My friend Tina Gray, asks in her blog post, ‘The Bag Will Tell’

So, tell me what’s in YOUR handbag?

I guessed that mine would be a little different. It was fun viewing my friend’s handbag contents and seeing where they are in their lives from what is in the bag.

My handbag is a ready for bush walking or the supermarket, backpack.

Remove the diary and add a water bottle and I have a long hike backpack.

Contents:

Not visible in the picture is my Canon, Digital IXUS 990 IS Camera.

Collins Day to a page, A5 size financial year diary, this I substitute for a water bottle on trail walks.  I bought this at a store with o crazy cane toad ornament at the door, as an entry and exit alarm and I almost jumped through the roof when the thing croaked at me each time I walked past it.

My new htc Android, Desire Smart Phone, which still proves to be smarter than I am and I need someone familiar with one to show me how to become familiar with all I can use it for.

Quick Start guide, for my Smart Phone.  Yes one day I will read the instructions lol J

Size 1 Maimeri artists painting knife (I live in hope to use it again).

I stainless steel veterinary supplies, tool as used for scraping, tartar off dogs teeth. lol, well it is a handy tool, it scrapes dirt out from under my fingernails when I suddenly have to look like I am a lady, better than anything else I know.

Keys to my caravan, car and summer retreat with an RACV and store card on keyring and a small torch.

My Pandora Beads.

A reporter's voice operated tape recorder in a hard glasses case.

One customized with my own artwork, ball point pen.

Soft sided bag with earphones for tape recorder.

Sony Walkman DVD player and Audio Book DVD, (I mostly read nonfiction and listen to fiction, mostly to study how other authors construct their novels) Ear plugs for Walkman

Three metal (I only needed one), business card holders with my business cards.

One store docket.

Lorna Jane, VIP card (I can dream can’t I?)

Comb

Oilskin Wallet, contents cards and notes, no coins. (I dislike carrying coins.)

2 scrunched up tissues.

 

So, tell me J,  what is in YOUR handbag?

 

 Don't believe everything you see in magazines.

Have you ever looked at time-share holidays?

Reg and I have.  We once went to Mt Beauty in Victoria and sat through a presentation and we were very tempted to become involved but decided to stay independent.

Timeshare emerged in the late 1950s as a way to secure extra capital resources to fund property expansion. Shareholders had the right to use these properties on a regular basis. Although the set up has changed and varied through the years the basic idea is that, you buy rights in a property to use it for a fixed time each year. Timeshare arrangements are international; in the US orlando timeshare is well known.

 Most of the world's major hotel and resort developers have become involved in timeshare properties.

Of interest to Reg and I as travellers, is the new idea we have seen where recreational vehicles like motor homes are being purchased on a time share arrangement. With some luxury motorhomes costing more than an average home, I can see how timeshare would appeal to some people as a way to become involved in the R.V. lifestyle on a part time basis and it overcomes the problem of where to store the large RV when you are back at home after the holid. 

It is interesting, though Reg and I love our independence and I am glad I fully own my own touring set up and do not have to hand it over to someone else in two month’s time for his or her share.  I like calling our home on wheels, our own and I could happlly live this life on the road, 12 months of the year.

 

There is a theory amoungst many scientists and researchers today, along with neurocardiologists, who consider the heart, which maintains a constant two-way dialogue and relationship involving many processes with the brain may contain a brain in its own right.

There are so many new interesting, theories and treatments that are a renewal of old beliefs proved to have some basis in modern experimentation. Using light to cure was an old medicine and tit has come back in many forms including, blue acne light.

The heart and brain actually influence one another’s functioning, and though not commonly known, the heart sends a great deal more information to the brain than the other way around. The information it sends includes heart signals that can influence a person’s perception, emotional experience and higher cognitive functions.

You can read more about this interesting theory, here:- The "Heart Brain"

Victoria's period of daylight saving will end at 3.00 am Daylight Saving Time (EST) on Sunday 4 April 2010.

Victora's fire services are again calling on the public to change their smoke alarm batteries when they change their clocks at the end of daylight savings on 4 April 2010.

The Be alarmed! Change you smoke alarm battery campaign is an annual fire safety campaign promoting the importance of working smoke alarms.

