Zesty Mumma's Words

A life lived without passion is a life half lived

Archive for the tag “observation”

04 Jul 2014

Friday Night Music Festivals – Take it Away Mr. Neil Young.

“Heart of Gold”, what does that mean to you? Probably not a lot if you are under thirty five, but for me it was like a revelation. I have heard people speak about how they felt when they first heard the Beetles. Well I have never had that reverential feeling about them. Don’t get me wrong I definitely recognise the incredible talent that is John Lennon and co, maybe I was just too young.

Which brings me back to Mr Young, Neil Young, the master songwriter. I can still remember the first time I heard that song. I was walking down the corridor at my school on my way to lunch. It was as if the pied piper had called me. I had no will, I had to follow the siren song and find out who was singing. The awe I felt at that moment has never subsided.

I love music, I am eclectic and love finding new Indie artists but Mr Young still does it for me. At the moment I am listening to Harvest, it is Friday night and the CD is cranking. I do this same thing a few times every year for the past thirty years, I call it my Neil Young Friday Night Festival.

Good music speaks to your heart, it doesn’t matter if you feel the same way about the Smashing Pumpkins or maybe you remember the first time you heard Pearl Jam, your heart is involved and it is a beautiful thing. Suddenly you have a sound track to your life and it won’t matter what point you are in your life, you will always have that. It will help you soar and it will cradle you when you are sad.

As I finish this first little post the Friday Night Music Festival is winding up. – Take it Away Mr. Neil Young

The guitar solo in” Words (between the lines of age”  has just reached a crescendo so I feel it is appropriate I finish here and return to my listening. Enjoy your Friday night, where ever in the world you are. Whether you have returned home from a long hard day at work. Or you have finally gotten the kids to sleep after an equally punishing day. Relax, crank up the music and let the sound track of your life take you away to another place, if ever so briefly, it can do you the world of good.

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01 Jul 2014

The Road to Nelson – the home of Sid and Night Swimmers!

What I didn’t tell you last week was that I was travelling with my friend Claire.

I used to think, when I was married and had children in tow, that I would love to be alone sometimes.  But once you are it is a very different situation.  I remember the first time I was able to wander around Byron Bay (my favourite place in the world) by myself. The first hour was great and I was able to be just Stephanie, not mum or wife, just Stephanie. But a very strange thing happened – I began wishing that I had someone to have a coffee with, very strange and very unexpected. And to coin a phrase made famous by that prophet of modern cinema, Hugh Grant, in “About a Boy”, I realised   “I was not an island”.  Anyway so, the point is I realised that I needed people, so now I travel with friends and at least the last couple of times, that would be Claire. So my advice is find a travel buddy!

We arrived in Nelson after about an hour drive from Picton, past wineries (Stoneleigh was one that I remember) and picture perfect scenery.  Nelson is  a pretty little town set by the water. It is actually a major port for fishing, timber and yachties. We had already booked our accommodation at The Bug Backpackers. It turned out to be a great choice, situated about 1km from the Nelson CBD but that wash’t a problem for us cause we had a car. It is very clean and has a great garden out the back. I was glad we had pre booked a twin room cause everything was full. It was perfect for us and  even had a sink, which isn’t always the case The owners  are an English couple who love living in NZ. They care about their backpackers and you can tell, which is more than I can say for some. In the morning there is freshly brewed coffee and fresh baked bread in the kitchen, but you have to get in quick cause  it is a first in first served situation.

Nelson is an arty town and there is plenty to see and enjoy. It is funny cause many years ago my ex and I gave a person called Sid  a lift to Sydney from Queensland. He actually came from Nelson  and worked on the fishing trawlers there. I had this badly misconceived idea about the type of person that lived in Nelson based on what Sid had told us about his live in Nelson, and that wasn’t pretty if you know what I mean.

We did try to find some live music on the second night we were there but unfortunately on a Thursday night the entertainment doesn’t start till 10 or 10.30 pm. Far too late a start for me and I can hear all you young people scoffing, don’t worry you’ll feel the same soon.

Anyway there  is something else that is very interesting about Nelson, it is the closest in Temperature to Australia than any other NZ destination. Apparently it i is very sheltered so the weather doesn’t vary too much  from Summer to Winter. The temperature in February when we were there was fabulous.

