It’s strange to think of summer, patios, and reading books in the sun, as I sit looking out at roof tops covered in our first snow of the winter. But that is exactly what is happening below the equator in summery New Zealand.
Once again, I am visiting my favourite dog. My son and his wife have left for 10 days to visit their youngest son who now lives in Brisbane in …
Old Dog, Old Woman, Old Friends
JB is right. More of my day is given to reading and while I love the accessibility of ebooks from the library, some books are better held in two hands.
It seems that a good part of each day now is spent reading. I always manage to slip some time in for this very pleasant task(?).. And a winter’s …
Reflecting on Reading
I am late getting to the Daily Prompt at WordPress.com because I slept late. Now the why of sleeping late is rather embarrassing but it goes something like this:
Yesterday I ached
And knowing it must be
From the warm front
Moving in.
So as I finished
The last of my three
Library books,
I laid
All day
Reading.
By the time
I should have
Been sailing off
To the Land of Nod
I was wide,
Wide Awake.
Anyway now for the prompt: Run outside. Take a picture of the first thing you see. Run inside, Take a picture of the second thing you see. Write about the connection between these two random objects, people, or scenes.
Grabbing my camera I ran outside. Literally ran since that was the instruction and I am basically a rule follower.
The first thing? Yup. I mentioned warm winds the other day and the thirsty force of nature gobbled up my snow.
It’s a far cry from the photo I posted the other day (as above).
Next I ran again. (instructions and rules you know)
And this is what came up on the second look: Open windows, every where in the house beckoning in this false spring.
Birds are singing. Residual snow in the first photo is even less this few minutes later. The darned old Magnolia tree is again in bud as are so many other trees. False springs are such a danger for crops due later as a freeze is certain to follow and the rhythm of nature will be off and in the long run it will mean more failed crops, less food and higher priced food in the future.
BUT on such a day (it is 12 cenlsius which in real language is 53.6 F) it is impossible not to let ones heart soar in the glorious warmth. Yup for Canucks this is almost shorts and Tee weather! Because after all we Canadians are a hardy lot!
The Daily Prompt folks picked a suggestion by Courtney that certainly seems a lot easier than that old Shakespeare quote: To Be or Not To Be. Although really if one is then you already are Being which of course is a very very superficial interpretation.
Today’s Challenge from WordPress is: If you had to choose between being able to write a blog (but not read others’) and being able to read others’ blogs (but not your own), which would you pick? Why?
For me there is no challenge. I am definitely a reader. I’ve tried writing…okay..so I continue to try.. and it is difficult. Okay Okay…sometimes it is fun. Well most of the time it is fun and there is a certain satisfaction to be had in creating but, and this is a pretty big BUT, I am a reader. Of many things.
If I have four books at hand then I will devour them within a week. I know, we are not talking about books. The Challenge pertains to blogs. Your blogs. And yup I will surrender my pen or rather keyboarding digits to read what you write.
Reading (blogs) is more than information gathering and it brings to mind yet another poem. Elizabeth Barrett Browning‘s How Do I Love Thee. If I had one thing I have not had in this life it would be the relationship she had with her partner, coauthor, and husband Robert Browning and the passion and devotion she so sweetly shared with the public.
You see for me, reading your blogs, inspires, educates, motivates, consoles, comforts, exhilarates, invigorates, provokes, prompts, excites, and generates a whole mess of thinking great thoughts. Why I wish I could list all of you and what you do for me (although that is what I am seeking to do in my Friday Following in the FootSteps series – about to be continued this week). To name names in a single post fills me with fear of forgetting even one person and besides it would take pages and pages and pages and … well you get the idea.
To read and not write, if it had to be one way or the other is a no brainer for me because in addition to all the reasons there is one even more important. In sharing yourselves, your thoughts, you are allowing yourself to be known. To be cherished. And therein lies the real truth. You have become part of my world, part of my existence. And my life would be poorer without you.
How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.
I love thee to the level of every day’s
Most quiet need, by sun and candlelight.
I love thee freely, as men strive for Right;
I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.
I love thee with the passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood’s faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints, I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life! and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.
