A Buskers Festival

During my travels in Australia I had a few unique experiences. One of them was attending a Buskers Festival.

The sign said “A Buskers Festival” – in the town of Morte Lake. My first thought was “doesn’t Morte mean something to do with death?” and I was unsure if this was indeed a festival or a gathering of evil forces. Either way it was something we decided we needed to attend. We drove for hours then parked our car on a grassy knoll near a huge wooden fence. The smells of delicious meats, cheeses and delectable desserts, the sounds of fiddles, banjos, drums and instruments we couldn’t name rushed at us as we opened our car doors to step into the Busker Festival World. We strolled through the festival and immediately felt like we were part of a huge family. Everyone greeted us, everyone smiled, and no one was rushed or impatient. The entire air was buzzing with the most intense wonderful feeling. We saw unicyclers, singers, dancers, comedians and a fire eater! We watched a group of carnies dance the Chicken Dance while selling their wares. We walked through mountains of clothing, jewelry, pottery and various crafts of the vendors. It was a day of celebration, although I don’t believe we ever found out exactly what was being celebrated, it was obvious that it was something important. When we left there it was sad. Driving off to the next adventure was somewhat quiet for a few hours - which was nice in a way. We were headed off to see the fairy penquins! Its a real spectator sport with bleachers on the beach and everything! We sat for what seemed like a few hours - but then I started seeing little miniature black dots being rolled over and over by the waves crashing into Phillips Island. We were there with hundreds of people to witness the little fairy penguins coming home after being out to sea looking for food. I was struck by the perseverance of these tiny creatures that would put any athlete to shame. No matter how many times they were washed back out to sea, they kept coming toward shore, to their homes and their babies.

Watching these miniature creatures in tuxedos made me feel inadequate in my attempts at being something or someone in my life. Their determination awoke in me a desire and determination to take on my own dreams and goals. Walking next to them as they hurried toward their burrows, I felt in awe; they totally ignored all the humans around them and performed the tasks at hand. Their instinct was to get home and take care of their wee ones; the intruders at hand would have to wait. I could hear the song in my head “hi ho hi ho”…. thinking of the dwarfs in that fairy tale. Those fairy penguins were a source of delight for everyone who watched them that evening. Thinking about those penquins has got me focused again on my task at hand which is to build a business to live my dreams! Watch out world..... :)

Reflections of Travels....

I love to travel. I have been in almost every state in the continental U.S. I have traveled to Costa Rica, Australia, Taiwan, Mexico.... and of course Canada - I love Montreal! I plan on visiting Paris for my 55th birthday - climbin up that Eiffel Tower if it kills me! I am working toward a life where I can travel anywhere, anytime with whomever I want to. :) yea!! Traveling is good for your body, your mind and your soul. In general visiting new places stimulates you and makes you realize there is so much more to life than what is right in front of you. In thinking about what I want to do and where I want to go in the future I am so grateful for what I have now and where I have been. I wrote down some of my past traveling thoughts ---- hope you enjoy them.

Standing on the beach in Quespos in January (away from the winter in VT!), I watched the firey red waves created by the most gorgeous sunset ever, and I decided this is what makes life grand, special moments like this. I felt like I could touch the bright orange ball in the sky. As the waves crashed against the shore, the firey red waves turned into a cool, gorgeous aqua blue that rolled over my toes. The birds rose up into the glow looking larger than life, as the breeze swept them into the sun. What a perfect way to end a perfect day in Costa Rica. We were staying at a bed and breakfast where we were treated like royalty. Si Commo No is a little unknown place sitting high on a hill overlooking the Pacific Ocean and the town of Quespos. It has a pool bar, the friendliest bartenders and waiters in town, and lizards everywhere! You can get to the pool bar by walking down the stairs, or sliding down into the water on the slide. Either way you choose to arrive, you will be treated to tantalizing fruit drinks and entertainment from the staff.

