Okay.........

If you're wondering what to buy your best friend, your mum your sister, your granny, your daughter,

your grand-daughter, your neighbour, your collegue,your old school friend,your girl-friend,

your wife,your partner, your secret Santa, that nice lady

at the Post-office who is the only one with a smile, the mother of your son/daughter's

friend at school, the girl who serves your cappacino at Starbucks,

in fact absolutely everyone.  I guarantee they will be

enchanted by this book.  It is crammed with delightful paintings, little

sketches of everyday travels and touches of brilliance, they will not be disappointed

it's entrancing........

enchanting........

a lovely jewel of a book.

Totally original and as one reader describes....

'a one-of-a-kind experience'!

Go on....buy it ....you know you want to!!

'Wow,

a year.  A long time, but only in retrospect.

It's short while your're living it,

when you don't know if it ends

today or tomorrow or next month.'

-What Remains-  Carole Radziwill  

A page from last year's journal at Christmas time.  This is the first year ever that I'm organised!  Welcome 

sunshine on waking this morning.  So welcome after all the torrential rain we have all been experiencing

recently.  Cor! it doesn't half brighten your feelings.  Trouble is it sneaks around the corners of rooms you haven't dusted for months and glints amongst the tumble-weeds of fluff! 

Sitting with a black coffee this morning, from the corner of my eye I saw a flash of grey amongst the dying, rain soaked leaves.  Like a grey ghost a squirrel moved sinuously. Silently.  Weaving like silver mist in and out amongst the hydrangea bushes, pausing for seconds to test the air.  I clearly saw his small black glinting eyes, his gossamer tail arched and his tiny, sniffing nose.  He moved like a breath, barely stirring the grasses.  Beside me, the tabby cat also saw him.  She crouched low, mesmerized, perfectly still, watching him move towards the dark heart of the garden.  Then in one sleek movement she left through the cat-flap and seconds later she disappeared into the long grasses and the rain soaked autumn leaves.

'The bad news is time flies,

The good news is, you're the pilot.

-Michael Althsuler-

Something about polka-dots...

seems to go in through the eyes and then whizz around.  I can't pin down exactly just why, it jogs something somewhere way back in the long ago.

Most of the shadows of this life

are caused by our standing

in our own sunshine.

-Ralph Waldo Emerson-

'Be kind to your shadow.'

-Rebecca Lawley-

 

And today Armistice Day

Ninety one years ago today the First World War ended, the guns fell silent, and at the eleventh hour, on the eleventh day, in the eleventh month we remember the sacrifice of all those who died, not only in the first World war but in all the wars since across the world.

'Sleep well:  for I can follow you to bless

And lull your distant beauty where you roam;

And with wild songs of hoarded loveliness

Recall you to these arms that were your home.'

Siegfried Sassoon

Remembrance Sunday

A Gill of Blue

Your voice

Stars within our home.

Sometimes, mornings' present us slow rhythms,

Yet, you my daughter

Dancing every day

You, come to change my sky to blue.

'A Small Theory.

People observe the colours of a day only at its beginnings and ends, but to me it's quite clear that a day merges through a multitude of shades and intonations, with each passing moment.  A single hour can consist of thousands of different colours.  Waxy yellows, cloud-spat blues.  Murky darknesses.  In my line of work, I make it a point to notice them.'

Extract from:- 'The Book Thief'   by  Markus Zusak

My Mum knew best

'The terrible things that happen to us in this life never make any sense when we're in the middle of them, floundering, no end in sight.  There is no rope to hang on to, it seems.  Mothers can soothe children during those times, through their reassurance.  No one worries about you like your mother, and when she is gone, the worlds seems unsafe, things that happen unwieldy.  You cannot turn to her anymore, and it changes your life forever.  There is no one on earth who knew you from the day you were born; who knew why you cried, or when you'd had enough food; who knew exactly what to say when you were hurting; and who encouraged you to grow a good heart.  When that layer goes, whatever is left of your childhood goes with her.  Memories are very different and cannot soothe you the same way her touch did.'

My lovely Mum died four years ago today. the quote above I read only this morning.  It's from a lovely book called,
'Big Stone Gap' by Adriana Trigiani

All down to you

Down to You

Swiftly a smile speaks to those

Who would secretly star in yesterday's skies,

"I live foolishly

To liquidise your laugh,

I seep rythmless from morning to night

Haunting lip and melting eye,

I breathe away old ghosts

And embrace the dance of day.

Once more born a'blush

I change your life.. perhaps.

But listen, trust me though,

The magic is always down to you."

Some time

Me Time

Secrete your why's like substance.

Then

Let those gilded thoughts

Form a solution.

Ideas and observations languish

Only after you wryly question their use.

Enervate character and individuality!

The self-mind munificently understands,

But making more me-time you will find

Is always ameliorating.

You

Angel

You found my sweet soul in the dark morning music

And whispered to me

When the soft wind tasted of champagne days.

Willingly you presented me with bouquets of blue evenings

And smiled me an ocean of dreams,

So -

Listen Angel of mine,

The aching sky and I truly know

You can feel my heart

Dancing and

Living.

Betwitching

Some have colours blazing around them,

glittering like diamonds.

Flashing beacons, like lighthouses,

or oil slicked puddles in the sun.

Lighting up the room they cast their sunlight

prisms like seeds, and from their bounty 

springs energy,

confidence

and love.

Occasionally you may feel a tingle

as a spark passes via a brush of the hand,

a press of a shoulder, even a glance or a smile 

thrown with lightening precision 

ensnaring the soul

and brightening the day.

You may pass a half open doorway

through which sunlight streams

even on a foggy day.

Venturing in you see mist still curling in smoky tendrils

beyond the window 

and the day is gloomy, damp and dark,

yet somehow the person in the room

is awash with light and colour,

their smile full of verve,

garments bright

as though festooned with firefly's.

A fairy..... a charmer... ?

You are bewitched.

'Some people shine'.

5 am

Sitting up I find myself bathed with golden light from the sunrise. It's cooler this morning, 5 a.m.

Outside my window the skyline is flushed peach and pink and mauve with pockets of heavenly blue. My familiar crow calls to his mate, and the tallest tree behind the house becomes a sentinel, her leaves shimmering in the light breeze. I don't feel well today... early morning is always difficult. I am sitting for a while because I don't want to wake my husband so early. The morning is quiet. It's one of those mornings when calmness pervades. The trees, hardly stir and sunlight paints the leaves until they resemble golden coins. Somewhere nearby a piano plays Chopin.

The morning sings!
And I'm hanging pearls of moonlight
Upon the hooks of stars
Until tonight.

Mysterious....

'A bowl of silver bells..'






Thomas Pettigrew, in 1844 claimed that the ringing and rattling of silver bells has been esteemed inimical to witches and scorcerers.


Nurturing Yesterday's Child,
by Mary Spaulding, Penny Welch

The Time is Now

Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,
Creeps in this pace from day to day.

William Shakespeare



You know what.............................

'The time you think you're missing,
misses you too!'

Ymber Delecto