Elizabeth Barrett Bowning (1806-1861)
Quick and Wonderful
The time is short and in my quest to perfect my procrastination I am about to embark on a feat attempted by only the bravest of fools.
I move Tuesday and have had plenty of time, emphasis on plenty here, to prepare. Alas one of my genetic misfires that has increased with the march of time is organization. I had it once upon a time. Perhaps I inadvertently packed it. Anyway three sleeps to go and lots to do on a weekend filled with social obligations. Go figure.
Fridays are dedicated to the garden my sisters and I have at the country home of my brother and his wife. We toil in the soil then sit sipping while my brother barbecues and SIL serves up the results of said toil. It takes hours to eat, drink and laugh, so no packing there.
Today is our family Christmas Party. Uhuh. We are a very social group and the challenges of getting multiple generations together indoors in December has become difficult. So being the Einstein minds we are it was decided to hold the party in August where my nephew has a lovely large property and pool. My Sis and her daughter had a big cake made with a Santa and Merry Christmas written across it. That caused interest in the store when we picked it up! So this day is spoken for.
I have been reading as many of my fav blogs as possible but not commenting or posting very much but come Tuesday a new era starts!!
My friend Joss Burnell at crowingcrone.wordpress.com has invited me to play The Seven Links Challenge and I am so pumped but can only do so once the move is complete. (that’s my Mommy gene making me do that me do that!)
Missing you all my delicious woodcraft friends but looking forward to catching up on all your posts next week when I can take the time to savor! I know I will have plenty of time then – I have it in my organizer!
I For an Eye and no Mayo
It’s 9:56 am and feels way too early which may sound strange since I have been waking at 6ish each morning and dashing off to the track full of vim and vigor, a brain brighter than the newest star or the last burst of a dying one.
Like a newborn babe struggling to get the feel, the flow of life, my days and nights are off. Night before last my mind would not rest until I blogged so it was post midnight by the time I finished which still would have been okay but in opening the doors to the barn to let a few horses out I accidentally welcomed a fresh herd of ideas that kept me up til early light. I slept until nine and actually woke refreshed and had a very comfortable feeling day.
Now my expectation was that I would self correct last night and would have had vile, delicious temptation not reared it’s ugly head.
My name is Chris King and I have an addiction. Reading, reading reading.
I have become strong enough that I can actually put down a good book for bit and have learned that bedtime routine reading should be interesting but not gripping, unless it is something I can complete in a short time. Short stories work well for this. Currently my pre sleep angel is Stephen Hawking. Read a bit, snuggle down and dream of space, time, universes and the fact that most of this science is supposition, but oh so intriguing in a Disney Fantasy Land sort of way.
But my daytime fare, Clive Cussler/Justin Scott came to mind briefly as I was about to roll over the ledge of consciousness to restful, restorative slumbers, and I congratulated myself on my strength in resisting an all nighter with ‘The Spy’.
I tell you I felt like a Stepford Wife (the movie version with Nicole Kidman,which I love). Somewhere in an alternate universe Christopher Walken was throwing a switch triggering my electrical system into action independent of my sanity. I found myself, entirely against my will I assure you, pulling back from the precipice of comfortable slumber and getting up, walking to another room to get my fix.
Oh and the Title of this? Well I slept in till 8:30 forgetting I was taking my sister to the Eye Doc so did not get any time for brekkie. Right next door to the office is a Wendy’s. Unlike every other fast food who provides breakfast fare, this establishment does not. Oh and they have no mayo for the sandwich…it was still good in a lunchy sort of way.
So here I sit with a spicy chicken burger and coffee while sis gets her eyes checked and really all I want to do is get back to my book. Maybe for lunch I will have breakfast.
Forecast: Tired today so all systems should self correct tonight due to a 90% chance of exhaustion?
I love the thrill of an empty page and BAM the post! It’s invigorating, exciting, satisfying, generating, postulating, propagating and just plain fun! From the moment of first consciousness even before my eyes opened my mind began thinking, considering, creating, building, manufacturing. I am amazingly creative, genius level I believe, but only before my peepers peep, because once the inevitable happens and I face the day the gossamer veil of genius dissipates faster than a fart in a high wind. (I really tried to think of something more genteel than the expulsion of methane laced gas but alas could not.)