I can't wait to go back there! I loved Costa Rica - and traveling there was only topped by the trip to Australia!

Driving down the Great Ocean Road you can see huge stone columns jutting out of the water – like giant sentries standing guard over the shores of southern Australia – allowing no man or beast to enter upon the golden sand from the sea. Their shadows’ move across the sands as the sun goes down – looking like a watchful eye sweeping the landscape for intruders or anything out of place. You feel so small and insignificant standing looking at these giant fixtures.

Seeing Australia by car is one of the best ways to visit little towns and site see along the way. Driving on the wrong side of the road is very interesting! The adventure begins the minute you get in the car and actually have to think about what side of the road to go on. No right hand turns on red after stop “down under”! No way, it’s a left hand turn after stop if you please. And if anyone is out for a walkabout – they do have the right of way (or is it left of way?) After a few panicking moments and only one loud scream from my traveling companion, we were on our way.

Hiking in the Grampian Mountains in Australia was like walking through a haunted forest in any good fairy tale. The trees were bent over creating little houses and hiding places for things that I am sure were watching us walk through their world – gremlins, goblins and possibly leprechauns, maybe fairies or pixies. On a trail named “Happy Forest” I found myself in an opening in the woods that looked to be a meeting spot. There were stumps and clumps of ground that resembled the seating places of mysterious visitors. I could imagine all those creatures having a meeting to decide the very fate of the travelers in their forest. As I moved further into the forest, I saw a sign – a real sign “please stay on the path, unexploded land minds around” ---- was this another warning for us to get out of the forest? Needless to say my feet walked one in front of the other on the path -like a sobriety test -the remainder of the way! The plants, the trees, the flowers, the rocks – all were beautiful, almost intensified, like someone had thrown glitter and happy dust all over. At the very top of the place we were hiking to – we found a massive rock – we climbed on top and sat watching the forest – the birds were everywhere, beautiful white and colored cockatiels and cockatoos. We were so high up that we had to look down to watch them flying around. The sounds of the forest came to life as we sat and listened. While sitting there with my daughter watching this world go by I decided this really was fairyland indeed, and Happy Forest was the appropriate name for this magical place. Now if we only make it back down the trail with no land mines exploding!


More adventures of Australia to follow ---- ever been to a Buskers Festival?

So many things are getting me STEAMED!!

Man - I don't know if it's the stage of the moons cycle, or the air, or the water - but everything I am reading about in the past 24 hours has me steamed! Ticked off, pissed off, and ready to do something about it. I saw a commercial this morning on TV - a man and woman in a nice home talking about having a mouse problem - she whips out this new trap by ortho - that is comes in multilevel wrapping and is plastic and is DISPOSABLE so you don't have to see a dead mouse --- good grief! Give me a break -what do you think would happen to them if they actually saw a dead mouse? So now we have a ton of extra stuff getting THROWN away instead of recycled --- this is ridiculous. The problem is they will sell a ton of them. I am boycotting this company! Get a cat for petes sake! And then I see a Youtube video on aspartame. We always knew that stuff was bad - but all I can say now is RUN, RUN as fast as you can to get away from that stuff. It's in so many products though - be careful - read about it - watch the youtube video http://bit.ly/2e1NVX (copy and paste that in a browser window). If I read or listen to one more thing that puts me over the edge today I may go on a rampage -- on my blog of course, not out in the world! LOL.... so... fall is here - leaves have changed and are dropping off the trees, the air is crisp, the sun is almost shimmering in the air and it WILL be a better day as time goes on! Keep smiling people - and do something good for the world today.

