“They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old;
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.”
(excerpt from)
For The Fallen
Laurence Binyon
We Will Remember…
A New Season
I have a phone!
I realise this is not amazing for most people, but I haven’t had a mobile for over ten years… it’s exciting, and a little bit frustrating, as I’ve been trying to work out ways of transferring files from an old Ipod to a new LG phone… Apple and Android don’t seem to get on too well!
It came at an opportune time (courtesy of a lovely friend ❤ ) – this weekend turned out to be a bit hectic, so being able to be in contact outside of wifi range was wonderful! I do have to get used to having a ringtone – my Babe tried to call me just after I got it all activated… I sat there thinking, “That’s a nice tune. I wonder where it’s coming from?” 😆
As the weather has been getting cooler, we’ve put the duvet back on the bed and are sleeping more comfortably on our old mattress, due to a thick, squishy mattress topper (courtesy of another lovely friend! ❤ ) It’s like sleeping on a cloud!
This is a lovely time of year, when everything cools and slows, and it’s easier to catch glimpses of possibility…
I will continue to grapple with Apple, and explore the capabilities of Android…
In the meantime, here’s some photos on my new phone camera!
I wonder what other wonders I can unlock?
Time Goes By…
On a day when we woke up to the sad news of the passing of Prince Philip, we also had the happy anticipation of a birthday celebration for my Mum. While nowhere near the venerable age achieved by the Prince, it was one of the “big” birthdays! We were able to get the family together for breakfast/morning tea at our favourite cafe, and we even got there at the right time to get the biggest table – necessary when there are ten people to be accommodated.
Such a lovely time, catching up, enjoying the food and company. Also – singing Happy Birthday, because it had to be done 😀
We stayed for a while (cheesecake can’t be eaten quickly!) and then all wandered down to the Handmade Expo in the middle of town. Wandered through the stalls, exclaimed over the different crafts, sat for a bit and chatted some more…
We eventually had to go home, but it was a nice little reminder of what’s important – even if there are big things happening in the wide world, there’s always time to stop and enjoy the good things right in front of us 🙂
I hadn’t planned to buy anything, but I couldn’t resist some tiny little things from When Laura Meets Clay –
a “Unicorn Meadows” sign for my fairy garden
…and a couple of teensy pet rocks, with their very own book.
❤
When The Water Is Too Deep
Most mornings I go down to the pool. I don’t really swim – don’t like getting my ears in the water – but I walk back and forth across the middle of the pool. Some days the water is clear, and I walk without stopping. Some days I stop to rescue various insects that have found themselves out of their depth. Occasionally it seems as though the entire insect population of our area has decided to take a dip…
Most of these rescues are for small creatures – beetles or waspy type things. Sometimes I come across a bee. And, very rarely, it’s bigger – a very large stick insect, or a dragonfly. Unfortunately, they’re often already dead, so I place them beside the pool. There are mornings, though, when I can actually save a little being, and that cheers me up for the day. I love saving bees and yesterday I scooped up a butterfly, which I thought was dead, but started fluttering cautiously once the sun dried off its wings.
Here’s a dragonfly from the other day – sadly I was too late to save it, but it’s still beautiful.
Many years ago my Babe and I were in a takeaway waiting for our chips for tea. We lived in Southampton then, and it was that fuggy type of atmosphere you get when the weather’s cold but you’re sitting in a small shop where there’s food cooking… the air was humid and there was moisture running down the windows. Just beside the door there was an insect trying frantically to get out – beating against the glass, seeing the fading light outside and wanting to be out there. We tried our best to guide it towards the door, but it kept getting away from us and back to the window.
I am so much bigger than the insects I try to help, and to them my guiding hand must seem like just another obstacle they need to avoid. It’s frustrating for me – I don’t want to see them drown – but I can understand the fear of something you can’t see or comprehend but that looks like it’s in your way when you’re just trying to survive. I manage to rescue most things (although a fair number are already dead) but a few I just have to leave. All their fearful dodging takes them too far out for me to reach.
Tomorrow is Good Friday. It might feel as though I’m trying to shoehorn a lesson in here, but both these situations remind me of the Easter story – of the times in my life when I’ve been floundering in deep waters but not quite seeing the divine hand reaching out to lift me. Thankfully, God is patient…
Tomorrow, we will go to church and sing and eat hot cross buns. We will, once again, take the time to remember the love that God has for us.
