Lazy Sunday at the Swan Valley

Sunday was spent with Marie-Lise cruising the Swan Valley. We had wine tasting at the Swan Valley Winery and had white port (which is yummy) and chocolate port (hmmmm..a bitter after taste due to the dark chocolate). Had a scrumpcious lunch at Feral Restuarant. The prices were reasonable and the service was superb.

Then it was off to the Sandalford Winery to view the gallery and the grounds.

And the grand finale was to the Margaret River Chocolate Factory to sample some chocolates!!!!

The place was so crowded and there were lots and lots of merchandise to choose. I was trying out the caps with the different slogans.

This one says " I'd give up chocolates, but I'm no QUITTER"....... thats sums me up perfectly!!

Here is a video of the chocolate factory:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5N9eEoJANc
And this one " Addicted to Chocolate" with a smiley face.Alternative, you can purchase an apron with the same slogan. Sufficed to say we stuffed our faces with the free samples and bought some choccies home too. YUMMO!!!!

Unconditional Love

We all need to love and be loved, yet fulfilling this primary need can be one of life's greatest challenges. Creating loving and lasting relationships is a necessity if we are to maintain psychological health. But finding and sustaining loving relationships takes more than just good intentions, it takes skills, practice and a commitment to growing.

To truly give and receive love we must learn to give without expectations and receive without demanding. This unconditional love is not just an ideal but something we can realize through practice. The secret to developing this skill is learning to love yourself. As you grow in self-love, your ability to give and receive love will grow automatically.

Unconditional love is realized when our hearts are full and overflowing. It is easy to love unconditionally when we are feeling positive and loved by others. It becomes difficult when we are feeling negative and unloved. At such times, when it is difficult to receive love and support from outside we must turn inside and give to ourselves. Then when we are feeling good about ourselves, it is not only easier to give but it becomes easier to communicate and negotiate the fulfillment of our own needs and wants. We become like a magnet which attracts more support.

Most of all you must learn to love yourself which is the greatest love of all.

- Harold H. Bloomfield, M.D.

The Climb

The small boy heard the mountain speak
There are secrets on my highest peak
But beware, my boy, the passing of time
Wait not too long to start the climb.

So quickly come and go the years
And young man stands below with fears
Come on, come on, the mountain cussed
Time presses on, oh climb you must.

Now he is busied in middle-age prime
And maybe tommorrow he'll take the climb
Now is too soon it's raining today
Gone, all gone years are eaten away.

An old man looks up still feeling the lure
Yet he'll suffer the pain not climb for the cure
The hair is white the step is slow
And when it's safer and warmer to stay here below.

So all to seen the secrets are buried
Along with him and regrets he carried
And it's not for loss of secrets he'd cried
But rather because he'd never tried.

- Phyllis Trussler

7 today!!!!

It Zack's 7th birthday today!!!! HURRAY!!!!! That's 49 in dog years. He is getting quite distinguished with all the grey spots around him. I still remembered when I brought him home with me when he was a wee little puppy of 3 months old.

I am trying to dig out all the baby photos of Zack from storage and will post on the blog when I find them. Took me a while to dig through all the old photos and finally found them!!!!! Here goes......

What a cutie!!!!!. He always spread out with all his limbs akimbo on the cool tiles.

Hmm.....someone got sprung messing up the cushions in the living room. Look at his guilty face!!!!

From this gangly puppy to.........


.....to this handsome distinguish dappy specimen!!!!! Wow....time sure flies so fast but like fine wine, both of us matured nicely and have turned out quite DANDY INDEED!!!!!!

Family Good Times

Mum just had her 60th birthday not too long ago and the whole family was all together again to celebrate the day with her. Check out the happy shots with the family.

Me and Pat. Doesn't he looked like a rugby player?!!!!!

Me and Rene. Aren't we blessed with Mum's youthful genes!!!!! People always have trouble guessing our age.

Rules for being Human

You will receive a body:

You may like it or hate it, but it will be yours for the entire period this time around.

You will learn lessons:

You are enrolled in a full-time informal school called LIFE. Each day in this school you will have the opportunity to learn lessons. You may like the lessons or think them irrelevant and stupid.

There are no mistakes, only lessons:

Growth is a process of trial and error; experimentation. The "failed" experiments are as much a part of the process as the experiment that ultimately "works".

A lesson is repeated until learned:

A lesson is presented to you in various forms until you have learned it. When you have learned it, you can then go on to the next lesson.

Learning lesson does not end:

There is no part of life that does not contain its lessons. If you are alive, there are lessons to be learned.

"There" is no better than "Here".

When your "there" has become "here", you will simply obtain another "there" that will again look better than "here".

Others are merely mirrors of you:

You cannot love or hate something about another person unless it reflects something you love or hate about yourself. What you make of your life is up to you. The choice is yours.

Your answers lie inside you:

The answers to life's questions lie inside you. All you need to do is look, listen and trust.

You will forget all about this.

You can remember it whenever you want.

- UNKNOWN

Subconscious

I am very accommodating.

