I already danced like no-one is watching…
now I had the chance to sing like no-one is listening
[okay... well maybe not exactly NO-one!]
I am at this moment flying over the Whitsunday Islands winging my way back to the Gold Coast… and home! The clouds are doing something rather odd this morning. They are sketchy and low today. Way away down below us… they’re casting long shadows across the water. It’s early and the sun is still low.
It’s odd to see clouds from this perspective. How used we are to looking UP at them. Now it is we who are up here looking DOWN on them [if that makes any sense at all].
[My grammar check is screaming for me to rephrase this line with that quaint little squiggly green line that underscores grammatical errors in Microsoft Word. And yet I am unmoved! In writing... as in ALL THINGS these days…]
I intend to do it my way!
I can see the plane’s shadow traversing the water below us giving sense to the speed with which we must be travelling. And yet up here it feels as though time is standing still. Suspended… right here where we are… with 35,000 feet of precisely nothing between here and the world below.
I was back in Cairns this week for a couple of days. They told me it had been raining since I left so I could only deduce that the place missed me… (cough cough) which was a reasonable assumption endorsed by the fact that the sun came out upon my arrival… after three solid weeks of rain! [If only I could be that powerful...*sigh* grin]
Fishermen Trinity Inlet on my early Thursday morning walk
Yesterday I went to a Casting for another television commercial… this time with Tourism Australia. You can’t begin to imagine how the emailed Brief piqued my interest. I couldn’t resist!
“Come in shorts with walking boots bush hat and backpack”… it said.
“Be prepared to sing Waltzing Matilda”
I was in!
Let’s face it…when am I ever going to get another chance to sing Waltzing Matilda with the camera rolling? (((chuckles))) Whether or not it ends up on the tellie seems of little consequence at this point. I don’t care. It was just so much fun to go to the casting… talk on camera about the things I love to do [paint write... oh and of course sing]… and yep… finally have my one minute of fame singing Australia’s favourite song!
Not entirely sure national television is ready for that!
But I sure was… and can now strike the experience off my bucket list of odd and extraordinary things I must do one day before I die!
Gold Coast skyline on descent
So just love this country… and would happily sing about it! (((chuckles)))
It was also great to catch up with dear friends again. It’s only been a month since I left… but already there was so much to talk about. It felt kind of nice to know that even though a vast distance now stands between us… these valued friendships will prevail no matter what. It helps me to know this… as I step boldly forward into the next chapter!
Sadly… not pineapple and banana cake *sigh* [grin]
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an oldie but a goodie
cartoon © 2009 Jean Burman
If ever verification was needed for the power of positive thinking… positive action… and the extreme benefits of taking the leaps of faith I have had to take over the past 14 months… I now have it.
Just climbing through 19,000 feet… [okay my love of flying is officially now legendary - say no more] I have been away for nearly four weeks. How did a week turn into four I wonder? I am now winging my way home to pack up and move south. I know I know… I said I wasn’t going anywhere for now… but the Universe apparently has other plans for me!
Funny how things happen when you let go… and say yes to pretty much everything [within reason of course]. I can’t begin to tell you how much my life has changed over the past year… and how many opportunities have come my way since I began saying yes to the Universe instead of fighting it every step of the way… which I’ve now realised is something I have pretty much done all of my life! [Grin]
And this especially includes saying yes to a whole range of opportunities and experiences that I might otherwise have thought were not for me. I’ve now learned not to do that… for things are rarely as they seem at first glance.
We all have limitless potential but first we have to get over our limiting beliefs to realise it. All I can say is…
TAKE THAT LEAP!
The only downside to this move [if ever there could be one] will be that I shall have to relinquish… for now… my beautiful tropical northern Australian location… my good friends [if they don't come visit! grin]… and life as I had re-invented it. But that’s okay for now.
Nothing is ever for nothing… and nothing is ever forever!
ahhh… I love this place… [insanely hot here at the moment tho]
What it does mean though is that for the time being I shall have a home on my own terms… and a definitive place from which to go forward. And the very best thing of all is that…for the first time in over a year … I shall have a dedicated creative space from which to work!
