Leaving

Goodbye blogging friends
I am leaving for now to keep busy at other life interests

Iced Tea

Iced tea punch
500 mls black tea
4tbs sugar
500 mls iced water
250 mls orange juice
juice of 2 lemons
250 mls ginger ale
1 orange sliced in rounds
1 lemon sliced in rounds
sprigs of mint
Disslove sugar and tea
Cool
Chill and mix in other ingredients
Serve with ice.

The weather is getting warmer in OZ so I thought this recipe was worth sharing
I love the smell of oranges and lemons and mint.We also have mocktails in our house which use many wonderful non- alchoholic ingredients.

Play on

Today I am giving a talk to a group of preschool mothers on Play.
This is such a wonderful topic.
I want them to realise that Play is for all of us and we need to be there for our children as playmates and value what play does in the life of a child and our lives.
They say "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy"I agree.Do you play enough as an adult?
Be creative,playful,kick up your heels and have fun.
I spent all day in bed yesterday with a tummy upset so am looking forward to a better day.
Go forth my friends and play with life ,words ,dipping into the treasures out there.

List poem of fragrances

I love Lists for jobs,shopping and now poems.
Trouble is I often lose my lists and then what-have a list to rememebr the list!!!!!!!
I have just discovered the calender and tasks on the computer and it tells you if the task is not done.
Fragrance is powerful to recall memories both positive and negative.


Apricots
Baby skin,Bread
Fire
Gum leaves
Honey
Johnson's baby powder
Lavender, Lemons, Lilac, Lux
Mandarins, Mint
Onions, Oranges
Pepper trees
Rain,Roast,Roses
Solyptol soap,Sundried washing
Velvet,Violets.

Doors

I have been away from blogging since July.
I have been concentrating on my hard copy journals as well as not much time or energy to blog.Lately doors have been significant.
There are so many types of doors and for me lately doors that I wanted opened have been shut.
I was upset not getting the jobs I wanted but in retrospect it was probably a good thing.
Some were fulltime and that would have been bad news for my creativity.Below was inspired by a blue door I cut from a magazine.

Red door of Anger
Orange door of Hope
Yellow door of Happiness
Green door of Jealousy
Blue door of Sadness
Purple door of Passion
White door of Cleansing
All these doors carved with truth
Opening
Shutting
In and Out
Each door of my life a story to tell.
I seek each door one by one
My imagination blooms
Into new possibilities
An acceptance of the past
An acceptance of myself
Doors lead into the future.

What is your experience of doors?

Greenery of God

There are many wonderful shades of green in Nature.
I love them all.
I can see why fashion is so inspired by nature.
This is a small peppercorn tree.
They smell so spicey and hot and when rubbed between the fingers make them sticky.
These trees predominated school yards in my childhood and we climbed their strong limbs and chewed on the peppercorns that turned pink with a flakey shell.
The hills are looking green even though we need more rain.
I thank God for greenery.What greenery do you like?

21 today

My first born turns 21 on the 30th June and it is amazing the beautiful young women she has become.
We were only watching the film clips of her younger years. So much has happened in our lives both good,bad and ugly. God has been by our side.
I have been so slack with this blog and reading other blogs but I have paid work to attend to.
Staying at home and happily writing and reading books whenever I wish has come to a stand still.
I will still fiercely protect time for me though and in fact turned down a job that involved catching a train at 7.15 in the morning and travelling one hour into the city to teach English.
Instead I am tutoring children with literacy needs and have picked up 2 ESL students at my husband's school. I return to my job at the lavender farm in August of which I enjoy.
There are so many interesting people that come through and so many story ideas.
I have applied for one more year away from my teaching job and hope my direction will become clearer for 2009.
I have been reading Patti Miller's book called 'The memoir book'
Her other titles are fantastic as well.So far my writing just seems to be odd fragments(scraps of paper ,notebooks) all over the place so I am hoping I can get some direction happening.
It is fitting to be reading a book about writing memoir as I reflect on my life and especially the growing up of my daughter.
Patti talks about what is it like for you to be here in this world?
On p38 she states'In memoir what you feel about your life will be revealed,rather than what you think about it,will be revealed in the voice'
Everyone we observe has a life different from us that makes for good stories. When I was in the city last Friday I was really drawn to observing people and their actions,clothes ,voices and wondered about their lives.There was one man in his 60's on the bus carrying a bunch of yellow flowers wrapped in newspaper.He was dressed in a suit.Where was he going? What was his life?He has to be a character in a story!!
Observe ,record,imagine.I am lost in the wonder of it all.I wrote this small piece to somehow start to write about my life through patchwork pieces.

