Words

Are you a cruciverbalist?  I am.  I always thought this was a designer of crossword puzzles but now I understand ( after looking it up on our trusty Wikipedia) that it can also apply to an enthusiast of word games and of crossword puzzles.

I have played word games, with my father and sisters, since I was young.  My father did crosswords well into his 90s even though he was officially determined as blind.

Words have power. In ancient times spoken words created worlds, creatures, and human beings to educate and amuse their listeners.  Along with drawings this was the way that myths, stories and histories were passed down through the generations.  And still we love words and what they tell us, where they can transport us to  and what they can mean.

I have always been intrigued with words, how they sound and how they look on the page and what they actually mean.  And we know that words even though they sound  the same often have quite different meanings.  Think about :

• Rain and reign.  They sound the same but have totally different meanings and are spelt quite differently too.
• Their and there.  Again they sound the same but have different meanings.
• Fore and four
• Nay and neigh
• Buy and bye
• Here and hear
• Saw and sore
• Bare and bear

I know that the spoken word often betrays the area from where the speaker hails – and there is another examples hails and hales. For instance if I say what (concentrating on the wh sound) it will sound quite different to the way in which my NZ educated grandchildren will say it.  And I know you will be able to think of many instances yourself.  In this day of people moving freely around the world, bringing different cultures to play many English words are heard that sound different to our ears.

And many more.  But how clever to be able to design crosswords.  Not only does one have to derive the clues but also to have the letters form into words where the letters intersect and also in the full word.  I wish I were that clever.

The first page I turn to in the newspaper is always the puzzle page.  In our local paper we have 4 crosswords daily – one cryptic (that I never manage to get out) one two-speed that has both regular and cryptic clues, and this is my favourite, one daily which is a regular crossword and another daily that is slightly more difficult.  In addition to these we have a code cracker.  In this we are given one or two of the letters and have to complete the rest of the puzzle using these.  If you don’t have this in your newspaper click the link to see what it is.

So for any cruciverbalist there is plenty to keep us busy and happy.

“Colors fade, temples crumble, empires fall,
but wise words endure.”
Edward Thorndike,  1874 – 1949
American psychologist

Related articles

• App Smart: Crossword Puzzle Apps Need No Eraser – App Smart (nytimes.com)
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News of Andy

That Andy is becoming a world traveller.  Not only has he been to Florida,  Texas, Virginia Beach and Iowa we now learn that he is getting out his passport once again to visit Darlene in Victoria, BC.  We know he has a passport because he recently spent some time with us in New Zealand.

This looks like a good place to rest

Andy appears to make himself at home wherever he lands.  He was very tired after his long journey from Texas to Wellington and quickly found himself a comfortable place to rest.

He is a cheerful little chap and everyone just loves him.  He visited several places with us (that’s Lotte and me) and the folk at the local hospice particularly enjoyed his visits.  On several occasions I have been asked by staff members where he is and they are all agog at the fun we are having with this ‘white elephant armadillo.

Checking he is in the right place and looking for his friends

He started out at Lenore Diane’s house in Georgia and then somehow convinced Lenore Diane that he needed to see the world.  Some of my fellow bloggers are multi talented and that LD even speaks Armadillo.  Who would have guessed? And is that a form of Cajun French or Louisiana French?

There’s room on this chair for two

He not only gets on well with humans but dogs love him too.  Well Lotte at least tolerated him but was no doubt pleased to have her chair and her place in the car back once Andy left.

If you are interested in seeing where Andy has been and catching up on some of his travels (he even went to Beijing  and Shanghai with Beth Ann and her lovely husband) go to Lenore Diane’s Adventures of Andy page.

Thanks to Lenore Diane for starting this and to all those other bloggers who have joined in.

Long Awaited

 

Along with much of the free world, I have checked in to watch some of the Olympics.  I must admit here that I didn’t watch all through the opening ceremony because I guess I have a short attention span.  But I did cheer (albeit in my head) when the New Zealand team marched into the stadium and then again when the England team arrived.  You see, I have definite divided loyalties here.  Can you image what happens when NZ plays England in a test match.!  Canada of course, also got a cheer from me.

I have seen the James Bond and the Queen skit of them arriving in a helicopter and think it was fabulous.  I think the Queen enjoyed it too.

