R is for radio

R is for radio. I would much rather (if I ever had to choose) live without TV than without radio.

In the middle of the night if I am awake it's the radio that keeps me company. On a plane I can nod off listening to music while movies and TV keep me awake.

Despite the multiple free TV channels I can access now, there is simply nothing to watch most nights. Not so for the radio. The majority of stations do not broadcast repeats of their programs, instead offering a “listen-again” feature accessible online. Many stations also make their programmes available as free downloads in the form of podcasts so you can listen when it suits you.

Radio caters to a wide variety of tastes, from literature to gardening and to all genres of music.  It is informative, intelligent and highly entertaining - an art form in itself.

I can listen to a local, national or international channel depending on the time of day and my mood and interests.

In times of emergency, such as during the flood in Brisbane at the start of the year, the TV screen was replaying dreadful images again and again while the  radio was providing essential information to those affected.

T.V. is also more subject to developing technology than radio. Now there's high-definition and bluray and an even more expensive generation of T.V. viewing is up for grabs: 3D.

In order to keep up with these advances, viewers are forced to purchase new equipment. Not so with radio.

I am grateful for radio. It provides me with all the information I need
http://www.abc.net.au/newsradio/
and a soundtrack to my life.
http://www.mygoldmusic.co.uk/
Long may it prosper.

Q is for quirky

It would be terrible if we were all the same!
I am grateful we're not.

P is for Pockets

Got to be grateful for pockets. Especially in winter!

O is for Oprah

Ok. I hear the collective groan. BUT............  I believe Oprah has done many generous and positive things with her wealth and position of influence.

Did you know............

The business press measures Oprah's wealth in numerous superlatives: the highest-paid performer on television, the richest self-made woman in America, and the richest African-American of the 20th century.

More difficult to calculate is her profound influence over the way people around the world read, eat, exercise, feel and think about themselves and the world around them. She appears on every list of the world's leading opinion-makers, and has been rightly called "the most powerful woman in the world."

Oprah Winfrey's business interests have extended well beyond her own production company. She is one of the partners in Oxygen Media, Inc., a cable channel and interactive network presenting programming designed primarily for women.

With her success, she has also become one of the world's most generous philanthropists. In 2000, Oprah's Angel Network began presenting a $100,000 "Use Your Life Award" to people who are using their own lives to improve the lives of others.

 Over the years, she has also used her program to promote the many philanthropic ventures she supports. After filming a Christmas program in South Africa, she established the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls, near Johannesburg.

Her legendary generosity has extended not only to her favorite charities, but to her loyal viewers. She celebrated the beginning of her 20th season on national television by giving every member of the studio audience a brand new Pontiac!

Born to an unwed teenage mother, Oprah Winfrey spent her first years on her grandmother's farm in Mississippi, while her mother looked for work in the North. Life on the farm was primitive, but her grandmother taught her to read at an early age, and at age three Oprah was reciting poems and Bible verses in local churches. Despite the hardships of her physical environment, she enjoyed the loving support of her grandmother and the church community.

Since her book club debuted in 1996,  Oprah — who personally chooses which books to endorse and does not financially benefit — has invited 66 titles into her club. Introducing the first book, The Deep End of the Ocean by first-time novelist Jacquelyn Mitchard, Winfrey told her audience, "When I was growing up, books were my friends. When I didn't have friends, I had books. And one of the greatest pleasures I have right now in life is to be reading a really good book and to know I have a really, really good book after that book to read."

I am grateful for Oprah and all the people like her.

N is for No Frills and Natural

Yes .......... it is an apt description of moi, but, it's not what I mean.






If you live in Australia you'll recognise the No Frills brand as quality supermarket products with bland packaging. Apparently this was started by Franklins back in 1978 with just three products- peanut butter, honey and potato chips.

Now of course there are no frills everything- including airlines- and I am not so sure about that!

But no frills groceries means you can save a lot of money on your weekly shopping bill by not being swayed by packaging or shelf positioning. I am ALWAYS grateful for a bargain.

I am also very grateful to have got to a stage in life where I can disregard the claims made by companies that produce cleaning products. What a lot of money and damage to the environment we can save by simply cleaning with the products our grandmothers used!

I am almost fanatical now about white vinegar. There isn't much that this product doesn't clean as well as, or better than, the alternatives I've found.

Have a look at this website for some (well a 1001 actually) great ideas
http://www.vinegartips.com/Scripts/


Got to be grateful for vinegar!

I have a book that was passed down to me from a great, great Aunt. It is entitled Everything a Lady Should Know. It doesn't have a publication date but I assume around 1900 because, although having a Hunter Street Sydney bookseller's label, it talks of dissolving mixtures "over the fire".

It has recipes and cures for just about everything the 21st woman needs to know.
Here is the entry on the uses of the humble lemon.

 What a lemon will do

Lemonade made from the juice of the lemon is one of the best and safest drinks for any person whether in health or not. It is suitable for all stomach diseases, excellent in sickness, in cases of jaundice, liver complaint, inflammation of bowels and fevers. It is a specific against worms and skin complaints. The pippin (seed) crushed may be used sugar and water and taken as a drink. Lemon juice not only cures disease, but prevents it. Sailors make daily use of it for this purpose. We advise everyone to rub their gums with lemon juice to keep them in a healthy condition. The hands and nails are also kept clean, white, soft and supple by  the daily use of lemon instead of soap.It also prevents chilblains. Lemon is used in intermittent fevers, mixed with strong, hot, black coffee without sugar. Neuralgia (nerve pain), it is said, may be cured by rubbing the part effected with a cut lemon. It is valuable also to cure warts. It will remove dandruff by rubbing the roots of the hair with it. It will alleviate, and finally cure coughs, colds if taken hot on going to bed at night. Its uses are manifold and the more we employ it internally the better we shall feel ourselves.

M is for Middle Age

Yes M is for middle age.
It's my birthday today and I want to celebrate all that it has taken me all these years to become, and to gain.

It is in my middle age that I feel I have the freedom to be fully me.



I think that in middle age you are not constrained by as many things and people as you are when you are younger.

There is more choice about what to do with your time and resources (and greater wisdom than when this last happened between the ages of 18-25 perhaps!)

I want to live the rest of my life making the best use of the knowledge and skills and resources I have acquired and in loving well all the people around me.

Need some inspiration..???

and could we ever forget the 70's anthem by Australian Helen Reddy.....

 

L is for a (good) laugh

Got to be grateful for anything that gives you a laugh I say!

Enjoyed the wedding very much, but this also brings a smile.

and isn't this the truth about flying these days