I sighed as I sewed the last stitch into the green homespun.The quilt was puffy and defined with many stitches.My fingers felt abused and jittered now with the stillness of it all.
Feather stitich danced across the colours joining the segments of my life,many shapes connecting merging,crying ,sighing and clearly laughing.Over many months I had spent many hours choosing,cutting and stitching but not only that,my mind wandered back as I touched the fragments of my life.........................

I am beautiful

The hardest thing to say sometimes.
I went to a women's retreat on the weekend and we had to first say to the person next to us "You are beautiful." Easy Peasy!
Then we had to say "I am beautiful"Not so easy.
We have become conscious of the world view instead of the spiritual view of beauty.
My hands may be spotty ,my body sagging etc etc but I am going to practise in front of the mirror."I am beautiful"
I am reminded of the story of Snow White.
"Mirror Mirror on the wall who is the fairest of them all"
I think we sometimes see the ugliness there instead.
We have an inner beauty that we need to let shine.
Shine on.

Blah Blah

It is cold here today and and I am restless jumping between jobs.
I am having trouble focusing so I need to write something.

Blah blah!
Nah nah nani na!!
What to say
What to think
I don't know
Want to share
But what?
Words.
Trouble is today they are dry,
wizened and sad.
They do not want to gently curl,
and nestle in my hand,
and play music on the page.
They sit cold,brittle
but for a small piece of wick.
Blow blow gently........
and warm the small stick.
Till green transforms
and glows into a melody that sings in my heart.

Ok then that helped.Back to work.

A leopard can change its spots

Last year I was drawn to the leopard as a symbol of my journey and walk in life .

Today when I viewed mermaid musing on post "Celebration" the mermaid tail all in leopard print reminded me of my journey of self discovery.

Me as leopard can change spots.

Leopards are bold, beautiful and courageous.

I relate this to assertiveness and a sureness of self.

I can change myself and be adaptable,

I do not need to be stuck in a mould that others put me into,

I can be free.

Statements from others cannot get through my fur,

I can hunt for what I need.

I am still loving and protective,

I do not allow myself to be tamed, but can be wild,

in the sense of responding and listening to my intuition.

I see myself as a rainbow leopard,

But have many wardrobe changes as need arises.

I choose the spots.

This is what I work towards in my life and there are so many wonderful spots.

Bio Poem

Thankyou to Tamara Bastiaans from Pathways to the Past
You will find instructions there on how to write a bio poem.
Here is mine.

Thora
Who is caring,smiley,creative.
Who is sister of Chris.
Who loves teddies,rainbows,strawberries and cream.
Who feels life is marching on too quick,
to soon.
Who needs time to reflect,ponder,
reach out and make her mark.
Who gives a full heart to others but is also still searching.
Who would like to see peace in the world,
more connection between people
and less busyness.
Who shares a house with her husband,son and daughter,
As well as the animal menagerie :cat,dog,bird and turtle.
Who trys to clean up the house but never gets there.
Who is a resident of beautiful South Australia
Thora.

The wonderful aspect of this writing is that it can be done on another day and have different outcomes.And it does not need to rhyme.
As we write in this spontaneous way we find out about ourselves as well.
It could also be used to create characters for stories.
Have fun.

Sunshine

This piece relates to Sharon's post.
It is amazing how thoughts coincide.
I wrote this poem back in March and made a collage.
It all started when I reflected on Yellow.
I am not sure what sort of poem it is but as you can see the last word is the beginning of the next.

Procrastination Queen

I have some study to do and keep getting distracted by other things-play with the cat
talk to the dog
write in my journal
blog
make a cup of herbal tea
eat a biscuit etc etc and it goes on........
Anything but knuckle down.
I think it is because this study is self paced and has no real dead lines.
It is hanging over my head big time.
I do not really feel passionate about it as it is a qualification that I have to attain to teach adults. I guess it is a formality I have to do to get to Point B.
So everyone I am off to get stuck into study .
Any hints?
How do you procrastinate?
I really do not like this characteristic in myself.
I do it with cleaning,paying bills ,so many things and then I get behind.
Enough procrastination and back to work!!!!!!

