Category Archives: Philosophy

De…………..

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I have been considering doing a series of posts on decluttering – the how, why and when etc but I think that is going to have to wait until well into January as we are about to head off overseas for 5 weeks so my focus will be my travel blog, Somewhere, Anywhere. Please consider subscribing if you would like to follow along on our adventures.

In the meantime, here is something to get you thinking. I could not have said it better myself.

There will probably be another post or 2 here before we depart on Monday.

Countdown

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Almost 2 weeks since my last post. While I haven’t been writing there seems to have been plenty to keep me occupied. Sometimes it is difficult to get motivated to write as I am loathe to repeat myself and after 14.5 years of blogging it can begin to feel like more of the same. However, in a lot of respects our lives and routines are remarkably repetitive.

The spring weather is as unpredictable as ever with days that hint of the coming summer interspersed with others that feel like winter. Nevertheless, we are enjoying the spring flowers and fresh foliage growth. The fleeting nature of spring flowers makes them particularly special as we have a small window to enjoy them before they are gone for another year. The daffodils are finished but the wisteria are looking their best this week.

Like every year, 2025 seems to be gathering speed as we race towards the end of the year. We no longer have work Christmas parties, end-of-year school activities or even a huge focus on a family Christmas but the countdown to Christmas has crept up on me.

We had a short break last week and spent 3 nights at Walhalla, about 3 hours east of Melbourne. It is a historic gold-mining town which now has a permanent population of 20.

This is a view from our accommodation one evening.

It occurred to me today that it is 10 weeks until we fly to Europe for a trip which we hope may include a white Christmas.

Before that we have another 2 night short break here in Victoria as well as about 10 days in Queensland visiting family, a weekend of volunteering/attending the local Folk Festival and the usual round of events, meetings, visitors and so on.

I really do need to be organised to make sure everything goes smoothly.

How do you feel about the latter part of the year? Are you planning or already prepared for Christmas and the year’s end?

Do It Once

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Almost all of what I, and probably most of you, do is repetitive. Some things are repeated daily, weekly or less frequently. Things like meal preparation and washing up can even be multiple times each day.

However, there are some jobs which can be done once and once only. Many fall under the broader category of decluttering which in itself can seem like an endless task.

I recently cleaned up the desk in our small office which is a built-in desk in the walkway through to the laundry. Keeping this space free from clutter is an ongoing project and I completely understand that.

There were 6 small plastic boxes sitting one one corner of the desk. These had previously held photographic slides that belonged to my father. The slides have all been scanned and saved so I had disposed of the originals. The boxes were covered with adhesive labels and notations in permanent marker and I had been undecided as to whether I could repurpose the boxes. I possibly could but the question really is, ‘do I need them?’

After several months of seeing these boxes multiple times each day I decided that they could be used by someone else. So, the first step was to remove the labels and clean them up.

No before photo but here they are, ready to go. I plan to take them to the Bendigo Share and Repair Shed as I feel that someone will be able to use them.

I am sure that they will be perfect storage for someone’s small treasures.

Just because you don’t want to send something to landfill does not mean that you are obliged to keep it or even to find a way of using a particular item.

Opportunity Knocks

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Browsing in op shops can be a bit overwhelming if you don’t have some sort of strategy. When it comes to clothes I am always on the lookout for certain colours and types of fabrics as well as generally restricting myself to spots, stripes or plains. This way I can eliminate about 90% of the stock fairly quickly.

I have a bit of a mental wishlist but you also need to be alert to unexpected possibilities. This is particularly important to keep in mind as you can sometimes score some bargains by buying summer clothes in winter and vice versa.

When we were in Sale last week I spotted (pardon the pun) these trousers for $4. They are Fella Hamilton brand and made in Australia. I think they will be perfect for most of the year in our climate apart from the depths of winter or very hot summer days.

On our way home from Sale we stopped in Kyneton with the specific purpose of going to the Salvos op shop which I have previously found to be very good. We didn’t find anything on this occasion, however, we parked the car directly outside a secondhand shop which happened to have a rack of clothing on the footpath and I spied this jacket on the end of the rack. It has a fully detachable hood and lining as well as inside and outside pockets and a drawstring option at the waist. It will be a great addition to GMan’s selection of jackets and perfect for our overseas trip in December.

Meanwhile, 2 things that I have been actively searching for were a pair of tongs as GMan needed a pair for extracting lumps of charcoal from a jar jar of kerosene (his homemade firelighters) and a king-size sheet or doona cover in shades of pink. This is for the backing of the patchwork quilt I am currently making.

