Thinking…. | 1000 Fields of Roses

Perspectives

Another day, another walk…

My walk takes me through the cemetery down the road – it’s quiet and still, and a great place to concentrate on what’s true and important. You know the dark hours, when it all seems too hard? We all get them. My day today was bright and cheery – things completed and a good outlook on the next lot of assessments, sunshine and warmth on my skin, feeling better than I have in a while…
Life’s not always like that.
The cemetery keeps me seeing things in perspective. I’m going to be there (or someplace like it) one day. Sound a bit gloomy? It’s inevitable – we all get there! I believe that’s not the end for me (the most important bits of me, anyway), but at least part of me will be there. It helps me to remember what I need to focus on. It’s actually quite calming, in its way.

In other “news of the day”, we had a bit of a harvest.

The carrots were a bit weedy – planted too close together. The radishes grew well, and the spring onions were grown from the ends of store bought ones. We have quite a few of those.

Also, we’ve been getting visits from this little one…

I think it belongs to the neighbours at the back. It’s a bold little kitten, with blue eyes the colour of its collar. Likes scratches under the chin. 🙂
Just to finish – here’s one of the songs I was listening to as I walked.

Published in:

on September 28, 2015 at 6:12 pm Leave a Comment
Tags: cemetery, harvest

Brightly In The Clouds

It’s been cold, hasn’t it?
Sunshine, mostly, but with a bit of gloom as well… Here’s some flowers to brighten things up a bit.

School’s back – we’ve been doing our reading, riting and ‘rithmatic, and I’ve been reading aloud to the boys. We’re going through Charles and Mary Lamb’s Tales From Shakespeare. So far I’ve read them summaries of The Winter’s Tale, Much Ado About Nothing and As You Like It. There’s a fair bit of giggling so far, as well as disbelief of the storylines (biggest boy’s frequent refrain is, “But things just don’t happen like that!”) but they’re enjoying it.
I’m studying again – Western Herbalism – and equal parts excited and terrified. Lots to learn…
I just wish I could get my toes warm at some point during the day – it’s a bit distracting to have constant iceblocks!
Warm days are coming again, and the sun will shine on us all… 🙂

Published in:

on July 16, 2015 at 7:31 pm Leave a Comment
Tags: Shakespeare

Aimless

Coming to the end of a winter long weekend – back to ordinary life tomorrow! I’ve been resting this weekend, contrary to my expectations. Saturday was a low energy, sniffly kind of day, which I spent reading at odd times, but mostly sleeping. Today, as my littlest bean said this afternoon, was also a bit “aimless”. More reading, less sleeping, though!

Some of the books I’ve read this weekend, while snuggled in my warm chair.
I’ve been feeling the cold this winter – Friday I found it impossible to get completely warm. Conversely, I am almost boiling at the moment…

I could be tempted to feel guilty about “wasting” time. I’ve decided that resting and reading was the best use of my time this weekend. One of the books was discussing the cycles and rhythms of seasons and the body. Sometimes you just have to have a “go slow” time, don’t you? If you don’t slow down when your body is telling you to, sooner or later it will catch up with you… Sometimes “aimless” has a destination – being able to cope better with the rest of the week!

Published in:

on June 8, 2015 at 11:13 pm Leave a Comment

Still Learning

I finished two diplomas yesterday.
That sounds a bit more impressive than it really is… I was using a free learning site, so each diploma was fairly short. They were both interesting, though, and helped to clarify some things for me. I used an Irish education site called Alison.com (Yes, you can learn to speak Irish, if you so wish…). I chose a Diploma in Educational Philosophy and a Diploma in Teaching Skills for Educators. The format is a series of slides with the information, with assessment quizzes throughout, and a final assessment at the end. You have to achieve 80% or more to pass.
The study is absolutely free. The certificate has to be paid for. I wasn’t too fussed about that – the diplomas probably wouldn’t be valid here, and you can download a learner report to show that you’ve studied and passed. It’s not the first port of call if you need documentation, but it’s great if you just want to learn something new. I’ve signed up for a short course on Aesop’s fables – it’s aimed at school level, so I’ll go through it with the boys.

It’s a good preparation for going back in to full time study. I’ll be signing up again to complete my previous studies, although I’ll be focusing on Western Herbalism rather than Naturopathy, and I’ll be with a different college.

It’s been a good year so far! 🙂

Published in:

on May 20, 2015 at 4:11 pm Leave a Comment
Tags: alison, online learning

Rambling With A Happy Heart

Today was a bit of a day… I was in a tussle with The-Government-Department-Which-Shall-Not-Be-Named for most of the day, and it still hasn’t been resolved.
It’s been a lovely sunny day, though – hasn’t it?
Just before lunch I decided to go for a walk. I walk through the nearby cemetery, which tends to concentrate my thoughts anyway… on this walk, I noticed several things. I was contemplating the problems of money, or the lack of it, as I was walking along the road. I looked down, and there was a five cent piece at my feet.

No, it’s not going to pay off the mortgage. It’s a reminder, though, that I’m blessed and provided for.

