GreenishLady

Six Ways to Kneel and Kiss the Ground

noreply@blogger.com (GreenishLady) — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 09:03:00 +0000

September, and the promise of routine. Days in my own home. A sunday morning with my laptop (which is functioning, just at the moment, reasonably well!), and a prompt from Inner Artist, a lovely blogger, new to me, to dig out one of my own poems. Jo uses a line from Rumi as a quote on her blog - a line that caught my heart and prompted a poem quite a few years ago. The Rumi line, known to many of you, perhaps, is:

There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground....

My poem....

Six Ways to Kneel and Kiss the Ground

Stand stock-still, watch a red admiral sail
beyond your garden and your neighbours.
....
Place your palm on the warm bark of a maple,
pat it, pet if. If you're brave, put your face
against the smooth grain of it; wrap your arms
tight around the trunk. Hug.
...
Brush your nose in the shampooed silk
of a three-year-old's storytime head.
...
Breathe air flowing in from the sea.
...
Breathe air flowing down from the mountain.
...
Lie on summer grass; roll over;
feel the blades on your cheek;
place your lips on the earth;
kiss

,,,,

still here... or here again

noreply@blogger.com (GreenishLady) — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 10:14:00 +0000

Since that last post, I've actually started two posts, but not gotten to the stage of hitting the "publish post" button, thinking I'd get to add pictures, maps, etc.

Main thing is - to anyone who was worried or wondering about me - I'm fine! I'm doing that summer-time thing of taking off on unplanned trips, have been having wonderful times, in fact, along with spending time with my family over the few days around my Mum's first anniversary.

I thank all of you who commented or emailed after that angsty post. The blog is in transition, but I know I'm not comfortable with Facebook, and I do want to stay in a place where I can meet people online, so blogging it is.

Past few weeks... a few of the wonderful things... visiting Newgrange; seeing James Taylor in concert; oh, oh, oh - seeing Leonard Cohen in concert (words fail me!); boat-trip to the Cliffs of Moher (and depositing my wedding-ring in the depths of the Atlantic from there); meals with sisters and friends; family gatherings; driving the entire circuit of Ireland (and more!); seeing great new art.

Knowing I am lucky and blessed. Life is good.

Re-connecting

noreply@blogger.com (GreenishLady) — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 08:50:00 +0000

Look what happens! I wrote about "Disconnected" for Sunday Scribblings and where do I go for the next month-and-a-bit-more? Into somewhere not connected to my blog for sure. I've still read blogs from time to time, and even managed to leave the occasional comment, but am still not properly back on-line. Now that my holidays from work have started, time to get neglected tasks (like having my computer looked) at seen to.

Well... computer problems were only part of the reason for my disappearance. It's been a difficult month, with traumas minor and major, and my attention and energy were elsewhere.

But, as to blogging... I see many bloggers reach a point where there's a dilemma. Questions are asked like "What am I doing here?" This blog has changed since I started it. I've "gone underground" in certain ways. My focus in my life has changed, and there's more that I keep outside of the blog. But there was a time when I shared more of my poetry and the poets that I like, more of myself, and maybe I can return to that a bit.

I don't want to delete the blog, or to stop it. But it can't sit there with nothing happening for months at a time (Why not? I'm only a very occasional blogger on my SoulCollage blog, after all). If there's still anyone out there, what do you think is important about keeping a blog?

This is just a meandering musing, really. I suspect that this will pick up again at a point where something catches my interest and I start to post about it again. A bit like calling an old friend after a gap, and saying "Well... where have you been? What have you been up to? Tell me all..."

Sunday Scribblings.... Disconnected

noreply@blogger.com (GreenishLady) — Sun, 17 May 2009 09:09:00 +0000

This week, the prompt at Sunday Scribblings is "Disconnected". Does it seem apt for me? Oh, yes! Does it strike me as odd that this week, of all weeks, such a prompt appears? Not at all. I often find the prompt that's offered at Sunday Scribblings is very strangely fitted to something going on in my life, just right at that time. Totally Connected, in fact!

So... the immediate link I made when I saw that word was with what's been happening with my laptop all week. Disconnected is the word! Last Sunday, it appeared to have lost all memory of me, to have disconnected from my life. It transpired, after some frantic messages to people who might know something about all this, that all the documents, photos, music that at first seemed to be GONE were actually still stored, but just in a back-room that took a bit of finding, and that couldn't be accessed straight-away on switching on the laptop. "Phew" I said. "First chance I get, I'm going to have someone look at this and sort it out for me"

That's a week ago. My computer is still disconnected from me. What's actually going on is that it won't hold my profile and settings, and has no knowledge when it's switched on, of what I want from it, so I have to teach it each time. It doesn't know I have a Skype account, and messages I sent disappear into the ether when I switch off.

No, I'm not going into all the details! Why haven't I had someone look at it? Life took over... a problem emerged with my car a couple of days later, so I got distracted with the more urgent task of finding a roadworthy replacement (which I've done, and for which I am very grateful, very thankful!) I wanted to go ahead with a planned outing on Friday with my friend, K, so I did, and so one of this week's tasks is to find someone to sort out the computer.

Disconnected? The word... That's its immediate association, but I'm actually also "connecting" to the opposite word. Connected. I can't help feeling that there's something in the fact that in one week, major faults emerged in machinery in my life... and the connection in terms of reason is that I'd neglected to follow up on minor, but irritating faults, didn't have them checked out, and then, major problems emerged.

Guess who's booking herself in for health and dental check-ups this week?

Get the connection?

For more stories of being Disconnected, go to Sunday Scribblings HERE
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Edited, later to add: Some Sad News

When I went to the Sunday Scribblings page to add my link, I found the very sad news that Otto Smith, beloved husband of Phyllis (Sunday Scribblings regular contributor, Granny Smith), had died suddenly last week. I am so saddened by this news. Her love for him shone out in so much that she wrote. They have been a remarkable couple for many, many years, and it grieves my heart to think of her huge loss. On one Sunday Scribbling post, Phyllis shared a most beautiful poem of hers, The Old Lovers. I invite you to go and read it. It's at the end of this post, and it is a most delicate poem, expressing her feeling of dread at the parting that would come to them sometime, after their 68 years of marriage. In a post on "Trust", she wrote about her decision to marry Otto. That's HERE .

My prayers are for the eternal progress of his soul, and comfort and healing for Phyllis and her family.

