Week of Curiosities: Music

I am quite sure there is not a soul alive who could deny their love of music in one form or another. I love how it is the universal language. That it never needs to be explained. How you don't have to be a scholar or well learned to enjoy its moving nature.

Music is its own living entity. It breaths great breaths in the wind, it hums between the grass in an empty field. Made by the sparrow early in the morning, or howled to the moon by the wolf.

Music is the annoying tapping by my brother on the table, the cracking of the wood as it burns.
It is the chime of a child laughing, it is the beating of my heart.

Week of Curiosities: Maps!

Ever since I was only young I have found an odd fascination with maps of all kinds; globes, flat maps of the world, larger detailed maps of individual countries...

I have poured many hours in journeying from land to land, following the borders of country to country; Traveling miles on paths drawn with my finger. (The quickest, and safest way to travel)

Many of my favourites are of the lands in books, which not everyone has heard of before.

The Kingdom of Moonacre
("The Little White Horse" by Elizabeth Goudge)

The Manor of Caldicot

("The Seeing Stone" by Kevin Crossley-Holland)

Week of Curiosities: Australian Skies

27th May: Poem to Share...

As my eyes begin to close now; as these tears roll down my cheek.
What could I have ever done Lord, to repay the debt I owe?

Now these tears that down my face are falling, they do stain like drops of blood.
How could I have known the pain you went through, just to save my weary soul.

Lost in darkness, I wondered alone. Hidden in my own desires.
The path of truth my feet did lose, the way of light for me grew dark.

A look around is all I wanted, until that second turned to years.
Before I knew how long I had looked away, I went missing within myself.

I thought I could walk these paths without you, though my feet began to slip.
Afraid, alone, all my doing; no one to know the last breath I took.

Who will come and be by me, as I go now to face my doom?
My head hangs low as I recall, the pitiful state I made for myself.

When life seemed to come to the closing, eternity now waiting for me,
A prayer within my heart, a longing: "if only to had offered praise."

So these tears began their flowing, from the soul that now could see;
A waisted life, lay out behind me, a path of footprints in the sand.

Through blurry eyes, I saw a hand offered. I was pulled up off the ground.
And a voice, I heard it saying: "I would never leave your side."

Dear Lord you came for this poor sinner, that wondered from your loving care.
Now to you my life I'm giving... Help me stand in truth and love.

Oh, these tears that from my eyes are flowing, they do mean the world to me.
For to think of what You went through, and my life is all I could give.

With faith and love I hope to praise you. With my every waking hour.
Help me to believe and remember, the cost of one lost weary soul.

I had wondered to and fro, across the unforgiving sands;
And to think that you came looking, for the lost sheep that I am.

Thankyou Lord above in Heaven, Thankyou Father, Holy Ghost...
For the Son that you sent for us, for the price you paid for me.

~Sarah-Mechelle~

Week of Curiosities: Inspirational Wall

Over many years I have been collecting different articles, pictures, photos, quotes... Things of inspiration. My wall colleague has been a work in progress, bits added, some removed.

It has taken on a life of its own, as it will never be finished, nor will it stop changing.

Having this week of curiosities motivated me to add the new things I had collected and stored ready to be arranged. Which I am grateful for, otherwise it could have been months before I allowed myself the time to pin them up.

Most of the items I have gathered from news papers, magazines, or family photographs. Though I can fall in love with pretty much anything; from popcorn boxes to old discarded house keys... Some are drawings I have done, or poems I was working on. There are tickets and passes, business cards, coins, a print I am hoping on getting framed, the list goes on. (I believe there is even list of mine up there too.)

Week of Curiosities: Box of Secrets

This week I have decided I will be doing a series of post on things that have piqued my curious-bone over the years. This includes items I found particular, or thought-provoking; Curiosities of the heart that have no rhyme or reason.

The first thing that came to mind upon this decision being made was my box of kept secrets. (Keepsakes). Although the items within hold no special interest of their own, I have spent many hours wondering over the idea that we collect these little pieces of our day and use them as a tool of remembering moments in the past.

My box of seemingly random bits of junk brings me no end of excitement when taken down from the top of my cupboard, dusted, then scratched through. Every time it is like you are finding a little treasure that you had forgotten belonged to you. How at the sight of anything picked out there can be the recollection of a smell, sound, person, scene...

Why I love to keep these precious goodies stored in a box together is that I might keep those special moments safe. That they do not get lost in the bookcase of my mind. Too easy it is to forget something we know; what suddenly makes us remember?

The reason I call it my box of secrets is because to anyone else it would mean nothing at all. Yet I know, (without knowing how), what it all represents.

24th May: Unspoken Words

I am tired of people who refuse to admit to the 'dark days'. Because often it makes the rest of us ashamed to admit our own blue moods.
Why are some things never talked about, so that when one stumbles upon it they feel alone in finding this unspoken circumstance heavy to bear.

It is no secret that there are dark days come over us all, yet why do we feel guilty to bring up the topic. The truth is that sometimes there are days that turn out pretty shit. Why pretend otherwise?
Encouragement comes by knowing your not alone. Hearing that someone, somewhere has faced what is hindering your walk in life, that there is an end to the loneliness.

