This week has passed in a bit of blur, as they all tend to at the moment. Thank you to those of you who have messaged me recently saying that you’re enjoying reading these weekly posts. Knowing that people are reading certainly gives me an added impetus to check the calendar, realise it’s Friday and crack on with sitting down and writing to you all!
Favourite experience/s of the week
There have been many. A trail run one rainy morning, where the tracks were deserted and the lung-clearing, earthy sweet smell of wet gum leaves and crushed gumnuts was simply divine. It made me a bit sad for all the times over the past couple of years that I decided not to go out running because it was raining slightly. I had forgotten that they are usually the best runs! As I was the only human around, the wildlife were out in force. I ran towards what looked like a field of white cockatoos, all of whom took flight as I approached - it was spectacular, and made me feel a bit like I was in a nature documentary.
Going to sleep to the sound of heavy rain clattering down on our metal roof - perfect white noise - and then woken early by an incredible storm raging outside. I love thunderstorms. Especially when I’m all tucked up and cosy in bed.
Our Robo-Vac (who we’ve named Avis DeRobo after Julia Child’s friend) arrived and it has already completely changed our lives. I don’t think our house has ever been this clean, and we are not unclean people! I was gobsmacked by the amount of dust and debris it picked up after just doing under our bed!! We hope to get a dog at some point in the near future so I can imagine having Avis will be a lifesaver in that regard.
These are from Kerry Ward’s Good Karma Tarot, which is a beautiful deck and I highly recommend it!
And finally, a lovely, much-needed catch-up with a dear friend I haven’t seen all year. A full, golden afternoon of laughs, bolstering conversation and even a tarot reading at the end, which was equally comforting. I told her about everything that’s happened lately and she reacted just as I hoped she would. I was worried I was boring her, as I’ve bored myself going over and over the horrid details of it all. “God no,” she laughed. “You sure know how to tell a story.”
Well, one day, dear reader, I will tell you the story of what’s been going on this past little while, but not yet. Not yet.
Reading
I’ve been reading a lot for my PhD but I realise that’s a bit like a coal miner saying they’ve been handling a lot of coal this week. It’s what one expects!
Boston Review: Hating Motherhood by Judith Levine. I don’t know how I stumbled on this (a link, then another link, then another which led to this - nice to know the internet can still be a delightful rabbit hole) but it was a fascinating read.
Sydney Review of Books: The Aesthetic Conduct of Sally Rooney’s Readers by Beth Driscoll. Such an interesting discussion of Rooney’s work alongside reading culture - “Readers link art and life when they find books that make them feel seen and known, when they learn something new, when they discover an author and decide to read everything they’ve ever written. These interior moments are accompanied by bookish behavior, which is abundantly on display in the twenty-first century.” Indeed!
I started Checkout 19 by Claire-Louise Bennett this week which reminded me a lot of reading my own Morning Pages back, when I occasionally dare to do that. You might think that sounds like I’ve got major tickets, as this book has been very well-reviewed by the Guardian, among others, but no, of course not - more that the voice and the way it jumps around from memory to memory, reminded me of the random, stream of consciousness stuff that I come out with as I sit at the kitchen table, freshly meditated but still sleepy, scribbling between my first sips of coffee. And then I thought, my stuff would be pretty unreadable to anyone else but myself. It’s one thing to just write whatever comes to mind, without thinking. If you’re going to deliberately write an entire novel that way, you have to write with incredible control and clear intention, which is what Bennett does. I’ll be interested to keep reading!
Listening to
My inner spring playlist - quite a contrast to actual season and the wild, windy autumnal weather outside.
Also my running playlist - with the recent addition of Ricky Martin’s “Cup of Life” which until this week I hadn’t actually heard since 1998. Perhaps no one else has either - haha! It’s a surprisingly motivating song to run to.
In fact, I’ve been listening to a lot of 90s music this week, for some weird reason. Perhaps it was my friend’s influence at the weekend! Instead of jazz playing while I cook dinner, it’s been “Glycerine” or “Lithium” blasting out of the speakers. Accordingly, I’ve created a 90s Nostalgia playlist on TIDAL too!
No podcasts this week! I know. I’ve been chained to the desk, apart from my runs, what can I say?
Eating
It has been freezing at night lately, so I’ve been embracing that in my cooking and dialling up the comfort factor.
