A good friend
recently asked me what I do with my weekends in Kintore so here we go.
I live alone, there
are no restaurants, cinemas, coffee shops, bakery shops and I don’t have a car
to go gallivanting around the countryside – although at the moment it’s too hot
anyway – so how to I spend my hours on the weekend?
My weekly treat begins
on Friday afternoon when I have a can of coke, some chips, some lollies and
some chocolate. It feels so rewarding and it’s a good way to ration it out when
the supply truck only comes fortnightly – I can’t just nick up to the shops to
get more and the local store is not open 24/7 like Coles and Woolworths is.
Saturday morning is
a lovely sleep in – until it gets too hot to be in bed. My bedroom is on the
east end of my house so it gets the morning and midday sun. I also have no
block out window coverings so inevitably the brilliant sunshine also wakes me
up. I am looking forward to winter weekend sleep ins when I can snuggle back in
bed to read a book.
I have breakfast
watching Rage on ABC TV. The very first weekend I was here, they featured Boney
M; one of my favourite groups as a teen. Over the months they have also
featured David Bowie, Jon English, the Eagles and various other music of people
who have died recently. Sometimes Rage is completely boring so I flick over to
the Loop but their inane chatter drives me insane so at that point I put on my
own music and pump it up while I do my chores.
First job of the
weekend is to bake my own bread. It usually takes 4 hours so if I put it on in
time, I can have a couple of slices of hot, fresh wholegrain, and home baked
bread for lunch. One of the best things I packed into the moving box; as the
right sort of bread is hard to find out here.
Then I make my own
yoghurt. The sachets of yoghurt mix is easier to transport in hot weather so homemade
yoghurt is the way to go. I often put yoghurt on stewed fruit and muesli for a
lunch or desert. Making the yoghurt is easy but it takes a day to process and
set so I have fresh homemade yoghurt on Sunday, for desert.
One of the main jobs that I have to do every week is dust. Kintore is known to be very windy and red dust gets everywhere, especially after I've been away for awhile. My vacuum cleaner died recently so I have to sweep and hand dust everywhere.
I was given a lovely bluey green rug for my house when I moved in and now its a lovely shade of brown just from red dust being on my shoes, feet and from blowing in when I open my house to cool it down at night.
After I have hung
out my washing to dry I hit the books. I am currently studying an online course
that is completely self-paced – suits me to a tee when the internet goes down
or if I have to go to Alice Springs for work or pleasure. I usually study until
I have submitted the next task that they send me to do and once I hit the
submit button the weekend is mine.
Sometimes I have a
binge of some coloring mandalas – completing a mandala in one go, watching a movie or TV
show (an entire season), knitting, writing my blog, talking to family or
friends on the phone, checking in on Facebook or simply sitting outside yarning
with a local.
I DO NOT do work stuff….I do not want to burn out.
I enjoy listening to
my music, I enjoy silence, and I enjoy my solitude. Sometimes I have to be
careful about what music I listen to as it provokes emotional responses in me
that are not helpful to me so far away from people I love but often the music
is Aussie Rock featuring John Williamson, Cold Chisel, Midnight Oil and the
Warumpi Band and the Kintore Running Water Band.
I need stillness in my life after the crazy and random happenings at work and so quiet weekends at home work for me.