In celebration of Hands

I got a fright looking down at my hands .

It was as if I was looking at my mother's hands.

I had not really noticed before that my hands are changing as I get older,more wrinkled,spotty.

They do so much for me in my day.

Welcome hands to my day

I honour your service.

I celebrate you today

You unlock my day

into many series of
movements.

Thankyou for your faithfulness.

You stretch,bend,grab,curl,enclose.

pat,stroke,hold,wave.

clench,release,pinch,write.

Love.

You help me sense,

feel,

and be delighted.

Thankyou,

my beautiful hands.

My hands literally dance through the day-probably the most exercised part of my body.They are legends so I do not mind they are looking a bit worn.I will take better care of them and give them a loving massage.Maybe I could massage them with my feet!

Just take a thought for your hands today!

Growing Beauty

A perfect day for walking.

There was even a bit of a squelch under foot instead of the harsh,brittle unyielding earth of a few weeks ago.

Such glorious colours ,detail were all around me.

I started thinking about my favourite flowers and it would have to be Daisies.

I saw a firey red Sturt Desert Pea that is a Western Australian wildflower.

I was taken aback to see it growing in our state of South Australia in a garden bed in my neighbourhood.

Wow!

I knocked on the door and asked to photograph the blooms.

They were really chuffed I would want to take a photo.

It was a great chance to get to know another resident of my small town.

Next was a flowering gum,yet another shade of red.

On the way home I came across a mushroom poking its nose out of the wet ,soggy soil.

It looked so sleeky and unreal-a poisonous one I think.

Everything I saw was singing because we have had rain at last.

I was singing too.

What flowers do you like?

What makes you sing inside?

Swinging

I know there are a lot of you out there who love to swing.
The book Imagine a Day: by Sarah.L.Thomson with paintings by Rob Gonsalves are just inspiring.Press on his name and then go to print number 23 but be sure to look at the others along the way
They will inspire you to write.
Sarah's words about the swing picture.
"Imagine a day when you don't need wings to soar"
This is accompanied by the picture of a girl on a swing.
I wanted to download it but I think that would breech copyright?

My response to Imagine a day........... prompt

Imagine a day without pain
without sorrow
full of laughter
strawberries and cream
fluffy clouds
When the desires of my heart unfold before me
When I take time to smell fresh earth,fresh pastries.
I float ,I fly
At ease
No longer pacing,stiff,rigid
Loose flowing
At ease.


What do you imagine?
Oh there is also a book in the series Imagine a Night

Prayer is the glue

I wanted to share these beautiful images with you.Recently I came home with my mother's wedding dress that had been stored at the family farm and in the box were these two prints.Now they would have to be over 50 years old .I do not know the significance of them to my mother.I cannot ask her.I will have to ask dad if he knows.The little boy is labelled Evening prayer and the little girl Morning prayer.They are a good reminder to pray and keep God as our focus.I have since aired the dress and repacked it .I had to throw away the cardboard box as the mothball smell had permeated the whole thing.The dress still smells but at this point I do not want to dry clean or wash it.I repacked it with lavender ,cloves and some mild smelling soap.As I write this I can see the wedding photo above the computer on the shelf.

Memories are so important and I am keen to get mine down.There is so much I did not get to ask my mother and at times that makes me sad.I do know however that I was loved and cherished and she modelled a gentleness that I wish I had.I have it sometimes.She never raised her voice to me ever.

My daughter turns 21 soon and I am going to get a photo done of 3 generations to remind her of the strength of women and of the generations.I treasure the memory of my great grandmother and my mum's mother,my nana.In fact my blog name "Thora" is my nana's name as I was inspired by her creativity and wisdom. I am honouring her by using her name which is part of what is infused in me.We have our stories and our love that can cross time and place.Mum showed us how much she loved God and it was a privilege to know her and be by her side holding her hand as she was welcomed into heaven.If this was paper you would see the tear stains as I write.I felt tender this mother's day even though it has been 3 years.We talked everyday and to this day dad can never work out how we could talk for so long.Well must go ,the day beckons.I just wanted to say that it is important to learn from others especially our parents so we can hand on the wisdom and stories.When mum died I felt she handed over that mantle of responsibility to love, to care and to keep close to God as she had especially in prayer.

