Looking out of the bedroom window this morning...
And then the bedroom door...
Friday, 26 November 2010
Thursday, 25 November 2010
Joining in...
I had in my mind's eye when we moved that we would join in. It was mentioned to us a few times that we really should; often dire warnings of ignoring this good advice were made explicit.
Never a more welcoming crowd could we have we met. Cymru Am Byth! A Barabrith was awaiting us on our arrival, left on the doorstep. People have warmly invited us into their homes and plied us with food and wine.
In our turn we help with looking after the common land (actually Him Next Door does most of the mowing), this Friday we have a community bonfire to burn all the chopping back we did earlier in the year. We also go to fundraising events in the local community and support the school, village hall and local shop whenever we can.
We actually proactively fund raise for both the common land (Cadwraeth Llysyfran) and St Meilyr's Church, nestled at the bottom of the garden. I am not particularly religious but believe I suppose essentially in Christian principles. And the Church is truly beautiful and awe inspiring in its age and presence. You wonder what those walls have witnessed in their time.
From my involvement in the immediate community was born the website http://www.llysyfranchurch.co.uk/. My little bit of giving.
"Oh you will be OK as long as you enter into the spirit of things and don't ever turn down invitations."...or worse...
"You know what the Welsh are like and they really don't like the English." Nudge, nudge, wink, wink. "Hope you've packed a fire extinguisher."These comments from parochial well wishers simply confirmed that our decision to move was the right one. We had always intended to join in as really it would be a bit shortsighted of us to move somewhere new and then promptly insulate ourselves from the world. You have to make an effort to make new friends. This was going to be home after all.
Never a more welcoming crowd could we have we met. Cymru Am Byth! A Barabrith was awaiting us on our arrival, left on the doorstep. People have warmly invited us into their homes and plied us with food and wine.
In our turn we help with looking after the common land (actually Him Next Door does most of the mowing), this Friday we have a community bonfire to burn all the chopping back we did earlier in the year. We also go to fundraising events in the local community and support the school, village hall and local shop whenever we can.
We actually proactively fund raise for both the common land (Cadwraeth Llysyfran) and St Meilyr's Church, nestled at the bottom of the garden. I am not particularly religious but believe I suppose essentially in Christian principles. And the Church is truly beautiful and awe inspiring in its age and presence. You wonder what those walls have witnessed in their time.
From my involvement in the immediate community was born the website http://www.llysyfranchurch.co.uk/. My little bit of giving.
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| 140 Christmas Cards sold so far... |
Saturday, 13 November 2010
Letter writing.
A quaint old tradition.
I have one friend from school who has not dabbled in the 'Interweb' at all. He insists on writing letters and I must admit there is nothing like finding that little jewel amongst the drab brown envelopes scattered on the mat.
I can type quicker than I can write, so I have found that my handwriting has deteriorated somewhat... especially when balancing the pad on my knee with one eye on the TV and one hand holding a cuppa, all whilst trying to help G9 with her gwaith cartref Cymraig. (Hmmm perhaps that's why she doesn't get 10 out of 10).I can barely understand what I have written myself when reading my letter back, goodness knows how anyone else can. But still, it's more personal somehow than the typed page.
The only other time I hand write in earnest is on Christmas cards. For those I see regularly I don't pen much except for the usual salutations*, but for those I rarely see it's a chance to catch up. So I carefully write little messages in each card for my distant friends and family, all individually scripted. It makes my arm and hand ache, but every year I do it, just to get those little gems back. It's like Facebook but hand made.
I have a box of old love letters and cards, hand written by someone who died when just starting out in life. Although I look at them rarely, when I do I feel connected somehow - they have more resonance than a typed page could ever have.
Writing this blog has made me feel a little guilty as it reminds me I have a pen friend I still owe a letter to, its been months and months. Somehow life keeps getting in the way. It's back on the top of my things to do for this weekend.
*Addendum: I never understand why people have photographs on their walls of relatives they live with, after all they see them every day.
Saturday, 30 October 2010
Beautiful October
What a beautiful sunny, warm and dry October we are having. The flowers in the garden are a bit confused and have been putting on the best shows, trying to entice the insects.
And with a heavy heart I see just round the corner winter coming. I so much prefer the light to the shade. The warmth to the cold. The long days to the short. So late in the year these special sunny days are like priceless gifts, they are to be treasured. They hearten the soul and the memories of them will have to last until Spring.
As others say it so much better than I can do, I'm going to share with you some quotations and poems that have particularly touched me about this time of year. If you have your own and you would be willing to share them, please comment, I'd love to read them.
"I cannot endure to waste anything as precious as autumn sunshine by staying in the house.
So I spend almost all the daylight hours in the open air.
- Nathaniel Hawthorne
"I know the year is dying,
Soon the summer will be dead.
I can trace it in the flying
Of the black crows overhead;
I can hear it in the rustle
Of the dead leaves as I pass,
And the south wind's plaintive sighing
Through the dry and withered grass.
Ah, 'tis then I love to wander,
Wander idly and alone,
Listening to the solemn music
Of sweet nature's undertone;
Wrapt in thoughts I cannot utter,
Dreams my tongue cannot express,
Dreams that match the autumn's sadness
In their longing tenderness."
- Mortimer Crane Brown, Autumn Dreams
...... The following one is particular pertinent to us here, as we are surrounded by trees.
"October gave a party;
The leaves by hundreds came-
The Chestnuts, Oaks, and Maples,
And leaves of every name.