I have two peak creative times in a day. First thing in the morning, which my muse or musette seems to prefer or post midnight which seems to work equally well for moi. I prefer the a.m. as my mind is less cluttered, and I prefer doing it in bed with tea and brekkie. Yes I am creative in bed. There I have said it. Make of that what you will. The morning is also the time that I most enjoy reading your blogs. In bed before life rears with it’s demanding lists. My morning joy then gets caught up with true excitement delving into the world on your pages and I am happier than the proverbial pig.
It is exactly as it sounds – nirvana. Problem is the morning can then extend into early afternoon as I comment, chuckle and commiserate with my fellows.
This glorious routine was interrupted by Organized Self (OS) who mercilessly bombarded me with accusations of the sedimentary persuasion. So in an effort to attain balance I started hitting the track, no not offline betting, but a walking track my sis and her compadres habituate by 7:30 each and every day. And there is a certain satisfaction in knocking off a few miles first thing.
But then life intervenes, and once in motion takes over, especially at this time of move preparation which takes place in two weeks.
So I am still reading blogs on the run with almost no time to comment.
I can only hope that by September I can once again join in the challenge as I am going through blogger association withdrawal which my alter ego blog persona believes will be relieved when I get back on track, not the running track but the writing track.
So I may be for the moment less than a one a dayer but will shortly be back to stay. Cure is anticipated by August 24th!
I Woke Up With Will Smith This Morning
Waking up and before stirring towards a busy day I decided to start inspired. In days gone by when folk settled for the night with a routine of setting out things for the next day which may or may not include teeth in a glass, my nightly routine is to plug in the iPad and the iPhone so I am ready to roll first thing.
This morning I grabbed the pad and googled – ‘successful people’. Among the selection was Will Smith, so snuggling down, ear phones in I listened and watched this very successful person. I say person not actor as his success is in life not just in his craft.
Will Smith says:
I love living…it’s infectious.. and you can’t fake that.
I have a great time with my life and I want to share that.
We did not grow up believing that where we were was where we were going to be. We grew up believing that where we were almost didn’t matter. What mattered is that we were becoming something greater.
Your talent will fail you if you do not work hard. You are not going to outwork me. If you stay ready you don’t have to get ready.
I don’t want to be an icon, I want to be an idea. I want to represent possibility.
I want the world to be better because I was here.
Plan A is you must believe.
Being realistic is the most common road to mediocrity. Thinking of a light bulb was not realistic. Bending metal and flying people was not realistic.
What you think is real, thoughts are real. Thoughts, dreams, feelings are real.
There is redemptive power in making that choice. I decide what is, who is.
Success takes obsessive focus. Be completely motivated. The person who works the hardest wins. Learn how not to quit.
Don’t ever let anyone tell you you cannot do something.
I believe as Chris Hughs does in spiritual genetics which I got from my mother and grandmother.
I believe in happy endings. You have got to believe you can be happily married for fifty years to be happily married for fifty years.
People ask me about racism in Hollywood. Why would I acknowledge racism? When you acknowledge something you give it power.
Fame may exist for some but greatness exists in all of us.
I believe in running and reading. Running teaches you not to quit. And reading…there is no problem you have that someone else has not had and conquered and written about.
Know you can!
It works for me. Have a great day everyone!
When Heaven Becomes Hell or Something Like That
I have always had an addictive personality I think. Put more positively I guess I would have to say I am passionate. That sounds better!
As a child I read and read and read and that is one passion that remains today. Back then it was the dreaded Uncle Arthur’s bedtime stories previously mentioned in No! No! Please No More Bedtime Stories!, Trixie Belden, anything by Pearl S. Buck..well the list is endless.
Lately I have blogged on some of my current favs which includes Stephenie Meyer and the whole Twilight thing. The first I even knew about this series was the six o’clock news sometime ago, which showed a bunch of tweenies lined up to see the first movie. The minute vampires were mentioned I shut the set off and muttered at great length to myself about the disgusting situation of the world and it’s youth and how no good could come out of the downward spiral society was on.