And after the Easter season is over, we’ll go back to our everyday lives, where we will still frequently catch glimpses of that other kingdom…
A Walk Through Another World
We’re just over 24 hours into another sudden lockdown. It’s been quite nice to have everyone home during the week, although they’ve been to a series of online lectures in bedrooms instead of in person lectures, so I probably haven’t seen the family much more than in a normal day…
One thing I’ve been trying to do lately is to take some time to go on an artist’s date. Often that’s shopping for random beautiful things at the charity shops around the town, or having a coffee while writing or sketching. Or sometimes just thinking, and enjoying good coffee. This week that won’t be possible, but next week is not too far away! Last time I went to have a look at the gallery. I haven’t been there in a long while, but I always enjoy it. There’s often beauty, or works to make you think. Taking the time to really look at what’s displayed is an opportunity to look through someone else’s eyes, and catch a glimpse of their world. It’s good to be able to expand what can increasingly feel like a restricted life.
This time around I had a look at a couple of solo exhibitions, and also a selection of contemporary works from the gallery’s collection – it’s on until the 18th April, so there’s still time to go and see for yourself!
Here’s some of what I saw 🙂
Magic Muffin Mountain, by Hany Armanious
Yes, it is as big as it looks!
Ceramics, by Dai Li
There were five figures altogether – these are called “Eating Noodle” and “Slyboots”
This one is “Bad Bird 2”
I’ve had days that feel like that…
I can’t remember the name of the splat on the wall, or the artist, but the marble in front is “Messiah Complex”, by Alex Seton
Look at the anatomical detail in the interior and base of the skull!
This is so cute.
And creepy.
“The Listener”, by Patricia Piccinini
This last one was from a separate, solo, exhibition upstairs – I nearly didn’t bother to go up there, but I’m glad I did. These were a series of depictions of fine, unravelling fabrics, painted with gouache on paper.
The Rose’s Rarest Essence Lives In The Thorns – Rubaba Haider
The whole series is quite beautiful.
Here’s a close up.
All this wonder and a cup of coffee?
It was a day well spent…
As The World Darkens
I wasn’t planning to write today…
I’ve been catching up on some online things, which included checking out some folklore songs, and this song popped up on the YouTube side bar.
It’s getting colder here, and there’s rain this week. That’s a good thing, but it’s… still cold. It’ll get colder now, possibly fairly quickly, and I’ll bring out the snuggly blankets and socks. Right now I’m still in short sleeves and trying to decide if I’ll get too hot if I put socks on! 🙂
Some landscapes are breathtaking, and make me think of heaven – I don’t know what that looks like, but I wouldn’t be surprised if some of these earthly places are echoes. I didn’t, primarily, enjoy this clip for the lyrics, although they’re good. It’s the mountains, and the majesty (I had it on full screen, and there’s a bit at 4:18 where I just said, “Wow!”). There doesn’t seem to be an English word for that indefinable longing for a place that you’ve never been to – that sad sweet feeling of nostalgia, or possibly anticipation. Other languages have words – fernweh in German, hiraeth in Welsh – that approximate the yearning. In Ecclesiastes it says that “He has set eternity in our hearts“.
Different people will probably have different sparks that set off that light of eternity. For me, one spark is majestic mountains combined with cold, rainy weather 🙂
“Lord, You’re with me either way it goes.”
…and that’s the truth!
Making The Choice
…sit out, or dance?
So tired today…
Went to my first exercise physiology appointment the other day. The exercises I was given are not too hard, and I would have been fine if that was all of the exercise in my day…
My Babe is at uni for quite a lot of hours during the week, so that means he’s often not around to drive me places. On Wednesday that meant that I had to walk home from the appointment. It’s pretty much downhill, and not a huge distance, but I haven’t been able to walk much lately. It was painful and exhausting. Ideally the next day would have been a rest day, but I decided to get some stuff done in town with the expectation of taking the bus home afterwards.
My travel card has expired.
I don’t have an updated concession card yet (not sure why), so I couldn’t renew my travel card.
I only found this when I was in town with no other way home.
I wasn’t sure what to do (I don’t have a phone, and there wasn’t really anyone I could think of who was available to give me a lift anyway!) so I decided to do what I’d come in for, with the option of buying a full price paper ticket on the bus, as advised by the train station attendant.
So – I wandered around town, getting inspired by random beauty as I went 🙂
Ate at a 50s type diner – the food was not great, so I won’t be going back, but the decor was fun.
Here are some of my dining companions –
🙂
I had a look through the charity shops, where I found some nice things
A dream squirrel!
That’s in the front garden now, where it joins two turtles and a fairy garden.
A candle holder thingy!
Dragonflies are a kind of a motif for me at the moment…
Beautiful things cheer me up, and I looked forward to getting them home.
Got to the bus stop.
You can no longer buy tickets on the bus…
Thankfully the bus driver very kindly allowed me to get a ride home – I didn’t have the energy to walk home, or even back to the train station to get a ticket. Glad there are still nice people about! 😀
So – back to today.
It’s tempting to go back to bed when everything’s a bit overwhelming, and sometimes that’s the best option. There were things to do today, though, and places to be.
Every day the choices are to sit back – or dance.
When it’s necessary to rest and reset or heal, then that’s the best option to take.
