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Tag: journal
25th Anniversary!
Last month, it marked 25 years since Susan and I went out to dinner for the first time. Every year since, we’ve celebrated the occasion by spending either the weekend or the day on or close to the day in November. We’ve been married now for over 22 years.
We normally celebrate it in Berrima, NSW as it was in Berrima that Susan finally said yes to going out with me (after saying no, 5 times). What changed, you might ask? There’s a little more to it but that’s a story for another day.
Berrima, as ‘Aussie Towns’ states is ‘a historic village driven by tourism and handicrafts surrounded by farming and grazing, coal mining and cement manufacture.’
We always have a meal or two down there and although the order of things has changed over the years, there are shops/places within the town that we always visit and others that ‘come and go.’
One such place we used to love was ’Sprinkles’, a Christmas shop with all manner of decorations for sale including those charming musical and voice or movement-activated decorations. It was such a treat and we used to by a special decoration there each year. Sadly, the owner retired a couple of years ago and closed it down.
Another special place is Berkeleouw’s Book Barn which used to have 300,000 second-hand books. It now only holds 200,000 as the owners diversified (to stay afloat). It now has a Wedding Reception Centre, a Wine-Tasting facility and a coffee alcove and a restaurant where the eating space can be enlarged as some of the sturdy bookshelves are on wheels, thus can be wheeled towards the other bookshelves that line the walls to create more room for tables.
As a bookshop it has a different charm now to what it used to have. Not better, just different and we still enjoy ‘unearthing book treasure there!’ It’s great that they also retained the grand, old fireplace which is surely needed in the colder months in the Southern Highlands.
There are many other shops, including ‘Mrs Old Bucks Pantry’, ’Six Impossible Things’,’The Bay Tree Gallery’ (that has a wide variety of Artistic endeavours on display/sale’, ’Sticky Beaks Vintage Emporium’ (which is like 10 shops in one), ’The Little Hand-Stirred Jam Shop’, ‘The Brown Shutter’ but to name a few.
As you can see, we love our trips to Berrima. It’s a special time for us and our visits there have added so many more special memories along the way.
Written by David Johnson
December 2019
Words Cascade
Millthorpe – A Picturesque and Historical Village
As the ‘Aussie Towns’ weblink* says, “Millthorpe is a picturesque and historic village set amidst gently rolling hills.”
What has drawn us to visit this lovely little Village over that number of years is a connection that started back when my wife, Susan met Diane and David at school back in the 1970’s and they remain close friends to this day. Diane and David have 6 boys, 3 of which are still at home.
Over the years we have been up there many times, though usually it was for Christenings, a Wedding and Family functions of different sorts or just visiting.
In that entire time, I had never really spent much time in the centre of the Village so went we went up earlier last month, I seized my chance, both on an observation, photographic and sketching level.
I had a lovely time wandering the streets, visiting a community gallery, a gallery/guest house, RoseBank, in an old Bank building as you might have guessed and a private gallery with innumerable types of Art in it.
With my DSLR camera I photographed the quiet country streets, one which had a beautiful arrangement of Flora on the Nature-strip and the Heritage-listed buildings. I sketched a couple of the churches and took many reference photos with my phone.
After so many years, it was so good just to wander around the Village.
If you are looking for a quiet, out-of-the-way stay and a base to explore this region, then pop in and have a look at the sleepy Village of Millthorpe. I think you will be pleasantly surprised.
Written by David Johnson
1 December 2019
Peace I Did Find
Fight Another Day!
Visually Sensual
Creating New Habits, Not Resolutions – Part 2
Back in January this year, I published a post on this blog titled, ‘Creating New Habits, Not Resolutions.’
I related how that there were certain positive changes that I wanted to implement in my life. I set up a spreadsheet, listed the new habits and proceeded to (over time) introduce new habits one-by-one, so as not to overload myself. Each day, I checked the ones off I had done.
It seemed like a great idea at the time, however, as life does (when you set goals) all sorts of challenges came up, notwithstanding the biggest which was family related involved the health of my wife’s parents (which is ongoing).
By the time all 11 new habits were in play, I only managed to achieve all of them done, 5 times i.e. there were 5 days when all 11 habits were checked off. The rest of the time some were and some weren’t…
Some of the new habits were, meditation, walking, exercising, watercolour sketching…
By the time June 2019 arrived I began to realise that it just wasn’t working. One of the problems was that I seemed to be ‘just checking them off to say that they were done…’ and it became a chore rather than the seamless inclusion in my life that I was expecting.
Watercolour sketching was the only habit that I checked off every day. As of yesterday, I have completed a Watercolour Sketch 228 days in a row.
Observations from this exercise are:
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I was putting too much pressure on myself
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Watercolour sketching is now my meditation
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I’m now aiming (one at a time) to add 3 new habits into my life
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I believe there is enough pressure in life without us putting more upon ourselves.
We are a week into Spring in Sydney, Australia. It is starting to warm up a little so I think regular walking will be the next habit I introduce.
Keep smiling!
Written by David Johnson
11 September 2019
Do Our Traces Remain?
That Simple Pleasure
Communicating Creatively 