Today we had the spectacle of that road race and wasn’t that exciting.  Who would have expected that result?  England were tipped to bring home the medals.  Congratulations to Kazakhstan wonder Alexandr Vinokourov for winning the gold medal.  Such a long ride and those young men all looked so fresh, fit and healthy at the end of the 5 plus hours.  Our hope Jack Bauer, came only tenth but that was a sterling effort on his part.  Apparently he was fighting cramps but when asked if he still harboured hopes of a medal in the final stages, Bauer said: “Of course I do”.

We cheered on our NZ rowing pair who sliced 6 minutes off the world record – and these two rowers haven’t been beaten since they came together in 2007 winning 16 major titles in that time.  So although this was only a heat, we have great hopes for a gold here.

As you know from previous blogs, I am a Londoner and even though I live 12,000 miles away I am still proud of what has been achieved in my ‘home’ city.

The last time the Olympics was hosted in London was 1948.  London and Londoners were war-weary and concern was expressed at how the Olympians would be fed and housed.  Now all that is changed.  According to the Los Angeles Times “London is one of the most cosmopolitan cities in the whole world”.  Please read the full report here.

But for me, the most impressive thing is how they have turned an almost derelict part of the city into a games venue up there with any other in the history of the games.   I am sure that Boris Johnson (London’s Lord Mayor) and all Londoner’s wherever they live, must be very happy with this.  When I was growing up this whole area was full of factories and as these factories moved away the area became abandoned.  And now look at it.

I am looking forward to seeing more of the games, but intermittently as I do have other things to do with my time.  Luckily, I have the ability to record anything that I particularly want to see and so can watch at my time.

Related articles

• London Olympics 2012: let’s get the party started – Telegraph.co.uk (telegraph.co.uk)
• Boris Johnson basks in the sun with former Olympic medal winners (itv.com)
• Mitt Romney’s Olympic Sized Gaffe Inspires London Mayor Boris Johnson: VIDEO (towleroad.com)
• Olympic torch heads towards Stratford stadium (independent.co.uk)

 

Saturday Once Again

 

It’s time once again for six word Saturday and today my six words are

“Let them eat cake, she said”

Want to play along? All that’s necessary to participate is to describe your life (or something) in a phrase using just six words – click here for more details.

I have just seen the movie “Farewell My Queen”.  A French movie with a German actress in the starring role.  Here we are shown (for the first time in my experience) the Revolution as seen by a servant.

We are introduced to Versailles in July 1789.  Unrest is growing in the court of King Louis the XVI. The people are rebelling – a revolution is imminent.  It is sweeping from Paris towards the court, and the bejewelled, befuddled aristocrats are only now awakening  to discover that they are in the way of a growing and impressive movement of the people and it  will not stop for them.

We are shown behind the facades of the royal palaces where fleeing is on everyone’s mind, including Queen Marie Antoinette and her entourage.  The story is told  through the eyes of one of her ladies-in-waiting Sidonie Laborde    Sidonie is the Queen’s reader and  has become quite intimate with her. We are shown this intimacy growing and a relationship of trust develops.  With the Queen  and with great amazement, Sidonie experiences the first hours of the French Revolution.  Her  misplaced loyalty and conscious self-sacrifice  prove to be her undoing.

We all know that while France and its inhabitants have been starving, the court and its entourages /sycophants have been filling  themselves with expensive delicacies.  We are shown one scene where one of the maids complains about the bread and the retort is that whole families could live on that for a week.  We are given glimpses of the relationship between the classes of French society and the way the lower servant classes spy on, fantasize about and interact with the other upper classes.

In Paris, a list has been drawn up of 286 aristo heads set to roll. And people on the street have not only stopped showing respect for the king, many are waving pitchforks and torches in his direction. It’s July 14, 1789, and within days, the world will be turned upside down.  Once this list becomes known the nobles and gentlemen and ladies of the court fall over themselves int heir efforts to escape.

We see little of  King Louis XVI whose surprising choice to return to Paris on his own and face down the insurrection puts him way above the cowardly fugitives in his court.

We are shown the Queen as a weak willed woman, led by her husband but also by her appetites for gratification.  One of these leads her to an infatuation/love affair with Mme. de Polinac which she doesn’t try to hide.  But when she tells her lover to flee the country and Mme de Polinac agrees she feels betrayed and abandoned by her.  However, she convinces the young Sidonie to dress herself and act as Polinac so that an escape can be achieved.