A few weeks ago, I made our favourite summer meal - Charity Morgan’s Nacho Average Nachos, which are utterly, utterly delicious. There’s a bit of prep involved, as I might have mentioned in a previous This Week, but you end up with plenty of the fixins leftover. As it’s got much colder, I thought I’d try Charity’s suggestion of using the leftover queso and walnut chorizo to make a taco mac and cheese. I cooked the pasta in some stock with some frozen peas (I like to have something green with every meal if I can), then combined with the fixins, topped with breadcrumbs and vegan mozzarella (I get the Made with Plants one from Woolworths). It was sublime…but so filling. We did not finish our usual greedy portions and there was quite a bit leftover! The queso is made from cashews and the chorizo is made from walnuts - a double hit of protein, so combine that with pasta…yeah, not a mystery why we were so full! But 10/10, would make again!
I made the speedy sausage and smoky bean ragu which I found in the Coles free magazine and to my surprise it was gorgeous! I used Eaty No Meaty sausages, which I kept whole, and served alongside my homegrown potatoes, which I also kept whole rather than mashed, as they were on the smaller side. I think this dish will become a real winter favourite. The addition of the canned smoky beans makes the whole thing really quick and easy, but it tastes like it’s been simmering on the stove for hours. Yum!
I have been meaning to make my favourite vegan banana bread all week but kept putting it off - and now the bananas are so black they may have turned! Ooops.
We also treated ourselves to croissants from Banjo’s yesterday morning as a treat after getting our flu vaccinations - I feel ready to face the winter now. Tom likes his plain, I had mine with some apricot jam I made in 2020 that’s still happily in its jar in the fridge, infused with bay and vanilla. It’s probably the best jam I’ve ever made. Time has only deepened its flavours.
Picking
Before the rain yesterday, I dug up some more potatoes, which we’ll be eating this evening. I will try and dig up the rest this weekend before the frosts come! I am hoping there will be another giant one I will be able to bake and enjoy in all its simple glory like last week. I’ve also picked a lot of celery and red chard leaves to use in aforementioned sausage ragu and in a thick minestrone soup which makes a wonderful WFH lunch in the late autumn, as its so chunky and filling.
Watching
Jurassic Park III (Blu Ray) - Tom’s choice (as he wants to watch them all again before the new one comes out) and, in his words, a stinking pile of garbage. I am inclined to agree. It’s one redeeming feature is Sam Neill, whose delivery of the line “it’s a birdcage” was probably the most terrifying moment of the film. The raptors and pterodactyls were also pretty scary. But I was secretly hoping Tea Leoni and William H. Macy’s characters would get picked off by one of them! Does that make me heartless, that I failed to identify with the terrified parents desperate to find their son whom they sent on a parachuting adventure with some random? Probably. Nothing to do with the terrible script and overacting, haha!
Marley and Me (Netflix) - A very sweet little film that I’d never managed to see until now and it was genuinely emotional at the end. Perfect date night flick. But oh dear lord John and Jenny, just get your puppy trained instead of just giving in and letting him destroy your house!
Devoured (SBS) - We watched the first episode of this, about links between the food world and organised crime. I found it a bit repetitive - it’s frustrating when they only have enough material for 30 minutes but somehow stretch it to 45! But super interesting nonetheless.
I don’t know if this counts as reading, listening or watching, but I’ll put it in this section as it’s mostly videos! I’ve been neck-high in Kerstin Martin’s brilliant Squarespace Express course this week as I have finally made some serious headway on my business website. Can’t wait to launch it - it’s looking fabulous, which is more down to Kerstin’s excellent instruction than anything. If you use Squarespace and want to get your head around it a bit more, or are a complete beginner and want to build something that looks incredibly professional, Kerstin is the best teacher I’ve come across for the platform.
Thinking about
How this week I marked a milestone - I have meditated, in some form or another, every single day for five years straight. That’s 1,827 days. I don’t know if that’s an achievement or not. I’ve often wondered why I still do it, and whether I should stop. What would happen if I missed a day? Is it actually helping me?
The thing is, meditation is now so ingrained in my routine that it would be a bit like stopping my Morning Pages, or drinking coffee. I don’t know if I can attribute a daily meditation practice to being more focused in my life but things certainly started coming together a few years ago, when the world was different and I had a bit more control over things. Many things have been out of my control for about, oh, 827 days now (!) so I think meditation has probably helped me more than I realise. Have I been more grounded than I otherwise would have been, during the pandemic and everything that’s come about because of it? I’d like to think so.
Quote of the week
“Let everything happen.” - Tara Brach
If you’d like to share your thoughts on this post with me, please do! Otherwise, stay tuned for another exciting instalment next week xx