TGIF - Trusting, Grateful, Inspired Friday

noreply@blogger.com (GreenishLady) — Fri, 15 May 2009 08:20:00 +0000

Brene Brown, over at the "I Thought It Was Just Me" readalong, has a lovely feature on Fridays, in which she asks What, today are you Trusting? Grateful for? Inspired by? and she kindly offers a giveaway to anyone who replies, which is lovely.

Well, in the week where my computer forgot me (and hasn't completely regained its memory yet), my ten-year old car finally cracked up and had to be replaced, and word arrived that I may be out of a job come September, I'm actually feeling very up-beat, and I am:

Trusting that I am being looked after, that everything is unfolding as it should.

Grateful for my health; for the problem with my car emerging before it caused an accident in which I, or others might have been injured; for my family; for having resources enough to handle "stuff" happening; for the friends who encouraged me when I had to take the big step and buy my first car on my own.

Inspired by friend K, who has just quit cigarettes, and has asked me to keep her company today to help her through a hard day; by friend D, who is taking new departures all the time, bravely; and by sweet C, who is very, very ill, but fighting, holding on and hoping that all will be well, as am I, as are so many people.

computer crisis

noreply@blogger.com (GreenishLady) — Sun, 10 May 2009 09:43:00 +0000

Woke up this morning to a computer that doesn't remember me. I have no history here, it seems, no contacts, no documents, no pictures, no data. I've never registered for anything, .... have you ever been there?

I think the universe is repaying me for a claim I made yesterday of being "detached", not tied to things so much any more. I am being tested bigtime!

My biggest worry is email addresses... how do you reclaim them, find people again? There are people who were on my SoulCollage mailing list whose full names or postal addresses I don't know, and quite a few bloggers who don't show email addresses on their profiles but that I've been in touch with in the past.

OK. It's Sunday morning, and I don't know where to start finding help with this, but in the meantime, if you're someone I've been in touch with by email, will you email me again? It may be a while before I can even get back into my email account, but I'd appreciate having a place to start!

THANK YOU!

---------------------

UPDATE, a few hours later....

Phew... the data is still there, but so far the only way to get to it is by a back-door. It's a software problem, and a lesson to me (and maybe to you?) to follow my own advice and get external backup organised soon.

Confession: Sunday Scribbling

noreply@blogger.com (GreenishLady) — Sat, 02 May 2009 19:00:00 +0000

This week's prompt at Sunday Scribblings is "Confession". To anyone brought up Catholic, it's likely that the first image to arise will be the memory of the confession-box, the first confession, the ritual cleansing of the soul before the first communion. Does she look like her soul needed to be cleansed?

I didn't mind going to confession. The biggest problem was figuring out what on earth to offer up as "sins". Bless me, Father, for I have sinned... I was cheeky to my parents, I told a lie....

As I became disillusioned with the church, my attendance at confession dwindled, dwindled, and then, in my teens, when I decided to become a Baha'i, it really interested me to find that the founder of the Baha'i Faith had forbidden such forms of confession.

"Bahá'u'lláh prohibits confession to, and seeking absolution of one's sins from, a human being, and enjoins the sinner, when alone, to repent before God, for it is He Who forgives."

That doesn't mean that we never admit to having done something wrong! If I have an apology to make, then of course I should make it, or if it seems important to acknowledge a mistake I've made to someone else, then again, yes, I should make that "confession", but as to forgiveness, that is for God, and I really don't believe anyone's been given the power to offer that forgiveness on His behalf.

I've been reading a really interesting book about shame and guilt by Brené Brown, "I Thought it was Just Me", and reading that, it becomes clearer than ever to me that instilling shame or guilt in children (or anyone!) for being "bad" doesn't serve anyone. [There's a read-along underway at her blog, with the most inspiring podcasts and posts... go check it out!]

Another line from the Baha'i Writings says: "...such confession before people results in one's humiliation and abasement, and God -- exalted be His glory -- wisheth not the humiliation of His servant." Having come from a religion where little children were made to feel guilty for the most ordinary and human of things; where women were taken off to be "churched" after childbirth before they were seen as clean enough for ordinary society again, this was a revelation indeed.

So my confession today... I'm not a fan of confession!

I've no idea what the other Sunday Scribblers have confessed today, so I'm heading over now to find out... Join me?

Gifts

noreply@blogger.com (GreenishLady) — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 11:15:00 +0000

I missed this week's Sunday Scribbling prompt of "Language" because I was away for the weekend - hearing the same language I speak, but in a different accent. My sisters and I were in Manchester.

Do you know of L.S. Lowry? We went to visit the centre which houses an exhibit of his paintings, saw a film about his life and work, and really were so delighted to have had a chance to encounter his art up close and in its original setting.

It was a special weekend for us, for a number of reasons. We were helping the youngest of us celebrate a special birthday. We were enjoying something we'd planned for a long time, and we got to meet a cousin we'd never met before. - A wonderful afternoon of sharing, of laughter, of discovery and illumination, and really the highlight of the weekend for all of us, and something we knew would have made our mother's heart fill with joy. (In fact, I think she had a lot to do with that reunion.)

Strolling past the city Art Gallery, we happened to spot a banner inviting us to go see "Ten Drawings by Leonardo da Vinci". We didn't need a second invitation! What a treat.

And then, on Saturday evening, another great treat... We're all three fans of "Dancing on Ice" - as spectators, not participants, I might add. We were really lucky that our planned weekend coincided with the visit to Manchester of the 25th anniversary Torvill and Dean Bolero tour. What a show! We whooped and cheered, gasped and clapped along with a huge, delighted crowd. I'm afraid the only video I can find isn't good quality, and wouldn't give you a sense of the event, (well, there's a little bit in that link above, so do click there) which was spectacular in every way. Magic is the word!

Less than 48 hours, delayed flights... the stuff of travel, and still, it was a great weekend. We made excellent choices in restaurants and accommodation (thanks to the sister who is a wizard at internet searches!).

It was all a gift. I feel very, very blessed.

Wishcasting

noreply@blogger.com (GreenishLady) — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 23:27:00 +0000

Jamie, at Starshyne Productions, has a Wednesday event called Wednesday Wishcasting, for which she poses a question - what is your wish? - and invites us to post about it, and others to support that wish. This week, she asks "What do you wish to clear from your life?" and the question fits for me right now especially, as there are new curtains and bedlinen waiting for my bedroom, but the whole effect will be spoilt if I don't clear out the pile of clothes that has been gradually growing there over the past year. Clothes that no longer fit or suit, that have become worn, threadbare... that are due to go for recycling, in other words. I wish to clear them OUT!

