Taking Stock - November

Originally, I thought I'd do this wonderful exercise from Pip Lincolne on the first of each month. Then, I realized it would make more sense on the last day - to take stock of the month just passing...
So here's goes - and fingers crossed the internet connection holds long enough...

Making time to ponder the past few weeks, and prepare myself for Advent...

Cooking as there's little I can do in the kitchen nowadays, I make sure I'm an enthusiast recipient of whatever others cook :)

Drinking water with a slice of lemon - it's how I get my 8 glasses a day!

Reading Christina Rosalie's A Field Guide to NOW - it'll be my Advent book this year.

Wanting peace and solitude - especially after such a full-on couple of weeks!

Looking out for gifts - I've hardly got anything and xmas is less than 4 weeks away, eeeekkk!!

Playing two favourite wintery CDs - Thea Gilmore's Strange Communion and Sting's If on a Winter's Night

Wasting energy fretting about all I haven't done about Christmas...

Sewing (since I cannot physically do this any more, think I'll change it to Sowing...) seeds of plans for 2014 - the year I turn 50 and we celebrate our Silver Wedding anniversary!

Wishing as always, for peace and justice in our world

Enjoying all the great dramas on TV (not to mention Strictly!)

Waiting for a burst of energy to tackle my To Do list!

Liking the peace and quiet as I'm the only one up

Wondering how long it will last

Loving the bright sun streaming through the window 
Hoping it stays all day :)

Marvelling at how the internet connection is lasting...

Needing it to hold out a few minutes longer...

Smelling like I need a shower :(

Wearing my pj's and dressing gown (well, it is the weekend!)

Following the moving shadows across the wall...

Noticing the clock ticking... the only sound in the house right now...

Knowing soon there will be noisy activity upstairs as Sam has to go to work, and Nick needs to do grocery shopping - our cupboards are bare...

Thinking this a really wonderful exercise :)

Feeling so grateful for the wonderful beings I've met on the blogging course :)

Bookmarking all their blogs as they add them to the course blog roll.

Opening my heart to connections and possibilities...

Giggling/Smiling at the memories of Thanksgiving dinner - so much fun :)

Feeling so much better and calmer, and ready to start the day...

Happy Thanksgiving!

Right now, I'm most thankful for an internet connection, which has been sorely lacking for the past couple of days...

As I have an American husband - we met in Kenya in 1987, and yes, a long story! - we shall be celebrating today like our cousins from over the pond :)

When we lived in California, after we were first married, Thanksgiving was always my favourite holiday. It seemed totally free of the commercialism and ultra-expectation that often blight Christmas, and was all about family, food and fun!

We would gather with Nick's relations - sometimes at the coast, sometimes in the mountains. Everyone brought their speciality dish - his great-aunt's roasted yams with marshmallows was my favourite, closely followed by his Mum's green beans with bacon... *sigh*

Now, we live here in the UK, it's a much smaller affair, but Nick has the day off, and we'll be having a roast turkey crown with all the trimmings. He's invited a couple of his friends to dinner tonight. The kids and I haven't met them before, but I'm sure the evening will be full of Thanksgiving blessings -  food, family, (new) friends and fun!

And I'll close with today's card which seems rather appropriate

with a lovely Mary Cassett pastel, and Mr Wilde's wise words:

 

Ordinary riches can be stolen, real riches cannot.

In your soul are infinitely precious things that cannot be taken from you.

 

 

Amen to that!

Catching slippery thoughts...

Photo taken this morning at 7am in response to today's card, which can be found on the Card of the Day page,

which I've rearranged so the newest entry is at the top :)

 

 

I opened my eyes at my usual 5.30am, with sooooo many thoughts swirling, I knew I had to get out of bed, come downstairs, pour a glass of water, and start to write them down before they disappeared...

 

Thoughts are like Will o' the Wisps, you know, or flashing fish (as Virginia Woolf describes in A Room of One's Own), which need to be caught before they dart away.

 

I wrote about yesterday - spent with a dear, dear friend, who I don't see often enough as she lives in deepest, darkest Wales...

 

But mostly I wrote about the blog, and yesterday's 'About' lesson, and realized I hadn't verbalized what this new blog is actually about!

 

And I was reminded, quite visibly, about my Word for 2013 - Be a Vessel (you can read here how my Word came to me).

 

 

This wee coconut offering bowl sits on my altar opposite where I sit on the sofa as a daily reminder of my Word, and I suddenly I realized the blog is my vessel - my offering bowl, my receptacle, where I place my words and images to share with whoever wishes to partake.

 

But also, it's the other meaning of 'vessel' - it's my boat, my cargo ship, in which I place 'stuff' about me and my life and my own voyage of discovery, and launch it out into wide sea of Blogland.

 

And I was reminded of the Marcel Proust quote:

 

The real voyage of discovery lies not in finding new landscapes,

but in having new eyes.

 

Be a Vessel has both these meanings to me, and both private and public applications:

 

I pray alone daily, yet sometimes I want to pray with others.

 

I write alone daily, yet sometimes I want others to read my writing.

 

I travel alone on my journey into meaning, but sometimes I want companions.

 

Creating anything, including blogs, is usually a solitary activity, but many creators hope to have their creations seen, heard, tasted, experienced by others, hence we put them out into the world...

 

After all, we are by nature social creatures (at least some of the time!) and we do like to share our lives and experiences :)

 

 

Getting the message....

Today, I drew Friday's card again - 3 of Wands with the Klimt painting and Stevenson quote!

Guess I really need to hear the words again...

To be what we are, and to become what we are capable of becoming,

is the only end of life.

Then I suddenly remembered, I'd written out a quote from Christina's A Field Guide to NOW in my journal yesterday...

OK... I'm getting the message... new day, new post, new blog - it's all in the process of Becoming...

Silent Sunday