I was in Bendigo today and after my appointments I made a concerted effort and went to 6 op shops. At the final one I found both items that were on my list. One side of the doona cover will be perfect for the quilt backing. The tongs I found are brand new so I have earmarked them for the kitchen and the old ones can be used for the firelighters.

In another shop I picked up a dress for $5. It is a good quality knit fabric and will pair well with tights, boots and a coat and scarf. I did not bother trying it on but I suspect I may need to shorten the sleeves a bit.

The final buy was a set of 4 x double point knitting needles. All in all I have had a very successful week of op shopping.

Independence Day – A Reflection

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I know that I am a couple of days late for American Independence Day which is celebrated on 4th July. 6 years ago I had my own version of Independence Day as 4th July 2019 marked my last working day in the office. Interestingly enough, it took me another 3 weeks before I was sufficiently organised to even write a blog post which combines a measure of relief and optimism. You can read it here.

A themed dinner with work colleagues.

Well, here I am 6 years later and still writing this blog – I have actually been writing it since March 2011. Life has had some ups and downs, some expected and others totally unforeseen. We managed a mere 6 months of retirement before our collective worlds were turned upside down with the arrival of Covid-19 in early 2020.

There was plenty of time for gardening.

There have been family events – milestone birthdays and weddings as well as several funerals. The death of my mother in early 2021 left an enormous void in my life and that of many others.

Farewell, Mum.

While Covid-19 did put a dent in our overseas travel plans for a few years we made up for that with road trips within Queensland and interstate once the tightest restrictions had eased. The addition of a new puppy in 2020 gave us plenty of distraction, too. We resumed travelling abroad in 2024 and have plenty of plans for later this year and beyond.

The household seems to revolve around Islay.

Our biggest post-retirement change was a move from Queensland to regional Victoria. Although we bought a home that was only a couple of years old there continue to be some modifications needed to make it completely to our liking.

We have settled into life in our small country town and life hums along in a regular rhythm of activities at home, volunteering, cultural events, visits from family and friends as well as travel near and far.

Enjoying a local Writers’ Festival.

Did I really know what to expect from retirement? Not really, but it is simply a matter of finding your own pace and space.

Art For Art’s Sake

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Decluttering and minimalism are all about eschewing ‘stuff’ and some people seem to think that life is bland and missing something without possessions.

Now, I am not suggesting for one moment that I do not have stuff or that I am even a minimalist although I certainly do have less possessions than many people.

Experiences are valuable and mean much more to me than a house filled with possessions. Travel is always high on my list of experiences. Sometimes we travel specifically for art experiences and at other times we find cultural experiences along the way.

Just 12 months ago we went to Hobart for the express purpose of going to an exhibition titled ‘Lands of Light’ by Lloyd Rees at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery.

We discovered a very different but equally interesting exhibition in the adjacent gallery.

The next few months are filled with various artistic and cultural events. Some are very local, such as the Maldon Portrait Prize which celebrates local artists. We plan to view the entries at a local gallery sometime in the next week. Other planned trips include Bendigo to see the Frida Kahlo exhibition and well as going to the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne to see ‘French Impressionism’ from the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. We are also going further afield over the next couple of months to Gippsland Art Gallery in Sale to see ‘Turner and Australia’ which explores the influence of JMW Turner on the Australian art scene and the Art Gallery of South Australia for an exhibition titled, ‘Dangerously Modern: Australian Women Artists in Europe 1890 – 1940’.

Of course, art encompasses some many other mediums and we have tickets to several performances over the next few months beginning with our younger daughter’s dance concert tomorrow afternoon. Two live theatre productions round out our adventures for July. Live theatre is one of my great loves and I am looking forward to seeing Justine Clarke in a one-woman play, ‘Julia’ about Julia Gillard, Australia’s first (and so far, only female Prime Minister). The other is called Mother Play which premiered on Broadway in 2024. This version stars on of my favourite Australian actresses, Sigrid Thornton.

The opportunity to experience such diverse cultural experiences is worth more to me than a cupboard full of things.

What about you?

Weekend Wandering

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We were away from home for less than 23 hours on the weekend. Although we did have a specific purpose and destination it was almost as much about the journey.

When we go to Melbourne we drive or catch the train from Castlemaine depending on the reason and our destination. Catching the train means that we have to drive about 15km from home and leave the car in the station car park for the day. We have also arranged a lift from friends when our trip involved getting to the airport for overseas travel.