This is a movie that is worth seeing even if only for the way it portrays the other side of the story of the Revolution.  How it impacts on a lowly maid in the service of the Queen and her ultimate sacrifice for her.

Related articles

• Farewell, My Queen: Palace Intrigue Before the Revolution (seattleweekly.com)
• Marie Antoinette’s Girl Friend, Mira Sorvino’s Bronx – Bloomberg (bloomberg.com)
• A Humble Servant, Watching As The Throne Totters (wnyc.org)

 

Time for Laughter

My day started in laughter when I read this post from Joss at Crowing Crone Joss.  Of course, most of us have heard this in one form or another over the years, but it always reduces me to tears of laughter.  I imagine the absolute panic as she goes through the various stages of self-help/mutilation.  Occasionally I have tried to self administer wax strips but in the end I always resort to a visit to the spa to have the waxing carried out.

But this post reminded me of a particularly harrowing time for me.  I have always loved to linger in the bath with a book and either a glass of wine (provided by my late husband) or a coffee in later years.

On this particular evening I got the bathroom ready, lit candles, brought up the coffee and book, made sure the bath pillow was inflated and in place and then poured in a liberal dose of bath oil that had been given to me by a friend.  For the first time ever I think, I took the cordless phone into the bathroom with me.  I don’t think I was expecting a call but who knows why.

The book was good, the water was topped up whenever it got a little cold and the coffee was perfect.  I wallowed for over an hour.

Came the time to get out of the bath, disaster struck.  I couldn’t get out.  My feet kept slipping from under me because of the oil and I couldn’t get a grip.  I tried kneeling and getting out from there – no good.  I tried slipping up the sloping end of the bath – that ended in my falling down hard back into the rapidly cooling bath water.  I looked at the phone and considered calling my daughter to come and help but knew that my delightful son-in-law would never let me live that down.  I looked around for any bright ideas.  The bath was not equipped with handles as many are today so no help there.

I was getting myself into quite a state (and panicking) when I looked down and beside the bath was the bathmat.  The light went on in my head.  I put the towelling bathmat into the bottom of the bath and immediately was able to get out.  What a relief.  And while it is funny in retrospect, and while posts like the one from Joss bring it back into my mind, at the time it was quite scary.  And it was several weeks before I decided to take a bath again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Related articles

• Product Review: Molton Brown Davana Blossom Foaming Bath Oil (bellasugar.com)
• Can I draw you a hot bath? (jahsworld.net)

Art and Inspiration

One of the bloggers I follow is Val Erde at Arty Old Bird.  Val is a very talented artist and generously allows us to use her art in our posts.

In a recent post Val asked Are You a Fan of Anything? and this was the piece of artwork that accompanied the question:

Val saw this image as a fan obviously, but I saw it as a woman running  towards her future.  But on looking at it again and in further detail I see a woman swimming towards her destiny.  There are red, wild and dangerous waters behind her but mostly clear blue seas ahead.  What do you see in this painting?  I would love to hear from you and do go over and read the post from Val and all the comments.  Very illuminating.

Almost a year ago Val set us a challenge in one of her posts – “It can be drawing, painting, photography, sculpture, knitting, crochet, animation, digital artwork, poetry, dialogue, short story, anything creative that you like, really!”  To accompany the challenge and to act as inspiration she gave us this painting :

Picture challenge by Val Erde

Val has now changed her blog and the original post is no longer available for me to give you the link.

I immediately saw a woman evolving and becoming and as I said at the time, I don’t paint, sculpt, knit, crochet or do any of the other things suggested by Val so  I wrote a poem having been reminded of one of my all time favourite poems Becoming the Woman I Wanted by Jayne Relaford Brown. 

While my poem in no way compares in the writing style of this poet, I was quite pleased with this my first attempt at writing poetry.  And in an unabashed show of self promotion, I am republishing it here.

This Woman I am Becoming

Memories flowing through me
Making me who I am
Warm thoughts to banish cold nights
And sunshine to dry the tears.

This woman I am becoming
Is learning patience
Learning grace
And learning that love is enough.

I am enjoying this woman I am becoming
She knows where she is going
And where she belongs
She has her place in the world.

So thank you Val for the inspiration and the use of your fabulous artwork.  I hope that I have followed the rules for using these pieces.  If you want to reproduce any of Val’s images please go to http://artyoldbird.com/using-my-images  to see the conditions for doing so.

