Thursday, 24 May 2012
Wednesday, 23 May 2012
The hottest day of summer = nursing a sore throat
This does feel very odd. I am sipping Lemsip, lurking on the sofa with my dressing gown round my neck, wondering whether some curry would kill the lurgy.
I love the way the air warms up and cools down during the day. The smell of the air changes. The birds seem to be chirping in a new way too. Maybe they are having a chilled out garden party from their branches.
It was delicious to walk out of Sainsbury's into the hot humid air. Mmm. I kept on taking my sunglasses off each time I went into a shop, then putting them back on after paying but before picking up my bags to go.
I made my way into my stable to sit there for a bit. The ivy is growing more lush in there, nettles are peeking in at the doorway and there is a sudden long tendril of bindweed too.
All the old wooden planks and old rubbish heaped up on the other side from *my* side looked as if they would target for gold spray paint. Imagine covering it all in gold! Or perhaps pure white gloss. My mother in law would be most cross because she has possessions from her previous homes there, but I can sit in my chair and imagine freely without hurting anyone's feelings.
The other event is that the lower portion of one of our big sash windows has been taken away to be repaired, so this room's window is boarded up. It is amazing how one minute a window is in its place and the next it has been taken out. I bet it has not been removed for 50 or 100 years.
I love the way the air warms up and cools down during the day. The smell of the air changes. The birds seem to be chirping in a new way too. Maybe they are having a chilled out garden party from their branches.
It was delicious to walk out of Sainsbury's into the hot humid air. Mmm. I kept on taking my sunglasses off each time I went into a shop, then putting them back on after paying but before picking up my bags to go.
I made my way into my stable to sit there for a bit. The ivy is growing more lush in there, nettles are peeking in at the doorway and there is a sudden long tendril of bindweed too.
All the old wooden planks and old rubbish heaped up on the other side from *my* side looked as if they would target for gold spray paint. Imagine covering it all in gold! Or perhaps pure white gloss. My mother in law would be most cross because she has possessions from her previous homes there, but I can sit in my chair and imagine freely without hurting anyone's feelings.
The other event is that the lower portion of one of our big sash windows has been taken away to be repaired, so this room's window is boarded up. It is amazing how one minute a window is in its place and the next it has been taken out. I bet it has not been removed for 50 or 100 years.
Monday, 21 May 2012
Hug that ballot box! Show that blue inked finger!
A lovely piece on voting in Benghazi. I am smiling.
This morning on tv there was a programme about the lengths women suffragettes went to for women to get the vote here. I always vote, but didn't know much about how women's suffrage was achieved.po
This morning on tv there was a programme about the lengths women suffragettes went to for women to get the vote here. I always vote, but didn't know much about how women's suffrage was achieved.po
Right now: Bahrain's UN UPR in Geneva live stream
The livestream has English simultaneous translation. Choose channel 11.
On Twitter use follow the hashtag 'BahrainUPR'.
On Twitter use follow the hashtag 'BahrainUPR'.
Friday, 11 May 2012
Forgive the gruesome blogs I follow
Since finding Al Jezeera last year and becoming gripped by the important events in the Arab Spring I have added relevant blogs to my sidebar. This is nothing to do with home education, but this blog is for me rather than for the home ed community.
There are some very graphic photos only a few clicks away. I am getting used to a level of detail I would not have expected before.
The same warning goes for the anti-death penalty blogs, not for photos, but for eye-witness accounts. The reality is so shocking and real-time.
A little of what I read about gets into my conversations during our home educating life, not much though. One comment goes a very long way, judging from my memories of one-off statements by my parents years ago. I am 31 and 33 years older than T and H, so my interior life is utterly different from theirs. I am experiencing the generation gap from this position as a parent.
However, I could not home educate without my own varied interests and passions. They are crucial, even though they have only sprung up as the children have come to give me time alone in which to pursue them. It has not been the other way round in our case. I could not have imagined the amount of brain space I have to attend to other matters. Perhaps home educating has been the creator of this space and time?
There are some very graphic photos only a few clicks away. I am getting used to a level of detail I would not have expected before.
The same warning goes for the anti-death penalty blogs, not for photos, but for eye-witness accounts. The reality is so shocking and real-time.
A little of what I read about gets into my conversations during our home educating life, not much though. One comment goes a very long way, judging from my memories of one-off statements by my parents years ago. I am 31 and 33 years older than T and H, so my interior life is utterly different from theirs. I am experiencing the generation gap from this position as a parent.
However, I could not home educate without my own varied interests and passions. They are crucial, even though they have only sprung up as the children have come to give me time alone in which to pursue them. It has not been the other way round in our case. I could not have imagined the amount of brain space I have to attend to other matters. Perhaps home educating has been the creator of this space and time?