And, I wish to clear out the boxes of college notes that are taking up space in the attic. And the bundles and bundles of papers from committees I've long since left; notes from classes I won't ever be repeating. Then there's the clothes my son left behind because he has no intention of ever wearing them again. Then there are paperback novels that won't be read again in this house. And there are so many vinyl records.

And in the garden... broken pots, debris from winter, plants that didn't survive.

I think that's enough to be getting on with. And that's just in my physical environment!

I wish to find the energy to begin to clear all these things, joyfully and easily from my life. Thanks for asking, Jamie!

Another Meme

noreply@blogger.com (GreenishLady) — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 07:58:00 +0000

It's been a while since I've done any memes, and this is one I hadn't encountered before. Becca's invited anyone who wants to to respond, so I'll take up that offer. If you'd like to answer these questions, please do, and let me know you've done the meme, won't you?

Rules~
1. Respond and rework. Answer the questions on your blog, replace one question you dislike with a question of your own invention; add a question of your own.
2. Tag eight other un-tagged people.

WHAT IS YOUR CURRENT OBSESSION? Obsessed might be too strong a word, but all I know is, with lots and lots of music to choose from, I still keep finding myself listening to Fred's album, Go God Go, much more often than anything else. Even when I've switched the iPod on with the intention of trying something new. I think that's close to obsessed.

GOOD FIKA (coffee) PLACE?. Cafe Blend. They know I like a cup with a handle I can actually fit my finger in, and they oblige. They serve fairtrade coffee and the most amazing Tunisian orange cake. And great nutroast with salad. We're very lucky to have such a great place in our town. They know customers' names. They watch for when you've finished eating, and bring your coffee at just the right time.

WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU HUGGED? My friend Denise, saying Goodbye and Happy Easter, after we'd met for coffee yesterday at the above-mentioned Cafe Blend.

DO YOU NAP A LOT? I love an afternoon nap! I get up early on workdays, have to travel 45 minutes to 1 1/2 hours each way, and come home mid-afternoon some days totally drained of energy. I surround myself with cushions, a chennille throw and a soft mohair throw, and put on some nap-music... 20 minutes is enough usually. Sometimes longer. I love it.

WHAT’S FOR DINNER? I have no idea. I'm travelling back to my hometown today, staying at my Dad's. Usually I have something fixed by my sister, or get a takeaway on the day I arrive, but today, I have some leftover Shepherd's Pie I could bring with me. I think my Dad would like it, because I made it with lamb (his favourite meat), not my usual beef.... So yes, maybe that's what's for dinner.

WHAT WAS THE LAST THING YOU BOUGHT? In the supermarket yesterday afternoon - carrots, onions, frozen petits pois, cholesterol-busting spread, coffee, a pack of hot-cross-buns, some sesame-poppy-seed thin crackers, and three bargain easter-eggs, to make sure I'll have enough to share with nephews and little niece.

WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW? Occasional traffic. Wind in the trees and the chimney.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE WEATHER? Sunny, not too breezy. A perfect May day.

WHAT’S ON YOUR BEDSIDE TABLE? I don't have a bedside table. I have a deep shelf behind my bed. There you'll find a gooseneck lamp, a daybook of Baha'i readings, my gratitude notebook and 3 pens, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (started it about 2 weeks ago, but haven't gone very far yet for some reason), box of miscellaneous jewellery, tube of cream for hands and feet, a little colour-changing egg-light...

SAY SOMETHING TO THE PERSON/S WHO TAGGED YOU? Becca, I'd love a chance to hear you play your music somewhere, sometime!

IF YOU COULD HAVE A HOUSE TOTALLY PAID FOR, FULLY FURNISHED ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD, WHERE WOULD YOU WANT IT TO BE? This is not easy, but assuming I'd also be given a means of travelling to that house often, then Northern California it is for me. Sea or mountains, don't mind, or in the Sacramento delta. I've seen so many places there that I love... Just pick me up and plop me down over there, and I'd be happy!

NAME THE THINGS YOU CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT. Well... there's nothing I absolutely cannot live without in reality, but some of the things that make my life so much more full are: all my family, friends, poetry, SoulCollage,

WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO HAVE IN YOUR HANDS RIGHT NOW? A magical cream that cures psoriasis and dermatitis.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE GUILTY PLEASURE? I don't feel guilty about it - Chocolate, these days.

WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO GET RID OF OR CHANGE ABOUT YOURSELF ? 35lbs. OK. So I should feel guilty!

IF YOU COULD GO ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD FOR THE NEXT HOUR, WHERE WOULD YOU GO? Haifa, to visit the Baha'i Shrines.

WHAT DID YOU WANT TO BECOME AS A CHILD? A teacher, and as a teenager, a psychologist. Many years later, when I found myself facilitating creative writing classes, it dawned on me that my first ambition had been realised in a roundabout way, and when I graduated with a degree in psychology age 48, my second one was achieved. Now I teach psychology part-time, so that's both combined!

WHAT DO YOU MISS? Because I now live alone, sometimes I miss having someone there in the moment, to comment on something exciting or interesting I'm reading, think about or notice. I watched President Obama's inauguration alone, and would have loved someone there to share the moment. [But mostly, mostly, I am perfectly happy in my own company. There are just those moments...]

WHAT ARE YOU READING RIGHT NOW? A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (stalled, as mentioned before). Just about to start The Power of Now by Eckhart tolle, having finally read and gotten why people are raving about A New Earth recently.

WHAT DO YOU FEAR THE MOST? Dementia.

FAVOURITE MOVIE THIS PAST YEAR? Mamma Mia! Four cinema visits, and got it on DVD too. The first thing that made me feel happy after my mother's death last summer

FAVOURITE BOOK YOU’VE READ THIS YEAR? Water for Elephants. Loved it enough to recommend it even to people who are very fussy about their reading matter.

[oops... I answered them all, and forgot to replace a question, so I'll add one... hmmm]

A CHILDHOOD COMFORT FOOD THAT YOU STILL HAVE SOMETIMES? Mashed potatoes, baked beans and fried eggs.

Thanks, Becca! No specific tags…just join in if the spirit moves you
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Update Tuesday 14th April. This meme was borrowed and posted on Sunday Stealing - a meme blog, and there are 57 other participants linked there... so if you're interested, go on and see what Judd has put together over there. Thanks, Judd!