Oddly enough this one requirement has become more essential to me than breath… so urgent is my need to simply get on with the work at hand. My creative process has been the one sure thing that has sustained me throughout this transformational period of my life. And it’s this process that shall finally have my utmost priority over the next few months as I adjust to my new home.
At last I shall have somewhere to do what I love to do more than anything else in the whole wide world… when… where and however I want to do it.
Write. Paint. Create. Plan. Dream. Go forward… and move on.
It’s a sensational feeling… almost as exhilarating as those first few moments of flight! (((chuckles)))
With the stars aligned… and God willing… I may [at last] be the master of my own destiny and the architect of my own dreams.
I would have once said “I can’t wait”… but of course… I now know that I CAN [wait] and that now anything… absolutely anything… is possible.
The sky might be the limit.
But the Universe knows no such bounds!
Hope to see you all on the other side… watch this space for updates on my new space! Coming soon.
One last coffee – for now – at the Port Bookshop
[but I'll be back]
I was saying G’day to the good people over at Motto Agency yesterday and it struck me how amazing the internet really is. Yesterday was of course Australia Day… and I was discussing this fact with the innovative duo who just happen to be half a world away in South Carolina. [It was raining... and we had Bob Marley in common. Grin]
Motto Agency is a brand strategy and design firm who also happen to be reggae aficionados. [Just knew I liked these people the minute I heard Bob Marley on their homepage] As it turns out they were celebrating right along with we Aussies on our national day…
“We’re celebrating Australia Day here too… Motto style. We have our sunglasses on and the movie Australia is on loop in the conference room! Enjoy the festivities!”
To me… these are the small conversations that glue this big [cyber] world together.
Hangin’ in there
Like I said… yesterday was Australia Day… but I won’t be commenting further about that. I believe I well and truly covered our National Day way back in January 2007… leaving pretty much nothing left to be said for the rest of the decade!
Reading back over the archive… I had to laugh how I really came out swinging from that very first post three years ago today [give or take a day or two]! Ever the emphatic idealist!
Here is the link for those of you who are up to it! Grin.
Cartoon Pen & Watercolour
Copyright © 2007 Jean Burman
Read Blogging On here
So yes… it’s been THREE YEARS since this blog began and I can hardly believe it. So much water has gone under the bridge since then… so many topics hashed and re-hashed… and so much has changed.
In those early days I wondered what on earth I was going to talk about each and every week from that day forward… but you know what? So far something has always turned up. Sometimes just in the nick of time! Grin.
And I’m happy to report that life not only goes on but just keeps getting better and better.
And the best is yet to come!
So thank you for being here with me… and living it along with me. It’s been a whole lot of fun!
“Full Tilt”
Cartoon Pen & Watercolour 9″ x 12″
Copyright 2009 Jean Burman
Here is my entry in the 21st Rotary Cartoon Awards… a national/international competition hosted once again at the Bunker Gallery in Coffs Harbour. The Awards are a bit of a big deal in the cartoon world with entries accepted from both amateur and professional cartoonists worldwide.
I had two entries ready… but upon (erroneous) advice that captions were disallowed… I didn’t send the second one. Foul play? No I don’t think so (grin) I should have read deeper into the fine print of the entry form to learn that captions were disallowed in the International section only. So I could have sent the other one as well. Ha! Oh well.. c’est la vie.
Originally this was going to be “Climate Change – Full Tilt” (avec captions) but turned out being plain old “Full Tilt” because that’s all I could fit into the toon after the fact! Never mind… I think the gag stands quite well on it’s own two feet as a humorous ‘take’ on the irony of weather in this Great South Land over the past year. I hope so anyway.
Besides… I have no expectations for this entry except that… by participation… it represents my persistence to prevail despite everything.
Keep smiling… you never know when someone’s gonna smile back! (((chuckles))) :-)
