WhooHooooo!

Hanging out for "Movember"!

Down, down, down...

Okie-doakie, then.  Done quite a lot of things on the ground this year, so now it's time to soar to new heights and move to some depths.  LOL, Well a couple of meters above ground and a couple of meters below the water - at least!!!

As mentioned in my previous post, we did the up, up, up thing, so now it was time to do the down, down, down thing.

And down...?  Where could that take me?  Exploring caves, mining, spelunking...

Well, so many choices, but most too far away and some I've done before.

The ocean has never held great attraction for me.  Don't get me wrong, I love the whole beach walking, sand-castle building, sea swimming, listening to the ocean thing, but for MY heart, it doesn't call to me like walking the mountains and exploring the land does.  In fact, some of our family live on the coast and the constant whispering, calling and often blustering noise of the winds and the waves, outside their homes gets on my nerves after a while, and I just want to go home to my peaceful quiet, no ocean world.

Well, scuba came up and as I haven't done that before - I thought this should be the way to go!

Down, down, down into the swimming pool we went - all 1 to 3 meters!  I am proud to say that I managed to do all the tasks set before us, such as, removing bubbles from my mask, removing and replacing the mouth piece, lying on the bottom of the pool, doing push-ups, swimming and even a somersault, (even though - I confess, I was the last person to do each thing, each time - well, mostly, and I was called a "fraidy cat", when I came out of the water by...  well..., not the instructor!)  I am thrilled to have had the experience!  So blessed.  Any negatives?  I was pretty cold, but that's about it!  Everything else was a fabulous and certainly not ordinary, experience.

Pic:  K HR

Pic:  K HR

 

 

Would I ever do this again?  Well, it was a great experience.  I can't fault it.  The instructor was AWESOME.  The company was FANTASTIC, but, I have been paragliding before, and I LOVED that more!  I  reckon I would jump off a mountain again faster than go Scuba Diving, but my hubby reckons no.  He thinks just add fish and coral, and I'd be there in a heart-beat!  We'll see -right?

 

 

 

 

 



Up, up, up...

 

I guess I have always been intrigued at the idea of walking through the tree-tops.  It just sounds so dreadfully romantic and picturesque.  It sounds like you'll see and hear life that wouldn't been seen or heard so easily down on the ground.  It sounds like you'll be able to look out and see the wonders of God's creation far and wide.  So when a friend told me that she had done the tree-top experience and raved on about it, my interest bubbled even more.

 

At least more than a year passed though, before the subject of walking through canopies of leaves was raised again.  This time by different friends.  On finding out its whereabouts and on invitation, we took to walkin' up high.  Well, not THAT high, but high enough to say we're walking through ornithological suburbs.

 

The metal bridge wobbled and wiggled from side to side, up and down and created quite a stir with multiple participants on the walk.  There was a view out to the ocean, but if there were any birds or wildlife in the trees prior to our arrival, they must have taken one look at the noise approaching and left the country - let's just hope - not permanently!

 

 

 

AND THE OVERALL FUN OF IT?    Well, we did the walk twice!  So, it was sorta mildly exciting !?  I think...

I would definitely do it again, but this time, with less of the anticipation of potential adventure and more as an afternoon stroll to enjoy the peace!

So then - what for September?

Well, as said before I plan to learn the guitar.

And so,  I cut my finger nails short and began my lessons.  Wow, those strings are pretty tough on these sweet little fingers of mine!  LOL.  Yes, what a wimp - I know.  I have been practising my strumming and the finger exercises of playing the notes one at a time.

I continue to persist in my endeavours.  I doubt there shall come a time, when anyone will buy an album of mine, however, I believe there will come a time when I will be able to play at least one song fluently. 

Anything else???

Well, actually yes, there was. 

FISHING!

Fishing?  You did what?  You went fishing?

I do not go fishing.  If I had to catch a fish I would not know what to do with it.  BUT yes, I did go fishing in September.

My husband fishes and I certainly didn't think it would be something that I would or ever COULD do, so I thought I would put myself to the test and try it out.  You know - push the limits - that's what this year is all about.  THIS WOULD PUSH ME RIGHT TO THE LIMIT.

Now let's put things into order here.  I am a big old softly when it comes to animals (and plenty of other things tooo)  and yes, that does include the sweet little fishies out there, so holding a fishing rod in my hands is a pretty big deal.  The idea was to go fishing with my hubby, enjoy the "fishing experience" with him and NOT CATCH A SINGLE THING!!!

Unfortunately, I am way too lucky for that!   IN FACT, read on and find out just how lucky I am...

It certainly was unbelievably soothing - just as my hubby said.  Casting, reeling, casting, reeling.  The sun going down.  Fisher people standing in and along the shallow water of the broader waters flowing in from the Pacific Ocean.  Cast and reel, cast and reel.  No breeze, soft sand, warm sun.  Casting and reeling.  I loved the throw of the line and funnily enough felt excited to see salmon jumping just past my throws.

Without thinking I began to pull a little harder than normal, saw my line straighten, gently, almost seasoned in my reeling began to lean back and reel slower but firmer.  Then, my brain caught up and I realised what I was doing...

A FISH!  I CAUGHT A FISH!

I screamed, threw my rod into the air and ran away waving my hands in the air, like... well, like a most UN-seasoned fisherperson!

"Help!"  I screamed, "Help me, I caught a fish!"  (And, yes there were snickers of laughter from some fishermen along the beach...  However...)

I was delivered by one of my children running to catch the rod.  They began to reel in my poor trapped catch! 

What laughter when the fish appeared.  The MOST PERFECT FISH I could have ever caught for myself.

The fish was dearly departed.

A fisherman had previously caught the fish, cleaned it and thrown it back into the waters.  My hook had sunk and caught on one of the bones.  I reeled in a dead fish.  It was in no way going to suffer in my hands, it had already died at the hands of another.  But there on the end of my rod was a full fish.


YES, I WENT FISHING AND I CAUGHT A FISH!!!!

 

Well, well, well...  little accidents sometimes cause BIG problems.

Just a few weeks ago, while we were still travelling through September, I found myself working at the computer and "zoom-kalaboom", just like that, my world spiralled into a bit of silliness for a few weeks.

Two blocks up the street a new young driver, travelling way too quickly, took the corner and smacked into an electrical pole.  Two family members actually heard the zing travel down the electricity lines before the power went out.  We are guessing that my computer must have been backing up at the time OR SOMETHING!!!  :), because, my computer was the only one in the house that bombed out.  I lost everything!   We had to buy a new hard drive.  After it was installed, the long tough road of trying to recover everything then ensued.  Finally though, things are now back to normal.

So, dear friends out there - you were not forgotten, instead, we have been working hard to get back to you as soon as we could.  And to the dear young driver who cost me a couple hundred dollars...    grrrrrr - slow down!