The Sunshine spread a carpet,
And everything was grand,
Miss Weather led the dancing,
Professor Wind the band."
- George Cooper, October's Party
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| There's nothing so beautiful as a rose. |
 |
| That's Billy the fish in the background (opposed to Billy the boy). |
And with a heavy heart I see just round the corner winter coming. I so much prefer the light to the shade. The warmth to the cold. The long days to the short. So late in the year these special sunny days are like priceless gifts, they are to be treasured. They hearten the soul and the memories of them will have to last until Spring.
As others say it so much better than I can do, I'm going to share with you some quotations and poems that have particularly touched me about this time of year. If you have your own and you would be willing to share them, please comment, I'd love to read them.
"I cannot endure to waste anything as precious as autumn sunshine by staying in the house.
So I spend almost all the daylight hours in the open air.
- Nathaniel Hawthorne
"I know the year is dying,
Soon the summer will be dead.
I can trace it in the flying
Of the black crows overhead;
I can hear it in the rustle
Of the dead leaves as I pass,
And the south wind's plaintive sighing
Through the dry and withered grass.
Ah, 'tis then I love to wander,
Wander idly and alone,
Listening to the solemn music
Of sweet nature's undertone;
Wrapt in thoughts I cannot utter,
Dreams my tongue cannot express,
Dreams that match the autumn's sadness
In their longing tenderness."
- Mortimer Crane Brown, Autumn Dreams
...... The following one is particular pertinent to us here, as we are surrounded by trees.
"October gave a party;
The leaves by hundreds came-
The Chestnuts, Oaks, and Maples,
And leaves of every name.
The Sunshine spread a carpet,
And everything was grand,
Miss Weather led the dancing,
Professor Wind the band."
- George Cooper, October's Party
Wednesday, 20 October 2010
Mrs Angry
I have been lusting after an iPad for a long time.
Business and private bank balances do not warrant such an extravagant expenditure, so I have gone without.
J on the other hand ordered one - secretly.
He was away on a business trip when I discovered this. I phoned him whilst he was travelling.
I was prepared to forgive him if he'd bought it for me.
Nope. Just for himself.
Business and private bank balances do not warrant such an extravagant expenditure, so I have gone without.
J on the other hand ordered one - secretly.
He was away on a business trip when I discovered this. I phoned him whilst he was travelling.
I was prepared to forgive him if he'd bought it for me.
Saturday, 9 October 2010
The Teenage Attitude
Imagine this, I have a mug, letters and the kettle in my hands. Yelling for Topsy to follow me out of the door - like now, so I can start work. I'm already late.
Not on your nelly.
I do an odd little dance. As my hands are full my legs make frog like movements to encourage her to come on and I pull a myriad of coaxing faces. Nothing doing.
Topsy is terrible in the mornings and likes to stay in her pit for as long as possible. Instead of leaping out of bed like a young dog should, she gazes up at me, rolls onto her back and emits the vibe of, "get me out of here if you can."
Hmmmm; Dog 1 - Human 0.
Not on your nelly.
I do an odd little dance. As my hands are full my legs make frog like movements to encourage her to come on and I pull a myriad of coaxing faces. Nothing doing.
Topsy is terrible in the mornings and likes to stay in her pit for as long as possible. Instead of leaping out of bed like a young dog should, she gazes up at me, rolls onto her back and emits the vibe of, "get me out of here if you can."
Hmmmm; Dog 1 - Human 0.
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| Topsy - dog with attitude. |
Thursday, 23 September 2010
Burning the midnight oil...
I've dabbled in website development, strictly as a sideline - never really admitting I do it. One of my clients recently asked for their website to be totally revamped. Nice and simple site. Not too many pages. They were very pleased with it. Then the Principal asked if I could do one for her son, who runs a Real Estate firm in the USA. Requests for a blog and database etc... whoa. I tried very hard to wriggle out of it, but when the cheque arrived before I had even started, I felt I didn't have much choice.
Quick - Amazon. Bought a couple of books (knowledge in cold storage). Both good but one in particular has been revolutionary. I ordered new software on the back of it (which I'm still waiting for) but I feel empowered. I am beginning to understand what I'm doing now, the fog is lifting. I can deconstruct what is really going on behind the scenes. Sounds strange but I've always used WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) software up to this point. But for many reasons it has been really restricting me and it bloats the code. WYSIWYG works well until things do not go as planned - trying to edit the code was like wading through treacle as I hadn't learned the basics from scratch. Now that's all changing. I'm really starting to understand what the code can actually produce and how I can manipulate that code, this time to my tune. I might be back in control.
It really is like another language with strict unforgiving grammatical rules, but hey ho I've never been a first past the post kind of person. Always a plodder that (hopefully) gets there in the end.
Quick - Amazon. Bought a couple of books (knowledge in cold storage). Both good but one in particular has been revolutionary. I ordered new software on the back of it (which I'm still waiting for) but I feel empowered. I am beginning to understand what I'm doing now, the fog is lifting. I can deconstruct what is really going on behind the scenes. Sounds strange but I've always used WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) software up to this point. But for many reasons it has been really restricting me and it bloats the code. WYSIWYG works well until things do not go as planned - trying to edit the code was like wading through treacle as I hadn't learned the basics from scratch. Now that's all changing. I'm really starting to understand what the code can actually produce and how I can manipulate that code, this time to my tune. I might be back in control.
It really is like another language with strict unforgiving grammatical rules, but hey ho I've never been a first past the post kind of person. Always a plodder that (hopefully) gets there in the end.
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