I turned in to the cemetery and noticed a tiny spider web in the grass at my feet.

You might not be able to see that very well – the slightly foggy looking bit in the middle is a fine gossamer web, the only one left at that time of the morning. I walked through here earlier in the morning a couple of days ago. There were hundreds of these in the grass, sparkling with dew. They didn’t last. I saw this one and thought of perseverance.

Lives change suddenly, in big ways or in small. Mine is taking a bit of a detour at the moment – not in a massive way – just requiring a shift in thought and action. My third sight for the day was the bright yellow dandelions dotted through the grass. I suppose if you have a lawn to care for, you have a different view of dandelions… I love them. They’re tiny, but they pop up all over, regardless of the surroundings, turning their shining faces to the sun.

They even seem to glow!

…and this was one of the songs I was listening to. 🙂

Published in:

on May 7, 2015 at 6:51 pm Leave a Comment
Tags: contemplation, dandelions, walking

Time For Science!

…or science for time?
We’re moving through the timeline for history studies – last term was pre- to the beginnings of ancient history. This term we’re continuing on to the end of the classical era.
As part of our studies I’ve been using a book called “Ancient Science”, and today we looked at ancient ways of telling the time – a sundial (Egypt) and a water clock (Greece)

We followed the instructions in the book, and found that our sundials were reading backwards… it seems obvious to me now, but I had forgotten to factor in that we are in the Southern Hemisphere. The book was printed in the Northern Hemisphere, but we needed to turn everything upside-down! 🙂
Added to that was the fact that we hadn’t used the right angle for the triangle in the middle (the gnomon or style) that corresponded with our geographical latitude. For our house, the angle should be 27.4*. Having just looked over the pdf from Queensland University of Technology, I realise that we made another mistake – we rewrote the hours on the base of the sundial, while still pointing the base of the gnomen North. We should have pointed it South…
Our other problem was using a cheap, wonky compass. The above photo was slightly out – it should have shown the time as round about 11.30am.

Here they are, corrected.

Our second project was the water clock, called “clepsydra” (literally “water-thief”) by the Greeks. It works on the principle that water flows at a regular rate, and uses marks on a receptacle that show the water flow for regular intervals (our book said to mark out each minute; we marked each 30 seconds). We had some issues with the water flow with this, as we followed the (misleading) illustration in the book. It showed the hole used as being slightly above the base, but probably would have worked better being at the base…

Here’s the (sorry-blurry 🙂 ) results…

A fun day today – and a good opportunity to learn from mistakes!

Published in:

on May 6, 2015 at 6:01 pm Leave a Comment
Tags: ancient science, clepsydra, sundial, water clock

Night Lights

We went to the Ipswich Lantern Parade this evening. I think it’s the first time it’s been done so late – there were a variety of lanterns, a well as other forms of lighting. The hot air balloon company shooting a huge flame into the air was quite spectacular. We were a bit worried each time it passed under trees, though…
It was fun, and I’m glad we went. Way too many cars at the start, though.

Just before the parade started.

Littlest Bean was quite excited. He tried some of the craft – a block printed banner, and a clay head sculpture. He won a couple of things at the kids’ activities (including a Lego mini-figure set – much excitement!), but we were looking forward to seeing the Tardis. It’s at a shop in town, and festival-goers could have their photo taken there. Little bean wore both his and my medals from a virtual fun run we did a while back…

I believe it normally serves as a changing room…
With his curls, and a floppy hat and scarf, he could have been the fourth Doctor.
We had fun. Glad to be home, though.

Published in:

Thinking....

on May 2, 2015 at 9:59 pm Leave a Comment
Tags: Ipswich Festival Parade, Tardis

April 25

LEST WE FORGET

Published in:

Thinking....

on April 25, 2015 at 4:25 am Leave a Comment

Musing On The Mystery

Tomorrow is the start of Easter weekend.
I’ve not long finished a book (Sailing Between The Stars, by Steven James) One of the poems in it struck me as a good one to share today, a summary of the “why?” of Easter, of Jesus’ death and resurrection, of reconciliation with God… Happy Easter! 🙂

what a desperate time it was
in the days of the dragon’s curse
when the king’s refrain was as still as stone,
and all knew that soon, of course,
the land would ring with the wizard’s rhyme
and the venom of his verse.

what a terrible one he was
when i first met the son of the king.
with fire in his eyes and a bladed heart
and an ancient flute to bring
the tune of time to the throats of those
who had never learned to sing.

what a furious warring raged
when the prince went to battle the foe.
with velvet strength and a dagger of love
and his crimson blood to flow,
the day he died the moon stood still
and the shadows gnawed my soul.

what a terrifying sight to see
a prince once dead, now strong.
with glistening tears and outstretched wings
and a furious, glorious song.
a new day dawned and the wizard fell
and the dragon’s curse was gone.

(Photo by Arbyreed, used by permission)

Published in:

on April 2, 2015 at 9:06 pm Leave a Comment
Tags: Easter, Poetry, steven james