Related Posts aka More Blatant Self Promotion

• Finding Her Here
• This Woman I am Becoming
• I am Becoming the Woman I’ve Wanted

Pesky Weed

Gmail has been having fun with my inbox recently.  There have been days when very few emails have come through and then others when they just keep arriving.  So I have been catching up on my blog/post reading today.  By the way, if I don’t seem to have commented on your posts for a while, please check your SPAM folder.  One of the blogs I follow is Crowing Crone Joss and when I read this post from her today about the Borg Vine, I immediately thought of my pesky weed, the ivy.

Somebody, in their wisdom planted ivy around this house many years ago and it has now reached epic proportions.  It climbs up the side of the house and threatens to enter the bathroom and study widows.

Ivy encroaching over bathroom window

Ivy at study window

At the rear of the property is a high bank.  A flight of brick steps gives access to a sitting area and here the ivy is rampant!

Ivy at sitting area

Some months ago I  had a contractor come to kill the ivy but to no avail.  I think he liked the ivy and wasn’t sufficiently ruthless.  So now we are taking really drastic measures.

More ivy

As you will see the “branches” of the weed are really quite thick, so we will cut as much of it back and then douse the cut ends of the branches with undiluted woody weed killer.  As soon as we have a forecast for a couple of dry days this will be done.  And then once again we will be in control.

But while writing this blog I have thought about how tenacious this ivy is.  In the face of several  many onslaughts (and those that I have mounted cannot possibly be the only ones over all the years since it was first planted) it has survived.  I then thought about the tenacious people I have met over many years.  They are like this ivy.  They are determined to hang on and thrive and they do.  I have met many people like this in real life, and many more in the blogosphere.  A few days ago I wrote about being in awe of the things that many people have suffered and overcome.  Some people have had ghastly childhoods; some were unwanted by their mother’s second husband and treated very badly; others have lived with alcoholic and violent fathers or mothers, and some have become involved with the wrong people,  but what they have in common is they are survivors.  In my years practising as a Life Coach I met many people whose problem boiled down to lack of self-esteem and often they had often been brought to this state by the way they had been treated.  With time and tenacity on their part, most were able to rediscover their self-esteem, and some keep in touch so that I know how well they are surviving and succeeding.

“Even in its darkest passages, the heart is unconquerable.
It is important that the body survives,
but it is more meaningful that the human spirit prevails.”
Dave Pelzer,  1960 – author of A Child Called “It”

So again to all those who have survived and moved on in their lives I say congratulations and well done and whatever happiness and success you now enjoy you most certainly have deserved it.

But unfortunately for my ivy, it will not succeed. I shall be keeping a close watch on the weather forecast and as soon as two dry days are forecast there shall be War on the Weed!!

Associated Posts

• How Lucky Am I
• My September Years

Related articles

• Could Lasers Be the New Way to Kill Weeds? (inhabitat.com)
• Star Wars on Weeds: Could Lasers Replace Herbicides? (treehugger.com)

One Giant Leap

 

“Would you like to live in Auckland?” he asked
“Yes! I’ll be able to see my sister”
“Auckland not Oakland” he replied.
New Zealand, one huge step to the other side of world

This is my entry in this weekend’s Trifecta Challenge.  We were told :

“Forty-three years ago today, Neil Armstrong became the first person to ever walk on the moon.  In celebration of Moon Day we want you to write 33 words about someone who took a giant leap.  It can mean whatever you’d like, just make sure you write exactly 33 words.”

If you want to know more about Trifecta or join in the challenges click on the tricycle above.  Good luck, it’s fun to try the challenges.

Related articles

• July 20 1969 Neil Armstrong walks on moon (craighill.net)
• Neil Armstrong breaks silence to give accountants moon exclusive (guardian.co.uk)
• What Bluffton’s Swinging Nature Preserve has in common with Neil Armstrong and Jimi Hendrix (steinermp.wordpress.com)

 

How Lucky Am I?

“When we are no longer able to change a situation,
we are challenged to change ourselves.”
Victor Frankl, 1905-1997
Austrian Neurologist and Psychiatrist

I am  constantly amazed at the fortitude of my fellow bloggers.  When I read of the hardships and abuse many have suffered and overcome, I wonder at my luck of having been born into a loving and caring family and then having the good fortune to meet and marry my ‘Dashing-Young-Scotsman’ at an early age.

I tell people that I have lived a blessed life.  If you have read any of my earlier posts, you will see that I had a long and mostly happy life with my DYS; I have two children whom I love and whose support I can rely on and appreciate.