I ask no questions.

I accept whatever you give me.

I do whatever I am told.

I do not presume to change anything you think, say, or do; I file it all away in perfect order, quickly and efficiently, and then return it to you exactly as you gave it to me.

Sometimes you call me your memory.

I am the reservoir into which you toss anything your heart or mind choosess to deposit there.

I work night and day; I never rest, and nothing can impede my activity.

The thoughts you send me are categorized and filed, and my filing system never fails.

I am truely your servant who does your bidding without hesitation or criticism.

I cooperate when you tell me that you are "this" or "that" and I play it bak as you give it. I am most agreeable. Since I do not think, argue, judge, analyse, question, or make decisions, I accept impressions easily.

I am going to ask you to sort out what you send me, however, my files are getting a little cluttered and confused. I mean, please discard those things that you do not want returned to you.

What is my name? Oh, I thought you knew!

I am your subconscious.

- Margaret E. White

Inspirational Quotes

If we don't change our direction, we are likely to end up where we are headed. - Chinese Proverb

Man is made by his belief. As he believes, so he is. - Bhagavad-Gita

A midlife crisis is when you've reached the top rung of your ladder only to realise that you've leaned it against the wrong wall. - Unknown

It is what you choose NOT to see in your life that controls your life. -Lynn Andrews

The most basic choice we have in life is whether to bring our creative and expressive energies out into the world in positive or negative ways. No matter what our circumstance, we have the power to choose our directions. In each of us are heroes, speak to them and they will come forth. We have to live and we have to die; the rest we make up. - Unknown

The tragedy of life is not death, but what dies inside us while we live. - Norman Cousins

There are many who are living far below their possibilities because they are continually handling over their individualities to others. Do you want to be a power in the world? Then be yourself. Be true to the highest within your soul and then allow yourself be governed by no customs or conventionalities or arbitrary man-made rules that are not founded on principle. - Ralph Waldo Trine

The important thing is this: To be able to scarifice what we are for what we could become. - Charles Debois

Sedco 703

The palynological team was unexpectedly called out to Sedco 703 last Friday for an urgent job. John and I flew out to Barrow Island and had to wait at the airport for nearly 3 hours before our helicopter flight to the rig. Barrow Island being a Class A Reserve Island has qurrantine issue that has alot of prohibitions. I couldn't even venture out of the airport to go to the beach and see the flora and fauna. But I did take pictures of the surrounding ant hills and the beach from the airport. I also took video footage of helicopters taking off and landing just to pass the time.

View the helicopters videos here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMS1RX48PEw

It was good to be on the Sedco 703 as this was the very first drilling rig I ever worked on. It does bring back fond memories.

Here's me taking a breather from the hectic schedule to soak in some sun and to admire the view. I saw about three whales circling close to the rig. I couldn't really determine the size as I can only see the blow-holes and the arch backs. They are magnificient creatures. I was told by the guys not to fall into the waters as the sharks are circling the rig too. Urgh!!!!!

Here's John with his microscope to view the pollens and spores from the samples we are getting straight from the drill.

The most spectacular sights here on the rig is the sunrises and the sunsets. See the sequence of photos I took on the Seco 703.

NATURE'S BEAUTY AT HER BEST!!!!

My Lists Of Things To Do

My list of places to visits:

Macchu Picchu - done in Febuary 2007 but will go back again
Taj Mahal, India - schedule for November 2007
Anatarctica - schedule for Febuary 2008
Arctic
Alaska
Angkor Wat, Cambodia
Egypt
Greek Islands
Easter Island - schedule for Febuary 2008
Tahiti - schedule for Febuary 2008
Nepal, Kathmandu
Canada
Fiji
Vietnam
Goa
Philippines
Igassu Falls
Galagopos Island
Africa - Serengati
and many more to be included later on.

Travel to experience and to see the world as is.

To teach about life and to empower individuals towards fullfilment and to find inner peace within themselves.

To be financially free and complete and focus more towards enjoyment, family, travelling, teaching and mental stimulation. This is so achievable!!!! Co-create my own world and destiny.

I will be an author and write books and let my creative and playful side emerge thru writing, painting and business ventures,enterprising and joint ventures and to give back to society thru charity work, schools, orphanges, organisation and mentoring.

Quoting from the book "Communion with God" by Neale Donald Walsch:

"Life in the physical realm is glorious and its purpose is to bring you happiness through the awareness and the declaration, the expression and the fullfillment of Who You Really Are. Go therefore, into the magnificent world of your creation, and make of your lifetime an extraordinary statement and a breathtaking experience of the most glorious idea that you ever had about your self"

True Identity

"If I do not go within, I go without"

The inner voice within myself.

Listen to my subconcious as it will reveal herself to me to fully grasp what and who I really am!!!!!

The expression "Once I was lost and now I am found" rings so true to me.

I have indeed found my true identity.

My world is the product of my own creation, the results of my own wills and desires.

I am the creator of my own reality.

"Recognise an illusion is an illusion and lived as a illusion can lead it to an experience of Ultimate Reality"