Pubs - the penny drops

I ran to the protest - possibly coughing up blood in the process ( I'm really not a runner). It was good to be there with my hastily constructed "all welcome" sign. Yesterday my dad had responded to my concerns by pointing out that as individuals we can do very little, but when we come together that's what starts to change things. So I was pleased to (just about) be able to attend an emergency gathering to protest that people should not be banned from moving about because of their religion or country of origin.
Interestingly I was then at the pub after for twice as long as I'd been at the protest, but I think that's fine - building relationships is how it's going to happen, and I think I finally understood a purpose of pubs as a place to just hang out. It was so good to spend some unexpected time with a beautiful human being I haven't had proper chance to hang out with. We met at a party (I'm not sure I can say that about any other of my friends) and I really enjoyed being with her and her wisdom again tonight.

Defiance

I'm still wearing Christmas socks after all. Who cares what's on them?
I'm pleased that a judge has overturned part of Trump's order around, I'm pleased that Washington's governor has called his actions illegal. I'm still horrified by what is happening and how it echoes earlier hideous times. People rounded up and asked to leave. People being denied freedom of movement based on their country of origin or religion.
I've said before I cannot stay quiet, but how best to stand up? Posting on social media is a start, as is signing petitions calling on my politicians to speak up, joining a march, conversations one to one, but this isn't enough. How do we keep letting it be known that what he is saying is not ok?

Morning murmuration

I've never seen a murmuration in the morning before, i was already feeling lucky to be going to my parents, to have fuel in the car, to know there are many who love and care for me.
So much to be grateful for.

Meanwhile it's also important to keep loudly proclaiming all that is not ok. We can't keep quiet whilst the new POTUS is saying torture is justifiable and turning away people with correct legal papers because of their country of origin.

Glittery highway

How wonderful to come out of church and to be stopped in my tracks by the sparkling surface of the road! It really was beautiful but I don't think would have photographed, it was in the movement over it that it caught the light, so you had to be there. I wondered if it was frost, but no, it was (green, possibly) glitter. I thought it perhaps was a post-messy-church spillage of some sort. I'm told there was a festival celebrated at the nearby Hindu temple, maybe it blew in from that? I suspect environmentally there are probably good reasons why I shouldn't do around liberally sprinkling glitter underfoot so others could experience that same moment of joy. Maybe edible glitter would be ok?
I hope you too encounter unexpected delight :-)

Washed away

Sorry for not maintaining my usual standard of daily blogging. I'm tired with not quite enough time or energy for everything. But I have arranged to get some tlc this weekend, I've ordered myself a book and there's annual leave to be taken in the next couple of months so I will get some rest. Meanwhile it's cold outside but the candles are burning brightly inside.
I'm not sure what it is about a bubble bath that really helps wash my worries away. It's almost like entering a different realm when my ears submerge as I wash my hair. Everything sounds surreal. I get to enter another world via whatever novel I'm reading. And afterwards I feel warmer, more relaxed and lighter - I can't be removing that much dirt surely :-)

Perfect vs good

I was asked if I was having a perfect weekend as it includes some of my favourite things. This brought to mind a quote I saw by Jill Churchill — 'There's no way to be a perfect mother and a million ways to be a good one.'

For me a perfect weekend would be impossible. For it to be perfect I would want to spend time with each of the people who mean most to me. I'm lucky to have numerous people who matter greatly to me, but a big gathering wouldn't do it for me cos then it would be snatches of connection, and too many other interactions simultaneously.

Rather than seek perfection, it is completely possible to have a good weekend a million times over with quality time with my lovelies at different points in a year, with different joys that are often unexpected. The meal out yesterday was delicious and not particularly planned in advance. I am so glad I went to join the women's march and saw some ace people and especially enjoyed an enthusiastic rendition of "I will survive" with an impromptu trumpeter.

I hope your weekend is also a good one. Xx

Angels in the architecture

I'm lucky enough to have been invited to several weddings recently, and greedily I want to go to more. Or maybe I just need to start a Saturday night 80s disco for my friends. Its the dancing that I want to do more of - I can really feel how I leave my troubles behind whilst I have a good boogie. Last night I danced until I was told I was embarrassingly sweaty, then I went and washed my armpits (this is so much easier in a sleeveless dress than it would be in a shirt. I'm glad I'm not a bloke). Then I returned to the dance floor. Sometimes I was the only one - that gave me loads of space for my most uninhibited moment of the night where I did gestures along to Paul Simon's verse on angels in the architecture :-) There was a live band for most of it, they were great. I also danced heartily with a bloke I'd just met, with friends I've danced with before, with my boyfriend, and perhaps best of all, copied moves of his little God daughter, which involved a lot of bouncing.
I need to incorporate more dancing in my life and the next wedding isn't til May. Time to plan something else.

One day / day one

I like the way a changed juxtaposition of these two words gets me pondering. We can wait for one day, or we can make this day one, whatever we want to change. I saw an acronym earlier, RAIN , that can help us notice our emotions but not necessarily react to them.

R - recognise the feeling
A - accept your experience
I - investigate your thoughts
N - non-identification (seeing the emotion a passing event, not who we are)

Sounds useful to me.

