Thursday, November 29, 2012

NaBloPoMo 29 - Ice cream and intrigue

Today I went on a research trip to Kensington Palace. They are using a very different method of interpretation and visitor experience. They told stories using quotes, sound and video. I was particularly taken with how they told the love story of Victoria and Albert.

We then went out for a drink to say goodbye to a colleague who is leaving and had a throughly good time seeing the weird to rights.

I went on in the evening to see the lovely Amey. I needn't have worried. It was like we had never been apart. We reminisced, swapped gossip, loved being in London, ate Thai food, then went for milkshakes and pancakes. There is such joy in a very old friend who knows all of you.



Theatrical interpretation

China print birds in the queen's state apartments at Kensington Palace

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

NaBloPoMo 28 - living observing reporting

In a swirling haze I woke up today. Bare days now until Tom's back. Thoughts streaming.

I've got to go and put some more paint on the bare bits of the wall. It's my one concession to being useful whilst he's been away.

Today has been copying and pasting codes into systems and begging for a cleverer way of doing it.

It's also been nipping out into chill darkness to collect Christmas presents I missed when out this week and last.

The mechanism of online shopping intrigues me. I press my button, the order whizzes off, fufilled by automaton, or handpicked. It flies across the country by van and usually, the post office approach my door with whatever it was.

There was a huge queue at the delivery office today, probably all Christmas shoppers too. Some like me with more than one card, we're never in.

I had to do a merry dance in the car park. Too many people all looking to go to gym, which is next to the post office, or for their parcels.

Bizarrely my jade plant seems to have thrived behind the competition of the cyclamen in front of it on the mantle, whilst the cyclamen was in here whilst we decorating.

I suppose I ought to dust before we put the Christmas decorations up. Anyone know a good cleaner in Southampton?

I'm seeing an old friend in London tomorrow, after my work meetings. I'm horribly nervous about it. We've not seen each other since my wedding. She was my foil at school. I fought with my bully to be her friend, from when I was seven. I once stabbed her in the wrist in a fit of pique with a fountain pen in a maths class. She was my dancing buddy, the evil queen to my Aslan. I envied her confidence, her beauty, her sense of adventure. She's working in London now, living with her partner in a converted church. She was braver than I, studied dance and languages at uni, went to live in Spain for her course. Will we still have anything at all to talk about?


Nom Nom Christmas pudding

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

NaBloPoMo 27 selling and sweets

HuHello you lot. Christmas pudding mission accomplished. Here are some very poor quality pictures.
Key points to remember are plenty of brandy, apple, add glace cherries, make a fold in your paper and foil to allow for expansion, and make a string handle for picking it out the saucepan after steaming.
Excellent day today despite being sat in traffic a lot. I was trained on Google Adwords, this made me ridiculously excited. I love learning how new things work, especially things with data and stats.
When I eventually made it home, I made a tasty roast dinner and Laura came to help me eat it. We knitted, caught up on the past week and died her hair blue. Well blue black. It looks awesome. Oh and there was cheesecake.




Monday, November 26, 2012

NaBloPoMo 26 - scraping in again

Today, just!

Late home due to dancing. I actually danced so hard my toes are bleeding. No wonder my feet were hurting. New dance shoes and time to cut my toe nails I think.

Dancing was epic. Dancing dancing dancing yay dancing.

Need to check with Tom that I'm around to go to the ball.

Awesome new hair looks awesome curly too.

Sunday, November 25, 2012

N.T. Wright on women bishops

NaBloPoMo 25 - dammit

I completely ran out of time to make my Christmas pudding today.

Do you think it will taste ok with one or two days less maturing time?

Tom and I had a lazy lie in this morning before church after rushing around yesterday. It was Christ the King at church today, and the songs were excellent. Nothing like a sing.

We had a delicious lunch of pumpkin based lasagne at Toddy's, followed by an epically big spotted dick and cheese and biscuits to celebrate his graduation. It was fantabulous catching up, and getting to know Adam better.

After that, I waved Tom off at the station for another week, and then drive to Chieveley services to merry up with Ellie and give her her bag back.

This evening, I have watched Strictly and compiled Tom's expenses. But I have not made Christmas pudding. Dammit.

Saturday, November 24, 2012

NaBloPoMo 24 uninspired + vindaloo

I am not feeling inspired today.

Had a cost lie in. Tried to rationalise the mess in the dining room and kitchen so Tom could make curry for Ellie and Andy. They had a nightmare trying to get to us, with foggy cars and bad traffic. Ellie had also put her hand in her pudding.