Passions and Dreams

I have been listening to alot of motivational type audios and videos lately. I am pumped up about so many things in my life that I feel like I will explode with excitement!
Even a few short months ago if someone asked me "What is your Dream?" "What do you want to do with your life?" "Whats your passion?" - I would have had to really think about it and it would change as rapidly as I spoke about it. I didn't know what I really wanted to do, I had no idea what my dreams were - I had forgot how to dream BIG - really big. I am learning how to do that again and I am soooooo excited about it I can't even begin to tell you. I listened to a guy named Sam Crowley - he has a website called Everyday is Saturday and he is so motivating and exciting to listen to. He has me FIRED UP on my life! So stay tuned as I am going to be posting lots of things about my dreams, my passion and what I am going to DO with my life. I also am glad I have a vehicle to allow me to live those really BIG dreams I have now ---- I am grateful for that. I am grateful that this was introduced to me at the time it was - so many great things going on. Can't wait to share it - but not all at once! :) Stop worrying about the economy and start thinking and being positive about what you HAVE already - this isn't a foo-foo idea and I'm not off my rocker - but I swear that when you put what you want out into the Universe - and then PAY ATTENTION TO WHAT YOU NOTICE - the Universe if helping you get to those dreams - so don't walk through life feeling sorry for yourself, think BIG, dream BIG - and watch for the path to show up to get there! Have a great day, a great week - and DREAM BIG and have a GREAT LIFE!

Time flies...

Can you believe it's fall? Sept 9th already? WOW -- we didn't have much of a summer here in VT so I'm hoping that fall is going to be OUTSTANDING! If you have read any of my blog posts you know that fall really is my favorite time of year. Sitting on my back deck soaking up the late afternoon sun is definitely one of my fav things to do. Right now I'm on the deck watching two chipmunks chase each other back and forth and back and forth across the lawn. Angry? or trying to get friendly? LOL - who knows it's comical though.
I think we are in for a tough cold winter - I have been watching the squirrels and chipmunks for some weeks now and they have been busy busy busy building up their food supply. The chipmunks have even dug out (and I mean a huge pile of dirt) the stone wall - I think they have built a condo in there or something. Wow - better there than under my house I guess.
Fall really is a time to start storing things and cleaning up and buttoning up for winter. We should pay attention to the animals and act accordingly. Me? I'm stocking up on my supplements and vitamins for a cold hard winter. I thought about a H1N1 flu shot this year but they scare me! Man - have you noticed the stuff in it? The side effects that could happen? etc? shudder.... maybe some extra Vitamin C and D - Vitamin D is the new C this year. Many drs have stated that we aren't getting enough Vitamin D --- we use alot of sunscreen (that's good - but not so good too as the sun is where we get alot of our vitamin D) and we aren't outside as much as we used to be back in the olden days - alot of office jobs - alot of driving - lot less sunshine (and with the way this summer was in VT - ALOT less sunshine!). So get your vitamins, get your supplements, grab a fuzzy ol' blanket and make like a chipmunk and hibernate! http://brendasabin.com (search for Vitamin D - Isotonix is awesome)

Ah... The Life of a Hunter's Wife!

The Hunting Wife’s Life!
When you are a young teenager and you have grown up with a family of hunters all your life it’s normal to date a hunter. You want someone who will fit in with your family as well as someone to be proud of when they get their first big buck, especially their first legal buck!
Where I grew up boys were shooting their first bucks illegally by the time they were 10 and wives were getting deer shot and tagged in their names while they were still settled in with their curled up hair on their pillows. So dating a hunter is kind of a status thing when you are young and grew up where I did. When I was 14 I dated a boy who was from a family of serious hunters so I learned that boys will hunt and the women folk will hang out together all secretly harboring resentment that it’s assumed they will hang out because their men folk are hunting together. But…as it went it wasn’t all that bad to hang out with the women while my “man” was hunting.

Then as I got into my twenties I married a hunter (a different one, but still a hunter). In the beginning those assumed rules of my teens carried over – and by then I had 2 kids and those rules became more a part of my life – hanging with the women folks and our babies now that the men were off “killing sumpin”. Of course the resentment building up now was not from the fact that I was hanging with the other women bitching about our hunting men, but the fact that HE was not doing anything to help in the house or helping with the kids. But that’s the way it was. After all he got up early to truck out into the woods in the snow and cold to bring home some meat for the family. He was entitled to come home, strip off his hunting gear down to his long johns, eat dinner that I made and then kick back in the recliner with food all over his shirt, mouth wide open and a sound coming out of his nose that sounded like a chainsaw running next door.