Sunday Scribblings - Celebrate

noreply@blogger.com (GreenishLady) — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 11:06:00 +0000

I celebrate my son's homecoming after seven months away. I celebrate a chance to sit at a table and eat with him.

I celebrate my sisters, and our appreciation of one another. I celebrate that each of them reaches out to me and will be there for me whenever I need them.

I celebrate Spring's glistening greens, banks of primrose, blackthorn in a mantilla of cream blossom. I celebrate lambs on spindly legs.

I celebrate my country and the chance to travel through it, witnessing her small beauties and the great.

I celebrate music and beauty. Yesterday's witnessing of Quidam - a celebration of everything in life that touches the heart and soul. I celebrate the chance that brought us there. I celebrate the gifts I am offered over and over again in my life.

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Find other Sunday Scribblings celebrations HERE

This weekend...

noreply@blogger.com (GreenishLady) — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 19:20:00 +0000

Good things:

Yesterday, I'd just been looking at a clip on YouTube of Cirque de Soleil in Las Vegas, wondering if I'd ever get a chance to see them. Literally minutes later - a call from my sister to say she'd won 3 tickets to see their show in Dublin tomorrow! (I didn't even know it was happening)

So, this is the show we get to see. With our other sister.

And my son comes home.

Two really good things.

Good Things

noreply@blogger.com (GreenishLady) — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 11:48:00 +0000

This is the first Friday in a long time when I've been neither working nor travelling. Yes, I've made a couple of phone-calls, and sent a work-related email, but I'm still in my pyjamas! I love when someone shares the delights in their life on their blog, and mine has been delight-deficient in some ways recently, I fear. I don't tend to come here to tell you these days what the daily happenings are that bring me joy and pleasure, so today, I thought I'd share a few of those things that I write into my gratitude journal at night.

In no particular order

Jasmine blooming and filling my hallway with the most delicious scent. Bliss to come home to!

Fred the Band. Their music makes me happy. Go on... click the link. Listen. Enjoy! If you love it, get their album, Go God Go (They're so kind, they let you listen to it in its entirety right there!). Their web-page is funny too. enjoy!

Postcard Poems. They come from many places, at odd intervals, and they delight my heart. I send a couple out most weeks, too (and that includes weeks when I tell myself I haven't written anything, so thanks to this project, in fact, I do!) Sweet! If you'd like to participate, you can register with the Perennial Postcard Project HERE

Quinoa. Just the tastiest grain. I hadn't cooked any in a long time, and when I fixed some this week, to have along with black lentil stew, I said to myself: "Why don't I eat quinoa more often? It's so tasty, so good. ... " Here's a recipe I plan to try soon... And as they say it tastes better than it looks. That's the thing about quinoa. You have to try it to understand. [and you have to rinse it well AND toast it before you cook it to take away a certain bitterness it would otherwise have]

OK... I finally got into it, and after 3 abortive passes last year, I have finished reading Eckhart Tolle's A New Earth, and I get why it's captured so many people. The thing that delights me most about it is the idea that we should either be accepting, enjoying or enthusiastic about whatever we do. If I can't at least accept something, then I'd be better not doing it. And when I ask myself "Well... can I accept doing this for whatever reason?" it makes it so much easier - no more struggle within. Thank you for that, Eckhart!

Knitting little blankies. The most recent one, I sent off as a bonus gift to one of my One World, One Heart winners (because I posted the gifts out really, really late).

And there's tomorrow night... Earth Hour. I have candles. I don't have a big event planned. I don't have an event planned as such, but I do want to switch my lights off and take a quiet hour for the earth. You doing anything?

There's my family (Son will be home from Argentina in just 8 days! sister just celebrated a big birthday; plans are afoot for a weekend away in April with both sisters; have seen a lot of my Dad recently) There are friends. I'm so blessed.

There are blogs... oh, the blogs I keep finding that feed me rich, nourishing ideas. There's YOU. Thank you for being one of the good things in my life. What are some of your good things?

Sunday Scribbling: I Come From....

noreply@blogger.com (GreenishLady) — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 08:50:00 +0000

Today's prompt at Sunday Scribblings is "I come from..." I might have offered one of my old poems from my poetry-collection here, because it exactly fits the bill. It's called "Origins" and begins with a first line of "I come from a hawk-cry, flat, plain place..." But Sunday Scribblings is a prompt for new writing, so I'll play along and see what follows....

I come from Sunday chocolate-bars,
summer days in the back-field,
bread-and-jam
in Nana's house,
in Esther's house,
in Phyllis's house.

I come from aunties and cousins,
gruff-voiced uncles,
jackie-show-light, tag;
climb a tree,
figure out how to get down yourself games.

I come from navy-blue school uniform,
sash and tie,
round-toed sensible shoes,
books covered with wallpaper in September.

I come from Saturdays in town,
Powers' small-profit stores,
doll-house furniture bargains,
paper cut-outs, colouring pencils.

I come from piano lessons,
Tuesdays and Fridays,
cocoa at the fire,
dressmaker aunts with mouthfuls
of pins, fixing outfits for special days.

I come from sisters, brothers,
from always-there parents,
evening crossword games with Dad,
garden exploration with Mam,
dinners of predictable food,
custard-covered desserts as treats.

I come from comfort
I come from home.

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[I enjoyed that! Go find other Sunday Scribblings HERE, and see where they come from!]

Sunday Scribblings. Letters to myself

noreply@blogger.com (GreenishLady) — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 09:23:00 +0000

This week at Sunday Scribblings, the prompt is "Dear Past Me, Dear Future Me". I've written letters from my past self and my future self, but now I look at the prompt, this is different. My 8-year-old self asked me (among other things) if I'd please start wearing lipstick and earrings, now that I'm old enough to be allowed. My 80-year-old self thanked me for quitting cigarettes, and asked me to look after my bones. I never wrote back to either of them, and I may well do at some point, but today's letter is addressed to the me of six years ago. I think it would do her good to hear from me.

Dear Mel,

I'm thinking you're probably in need of a few words of reassurance and comfort. I know these are difficult days for you, and I want to let you know how proud I am of you that you are getting through these days... that you are seeing to the laundry, feeding your boy, looking after the dog, managing the basic necessities of living. This is a good thing. I know what it feels like when you wake in the morning... that panic-monster that is living in your chest, ready to break out and start you to screaming. You're right to acknowledge it. It's fine to say "Oh... you're still there, are you? Well, I've got a day to get on with, if you don't mind too much." And it's fine the days you can't manage that. It's ok to wonder whether you're going to get through this, and I'm here to tell you that you did. You did so fine. It was a rocky road for a while. The fear of being on your own, the fear that he'd never come back. The fear that he would, and you'd have to go through all that all over again. The fear that if you took a break from college you'd never be able to pick up the threads again. The fear that if you didn't you'd crack under the strain. The fear of going crazy, pure and simple.