When they arrived, lent Andy some upholstery cleaner so he could get cake off her car, and set Ellie to c leading cake of her coat.

Tom made Anjum Anand's pork vindaloo. It was delicious, a combination of hot and sour and aromatic. Ellie's chocolate puddle pudding was lovely and we willed away the hours chatting about scifi, religion and the teaching of maths.

After, I went to church to work on some Christmas publicity, and Tom has been DIYing.

We've both been a bit out of sorts today. I hope tomorrow is better.

Here's the vindaloo recipe:
Ingredients

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 tsp coriander seeds

5 black peppercorns, left whole

2 green cardamom pods, seeds only

2 cloves

1cm/½in piece cinnamon

1cm/½in piece ginger, peeled and chopped

7 garlic cloves, peeled and left whole

3 fresh red chillies

3 tbsp white wine vinegar

pinch salt

350g/12oz pork shoulder, flesh cut into 2.5cm/1in cubes

100g/3½oz pork belly, cut into 2.5cm/1in pieces

65ml/2½fl oz vegetable oil

1 small onion, finely chopped

¾ tsp mustard seeds

handful cashew nuts
To serve (optional)

220g/8oz basmati rice, cooked according to packet instructions

4 wheat tortillas

2 handfuls chopped lettuce

4 tbsp soured cream
Preparation method

Using a spice grinder, grind the cumin seeds, coriander seeds, peppercorns, cardamom seeds, cloves and cinnamon to a fine powder.

In a food processor, blend the ginger, garlic, chillies and white wine vinegar to a paste.

Mix the ground spice mixture with the paste until well combined and season with a pinch of salt. Rub the mixture all over the pork using your fingers, then set the pork aside, covered, to marinate for 1½-2 hours.

Heat four tablespoons of the oil in a non-stick pan. When the oil is hot, add the onion and fry for 3-4 minutes, or until golden-brown.

Add the marinated pork pieces and fry for 6-7 minutes, turning once, until golden-brown on all sides. Reduce the heat to low, cover the pan with a lid and cook for 35-40 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until the pork is tender. Add small splashes of boiling water to the pan as necessary if the juices in the pan dry out. Add as little water as possible as the resulting sauce should be quite thick.

Heat the remaining teaspoon of oil in a separate pan over a medium heat. When the oil is hot, add the mustard seeds. (CAUTION: the mustard seeds will start to pop. Keep the pan well away from your face and eyes.)

Once the mustard seeds start to pop, add the cashew nuts and fry for 2-3 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the nuts are golden-brown.

To serve, either divide the rice among four serving plates, spoon the vindaloo alongside and pour the fried cashew nuts and mustard seeds over the vindaloo, or alternatively spoon the vindaloo into the centre of four wheat tortillas, sprinkle with chopped lettuce and soured cream and roll up into parcels.

Friday, November 23, 2012

23 - home and hair

Photo

Today I wondered off to my favourite hairdressers in my lunchbreak today. The lovely ladies at Cream Hair Design covered me in red hair dye, gave me a hand massage whilst it cooked, and then washed it out as I sat in a massage chair.

After that my locks were cut and blow dried into a new excitingly red bob. A throughly relaxing experience, and I was pleasantly surprised at how blue it makes my eyes look.

Tom is home. His verdict? "It's very red". He also lost me a few times this evening at the supermarket because he was looking for my old hair. I can't wait to see how it looks curly.

He's already put a few doors on the wall cupboards in the kitchen since being home. And we've already had our "you've been away and I've forgotten how to interact with you" fight. We've overcome that by having tasty tasty steak chilli for dinner.

I'm looking forward to my sister coming round for lunch tomorrow with her boyfriend, and lunch with Toddy at the weekend. And lots of snuggles with my lovely husband. Because I missed him.

23 - home and hair

Photo

Today I wondered off to my favourite hairdressers in my lunchbreak today. The lovely ladies at Cream Hair Design covered me in red hair dye, gave me a hand massage whilst it cooked, and then washed it out as I sat in a massage chair.

After that my locks were cut and blow dried into a new excitingly red bob. A throughly relaxing experience, and I was pleasantly surprised at how blue it makes my eyes look.

Tom is home. His verdict? "It's very red". He also lost me a few times this evening at the supermarket because he was looking for my old hair. I can't wait to see how it looks curly.

He's already put a few doors on the wall cupboards in the kitchen since being home. And we've already had our "you've been away and I've forgotten how to interact with you" fight. We've overcome that by having tasty tasty steak chilli for dinner.