Composting my Failures

I was thinking about my failures and decided to make a collage in my journal to express this aspect of my life.My failures fall with love around me...to be broken down into rich new possibilities.
That's all today.

Motivation

Each morning is a new possiblility for connecting with the day.I got up today feeling a little ho- hum and right there were some words for me.I am constantly challenged by Ralph Marston
in his daily words at his website The Daily Motivator.Each one seems right for my situation.
I was thinking this morning what is one of the many things that motivates me?
Friends motivate me.
In my autograph book when I was young a friend wrote.......

Friends are like diamonds precious and rare.False friends are like autumn leaves found everywhere.

I wrote the following to describe my friends including all my friends here.

Friends
We can imagine together
Dream big dreams,explore........
Our hearts are connected
Our souls linked by a thread of experience.
We can dance our life together
Dance is rhythm,music
At times slow,at times fast
Other times mournful,sad.
Laughing together.
We care deeply about one another
And choose to gravitate together and hang out.
The simple things will do,
Play and fun is the key to a peaceful,fulfilled life.
Where friends are an important ingredient
In the recipe of life.
Nurturing one another like a gardener tends the plants.

What motivates you?

Nothing

I have a fascination with children's books .They also comment about our lives and our need to be playful.I have always liked the character of Pooh Bear in AA.Milne books.

Christopher Robin says 'but what I like doing best is nothing"
Pooh goes on to ask how you do this so Christopher explains.......
"It means just going along,listening to all the things you can't hear and not bothering"
Think about what this is truly saying.There is so much for us to see and hear.To me it is talking about going with the flow of life too and enjoying the present.
People are often so busy that they do not see and hear the deeper things that satisfy and nourish us.
We need to sharpen our observation skills.I was on the train the other day and watched what people did with their train tickets.So many variations-one person even cleaned their fingernails with the corner! I recommend the book Juicy writing by Brigid Lowry published by Allen and Unwin.It is a book written to inspire young writers 13-18 but in my opinion is great for all of us above that age bracket.It affirmed me about my need to write,the value and has many creative exercises to try.I am off to do nothing.Nothing is good.

Reflections on a cup.

Michelle tagged me so here goes in the next blog.

While I am here I will tell you about yesterday when I was with my journalling group.
We decided to write about our drinking cups.Initially it was to write why we chose the colour but I reflected on what a cup means to me.

A cup is more than a vessel to drink from.
It is a reminder that we all have a cup of life.
We need to look into our cups and see what is there
There is more than tea and coffee to ponder on......
Sometimes our cup is full
Sometimes our cup is empty
Sometimes it is ½ way
Sometimes too hot to touch
Sometimes to cold to touch.
All the happenings of our life
Reflect in there
Twirl and swirl for our attention
Enjoy and learn from what is there.

How do you feel about your cup of life?

About me

Tagged .A new experience for me.
Here goes.
1.I get all agitated when I lose things.
2.I buy hats and scarves and then rarely wear them and also handbags .I have heaps I have never used.
3.I love anything in miniature
4.Rainbows are my theme-leading me to always hope and be positive
5.I like to eat cheese and gherkins on fresh crusty bread.
6.I thrive on a diet of books and collect children's story books.I need more book shelves again.

Tagging rules
1.Link to the person who tagged you
2.Post rules on your blog
3.Write six randon things about yourself
4.Tag six random people at the end of your post by linkin got their blogs
5.Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog
6.Let your tagger know when your entry is up.

I would like to tag the following bloggers if you want to play.I may not know you very well yet but is is fun to share.
Little miss magic
Roughly Speaking
Creative Ink
MacroMoments
Bump on the road
Loving the question

Peace

My first addition of an image .This was taken in my garden and I have been faithfully watering the pansies with grey water from the washing machine.Due to the drought I purchased a few garden ornaments to cheer up the empty spaces in the garden.

This plaque reminds me to be peaceful and calm in my day and whenever I get out of the car or come back from my walk there it is.I also have a bracelet with the words peace that I wear as a reminder.What helps you to be peaceful?

I love to take photos so got out my camera again last night and read all the instructions as I am only using half the features.Always something interesting to learn.

A Simple Day

I have been so busy reading other people's blogs I have ignored my own site.
The following was a message found on a cellar wall where Jewish people had been in hiding.
It inspired me to be glad about my day.I do not have to hide.
And yet sometimes we do hide even from ourselves.