You didn't. You might have thought for a while that you were, but that's ok, too. Can you believe what I'm about to tell you? During the six years to come, you are going to go back to college. Believe it or not, you are going to get a First in that degree! And I'm telling you no lie when I tell you that you are going to find yourself teaching psychology in the not-too-distant future! You are going to achieve things you think now are way out of your reach. The book? It's going to happen! You will find yourself working with people just as you always wanted to. You'll get paid for it! In a real job!

Your boy's going to turn out just fine. Don't you be worrying about him. He'll be there for you as a grown man when you really need him, and you will know that you and his Dad have done a good thing in the raising of him. Well done! You'll visit parts of the world with him that you can't even envisage right now! They're not on your map - yet!

Some of the dreams you've allowed yourself to dream will become reality, in the strangest ways. California is going to call - and you're going to answer. That's all I'll say. Be ready for adventures, because they are waiting!

I'm not going to say that life's going to be one long picnic in the coming six years. You're going to have difficult days, but for every one of them, there is going to be a friend, a sister or brother waiting to lend you a hand, an ear, a shoulder. Your family are going to prove themselves to be truly remarkable. You are going to meet new friends and connect on a deeper level with old friends. But you are going to have to learn to say when you need them. It's going to be hard. You'll have times when you'll sit alone weeping. It will happen more than once or twice. You'll get lost. You will have to ask for directions, for help, for support. You will learn a lot about that.

And you will find treasures. When you hear a whisper, pay attention. When the word "SoulCollage" is spoken, listen up! Follow your instincts, be ready to wonder. Keep writing, keep asking questions.

Trust.... And when you get to 51, thank yourself for what you've done over the past six years. Admit they've not always been easy. But be ready to acknowledge all the ways in which the weight of them has been eased; all the people who have been there for you, and all the blessings with which you've been showered.

Love,
Mel

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Find more Sunday Scribblings here

Listen Up Because This is IMPORTANT!!!

noreply@blogger.com (GreenishLady) — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 10:20:00 +0000

Well, that's the prompt at Sunday Scribblings this week, and as I didn't make a post last week ("Lost" ... appropriately), or the week before ("Trust"), or... ooops, even the week before that ("Sports"), I need to get back in the game, and trust that there is something I need to say that is important, and in fact, there are many things, but right now, today, what I want to say is going to be very short, but it is really, really important:

Listen up, parents, because this is important! If you have a child or young person in your care, and they're acting up or acting out, and someone says to you "They're only looking for attention. - Ignore them."... well, think about that. Your child wants or needs attention, and is asking for it in the only way they can find right now, and your response is going to be to IGNORE it? Please don't do that. Please, please, if it's possible they are looking for attention, don't dismiss them as a "drama-queen", an "attention-seeker", or any one of a dozen other negative labels. Offer them some attention. See what happens. If you're tempted to say to them "You're just looking for attention.", stop and ask yourself what attention you can give them. Then give it.

I said it would be short. It is. And it applies to teachers and others who find themselves caring for young people too. I know it's preachy. I know, I know. But it's important enough to risk saying.

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Other Sunday Scribblers have important things to say too. GO SEE HERE!

A little montage of photos from Argentina

noreply@blogger.com (GreenishLady) — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 00:48:00 +0000

Some people asked for photos from my trip to Buenos Aires. Here's a few, a little taste of what was a wonderful ten days. I tried to find some tango music to accompany them, but failed!

And the Winners are.....

noreply@blogger.com (GreenishLady) — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 01:53:00 +0000

I used the recommended Random Integer Generator to select the winners of my One World, One Heart giveaway, and this is the result:

Here are the random numbers:

15 Mary Isabella and Kiley too, who said she liked the blanket, so that's her prize, as hers was the first number generated

40 Shelley
112 Grouchy Whitecat
36 Stampgram
113 Youvegotmaille
109 Crystal

each of whom will receive one of the papier-mache items.

I've emailed them all, and am anxiously awaiting their mailing information so that I can get their prizes off in the post.

[EDITED 13TH FEB TO ADD: I have now heard from 3 of the winners. I need to place a deadline on getting your mailing information, so in case the emails didn't make it (although none bounced back, so I have no reason to think that's the case), please leave a comment here and email me if you are one of the winners. If I haven't heard from you by midnight GMT Sunday 15th, then I will have to select another random number, I'm afraid]

[Edited 14th Feb to Add: There are 2 remaining prizewinners who have not contacted me yet. Grouchy Whitecat and Shelley. I've emailed twice, and left a comment on Grouchy Whitecat's blog. (Shelley doesn't appear to have a blog). If you know either of them, can you alert them, please? I'd really prefer to send the prizes to the first winners drawn! Thanks!]

....

This was fun! I only got to visit a fraction of the 911 participating blogs, but so enjoyed those visits, and will enjoy popping into random blogs from the list over the coming months. The giveaways may be finished, but the purpose of One World, One Heart - bringing bloggers together - continues on.

I was delighted that 157 people - most, but not all, bloggers - came by and said hello.

Thank you to Lisa Swifka, who set the whole magnificent event going, and kept it rolling, and kept everyone organised and calm. One World, One Heart is absolutely amazing! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Vincent and me.... Van Gogh's Ear

noreply@blogger.com (GreenishLady) — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 12:11:00 +0000

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I had no idea that Ell, at The Pomegranate Tiger had awarded me a Van Gogh's Ear until she commented on this week's Sunday Scribblings post, in which I'd featured one of Vincent Van Gogh's most-loved paintings, and spoke a little of what a thrill it was for me to visit an exhibit of his work at MOMA in New York just as the year began.

The Van Gogh's Ear award is for "making a difference in the Blogosphere", through art, writing, photography, philosophy, comedy or blogging. I'm honoured that she thought my blog makes a difference, and I'm going to say that all the blogs I love and visit (however haphazardly or infrequently recently) make a difference in so many of those areas, and more than that, in the encouragement that so many of those bloggers so readily share with others, willing them on to pursue their creative dreams.