That Christmas my daughter-in-law gave me…yup..the first Twilight book.
So came my Cullen passion and it has not abated. I have every book including The Short life of Bree Tanner. I have on my desk top the leaked copy of Midnight Sun which Meyer posted since it was already out there and chose not to finish. The books are filled with anticipation, mystery and myth. Her character development is intense and in depth. The set has been a reread again and again seeking out what was said before that hinted at something explained two novels later.
Now my last two weekends have been reading marathons, barely poking my head out of the book, never mind the door. So today I took myself in hand and sternly made myself go for a walk. Fresh air – well as fresh as it can be – no books, no iPad, just a good old fashioned walk. No coffee shop because that meant reading and sipping.
I ended up at a mall, and not being a shopper I still entered and practiced the art of browsing, like normal people do, and bookstores were not allowed. I strolled the whole mall and decided I needed something from Wal-Mart.
For the life of me I can’t remember what it was because as soon as I stepped in the door something unknown took over and stupefied me, and forced me, I swear, to approach a large table with BOOKS. I could see it coming and reached way down deep, where pure grit resides, to prepare myself. Why I could handle this. I would look but not touch. I would be master of these insane urges for words, stories, poems, toilet cleaning instructions, anything.
Then I muttered a groan of agony mixed with a liberal dose of the ecstatic. Before me lay the twilight saga: the official illustrated guide. The first fifty-five pages are all about how Meyer came to write the story. A total of five hundred and forty-three pages of history and detail of every character in the series. I mean EVERY character!
I forced myself to visit my aunt for tea as planned, even though the book in the bag sang to me like a siren. I forced myself to visit with my sister this evening, when she arrived as invited, thinking please please just let me look at it. I even made time to read your blogs but now! Now as midnight approaches I am free to look.
I have made myself promise it would be just a wee peek and I have every confidence that in a short time I can put it down, close the cover, have a normal night sleep, rise in the morning at a decent hour, clean my house, perhaps solve a world problem or two and then treat myself to this delicious demon of addiction. I am sure I can. I am. Sure.
I Washed a Door Today
Well technically not yet. But I am working up to it.
You see when I have a task I must do I will find anything else to do.
Canadian taxes are due April 30th and this was the day to search through papers to make sure I have it all together. The problem is there are LOTS of papers and every time I get company I do a quick file into any drawer available. So the plan today was…..
Anyway I started the day optimistically. But then I realized I had laundry. So…
After getting that started I thought about my brother and sister in law leaving for sun, sand, and margaritas tomorrow and then I got lost in my memories of previous trips.
Friends came for dinner last night and brought a book they thought I might like. I felt obligated to at least look at it. So….
The book is The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova. I can recommend this book as I have quickly read all 902 pages. NOT my fault I swear! After all this talk this week on WordPress about writers finding time to read I felt it was my duty.
So I am quickly running out of excuses, I mean reasons for not doing taxes. The laundry is almost done, and it isn’t like I actually DO the laundry but I feel I must support my machine while it does it.
I certainly have the time today. But then it occurred to me the walls were looking a little dingy and my common sense told me there was no way I could wash all the walls today so I thought I could start with a door and work my way from there.
Then of course I decided I had not posted today so….
Hmmm what should I do next?
Question: Are you a procrastinator and what do you do to achieve it? Really I want to know as I am running out of ideas!
this is a log of my life...such as it is!
No distance of place nor lapse of time, can lessen the friendship of those who are thoroughly persuaded of each other's worth.
Blog From A proud XM client
30 YEARS DOWN forever to go! (Roadtrek SS Agile)
Grow - Reach - Fall - Learn - Repeat
In search of spirituality
art & color
A site for the Barsetshire Diaries Books and others
Writing & Coffee. Especially coffee.
Humanity is God like. It blesses the both who does and who gets.
My blog is my personal view of the world, politics, art, music, literature, theatre and life.
Mrs D's: the place to be
~Poems+Hysteria~
bridgesburning 