Full moon on a cloud shelf
a dawn bird
In response to RDP Saturday – Simplicity
Tag: simplicity
Luxe, I think not!
The Ragtag Daily Prompt today is Posh, meaning high end. Interesting to note the word comes from Romani language, too. I didn’t know this before! It makes my post today more meaningful to me.
A few months ago I had an unexpected wake up call regarding my health. It made me reassess my life and priorities. I realised we work towards a future, forgetting about ‘the now’. As I waited for my results (by the way were all clear), I did not want to share my concerns with my colleague, so I enjoyed the trip as if it was my last one. It made me savour every moment. I travelled light.
As it turned out over dinner we talked about books and she recommended Paul Kalanithi’s ‘When Breath Became Air’. I found the book in the airport bookshop on the following trip and started to read it during the flight. As I turned the pages, the fragility of life as I know it, felt palpable in my hands. I promised myself the words, “….some day …” would not be part of my vocabulary unless I made active plans for that day to eventuate. I came back from my trip and booked a short trip to the Coral Coast.
I fly over the Coral Coast in Western Australia, look down on the stunning seascape and yearn to visit, “some day” and most of all, the tiny airport in Shark Bay is where I wanted to disembark. Now I’ve heard others who choose to fly Etihad and gush about the luxury of Dubai Airport. Not me. I wanted to experience disembarking at Shark Bay airport.
There is just a cyclone fence that separates the tarmac from the airport. I’ve been on flights where the co-pilot stepped out and helped unload the luggage. Everyone here is, “mate”. Give me this over luxury any day!
This is the arrival lounge. It is quite possible there was a water bottle dispenser nearby, and some toilets, but that was it.
Arrival/Departure lounge. That’s it!
To say this is a tin shed is adding glamour to the structure. Posh, it is not! But, I wouldn’t want to see this changed for the world. I love this airport!
At the airport I met another passenger who was travelling to the same hotel as me so we started chatting as we waited for the car to pick us up. She was from New Mexico and doing a quick tour of Western Australia. I was impressed with her ingenuity of researching the areas she wanted to visit. She had avoided the big tourist icons in Sydney and Melbourne to visit the lesser known in the other side of the world. I, on the other hand, had heard about Shell Beach and the dolphins at Monkey Mia but never found the time to visit. To be in the same place at the same time was a logistically challenging exercise for both of us. But, we, two gypsies at heart, found ourselves here and determined to enjoy the experience. Unfortunately the high winds forced the cancellation of her dive tour, and as I had hired a car, we shared the cost and did some sightseeing together.
I left Shark Bay after a brief break feeling I had been on a month’s holiday. It is a 8-10 hour drive from my home in the city. Next time I’m determined to drive up here. My schedule will just have to accommodate that “some day”.
Until next time
As always
a dawn bird
Antediluvian? Yes that’s me!
On a cold morning I feel the history of my journey. Every healed broken bone, a vivid memory of an accident years ago. It is the only time of the year I really slow down. It would be easy to take a pill and become functional quickly. Not me! I give my body what it needs the old fashioned way. Pain is the body’s dialect to remind one, something is not right. I take my time getting out of bed (the biggest challenge), sit for a few moments to let my body adjust to a manageable level of pain, then start my day. It is tempting in those few moments to allow panic to flood me. There is so much still that I want to do in life. I’d hate pain to get in the way.
Some people confuse a simple life with an easy life. This is not true. There is complexity in simplicity. It requires a level of discernment as opposed to automation. Take for example technology … how many children rely on programs to correct their grammar and spelling? How many refer to a dictionary as a first option? How many children know how to read a map and do maths, without the use of a calculator? I was stunned when I asked a teen how they would find a phone number for the local pizza shop and the response I got was, “I can just ask Siri”.
I cannot help but wonder at the potential cognitive changes that may be a result of technology. Are we becoming less reactive? Are we changing our own ‘wiring’ and relying more on software? Are we becoming cognitively ‘lazy’? I wonder this because I’m buying a new car. It’s hard to find a model in my budget range without all the bells and whistles that forewarn, and react for me, under the guise of ‘safety package’. When I drive I want to stay alert. I want to use my own judgement to keep a safe distance between cars. I want my brain to think for me. I want to remember the speed zone. I want to look over my shoulder and be aware of the blind spot. I want to enhance my spatial perception, my cognitive reasoning. I feel there is danger of mind-body disconnection, when we are reliant on external factors to do this for us.
In an increasingly automated world, I find my time with camera is where I make my mind-body connection. Like watching the Pacific Gull on West Beach in Esperance ….
The gull stood still and watched the tide come in. From the road above, I did the same.
Then the gull then strode out purposefully to meet it.
It seemed to know where to stop. 
It stood still and waited.
The tide came in with bounty. The Pacific Gull knew this. This was time honoured instinct. Honed and practiced. No technology to guide it. It was a beautiful thing to observe. A moment of mind-body connection, for gull, and me.
Call my views antediluvian. I’m okay with that. I’m one of those who enjoys the challenge of looking up the meaning of new words. I do it the old fashioned way. It’s like opening up a wrapped gift. The excitement of the unknown.
Thank you Ragtag Daily Prompt! I learned a new word today! Perhaps, even earned a new label!
Until next time
As always
a dawn bird
A Shared Space 
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