I'm looking forward to my sister coming round for lunch tomorrow with her boyfriend, and lunch with Toddy at the weekend. And lots of snuggles with my lovely husband. Because I missed him.

Thursday, November 22, 2012

NaBloPoMo 22 - what do you know about human trafficking?


This evening, whilst we had our bible study on human trafficking, I was able to draw on experiences from my time at SCM to provide a small group in Southampton on human trafficking contacts at the University, and see spaces where I could alert friends and family to the signs of human trafficking. I'm thinking of my mum at playschool, where she might come across trafficked parents, or my mother in law who is a farmer who might encounter trafficked farm workers in her rural location.
You can't be alert to what you don't know about. People can be trafficked to work as sex workers, to work as slave labour, for organs, for benefit fraud, to run cannabis farms amongst other things.

70% of people trafficked to Britain are women, and 50% are children. I can't imagine being a child, away from home, in a strange place, being forced to work against my will. All to satisfy someone's greed.

If you work in a hotel, as a taxi driver or in the fast food industry, you're likely to see instances of trafficked people too.

This useful flyer from Stop the Traffik outlines what to look out for and gives numbers you can use to report incidences:

http://www.stopthetraffik.org/download.php?type=resource&id=111

I might not realise I'm seeing a trafficked person. We can't necessarily directly help trafficked people. Knowing how to respond as a Christian is hard. So I'm going to go with prayer, and education. If I can talk openly and honesty about what I learn, I never know who will be listening. I never know when I will be in the right place at the right time.

The sound of tonights heavy rain in Southampton

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

NaBloPoMo 21 - days

Waking up to the gentle bird song and trickling water of a smart alarm, I roll over into the space where he should be.

The stairs creak as I avoid DIY book left on them. The clothes are warm from the radiator.

I bring my laptop back to bed, and work snuggled under my duvet until lunchtime, as the house is still topsy turvy from doing up the kitchen. I chase people for records, solve Facebook problems and check copy.

At lunch, I scurry away, enjoy my new car on a short drive to my grandmother's house, and we disappear off to have a pub lunch. Something is very satisfying about reminiscing about childhood games, and going to work with her at the art gallery. We eat posh sandwiches and chocolate orange puddings. They come with space dust garnishes that make us laugh when they surprise us crackling in our mouth.

I come home to the quiet house, sigh at the piles of dust and things and tools, and go back to my computer. More chasing, more emails.

When 6pm rolls around, I've just had the satisfaction of knowing I've successfully trained someone over the phone to share content on different Facebook pages.

It's domesticity time. Crates of food and spaces make their way into the new kitchen. The plaster still isn't 100% dry yet, so no painting tonight. Washing up in the dishwasher, clothes in the washing machine. Secret Santa presents bought.

And so to here. Sat quietly, thinking about supper.



Tuesday, November 20, 2012

NaBloPoMo 20 - super chat and sadness

I'm currently feeling sad and angry the house of laity of the general synod of the Church of England did not pass the legislation to allow female bishops.

It did not pass by 6 votes.

I'm worried about the message this sends to the outside world, and to women in the church.

Who knows what God is up to. I'm sure she knows what she's doing. Perhaps she wants all us feminists to go and join the methodists, URC and quakers and it will be the start of a great ecumenical movement.

Whilst I seethe and sulk, have some lovely pictures of the stuffed squash Mel cooked for me this evening. It was lovely to talk to her and Ian this evening. Nothing like old and good friends.



Monday, November 19, 2012

NaBloPoMo 19 -autumn socks day

Here are some of this year's autumn socks.

What you mean you don't get socks on November 19th?

Quick start your own individual tradition.

And lo, the Tom did say "Autumn sucks." And the Alex said "No, autumn rocks."

And the Tom was confused and said "No, autumn socks".

Thus autumn socks day was born and happy socks were bought and exchanged for ever more.  For it is written, you can never have enough socks.

Especially stripy ones.


Sunday, November 18, 2012

NaBloPoMo 18 - weary and lonesome

1229400225469423585

So here I am again, all alone. Tom's off in Loughborough for his work course again and the house feels awful big and quiet after it being filled with lovely working people all week.

The kitchen is looking good. I can start putting food back in it. It needs tiling, skirting boards, ends on the work tops, small walls painting, new cooker hood installing and cupboard doors for the wall cupboards. Which sounds like alot, but isn't really. I'm so pleased with how it looks especially the new sink and sexy tap.

I popped down to Westbury today to sing happy birthday to my dad. He was very pleased to see me and I had a cracking time chatting to both my parents in their cosy house.