I see I am in Twitter Jail for my activities on the Bhtorture hashtag
403 Forbidden (rate limit exceeded)
Well, that was quick! I'll be back on the case in an hour or however long it is before I am allowed back online.
Time for a refreshing walk round my lovely village. I can make it a little pilgrimage visiting the post boxes I use for my one way Amnesty-inspired correspondence with the King of Bahrain, his ambassador to the UK, Ireland, Sweden and Norway and various Ministers. One day these endless polite letters including the words 'torture or other ill-treatment' won't be needed.
Well, that was quick! I'll be back on the case in an hour or however long it is before I am allowed back online.
Time for a refreshing walk round my lovely village. I can make it a little pilgrimage visiting the post boxes I use for my one way Amnesty-inspired correspondence with the King of Bahrain, his ambassador to the UK, Ireland, Sweden and Norway and various Ministers. One day these endless polite letters including the words 'torture or other ill-treatment' won't be needed.
Checking in with myself
I have continued to use a simple tool during my day. In a booklet, which I keep beside my armchair, I make notes as I listen to what 3 parts of me are saying. If it isn't written down it isn't quite real somehow.
The 3 parts are: Emotional me, Wise me and the Body. In that order. Then I solve the problems felt in my body, ie an icepack for a sore knee, moving a foot or putting on lipsalve.
Often I find working out what is out of balance in my body harder than the other questions.
Emotional me generally reveals that I am 'glad that...' after I have accomplished something or 'aware that...', which generally refers to a problem. Black and white thinking! No subtle shades of emotions yet.
The Wise me offers a great listening ear and advice I love! The best one is 'be patient' and my next favourite is 'rest'.
The 3 parts are: Emotional me, Wise me and the Body. In that order. Then I solve the problems felt in my body, ie an icepack for a sore knee, moving a foot or putting on lipsalve.
Often I find working out what is out of balance in my body harder than the other questions.
Emotional me generally reveals that I am 'glad that...' after I have accomplished something or 'aware that...', which generally refers to a problem. Black and white thinking! No subtle shades of emotions yet.
The Wise me offers a great listening ear and advice I love! The best one is 'be patient' and my next favourite is 'rest'.
Sunday, 6 May 2012
Questions and answers
"Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves like locked rooms and like books that are written in a very foreign tongue." He went on, "Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer."
Words by Rainer Maria Rilke
Quoted by Caroline Stoessinger in her book about Alice Herz-Sommer, now 108 years old, a pianist, imprisoned in Theresienstadt concentration camp, who has lived a full life both before and afterwards.
A Century of Wisdom - Lessons from the Life of Alice Herz-Sommer
2012, published by Two Roads
Words by Rainer Maria Rilke
Quoted by Caroline Stoessinger in her book about Alice Herz-Sommer, now 108 years old, a pianist, imprisoned in Theresienstadt concentration camp, who has lived a full life both before and afterwards.
A Century of Wisdom - Lessons from the Life of Alice Herz-Sommer
2012, published by Two Roads
Thursday, 3 May 2012
Face-lighty-up type smile
Half an hour ago H came to the kitchen and said he didn't feel well, then went to his room.
After 2 hot water bottles by his feet, the duvet pulled up to his eye brows, the baby white polar bear put on the pillow next to him and his lap top brought close...he beamed at me.
It sounds like teenager-itis, a chill and or all-too-much-all-of-a-sudden-itis. Or all three at once.
I forgot to mention the tv beeper and a new pair of warm socks. They are part of our medicine cupboard round here. Slow medicine is what we do.
Next to me I have a mug of bright orange vitamin C to boost me up just in case there is a lurgy going around.
After 2 hot water bottles by his feet, the duvet pulled up to his eye brows, the baby white polar bear put on the pillow next to him and his lap top brought close...he beamed at me.
It sounds like teenager-itis, a chill and or all-too-much-all-of-a-sudden-itis. Or all three at once.
I forgot to mention the tv beeper and a new pair of warm socks. They are part of our medicine cupboard round here. Slow medicine is what we do.
Next to me I have a mug of bright orange vitamin C to boost me up just in case there is a lurgy going around.
Four types of work
* dismantling structures of violence, such as militarism, unjust economics, consumerism;
* redeeming structures that may be 'fallen', such as democratic systems, local economies/community spaces, education, faith traditions;
* preserving structures that give life, such as the natural world, human rights and freedoms, the arts;
* creating new life-giving structures, such as peace and solidarity networks, intentional communities and community building initiatives.
From 'Holding faith - creating peace in a violent world'
By David Gee
Quaker Books 2011
* redeeming structures that may be 'fallen', such as democratic systems, local economies/community spaces, education, faith traditions;
* preserving structures that give life, such as the natural world, human rights and freedoms, the arts;
* creating new life-giving structures, such as peace and solidarity networks, intentional communities and community building initiatives.
From 'Holding faith - creating peace in a violent world'
By David Gee
Quaker Books 2011
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