Skip to main content

The first game of Polocrosse is in the thick fog and we are loving it! #australianpolocrosse


I picked Emma up from school early Friday afternoon and we ventured along the Hume Highway from Sydney to Jugiong, despite the chances of blocked roads caused from the heaver snow fall the night before.

 Emma was back at school in Sydney but very keen to play Polocrosse with the Harden team  and it was my job as her mum to make sure she could participate in the carnival with Brooke. Howard had the job of bringing Brooke and they where traveling from the farm with the 2 horses and all the gear.

After driving through the snow near Berrima, Emma and I stopped at Goulburn to do the grocery shop and buy some extra woolen layers, gloves and beanies. I had agreed to camp in the horse float but when the weather dropped below zero I booked the Jugiong Motel and we climbed into our electric blankets late Friday night, sleeping until 7am.

Emma and Brooke are passionate about Polocrosse and the weekend couldn’t have been better. The first game was in the fog and frost, steam coming off the horses backs as soon as they warmed up. Although I had booked the motel for each evening, I was determined to help and enjoy every moment with the Harden Polocrosse team.

My parents arrived and some of our family friends. I was so grateful they arrived and we had so much fun together. We sat in the stand and cheered on the girls and their team mates. Then we enjoyed a hot drink and cake in between games, while the girls rested their horses and dried their gear. 

The scene that unfolded was exquisite. Yes it was extremely cold each morning. Yes you had to stand by the fire once the sun went down. But it was so picturesque with the Jugiong hills appearing as the fog lifted, the passionate riders with their fit horses moving from field to field, the little birds dancing and darting around our feet by the early morning camp fire, the frost melting on the fence posts, the coffee steaming, the smell of egg and bacon rolls.

I felt mindful, grateful, interested and in wonder of the mid winter scene unfolding and the talented horsemanship, the mate ship and the organization before me. Driving back on Sunday evening, after the carnival presentations, I had lots of energy and remained very mindful giving Emma her hug goodbye at the boarding school steps.

Although I hadn’t camped in the horse float, I gave those girls my full attention when they needed it. These days I do spend my time with great awareness and intention. We can be more careful how we spend our money than how we spend our time. When in an unhelpful headspace it is very difficult to settle emotions and enjoy the moment for what it is.

I could have thought of the weekend as freezing cold, uncomfortable, busy and tiring but I chose to see the beauty. I may not be a Polocrosse player or a particularly good horse rider but I was a passionate spectator. It is a weekend I will never forget.  


We made a beautiful memory.     













Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Bribbaree Show, One direction, Boarding School and Hay Making. What a week!!

#Champion Bloom of the Show!! One Direction Concert Breakfast at Bronte Beach   Mowing Hay    Yo u wouldn’t believe what I have been doing in the past week. The local Bribbaree Show was on during the final weekend of the school holidays so our 2 youngest girls entered a few events on their horses and Howard joined in the team penning. I walked around with our eldest daughter, passing some very well groomed dogs on our way to the equestrian area. The show ground was filling with families and local women were dropping off cakes and sandwich fillings at the canteen, while the children convinced their parents to let them go on some rides. Howard entered a big red rose for me, that had opened in our garden a few days earlier and I am pleased to ‘announce’ that we won ‘Best Bloom of the Show’. What fun!! We had tea, sandwiches and cake for lunch, Howard skipping the fatty food this year. By late afternoon we gathered with everyone for a cool drink befor

Can creativity be good for our health?

Hello, It has been a while between blogs but as my intention for 2023 is to write full time, I should manage a regular post once again. Writing has always been something I do early in the morning or in the tiny spaces in between all else, but this year I am putting creativity at the top of my priority list.  If you know me well, you would know I have always wanted to write a book. The sensible project would be to share what I have learnt over the past 12 years about health, yoga, breath work and mindfulness, to support the healing of trauma and rural challenges, but at the moment it is a farm based novel that is flowing well. Perhaps all of the above topics will turn up in the lives of my characters, we will see.  It is so liberating, giving myself permission to do what I love, here on the farm. Although on some level it also feels isolating to be here on my own each day at the desk. The opportunity to witness this landscape from this quiet space feels deeply healing and quite confront

Discovering Meditation in small stages - 3 Audio Recordings attached.

10.11.23    Discovering Meditation   If I can define meditation in the simplest way, I would say meditation is ‘ being in the space in between our thoughts .’    Meditation is no ‘easy’ task when we have over 70 000 thoughts a day.  This is why I stepped todays class through a 3-stage process, in preparation for a brief meditation experience. Below is an explanation of each of these stages I taught and why these techniques are great preparation for potent stillness.    Stage 1.   It is more challenging to meditate with lots of tension in the body, so the first step is to let go of the extra holding that we may not even be aware of. This is done by noticing the body and slightly moving each area, or tensing and releasing each body part. (Starting at the feet, legs, spine and then the belly as we breathe. Open and close the hands, stretch the arms, lift and drop the shoulders, carefully stretch the neck and face.)   Stage 2.   Secondly, we can begin to be more aware of our breathing patt