Hello, my friends. For all the new people, welcome! I’m Catherine Greer, Canadian-Australian author of The Bittersweet Bakery Cafe, mum of grown sons, lover of baking, big believer in the Sunday dinners with all the trimmings. (And yes, I am the crazy lady who will jump out of the car in the ugly concrete carpark to take a picture with a rainbow.) You’re receiving my Sunday newsletter because you signed up for it. Thank you for being here!
Every week I share something I’ve learned. This week is a real winner. Are you ready?
A few years ago, when I had a son who had just started high school (that’s year 7 in Australia), a friend with much younger kids said that her boys really wanted a tadpole.
We were having coffee together, and we decided, spur of the moment, to go get two tadpoles. Reflecting on it now, I realise this was probably slightly illegal…but I’m a farm kid, and I was born in the sixties, so it didn’t occur to me at the time.
And off we went. We left that cafe, we found a plastic cup and drove to a pond where tadpoles were lurking and we caught two for our kids. It was hilarious, we got wet, and I honestly felt like I was eight years old again.
I brought the tadpole home, and my high schooler created a tadpole haven, grew that little guy into a frog, and released it back into the wild. A happy ending.
I often wonder why that memory — from all the coffees with girlfriends over the years — sticks with me. And it was this: life got interesting.
We run so often on auto-pilot, don’t we? And our days and weeks and months race by because of it. But novelty and doing different things is what makes time slow down.
There’s so much research that backs this up. I’ll link to a good article below.
So here’s the question — and it’s a bit confronting.
Not IS your life interesting? But are you MAKING it interesting?
No matter where we are, or what our resources are like (time, health, money, living in an exotic location, travel, fame) we all have the means to make our lives more interesting.
All we need is this: the desire to follow our curiosity, ask new questions, and alter our routines. Time will slow down, and our lives will feel more interesting.
Think: tadpoles. So simple, right?
Today, I hope you take a moment to ask this: how can I make my Sunday more interesting? That’s exactly what I’m going to do. It won’t involve illegal tadpoles, but it might just be a neighbourhood adventure.
I hope something unexpected and lovely happens to you today!
Love, Catherine x
P.S. The Fun Stuff!
New friends — I’d love to tell you about my book, The Bittersweet Bakery Cafe! Reviews are so fun! It’s an enjoyable, cosy, uplifting read. Canadians 🇨🇦 - The Bittersweet Bakery Cafe is now in Indigo. Also here in Canada. In Australia, in all bookshops, at BigW and Amazon. Here in America and here in The UK.
Here’s the article on why time speeds up as we age.
My favourite new chemist shop / drugstore moisturiser for my face. I love it. Silky smooth.
The best $10 lip pencil.
If you’re new this week, and so many of you are, let me know how you found me! We’re friends now…and I’m so glad you’re here.
The best song for kitchen dancing.