When We Know It's Time

Spotted this picker as I drove into Town early one morning, and he was still there when I returned later in the day. In fact he's been there for weeks now. 

Look, I'm not usually one for giving up without at least a bit of a tussle, but this business of Google widgets and buttons that appears in a pink window every time I open my blog page, has got me in a bit of a fix.
A chest tightening, anxiety fix.
So dear reader, this is one of the reasons why you haven't heard a peep from me for such a long time. Not that I would assume to be missed or anything so presumptuous. You're probably thinking "Who was she? Oh her!"
This type of tech obstacle has me running away, in fact I'd sooner do any other tedious task than sort this out. Suddenly the thought of wiping ten years of dust from the ceiling fans became most appealing to me, and whilst I'm pleased to report the (now) cleanliness of our fans, I'm still sent into paroxysms of fear and end up in a foetal position on my bed, escaping into the pages of a book every time I look at my blog screen.
Don't worry about me though... I'm just over here whimpering and whinging in self pity.
There is a cunning plan though, and the tech savvy son is popping over this week, lured by my berry cheesecake, after which I'll mention my small problem. Ha.. facing my demons feels so good.
I've got this!

 It has been a disappointing season for bee keepers in South Australia due to extreme heat and dry weather, but the numbers of people who are eager to learn about bee keeping continues to increase.

Three Beekeeping workshops here in three months has educated thirty two new bee keepers.
This picture taken at our January Bee course, shows one of the gentlemen with hood off due to the hot day. 
I was thinking how great it was, that for the first time ever, in all ten of our Beekeeping workshops over the past three years, every attendee here today was fitted out with their professional bee suits or bee smocks. No worries, I thought, no fear of stings today.
An hour later this gentleman was in anaphylactic shock and was transported to our local hospital where he spent the night. Fortunately he was attending with his adult son, and also fortunately,  one of the participants that day was a GP.
Of all the classes we have run, no one was stung by a bee until this day.

We're taking a break from doing workshops for awhile now, after recently feeling a little overwhelmed with the effort and time consuming aspect of running these events.
The behind the scenes tasks of setting up for these days should be enjoyable, that's why we have done so many, but I admit to feeling a little burnt out when preparing for the most recent event this week.
A group of ten people for lunch, a farm walk, and learning about sustainable living and farming. A wonderful group of interesting and interested people, it was a pleasure being in their company.
This is what buoys us on, but it's time now for me to learn to manage my time more effectively and to slow things down a little. I'm not sure if that's possible while living this kind of lifestyle but I will attempt to look at things carefully and try to minimise the need for such busy days.
I have a few plans and strategies to work with. It will be difficult to let some things go, but it needs to be done.

 

(Photo by @sean_the_chef)   

In the milking shed talking cows to a captive audience, minus the cow. 

I think we all need to stop and do a personal assessment from time to time. To think about what makes us happy, what is slowing us down and what is causing anxiety or a feeling of dread.

For each of us, many of those things that we've been doing for what seems like forever, may not bring us the joy that it used to, or maybe it's starting to feel like a chore.  It's no good whingeing about it, and if we keep on doing it, we have only ourselves to blame for a life lived less than we hoped for. 

They will be small steps for me, but I can feel the weight lifting already.

 But first...

This workshop is coming up and we are so looking forward to seeing many old and new faces here.

If you want to attend you will need to register with BAA in Bellengin, NSW, through the phone number or website shown. But be quick, we are almost at our numbers limit already.

Morning tea is provided (by me), but you will need to BYO lunch.

OK I'm off to the kitchen to make a meal and cake for a friend who's baby boy was born a week ago today. Even though it was thirty three years since I was in the same situation, I will always remember with much fondness the friends who dropped food in, but didn't hang around. This is the time for the family unit to bond, and for the new mother to rest and get to know herself and baby in this new world they have entered into.

Cheers and thanks for dropping in.

Sally XX