There is another interesting thing we noticed about Nelson, the residents come out to swim after seven o’clock at night. Apparently they have this tradition of evening swimming. Weird right? They have a long twilight so it is still quite light till late at night even at the end of Summer.   I heard a story while I was there about a group of swimmers in Nelson ( they were actually a club of night swimmers) that were followed by something with a fin. It was said to be a dolphin hut hey I’m Australian and I know that if you are being followed by anything with a fin at night you can bet your life it’s usually a shark.

* Nelson had great op shops in the same street as we were staying.

* We picked up the cutlery etc I mentioned last week.

* We did our shopping at a major supermarket in Nelson

* I also picked up homemade jam, relish and lemons from senior citizen stalls

Motueka and Golden Bay next week.

 

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25 Jun 2014

Not a Place for the Faint Hearted – The Boxing Day Sales.

The fallen lay defeated on the battlefield. Meer shells of humanity, unable to speak about the horrors they had faced. The retreat had begun early in the campaign and by 4.00pm the exodus had escalated to a stampede.  Only those with true stamina survived the melee.  This was a battle not  for the physically strong  but the mentally strong.

Yes I braved the boxing day sales, stepping over broken husbands strewn across the path as I entered the Plaza.  Why, why why do they allow themselves to be subjected to the torture. They’re not built like us, they don’t have the shopping gene. The noise, the lights, the million and one items to find and purchase, oh the pure confusion of it all.  Like little animals in the glare of a thousand headlights, their eyes dart back and forth in alarm, hearts racing, exhibiting the jerky, erratic movements only fear can cause. Can’t their carers see the pain they are in?

Lets face it the ability to shop is a very underrated skill, one that truly warrants deep analysis. If you think about what it takes to be successful at the Boxing Day sale you may be surprised at how significant this is for success in other areas of your life.

Firstly you definitely need stamina as I have previously mentioned. Also needed is ingenuity, there are any number of people out their tying to find that ultimate bargain just like you, so you have to get there first.  Concentration, now that is of the utmost importance, no distraction can be allowed. No screaming children or disgruntled husbands can sidetrack you from your mission.

Maybe this is where the education system has been failing society. Lets do away with geography (we’ve got Google earth now anyway) and social studies (Social media has done away with the need to meet face to face these days) and replace them with shopping studies.

Highly developed Shopping Genes may hold all the ingredients for all the worldly success anyone could want, stamina, ingenuity and concentration, what more could you need!

 

 

 

 

 

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24 Jun 2014

Touring New Zealand – Expect Visual Overload

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New Zealand is an amazing place, most of the time it is simply an assault on the senses.  Visual overload goes with out saying, I find myself literally gasping at every bend in the road.

The waters of Marlborough sound, so deep and pure rush past the ferry as it makes it’s way to Picton. The hills that form the sides of the Sounds stand steep and tall, like the buttress walls of a fortress, and race at an astonishing gradient down to the water. Snuggly nestled in the little bays that line the shore are picturesque homes, ready fuel for your imagination. What would it be like to get your mail or go shopping by boat? What do you do if you run out of milk, no 711 round the corner?

Picton is a lovely town and perfect entry point to New Zealand’s South Island, with a great “I Site” (tourist information centre) close to the ferry terminal.   There are many good eateries in and around the main street, and you should take the time to refresh, check your petrol and map before heading out of town.

Most tourist keep moving but there is of course an excellent range of accommodation in Picton for anyone wanting to explore the Sound.

It’s really important to remember that although New Zealand may only be a small country with relatively short distances between destinations that doesn’t mean the your trip will be quick. The steep nature of the country and windy roads can double and sometimes even triple the time it normal takes to cover the same distance on a straight road. Having said that, the roads generally aren’t congested and driving is quite relaxing, except when you get stuck behind a convoy of camper vans heading up a mountain pass.

Helpful Hints

* I always travel by hired car when I tour  NZ. Their government requires vehicles to have safety checks every six months, therefore, even the cheapest of hire cars are well maintained. So don’t feel you need to go up market.

* If you pre- order your ferry tickets from the Inter Islander you get a significant discount

*Bring (or buy from an op shop) a thermos, always important to have access to warm drinks in a cold country. Also from the op shop find some cutlery & crockery. Another good thing to pick up is a blanket, you never know when the weather may change.

* A $3.00 insulated bag from Countdown (NZ supermarket chain) will mean you can carry milk and any other food Item that may need to be kept cool.