"I believe in the sun
even when it isn't shining
I believe in love
even when I am alone
I believe in God
even when he is silent"

I have spent since Sunday filling my jug,pampering myself as my boys are away on a fishing trip and I am all alone, but not alone.
Lazy mornings,late nights,chocolate,icecream and books plus a few veges and apples.
Sunshine,walks enjoying my own company .
This is what I wrote.My prompt was a picture of a garden with a lovely flowing creek.
I wish I knew how to insert pictures?Any instructions from out there?

A simple day
Is resting on the grass
Listening to the birds
Watching the water as it ripples past
The sun rests on the water
Warming the coolness
Underneath the surface
There are little fish and water beetles
Fossicking for food
I lay still
Taking in the aroma of damp grass
And perfume of the flowers
My senses feel alive
At peace and one with my purpose
My day unravels when I disconnect
from the beauty around me
Relax is when my heart feels
massaged with peace
The chatter in my brain is stilled
I feel confident, alive
My muscles are loose
The spring in my body is just right
It unravels in rhythm
Stillness is all knowing.
The elements around me
Infuse with my body
I blend and flow.

Drought

Our drought is awful.A few weeks ago I wrote a piece about dying trees

Slender limbs wait now
bark gone
leaves dry
moistureless
sitting like dry
kitchen sponges
hard
unyielding
A welt
gapes on smoothness
Redness oozes
Burning
Hot
The wind howls
caressing the tree
Death row is cruel

I think sometimes we are dying inside because we do not reach out for those things we need in life.We wait.We have a drought within us, a time of dryness of not knowing what is next.How would you write about a tree that was recovering from a drought or in fact yourself.?
Today it is raining gently and the land and birds sing.Carpe Diem.

Swaltzing

I just read a children's story book called Princess Max by Laurie Stiller and Gregory Rogers
My daughter studying at Uni found it and was really impressed with a descriptive piece as follows.
"Max's wonderful swaltzy feeling washed away like rainwater down a window.He ran into his room and threw himself on the bed.
Big raindrops burst from a heavy cloud in his tummy and came pouring from the corner of his eyes."
He had been enjoying swaltzing in his mothers dress but then others made fun of him.
Have you had feeling like this ?
Try and write a descriptive piece about that time.

Ants

Ants are everywhere today-in the cupboard,crawling on the floor.The weather is so dry and hot they are coming in for moisture.I jokingly say "Ants are my friends"but I am loathing cleaning up all the time.Everytime I clean up there is something else they have attacked.The worst thing is getting into to my cats bowl.To counteract this I have placed the food bowl inside another bowl filled with water.All is well until the cat drops food on the floor and then the trails begin again.
Any clues about my dilemma to keep ants away in a non toxic environmentally friendly way.So far I have tried peppermint oil and talcum powder with minimal success.

Greg Dening

I was saddened to hear this wonderful man Greg Dening has died.
His words and approach to history were an inspiration.I found a quote of his that is on my journal cover that embodies all I believe to be true for me at the moment in my life journey

"From a beach things loom.It is possible to see beyond one's horizons

Beaches breed expansiveness.My beaches do anything"

Such powerful words to live by.How would you write about this quote?

self discovery

This blogging is all new to me .I feel in a strange land as if someone or something is going to jump out at me from the screen and pull me into another world.

I am supposed to be studying but instead I am procrastinating about life ,the universe and everything.I participate in a journalling group for women where we meet and write about many topics.The process draws out creative ideas,emotions and opinions and is a wonderful way to develop the inner self. Journalling uses photos,cutouts and crafty bits to embellish the writing.I use an A4 spirax blank artbook but anything will do.Stephen King in his book 'On Writing' wrote that

"Writing is magic,as much the water of life as any other creative art.The water
is free.So drink up"

This is so true but often others belittle our need to write and see it as a useless activity.It has immense value and is a very worthwhile. I collect all sorts of wonderful quotes,pictures ,newspaper articles and photos to which I write my responses.The process is very mosaic in nature as I never know where it will lead or what the end result will be like.I have a large folder I put all my writing prompts into and pull out what interests me at the time.I also keep a box of words cut from magazines that inspire me and help decorate my pages.I have a large box of coloured papers, ribbons,stickers,punches,stamps and much more to help me along the creative path.I would like to share ideas and processes with others.Tell me your experiences with journalling and we can build on that.