2012 in pictures

OK, so it's been a little quite here on the blog front lately....let me just say that its got nothing to do with life being at all quiet or mundane. In fact the opposite is true - living out dreams and aspirations and working through plenty of hard stuff too. But that's all for another day....this post has been brewing for a couple of months now!

Even though we are eight thirteen weeks into 2013 I feel like I have only just re-surfaced after a busy 2012. Life changing stuff. Scary change-your-world-fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants-and-dream-big kinda stuff.

The Mayans’ predicted the end of the world in 2012; a little too literal for some people’s comforts? Yes, but I can’t be the only one who feels that in this last 12 months the has been a shift.

Less buzz factor for the bigger-better-shinier and more about quality and care.  More time, more laughs, more smiles, less stress.

It feels to me like I’ve just discovered a new portal opening, a little unfamiliar but inviting none-the-less. Intrigued by what lies around the corner I’m like Alice going down the rabbit hole, or Dorothy with Toto and her yellow bricks. Or something like that…

All I know is that I feel there’s evolution of our Earth going on – some of it whether we want or not.

It wasn’t all rainbows and lolly pops though.

28 years in the making....

I'm not much of a birthday fuss person. No big celebrations for milestones or designer gifts needed - just a day with some fine food and good company. Last weekend was my birthday - not a significant number - but it was a weekend filled with exactly what I could have wished for, and more!

It started on the Friday - school was out! To celebrate the occasion, the lovely farm where I am currently WWOOFing, had a weekend trip planned to "The Island".
We [WWOOFers] hastily wheelbarrowed out all the mulch to get our day's work done...

Things I have done in the last 12 weeks....

Last week marked the 3 month point since I finished my well paid "professional" job and started living a different life. At that time I thought it would be a breeze to transition from a job I had whole heartedly enjoyed but ended up feeling more like a trap. I mean, who hasn't dreamed about the fun to be had living with no fixed address or job to tie you down???
But much to my surprise I initially missed my former life...well some parts of it anyway (the routine, my friends and colleagues, even the sense of satisfaction from "making a difference" in peoples' lives). It was hard....

Playing the tourist: farming, Vermont style

Growing up on farm my whole life, it’s hard to resist the temptation to visit outstanding farms when the opportunity presents. But perhaps that’s just me…always keen to know more. So, when looking at tourist attractions in north-west Vermont I was surprised that everyone raved about one farm in particular: Shelburne Farms. 

A rare patch of sunshine shows off the Farm Barn...

So it was only fitting that this was one of the main things on our itinerary...

A nice welcome from Vermont!

It's hard to be too caught up in the fast paced life when you're a state whose capital city boasts under 8,000 people and no McDonalds. As many on the bumper stickers proclaim "Vermont was green before it was cool", this is not a bunch of people excited by bigger, better, faster - rather they are happy to embrace the "loca-vore" project whole-heartedly.
It was easy to see this the minute we landed in Burlington - the biggest town in the state with a population standing at ~40,000 (mostly uni students!) - the cutest, smallest international airport ever! Quiet yet efficient, it was a breath of fresh air after a three-hour stopover in NY (at JFK).

A cure for jetlag - looking out over Lake Champlain, in the heart of downtown Burlington (10 mins from the airport)

2012: thoughts and plans

I have resisted the flimsy and transient nature of "new-years' resolutions"......it always seems that by February 1st you have either broken, forgotten or lost the desire to keep them up.

Instead I have been jotting down ideas as they float around in my head, trying my best to formulate into some sort of plan. Every year that passes I try to promise myself that I will focus on a plan that keeps the things I value front and centre.

(even if I don't entirely know what those things are).

Going for a walk, in the woods...

Time spent in a state that is covered in more trees than not (80% of Vermont is trees to be exact) certainly lends itself to plenty of walks. In fact the state's name comes from verd monts, which translates to "green mountains".........does that give you a better idea?

With the events in August 2011 (Tropical Storm "Irene") leaving the Green State battered, there was more brown than green - but it still made for some lovely tramping, trekking walking etc. And I was lucky enough to be there for perhaps the nicest season of all....Autumn.