Do you remember when he was freed from being held a hostage and he declaimed to the world how he wanted to see every country, eat every food, make love to every woman....?
I am feeling like that about poetry. I want to put up shelves in this house which I can order and fill without any interference. I want 2 cosy chairs in there. I want a book group which meets there.
I want to install a small shelf of poetry in the village church so people can go in and sit and listen to other people's 'comfortable words'.
I want to read and learn more and more of Shakespeare, maybe even dip my toe into the Bible. I want to do something which builds on my tiny collection of 4 typed out very short poems, by others, which I gave to my grandparents. I don't know what they made of it. I was in my mid-20's.
Well, I couldn't find a clip of that famous speech, but instead found this: Brian Keenan reading out loud.
Saturday, 29 December 2012
Monday, 24 December 2012
What day is it?
H asked me this today. We often get confused in this house. Any change to routine means the flow of days of the week is disturbed. Sometimes we are convinced it is Sunday evening when we still have another day of the weekend to enjoy. The Olympics did this to us too.
So tomorrow is a weekday, then we get another weekend in effect, 25th and 26th. Then 2 more weekdays, followed by another weekend, 29th, 30th. Then the same again for the week of New Year... So 5 weekends in 2 weeks, wow!
So tomorrow is a weekday, then we get another weekend in effect, 25th and 26th. Then 2 more weekdays, followed by another weekend, 29th, 30th. Then the same again for the week of New Year... So 5 weekends in 2 weeks, wow!
Saturday, 22 December 2012
London has a beach
I have just found out about the new beach in London. I grew up there, but that doesn't seem to help with keeping up to date with what is going on!
Photo of the beach complete with sunshine and a sand sofa
Photo of the beach complete with sunshine and a sand sofa
Thursday, 20 December 2012
Make do and create
iPad Stand
T needed an iPad stand, so I suggested cutting out parts of a cardboard box used for transporting wine bottles. He has made a beautiful and effective stand. The second one was better than the first.
Because the screen is held about an inch above the table level there is space for a cable to be plugged in. He used some cross-bracing too. Cardboard is very light and has some give to it too.
Chocolate Advent Calendar
A few days ago T said he really wanted a chocolate advent calendar. For years I have been the puritan, just getting ones with openable pictures, no chocolate involved and only religious scenes. It was pretty much ignored last year, even by me, so I didn't get one this year.
So now I have done a 180 degree turn. I took the keys off the rack of key hooks in our kitchen. Then I knitted one little white and red Father Christmas stocking to hang up. I found 2 little foil wrapped chocolates to hide in there. One for T and one for H, both exactly the same.
Now I am knitting one sock a day to add to the calendar/rack and I have added the dates remaining until the 25th. Every night after the house is still I hang up the next stocking and fill it for the morning!
T needed an iPad stand, so I suggested cutting out parts of a cardboard box used for transporting wine bottles. He has made a beautiful and effective stand. The second one was better than the first.
Because the screen is held about an inch above the table level there is space for a cable to be plugged in. He used some cross-bracing too. Cardboard is very light and has some give to it too.
Chocolate Advent Calendar
A few days ago T said he really wanted a chocolate advent calendar. For years I have been the puritan, just getting ones with openable pictures, no chocolate involved and only religious scenes. It was pretty much ignored last year, even by me, so I didn't get one this year.
So now I have done a 180 degree turn. I took the keys off the rack of key hooks in our kitchen. Then I knitted one little white and red Father Christmas stocking to hang up. I found 2 little foil wrapped chocolates to hide in there. One for T and one for H, both exactly the same.
Now I am knitting one sock a day to add to the calendar/rack and I have added the dates remaining until the 25th. Every night after the house is still I hang up the next stocking and fill it for the morning!
Wednesday, 19 December 2012
I thought potholes only happened after snow and ice
We seem to be getting new ones as quickly as the old ones get filled up. It's only raining around here, we haven't had any real winter weather yet. I take between 3 and 5 thuds before I remember where each one is. Perhaps a broken wheel would improve my memory.
People get het up about pranging their tyres elsewhere too: in Saudi Arabia and London.
The Pothole Gardener has a full glorious blog.
People get het up about pranging their tyres elsewhere too: in Saudi Arabia and London.
The Pothole Gardener has a full glorious blog.
Monday, 17 December 2012
Why write for Iran, Iraq and Bahrain?
Back in the summer I went on my first demonstration. I met many people as we demonstrated and marched from the Bahraini to the Saudi embassies via Hyde Park Corner. We asked each other the usual questions like: Is this your first demonstration? One lady told me she had been on loads both in Iran and now in the UK. None of the people I spoke to said they were Bahraini. I recognised the gory photo on the banners from Twitter and stood so I couldn't see them all over again and again.