It seems the universe is conspiring to tap me on the shoulder, repeatedly, to remind me to think a bit about what Van Gogh means to me and has meant in my life. He is the artist to whom my heart most deeply responds. Up until this recent exhibit, "Van Gogh and the Colors of the Night", I'd only encountered a handful of his paintings "in the flesh", but whenever I met them, it felt like I'd finally met an old friend again after a long time apart. People may focus on the fact that he was tortured, troubled, "mad", but what I find alongside all that in his paintings, even those painted when he was at his most troubled, is a joy at the world around, a fascination with the innate beauty of the most mundane objects. A chair! What Vincent did when he painted a chair! When he painted Gaugin's chair, he imbued it with the spirit of the absent Gaugin. How did he do that?

In the exhibit at MOMA, one of the paintings that touched me most deeply was one painted in 1889, The Garden of Saint Paul's Hospital, an asylum to which he'd admitted himself, and in which he continued to paint. The colours, the shapes, are all homage to the beauty he found in the last glimmers of sunshine falling into the garden, the way the sky reflected yellow in a rain-puddle, how dark ochre was "exalted" to orange by the rays of the dying sun.

I have read a few books about his life, but not the correspondence between himself and his brother, Theo. Still, I've gleaned snippets that have been quoted elsewhere, and one of the most enduring for me was the following:

"As to your thinking I should not want to be among the mediocre artists, what shall I say? it quite depends on what you call mediocre. I shall do what I can, but I do not at all despise mediocre in its simple sense. And one certainly does not rise above the mark by despising what is mediocre. In my opinion one must at least begin by having some respect for the mediocre, and know that it already means something, and is only reached with great difficulty."

[There's a website with all his letters, translated and annotated HERE... I just found it!]

Isn't that wonderful? Isn't that such an encouragement? Fear of mediocrity is one of the things that really holds so many people back from trying, and having read that, I felt it was ok to attempt to copy one of his paintings, to create my own version of one of his self-portraits.

It hung in my study for quite a few years, but over the past while, as I've redecorated, and begun to acquire art by other artists, ("Real artists") I've taken my own paintings (my mediocre work) from the wall, and replaced them with others'. Maybe I have "cut off my ear" in some way. Maybe I'm being reminded to value what I make - be it writing, painting, a poem, a blog-post. Maybe Vincent is whispering to me. Maybe I'm being told to listen to him. Maybe I'm being reminded to practice what I preach!

Have you "cut off your ear" in any way? What might Vincent have to say to you? What would you be doing if you listened?

Sunday Scribblings ..... Art

noreply@blogger.com (GreenishLady) — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 10:59:00 +0000

This week's prompt from Sunday Scribblings is a little word, and a tall order... gather together and articulate something in writing about art. That's Art. Or is is art? The capital letter makes a difference. Julia Cameron made the point very well in The Artist's Way. When we think of Art with a capital A, it's important, serious, something that Professional or Trained or Talented Artists do. People who are "not like me", in other words. The world is full of people who are utterly convinced that they "can't" draw, paint or make other art, and what they really mean when they say things like that is that they can't do it as well as "Those other people... Real Artists", and what that really, really means (in part) is not that they can't, but that they feel they can't, and because they feel they can't they aren't going to try, because that's pointless, because they can't. There are a multitude of books out there that can help people get over that block, through that thinking, and into making the kind of art they will enjoy, the kind of art that's not meant to be judged against anything else, that is art for its own sake - but that will sometimes turn out surprisingly to be more than you'd expected to be able to produce. I just love the attitude Julia Cameron encourages - one of "gentle exploration", as in, if I just start playing around with these coloured pencils, and enjoy doodling with them, and let myself not have expectations as to outcome, what might happen?...

I will always suggest The Artist's Way first to anyone who has the urge towards making art, but I recognise that it doesn't suit everyone. Well, then, there's Eric Maisel's many books. I was fascinated by what happened when I started following Betty Edward's "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain". The exercises there had me drawing in ways I never had before. Not perfectly, by anyone's standards, but joyously, happily. There's a website here called Everyone Can Draw.

Sunday Scribblings is a strange thing. I didn't intend to write in that vein at all when I began. I just wandered into it. I intended to write a bit about what other people's art does for me. And maybe I didn't go in that direction because so often I find myself speechless and filled with responses for which there are no words when I meet art. - "Real" art, as in galleries and museums. I have been so lucky, so blessed in being able to meet the work of artists that touch me deeply, that delight me or move me, and I'm not sure how to fit it all in here. So I'll just stay with the most recent things that have touched me.

In Buenos Aires, during my Christmas visit to my son, coming into the Museo de Belles Artes, the first object to catch my eye was Rodin's The Kiss. Familiar from pictures, and yet a whole new experience to come upon it "in the flesh".

I loved that museum. There were European artists a-plenty there, modern and classical. Rich bounty of art. And then, the South American artists, many of whom I'd never encountered before. This one took my breath away, in part because the image echoed a dream I'd had around the time of my mother's death - the black egg: This is by Leonor Fini.

Close by, I encountered this:

The artist is called Varo, and it's entitled "Feeding Stars to the Moon" or Celestial Pablum. I laughed aloud. The idea!

I'm sorry.... These are snippets, mere glances, of a few hours of abundance, riches, beyond anything I can really describe. I wasn't very good at recording names and dates. (OK... I wasn't good at all... I didn't do it). I came away with impressions, memories... full, sated. Aaaah!

And then... within a few days of that experience, I found myself doing two things I'd long wished for... Visiting MOMA in New York, and seeing an exhibition of some of Van Gogh's major paintings, including two Starry Nights. It just happened. My layover on the way home was long enough for a trip into the city, and I got in a taxi and asked to be taken to the Museum of Modern Art. That's the only place I visited. I just got so lucky that the Van Gogh exhibit, Van Gogh and the Colors of the Night, was still running. It was closing 3 days later. I just walked through there soaking those paintings up. That was where I missed having someone with me, someone to share the experience, so I just enthused to whatever stranger happened to be nearby instead. Well... I'd have burst if I didn't! All around me, I could hear people making their comments, and there were plenty of really well-trained eyes there, obviously. Parents educated their children about the technicalities of the techniques he used, urged them to observe the effect of this or that. I just loved hearing all the intakes of breath, the murmurs of "amazing..."

I needed air, space, a little quiet time to bring myself back from that place, and readiness to go back onto the street, back into traffic and "reality", and the perfect bridge was a turn around MOMA's sculpture garden. A wonder in itself, containing wonders. [You can see how inarticulate I get in the face of art, can't you?!]

I came home with a sense of having been blessed in so many ways. Blessed with good fortune.

