The picking of the first pea pod!

Friday August 13th, 2010

A poetry challenge

Metrophobia: the fear of poetry

Alysha is learning about phobias at school. One she has enjoyed discovering and letting me know about is metrophobia (the fear of poetry). Her dramatisations of a person suffering from metrophobia are rather hilarious. This morning she challenged me to the writing of a poem about metrophobia. Now that's a challenge that I am not about to let pass. I will post the resulting poem when it's done!

The garden update continued

The broccoli has really started growing in the last couple of weeks. I have replanted some of the plants I got at the Sustainable Living Expo into the garden beds. Also starting to grow well (after initially being eaten by some bugs) is some silverbeet and more lettuce. The spring onions should be ready to pick soon. A note to myself - "those marshmallow weeds need to be pulled out before they take over". I am looking forward to doing some more planting soon in the third garden bed. Hmmm, what shall I grow next???

Time for a garden update

Well, the gardening pursuits are still going well. I am still surprised by how much I am enjoying gardening. The enthusiasm levels have dropped just a little as measured by how I feel about the rain. In the initial stages of my gardening adventures I would get annoyed when it rained because it meant I would not have to water the garden now I am grateful as I means I don't have to go and water the garden.

The snow peas have grown a lot!

The first flower has been joined by many more. Many pods to follow!

My initial attempts at growing rocket were far from successful thanks to the assistance of baby earwigs (they were discovered feasting on the new plants one night). Later attempts were more successful with two rocket plants now flourishing.

The other photo is of hot pepper seedlings (initially grown inside) that I have just planted into a pot.

As well as enjoying watching the new growth and changes in the garden each day I have enjoyed some home grown food (radishes and lettuce) and will be enjoying more very shortly (snow peas!). Yum!

I do what I need to do...for me!

I created this piece of artwork during a session of Community Sisters (a community art group for women) in March 2010. It is a reminder to myself (more conversations with myself!) that quite often I know what I need and I take action to meet those needs. Even if how I take that action may not be how other people perceive I should or in the way that would work for them. I can be strong with the knowledge that quite often I do know what works for me (and also that I do not need to constantly explain my actions). I just simply 'do what I need to do for me'. Of course this does not mean I am not interested in input and ideas from other people or that what I do will not change.

The photograph is of me (aged about 4?)

I wrote the words "Always Alone" in August 2005 around the time that I was realising the amount that I had shut down my emotions throughout my life and how this had impacted on me.

Always Alone

I need a childhood transplant,

Not the memories,

I have thousands of memories

Times, places, people, events

I need the feelings to go with the memories,

Feelings other than numbness, calmness, oddness,

Feeling strange, alone, disconnected.

The scared little girl,

The worried little girl,

The sad little girl,

The excited little girl,

The happy little girl

Where were you?

Why weren't you there?

I want you now.

The years have passed without you there

Physically present,

Emotionally distant.

Protecting of self.

The scared little girl couldn't be alone,

The worried little girl couldn't be alone,

The sad little girl couldn't be alone,

The excited little girl couldn't be alone,

The happy little girl couldn't be alone.

Only the numb, feeling odd little girl.

She was more powerful,

She could be alone.

Beginnings - keyboard, violin, celery and a birthday

Alysha has just begun learning to play keyboard and is enjoying it immensely and Brianna is enjoying learning to play the violin. They both began a couple of months ago. We have just bought a keyboard allowing for lots more practicing along with duets.





and there is new celery growing in the house in preparation for addition to the garden in the future

and today is my birthday! Happy Birthday to me (and Happy Birthday also to all of the horses in the Southern Hemisphere). Today marks the beginnning of a new year in my life...

Courage

With some rather big changes happening in my life at the moment I have decided to gift myself some courage.

The courage to really live.

The courage to be myself.

The courage to enjoy life.

The courage to slow down.

The courage to speak my mind.

The courage to be seen.

The courage to let others know me.

The courage to worry less.

The courage to hope.

I wrote these words as part of a writing exercise at a group I attended in April, 2006.
In May 2009 at a different group I decorated the handbag. These words seem particularly useful for me to remember at the moment. I recognise the huge amounts of courage I have required and used in the past and can continue to draw upon as I undertake new challenges.

A quick decision

Sometimes even when you know someone very well you can be in for a surprise when they do or say something unexpected.

Brianna struggles with making decisions. When asked a relatively simple question there is often a long silence as she contemplates the possibilities. We have been joking a bit lately about getting hold of the book 'Would You Rather Be a Bullfrog" by Dr Suess to practice decision making.

Today Brianna and I went to a market and there were some reptiles on display and the opportunity to hold them.

Just as we were about to leave, I jokingly asked Brianna if she would like to hold the snake.

The answer was lightning fast.

Yes!

(Brianna has approved the contents of this post and checked for grammatical correctness)

Poetry on Wednesday mornings

One of my ideas for the purpose of this blog is to share some of the exciting discoveries I find on the internet. I am often inspired by wonderful things happening in the world that I find out about courtesy of the internet. Here is one to start with today:

I look forward to Wednesday mornings. I look forward to checking my inbox. The reason? 10 lines of poetry are delivered into my inbox every Wednesday morning. Usually they are there when I first check my emails for the day. If not they arrive soon after. Where do they come from? A marvellous poet Maya Stein, from San Francisco sends 10 lines of poetry every Tuesday (I receive them Wednesdays due to time differences!) I first read some of her poetry earlier this year and LOVED it. I visited her blog and saw a link to sign up to receive 10 lines of poetry every week and thought that sounded like fun. I haven't been disappointed. Click here to visit her blog to sign up yourself and read some great poetry.

I am also very excited about a project that Maya Stein is starting later this year. Here's some information about it:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALYSHA!!!

Alysha turns 14 today.

Yesterday was a busy day making the SpongeBob SquarePants cake amongst other celebratory preparations. We were pleased with the end result.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALYSHA!!!