I also went to a poetry reading at the Pimlico offices of the Refugee Centre. There I chatted to a man who had come from Iraq. He told me that what had happened in Serbia/Yugoslavia wasn't my fault, which I appreciated hearing. I explained to him how years ago I saw a Bosnian woman sitting on the pavement with a cardboard placard begging in London and felt afraid of what I assumed would be her hatred if she knew I had Serbian family.
Because of these two encounters I decided to write Amnesty letters for Iran and Iraq in addition to Bahrain.
I also went to a poetry reading at the Pimlico offices of the Refugee Centre. There I chatted to a man who had come from Iraq. He told me that what had happened in Serbia/Yugoslavia wasn't my fault, which I appreciated hearing. I explained to him how years ago I saw a Bosnian woman sitting on the pavement with a cardboard placard begging in London and felt afraid of what I assumed would be her hatred if she knew I had Serbian family.
Because of these two encounters I decided to write Amnesty letters for Iran and Iraq in addition to Bahrain.
Saturday, 15 December 2012
New ways of book buying
I'm surprised at myself, I now buy directly from publishers in a way I would never have imagined. I thought I would have a written think about the different ways I get to buy books:
1. I go to a local bookshop with a person in mind I want to buy a birthday present for. This is great as I stay focussed and just browse until I see something which appeals and is not something I had planned for.
In fact I do not plan what I will get as a present anyway. So I am the ideal bookshop browser, walking in and saying 'Enchant me, attract my eye with a great cover, appeal to me because I want to choose something right now!' Mainly I buy children's books from age 0 to age 7.
2. I used to go to a local bookshop with my son T at the beginning of each holiday or half term. He was at a stage of hoovering up books, so we'd come out with a stack.
Now he buys in Reading after school, so I am not involved, nor is the local bookshop, but life is like that. He chooses 20th century classics, so often he will show us what he has found and we will say, 'Oh, but we have that somewhere already!'
3. Our local W H Smiths is good for GCSE and AS level books I want to have around for home ed purposes.
There are no prices on the books!! I can't believe some of the prices, but cough up because it is for Home Education and I can't tell what will be most helpful. I also get the odd history book there for my own interest. I found a wonderful road map of the USA there too!
4. Oxfam branches have great book sections, Wallingford and Didcot. I don't go in unless I am willing to get something, but can't have anything in mind as the range is unpredictable.
Once there was the famous Whole Earth Catalogue. It is a marvellous book, I had no idea the 60's and 70's really were like that. I have a long term plan to volunteer there if I get the chance.
5. I go onto Amazon with a specific purpose. This evening it was Arabic Board Books, then morphed into Arabic Readers for Beginners. I found various things and added them to my wish list.
One evening when I am feeling generous and agree to buy a book or dvd for T or H I will add a couple of my wish list items to the basket. There is quite a delay between putting something in the wish list and buying it, but it is right there for that 'willing to buy' moment. Looking at my wish list shows what topics I was interested in over the past year. I enjoy browsing what other people have searched for. The suggestions broaden my knowledge too.
6. I read the poetry and other literary blogs on my side bar and click through to the publishers of books I am immediately attracted to. Either I buy the book online straight away or I forget about it.
I need a wish list which holds all these direct from the publisher books. One thing I could do to help myself would be to write a draft blog post with links to each of these publishers. Then I could just update the baskets each time. This is still not nearly as good as a single ongoing Amazon wish list.
7. I read the Waterstone's blog and access the basket there.
8. Jessica Kingsley Publishers send me a printed catalogue every few months, so I buy from that if there is something I feel I would really benefit from, or borrow from the library or buy 2nd hand from Amazon.
9. I enjoy the Financial Times weekend book reviews, I cut my favourites out and stick them into my scrap book.
Coming up to my birthday or Christmas I look through and decide what to ask for.
10. I nearly forgot about the best source of all: the bibliography at the back of books I read. I photocopy them if I have to, or just mark them with buy, library, 2nd hand or have!
11. The list of other works by an author, split into Fiction and Non-fiction, at the front of each book. I am drawn to autobiographical works, so that helps me find them.
12. The village fete book tent in East Hagbourne and the half yearly book sale at North Moreton. How could I forget these?
Sorry for the long post, this is more for me than for any readers.
1. I go to a local bookshop with a person in mind I want to buy a birthday present for. This is great as I stay focussed and just browse until I see something which appeals and is not something I had planned for.
In fact I do not plan what I will get as a present anyway. So I am the ideal bookshop browser, walking in and saying 'Enchant me, attract my eye with a great cover, appeal to me because I want to choose something right now!' Mainly I buy children's books from age 0 to age 7.
