Six Word Saturday

Can you believe it’s Saturday again? It’s time for six words to describe my life or this Saturday. IT’S BEGINNING TO LOOK LIKE CHRISTMAS are my six words.

I woke up this morning to a perfect summer morning here in Wellington. It was the kind of day I remember when we first arrived in New Zealand. Oh, that was in Auckland, and the weather there is often better than in Wellington.

The sun shone there was no wind and I was having lunch with a friend who lives on the waterfront so it was offering to be a perfect day. There were just two elderly (should I say old?) ladies enjoying a glass of wine and a simple sandwich lunch in the sunshine.  The absolute opposite to yesterday and the hassle of preparing and serving lunch not to mention the cleaning up afterwards.

The Pohutakawas the NZ Christmas trees ,are in full bloom. And notwithstanding the met service advising of rain for Christmas Day I am backing Maori lore that has it the blooming tree predicts good weather.  I am backing the Maori here.

Image via Wikipedia

 

Another Day in the Life

Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your
one wild and precious life?

I started the day preparing lunch for a couple of friends. This is something that has become a bit of a tradition between the three of us.  We are all living alone and while we all have somewhere to go for Christmas Day we like to get together – a quiet oasis in a sea of chaos.

Then, after they left, tidied up around the kitchen and dining area to leave it all ready for the next day.

And then off for Christmas drinks with more friends. I arrived home around 9:00 PM and thought how lucky I am to be able to do all of those things that I used to do when I was much younger..

So what did you do on Friday, December 2024? this unique day in your life, For surely it is a unique day There has never been a day like it nor will there ever be another.. Einstein gave us a choice –

“There are only two ways to live your life.
One is as though nothing is a miracle. 
The other is as though everything is a miracle.”

”

.

Congratulations

 

Today, with the rain absolutely bucketing down, I went to a celebration. 65 years marred, but not one 65th celebration but two.

Two women: One travelled from the UK to marry her young, handsome Naval officer, and the other lived in New Zealand and was marrying her young, handsome Air Force officer. They didn’t know each other but when they eventually met, they became firm and instant friends.  Eventually, they both ended up in Wellington and the friendship bloomed.

They were married on the same date in Sunshine in Auckland and Dunedin and had their first children on the same day.

So, Serendipity, Synchronicity, or Coincidence, you choose.

Definitions – Serendipity is – the occurrence and development of events by
chance in a happy or beneficial way.

Synchronicity is – the simultaneous occurrence of events which appear
significantly related but have no discernible causal connection.

Coincidence is – a striking occurrence of two or more events
at one time apparently by mere chance.

Unfortunately. the handsome Naval officer died 25 plus years ago, but the other two are living and growing older happily together.

 

 

 

 

 

No Bias Here

“Our grandchildren accept us for ourselves,
without rebuke or effort to change us,
as no one in our entire lives has ever done,
not our parents, siblings, spouses,
friends – and hardly ever
our own grown children.
~Ruth Goode, author 1902-1997

My blogging journey started in March 2011 so almost 14 years and during all those years I’ve written about my four grandsons who have been so much part of my life and I theirs since they were born Unlike many of my friends, my children lived close by and I was an integral part of the boys lives. I’ve written often about them in my posts and I am quite unashamedly proud of all four.

They have all moved away to make their way in different parts of the world as young people should.

The eldest, who will be 30 in March, is living in Ireland with his Irish fiancee. He is the one who tried university and one afternoon, when I picked him up to spend the night with me, he said he really didn’t think varsity was the place for him. With his father’s agreement, he quit varsity, and he is now a fully qualified plumber, gas fitter, and drain layer.

Grandson #2 never wanted to go to university, his only aim was to play football/soccer and he was so good that he was chosen in the up-and-coming NZ Soccer youngsters team.  He spent two years boarding at the school where soccer was treated as a subject alongside, maths, physics etc. Unfortunately, this dream came to an end when he had an accident damaging one of his knees.  He is now living in Brisbane in Queensland with his partner and working as a property manager.

Grandson #3 is an architect and he is currently living and working in Vancouver and loving it.  He is an outdoors guy and up until now Vancouverr has given him opportunities to explore this different world and of course now there will be much skiing for him.

Grandson #4 who will be 26 in March, is an engineer living in Sydney with his partner.  They are enjoying a very social life.

When I was reading some of the many blogs about these boys, I came across this particular one that I love. It’s from July 2011 and titled Happy Granma’s Day.

Now my relationship with them has changed Boys no longer but young men growing and prospering whereever they choose to live. Communication now is via Messenger or FaceTime but they are all keeen to hear what I am up to.

