Day To Day: Calm Conversations with a Friend

#3 Nature's Art and a Friendly Magpie

• Jacquie Joy • Season 1 • Episode 3

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Have you ever wondered how a simple sunny day could serve as a canvas for both art and rejuvenation? We appreciate nature's beauty one sunny morning which evokes sense of calm and inspiration. Jacquie chats about how balancing mental and physical hurdles in cold immersion can transform into a meditative practice, and also discusses a visit from a friendly magpie and coffee art.  Tune in to discover how these simple yet profound experiences can bring tranquility and creativity into your everyday life.

Jacquie:

Welcome to the Day-to-Day Podcast, Calm Conversations with a Friend, spoken by Jacquie Joy, and you are listening to Episode 3. You decide to check your messages. One new voicemail it's from one of your friends. You decide it's time to sit down, make yourself comfortable and have a listen. Hey, how was your time away? I know you were going there for sunshine so I hope the weather was good. It's amazing.

Jacquie:

Here at the moment I'm chatting to you from a lovely backyard. It's beautiful and sunny, and I've just got out of the ice bath. I feel like I'm sitting in a painting. So I'm on a small stool, sitting on a towel, as I'm still wet. So I'm on a small stool, sitting on a towel, as I'm still wet. My feet are enjoying being on the warm grass because they are still a little cold.

Jacquie:

The sky around me at the moment is an incredibly calming and clear shade of blue. There are no clouds in the sky today. So I was trying to think well, what shade of blue is this? And if I was going to be a painter and use a roller and, well, paint the sky, what type of blue would I choose to be on my palette? So I actually looked up how of blue shades to choose from. So I had a little look and I think I've decided cornflower blue would be my colour of choice for the sky. Now the green of the grass would be a little harder to choose as far as choosing a shade of green, because apparently there are 300 shades of green available on my palette.

Jacquie:

Now this grass has a beautiful texture. It is a thicker style of grass and is more hearty. It was developed locally. This style of grass, which is called Sir Walter grass because we don't have a lot of rain here, it has to be able to survive weeks without rain and also to be able to cope with a lot of direct sunlight. I've decided emerald green would be the best colour choice if I was going to paint grass right at this moment. Of course, depending on how healthy or dry the grass is, that colour choice would change, but at the moment the grass really does look like carpet and is extremely healthy. So emerald green is my choice today.

Jacquie:

I'm not a very good painter, but I think I could pull off the blue sky and the green grass. Just add a little bit of texture to the grass and it wouldn't look too bad. I know you're a lady of many talents. I'm wondering if you paint as well. Anyway, let me know I know we haven't discussed painting before, and probably for good reason, because it's something I admire rather than can actually do so the backyard is at a perfect temperature for recovery from my cold bath.

Jacquie:

I won't call it an ice bath today because I was only at 17 degrees, but it does take a while for my body to get used to cold bathing again. The hardest part is getting into the bath. I usually put my foot in there for a little while. It is cold initially, but then after about 60 seconds I realize that my foot actually isn't that cold inside the bath, so I realize the temperature is just right for me. And then I just have to turn on some form of distraction whether it's music or a TV show and then dunk myself in so that I'm long sitting in the bath, and when I do that, the water goes up to my chest. And when I do that, the water goes up to my chest, I'm currently still keeping my arms out of the water, but I will get to the point again when I'm able to bring my hands and arms in for short periods of time and really, once you actually put yourself into the water. It's not that bad. It is more of a mental challenge sometimes than a physical one. I find it a lot easier cold bathing than trying to have a cold shower, and the good thing with the ice bathing is that you can set your temperature and reduce it as you get more and more adapted to the cold again. Apparently, the therapeutic range or temperature range for the ice bath is between 10 and 14 degrees, so apparently that's the sweet spot I do have to aim for, which will be 14 degrees, I think. So we'll see how long that takes. It might take me a month maybe to get there, or sooner. So far, so good. So now I'm feeling a little cold, but the sense, the sense of heat, is actually the dominant force that I feel now. So I'm feeling relaxed and my body's feeling energized, so I'm really happy to be doing this again. I'm looking around the yard and I see the Traeger smoker. It's still covered up with an umbrella and the power cable has been gaff taped together to protect it, as we did have a bit of rain overnight.

Jacquie:

We we had a lovely pulled pork again yesterday and shared it with three of the neighbours. Tilly, of course, had one, and two of our other neighbours were also in on the pulled pork yesterday. o o a Dust Spice on the pulled porks and everyone loved it. It's from America and I'll just see if I can find the ingredients. Now. I can't see the ingredients on the container, but I can see that it is made by the Jackalope Trading Company and they describe this magic dust as all of the flavour, with no heat. So that's my perfect type of dry rub for a pulled pork. On their website it does say it has the following ingredients in it, so it's probably something that you could also just mix at home could also just mix at home Brown sugar, white sugar, garlic powder, ground black pepper and ground ginger powder, onion powder, which I do love, but of course it's better to have that in small amounts or in a mix like this, just to keep the breath under control. They also use rosemary, which we have a lot of in our garden, and also paprika or paprika, and also paprika or paprika. The pronunciation of paprika here is paprika, but I did say paprika because I think that's how they spell it or, sorry, pronounce it in the US, so you'll have to let me know. The other ingredient that we're using on the pulled pork is apple juice, and that really helps keep the moisture in the pork and gives it a really lovely light sweetness. Apparently, if you don't have a smoker, this is something that you can easily cook in the slow cooker, or crock pot as they call it here. Apparently because pulled pork has its roots in the southern United States, as you would be well aware of.

