Joy Crashed In

Got the sheets washed, duvets clean and aired, ready for spring to make its mind up and stay.
Or summer.
Whatever.

The last few days have been pain days, but I’ve still managed a lot more than I thought I would.
Watched lessons and zoom calls.
Maybe even understood most of them! 😆
I keep the laptop off on Sundays (except, very rarely, if there’s a deadline I need to meet), so I try to catch up by Saturday night.
Rest (and recharge) time tomorrow – yay!

I have refreshed my memory of beauty encountered on our getaway last weekend…

Fresh flowers by the bed 🙂

This giant on the patio!

A wealth of patterns, and textures, and shadows…

My studies have shown me interesting things.

…like the building blocks of creativity.

And I’ve been listening to music, to let the joy in…

I’ve had the lyric video for this on the blog already, but here’s the people version…
Rainbows and sunflowers!
(Of course, in my head, I will always hear Kermit ❤ )

This one came out of left field, but it’s something to think about.

May joy be unconfined!

Published in: on September 21, 2024 at 10:06 pm  Leave a Comment  
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Gondolas On My Mind

I was dreading the advent of the hot weather this week.
I did have trouble yesterday – maybe hanging the washing in the sun (without a hat) wasn’t the best choice – but today has been on the right side of sunshine.
I’ve spent the first part of this week mulling over life, and living. A great evening service on Sunday night, and an inspiring Zoom call last night, have got me fired up for…something. Not sure of specifics yet! But I’ve been taking my time, and thinking through, and reading some books I’ve had waiting for a while.

The Sisterchicks book is one I bought a few months ago. The book series involves women (friends) coming to some sort of crossroads in life, and working out where God wants them to go next. They always involve travel 🙂 This one is set in Venice. The two women are middle-aged, and looking back on their lives, in order to go forward.
I thought I could relate.
The other book is one I’ve had for thirty years, but haven’t really used yet.I originally got it to put prayer requests in, and there are a couple in there – both long answered ❤ I’ve started writing in it now – I keep it with my daily devotional/writing books.
There’s no publishing date in it, but Google tells me it was published in 1870, and my copy has a newspaper clipping in it from 1869. I found it in a little second-hand bookshop in St Mary’s, Southampton (on the 10th May, 1994). And the preface is by J.C.Ryle, which I hadn’t noticed before now…

I feel like it’s been a good week so far!
I spent most of the afternoon in my cosy chair in the art room, with the windows open, an incense stick burning, and looking through papers while listening to old CDs.

Well, that’s a blast from the past!
Makes me feel young again 🙂

Also –

It also reminds me that I’ve been around for a while.

The sun is setting.
In the grand scheme of things, I don’t have too many years left.
Just enough to bring beauty,
add colour,
and let incense rise.


❤

Published in: on August 28, 2024 at 6:06 pm  Leave a Comment  
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Why Is Cold Pink? (And A New PC)

…or at least, a laptop. Which is new to me.
🙂
These are the things that have been on my mind lately.
I was able to get myself an updated laptop on Monday (yay!) and have spent the week getting used to it.
Transferring all my bookmarks wasn’t as hard as the last time I had to set up a new laptop (sometime in the dark ages) but there are still niggles to work out.

While playing with my superior power and speed (at least online) I have also been feeling the chill. It’s getting wintery! And that means the sky in the evening is that cold, bright pink.

You can almost feel the shivers…
I also seem to be working out night mode on my phone camera.

Somehow, still pink.

My evening view 🙂

I’m still happy with life.
Even when my mood’s a bit down.
I think I’ve lived through enough to know that good is always there, waiting, on the other side of… bleh.
And I have happy things to look at when I’m grey.

Squishmallow whale says hello!
❤

– my rainbows proliferate!

And, if in need of a remedy…


Published in: on August 2, 2024 at 10:49 pm  Leave a Comment  
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Into Tomorrow

Feels like it’s been a busy old week.
I’m getting more done lately, and using the days better.
This week, I even stayed out after dark! 😆

We were told we needed to go and see a particular movie (Unsung Hero), so we went off to Springfield cinemas on Wednesday. It seems to be a limited release, so there’s only one session a day. On Wednesday, that was late afternoon.
It was a beautiful movie, and I cried at various points.
Then afterwards, we got some food and went home again…
I’m glad we went 😀
The movie has a beautiful theme song, but this was the one I wanted to look up when I got home.

They have their own story behind the song, of course, and if you see the movie you might see when I thought of it…

For me –
this year feels like a new era, in a lot of ways.
I don’t think it’s wrong to look at the past, as long as you don’t get stuck in the murky bits.
We remember the good things – and the God things! – and then we face forward again, and keep walking.

Some days, you just have to strike a match.
❤

Published in: on June 29, 2024 at 11:09 pm  Leave a Comment  
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Snuggled In The Corner Chair

It was probably only a few days ago when the days decided to tip over into winter.
It’s been SO COLD!!
Comparatively.
And really, only in the mornings. Late afternoons. Nights.

I like this time of year. It’s sort of crispy clear, and good for snuggling in to warm duvets, and unicorn slippers. I even did a bit of a “spring” makeover – washed the sheets, which dried quickly in the breezy cold.

A beautiful sight!

I chose the blue skies duvet cover for me, to remember the hot sunshine by.

I have also (finally) been using my art room – something I hadn’t been able to get together in the last couple of places we’ve lived in.

My desk.
Where I’m actually doing some work!

And here’s my corner(ish) chair, snuggled in its little spot, and so far still warm during the day. It’s for reading, and writing (definitely no ‘rithmetic!)
I hadn’t realised there was so much colour around it…

Rainbows, and hearts, and toes about to become toasty warm!