A World Apart

I have told you of my deep friendship with my blogging friend and sister-of-choice, Chris at Bridges Burning. We both started blogging in March 2011 and ten years later, in 2021, we started a joint blog “A World Apart, and this was its hashtag(?)

“No distance of place nor lapse of time can lessen the friendship of those who are thoroughly persuaded of each other’s worth.“

We called our joint blog A World Apart because, in fact, that’s what we were. As Chris always included in her posts –

“One is about 43 degrees latitude N. and longitude 80 W, The other almost equidistant south latitude and longitude 174 E. Two women, two minds, different personalities and experiences, choosing a life of meaning and learning, at the same time negating ageist opinions of exactly what ‘an old lady’ should be.”

Looking back to December 2022, on the 16th, Chris got Back on Schedule and at the same time, I was relaying to you my weekend of culture.

We continued writing alternate days until life, as it does, got in the way, and we agreed after a while to discontinue this blog. But like a feral animal, it is waiting for the chance to strike again sometime.

 

 

 

 

Time for a little trivia

Did WordPress have too many drinks yesterday? I wrote this and hit Publish around 10 pm my
usual time for blogging.  But where did it go then? So here it is one day later.

******

“I have always thought of Christmas time,
when it has come round, as a good time; a kind,
forgiving, charitable time; the only time I know of,
in the long calendar of the year when men and women
seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely
and to think of people below them as if they really were
fellow passengers to the grave and not another race of
creatures bound on other journeys.”
Charles Dickens.

Well, Christmas is almost upon us with all the excitement and busyness.  No doubt , you are looking forward to many parties and celebrations culminating in a special time with your family and friends.

I thought I would take this opportunity to share with you some of the facts and fallacies surrounding Christmas as we now celebrate it.

Did you know,?

• Clement Moore’s 1823 poem “Twas the Night Before Christmas” was the catalyst for the reinvention of St Nicholas into the jolly, fat image of Santa we now know?
• Also invented by Moore, Santa’s travels are invariably connected to reindeer.  In the poem they are pictured charging through a winter sky complete with strong, elaborate horns.  But in winter reindeer lose their horns so are Santa’s reindeer all female or are they castrated males?
• Moore omitted to tell us that St Nicholas was Turkish.  He was real and was born in Patara, Turkey.  He was an early Christian and in the 4th Century he became bishop of the district of Demre where some of his bones can still be visited.  Little fact is known of him, only oral legends relating to his goodness and kindness to children.
• Another poem, this one by Frank Baum (who wrote The Wizard of Oz) told that Santa lived in a valley called Ho Ho Ho.  American marketers quickly picked up on the poem and Ho Ho Ho became Santa brand’s catch cry.
• The song Jingle Bells never mentions Christmas and has no connection to Christmas.  It was originally composed for America’s Thanksgiving festival in 1857.
• Nobody knows when Jesus was born or died. For many centuries people in the northern hemisphere celebrated the winter solstice, the shortest day and the turning point in the long, often hard, cold winter.  Some 300 years after Jesus’ (guessed at) death date, Pope Julius I announced that 25th December would be the date to celebrate the birth of Jesus.  As Christianity spread around the world, this date took over the existing festivities and became “Christmas”.  The word Christmas didn’t come into being until 1032 AD.
• The bible doesn’t say that three kings visited the baby Jesus but refers to “Wise men from the east”.  They may well have been astronomers (they did follow a star) or Zoroastrian priests and the fact that the three gifts, Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh are mentioned is the possible basis for assuming there were three visitors.
• And the gifts they brought.  Gold and Frankincense would be acceptable but in ancient times Myrrh was very expensive and used in embalming dead bodies and was burned at funerals to disguise the smell of bodies that hadn’t been embalmed.  Why would it be brought to a newborn child?
• And everybody’s favourite – Charles Dickens “A Christmas Carol”.  There have been 14 versions of this story.
• Four Calling Birds in the song “The Twelve Days of Christmas”.  Originally it was four colly birds, colly being the ancient word for black (as in collier and coal) so colly birds were black birds.  As time went by colly fell out of use and didn’t make sense so people started saying four calling birds.  This doesn’t make sense either.
• Decorated evergreen trees have been part of December celebrations in Europe for many centuries reminding everyone that spring is just around the corner.  The decorated Christmas tree became accepted in the UK when Queen Victoria, Prince Albert and the children were depicted in the “Illustrated London News” standing around a lavishly decorated Christmas tree.
• The use of X as in Xmas is not at all invalid or disrespectful.  The word Christ was never part of Jesus’ name, it is a title assigned by later worshippers in Greek meaning ‘the anointed one’.  In ancient Greece the letter chi was written with a symbol very like an X and the title assigned to Jesus was Xristos and was frequently abbreviated to just X.  So writing Christmas as Xmas has been considered acceptable for some 1000 years.  Note early publications were charged by the number of letters so using X in Xmas was encouraged.
• The wassail ritual was an ancient pre-Christian custom of drinking a toast to the sun after the northern mid-winter approximately 25 December and hopes for a bountiful harvest in the coming warmer months. Hence the song ‘Here we come a-wassailing’ was a gathering of friends drinking a toast.  “Waes hael” in ancient English means “Be healthy” and the usual drink was a mixture of spices, apple juice and eggs.  (Give me a G&T any time).
• Christmas was cancelled in England in the 1640s when Puritan law forbade churches to open on Christmas Day and banned home decorations, celebrations, carol singing and the creating of Nativity scenes.  December 25 was declared a day of everyday work and fasting.  The outraged populace made Christmas observances in secret until the Monarchy was restored in 1660 and King Charles II restored Christmas.
• And finally, a horse named Santa Claus won the Epsom Derby in 1964.