Going into my thirties this entire hunting thing was becoming an annoyance. I looked at it now as something that was just plain stupid and a total waste of time. Now married to another hunter (when am I going to learn?) this man was still acting like twenty year old playing those hunting games with the other men he hung out with. Be assured that hunting season is not just the dates you can actually HUNT – it involves months of pre-talk and planning and rehashing old stories from years gone by – and of course it involved post-hunt talks and long drawn out stories of each step and movement they took in their quest to “kill sumpin” along with the rehashing of those old stories AGAIN. So as the kids got older and I got tired of hanging with the women folk I was beginning to view hunting as a deadly enemy of mine.

Once I turned 40 things got even uglier with my view of hunting. What is the big draw? Why do men get up early, dress up in camouflage clothing, grab a gun and go out into the woods to shoot an animal that did nothing to tick them off when there is perfectly good hamburger, steaks and roasts at the supermarket? It’s not like we were going to starve if a deer was not killed. However, being 40 with the kids out of the house mostly and plenty of time on my hands I was resentful of not having time to spend with my husband so I basically hated hunting and let him know all the time that is exactly how I felt. Poor man – he was as passionate about his hobby as he was in his teens, his wife was just not as passionate with him anymore! But as the sign in his den says “Honey AFTER hunting season, you are #1” I figured a few months out of the year being #2 wasn’t all that bad. Hmmph, his den, that’s the room my daughter affectionately calls the “DEATH ROOM”. Some say it’s a man’s cave – or some crap like that.

Well I’m now in my 50’s…. my husband (same one!)still loves hunting and I am beginning to see just how beautiful hunting season really is! Those glorious days and weeks of being alone in the house, watching what I want on TV, cooking what I want for dinner or just getting take out, watching old love story movies (Red Box and I became quite intimate) while he is gone on a hunting trip. Today you won’t hear me complaining about hunting at all - now you will hear me saying things like “Aren’t you going to NY too this year?” “Why not?” – “Oh honey you should go to NH, NY AND Idaho this year”…. My how times have changed.

What is it about hunting that strikes something in the hearts of men? What is it about the actual hunt, the stalking, the winning over the animal and the kill? I guess as a woman they only thing I can equate that with is shopping! It’s like going on a hunt right? Let’s say you know you want a black skirt and purple sweater to wear to that special dinner – so you set off on foot or car and go from store to store searching for the right color, the right size and when you find it – bam! You have won! You succeeded in your quest to “get” that skirt and sweater (hopefully no other woman has the other end of it as a tug of war will ensue).

I hate driving or walking to the store. I hate the in and out the back and forth the waste of my time. I shop online where I can hunt in my underwear and even though I don’t use a gun - I use a bag of tricks I have up my sleeve – like coupon codes for special deals and my hot deals tab – AND my search feature! No skirt, sweater or any other item I want can hide from THAT search engine– it’s powered by Microsoft FAST – and it is!

It not only finds you what you want – it does all the comparison shopping for you –giving you a list of the stores and prices right then and there so you get the best deal! WOW – this would be like my husband having a gun that can shoot around corners – think how excited he would be!

The way my husband hunts is by spending hours and hours searching, looking and calculating how to best get what he wants, the elusive big buck. I spend minutes doing the same thing. My husband gets up early, has to dress warm, leaves the warm house out into the cold and has to DRIVE somewhere where he then will subject himself to the elements to seek out his treasure. ME? I get up, grab some hot coffee, walk 45 feet to my computer, put on my bunny slippers, stretch, yawn and go after my quarry.
Check my site out http://brendasabin.com