Next – On to Nelson and Golden Bay

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20 Jun 2014

Hard Work isn’t a dirty word, it’s a Necessity For Success

Yesterday I had to prepare a submission for a business owner. She was asked to speak about what she felt were the key elements of her success . I know this person very well and am one a small group who have seen how hard she has worked to achieve success.

Below is the list I prepared for this submission.

*          Vision  – You need to see where you are going to be able to make a choice of which path to take.

*          Passion – Loving what you do is vital cause it is going to get hard sometimes and only love will keep you going.

*          Respect – For your customers, Staff and suppliers cause you’re not alone on this journey.

*          Innovation – to be the best at what you do you have to be a leader not a follower. Striving to be ahead of the pack gets you noticed.

*          Tenacity – Last on this list but it may be the most important.  There are days when you will be barely hanging by the skin of you  teeth. You will need all the will you can muster just to lift your head off the pillow some morning’s. Tenacity is vital cause you’ll have to fight tooth and nail to make a go of it.

There have been times when I have honestly wondered how she survived but no matter what or how she was feeling she just kept going.

Which brings me to my point. Up until recently there has a trend that goes something like this. “tell a child they can be anything they want to be and the they will succeed.”

Really?

What about working hard, Is it a dirty word?

Success ALMOST never just happens. I am not just talking about your working life either, hard work is needed in every facet of your life.

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18 Jun 2014
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What Do Women Want Today?

What do women want today, I am a woman and they totally confuse me sometimes so I have no idea how men cope?  Yesterday I heard about a marriage that had just ended. It is often a sad occurrence when this happens but particularly so in this case. To start with the couple had only been married for a year.  They must have at least thought there was a possibility that they could make a go of it when they decided to marry. You would hope it wasn’t a whim, right?

 

Now here is the main reason this case is so poignant, the groom had secretly planned and executed a second wedding to celebrate the anniversary of the first one.  The reason was simple, the couple married in a registry office and he wanted to give his bride the wedding he thought she deserved.

 

Really? I think he may be rethinking that opinion.

 

The bride thought she was being taken away for a beach weekend to celebrate her birthday. That fact alone makes me think there may be a bit of narcissism happening with this young lady. Meanwhile her husband had planned and booked a renewal of vows with an amazing ceremony at a spectacular winery, followed by a full reception for seventy guests. He had also invited and paid for a large number of the bride’s family to be flown in from outside Australia to attend.

By all accounts Saturday 17th May was a beautiful day for all who attended.

 

Obviously all except the bride cause barely a month later she is outta there.

 

Now I don’t presume to imagine that I can ever know what goes on in private but lets pull this a part.  Here is a couple who had only been married for a year and

a husband that tries to make his wife feel special when he can. On paper you would have to think they had a good chance to make it work if they both put in a little effort.

 

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05 Jun 2014

Signs of Ageing No. 2 – Vanishing Car Keys

If Jimmy Barnes doing a Telstra Ad was my number 1 sign of getting old, I now have number 2.

Yesterday was a bad day, not going into detail but lets just move on. I parked my car under the carport, thinking for a brief moment that it would be terrible if I misplaced my key’s as then I wouldn’t be able to move it. That would mean Claire couldn’t get her car out and she couldn’t go to work.  I opened the door of my house with the keys and voilà, that’s the last I saw of them.

Not that I realised that it would be the last I saw them. This only happened about the time I wanted to move the car. That was about half an hour before I knew Claire would be wanting to leave.

As the panic set in I thankfully employed one the best aspects of maturity, ingenuity. I had actually angle the car so that even with a locked steering wheel the car would roll straight into the opened garage. So I knocked the car out of gear, took the hand break off and began pushing it toward the garage.  Just couldn’t get it over the last little bit of concrete to get it inside. I was really hoping that I could get the car all the way in before I had to admit why I had to move it manually.

Anyway, it’s raining today and my keys are nowhere to be seen. My little walk to work in the sunshine is not going to be quite as sunny as I had imagined.

Can’t wait for the next sign of aging, I’ll keep you posted.

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30 May 2014

First Sign of Ageing – Jimmy Barnes doing a Telsta Ad

Horror of horrors on the TV, Jimmy Barnes doing an ad for Telstra. I mean Jimmy Barnes – What Was He Thinking and do you know what the worst thing is, it makes me feel really old and I don’t like that at all. It’s just not rock n’ roll is it?

