BRAVING THE ELEMENTS - "Lying Down in Green Pasture"

Where Would You Want to Live?

A Healthier Lifestyle philosophy believes that the human body was designed to be healthy, and that LIFE LIVED IN PEACE AND HARMONY WITH NATURE GRANTS HEALTH AS OUR NATURAL STATE.

When I was young I used to wake up to the chirping birds and sweet scent of blooming jasmines and feel the morning sun filling up the room in our semi-detached house.  With city developments, more highways and byways, more high-rise apartments and the hustle and bustle of city life, it's so refreshing to be back with nature as resonated in Peter Cincotti's Song "The Country Life":-

Excerpt from "The Country Life" lyrics

Time can fly and days go by
It speed we can't controll
It's been 30 years of city life
And now we're growing old

There's nothing more we needed for
And there's nothing left to do
So let's spend the autumn years ahead of us
Like the summers of our youth

Never knew how much we had back then
But it's not too late to have it all again

I wanna wake up to the music of hummingbirds and harmony
I wana feel the morning sunlight filling up the room
I wanna listen to the silence that's singing through the scenery
I wanna smell the roses of our love the day they bloomed

Let's go back and find
The simple world we knew
Coz i still wanna live again the country life with you
Country life with you

Taxi cabs and traffic jams
And subways on the ground
Don't you miss the days when all we hear
The nature's quiet sounds

MEET TEAM B - The Golden (***Green Acres) Team

***Green Acres is an  1965-1972 American sitcom starring Eddie Ablert, a New York attorney and his wife Eva Gabor who  try to live as genteel farmers in the bizarre community of Hooterville.  I could empathise with the couple as I worked on this grassland under adverse condition - the weather and the cattle...

Senior citizens need not be a burden that a grudging society has to bear. On the contrary, by channelising their maturity, experience and time towards vital social issues, elders can lighten many burdens carried by the society

To some people, walking in the rain is romantic. To others, it's invigorating.

Ode To Those Golden Years

Work

is not
what I do,
that was before,
always driven by another’s demands

Now do what I please and mostly it’s play,
taking my ease
enjoying
this day’s
“work.”

Elizabeth Crawford  

THE SUN SHINES BRIGHTER AFTER the RAIN

After the rainstorm, the sun seems to shine brighter than ever before. Visually, there's a clarity and purity in nature, as if beholding a canvas drawing coming to life. From such a scene a biblical text comes to mind: "For His anger endureth but a moment; in His favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning." (Psalm 30: 5).

I believe the weeping during the night spoken of by the psalmist, are the spiritual droughts we all face in our lifetime, times when we go through stormy periods; the death of a loved one, a broken marriage, depleted finances, illness, or loneliness. When there is no relief during these times, sometimes months or even years, we long for that time of refreshing for our souls to be watered by showers of blessings from above written about in the hymn by Major Daniel Whittle. When the showers come and our soul drought is ended, impurities and superfluous elements in our character are swept away, leaving behind a more strong and resilient person. The drought has served its purpose; through adversity strength has come by tenaciously holding on, and our characters made pure. And the sun does shine brighter.

LEARNING JOURNEY - Lessons from the Cows

The situation is complicated immeasurably by the fact that cows are inquisitive animals and will often approach any visitor to their field. This happened to me 2 years earlier when I was snapping photographs of the stately mansion at Dyrham Park of "The Remains of the Day".  When I raised my eyes from my camera a minute later, I froze with terror – a crowd of curious cows had built up behind me. I cried out to my friend,  6 feet away from me. He began clapping his hands, shouting loudly and stomping his feet. Eventually, they retreated.  It was not until I was at Dinefwr that I learnt that cows are extremely curious and inquisitive animals which will investigate everything and would moo when frustrated. 

Thus, I would like to share 10 lessons I learn from the cows:-

 1. Wake up in a happy moo-d instead of moo-ing over unhappy things of yesterday;
 2. Don't cry over spilled milk;
 3. When chewing your cud, remember:There's no fat, no calories, no cholesterol, and no taste!

 4. The grass is green on the other side of the fence.
 5. Turn the udder cheek and moo-ve on instead of moo-ving over it.

 6. Seize every opportunity and milk it for all its worth!
 7. It's better to be seen and not herd.  
8. Honor thy fodder and thy mother and all you udder relatives.

 9. Always let them know who's the bossy.
10. Don't forget to cow-nt your BLESSINGS EVERY DAY!

Have a mooo-velous day!

Up Next...... "EAT, PLEASURE. LEARN"