This post has become way, way too long. I was going to write about and post some photos of what local primary-school children did as an installation in celebration of the sweets (candy) made at a local factory, but I've discovered that there's a lovely description on one of the school's websites HERE... The Sweet Fantastic. Enjoy!
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This post is in celebration of Art as prompted by Sunday Scribblings. Go HERE to see what others have offered!
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Also, I'm participating in One World, One Heart again this year. Here's the post with my giveaway, if you'd like to take part. There's still time... Any comments up to midnight (GMT) 11th February will be included.

Sunday Scribblings: Phantoms and Shadows

noreply@blogger.com (GreenishLady) — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 12:42:00 +0000

The prompt at Sunday Scribblings This week: things and people, times, places, events and how your memory has treated them. Are there people you try to remember more clearly, phantoms you'd like to reach back into the past and take a firm hold of? What do you remember of your early school years? College years? Your grandparents? First pets, first houses, first friends? Do you have a good or poor memory? If you could go back to any particular time/place to recall more vividly what it was like, what would that be?
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I don't live in my hometown. It's a 5+ hour journey, so I get home every few weeks for a long weekend. Sometimes it's a couple of months, and when I am there, my time's spent with family. I've lost touch with almost everyone I went to school with. Sometimes, word reaches me of an old schoolfriend, and most recently it was the death of a girl I hadn't thought of in years. We weren't particularly good friends, but she lived nearby, and we sometimes sat on the bus together. We'd lost touch long before our schooldays ended, in fact. I changed schools, then my family moved house, so I've no idea when was the last time we exchanged a hello. I don't know what career-path she followed. I've heard she was married, but I think it didn't work out. I'm not sure whether she had children. Back in the schooldays, her best friend was a strange little girl, and I remember that I admired her loyalty. That friend died young - in her thirties, or even late twenties. It seems a long time ago. So maybe they're reunited now... I can picture the exchange... "What kept you? I've been waiting AGES at that bus-stop. Have you done your homework? Want to see mine?..."

Because I'm not about my hometown too much, the scraps and bits of news that circulate about marriages, births, illnesses, deaths, don't reach my ears as a matter of course. Sometimes one of my sisters will hear something, and will make a mental calculation as to likely age of the person, and enquire if they went to the schools I went to. Later, I'll be asked whether so-and-so was in my class at school. And more and more often, I find myself not sure. Sometimes I'm saying Yes, the name's familiar. Had she a sister? Pauline? Patricia? Was that the girl whose father had a butcher-shop? Did her cousin die in that car-crash that time?

When I was small, I remember being in town with my mother, and the sense of dread I'd feel if she was stopped by some old friend from the past. A "girl" she'd worked with, or knew from going to the dances. I knew I'd be left swinging round the bus-pole for what felt like hours, while they ran through the litany of all their old acquaintances, exclaiming at the news of who'd had another baby, and tutting and whispering at some darkly secret happening, the nature of which I never managed to grasp. In later years, my mother kept up her knowledge of her wide network of friends and acquaintances through her sisters - who lived scattered throughout the city at that stage. Long hours over pots of tea while they exchanged news of a Mary or an Annie, who'd married this man or that, (or even a fella from some other place, from Dublin, or County Roscommon, perhaps), and whose children had gone on to do this or that, to live in this place or that. An intricate and detailed catalogue that at the time felt to me to be the workings of busybodies. I couldn't understand why the doings of relative strangers was of such interest to them.

But now I'm beginning to see something of what it was. Knowing where all those people, who had touched their lives at some point, had now gone, helped them to fix themselves within their own lives in some way. Those people were people they didn't want to lose from their map. I'm feeling a sadness, a loss that I let go so long ago of the threads that would have connected me to Emily, to Majella, to Frances or Betty. They are not phantoms that haunt me in any big way, but now I am beginning to notice their shadows are about. Now I am beginning to wonder...

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That was for this week's Sunday Scribblings. Go on over there to meet other Phantoms and Shadows.

Phantoms is also the prompt at the Meme Express on Monday! Who'd have thunk?

I'm participating in One World, One Heart again this year. Here's the post with my giveaway, if you'd like to take part.

One World One Heart

noreply@blogger.com (GreenishLady) — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 19:14:00 +0000

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Last year, I got such joy from participating in One World, One Heart. This year, the event just crept up on me. I didn't realise Lisa was gearing up and getting it all in place until just a couple of days ago. And what an undertaking it is! Lisa Oceandreamer started two years ago, creating a place where bloggers could meet and mingle, offering one another little gifts of something they have made, around Valentine's Day. I participated last year for the first time, and was the lucky recipient of a bunch of beautiful prizes offered by creative bloggers. The giving and receiving of gifts is lovely, but the even greater gift is getting to meet new people, to share interests. Some links made through this mingling last, some are brief "nice to meet you" encounters.

All the details are at the One World One Heart blog. You can participate by offering a giveaway on your own blog, or you can visit any of the participating blogs, leave a comment and be entered in the draw on offer.

This year, I have six items to give away.

Five of them are the product of a long-ago flurry of activity with papier-mache and decoupage. There are two vases and three bowls. You can be pretty sure they are each one-of-a-kind. The sixth item is in the background of the photo... It's a cream tweedy-flecked little lap-blanket which I've just finished knitting. It could be a baby-blanket either!

Leave a comment on this post in order to enter the draw for the giveaway. I will make the draw and post names of winners as close as possible to the date on which One World, One Heart officially ends - 12th February. You don't have to have a blog to enter. You don't have to be particpating with your own giveaway either. But you do have to make it possible for me to contact you if you win, which means leaving me either a link to an active blog, or an email address.

Ok.... Let's have fun! I'm so looking forward to meeting new bloggers and saying "hello" as I pick random participants to visit. As the count is now over 400(!!!!), I doubt I'll get to visit everyone, but I'll try!

Welcome if you haven't visited here before. I'm so glad you dropped by!

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Added Wednesday 28th... My link's just been added to the list on the One World One Heart blog today, and visitors have started to arrive in numbers. I'm away for a few days, so won't be visiting too many of you until next week, but I'm really glad you've come over, and I'll try to visit over the coming week... and beyond the draw too.

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Added 12th February..... Comments are now closed, and HERE is where I announce the winners. Thanks everybody for coming by, and hope we'll meet again in the Blogosphere. Pop back any time!