Right, bed time.

NaBloPoMo 18 - weary and lonesome



So here I am again, all alone. Tom's off in Loughborough for his work course again and the house feels awful big and quiet after it being filled with lovely working people all week.
The kitchen is looking good. I can start putting food back in it. It needs tiling, skirting boards, ends on the work tops, small walls painting, new cooker hood installing and cupboard doors for the wall cupboards. Which sounds like alot, but isn't really. I'm so pleased with how it looks especially the new sink and sexy tap.
I popped down to Westbury today to sing happy birthday to my dad. He was very pleased to see me and I had a cracking time chatting to both my parents in their cosy house.
Right, bed time.

Saturday, November 17, 2012

NaBloPoMo 17 - are we there yet?

Well.

Drinking the night before you are supposed to be doing DIY isn't such a good idea.

Not that we were excessive.

Just we were all very tired this morning.

I did manage to get up to church to drop of my flower arrangements. There were some other lovely things. I hope they made enough money for the Christmas flower arrangements.

The kitchen is getting there. We now have a sink and a very glamorous tap. There are some cupboards and some drawers. All the wall cupboards are waiting to go up.

I am a bit ready for it to be finished now. Need to have one functioning downstairs room for Bible study on Thursday.

Still can't get over how lovely and useful our friends are. Even Tom's Mum and step dad came to help.






Friday, November 16, 2012

NaBloPoMo 16 - more flowers more friends.

Today, John, Sandy, Tom, Markets and I have been working hard. The first unit is in, the final cost of plaster is up, and the floor is done. The washing machine and the dishwasher are back in their rightful place.

I did a spot of flower arranging for a coffee morning this Saturday, band I think they came out nicely.

This evening we took our workers it for a thank you dinner. We had tasty tapas, sangria and cava at La Esquina. I had so much fun!



Wednesday, November 14, 2012

NaBloPoMo 14 - motivation and museums

1. Are you a motivated person by nature? If you need motivation where do you find it?

I have become more self motivated with time. When I was younger, I was naturally lazy, but the fear of failure was a huge motivator. I think it's a first child thing. I also liked being the best at things. So I would achieve but take as many short cuts as I could.

In later years I have developed massively useful organisational skills. I learnt to prioritise workloads, to set schedules and deadlines, and that life is much more fun if work isn't hanging over you.

I have also discovered the joy of the list. And crossing things off lists.

So now I would consider myself a motivated person. I try and complete tasks as soon as I can, to a quality standard so I can get back to my bed, books and chocolate.

Today I have mainly worked from my bed. It is the only room in the house with space, as the kitchen project has taken over every other room. This is both comfy and disconcerting.

My new work lease car also arrived, so we also had a bit of a drive of that. Very nice it is too. Shiny. Anyone want to buy my old Golf?

Then this evening I have been plastering the holes in the walls of the kitchen. This was my first shot at proper plastering rather than fillering holes, and I don't think I did too badly. Tomorrow it all starts in earnest, with the lovely John arriving to help fit units. Better try and get the painting done before he arrives. Possibly the flooring too.

Out the bedroom window today

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

NaBloMoPo 13 - What is the bravest thing you've ever done?

I think one of the bravest things I've ever done was be open to talking about my ectopic pregnancy - If you like you can read about it here.

And one of the other bravest things was standing up to my childhood bully in the middle of a history class, to say I wouldn't take her crap anymore.

I suppose taking a one year contract when I had a permanent job was pretty brave too.

I try and be as open as I can about the pregnancy.

There are these little pockets of life that we don't speak about. That sex is messy and you'll usually need to clean yourself up a bit afterwards. That death happens, and bodies have to be washed and dressed and readied for the grave. That some people have more or less money, and use it in way A or way B.

I think of my ectopic pregnancy like that. When it first happened, I felt like I couldn't talk about it, like it was shameful. Because I'd got pregnant without planning it, because we weren't married, because it didn't end up in a baby, because I was using a long term contraceptive at the time. All these things are not shameful. But it felt it a bit.

And because it meant the world would know I had had sex. *gasp*

It also makes me feel sad. A lot then, a little every now and again nowadays.

So talking about it is hard. But then I think, if I don't talk about it, some woman might ignore the warning signs like I did. Someone might be feeling ashamed too, or sad too. And I want them to know they're not alone.

Monday, November 12, 2012

NaBloPoMo 12 - scraping in

We'll its all been go here today. There's a lovely combination of mist and stars outside tonight, And I enjoyed it muchly on my drive home from my jive class.

