Living Contentedly

Huh, this morning as l reflect, evil comes to mind. I am reading a series of books about America's west in the pioneering days. As gold seekers, traders & others spread west onto the traditional hunting grounds of many native tribes, conflict escalated. Its evident a series of self aggrandising leaders within the US Cavalry were quick to ask for peace from hostilities by the native warriors & promised land, safety & supplies on the form of treaties. These treaties were not honoured & mamy massacres occurred as they attacked native settlements. These men invariably dehumanized native peoples, as savage, heathens or barbarians. The language common to all evil men waging war, even as we sit.    Last year I had the misfortune to provide care of an eleven  year old boy. He was related on a round about way, & l am aware that his parents were "shady characters"; drug taking, lying, assaulting & thieving against family, friends & others. As...

Reading about Epicurus an ancient philosopher who spoke highly of the benefits living simply in order to enjoy life. He spoke of the pleasure of simple pastimes, like reading, eating & falling with friends. I believe he wanted but three things for a good day: water, a loaf of bread & to talk with friends.  Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzxzzzzz Jogging again at 63 Yesterday I bought jogging shoes & when walking out to feed the horses, found of enjoyable to wear such lightweight shoes. I had to urge to jog and I did. This morning l did it again. Over coming days & weeks, l hope to do more of this funny activity.  Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzxzzzzz I just got off the phone, talking with my daughter who is in Missouri, USA. She & her partner Daniel have been touring about, Tennessee, Kentucky, South Carolina, Illinois, Arkansas too I think.  She fell for a stray dog, struggles with finding vegetarian food, loved the Laura Ingalls-Wilder museum & many other things, n...

Alastair humphries has positioned himself as central hub for adventures he labels "microadventures". Mmmm. Go to his website or youtoob & it is thick with merch, sponsors & such as well as glittering presentations (many professionally produced) around the world, across the Atlantic etc. Something is a bit fishy, in the least because microadventuring is being sold as doable for those mythical creatures that work 9-5. Does anyone do that anymore? Most people work longer hours, earn shitloads & have short expensive holidays in expensive places. The rest of us are underemployed or unemployed & dependent on others to get buy, or who are supporting others financially, physically or socially.  Watching AH's "how to" guides, you be mistaken to think you can not come home from work to feed the pets, or look after your mum or the kids while the hubby/missus goes to nightshift. No you just snap up ypur Mont pack, containing ultra expensive ultralight hiking...

This morning I made a plunge to buy a new Brompton C model folding bike. It wasn't a rash decision, I have been thinking about it for ages, & made a firm decision earlier this week to finally act.  I suppose there was some impulsion this morning after I learned that my younger brother just has a cancerous skin lesion removed. It seems like a month ago, helping Pete paint my parents' home, that my sister told him to get it checked out. Putting it off could have been fatal; "Sorry mate, too late".  Anyway, its done. Tick. * Then, thinking about how I might use the Brompton on conjunction with public transport to have spme memorable adventures, I recalled Alistair Humphries work on " Microadventures". Adventures that are small, local, strange & affordable. A couple of years ago on a cheap folding bike that I still own, I did a staged ride from home to a convent in Coogee Beach, Sydney. I think it was 340k all up. The Brompton wish stemmed fr...

Sourced from the Kentucky Derby Museum

Another day another new experience(s) of the Central West. I goggled potential spots for angling along the Macquarie River. (See below). The only thing i know about th Macq is that its onr of the continent's big rivers.  Well I had to ride my bike across the stock route to get taào the river ... and? It was huge! Not so wide but deep with a strong flow. Too fast to swim against, & as I would discover, too bloody cold. Truth be told I was too overwhelmed at seeing such a body of live water this far from the coast. It was very clear this was a moving river, it never belonged here, it was on the move. The energy was stunning. I did fish a while for no result, but I brewed coffee & loved the moment. Birdlife was the only life beyond towering river gums & clover. Totally majestic?  downstream upstream The ride, about 90 k all up, was easy going on back roads, doing 80-90kph in case of roos or potholes.  Coffee & cake in Narro...

I now carry a knife for self defense on my person. There are several reasons, above else I am getting old & slower & need assistance if some drugged up idiot wants to cause trouble.  I am pretty sure its illegal, at least for teenagers to carry a knife, but I don't care. I'd rather pay a fine than burden my children with funeral expenses.  I am pleasantly surprised how I feel more competent when I am armed.  Over the years my attitude is to poo poo such aggression. But life shows me daily that there are pricks who don't give a fuck about other people's safety & have no qualms about riding roughshod over anyone to get their kicks.  Perhaps my quota for shrugging off those people is worm out? Cos I am fed up to the back teeth of seeing people being unkind & getting away scot free. Of course I'll exhaust some alternatives but if some puffed up prick is pushing, I'm pushing back.  It ain't no rifle, but it might just give them a sore ...