So there you have my list – as my son always says I have a fund of useless information.  Enjoy it anyway.

Image via Wikipedia

“I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round, as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable time; the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys.”
Charles Dickens.

Related Posts

• Christmas is Coming
• The Phohutakawa Tree

Related articles

• Pennsylvania German~~~Christmas Traditions (lindermangenealogy.wordpress.com)
• Say What Am I Singing?! (whitebrickhouse.wordpress.com)

Six Word Saturday

It’s Saturday again and you know what that means
Describe your life, or a day in your life, in six words.

My six words for this week –
Drinking White Wine in the Sun

It’s Saturday, December 14, 2024. Then a quick flashback to my first year of blogging, which started on March 1, 2011. December 14, 2011, and I wrote this –

“This is my favourite Christmas song this year.  It was written and is performed by Tim Minchin an Australian comedian, songwriter and poet.  Most of you will probably not have heard of this guy but I understand he is really big in the UK.  If you haven’t heard this song click here.”

It continues to be my favourite Christmas song. Every year during November, December, and January, he donates the proceeds from the track to the National Autistic Society. Is this the real meaning of Christmas?

“I really like Christmas
It’s sentimental, I know
But I just really like it
I am hardly religious
I’d rather break bread with Dawkins
Than Desmond Tutu, to be honest
And yes, I have all of the usual objections
To consumerism
To the commercialisation of an ancient religion
To the westernisation of a dead Palestinian
Press-ganged into selling PlayStations and beer
But I still really like it
I’m looking forward to Christmas
Though I’m not expecting
A visit from Jesus’

Read the rest of that original post Drinking White Wine in the Sun here

I hope your lead-up to Christmas/ Hannukah or however you celebrate this time of the year is going well.

Friday the 13th

Maybe you suffer from Paraskevidekatriaphobia.
What’s that you say?
Definition: a persistent, irrational fear of Friday the 13th

If you’re superstitious, walking through the streets can feel like navigating a field of landmines. Don’t let a black cat cross your path. Step on a crack and break your mother’s back. And never walk under a ladder! 

We all know about black cats walking in front of us, broken mirrors, and walking under ladders. But when and where did these superstitions originate?

Bad luck and black cats.  It’s said that the story began when a black cat was seen running into a house thought to be inhabited by a witch. During the Middle Ages, black cats became tied in with black magic. Roaming nocturnal black cats were thought to be witches in disguise. However in some parts of the world, black cats are considered omens of good fortune.

Breaking a mirror brings seven years of bad luck. It so happened that in both Ancient Greece and the Roman Empire, between 2,000 and 2,700 years ago, reflected images were thought to have mysterious powers. It is likely that the broken mirror superstition began in one of these times and places.

The superstition of bad luck following after one has walked under a ladder has its origins in Ancient Egypt. The Egyptians regarded the shape of the triangle as sacred since it was the shape of the pyramids. And, as a leaning ladder forms a triangle, walking under one was considered to bring misfortune.

Many people avoid stepping on cracks on pavements/sidewalks. There’s no definitive source of the first instance of this avoidance, but there is evidence that the practice dates to some of the earliest folk beliefs shared by early Europeans and Americans. Cracks in sidewalks, floors and soil, as well as in walls, signalled gaps in the boundaries between the earthly realm and the metaphysical realm. Interact with these chasms, no matter how narrow, and you could bring misfortune to you or your family.

