Dear Reader First, let me assure you I am doing well and including some new strategies into my day to day life that are already paying dividends. Life is good. The Uncertainty of Life I wanted to share the events of Thursday last week that show the prompt for the theme of this newsletter. My Thursday included visits with two friends and the dentist, interspersed with home time with my hubby, and daughter recently returned from Australia. The visits started with coffee with a dear friend at...
25 days ago • 3 min read
Dear Reader Update for New Adventures :) I wrote last time about some of the health trials of 2025. This newsletter continues the theme with some of the ponderings from the last two weeks. I am happy to share that I've had x-rays that have revealed I have degenerative arthritis in my lower spine and in the rght side of the sacroiliac joint. This new diagnosis of "degenerative arthritis" is thrilling in a way. I'm exploring what the medical research says about treatments, deciding which ones I...
about 1 month ago • 5 min read
Dear Reader 2026! Time for New Adventures I am happy to say farewell to 2025, with gratitude for learning more about what's on the horizon and what I need to approach these new challenges with joyful anticipation. One of my darling daughters gave us a New Year challenge recently: Every year we choose a power word and I invite you to do the same. A word that lifts you, pushes you, and motivates you to keep going and doing what will bring you joy. I love the simplicity of this concept of...
about 2 months ago • 4 min read
Dear Reader End of Year Musings It's been a tough year in many respects - I've had several health challenges and some heart wrenching losses. Yet, looking back on the year, I realise it's been one of the best yet! During it all, we (Neil and me) took time to clarify what we really want out of our life - right now. We love our home and decided to stay here for the foreseeable future, researching where our next move will take us when the time feels right for us both. We've affirmed that what is...
2 months ago • 2 min read
Dear Reader What do I really want? It took me many years to begin to move from thinking about "what I don't want" to "what I do want". It seemed natural to say I don't want this or that. There was so much in my life of what I didn't want. And then I was challenged by a dear friend: "So what DO you want? Do you know that? I hear all about what you don't want. Tell me. What DO YOU WANT?" That led to a lifetime of questioning my thoughts, my actions, my motivations. An understanding of what I...
3 months ago • 4 min read
Dear Reader Where is peace in today's world? I am loving my reading of Substack posts. I find thoughts to come back to that change my perspective, that give me hope and peace I didn't know I needed. One of these is from Quiet Wisdom. The author states: There is a quiet shift that happens the moment you stop demanding that life explain itself. It does not happen with a loud realization or a sudden breakthrough. It happens slowly, almost unnoticed, like a tension inside you finally unclenching...
3 months ago • 4 min read
Dear Reader More about life changes How I started my last newsletter: "Life changes ...whether it's in our plans or not. And sometimes we're happy about it, sometimes we grin and bear it, and sometimes we only find the joy in the change as time passes." I'm surprised, and pleased, to see that I am finding the joy in the upheaval to our recent plans. I have to report that it's not happening. We're not moving - at least, not in the foreseeable future - although the way life flows, the...
4 months ago • 5 min read
Dear Reader Life changes... ...whether it's in our plans or not. And sometimes we're happy about it, sometimes we grin and bear it, and sometimes we only find the joy in the change as time passes. Where I'm at in that cycle, I don't really know. Last night loud thunder claps woke me about 3 am and I couldn't get back to sleep. My thoughts are on our decision to move house. And in the wee hours of this morning I found myself grieving for the life we will be leaving behind. This isn't like some...
4 months ago • 4 min read
Dear Reader Enjoying the Sculpture Park If you've read my newsletters for a while you'll know how much Neil and I love our volunteering at the Waitakaruru Sculpture Park and Arboretum. The past few months with poor vision have been distressing for me as I haven't been able to help Neil in the Rock Garden. So, I was excited to join him this weekend and absorb the garden's Spring offerings and to see the new sculpture exhibition The Forgotten Forest. Have a look at their website to see this...
5 months ago • 3 min read
