When was the first time you really felt like a grown up (if ever)?

The first time I felt like a grown-up was when I got to vote in a federal election here in Australia about 10 days after my 18th birthday. In Australia, voting is compulsory for everyone 18 years old and above. At the time, I was studying politics as part of my VCE,  and I was really passionate about voting and really took an interest in Australian politics.

The other time I felt grown up was when I moved out of home to share a house 🏠 with a friend.  Being responsible for our own rent, bills, and food is a great thing to learn and teaches you how to budget your finances and live within your means.  I would recommend this to every young person. It makes you financially responsible and teaches you what life is really all about. I truly felt like an adult when I moved out, and it was a good learning curve for me.

If you had a million dollars to give away, who would you give it to?

If I had a million dollars to give away, I would give some to the Olivia Newton John Cancer Centre to help them help people like they did for my beautiful angel lady, Susanna.  I would also give some to The Victorian Mental Illness Awareness Council and Northpark Private Hospital for deeply personal reasons.  I would also give some to my nephews and nieces and friends.

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What’s something you would attempt if you were guaranteed not to fail.

The thing I would do if I was guaranteed not to fail would be to have my books. God Bless Our Dogs and The Dance Of The Emerald Dress published on a large scale by a reputable publisher. To date, I have self-published them on a small scale, but my dream is that a publisher would discover them and publish them.  I also hope the same thing will happen to the book I am writing ✍️ 🙂 now, The Angel Lady about Susanna.   It has been my dream since a little girl to become a well-read author. I have achieved that, but only on a small scale so far.

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Who are your favorite artists?

This is an interesting topic.  My favourite visual 🎨 artists are Van Gough,  Leonardo De Vinchi,  Monet and of course my friend Michael Fleming.   I have one of Michael’s landscapes which he gave me for my birthday 🎂 many years ago.

My favourite singer,  songwriter, is definitely Neil Finn, closely followed by McCartney, Lennon , and Gary Frost, who was the songwriter for both Moving Pictures and 1927.  I do have a wide and varied olaylist, so there are many other songs 🎵 and songwriters i love ❤️.

What is your favorite hobby or pastime?

I have several hobbies and pastimes that I love doing on a regular basis.

The first obviously is writing ✍️ both of this blog and my other writings.  It is my absolute favourite way to spend my time .

Going hand in hand with writing ✍️ is my lifelong passion for 📚 reading.  As soon as I was a toddler I always had my head in a book. Right from being a small child I knew I always wanted to write ✍️ books when I grew up. To this day I am a avid reader

The other hobby that I like to do regularly is to use angel therapy as part of my everyday life.  I read a lot about angels and also have some angel cards that I have both for my personal use and to share with like-minded friends. This helps give me both direction, motivation, and peace in my everyday life and is a part of the way I practice my Christianity in my day to day life.  I firmly believe that angels 😇 do exist as messengers from God and come in all shapes and forms. God also sends angels to earth 🌎 in human form to walk amongst us and spread his message of love and goodwill.  Susanna was definitely an angel in human form, and I firmly believe that she watches over me still and guides me in the direction my life now takes.

It should surprise no one that the other thing I love doing is to spend time with my little angel dog Lily. Anything I do surrounding Lily brings me so much pleasure 🙏🏽.  She is definitely a gift from God, and her love ❤️ is unconditional.   I would recommend that everyone fill their life with a pet of their choosing. Animals bring so much to our lives, and they too are Gods creations,  so we must treat them with a little TLC .  Spending time with Lily is a major part of my everyday life and one of my greatest 🙏🏽 pleasures.

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What would you do if you lost all your possessions?

Today’s topic is a daunting one because I think the initial shock 😲 of losing everything would be overwhelming and all encompassing.   It would hurt to lose the things I keep for sentimental reasons,  things given to my by friends like Susanna and family.

I guess the first thing I would do would be go to the Salvos or St Vinnies to replace the most needed items. I then would save money to gradually replace my furniture etc with things that suit my style.  I would treat it as an opportunity to start again in a more minimalist way.   It may hurt losing the items that I am sentimental about, but at least I would have the memories of such, and that is far more important than any material possession.

I am in the process of decluttering my place and giving things to friends 🧡 or the Salvos, or throwing away a lot of the junk I have accumulated over the years. I have kept just about every card or gift that has been given to me over the last thirty odd years, and actually going through it and throwing it away is liberating.   I don’t need the actual card or gift to remember the love with which it was given to me. Perhaps because of my current decluttering losing everything would not be the end of the world for me, rather an opportunity to start afresh with the good memories of the past, but without the neediness of keeping everything over time. It could help me grow as a human to not be so affected by the past,a good opportunity to strive for goals that would have been unattainable clinging to the past.

Tell us about a time when you felt out of place.

There has been a few times in my life when I felt out of place, some for various reasons I can’t talk about in the blog, but there was a time when I felt a bit out of place,  but it really was a nice and profound experience.

What I mean about it being good was because it was a lovely time.  It happened when, as a teenager, I was in Fiji 🇫🇯 with my patents on holiday, and the girl on the car rental desk called Sugar invited us to her islander style wedding. My parents and I graciously accepted the invitation.  When we got to this wedding we were the only white people there. We stood out and were the fascination of a lot of Fijian children who were giggling at our white skin and wanted to be close to us. It was good for me as a teenager to experience what it was like to be part of a minority., but in a way where we’re a novelty, but with no negative attention. We were just different but still included in the 🍾 celebrations. It was a profound and formative experience for me, and it has helped shape my views about race and culture.  It was altogether a positive and joyous experience.  There has been other times in my life that I hsve been singled out, in my place of work, but I don’t feel comfortable writing blog posts about it, because of the negative effects of such, but Sugar’s wedding stands out as a time I was out of place,  a novelty  in a positive way. I feel that the whole experience was good for me.

Your life without a computer: what does it look like?

I take it to be that life without a computer 🖥 would also mean that we wouldn’t have smart phones either because I use my phone for everything.

I think my life without a computer would be messy and disorganised with my writing ✍️ table or desk covered in various notebooks, which I would use for the different forns of writing ✍️ I would do. I would have a collection of different coloured pens and pencils and have art supplies like chalk pastels and watercolour paints near by for if and when I felt like attempting to illustrate my works. I would have a bed for Lily nearby because she really is my little muse and in this age where technology rules she lays next to me whilst I tap away ✍️ writing on my phone.

Not having a mobile phone would be challenging, but I guess we would communicate with our loved ones by landline phone. We wouldn’t have the immediate connection of texts and social media we do now, but maybe a life without social media would be good, brcauae the haters wouldn’t have the voice they now have on Facebook etc. It would mean a return to a slower, more peaceful way of life. Maybe this wouldn’t be such a bad thing in a world gone mad because of technology and social media dominating so much of our lives.

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What skill would you like to learn?

The skill I would like to learn is that of leadlighting.  I love stained-glass windows and would love to learn how to make them.