its been a big week. the guild display was all set up in time with everything just right.
i went up and ‘personned’ the stall on opening day and since then i’ve left it to others to have a turn. im happy with how it turned out, would have done a few things differently, and wont be volunteering for anything like it again for a while! i think sometimes the quickest way to kill your love of your hobby is to get involved with the ‘back end’ or organising of it. i wouldnt want that to happen to my love of knitting!
on good friday i got in the car with my dog and drove a long way north. i stayed in a cute caravan park that had chickens
and a shady spot for knitting
and then i spent the rest of the easter weekend under this shed
herding sheep with my dog
and knitting some more
possum and i had a great time. we improved a lot over the weekend. i’m working up to trialling again in september, although just thinking about it makes me nervous. there will be more trips away between now and then to get it right.
while i was there i thought a lot about how peaceful it was surrounded by the big open spaces with the autumn trees
the cool crisp sunrise
and the spectacular sunset.
i thought about how this showground was entirely different to the one i’d just left behind
and how i really really didnt want to come back to the city. an old phd mate who is working now at the uni near where we were came to say hi. i spent a while talking to him and his lovely wife about city vs country, academia vs life, stress vs contentment. we talked about some possible job openings in the next year or so. things are changing where i work now. i dont know how they will play out for me, i dont know whether i want to be a part of it. and i really dont want to live here anymore. being in wollongong, working where i am, it was a mixture of chance and forced circumstance. i dont feel like i had a lot of choice. but now i realise i can choose any path i want, its up to me.
people probably think im crazy but i spent my last 5 years of high school living up north. i miss it, even if its a long way from anywhere
i miss the wide open space and the really cold winters
i mostly just miss the peace and quiet. so im seriously thinking about frogging my life, as rosered put it.
not right now though. right now i just need to go and knit for a while!
k xx
Wow, a life-changing weekend. It is an interesting part of the world, it has so many things going on. It’s not for me, but I can see how it might suit you.
Do it. You’ll be happier for it.
The thing is I am happy now. It’s more about realising I’m completely free and can make whatever choices I want.
sweet
Quite selfishly, I hope you don’t move up north! But it does look a lovely part of the world. And you do have choices, which is always a good thing. And I suppose there would be knitters there too…
plusses: can buy acres to live on and have lots of dogs and garden and really cold winter to wear knitwear (with two local wool mills), and still in the same state. minusses: crap coffee, none of my knitter peeps
much to consider. plus, only if the jobs right. still, it makes you think.
They might get a great cafe by the time you move – I’ve had some good country coffee in the past… but, then, I’m not a coffee snob.
I understand the yearning, though. Lots of dogs… bliss…
It looks and sound so nice….how nice to be so free to be able to make these choices.
I think the liberating part is knowing you CAN do this if you want to. And, you can always move on to somewhere else if that suits your fancy. But I have to say, acres of land filled with animals and the peace and quiet sounds pretty good to me.
Now to find the right job…..
Certainly an enlightening weekend you’ve had. Much for you to ponder. I hope a satisfying pathway emerges for you.
I find the Australian countryside very beautiful. I love the richness of its historical and literary associations. I love visiting. But I have no desire to live there. But then, I don’t want to have either dogs or gardens and I don’t need a sense of space around me. I think engaging work and good access to real-life friends are both vital. I suspect you’d agree with this. They have to be weighed against all the country advantages you mention, or you have to find ways of achieving these essentials in the country.
Still, having the privilege of being free to choose really does trump everything else.
i think when you grow up somewhere like bendemeer or grenfell! the desire to never go back is quite strong, and for good reason. so im being very cautious knowing that there are some things i absolutely despise about the country, and will miss about the city. but ive been really surprised lately at my reaction to the sense of space, i didnt think i was like that, but i wonder if its bought about by a need for mental space at the moment. there are some days where i feel like i cant breath, and its probably work more than location thats doing that. so theres no guarantee that would change. so im weighing all these things up, and i dont know what will be the tipping point, it may be as simple as knowing i will never be able to buy property here! you’re right tho lyn, i feel so liberated just having the choice!
There are knitters up this way – of all different sorts, including knitters at uni (or occasionally at uni, in my case.) There is also decent coffee. And tea. We would make you welcome and I think in time you’d find a knitting ‘tribe’ here to suit you.
I could never go back to living in the city – I love the space and the relative quiet, and being part of a community. I much prefer the lifestyle here – and the lack of traffic! Some years ago we bought a 100acre block and built a 3-bedroom house for what it would have cost us to buy a 1-bedroom apartment in Sydney; prices have gone up since then, but it’s nowhere near as insane as housing costs in the cities. We’re 20 kilometres from town and it takes less than 20 minutes to drive.
Having choices is always liberating.
Wow, sounds like you had an epiphany on your weekend away!
Rural Australia is incredibly beautiful, and there is good coffee (and bad) in the most unlikely places. I know its not for me, but that doesn’t stop me having secret running-away-to-the-country fantasies. Usually whilst squeezed onto a city-bound train with someones armpit in my face, someone elses laptop digging into my back, and every single person is fiddling with their iphones.
I think yu could frog your life, as long as you had one of those life lines threaded through!! Change is exciting, a bit stressful, but if it is what you want you can be your own best agent of change. Sometimes it is weird being a grown up and in charge of yourself. Ia m glad Possum had a great time out!!!