I'd want to eat any disgusting beef. Wrong. Halfway to Johannesburg we transferred planes in Dubai. We had booked the lounge in the airport for our layover and this included all the food and drink you want. Danny and Riaan (stepdaughter's then fiance) both came back to our seats with a plate of sliced beef. It looked like such tender, quality beef. Took a bit of Danny's and that was it. Got my own plate and scarfed several pieces.

So in South Africa I ate the most gorgeous steaks (filet mignon in the US) about 4 or 5 times, a few bites of lamb, a bite of crocodile, bacon, sausage, some other strange meat that came off the braii (BBQ)....

Back home it's veggie at home except for an occasional chicken breast sandwich or bits on my salad. Haven't eaten out yet but that's when I intend to indulge my new sin.

South Africa

2007-01-11T15:47:00.000Z

Most of my blogs are created as a web page, not with frequent updates...more as one long post which most likely will never change. So I'm using this one as most blogs are....journals. Sooo.....

Right now dh and I are thoroughly researching a relocation to South Africa. Reasons are on the SA blog but to restate them....the climate, the high standard of living using the British Pound, the landscape, the people, a different type of adventure - wildlife, the food/wine, my long-standing love of African art.... and last but not least a great house with a swimming pool and a maid.

I've been reading with trepidation the personal accounts of violent crime and it has scared the shit out of me! So many personal accounts of expats who live there are positive as well. So I'm on the fence about this. May not have to decide anyway. Still trying to get clarification on whether we'd qualify for a retirement visa. Having one pension (so far) which is guaranteed and is in pounds sterling puts us solidly in the upper income brackets in SA. I've been bombarding their Home Affairs office with emails asking to clarify the requirements.

Our first idea was a house on the coast as we both love the ocean. But visions of high security apparatus we saw during our beach trip left me less than anxious to do this. The place we enjoyed the most, and felt the safest, was Clarens in the Eastern Free State. Clarens is in a mountainous area and is surrounded by a breathtaking landscape. It's an artsy tourist- attracting town which is just charming. Not at all a tacky-tourist type of town. Chains stores, shops and restaurants/fast food are not allowed. Browsing the real estate sites online has produced some options we'd be thrilled with. Prices are easily within our range.

My blog on our trip to South Africa.......

Election 2006

2006-11-09T19:08:00.000Z

Woohooooo!!! The Dems did it! And the icing on the cake is Rumsfeld is gone. Leapt out of my chair when I heard that news.

Whale!!!!

2006-10-15T18:55:00.000Z

I was doing my step aerobics in the bedroom this afternoon and when I looked out at the water (sea loch) I noticed a brown 'thing' floating on the water. Then suddenly.... a big tail! My first thought was 'dolphin' and jumping off my step I yelled to hub to look. I then realized that with the size and the colour that it must be a whale. We watched it for nearly an hour as it came up for a few minutes then disappeared under the water for about 5 minutes.

We normally phone our next door neighbour when we've spotted dolphins, and did so this time. Our neighbour said he spotted it yesterday while sitting at the cafe down the road. He said others in the village had also seen it and consensus is that it's a Minke whale.

Update:
More news on our local whale. It's a Humpback whale - 50 feet long, 45 tonnes! Saw pics of it's tail taken from a boat. Saw dolphins Saturday night as well.

When I retire....

2006-10-14T18:54:00.000Z

I like to occasionally review my interests and things to do when I'm retired. I am still gobsmacked when I hear people say they don't know what they'll do when they retire.

My current list:

Learn:

French, Spanish (passable, not fluent)-Gaelic (if we move to a Gaelic-speaking island)
sign language(??)
more about Celtic history
more about photography
maybe take a class
more about ancient archaeology - specifically in Scotland
all about the area or island where we live
= = = = = = = =
travel, travel, travel
read all my books!
keep learning and practicing Buddhism
more trips for retreats
bake my own bread instead of using a machine
make homemade soups
do more cooking instead of dh doing it all
keep house organized at all times
no DIY stuff left undone
more hillwalking, biking
more canoeing and kayaking and improve my skills
write, write, write, improve writing skills
take up crewel embroidery again or learn needlepoint
re-do my website