Where is his cheap wine and a three day growth? Maybe that’s the problem, the wine wasn’t that cheap anymore and manscaping costs a lot to accomplish these days. Why do these figures of our youth keep letting us down? When did he become respectable? Next he’ll be doing an album of classics with slick back hair and a tuxedo – Whoops he already did that.

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The days of me sitting on a huge speak beside the stage at a Cold Chisel concert may be long gone, but I don’t need to be reminded like this. What can I say it is just cruel!

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27 Sep 2013

Use Your Head or Loose It, Just Ask Anne Boleyn

What was the best time of your life? Most of us remember our teenage years with great fondness. Somehow we can easily dismiss the insecurities and uncertainties we felt at that time, instead remembering it as a golden age. A smorgasbord of choice, one of endless possibilities and unlimited opportunities.

 

Why do I bring this up, the “70’s Show” that’s why. Set in an era that I have to begrudgingly admit I remember well. I know that it’s highly exaggerated and of course they are much more confident than most normal teenagers ever could be but I just can’t help liking it. As a social commentary on the time it’s probably not the first point of reference. However, I recently watched an old episode that contained a much deeper and age defying truth than expected.

 

In that particular episode we see Jackie upset because Kelso has ruined her birthday party by turning it into a drunken teenage binge instead of the sophisticated dinner party she had planned. When quizzed about her vision for the future she admits that in her dream she saw Kelso as a witty, successful business man in a dinner suit entertaining their equally successful rich and urbane friends. My first response to that revelation was “has she never met her boyfriend”.

 

Then I thought about the truth of how the female brain works. When we look at something we don’t see the reality of what it is, we see the image of what we think it could be. This quality can be a blessing and a curse at the same time. It’s this quality that helps you look at the drawing your four year old son has done on the lounge room wall and imagine him to be the next Rembrandt. This is a beautiful fact but if we are honest, it is the same reason that a woman can look at a figure hugging body con dress and think we’d look great in it. You aren’t seeing it on yourself, you are actually seeing it on Eva Mendes body, topped with your head, am I right?

 

We women don’t always see reality when looking at people we care about, rather, we see what a person could be. The boyfriend that doesn’t turn up for a date because his mates talked him into going to the pub with them, would never leave you sitting at home with two kids on a Friday night while he goes out with the same mates, right? This is admirable but it is a trait that has seriously lead women into trouble for millenniums.  When the smorgasbord of live is being rolled out instead of just looking at the possibilities and opportunities maybe if we are taught to see realities as well it might go some way to help.

 

Just ask Anne Boleyn, she absolutely thought that Henry VIII would be so enamoured by her that he would be faithful and love her only. She definitely wasn’t using her head, possibly why she lost it.

 

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23 Sep 2013

No One Told Me it Was Going to Be Like This

We all have them and a lot of us are them. What am I talking about, I’m talking about Parents. For most of us this role is the most important you will ever undertake. The most rewarding, the most precious but also the most challenging.

When your children are babies there is no denying it is hard. Oh the pain of it all. The sleepless nights, the crying and in my day the nappy washing. But those moments when they laugh for the first time or they snuggle in contentedly, they are gold and you never, never want to loose them.

As they grow the joys come in different ways. The first time they ride a bike, the many hugs and proclaimations of love you receive are precious beyond words. There are challenges no doubt but you do your best. You try one course and then you rethink that and you try another way. Yes you make mistakes but no matter what you do, ultimately you do out of love. Some of us definitely make better choices that others but most parents make decision based on what they feel is best for their child.

I am not going to mince words here, teenage years are hell. I can’t speak for eastern societies, but in the west we have so many influences good and bad that are bombarding these developing young people that you honestly feel like you are in a war. I am really happy for the parents who say they had no problems with their adolescents, but for most of us just opening your mouth to breath was considered provocative.

By the time your children reach their twenties you think you can breath a sigh of relief. Phew you think “I made it”. They are doing their own thing, leading productive lives and making their own choices. Then every now and then, just when you least expect it, boom, suddenly they are sixteen years old again and berating you, saying, “nothing I ever do is right with you is it mum you have to make me feel bad don’t you?” Where did that come from, like a whack on the skull you didn’t see coming.

And all you did is ask them if they took medicine for that cough.

Aarrgh is all I want to say.

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