I am tired right now – it was a big day of cleaning and washing – but I feel like I’ve been able to do more lately. Even though I lose energy over the day, it feels like I’m starting from a higher point. It’s lovely to be able to actually do something!
Having a bit more strength in the day is great, and there are times when I feel like a child again.

Not quite to this level of activity, though.
Everything else in the song is possible 🙂

This world may be crazy.
But it is beautiful.
❤

Published in: on June 8, 2024 at 10:17 pm  Leave a Comment  
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Fresh Breeze Flowing

Such a day!
I feel like a new direction has been peeking round a corner today, hinting its existence, and teasing its imminence.
I know, that sounds hopelessly vague.
Some things get clearer with time! 🙂
Anyway – I don’t know anything past that hint, so I’ll talk about rose petals…

The rose bush I thought was dormant for the winter decided to gift me a vase full of blooms for Mothers’ Day.
They’ve already started to drop their petals, but aren’t they beautiful?
A delicate drift of scented loveliness –
a different stage of life, with beauty still to give.

Have you ever felt used up
old
petals falling
drifting?

Maybe there’s still time
space
expectancy
– to spread a sweet scent over a fading world,
and bring beauty back into your part of the garden.
❤

Published in: on May 14, 2024 at 11:04 pm  Comments (2)  

Glimpsing The Sunshine

I was surprised to see the sun today, since the forecast had been talking about rain over the week ahead, and we’ve had downpours here lately.
I love grey days, especially when they’re just on the comfortable side of cool. I often feel a bit more energetic on those days – not sure whether it’s the “grey” or the “cool” that helps…
Still, nice to see blue skies today!

I just finished a book about sunshine.

It was written earlier in the pandemic, when people were still trying to comprehend the “new normal”. It’s a compilation of stories about people making sunshine out of life’s storms…that sounds very airy-fairy, but it’s really about those people standing in their grey cloud realities and looking for the light. You can’t just wish tragedies away, or wish the good stuff in. You can stand where you are, and find where the cracks let the light in. Or let someone close to you see them, if you just can’t get there ❤
One thing that runs through the stories is the kindness of others. That’s something that we saw during lockdowns, and have experienced at other times in our lives.
Light will always overcome darkness.

Also, clouds come in different sizes, and shades.

Look for the blue sky.
Reach for the light!

Tonight I found out that a friend had died, earlier on in the year.
We only knew each other online, and there were many others in our group who knew him better.
Still, we had various interactions, and he sent me two books that are still in my bookcases. I will get them out to look through again tomorrow.
This song came my way tonight, and I thought it fitting for this post.

I don’t think that his life was “troubled”, as such, but a long life lived kindly and openly will have pain and trouble in it. And then – rest…for someone who spread ripples of love, and shone light where the clouds had formed.

Published in: on April 6, 2024 at 9:13 pm  Leave a Comment  
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Singing A New Song

…or is it an old one?

❤

Published in: on March 31, 2024 at 12:30 am  Leave a Comment  
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A Rainy Walk For Good Friday

I had wanted to go to an Easter set up at a church we go to sometimes – a “contemplative journey through the events of the first Easter” – but somehow it didn’t happen. It was a modern take on the traditional Stations of the Cross, which I’m not overly familiar with, but thought it would be interesting.
So, I didn’t get there.
It’s been raining a lot lately.
And then, up popped this YouTube walk up a rainy Irish hillside!

Friday’s nearly over.
But Sunday’s coming!
❤


Published in: on March 29, 2024 at 10:29 pm  Leave a Comment  
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Here For…

Just taking a break from a strenuous programme of watching YouTube and episodes of Death In Paradise 😆
Seriously…I’ve had a good day of catching up with transcribing notes, and revisiting the concepts from the lessons they came from. It’s taking time, but is also inspiring.
I’ve been thinking about the “faces” we wear, and the importance of finding why we are here, in this life, in this place. I was watching a cover of a song from Barbie (the recent movie) – the original is hauntingly lovely/sad, but I thought I’d share this one. If you haven’t seen the movie, there’s a theme here of authenticity – of being “real”.

We all spend some amount of time finding out what we’re made for. Some work it out while they’re still young. Some never get there.
I think most of us get there at some point…but sometimes, when things change – we’re off again, trying to find our place in the world, and our people. It’s the question everyone’s asking, even if they don’t know it.

I’ve never been big on makeup.
There was a brief time in my life where I was an Avon lady. I had a lot of samples, and tried all of them out. It never looked quite right, and I’ve always hated the feel of it on my face. I found a more natural range, which felt quite nice, but still looked odd to me. In the end, I couldn’t really be bothered…my face is mine, and it’s good enough for me 🙂
There are a lot of boxes in the world – ones that people are supposed to fit into, and then stay in forever. By the time we’re in school, and often before, we’ve been put in a box somewhere. It’s generally one we haven’t chosen, and it’s hard to get out.
I don’t feel like I’ve fitted in any of the boxes I’ve seen. Maybe there’s room to make a box? One with open doors and transparent sides…flowers and colours and perfumes and songs!
After all my years, I’m happy with myself. Not perfect, of course. Still a weirdo to other people. But “me”, as much as me can be. I still have a lot to learn and grow into – that’s a lifelong thing, really – but I’m learning what I’m here for.
I hope you are too.

And here’s another song, for when people tell you you “can’t”.

Find your music.
I know it’s there.
❤

Published in: on March 9, 2024 at 11:10 pm  Leave a Comment  
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