I just worked through ‘earth hour’. I did not turn our only electrical appliances  we would normally be using, off.

Well I never have more than two lights on (usually only one) in the house or caravan ever. Easy to do when there are only two of us, not a large family.

If the TV is on, in our house, there is no other light on.

 I use shade trees, drapes and strategically opened or shut windows and adding or removing clothing and I use a water cooler for climate control.

It has to extreme climate, for us to use electrically aided heating or cooling at our place.

Our Total Gas and electrical bill is under $30. for a month when we are at home and we use fuel in a silent generator, solar and gas when we travel in the bush and that would be about the same. Total costs under $400. a year. 

But I do not 'do' winter, we travel north to avoid the cold and needing to run a heater all the time, not something you can do with a young family easily nor restrict the lighting as much as I can though solar units can easily run all lighting.

Our largest costs involve our Toyota Troop carrier Workmate, V8 Diesel, Land Cruiser.  This is a powerful vehicle that Reg and I, hope, will last us a lifetime, if we look after it. It is a fantastic dependable towing vehicle and I have a lot of cab space to work in, almost a room size section behind the driver’s seat, it is however one of the most expensive cars to get serviced and our last service costs were $1,200.aAnd I have been up for $1,150. Worth of tyres in the last couple of months, so that side of our lifestyle can be costly. Yet another auto insurance quote, arrived in the mail though I do not need to change, as we are gold card members with our current insurance company and get a great discount.

I have always been loyal and gone to regular Toyota service centres but my neighbour and a few others are advising me to go to a recommended independent mechanic, they say I will save money and not lose any quality of service.  I do not know, that is not an area I am expert in.

Any advise on lowering service costs without sacrificing quality are welcomed as that is definitely my budget blow out area.

I have illustrated this post with some of my fridge magnets made from images of my art works.

 

Do you have an old washing machine laying around?
Consider recycling the bowl and making your own outdoor fire pot.
 
Reg and I love the outdoor life that we share on our caravanning trips and when we are home at our summer studio, we try to extend the feeling of living out of doors, close to nature, and a chimenea, has always been a part of our garden design. 

I know you can get gas outdoor fireplaces but Reg and I love the look and feel of a natural wood fire, out of doors. Even on a warm night, they help serve the purpose of discouraging insects, which allows you to sit outside for longer.

At Tarra Valley we had the most divine time just sitting around an outdoor, fire bowl, made from the inside of an old washing machine, see photos. 

What triggers your special childhood memories?

It is funny how some of our best child hood memories are often because of the simplest things.

I spent a relaxing evening watching TV with Reg last night while I did a few creative activities. In the mystery series Reg likes to watch, this couple arrived home to this dimly lit house. In the TV show, the man picks up a remote control, clicks it and the next second there was a roaring fire in the fireplace.

How do they do that? 

Fire is fascinating to watch, I think electric fireplaces. are amazing. I am going to love our review tour of dog friendly caravan parks this year but Reg and I will still want to have some free bushland camps, as we would miss our camp fire,  too much  if we spent  all our time in places where we could not have a fire.

When I was ten, we lived at a house with an open fireplace. I remember one cold rainy night my mum created a special evening, to always, remember. We gathered around the fire, initially reading books together. Then when the pine cones were glowing in the hearth, we made toast over the coals and ate it dripping in butter, and mum told us a ghost story.

It is not part of my memory of that evening, but looking back now, I realize we must have had no power. I get my work holistic traits, (I now try to modify to a more balanced lifestyle), from having learned them from my mother. Mum would have normally been working, (part from necessity) I realize.  One other trait I picked up from mum was to turn lemons, (that cold powerless night), into lemonade. Mum created a wonderful atmosphere and a night that I still remember and can relate to with pleasure, more than fifty years later.

Do you have any special childhood memories that stem from sitting around a fire with loved ones?

                                                       ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This post is illustrated by the card I have made from my camp fire , in the Pilbara, WA, painting, above, available from my cards-art.com web site ~ (see side bar for link) and by my fridge magnet of the same work, below, available from THE Western Australia, landscape pages on this website.

These art/craft/prints are also available to purchase, ‘direct from artist’, under our caravan awning studio, while we are on tour.