Maybe we were lucky that in 2024 there were two – Friday, September 13, and this one, December 13. or maybe not. And looking ahead You’ll ve to wait six months for the next one – Friday, June 13, 2025.

Just a thought. We get Friday the 13th a day ahead of many of you. Do we get the pick of the superstitions, the bad luck?

“Don’t be superstitious.
Nothing will happen on Friday the 13th,
that cannot happen on Saturday the 14th.” Anon

And even more trivia –
In the 2010s, there were three Friday the 13ths in 2012 and 2015, and two in 2013, 2017, 2018, and 2019. In the 2020s, there were two in 2020 and 2023. There will also be three in 2026, and two in 2024 and 2029.

End of ramblings for another day. And yesterday”s post? Sorry didn’t make it. Must/will try harder.

Christmas is Coming

Christmas is coming and
the geese are getting fat
Please put a penny in the old man’s hat
If you haven’t got a penny
a ha’penny will do
if you haven’t got a ha’penny then
God Bless You”

Summer is here and so is Christmas. Summer holidays to plan and Christmas is just around the corner. Everyone is getting stressed with a long To-do list.  Will they get it all done by December 24, 

Of course, we are ahead of you, timewise, and as I sit here on a sunny Wednesday evening, I  find there are only 13 days, 5 hours, 26 minutes and 2 seconds until Christmas Day – how long is it for you? Click to find out. – 

Unfortunately, at this time of year, we read of disasters and road deaths, which means that Christmas 2024 will not be a time of celebration for many. If you are driving, please take extra care.

My day as usual has been full, but Wednesdays are special to me. Today was the final session of the Youg Writers Workshop II. I devised this programme for young and pre-teens earlier this year and most then subscribed to the second workshop.    This is a jolly, involved group of children who turn up each week for eight weeks. One hour is all I am allowed and all they can accept after a full day at school.  Today was great. They were all instructed to bring a story they had written or were working on to share with the rest of us.  Each story showed how far they had come on their writing journey.  I am so proud of them all.

The afternoon was not all seriousness.  Chatting and laughing while they shared their stories and some Rose’s chocolates, my treat having at an earlier date checked they were not allergic to chocolates and were allowed to eat them.  They shared their holiday plans; one girl going to Germany to meet her father’s relatives; one to Australia on a road trip not knowing where she would be on Christmas Day.  A boy was going to South America, as he said his home country, for the first time. Others were holidaying in various parts of New Zealand.

The day ended with the presentation of Certificates of Completion and for each, a bound copy of the work/topics we covered during this workshop. 

And because here we celebrate with barbecues, swimming in pools and lazing on beaches, we are keen for the weather to be good on the day. We are told it looks good so far!

And in this time of commercialism having taken over Christmas:

“Maybe Christmas, he thought, doesn’t come from a store. 
Maybe Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more.” 

The Grinch realised that the holiday spirit doesn’t come from cookies and movies and presents. It comes from spending the season with those you love and being thankful for the blessings in your life.

Does Anything Ever Chnge?

In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations
and epochs,it is the rule.” 
― Friedrich Nietzsche

In 2016 and again in 2022, I pondered on what has gone so wrong in and with our world..
Today I am still pondering. Nothing changes. Men make war for whatever reason, and they continue to do the same things in the same way and expect different outcomes.
Einstein labelled this Insanity and Voltaire commented :

“It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished 
unless they kill in large numbers 
and to the sound of trumpets.”
Voltaire

Then I compared today’s armed conflicts with the life I lived as a young child during the Second World War. In 1940 there was one war, World War II. in 2024 according to the Heidelberg Institute of International Conflict Research, there are 110 politically motivated armed conflicts worldwide.

And today we have Ukraine on our TV sets night after night. We can take sides and decide whether Russia and Putin are wrong, or we could say they are only defending their place in the world. Putin is quoted as saying Ukraine was a constant threat and Russia could not “feel safe, develop and exist”.

So 10 million people inside Ukraine and beyond have been displaced and as the Russians pull back leaving death and destruction behind, who has won the war?

And what of the Israeli/Arab conflict? In spite of ceasefires, this continues with flare-ups and more people being killed or injured, and made homeless, with no real end in sight.

. And what does Mary Oliver have to say on the subject?

“I believe in kindness. Also in mischief. Also in singing, 
especially when singing is not necessarily prescribed.”
Mary Oliver

Deep thinking from this elderly mind today. Never mind, the cheerful JB will be back with some simple social activity with which to bore you. But the questions remain- what has gone so wrong, and will we never learn.