But if it’s a choice between stepping out, or drawing back in fear –
I hope you choose to dance!
❤
Steps, Finally Taken
This year I’ve signed up for an online prophetic creative academy, which consists of various online classes and Facebook group communication, as well as a Zoom call and teaching each month. This month our homework was to practise each of four contemplative disciplines – Sabbath keeping, speaking in tongues, Ignatian meditation and Lectio Divina.
I’ve tried Ignatian meditation, and I can see where it could be helpful… I just have difficulty really “getting” it. I could possibly try listening to someone reading the passage I’m using, rather than reading and trying to remember while I meditate on it – I’ll look into that!
This morning I had a go at Lectio Divina. First impressions are that I can see myself getting more out of it, although I find reading out loud to myself a bit strange! This morning the verse that stood out to me was from Psalm 6, the first part of verse 2 –
“Have mercy on me, Lord, for I am faint“
Not the verse I thought I’d focus on!
“Faint”, meaning “lacking strength”, but also perhaps lacking in colour and boldness, or being too quiet, not heard…
“Mercy” – unexpected, unmerited, pouring out…
I am also part of a group doing a study at our church. This week involves starting a new daily habit, which we choose according to our situation. It took me until today to figure out what mine would be. I’m a perfectionist. I’m also a procrastinator. The fact that it took me most of the week to come up with a habit would seem to indicate that! 🙂
So – my habit will be to push past the procrastination block on something each day, even if it’s small.
To that end, I’m trying out a few different things… one of those is to have a pile of stuff that I can use to do some of the things I’ve been putting off. The idea is to have no excuse, because the book/pen/paper etc is right there, rather than somewhere else that would require a special trip to obtain.
I’ll see how that works out…
As part of my “things I’ve been meaning to do but haven’t got around to so why not have a look” today I got a book down from the bookcase that’s been lurking away for years. It’s a daily inspiration type book, and I’m not sure how I’ve gone quite this long without reading it.
What I normally do with this type of book is to flip to my birthday to read what it says, and get a sense of what the book’s like. Most of the entries take up the whole page in some way, so I was expecting my birthday entry to be the same.
It just said “Permission to complete (write yourself a permission slip)” with a couple of little notes in the corner (“learn your tools of completion” and “develop habits of completion”), and a recommendation for a book called… “Procrastination“
I think someone’s trying to tell me something…
Putting On My Dancing Shoes
It’s been a long but happy day.
On my birthday I like to take the day to go out somewhere, mostly to shop at op shops and have a good coffee somewhere. The last couple of years I’ve gone back to my past haunts, taking the train on my own, and getting back later in the afternoon. This year I didn’t think I’d manage the travelling, so my Babe took me in to have a look at some places I’ve seen as we’ve passed by on the way in to town but have never had the time to stop…
My morning started with a cup of tea and heart shaped chocolates in bed. My sweet boys got me another pop vinyl – this time Hedwig (I still need to get a Harry Potter!)
We went fairly early to start the day, while I still had energy.
It seems a bit superficial to spend my day shopping…
I tend to buy second hand for most purchases – I like re-purposing things, and you can find all sorts of weird and wonderful treasures. Today I picked up some books I’ve been looking for (yay!) as well as other bits and pieces.
Stopped for a coffee and a GF brownie (hadn’t had breakfast!)
We went down the road to another shop I’d seen often but never had the time to go into. No second hand stuff here, but lots of lovely handmade things! I splurged on some dragonfly metalwork.
Cake when we got home – another unicorn in my day 🙂
I found a little Harry Potter ooshie, so that can keep Hedwig company until I get a bigger version 🙂
And my Mum sent me a clip of “my” song…
It’s been a full day, and I kept going longer than I thought I would.
The world is well…
and now it’s time for bed!
Putting Out The Welcome Mat
Yesterday we finally got a new mat for the front door. It’s just cheap and cheerful, but we’ve been doing without one for a while, as the last one was years old and shedding bits into the house…
🙂
We like to think we’re welcoming, and enjoy having people over for a cuppa. Covid has changed things over this last year, but anyone is still welcome to come visit!
Today is Australia Day, a day that has various meanings for different people. I remember celebrating as a child without much thought, but have come to see that the date is not a celebration for many First Nations peoples. There are varying views on changing the date – it’s worth talking to people about their views, listening to what they have to say, and thinking about what the best option is for all Australians. Personally, I don’t see a problem with changing the date. Maybe I’m missing something, but I can’t see how it could hurt anyone, and I don’t see why it would be a problem. The day has had its changes over the years…
I’m all for celebrating what’s good about Australia. For remembering where we’ve come from – both the good and the bad of that history. Acknowledging the contributions of newcomers to our shores over the years, and working to help those who need shelter here. We don’t necessarily need to do that on the 26th January.
Come over for a cuppa and we can talk about it.
My new mat says hi!
1000 Fields of Roses 