Soursop and serenity

This morning I went for a walk along the beach, one of my favourite things to do. It is just so gorgeous. Beyond words, really. The pictures don't do it justice, which is frustrating.

When we first moved here, people told us we'd get sick of living so far from town, which is roughly 25 mins away on the scooter. Not so. I go to the beach more often than I go to town, and this side of the island is just so beautiful. Every time I step out the door, in either direction, I notice the sheer beauty of where we live. It's a real gift.

Sparky, one of the neighbourhood dogs, came with me on my walk, as is his custom.

There were lots of schools of fish swimming lazily along right next to the shore. And you can't see it in the photos, but the waves crashing on the reef were really big, like a giant white necklace around the opal-coloured lagoon.

The yellow kayak belongs to Lisa, our neighbour. We borrow them whenever there are no tourists staying in her beach-house.

It is still not as hot as it should be normally. This time last year was sweating-all-day weather, and we were swimming two or three times a day. But at the moment the market is still bursting with vegetables, it's not very hot at night, and my bottle of locally-made coconut oil is still partly solid. When the weather really gets hot, it stays liquid all the time (I put it on my hair and skin).

I just checked online: it is 2pm and 26 degrees. Beautifully sunny and low humidity. Gorgeous weather, but not what I'd really call hot.

We're eating our first pineapples of the season at the moment, though - from Papa's plantation way up in the hills. We visited him earlier in the week and took him some pumpkin soup. He gave us two pineapples and a soursop. Soursop is one of our favourite things to have for a morning or afternoon snack. It is related to the custard apple, and tastes vaguely like lemonade.

Anyway, this is just a short post, to record a lovely morning. C stayed with her friend Natalia last night and went to a movie. I'm going to have a late lunch and then go for a swim later in the afternoon. We have not been swimming much at all since coming back from Palmerston, as it's been too cold. But the temperature is inching up... and I want to make the most of it.

It's a big week coming up: five days till Vaka Eiva, the international paddling competition our team has been training for; an article to write for a British magazine (who confirmed yesterday and want it by the end of the week); not to mention preparation for our pre-shifting garage sale on Saturday. It is certainly a good de-cluttering exercise to shift countries every once in a while.

I just hope I will manage to keep my mind from getting too cluttered back in suburbia. I realise how much I need beauty, and how much I need to do things purely for the joy they bring. Like walking on the beach.

"One of the most revealing questions we ask clients... is how frequently in their lives they experience a sense of joy or deep satisfaaction. The most common answer we get is "rarely." Think for a moment about your own life: How many hours a week do you devote to activities purely for the pleasure and renewal they provide? What percentage of the time would you describe yourself as feeling deeply relaxed?

....The point is not just that pleasure is its own reward, but more practically, that it is a critical ingredient in sustained performance."
- The Power of Full Engagement by Jim Loehr & Tony Schwarz

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