Rich Grasshoppers...

In my last post, I mentioned keeping your mouth shut when power-walking in the Australian countryside, to keep the flies from being accidentally swallowed....well...did I forget to mention the Locusts or what?!?!?!

When we first came over to live in the Darling Downs, 400 - 500 kilometres west of Brisbane, I thought these little hopping creatures were green grasshoppers from the east coast, traveled here and gone brown to match the drought-dried-brown grass and vegetation, like one of those Chameleons....changing their body colour to match their environment....until I was told otherwise by a very wise farmer....who chuckled at my description but educated me in the ways of the rural environment. How embarrassment!!!

The last time I went walking...the other day, not his morning...I believe that we might be either at the tail-end or maybe the beginning of a locust plague....nearly every step I took scared quite a few of my rich brown grasshoppers ;) ...hopping left, right and not centre, desperately getting away from this Nutty Nonna who was pounding the path of success.

Just down the road, about one and a half car length's away, out comes a real, fair-dinkum dingo from the long grass at the side of the road, who was heading in my direction, lifted it's furry light brown head up, saw this Nutty Nonna and did one of those startled jumps with a twisted leap, and headed for the other way and back into the long grass.
"Hah!!!" I thought out loud, "You think I cannot see you runnng in that direction through the long grass, but the birds swooping on ya tells me where you are and I am not scared of you...I am a bigger pest than you...hee hee!!!"

Oh...and another point I forgot to mention too, is that unless you have toilet paper with you and not scared of spiders and snakes kissing your butt, don't drink coffee before the walk.....yes, I was as green behind my ears as those coastal grasshoppers about that....all this time..... and I thought it was me and a weak bladder, but noooo, it is my morning mug of coffee that was the problem. I will now make myself a mug of green and peppermint tea half and hour beforehand, and THEN, have the coffee waaaaay long after I come home and finish the exercises.

Talking of exercises, I found my Mari Windsor Pilates dvds in a box which was in another box...where it laid very patiently waiting for us to obtain and own a dvd player.....now that we do, there are no more excuses for this old fossil....must get back into it to strengthen my core as I heard it is a lot more difficult for women over 45 yrs of age, or us Peri-menopausal, to shed our blubber and so have to work harder. That's where looking after grand-kids come in handy....great motivation, keeps one younger and you get a second chance at doing things all over again but in a more efficient way....and helps the mental part too :))

I not too long just had a conversation with a dear friend and colleague of mine from Luxembourg, who is now in Spain for a conference, and came out of it feeling so on fire about succeeding in this business. What I love about it is I can look after my toddler grandson, look after king Willem, run this household AND select open-minded, optimistic leaders to join me in making a positive change in our personal and financial life and have fun with it too!

Have yourselves an awesome day, or night, whichever time zone you are in now.