Yes a town named yeoval. It is the sole destination of my Friday ride & yet another place laying claim to the great Australian bush balladier, Banjo Paterson. Apparently having spent his early years here.  Its a word town, at a crossroads, with at least four ways in.  Arriving here, I dismount & walk the perimeter of the village; St Columba's, a large bronze head split four ways, lovely unmodified cottages, relics of tin mining, a shop & a pub.  While welcoming, the people are essentially inward focussed & happy on their skins. Something rarely seen on bigger centres. Two groups of "adventure motorcycles"_laden with gear, splutter through, not bothering to soak up the atmosphere. In on *the park bench", in the park by the shop, under a shadey arbor watching the world go by. I bought coffee making tackle, but chose to buy a long black. Its windy & I want to share the love.  I wait for my coffee, an old lanky local saunters in, shows the server his ...

This morning as Sam & I headed off to go fishing I noticed a latch was open on the trucks toolbox. I remembered in a flash, my daughter telling me she had left that unlocked. Telling me that was effectively handing over the baton. It happened on my shift.  I dreaded opening the box to check & as I did it was immediately evident that a portable air compressor had been stolen. I immediately ordered a replacement, otherwise I would stew over it & become too upset. This evening I set a trap; a mock toolbox attached by some stout fishing line. There are two tin cans half full of rocks attached too, so any thief will hopefully fall over & shit their pants at the same time. 

After chores, I worked on Hondo. Firstly, I wired in a USB port. Brought as a kit from JAYCAR it was a snap; wire into the battery, mount the port & cable tie the excess cable out of the way. Done.  Next, I polished the casings et all. Actually it was dead easy, just a matter of spray on, hose off. And it looks brilliant, a good way of cleaning spoked wheels.   $8 a can! Then I checked the coolant situation. I noticed the overflow was low, but the radiator was chockers. So instead of a flush through, I just topped up the overflow.  While I was having a break, I perused Facebool arketplace for a "chopper". And to my amazement I found this!  o l knew in my balls it was possibly bogus, but it was only a hundred or so klms away. Well, the old bird that answered the door was a little surprised by my asking whether had a bike for sale. Needless to say, "Broo kie Smith" had stopped answering .messages. I hope FB get him.  Well the ride ...

After the frustration of  the miner's cottage rebuild falling at the first hurdle, today I finally got s ome satisfaction. With my daughter & partner flying off to Nashville, I am minding her house, horses & dog. So after buying a fishing licence online the dog ram behind as i pedalled out to the Bogan River weir. Going slow for Sams sake it took a while, but it was a pretty pleasant day, ,& it was nice scenery too.  On the river/ creek, I rigged my fly rod for the first time on two decades & set about getting reacquainted.  After a few casts, I started to get the feel back. After an hour, I was casting into a moderate headwind with no problems. The only issue was the water quality, it was basically orange with red dust in suspension. There was little chance of a shy fishy picking a tiny dun coloured fly. I did hear a fish hitting something on the surface up by the weir. But even though i had a few casts soon after, I never got bothered.  ...

The Paris Olympic commentators assured me that all the athletes were "heroes". They were indeed impressive, but not heroic. Most do it for money & fame. Win gold & retire to life of fame & fortune.  Truth is, i don't really follow the Olympics much at all. Beautiful people, well resourced, floating over how good they are. But, the Paralympics? I'm a big fan. People distorted & defuddled by disability, striving & I would argue succeeding just being there. I recall a time when people with disabilities were barely tolerated; kept in malodorous back rooms & fed bullshit. Now, here they are; pumped, ripped (some) & going hard for the pleasure of doing it. No holds barred positivity, so good it brings me to tears of joy in humankind. Heroes? Yep.  Then today i see "the dreadlocked biker". Leaning onto the wind, pplong along one of the busiest arterial roads on the region. I first saw him,at be a decade back, back then he had metre long ...

This morning, despite the gloomy weather I feeling light & its allowed me to look around & reflect on the apathy, disengagement & unhappy busyness I see. New cars flashing about at speed, heads buried in screens & the lack pf care for anyone outside of immediate family or oneself. Much of this appears are Greed; a deep love of one's possessions. But I'm focusing on a lack of goodwill, or caring, falling rates of volunteer work & obesity. The latter has become an industry to supposedly explain the cause & offer (expensive) remedies; gym memberships often unused, weight loss or strength powders, personal trainers, stomach surgery, yoga with children, dogs or SUP boards. As they say ffs. Years past people would step back & take time to reason things out to determine root causes. Anyway, I'm calling this a Pandemic of Sloth. " S loth is a sorrow or boredom with the spiritual life [& a preoccupation with ] bu syness, workaholism, entertain...