I am not forgotten

I nearly didn't go to choir. I was so tired. With an early start tomorrow I thought maybe it made more sense to catch up on stuff, get an early night, you know. Yet I'm SO GLAD I went!! We learned a new song and I love the groove of it. We of course sing a slightly different version of it, but a lot like this. I love how it morphs into an Egyptian swing that reminds me of Blancmange's Living on the Ceiling.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2Cw74lObYAo
Hope whatever you are up to it re-energises you :-)

reality leaves a lot to the imagination

"Reality leaves a lot to the imagination"

Just seen this quote and love it. I think we create a lot of our reality cos it's how we see it. At the moment I'm appreciating the help I'm getting from a couple of friends to work out just what kind of support I need currently so that I can refigure my reality a bit. Whilst a massage or two wouldn't go amiss, what I really need is to rethink things so I'm not bogged down by them.

Hope you have good people who give you a hand to rethink whatever you need to too :)

Impossible

Already I need a holiday.  Maybe I didn't recharge enough on my last one.  My body today is not letting me do anything so instead of having a lovely lunch in Manchester 's Ethopian restaurant,  I'm lying in bed feeling sorry for myself.
I have spent some time recently attempting to plan said holiday but it feels impossible.  Here are some of the initial requirements :
Has to be in school holidays. (I have lots of holiday remaining but that will all evaporated on March 31st so ideally before then, so that's half term then)
No flying.
Somewhere with warm sunshine

I'll stop you there then.  How can I find somewhere with warm sun that we can reach without flying when we only have a week to play with?

So for now I have given up.  As has my body.  Maybe we can try again tomorrow.

Back to black socks

I received several pairs of Christmas socks this year. As I worked from home when I was working over Christmas, I didn't have to put my uniform on, so wore said socks every day. But now its back to black.

I wrote that about three days ago and never got chance to add more. it's always a bit full on after a break.

Today has been v windy, and i had a visit next to the sea so I tried to take a pic of the large waves crashing. I got back in the car and my lips tasted of the sea :)

Marvellous meringue

The meringue at the afternoon tea was so pretty I almost didn't want to eat it. I'm a bit of a sucker for food presented in small cute ways. I'm very sleepy now tho. Maybe I'm just beginning to relax as my holiday comes to an end?

Cold busting strategies

Now we've moved the Christmas tree the lounge seems colder. Maybe it was absorbing some of the chill? Or perhaps its just that the temperature has dropped? Whatever the cause, I'm back to trying to figure ways to warm the lounge, which always seems cold. I've just ordered some radiator reflecting material ( a small step up from tin foil). I have gazillions of candles burning. I'm now back to trying to work out how to keep the draught from the window when we have a pesky dog insistent on checking passers by every 5 minutes.

Overspill

There has been a positive result of these intersecting factors :
My inability to sit still when I am not working
The winter sun showing up just how in need of a clean the house is
A rare ruthless mood when I'm able to chuck ridiculous items held onto for no good reason.

So a lot of things have been binned or recycled. I have vast amounts of dust up my nose having tackled areas not dealt with in maybe a decade - never mind writing my name in it,  I could have carved an effigy.

I'm even hoping to replace these disintegrating curtains - I gave them an extra 20 years of use when they were finished with by someone else. In fact whilst I'm at it,  I might even get some for the bedroom too,  currently bedecked with ones that don't fit and are a colour I don't like but again are ones I liberated from the scrap heap.
I'm not sure how long this urge will last,  to live in (and so somehow try and create) a home that is less cluttered,  more ordered. I might even just settle for trying to get the wardrobe doors to shut rather than everything untidily spilling out.  That might be tomorrow 's task.
I visit homes where the cushions are colour coordinated.  Where surfaces exist that are not totally hidden by clutter. Where swathes of carpet are visible instead of strewn with obstacles that surely could be housed elsewhere.
I only have 4 more days off tho and want to be rested on my return,  so I might have to be thankful for what I achieved today.

Recommendations

As you know I'm not really a tv person. But I'm determined to have some down time and am not very good at it if the tv is rubbish. So today I simultaneously tidied or sewed rather than stayed focussed. So if anyone has any televisual delights to recommend, please do. I may not have been absorbed by anything today, but I have watched a couple of treats over the holiday. I enjoyed Esio Trot, What we did on our holiday, and Dawn French's description of her 30 million minutes on the planet so far. I'd recommend all 3.
Meanwhile I officially have no more novels to read. Still plenty of books on the reading pile, but I want some fiction and have just finished my book group book for the month. Yes, already. So what should I seek out in the charity shops tomorrow?
I await you lists :-)

New year!

Lots to be grateful for already this New Year! My children are back home ( 7 hours, driving on new year's day is ok) and thankfully their dad is now out of intensive care. I have managed to finish off my work bits so now have a whole week off (excepting just a little on weds cos i ought to remember not to take time off st the start of the month!) I should slow down with my large glass of Bailey's, or else I don't stand a chance of following the Sherlock episode shortly.
Hope you are likewise finding much to be grateful for.