This time we made a conscious decision to make use of the very intermittent bus service from our small town to Castlemaine. We left home after lunch on Saturday and walked about 15 minutes to the bus stop.

After the short bus ride we arrived at Castlemaine Railway Station in plenty of time to connect with the next train to Melbourne.

The train terminates at Southern Cross Station.

Our next step was a short walk across the road to catch a tram. This is one of the older style trams. The ones that run the 96 route are the newer, double-length, flat floor models.

The No 96 tram passes Southern Cross Station on its route from St Kilda to East Brunswick. We were going to the terminus at East Brunswick. It was then a short 200m walk to our overnight accommodation at an Air BnB. The tram terminus was also directly outside the Lomond Hotel which was the reason for our adventure.

We went to the Lomond Hotel on Saturday evening for dinner and to see a band, ‘Streams of Whiskey’.

It was a fabulous evening and we definitely made correct decision to find accommodation nearby as the music began at 9pm and concluded about 11.30pm.

After a comfortable night at our accommodation we were off and ready to leave just before 9am and simply retraced our steps and public transport options before arriving home at midday on Sunday.

Back at Southern Cross and the train is ready to board.

The bus dropped us off around the corner from home.

I know public transport is not an option for everyone or for all situations but if you have the time and are prepared to do a bit of pre-planning it can work in many instances. Thanks to reduced regional fares/concession/weekend fares the total transport cost for our return adventure was $22.80. Moreover, we did not have to drive or find parking.

Inertia

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It is over 2 weeks since my last post but I have not been overly busy. So, why has my lofty goal of writing a post every second day fallen so spectacularly by the wayside? I have had time to write, computer and internet access as well as plenty of potential material but still no posts.

I look back on the last 2 weeks and my last post was immediately following Easter and my birthday which coincided this year. The intervening time has included several milestones.

25th April is ANZAC Day, the anniversary of the day of the landing of the Allied Forces at Gallipoli in 1915. While not at the original landing, my paternal grandfather did serve at Gallipoli. It is a day to reflect and honour our servicemen and women from all theatres of war.

The remembering did not end that day as 26th April was the fourth anniversary of my mother’s death. The passage of time does dim the acute grief but I miss her every day and this time of the year is particularly poignant.

Grief was brought sharply into focus with the recent death of my uncle and I am currently making a brief visit to Queensland to attend his funeral and importantly, to support my cousins at this time.

There is definitely a degree of inertia with respect to the garden. I feel as though we are all holding our collective breath as we wait for the season to break and bless the ground with some rain. Autumn is definitely with us but it still feels unseasonably warm for the beginning of the second week of May.

The other significant event here is the federal election in Australia. It was held on Saturday 3rd May and we are certain of the main result there are still quite a number of unresolved contests as the counting and recounting continues.

We also cannot ignore global events such as the conflicts in Gaza, Ukraine and other places around the world. The impacts of decisions by President Trump continue to cause ripples across the globe which will impact us all. The recent death of Pope Francis and the current conclave to elect his successor are also of note. While it is important to be aware of national and global events, it is wise not to let it overwhelm us.

On the local front, I have had plenty to occupy my mind as I am working on some administrative documents for voluntary work.

All of these things have diverted my attention from the minutiae of my daily activities which is where I draw most of the inspiration for my blog posts.

Meanwhile, life keeps rolling on. Apart from my flying visit to Queensland we are actually on a bit of a road trip to South Australia. You can read more about it here. There may be one or two more holiday posts in the next few days before we head for home.

I hope to share some more of our activities in home once we get back. Please let me know if there is anything in particular you would like me to write about. Most of my posts fall under the general headings of:

Gardening
Cooking
Sewing
Op shopping
Cleaning
Renovations
Decluttering
General organisation

I would love to hear your thoughts.

No Visible Change

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I have spent most of today decluttering but I have very little to show for my efforts.

This is the view of the storage in our office and it looks exactly the same as when I started.

The reason is because I sorted out some of the paperwork which lives in one of these drawers. Some might say that it is not clutter if it fits neatly in a drawer. However, these are papers that are no longer required for a variety of reasons so I shredded them.

The drawer now looks like this. There are now 6 cardboard folders for different categories – 2 were discarded as the contents were all obsolete. It is hard to believe that we once had a 4 drawer filing cabinet.

I ended up with half a bag of shredded paper.

So, why bother doing this when I have plenty or space to store it? The documents I shredded are entirely obsolete and/or I have digital copies. They included tax returns and bank statements more than 5 years old and the like. I generally clear these things out every year or so. By having less it make the important things easier to locate when required.