About a week ago I was entertaining the prospect of having free rein to renovate "my" miners cottage . But one email from Council put paid to that project.  So tomorrow, when I hit the central west for the seventh time in recent months, I'll have nothing big doing for six weeks. Just some riding, cycling, flyfishing & chores.  Also last week, we'd been plodding along tidying up  my parents' home thinking it would go on the market sometime in the future. Well the future just smacked us in the face, & arrangements are underway to have it listed for sale.  I have been toying with getting a larger motorbike. A big  Honda Fury chopper or a Harley Softail or older Road King. There are very few of the Honda's about, but Road Kings are prevalent, especially on the Golden Highway. I really like their squat stance, heavy rumble, load carrying comfort & capacity to knock out massive mileages. After an evening footy match last Sunday, my son Joe & I got t...

Son, has had a knock lately, jumping assessment hoops for months only to miss a position at the last minute. He's proven fit, 6'3" & keen but seemingly can't win.  There's only so much dad talk can achieve, he wants to stand on his own feet. He had a false alarm call out to a fire earlier this week too. But tonight he shot off to help fight a fire in the backyard of the nearby village. His novice bush firefighter badge still shiny & unused on his chest, the way he rode his motorsickle was more dangerous than a yard fire.  A sliver of moon tonight. 

after having popoo'd the idea ofslong plans ...  feel a need to explain some goal post shifting. Its emerges from my  continued resistance to authority & at least two recent clashes.    My hope to sail & liveaboard my Folkboat has beren quashed by the Myall Lakes - Port Stephens Marine Authority. Due to some esoteric bullshit thing, never explained or made public there will be no new or transferred moorings on Port Stephens on the foreseeable future.   My hopes to buy &  renovate a miners cottage on the Central West was literally squashed by Parkes Shire Council. Having put the place on the market then sold it by auction, which they attended & had penned a contract saying there were no orders effecting the property, issued a Demolition Order within days after the auction. Should I have the temerity to want to renovate the cottage, I need to put in writing for their approval a detailed plan of my renovation plan, with timeframe & hee...

For I know the plans  I have for you,” declares the  Lord , “plans to prosper  you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future .                                Jeremiah 29:11 As usual I am drawn to plan ahead & dream a lottle. Unfortunately with my little mind these two get confused & intertwined. The plan is then likely to drift into dreamland or worse, the plan becomes so  convoluted that starting, continuing or finishing the work is hard or impossible to achieve.  Yet, we learn. As I get older & more contented with my life I do trust, leave it to God or the Fates or even Chance, that if I keep my intentions true & work steadily, that needs will be met. I do know that planning can be akin to worry & achieves very little beyond stress, overeating & lack of sleep.  So, take time each day to stop,  & cut the inertia of busy-ness befor...

As I recount, i can see book genres echoing the various chapters of my life. Yes of course there were those books forced on me by various courses of study, but it is the others that I recall now.  As a young teen it was all about surfing, Tracks, Surfing World & Surfer from the USA. The first two magazine titles were likely to feature surfbreaks or surfers that i knew or who were well known nationally. Tracks magazine, being a kind of surfing .newspaper was more affordable & up to date., it also was a lot about plain surfing culture. The glossy magazines featured heavily manicured images that probably etched themselves into my psyche. Malibu & Huntington beaches, oily looking waves, kelp on the water and surfers in full rubber wetsuits. I can feel this imagery almost as strongly now fifty years on. Sadly these mags also flooded readers'' with coloured advertising & the desire to buy, buy, buy. This ultimately generated feelings of inadequacy & discontent wit...

Happy isn't the responsibility of. T3mu, Am470n, F4c3b00k or Y00tub3, its ours. No, not other people, us as individuals. The source of happiness is within our power; to think, behave and feel correctly.  Yes, having a reliable supply of water, food and dry bedding are a must, so I apologize to the needy.   but if you're Joe Average happiness is at hand. Another qualifier is needed here; happiness is NOT the kind you see on the tv soap s when the duckbilled blonde gets a proposal from a chisel chinned hunk, and casts herself upon him with a squeal of erotic list. No, from my Buddhism readings and personal experience, happiness feels like a cozy buzz of contentmemt. Your body may feel limber and without pain, your mind is rotating calmly around positive thoughts and your spirit is glad because you've exercised goodwill to others  (people and animals).  That's where I am at this morning; I am focusing on the beauty about me, casting aside  matters of possible ...