2021 Intentions

Every year at this time I consider the upcoming New Year and list my resolutions and then I go back to see if I have achieved them. Each year I manage to achieve some and not others. 2020 has been a weird year that has seen me reset a lot in my life and for that I am grateful.

This morning I was listening to this inspiring podcast Setting up for Success in 2021  and it stopped me in my tracks and made me reconsider everything, I then decided that for the new year I am setting intentions rather than goals. 

Below is what I heard from the podcast that resonated and I felt I had to capture it for my 2021 intentionns:

Goals are destination specific, what we want in the future, whereas intentions focus us on the present moment and are lived as a feeling in our bodies every day. When we set clear intentions it allows us to create daily plans that support that intention. This means I can work on the bigger picture that is aligned with the feeling that I want. 

That way I can feel satisfied and content and continue to be driven to continue with the intentions set. My awareness and energy will be shifted to who I am, what I do and why I do it. This allows me to clearly see how I am showing up for myself and others and see my current habits and communications and change what is not serving me, my horse or my humans.

Our beliefs create our thoughts, which create our feelings which in turn create our behaviors and then our results.

Its so very similar to a mantra I followed by the late Christopher Reeve that I lived by as we went through our emigrations process:

So many of our dreams at first seem impossible, then they seem improbable, and then, when we summon the will, they soon become inevitable.

As per the podcast, my two words for 2021 to allow me to be really clear and connected to the intentions are consistent and present.

Word: Consistent:

Intention:

I will show up consistently for myself, my horse and those humans that need me, in my health, my riding and exercise, my career and my communications with everyone.

Word: Present

Intention:

I will continue to work on being present on each moment in my life. I will have mindful moments throughout my workday. I will be present in every aspect of my day in whatever I am doing be it communicating with my family and friends, working, riding, at the barn, cleaning my house, making meals, listening to what is being said to me and how I respond.

Theres so much more in the podcast that I havent captured here, I invite you to listen and see if it helps you with next year too.

Almost Christmas 2020

Its almost Christmas and I cant ignore that last year we were in Florida at this time and noticing that China was dealing with a virus that was serious enough that they had put up temporary hospitals at warp speed and feeling sad that they were dealing with such a situation. I never once envisaged that virus affecting our lives. Back then it was on the opposite side of the world - far away, nowhere near us, their issue.

oh how things changed.

Here in Nova Scotia in mid December its been unseasonably warm and Christmas lights have been decorating homes for seemingly months. I have been enjoying both.

I miss the excitement of planning and counting down to the next vacation. Now with the vaccine starting to roll out  I feel hopeful that one day we can do that planning and countdown again. In the meantime I am starting to seriously plan our new kitchen as the current one is absolutely getting near the end of its life.

Current Favourite things in my Life

My life is pretty much a routine and I for the most part stick to the same likes and dislikes until I suddenly remember how much I used to eat overnight oats with coconut milk and wonder when I stopped even doing that. 

In light of the current lives we are all living, i.,e "different in some way", this is what seems to set my world on fire these days:

• Working from home - now this one is fortunate really for me and the pets that see me as the new patio door opener each and all morning. I love being in this setting to work.

• Riding my horse - since lessons reconvened Ducky and I have invested in at least two a week. Actually I invested the $$. he turned up. Its been a wonderful and enjoyable journey as we have gone from shite at jumping (mostly me) to pretty confident and almost "good" at a small course. Lessons are out again at the moment due to Covid and I am trying hard to find the silver lining to this.

• Listening to a podcast called Take The Reins that I listen to as soon as a new episode is out. There's also a book available by the host that I really want. I can download it to my Kindle for something like $5 at the moment but I would rather the signed $30 hard copy. That way I can take it everywhere with notes and stickies all over it at the parts that literally SING to me. Never has an author /mentor affected me this much since the Baby Whisperer when Chloe was born.

• Making our home Christmassy for the season. I am wholly into this like never before and even bought a couple of red holiday cushions from a local store. The quality is perfect and I love supporting local but I am still a little taken aback by the $$$ for these things.

• Making bread and dough and cookies still. The cookies disappear so fast that I need to teach the girls how to make those damn things.

• Listening everyday on FB to the morning Fish Monster report from Key West. the Fish Monster is a boat and the report is by the captain. My favourite is when he takes a walk down Duval Street. What I would have given for this daily little insight into paradise in 1999/2000 when I was first smitten.

