Living in a tent

Have you heard of 'glamping'?  It is 'glamour camping' or camping in style.  There are silk tents, flushing recycle toilets, and any of the creature comforts of a modern home now available for the glamper.

'Glamping' is up the scale from how I'm choosing to live right now.  I'm camping in style, living on the land in a tent.  I have my big, plush comfy bed in there to sleep in, timber & iron frame with a pillow top chiropractic mattress and silk doona cover embroidered with sequins.  On either side of my bed, there are timber & iron bedside tables and huge windows for a 360 degree view.  Outside my room, I have 2 comfy armchairs, a stove with hot plates, a huge sunroom, a gas heater, a million dollar view and quiet, peaceful neighbours on all sides aaaand I have continuous instant hot water.  There is an ensuite with 2 toilets and a huge pantry- sound glamourous?

Suitcases and bags line the walls around the bed with clothes hastily stuffed in since moving and nowhere else to store them, the ensuite is the sunroom and I have no running water to heat (sorting that today). The neighbours are kangaroos, dozens of them quietly grazing, the armchairs fold up, the stove is a 4-burner BBQ, the toilets are camping portapotties, the gas heater can only be used outdoors ( it's freezing at night), the butane canisters freeze trying to boil water for coffee and the bed is on such a slope, I roll over the side in my sleep- now how glamourous does it sound?

I chose to do this-live in a tent.  I am enjoying every minute here in nature.  There are so many things of beauty, the sounds of hundreds of different bird calls, frogs, crickets and gentle breezes; the sight of kangaroos playing and eagles flying against a pure blue sky; the smell of hot food cooking over an open flame; the feeling of being at one with nature and close to the earth.  This is bliss.  This is heaven for me.  Time with the person I love with very few distractions or interruptions.  Time for me, I'm as solar-powered as my lights are!  Time in the fresh air and sunshine with traffic a strange, rare, far off hum and no on-the-grid power.  Letting go of the attachment to "things", to consumables, to clutter, to waste, to fears and avoidance.  This is me being real and unashamed.  This is me loving me enough to do what I need to do for me.  I am still working full time and overtime.  I'm still getting my nails done.  I am still the same person I was last week.  I am just more at peace and more content because I have removed the stressors from living for a while.

I choose to live in the tent while I plan my next house. I intend to find out what I really want from a house before I commit to buying it and I will enjoy that too.

Until next time

xxjxx

I am of the earth

The earth is my mirror and, like the earth, there is much about me than can be plainly seen and much about me that lies beneath, waiting to be discovered and explored.

Like earth, I can be easily moved in some ways and steadfastly immovable in others.  I have lofty mountain peaks covered in ice and fiery pools of passion deep within.  I rumble and belch my slights and explode into volcanic emotion when the pressure builds too high, sending out huge rivers of feeling into the air around me to be eventually cooled and hardened, sometimes taking years to recover and allow the pain to heal.  I bruise easily at times and soften murkily like a muddied pool in the rain.  At other times I can be as stark and unloving as a hot desert, as lush and productive as a tropical rainforest, as dark and gloomy as an underground cavern and still at other times as dim and mysterious as a moonlit field.  The rivers and streams of my feelings, thoughts, dreams and hopes meander mostly through me freely and with ease while there are dams and fiords still holding back the flow, man-made by pain, control and expectations set far too high.  Humanity has left marks upon me which I have borne in solid silence, seemingly powerless in the moment but strong enough and patient enough to wait and ponder on before allowing the wind to blow it all away, the rain to cleanse me and allow the new growths to sprout in hope, the promise of new beginnings.

The earth is my mirror and, like the earth, there is much about me than can be plainly seen and much about me that lies beneath, waiting to be discovered and explored.

Like earth, I can be neglected, abandoned, rejected, abused, violated, subjugated, controlled, manipulated, used, wounded and misunderstood.  I can also, like earth, be loved, nurtured, guided, supported, understood, cherished, nursed, recreated, celebrated and feted.  You can choose to work with me or against me and I will remain available in the capacity I can be with patience and love.  One thing is for certain:

The earth is my mirror and, like the earth, there is much about me than can be plainly seen and much about me that lies beneath, waiting to be discovered and explored.

xxjxx