Knowing your not alone often gives the strengh you need to face each battleground. Moving forward during these times is what makes us fearless.
To be fearlessly courageous is looking at what frightens you, not allowing your legs to become paralyzed where you stand, but pushing on your journey.
For being fearless does not mean you fear nothing, but that you don't allow that fear to stop you.

March on fearless soldior, your not alone fighting this war!

23rd May: Samuel T!

Today marks my little brothers 19th birthday.

It seems strange to believe that Sammy is now a young man; not the little boy I would play made up games with, or try to scare with wild stories.

I've been recollecting some of the things (trouble) we have gotten up to over the years, my favourites include:

#Burning holes in the car seat,
#Getting locked in out-houses,
#Sinking a raft in the middle of a creek,
#Sending soccer balls through windows

Generally finding countless ways of getting into some kind of mischief. (That was all his idea of coarse!)

So Happy Birthday little Bro. I'm proud of you. Your a fully sick brother!
(While trying to find a photo to put up I found this one, which explains Sam to a T!)

21st May: Silhouette Masterpiece

On any given day it is uplifting coming across something that gives you the giggles, or that inspires even a desire to create.

Boy did I laugh at some of these!

I erge you to go and have a look at Wilhelm Staehle's site, you will not be sorry you did!

20th May: Cupcake Love

Aren't these just deliciously darling!

They certainly made me smile. Even Dad when seeing them on the kitchen bench this morning had a look, there was a grin just at corners of his lips.

I've already promised half of them to Mam and have many ideas of where I want to use that other half. Oh the fun of rediscovering forgotten excitment of stickers!

19th May: I'm in Love

With a Fairytale!
I love this performance, the violin, the energy, the song, and the dancers.
Have a lovely Tuesday and enjoy!

18th May: Grandpa

I managed to capture the very true essence of my Grandpa with this photograph.

He is definitely the great thinker in the family, the dreamer, the Pavarotti, and most recently the waterer of the lawn-seed. There is no questioning where I found my love of (certain) news papers.
Peacefully he sits in the sun, reading news articles which he will passionately talk about the injustice of, or the shenanigans that they call news in this day and age.

I believe that to a certain degree, we forget (though this may be because we could never know/understand) all that our grandparents have been through, all the changes they have seen over the years as technology and society has changed.

I love hearing the stories they have to tell. Days of hardship, of hard work, days of war, though also the happiness they came across during these dark times.
Lord knows, my grandparents have many stories to tell!

14th May: Promise of Return

To my heart the sight will always be the greatest "promise of return."

13th May: Little Ramblings

Things are finally starting to settle from the aftermath of clean-up the Pumpkin Festival left behind.

Work has slowed on the shop, with us knowing that we must do all we can to get the ball rolling again. The past week (and a bit) has seen lawn-seed sown along the sixty meters out the front of the shop, the beginning of new interior walls going up, and a day spent on the roof painting the bracing for the sign.

11th May: Autumn Fun

9th May: Picking Up a Stove

This morning we took a drive down to Laggon to pick up the new stove for the shop!


Seeing as it was said to be heavy, we took captive a friend for the big lift onto the tralier.


It turned out that Mam and I were not needed in the lifting (wonderful news). So instead we enjoyed an early morning drive, which included driving through country that looked like this:


And having fun in the car.

8th May: New Phone

Anyone who knows me at all will confirm that it doesn't take a lot for me to get excited over something (anything). Though today I find my reason of excitement is valid in most peoples books...

I got me one of these little beauties!

I've never had a slide phone before, that has caused quite a bit of amusement. The features that they put into phones is absolutely mind blowing. (Call me a country girl)

With that said, why do the manufacturers make these things so difficult to figure out? I will be the first one to tell you that I am by no means good at figuring any type of technology out. Even after spending a couple of hours going through the manual -trying to change the setting to suit me- I have not been able to answer a number of questions in my own mind.

Has anyone else ever thought of sending a bill to the designers/programmers who make these devices that take us hours (if not days) to figure out, when the purpose of these gadgets was to make our lives easier. Truly do they make anything easy now? I mean give me a pen and paper, I can keep a diary. Do we really need to talk to someone all the time? (probably not what I should be saying when I am telling you of my own new phone.)

In my truest form I'm an old-fashion girl at heart. Maybe the reason I get so excited about the simple things in life, is because they are just that, simple. Now days there are so many rules, so many different things we are told we can't live without, so much waste and lack of appreciation. Lord, I'm thankful for the big as well as the small blessings you give me each day!

6th May: The Aftermath

After such a week as has passed, one can imagine how up-side-down everything has become here at home. So before we could even think to get back to working on the shop there has been a mountain of washing, dishes, pumpkin related stuff, and general tidying to get through.

For some reason that brings to mind a book my mother had when we were only children. Don Aslett's, "Do I dust or vacume first?"
Though getting over-come by household chores is no laughing matter, I do find it slightly humorous that at the age of ten I thought it necessary to read through this book as intently as a Bible study.