An update

 Its September in Nova Scotia and in typical fashion I am welcoming the Fall with open arms while simultaneously feeling sad that summer is leaving and it wont be back until we have had winter.

We are closely watching Hurricane Teddy as we wait to find out exactly how it will impact us tomorrow into Wednesday. Either way, we are prepared for whatever comes with water, storm chips, food, propane, everything moved indoors that can be. We have food prepared and can cook, we are ok.

Covid seems to be spiking everywhere this morning again, except here in the Atlantic Bubble. Sometimes I wonder with more than a touch of panic if I will ever be on a plane again or see Florida again. 

I had an office day on Friday and while it was really nice to see Truro I had the reset I needed to again be in love with my home office life.

My first ever niece was born on September 12th, baby Mia is now a large part of my life even though shes 5000+km away.

Ducky and I are coming along well, hes jumping two foot with gusto and his trot is forward and large and hes learning to do the same in canter. I am more in love with him every single day.

I had an amazing photo shoot with him where he of course looked gorgeous. His ancestor shone through in all his photos, some of the photos are below.

Milo continues to go outside in the daytime although we have been a little more wary, he included, since he was missing for almost 4 days. I dont invite a repeat of that situation and I hope he doesnt either.

The girls are doing well in back to school although I think Chloe would welcome home schooling again with open arms. With her learning to drive and part time job at the aquatic centre shes got lots on the go.

My garden did well although the peppers are struggling to finish growing in the season length we have. If I do them again I will stick to one or two plants inside only. Carrots are looking almost ready to pick and I got a haul of about 12 potatoes from the 4 I planted. Tomatoes and sugar-snap peas were winning the whole summer.

Tonight I have a recipe from my sister in law to be to make aubergine curry that I am pretty excited about as I continue on my quest for a couple of meat free days a week.

Changing phones

 Yes its a first world problem and I get that, totally.

The pain of moving to a new Apple phone is staggering. I do not know for the life of me how millenials or Gen Z's or whatever are putting themselves through this each time a new phone is out.

The issue started when our provider mentioned on a marketing text that good deals were out there for "back to school" (yes lets see exactly how back to school actually goes!)

In line with the third text proclaiming such good news my iphone 6 which is the oldest in this house and a hand-me-down from Paul  decided to no longer let me talk unless it was on speaker, ever.

I had been ignoring this for about 4 weeks until it got this bad. I dont want a new phone, I hate them. Besides who needs the worry of a new expensive piece of technology around horses. I dont.

Anyway, it was decided that Lily would get an upgrade and I would have her much newer 6. That works. The only upgrade available in nearby stores was an iphone 11. Fine, lets get it.

The swanky new phone has been in our posession for almost 5 hours now and we are still no closer to having a successful data transfer. Lily has a a new apple I.D after we had to create a new bloody email for her as hers was "taken" - yes its her email FFS. Its taken by her.

Now we have three phones and none really work.

Her sim is in the new phone, my sim is in her phone, my phone has no sim. 

Ugh. Brutal.

Summer continues in Nova Scotia

And so it continues...
From our relatively safe spot in NS, with next to no active cases, for now, we wander on in our new normal.
Riding lots for me and being with Ducky which is a joy, tending the garden where the sugar snap peas run rampant and I have managed to grow actual green beans, the tomatoes are weighing down the plants but remain obstinately green, and the pepper plants have buds that I believe are actual peppers.

I know for a fact that I will now always attempt to grow my own food, will never choose to buy a pizza again or bread or greek yogurt and remain tremendously in love with cranberry juice and club soda.














Chloe is on her life-guarding course, Lily remains in her room through choice as much as she can and *needs* to return to school in some manner in September for her own mental health and Paul is back to full time hours. I continue to thrive in my home office, in this job I love.

At the same time I watch with ever growing concern how its all un-ravelling in our beloved Florida and wonder when we will ever return and what it will look like. Will it be the same with the same high volume traffic and will the places that we love to visit still exist. What will happen? Its all concerning and I know everyone talks about the second wave but what happens after that? Will there be a third wave? The unknown of it all is so unpleasant and makes me fearful of the future.

I know that the world needs to change and I hope that the change will start now. I hope that the powers that be will use those places like Iceland as a benchmark to look at producing energy etc.
We are living through history and I feel so very much in more than two places at once about that.