2. I used to go to a local bookshop with my son T at the beginning of each holiday or half term. He was at a stage of hoovering up books, so we'd come out with a stack.
Now he buys in Reading after school, so I am not involved, nor is the local bookshop, but life is like that. He chooses 20th century classics, so often he will show us what he has found and we will say, 'Oh, but we have that somewhere already!'
3. Our local W H Smiths is good for GCSE and AS level books I want to have around for home ed purposes.
There are no prices on the books!! I can't believe some of the prices, but cough up because it is for Home Education and I can't tell what will be most helpful. I also get the odd history book there for my own interest. I found a wonderful road map of the USA there too!
4. Oxfam branches have great book sections, Wallingford and Didcot. I don't go in unless I am willing to get something, but can't have anything in mind as the range is unpredictable.
Once there was the famous Whole Earth Catalogue. It is a marvellous book, I had no idea the 60's and 70's really were like that. I have a long term plan to volunteer there if I get the chance.
5. I go onto Amazon with a specific purpose. This evening it was Arabic Board Books, then morphed into Arabic Readers for Beginners. I found various things and added them to my wish list.
One evening when I am feeling generous and agree to buy a book or dvd for T or H I will add a couple of my wish list items to the basket. There is quite a delay between putting something in the wish list and buying it, but it is right there for that 'willing to buy' moment. Looking at my wish list shows what topics I was interested in over the past year. I enjoy browsing what other people have searched for. The suggestions broaden my knowledge too.
6. I read the poetry and other literary blogs on my side bar and click through to the publishers of books I am immediately attracted to. Either I buy the book online straight away or I forget about it.
I need a wish list which holds all these direct from the publisher books. One thing I could do to help myself would be to write a draft blog post with links to each of these publishers. Then I could just update the baskets each time. This is still not nearly as good as a single ongoing Amazon wish list.
7. I read the Waterstone's blog and access the basket there.
8. Jessica Kingsley Publishers send me a printed catalogue every few months, so I buy from that if there is something I feel I would really benefit from, or borrow from the library or buy 2nd hand from Amazon.
9. I enjoy the Financial Times weekend book reviews, I cut my favourites out and stick them into my scrap book.
Coming up to my birthday or Christmas I look through and decide what to ask for.
10. I nearly forgot about the best source of all: the bibliography at the back of books I read. I photocopy them if I have to, or just mark them with buy, library, 2nd hand or have!
11. The list of other works by an author, split into Fiction and Non-fiction, at the front of each book. I am drawn to autobiographical works, so that helps me find them.
12. The village fete book tent in East Hagbourne and the half yearly book sale at North Moreton. How could I forget these?
Sorry for the long post, this is more for me than for any readers.
Thursday, 13 December 2012
I heard the word 'haqiba' today - حَقيبة - it means 'bag'
It was during the first part of a talk by Hassan Blasim, the writer of 'The Iraqi Christ', at the Mosaic Rooms. They record talks and put them online right here.
I don't quite see why 'bag' would fit into the sentence I heard, but so what? I'm on a mission to hear the words I already know, even though they are few amidst the many I don't know. My little treasures!
I have also discovered how to type online, via this Arabic Keyboard.
I don't quite see why 'bag' would fit into the sentence I heard, but so what? I'm on a mission to hear the words I already know, even though they are few amidst the many I don't know. My little treasures!
I have also discovered how to type online, via this Arabic Keyboard.
Wednesday, 12 December 2012
The Artist's Way - Copying Gauguin
3 of us did The Artist's Way course together in the spring of this year.
Then we decided to continue weekly without the book, simply asking each other the questions at the end of each chapter. Using a timer as in co-counselling helps to make sure we each have the same amount of time to speak. It turned into a lunch time event.
Now we have evolved into an art class. We started with a still life. The sun doesn't stay still though, the shadows kept on moving around! 2 of us are now working on a copy of a beautiful Gauguin painting. The other person paints her own work. We still bring and share lunch and use the timer to answer the questions.
It is such a good thing to be able to meet up as an ongoing group. We have some rituals which we stick to but we keep on trying out variations too according to our varying moods.
Then we decided to continue weekly without the book, simply asking each other the questions at the end of each chapter. Using a timer as in co-counselling helps to make sure we each have the same amount of time to speak. It turned into a lunch time event.
Now we have evolved into an art class. We started with a still life. The sun doesn't stay still though, the shadows kept on moving around! 2 of us are now working on a copy of a beautiful Gauguin painting. The other person paints her own work. We still bring and share lunch and use the timer to answer the questions.
It is such a good thing to be able to meet up as an ongoing group. We have some rituals which we stick to but we keep on trying out variations too according to our varying moods.
