Just a thought....
Don't compare your life to others'. You have no idea what their journey is all about.

Tuesday, 25 December 2012

A ghost in the press

Funny how memories are set off. I was reading a book and a inconsequential conversation between two boys about the ‘ghost in the press’ caught the attention of long forgotten memories. At the first mention of the ‘press’, my mind went to printing, until logic suggested that, as they were in their bedroom, a clothes press was more appropriate.

ghost

What child doesn’t fantasise about monsters under the bed? I made a point of never having a foot or a hand over the edge of the bed just in case. I mean, you never know, right? I went through a phase of “if I can’t see them, they can’t see me” too, which started a lifelong habit of needing to be covered right up to my eyeballs. I still like to be completely covered - still afraid of the bogey-man? Perhaps, though I suspect the bogey-man has morphed into its adult form of a variety of nameless, faceless fears, but… it was the wardrobe that did it.

Many was the night I’d lie in bed staring at my dark-wood wardrobe, almost seeing it open and the skeleton hiding inside coming out to get me. It wasn’t always a skeleton. Some fears were far worse, some more insubstantial. Either way, the wardrobe was a horrifying element in the half-dark of my room.

Today, I wonder if the ‘skeletons in the cupboard’ talk of the adults around me weren’t at least partly to blame. The cupboard grew in my very vivid imagination to hold all manner of ills. I suspect there’s a little part of me… ok, perhaps not such a little part… that’s still somewhat afraid of what could come out of the wardrobe as soon as I let my guard down. I have no wardrobe in my current bedroom and the one I photographed is perfectly harmless… this wardrobe is in my mind - a dark, closed receptacle of nameless, faceless things that may or may not exist. Is it just me?

Naturally, if you had to ask me what I fear, I’d put my hands behind my back, lift my head and that same little girl will confidently say, “Nothing!” 

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Thursday, 20 December 2012

Wordy Wednesday

I did consider doing a Wordless Wednesday, but, frankly, Wordless just isn’t me. I had an interesting photo to post, but then found that I had the need to explain the photo and talk about the day that surrounded it, however mundane that day may have been.

forest path

As the world is preparing for its ‘doom’, I decided to go and take a walk in the forest. I’d heard there was someone setting badger or fox traps and wanted to get rid of them. Ah… the peace of the forest. The quiet was tangible. Even my footsteps made no sound on the springy forest floor.

At this point in my walk, I was torn between the unending path ahead of me and the obviously man-made ‘structure’. We have debated back and forth what it was for and come to few useful conclusions. My guess was that someone was trying to dry those logs for firewood. I wonder who. It was an intriguing find. It definitely wasn’t there two days ago. This land is littered with some very interesting artifacts. I think I may well go for a photo walk tomorrow. You’d be surprised what you can find in a forest in the mountains!

Actually, I like the analogy of this scene. Life is presenting me with a puzzle right now and yet, I see ahead of me a beautiful path I am compelled to follow. It has no end. This is part of my journey.

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Saturday, 15 December 2012

Oh Tannenbaum, Oh Tannenbaum…

I was all set to ignore the fact that Christmas was once again pounding the doors of civilization down, but then it got the battering ram out, crashed through our defences and invaded our carefully preserved un-Christmas.

In short, our host gifted us with a real live (or was live until recently anyway) Christmas tree. Now I don’t, for a start, do ‘live’ trees. My experience being that they don’t stay live for very long and end up being vacuum cleaner fodder. Aside from that, I definitely prefer seeing the trees ‘out there’ than in my lounge. Actually, for the past few years, I’ve been going to great lengths not to have a society-approved traditional tree anyway. Who the heck put those spikes on those branches??? I feel like I’ve just had 3 rounds in the ring with a porcupine!

xmastree Requesting humble forgiveness for the poor quality of the photo.
The flash destroyed the look, but without the flash... eternal dark.

There now… festive look is done ‘n dusted… I have a pot of ham hocks on the stove that I’ll no doubt find a way to serve up for dinner and the fire is lit. I hope it stays lit. Yesterday’s fire did very nicely until late. A repeat performance would be a real treat.

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Wednesday, 05 December 2012

The Hermitage

Today, I truly feel like a farmer’s wife again. As I sit here, I have a pot of Hermit Soup (a name I’ve just given it… for fun) on the stove - to be served with buttery slices of crusty Killruddery cheese bread.

hermit soup

Jurgis is snoring in front of the fire, sinking ever lower into the couch. We have spent the dark afternoon time watching videos on permaculture planning and design, drawing up elaborate plans involving chickens, vegetables, fruit trees and forests. At this point, I’m relatively content.

jsnoring

It’s out second day at The Cottage in the Wicklow mountains. We woke up to what we thought was a thick frost layer this morning. It was, instead, thin, icy snow and it stayed. Needless to say, I slipped on an icy log. I consider the place now initiated into my stability. No harm was done, though my dignity suffered yet another blow.

I set up the compost bin today and frittered away 10 minutes picking up pine cones, which are now, hopefully, drying out nicely over the fire. If not, they look decorative(ish). Jurgis has started clearing the pine. That will be a major job. We’ll need to get some serious equipment in to clear the part we’ve demarcated for the veggies and fruit trees. Right now, cleaning and clearing is about as much as we can do… at least until we get to see the owner again. He was meant to arrive last night, then today… maybe tomorrow. Time will tell. I have an internet bone to pick with him *Needs Internet*. The cottage is warm. Barring a fairly serious plumbing issue that was meant to be sorted out today (I think the plumber got lost or something), we’re fairly comfortable. It’s a huge change from the ‘palace’, but has its own compensations.

roundwood

So why hermitage? We’re about 4km away from the nearest village, Roundwood, which boasts a population of 800+ and 5 pubs. Yes, it’s like that. We’ve met one of the local population, a chap who came to drop the top halves of a few pines that were threatening to fall on the cottage. He was nice and is now a familiar face. We’re considering a walk into the village on the weekend to see what it’s like and perhaps meet a few locals.

Life, at this point, is pretty good. Now if I could just get online… I’m missing talking to my little girl.

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