Sunday Funday

Midnight

grrrrrrreen

We sleep in

We venture out to the windy town of Fremantle

Submarines

The Maritime Museum

Barnacles

Trinkets

The Shipwreck Galleries

Wet and wild

Dinner with a view (and cocktails)

Can I eat raspberries then? raspberries! please?!!

One week ago I read a book called 'Skinny Bitch' . The very next day I was vegan. Extreme? Yes.

I seem to have a habit for running headlong into big-ass schemes regardless off the financial, emotional, physical etc costs. Especially when it comes to health. It all made so much sense at the time. Hell, it still does. But since then I have been bombarded with extreme views every which way to the point that I have no freaking clue how to feed myself anymore!

No dairy.

No meat.

No sugar.

No alcohol. (Duh.... or should I say Doh!)

No grains!!!

What the hell is left?!

I bought a vegan cook book and spent $350 at the supermarket/fruit&veg markets (and 4 hours!) buying the necessary items to survive without meat products. The kids basically hated the new diet. My older child had a good go at trying the food and I have to say that even my picky younger child tried hummus so it wasn't a total loss :) but yeah, stressful. There's nothing worse (well yes there is but I'm using hyperbole here) than slaving over a new meal only to be met at the dinner table by screwed up little faces followed by empty little stomachs :(

I lasted 3 days.

The next day I had icecream... and you know, it really didn't taste all that great but then again I've never been a huge fan of icecream.

Now I am figuring out how to use that $350 of vegan food!

The term I have come to feel more affinity with is 'conscious omnivore' or 'ethical omnivore'. I first read about it on an excellent blog written by Chandelle. She recently returned to omnivorism after 4 years as a vegan and 4 years before that as a vegetarian. Her story is well worth a read. I first read it when I was not interested in veganism. Day 3 into veganism I thought I'd better read it again. The second time round I was struck by her devotion to all life - human, animal and plant, even the planet itself. By adopting a more conscious attitude toward food choices whether they be meat or plant products it would seem that there is far more that we can do for the planet and for ourselves by looking at food items individually and sourcing the best that we can based on our own location and the foods that are produced near us.

Just tonight I came across this article at the Huffington Post that nicely lays out a whole bunch of the arguments for "Meat or No Meat". A very sound article if I may say. I have once again done the wide swing to the left and to the right only to come back to the place I regularly try to remind myself that I like to be and that is a place of balance. I have the rest of my life to make changes one by one to my diet based on sound evidence and scientific enquiry, not to mention a bit of common sense. Everything in moderation, including moderation eh!

So with my little vegan freak out I would like to acknowledge the things that I have learned. I have learned that I need to (want to) be more selective when choosing meat products - organic and raw and top quality for my belly; cruelty-free for my animal friends. I have learned that veganism can be great for a detox! I have learned that I want to be more conscious of what I am eating. Is it really food? where did it come from? how are the animals treated? I really want to build that chicken coop we were talking about and get some egg-laying beauties to shower our love upon.

Finally, I (re-)learned that food can be just like religion. We can tend to get so caught up in our own beliefs about food that we shut others out with our firm stances and exclusive rhetoric. I am glad to have learned once again to take myself a little less seriously and to find the path that best suits me, not the person next to me but ME.

My summer reading list?

Grandparents

My maternal grandmother (Granny) passed away this morning. She went peacefully in a lovely aged care facility with her two daughters by her bedside. I am so happy for her. I don't know what the next life holds for any of us but I feel that she has moved on to some exciting new adventure. I imagine her young and vibrant again, like the sassy girl I saw dressed in military uniform in old black and white photos. Oh and there's lots of green grass and sunshine in my imaginary world for her. That is the beauty of freedom. I can choose whatever reality I would like to imagine her in and boom! there she is having a great time. No-one can tell me otherwise because there are no authorities on the afterlife.

Tobys grandfather passed away about 2 weeks ago now. Toby has had a difficult time processing this. He has been grieving deeply and has let out a lot of pent up emotions. It has also been tough for me to watch him dealing with so many emotions all at once. I think that our society does not allow men enough space to show emotion throughout their lives; so that when men do hit a big emotional spot they get a bit overwhelmed. Toby also had to deal with some unpleasant religious attitudes at the time which did not help him at all. I won't elaborate as that would be his story to tell if he wants to. He probably won't though. That is why my advice to any ex-mo's who are thinking about blogging would be to go with an anonymous blog; then you can talk about the things that you really need to get off your chest!

My maternal grandfather and my paternal grandmother passed on a couple of years ago now within days of each other! How interesting is that.

My memories of my maternal grandfather (Grandad) include admiring the model airplanes (check out yellow one in photo below) that he made out of glass bottles, tin and alluminium and him walking around the garden with his cigarettes, taking a 'breather' from family politics. He was from Cornwall, England and so was rather on the shorter end in terms of height (a trait I have inherited), he also had one leg a bit longer than the other and so my memories are of a cute little grandad with his trademark hobble pottering around with a glint in his eye getting on with the business of seeing beauty in everyday things.

My paternal grandmother lived in England. I saw her once when I was about 5, she and grandad came to Australia to live with us for a few months. I was then lucky enough to visit her in England when I was 18. My paternal grandfather had passed away the year before. I remember (or maybe I just remember being told about it?) sitting on his knee and listening to his awesome crazy grandad stories. He was tall and wore cool hats. My Granny was another sassy woman. I remember one evening we were all supposed to be doing some kind of fun activity but everyone was waiting for me to finish up with the dishes (hang on a minute, I was 5!!! hmmm, time to get my kids onto it) and she came in and plonked all of the cutlery onto the sink and went swish swish swish and then pulled them out again and put them on the draining board and said "that's how you do it" (or something similar) Hahahahaha, thanks Granny.

I am now grandparent-less. I loved knowing all of them and I cherish my memories of them no matter how skewed they are by time. I will be sure to remember them often and to draw upon my memories of them to help me here in my life. I love you Granny, Granny, Grandad and Grandad xxxx