 Milo is now allowed out to sort out his increasingly bad attitude and so far its working, hes happy and living his best life and Kennedy is finally relaxing in his absence.

 The pool is warm as the heat continues and we have been in it more this summer than we have for years, I feel very thankful for this home.

For the tranquility of what we are fortunate to have here.
For this house, this neighbourhood, this province in this country so much thankfulness.

3 months into Coronavirus

We are three months into this thing and the new normal is now almost normal for me.

For our family, the only changes (apart from the no travel anywhere restriction) seems to be good for the adults and pets in this house.
The girls seem to have mixed feelings and Lily spends way too much time in her room but at least shes talking to her friends even at a distance. Chloe is missing people although its nice to see so much of her. They are both having a harder time of it than I would like though.

Paul works a reduced shift and therefore has done a lot of things around the house including starting the closet in the master bedroom that's only waited about 7 years now.

I am continuing to work from home and spring has morphed into summer and I am still enjoying my breakfasts listening to Fishmonster live update (from Key West)and now I can work with the doors open and listen to the summer sounds of the pool pump and the breeze in the trees.

For the first time in my life I am making bread and have a garden growing, my sugar snap peas are a success and I can enjoy picking them daily to eat. Its wonderful.

Ducky and my progress together has been slow as we not been able to have lessons until very recently but from a relationship perspective its been perfect. We are well on the road to a great relationship and the bond is strong already. Now we are back to lessons I realize how unfit I have become and how hard we have to work to achieve our goals of us becoming a hunter success. Thankfully the shows are cancelled so the pressure is off.

I get to walk the dogs first thing in the warmth of a Nova Scotia summer morning and we return hot and sticky in time for a shower before I start my working day. In the aftermoons I get to eat my dinner by the pool and swim often, I have never swum this much in our pool in June before. Its been 85F for days now.

The negative sides are a concern that we wont be going anywhere for a very long time and when the border finally opens, the Florida we love will have changed greatly. Universal Studios has reopened but masks are compulsory and that doesn't sound like much fun in summer heat to me. Personally I cannot imagine such a visit.

The end of a Covid April

The new normal is weirdly ok in many respects, for us.
Every week day I come downstairs, if the weather is good, I walk the dogs and then start my work day, right here:

I am in reality living the working from home dream.
I have a lovely breakfast every day of homemade bread toasted with eggs and then a slice with jam. Lately due to my low iron levels I eat spinach too, I eat spinach in as many things as I can. Thankfully I rather like it.

I have discovered how to make greek yogurt, out of necessity as everyone was eating it and it was getting expensive. I also make cookies as Lily practically inhales them and bread as that too costs a lot for something thats not that good. We invested in a new breadmaker that makes bread and yogurt and I dont believe I will ever buy bread, cookies or greek yogurt again.

I go to the barn in my time slot where only three are allowed at any given time and hang out with Ducky, sometimes we ride, sometimes I loose school him to work out energy and to be able to watch him move. I try to keep it all low risk as I dont want to invite a trip to the ER.

Lately the weather has been gorgeous but the last couple of days its been snowing and cold.

I have also started growing my own food, I have sugar snap peas, lettuce, tomatoes, peppers, celery, carrots and cucumber started, some more successful than others. Yesterday I ate my own lettuce for the first time ever.

Apart from worrying where this may take us financially, how it may end or what the new normal would look like, how Bahama Bay will fare among other things, I am just wondering onwards.

Paul is working one week on and two weeks off in a rotational shift, in his home weeks hes spring cleaning and making things with what we may already own as we hoard money every way possible.

The girls are learning in Google classrooms and missing their friends but keeping it positive and we have started takeout Friday to have something cool each week.
Lately a family trip to the local A&W has been a highlight.

The dogs and I are restricted to this neighbourhood as I dont wish to risk any fines and we are online grocery shopping including our meat from Snowy River Farms which has been a dream of mine for a while, eating healthy guilt-free meat is blissful. The idea of happy animals being the basis of my food makes such a difference.

Unfortunately a week and a half ago a man who I refuse to name took the lives of 22 people in  13.5 hour shooting and arson rampage. The whole province is reeling and the country feels it. For us it was half an hour of crazy and then it was over. It still doesnt feel real although for the families affected it is painfully real. For me, I no longer emotionally respond to police cars the same way.