Jacquie:

A wonderful side dish for pulled pork is something called cornbread, which I'm sure you've eaten there before, but I have never eaten cornbread until last night. I dropped the pulled pork off to Tilly and she had prepared some delicious cornbread for us. Apparently, she had found the recipe on Tin Eats online. She was describing the process of making it. She was using buttermilk and also creamed corn in the recipe. One of the other main ingredients, if not the main ingredient, is cornmeal, which I've never seen in the shops before, but apparently here it is sold as something called polenta, which I am familiar with and I've mixed it before for a side dish and, of course, had that in restaurants, but I had no idea that was cornmeal. Apparently, this bread is best served warm, with butter and also sometimes with maple syrup. It is supposed to have crunchy edges and you can actually reheat it in a sandwich press in order to create the crunchy edges as well as the heat element. So it was delicious.

Jacquie:

I asked Tilly how her ping pong table was going and apparently it is now horizontal again. A few nails and super glue has helped rehabilitate the hinge. So so far, so good. I'm certainly feeling a lot warmer now as I've been in the sun for about 15 minutes. I will wander on and have a coffee soon, my morning coffee.

Jacquie:

One of my other friends has been telling me about her day and how she's modified it so that between two jobs in the morning now she goes to her local cafe. She's finding that she finishes later in the day but she's feeling so much more relaxed and it's something she's going to continue with. She said she's enjoying chilling and reflecting and injecting some enjoyment into her day again. She just sent me a photo of a very well-crafted flat white coffee. I'm sure it tastes delicious but it looks like a piece of art and obviously the barista has taken a lot of pride and care in the presentation. It's not the typical flat white presentation where they have the foam and they swirl a design into it, but this coffee is presented like a half cappuccino with the chocolate, a lot of chocolate sprinkles on half of the foam and then the other half is plain white foam, so it looks a bit different.

Jacquie:

She's also having Eggs Benedict, which I know you love as well, and it just looks delicious. Perfect amount of sauce. The eggs look beautifully cooked on a lovely bed of spinach. I can't see any bacon or ham or salmon, so it might be more of a vegetarian style Eggs Benedict. Be more of a vegetarian style Eggs Benedict. Saying that, I do realise it is not a typical vegetarian type of meal because not all vegetarians do eat eggs. It's always nice hearing what my friends are up to.

Jacquie:

It's still very quiet here. I'm just watching a magpie walk around the yard. He is one of our local magpies and I'm very familiar with him. He makes very good eye contact with me. He makes very good eye contact with me. Apparently magpies are very smart and they can recognize people's faces, so he knows I'm friendly and he's just pecking around the grass in the backyard and also under the mango tree there's a lot of twigs. It's currently breeding season for them, so I expect he'd have a nest nearby and be trying to find some worms and grubs to feed his babies. I think you also have magpies in the US, but I think they look a bit smaller than ours here.

Jacquie:

The magpies here are beautiful singers as well as the kookaburras. In the morning they often provide a very relaxing way to wake up. Well, the kookaburras can sometimes be a little less relaxing and a bit more boisterous, because when three or four of them decide to all laugh together, they seem to get very loud, as if they are trying to out-laugh each other. That always makes me laugh and it can be a very loud, but great way to start the day.

Jacquie:

Later on today I'll be having another music practice and we've decided to do a set with two acoustic guitars. I was originally going to be playing my electric, but the two acoustic guitars do sound a lot better together and makes for a fuller sound, and the guitar parts that I'll be playing will have a lot more of the bass notes being played in them, and I'm feeling a lot more confident now in playing the acoustic. As my fingers are feeling a lot stronger again, I do find my lovely electric a lot easier to play. However, my electric guitar is set up beautifully for this gig. However, I have no time now to set up my acoustic guitar. It has the same strings on it as when I bought it, which must be, I mean, five to ten years ago. It's a Taylor GS Mini. It still sounds beautiful because the strings are so old. They're not going out of tune, so that's a bonus. I think after this gig I will look at changing the strings finally, especially as it will sound a lot better in the recordings I'm going to be doing with it over the next couple of weeks.

Jacquie:

One thing I do need to get serviced is my bass guitar, because I've started to use that again in music recordings. But the switches or pots dials on the guitar I'm not sure it's the correct terminology there, sure of the correct terminology there? The volume and treble tone. They make a lot of noise and are cutting in and out. When I record with them I can get them to a certain point where the sound is coming through, but I think it does need a service. Okay, it's time I think I get back to work and get on with my day too, looking forward to hearing how your break was and hearing your voice again. I hope you've been keeping well. I'm looking forward to hearing all of your news. Have a great evening and chat soon. Bye for now, thank you.