Nana Jen

I'm so excited!!!..... I just found out I'm gonna be a grandmother again! Nana Jen strikes again! My eldest son Shannon and his partner Aimee are pregnant with their 3rd child. They already have 2 young children; Riley is 4 and Clay is 2. They are both SO clever and cute. I love spending a few days with them every school holidays. They live a long way away from me (about 6 hours drive) so I don't see them as often as I would like to.

I love this photo of Peter. It was taken last year in our Deaf class. Peter, Rangga and Nick were drawing different background scenes onto the whiteboard and then posing in front of them.

Peter IS flying this year! Straight into the Graphic Design Diploma course and loving it!

Bali Dreaming (again)

Ooh I have a craving to get back to Ubud in Bali soooooon. I first went to Bali in 1982, when I was 19 years old, and have been back many times. Why? I love:

• beautiful Balinese people
• my little house on the hill (pic above) http://jenny.truran.googlepages.com/
• hot humid weather
• spicy Indonesian food- masakan padang!
• practicing speaking Bahasa Indonesia
• riding a scooter wearing toe thongs
• meditating as the sun rises
• snorkelling in warm waters
• visiting friends and catching up on the gossip
• giggling at Marli being coy with 4 year old boys
• getting massages
• sitting on my verandah writing or drawing
• taking photos of ducks
• being immersed in a creative culture
• looking for fireflies in the rice paddies at midnight
• kissing David in the pouring rain
• the mandala on my shower floor
• poking frangipanis behind Ganesha's ears
• discovering new types of body work
• the mezze plate at The Kafe
• Wednesday nights at Rick's meditation / discussion group
• colour everywhere
• the smell of incense
• laughing and crying with Linda about Bali dogs
• acoustic guitars that magically appear
• not having a TV or reading the newspapers
• playing UNO with Putu and Kadek
• Michael Franti's tattoos and seeing him everywhere in Ubud
• watching the Kecak dance
• mango lassi
• Ibu's serene face when she makes offerings
• dreaming about living a creative, heart-led life in Ubud one day
  

blah blah blah

Tuesday night watching 'Packed to the Rafters' and doing a lesson plan on what I'm going to teach at 9.30 tomorrow morning. Maree isn't well and is having the week off (Dr's orders) so I'll have the class by myself. Bring it on!

Hi again...... this is a demo for the class to see how to post to a blog.....

Meditation

Last weekend I went to learn about meditation. Click onto this link to see where I went.

http://www.bkwsu.org/au/retreats/retreat-locations/Wilton/

I learned some new ways to "focus" my brain..... not to think too much. We did this in many different ways. Being silent and focusing on creating some art work, walking quietly in the bush, singing (and focusing on remembering the words), doing some stretching and yoga exercises, and listening to a meditation cd.

I felt relaxed and peaceful all week! Now my goal is to have some meditation time / quiet brain time EVERY day!

Charlie

Charlie the wonder dog is a golden labrador. She was given to my son Jex when he was 12. He has Usher Syndrome. This means he was born deaf and later lost vision too. Charlie is not a guide dog..... she's a companion dog. She tells Jex when someone is at the door, she sleeps on his bed and drops lots of hair all over the house. We are all experts with the vacuum cleaner! She's part of our family and we all adore her beautiful personality.......