My family is rounded out by four strapping young grandsons all of whom seem pleased to see their Granma and offers of help are often forthcoming.

Of course, no life is perfect.  I left my family in the UK to follow my husband in his move up the corporate ladder which entailed us moving around the world.  My children therefore, missed out on the companionship of cousins that I had when growing up.  And they saw their grandparents on rare (bi annual) visits home.  So they were very much part of a nuclear family – the four of us in a world far removed from home.

I am also very lucky to have two sisters, one in London and one in Los Angeles.  Could we have landed any further apart even had we planned it?  While they are not within easy visiting distance we still are in regular contact by phone and now of course, the internet.  Aren’t we lucky to live in this technological age.

Mother with her three daughters

There have of course been bad times in this long life of mine.  We lived in Montreal for a couple of years and I absolutely loathed it.  The French Separatists were very active and almost daily we heard of their actions against the English speaking population.  My children’s school was bombed and that coupled with the police going on strike, made the decision for us to leave and return to our adopted home, New Zealand.

This time we knew that it would be a permanent move and that family and friends in the Northern Hemisphere would see us only a rare trips home; but we made the decision in the knowledge that this was where we wanted to raise our children – on the beach in Takapuna, Auckland.  After a year my husband was transferred to Wellington, the capital city, but that’s another story.

I wrote about a time when I was in danger of losing my leg and a black day when I wanted to Stop the World, but my blackest day was 14 years ago when my Not So DYS died and the colour went out of my world for some time.  But living and moving on doesn’t come with a choice and so I am in the next phase of my life and most of the colour has returned.

So daily I give thanks for my life and know that I wouldn’t swap it for anyone else’s.  Oh yes of course, there are parts I would gladly change.  Those that are shared in this post and others but mostly I say thanks to god, the Universe or whatever power is above us for giving me this life.

And above all I thank my fellow bloggers for being so open about their lives, in all the ups and downs and for sharing with us how they have overcome.  In reading about their problems I have come to realise just how lucky I am.  This is their gift to me.  Thank you thank you!

As each day comes to us refreshed and anew, so does my gratitude renew itself daily.
The breaking of the sun over the horizon is my grateful heart dawning upon a blessed world.
Terri Guillemets, U.S. quotation anthologist, 1973 –

Associated Posts:

• For My Sisters
• Yesterday When I was Young
• Stop the World

Related articles

• Why I feel lucky to be American (expatedna.com)
• The Art of Appreciation (snspost.com)

It’s Six Word Saturday Again

How quickly the weeks pass and it’s already Saturday again and time for Six Word Saturday.  If you would like to participate please either click on the picture above or click this link.

SWEEPING THE PATIO – CLEARING THE LEAVES

At the beginning of my blogging adventures I wrote a post about Gardening and Other Pleasures and bemoaned the fact that I had a tree that dropped its leaves all around the back courtyard.  I quickly reminded myself that I should be grateful that I had a back courtyard and the lovely tree to drop its leaves.  That was in April.

By May I had the offending tree cut back ( not down because the tree man thought its roots were probably holding up the bank) and I wrote a blog What a Difference a Day Makes about the patio minus the leaves.  Now some 14 months on and the tree is sprouting (and has been for some months) and dropping those bl–dy leaves again.

After days of rain when leaves and everything else is damp underfoot,  today dawned bright, sunny and dry.  And the temperature even climbed up to about 15 degrees Centigrade (about 60 degrees Fahrenheit) so we swept up the leaves again.  What a difference looking out the dining room doors now with the leaves gone – until tomorrow or Monday that is.  Yes, I am reminding myself again, just how lucky I am to have this pleasant, safe and secure, warm house, a courtyard and trees and of course, my faithful companion Lotte.  Not to forget my friend who willingly helps me with these chores.

Leaves have gone

So now the next job is to paint all the brickwork white.  As you can see parts of it were white at some stage.  And from that post in May last year :

“A man has made at least a start on discovering the meaning of human life when he plants shade trees under which he knows full well he will never sit. ”
D. Elton Trueblood, 1900 – 1994,
noted 20th century American Quaker author and theologian.

Related articles

• Six Word Saturday (susanwritesprecise.com)
• Why am I raking leaves in July? (ireport.cnn.com)
• Six Word Saturday #13 (motherwifestudentworker.wordpress.com)