nurturing, healing, spiritual

my task today, and over the coming days, is to write down
5 nurturing, healing (spiritual) experiences
1. the feeling of swimming laps at the fitzroy pools, when i've been swimming laps for a while and have got some fitness and my breathing right. a sunny but not too hot day, with a lane to myself (so i don't get stressed). slicing through the water like silver scimitar, watching the water rising up and away as i take strong breaths to the side (every 4th breath)
while cruising for images of the fitzroy pools i found this story about carol cooke (pictured below) sleepless swimming for MS scholarships... Carol Cooke has always been a swimmer, but for the past decade the swimming pool has been a way of transforming more than just her life.

. art walking into a gallery and

2. art walking into a gallery and seeing aboriginal art, especially utopia artists, like minnie pwerle, emily kame kngwarreye (her sister in law), barbara weir (her daughter), and emily pwerle (her sister).

verylongwordtoforce love the colour and the i love the colour and the line, the rhythm of the works. my soul sighs and relaxes in the presence of art. modernist works affect me the same way. a deft picasso or williams line, a rough expressive rush of kirchner colour, the sublime wash and wane of rothko.

it's a spiritual place where soul, sometimes mind, sometimes body expresses itself. where life is. where i recognise life.

3. the ocean, the overwhelming rush and power and sense of the ocean. i love the liminal edge of the land and the sea

whether it's the rough stormy winter ocean

or inviting rolling summer waves both ease and breathe life and air through the soul

breathe life and air through the soul

4. animals and children, i'm not an actor so these creatures don't hold fears for me. they are so surprising, what they do, how they behave. i suppose an expert could predict their various behaviours, but not me - i'm happy to be surprised and delighted.
they feature in some of my favourite episodes of life -
** when i was about 12 years old, we were driving (as a family) along brighton road in elwood. trotting along the footpath was an airedale terrier taking itself for a walk - no owner in sight, but this dog knew where it was going. it looked so happy and confident in its being it inspired a lifelong love of airedales (and a longing for a life with one)
** one football morning, i saw a little girl pedalling her tricycle down the street. she was wearing her pyjamas and she had a tiger tail trailing behind her - classic
** watching some whales frolic in the shallows off the coast near warrnambool, i suddenly became aware of a large golden labrador/retriever, gambolling down the beach, dragging a large clump of seaweed. the dog embodied the same level of joy in the moment as the wonderful whales enjoying the sunshine
** driving down a tree-lined street in coburg (one of the few!) i saw a young kid, maybe 10 or 11 years old, wearing his collingwood footy jumper, bouncing on a trampoline in his front yard, practising his kung fu moves

i love what children and animals do when they're unhampered by self-consciousness, i love their idiosyncrasies, a wonderful expression of life

5. creativity
when i was a kid i always imagined myself having a studio - a tilted desk, with pots of brushes, pens and pencils, stacks of paper and creativity gushing from my fingers and blossoming in my mind
this is the closest i've come to it.
i feel it might be getting even closer.

**and, of course, it goes without saying, but it's joyful to say, my lover's embrace - arms, mouth, gaze, the feeling of well-being, unconditional love
my mind, body settles into quiet, relaxes into happiness, tingles and shimmers with joy and love

someday hopefully not too far away

aaah manyana
i have no idea what this place is like (google maps can only tell you so much),

but some "tomorrow" i'd like to get to manyana

lots of beach houses there,
like this one, sea deck with a view out to green island and right on the beach

between cunjurong point and bendalong, north o' ulladulla and mollymook, south of jervis bay

local papers say that there is a suburb development on the horizon,

it's a gorgeous area - surrounded by lakes, sea and national park - but this means it would be bush-fire prone (we're in australia after all)
there were bushfires (deliberately lit) in september and november

around the corner is cunjurong point ... with the "cunji shop" - local landmark, apparently

here's a house at cunjurong point, 85 steps to the beach

taking things littorally

while i don't want to live in an octupuss's garden, i would dearly love to hang out by the sea
well, it's practically unaustralian not to have seachange longings.
my practical brain says: if you don't live somewhere permanently, it means you can stay at lots of different places and explore a lot.

here is a place which i think would be wonderful to get to know better

broulee
10 wirrunna st (holiday rental) - between broulee island and the south beach









there is another house just around the corner that looks a bit fancy, too
suits my down-at-heel aesthetic!
cool house in mossy point where we have stayed, down the street from the muffin shop - very good place with secondhand paperback books, good coffee, ace atmosphere
town of manyana, just north of mollymook, in the middle of state forest
"classic beach bungalow"
and ooh, another swanky place in manyana, this one's for sale...
(and also for holiday rental)
probably ain't called manyana for nothin'...





surf story in the smh, them's the breaks
There's more quality surf up the road at Green Island, north of Ulladulla. This spot was the first big surf discovery south of Sydney and was once considered the best left-hander in the country. The growth in short boards has taken the gloss off its reputation but the wave is still rewarding.
Nearby towns such as Manyana and Bendalong are in classic NSW surf settings, with lively sand-bottomed waves on beaches nestled between wooded headlands dotted with beach shacks. You won't find solitude but you'll be far enough away from the hustle and bustle to make surfing here on a longboard rewarding