Sunday Scribblings.... Pilgrimage

noreply@blogger.com (GreenishLady) — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 11:56:00 +0000

There was only one place outside of Buenos Aires that I really wanted to get to during my visit to my son at Christmas-time, and that was the town of Quilmes. And specifically, I wanted to visit the cemetary there, to pay my respects at the resting-place of May Maxwell. An American Baha'i, who lived most of her life in Canada, and was known as the "Mother of the Canadian Baha'i community", she passed away in Buenos Aires in 1940, and knowing I would be that close to her grave, I felt drawn to go to pay my respects, to say a little prayer.

Sylvia, the tour guide who took us around the city one day, knew nothing about a cemetary in Quilmes, but said she'd find out, and make arrangements for a driver to bring us out there. It's normally a 40-minute drive, but we chose to leave at noon, which of course, had us sitting in slow traffic as we traversed the city. I didn't mind that much, as it gave me a chance to people-watch. How do people manage to look so cool and elegant in this heat? was my constant wondering question!

We passed by skyscrapers and bridges, parks and schools, the port, blocks of apartments... out to the city's outskirts where odd little groupings of rough huts were obviously also home to some of the poorest of the city's people. On we went, and soon found ourselves traversing the streets of Quilmes, which was a far bigger town than we'd expected. I was glad we hadn't opted to travel by train. Who knows how far we'd have had to walk to get to the cemetary from the station?

As soon as our driver had left us off, just inside the gates of the cemetary, I began to walk down the path, and just a short distance along, I spotted what I knew was May Maxwell's gravestone. I'd seen a picture, and it is very distinctive.

What a peaceful spot it was. The only sounds were gentle birdsong and what seemed like far-distant traffic. There was no special ritual I needed to perform. A few silent prayers, a few moments communing with the spirit of a woman who had given so much to my faith, whose daughter became the wife of the Guardian of the Baha'i Faith, (and whose home I had the pleasure of visiting during my 1991 pilgrimage to the Holy Land).

As I began to explore the area around the grave, I realised that quite a few Baha'is have been buried in the vicinity, so the gravestones about bore, in Spanish, phrases and quotes from our Writings. Some, I could identify, and others I could only repeat the words without being sure of their meaning. I found it very comforting to encounter the symbols and words of my Faith here, and I was so glad that my son and I had made this small pilgrimage, that I had visited her resting-place and paid my respects.

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This "pilgrimage" is for this week's Sunday Scribblings. There was a problem with Mr Linky on the site, but it seems to be fixed now. If not, check the Sunday Scribblings comments section for links to other pilgrimages.

Organics... Sunday Scribbling... and another year gone by

noreply@blogger.com (GreenishLady) — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 14:08:00 +0000

Sunday Scribbling's prompt today is "Organic" What does the word mean to you? I've resisted the temptation to go in search of the official meaning before I respond. I've always taken it to have something to do with having respect for the integrity of an organism... allowing natural growth, for instance, without interfering with the use of chemicals and forcing rapid growth. Mostly, it relates to plants, I suppose, but I use the word more often in conversation in terms of internal human processes, and relate to it as a benign force. I find the idea of organic growth comforting - that what's happening is in line with the natural order, I suppose, and in that sense I use it when I speak of our emotional and psychological lives.

Do you remember the movie "Being There"? Chance the Gardener didn't know a lot, but he knew about gardening, and when he spoke of the natural processes of growth and decay, of awaiting the right season for activity, people around him took deep meaning from what he said. I've always found analogies between gardening and life to mean a great deal. I trust that when it feels like nothing is happening, when everything seems dark and dead, that under the surface, life is stirring, shoots are beginning to move towards the light, and that when Spring returns, they will break through the surface, fresh and green. That's been the one fact of life that I've relied on in my most difficult times. I trust that there is an organic process at work, that the soul knows its way, as I described in one of my SoulFragments blog-posts.

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Yesterday was my Blogaversary! 3 years, and what a 3 years it's been! I can hardly believe that, in fact! I know the past year has been scrappy. I went into a cocoon space after my mother's death, and during the past few months I've felt bad about all the blogs I haven't kept up with. - People whose lives have come to be a part of mine, and yet, I've not have the energy to keep up with what's happening for you all.

Can I wish each of you a Happy New Year? And say that even when I don't make appearances at your blogs, or here so much, everything you've given me in your sharing has been part of what has sustained me during the past months.

I'm in a good place now, in fact. The grief process is moving, moving through me - or me through it.

I spent 10 days in Argentina, visiting my son, and what a change that was! Christmas dinner (of the best beef in the world!), in a summer night-time garden, with his friends. I relaxed, read, and we did some touring around Buenos Aires. Beautiful city, but the most special thing about it was that I got to be there with my boy. We visited Eva Peron's resting-place, the museum of Fine Art, and went to see a Tango show. Wow!

So, 2008 is past. 2009's begun. Here's to my 4th year of blogging. I don't know what's ahead, but I think it will develop in its own organic fashion, given time and trust, and if I turn my attention here from time to time. Here's to a good year for all of you, my Sunday Scribbling friends, my blogging friends of all sorts.

Blessings to you.

Feast or Famine! My fridge

noreply@blogger.com (GreenishLady) — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 18:50:00 +0000

Caroline asked me a question arising from my Sunday Scribblings post, which featured angels gathered from about my house. She's visited, and knew there was something else that people give me. That's butterflies. Butterfly pictures, butterfly mugs. Butterfly bookmarks. Glass butterflies to hang in the window... lots of butterflies.

There's even one on my fridge. I popped over to her blog, Caro's Lines, to tell her that, and she was asking the question: What's on your fridge? so here it is... the front of my fridge. For some reason, I've allowed the upper part - the freezer-cabinet door - to be the "notice-board", and I don't put any magnets on the lower part - probably because I open that door so often, things might fall off?
Can you spot the butterfly amid the confusion? I actually like that messy collection. Every magnet, postcard or photo has a story. There are invitations to friends' book-launches, memories of holidays and special places, tributes to some of my favourite artists - Gaudi and Monet feature a couple of times. My best young friend is there, grinning as he opened my Christmas gift last year. And the magnets include a pretzel, a fairy, a fish, three salamanders, a French breakfast-tray (with a copy of France-Soir, for some reason).

Maybe it's time to cull the postcards and make space for new images... Anything there that caught your eye? Want to share what's on your fridge? You could let Caroline and Andrea (who started this question) know you've done so.

And the title of this post? Feast or Famine... I hadn't posted anything here for over a month, and now there's two posts in one day! We'd call that a Feast or Famine situation.