A different approach

Beware unintended consequences because you might get what you asked for. This wasn’t what I had in mind when I said ‘Bigger’!

But first a bit of background.

Before starting this site, I read some how-to-blog blogs and gathered a few tips and tricks.

First, be informative and inspirational if you want to encourage people to visit again.

Second, write about a topic you’re interested in. Your writing will be more interesting and, apparently, people are more likely to follow along if they are interested in the same topic.

So, the topic I chose was Exploring and “Never Too Old to Explore” became the site’s tagline. To keep it informative and inspirational, there were two sub-plots: Creativity and Change.

Setting some, but not all, pretension to one side, my basic aims were simply to publish photos and let my family know what I was up to. I shunned Facebook; I wanted to write long contemplative and reflective musings and that doesn’t work in a snappy status-update format.

Times have changed

My family now live around the corner, and I’ve succumbed to Facebook. Times have indeed changed but only up to a point.

A blog still needs content, and I still have to create it. That hasn’t changed.

However, in Canberra, it was easy. Everything was right there at my doorstep. And it was always changing. Rich or poor, it did’t matter in Canberra; you had free (or cheap) access to so much.

But that’s not how it works in a small, or even mid-sized, country town. Gone are the days when I could just step outside and explore.

A new phase

There’s power in a catchy catchphrase, and the new one I’m embracing is “Living a Bigger Life!”.

Day One saw me shopping. Can you see where this is heading?

Two books became two bags of books. (Thankfully, for Christmas presents.)

Enough vegetables for 12 frozen meals became enough for 20. (Thankfully, there’s enough space in the freezer.)

A jar of cream to go with the Christmas pavlova became two mascarpones, one ricotta, one sour cream and, eventually, one dollop cream. I put the clotted cream back because I didn’t know what to do with it. (Not sure there’s a “thankfully” to go with this one.)

It all got out of hand.

But this new approach is here to stay, for now, because this bigger life is why I’m looking at a surfeit of indoor green that is countering summer’s seasonal bleakness.

Green is a colour that carries lightly and generously its depth and intensity. It is a big colour. Never unintended.

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