Saturday, 8 December 2012
Thursday, 6 December 2012
Charlotte Mason - Debussy - 3 Nocturnes
Part1/3 The Stuttgart Symphony Orchestra conducted by Sergiu Celibidache on YouTube, filmed in 1981.
Part 2/3 Ditto
Part 3/3 Ditto
This is another of the pieces for this term.
Part 2/3 Ditto
Part 3/3 Ditto
This is another of the pieces for this term.
Wednesday, 5 December 2012
Cheating at Cards
We play a lot of games here at home. Due to our different personalities I have become less rule bound. I can deal with creative interpretations of the rules without ending the game immediately. I even suggest fun or convenient changes to help a game along when it has got bogged down.
This free and easy attitude is not helpful in my Arabic classes. I am embarrassed with myself that I so easily suggest cheating to my team when we get to the end of a vocab game. The class is not my kitchen, and I am not playing with my dear relatives. So I have got to learn something really important: fit in with everyone else, play the game by the rules and LEARN MY VOCAB.
This free and easy attitude is not helpful in my Arabic classes. I am embarrassed with myself that I so easily suggest cheating to my team when we get to the end of a vocab game. The class is not my kitchen, and I am not playing with my dear relatives. So I have got to learn something really important: fit in with everyone else, play the game by the rules and LEARN MY VOCAB.
Tuesday, 4 December 2012
Christmas and Kangaroos
I have found a series of comments on the topic of celebrating Christmas. It has 5 pages so far and is full of the most wonderful variety of experiences and preferences. The starting point is some Quaker ways of regarding Christmas Day, but includes so many reflections on how people, households and wider families and communities handle the whole thing.
I love the comment about the kangeroos. You will have to search for yourself to find it!
I like it because my mother A's father was from Australia. There were 2 toy koala bears in my grandmother's flat, not teddy bears, called Bingy and Twinkle (very important to note their names) and we heard the Yellow Dog Dingo story from the Just So Stories, so that proves it!
I love the comment about the kangeroos. You will have to search for yourself to find it!
I like it because my mother A's father was from Australia. There were 2 toy koala bears in my grandmother's flat, not teddy bears, called Bingy and Twinkle (very important to note their names) and we heard the Yellow Dog Dingo story from the Just So Stories, so that proves it!
Monday, 3 December 2012
I read 2 words of a comment below a blog!!!!
They were 'beautiful' and 'brother', 'jamila' and 'akhi', as in: مدونة جميلة أتمنى لك التوفيق أخي which comes out in Google Translate as: Nice blog I wish you luck brother. So I did read them properly :) The 2nd and last words by the way, reading from the right hand side.
This is such an incentive to enjoy my lessons and the time I spend so very slowly writing out short sentences like: Mohammed's key is new and black. It is light and undamaged.
This is such an incentive to enjoy my lessons and the time I spend so very slowly writing out short sentences like: Mohammed's key is new and black. It is light and undamaged.
Sunday, 2 December 2012
Keeping Advent 2012
The Royal Institution advent calendar is based on the elements.
Our Advent and post Christmas group started today. We light a candle and set up the crib at the table. Then we take turns answering these 2 questions in ways we wish to. When during the past week have I felt further from God? When during the week have I felt closest to God? We close that part of the session with the Grace. Then we share hot tea, make toast and chat.
My personalised advent calendar is up on the wall with the 3 outlines of a crown, bell and a star. I am to colour each one in once I have done the relevant bit of self care for each day (shower, finances and flossing teeth). There is a second sheet which takes me to the end of January 2013. I hope this will keep me steady and calm through midwinter.
We were chatting about decorations and my mother in law laughed and said I could win the wreath on the door race this year. I used to get paranoid that she was deliberately putting up her decorations really promptly to show me up as being less efficient. This shows the depth of stupid daughter in law/mother in law rivalry!! It's really nice to be able to chuckle about this now. I try to explain how silly adults can be to my sons. I have no end of examples.
Our Advent and post Christmas group started today. We light a candle and set up the crib at the table. Then we take turns answering these 2 questions in ways we wish to. When during the past week have I felt further from God? When during the week have I felt closest to God? We close that part of the session with the Grace. Then we share hot tea, make toast and chat.
My personalised advent calendar is up on the wall with the 3 outlines of a crown, bell and a star. I am to colour each one in once I have done the relevant bit of self care for each day (shower, finances and flossing teeth). There is a second sheet which takes me to the end of January 2013. I hope this will keep me steady and calm through midwinter.
We were chatting about decorations and my mother in law laughed and said I could win the wreath on the door race this year. I used to get paranoid that she was deliberately putting up her decorations really promptly to show me up as being less efficient. This shows the depth of stupid daughter in law/mother in law rivalry!! It's really nice to be able to chuckle about this now. I try to explain how silly adults can be to my sons. I have no end of examples.
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