Work was satisfyingly productive. I saw four squirrels on the same tree, and I got home at a decent hour.

I made a spot of dinner in the camp kitchen, fixed my hair in a much less elaborate jive style and tootled off.

It was great to catch up with Ruth, and we both danced both well and often. A swishy skirt does make a lot of difference.

And now to bed!

Sunday, November 11, 2012

NaBloPoMo 11 - the strength of friendship

Stsx point in strike into the phone.
So that didn't work. I thought I'd experiment today by using the voice input on my phone. Let's stick to Swyping shall we?
Tom and I didn't get up in time to go to church to our shame. It would be alot easier for us night owls if there was an evening service.
So instead we did what the rest of the middle class British world seems to do on a Sunday, and went to a DIY store for more kitchen supplies.
I then spent a large amount of time on my stomach on the floor trying to hammer panel pins into scotia. And cursing the former occupants of our house who thought designer radiators were a good idea. The radiator in the dining room is a cylinder of blades, just under two metres long, and about 20 cm above floor level, along a wall. Trying to get my hammer behind that was hard.
I also spent a huge amount of time today being amazed by our friends. I think I can say 'our friends' by now. Most if the people helping today were people Tom met at college. But they've taken me under their wing. And they work incredibly hard. They turned up cheerily this after noon, after working late into the night last night.
Now, the contents of the kitchen is in the living room, the fridge is in the dining room and the tiles and units are gone from the kitchen.
These hard working friends make me feel very loved. I tried to pay them back by making pasta bake and chocolate pudding, but had to do it at Laura's house, as we have no kitchen. Obviously. They are certainly storing up favours for when they have their own houses to do up.
Here are the progress pics.
















Saturday, November 10, 2012

NaBloPoMo 10 - flowers and flapjack

As you will have seen from the instagram photos, the kitchen project is under way.

Ben, Laura and Hannah came and helped move the contents of the dining room into the living room last night. We took up the old underlay and hammered in or removed old nails. They were rewarded with gelato from Sprinkles.

Today, Jon arrived bright and early, and he and Tom went shopping for supplies, and to take rubbish to the dump.

Whilst they were out, I went to church to arrange flowers for Remembrance Sunday. We use silk poppies, which makes things slightly more challenging. I also used what was left of the arrangements from the wedding to make a little something for the Mary window.

Since I got back, I've been helping Tom and Jon put space age underlay down in the dining room.

The first planks of the laminate are going in and look lovely. I'm a bit of spare part until Tom goes back to his essay, so I've been making some flapjack. Where we'll be without a kitchen for a bit, I wanted to make something that would keep.






Jon arrives and the underlay goes down

Friday, November 09, 2012

Hannah and chisel

Tom checks the under floor

King of the castle

Before

NaBloPoMo 9 - If you could change one thing about your life right now, what would it be?

If you could change one thing about your life right now, what would it be?

I would love a permanent job contract. Ideally with my current employer.

If I had a permanent job contract, we could look at buying a new house, start having a conversation again about whether or not we want children.

I could plan for some more career progression. We could plan for where Tom might want to work when he's finished his training.

The security would be lovely.

Ideally, I'd love a permanent contract for my current job. For 18 months or so now, I have woken up most days, thinking about what exciting thing I'm going to do. It's fulfilling, and I get to see some beautiful places. The people are passionate and interesting. And I just love it!


Thursday, November 08, 2012

NaBloPoMo 8 - Any job?

If you could have any job (and instantly have the training and qualifications to do it), which job would you want?
Here's how my thoughts went when I read this:
The dream job would Director General of the National Trust ;-)
Or a job where I can be some kind of consultant where I could come in and troubleshoot and fix things.
Owner of a profitable wool shop/bar combo.

Wednesday, November 07, 2012

NaBloPoMo 7- in which I achieve

One of the things about being an adult that they never tell you about when you're a kid, is the paperwork.

Endless amounts of bills, letters and forms to be paid, filed and filled out and sent off.

You would think that in this digital age, a standard for signing documents digitally would have come to the fore. But no. I have to print things out, sign them and post them off. Or worse, print, sign and scan back in.

I've actually taken to creating an image file of my signature and pasting it in to documents. I do it fresh each time and delete it after to try and avoid security risks.

So today I feel very accomplished because I collated scans of three lots of identification and filled in a long outstanding form.

I posted happy post letters to friends.

Tomorrow I will conquer Tom's expenses.

I also feel very pleased with myself because I survived my first trip to a DIY shop all by myself to purchase serious quantities. I've been in before for the odd item, but we're talking 500 quids worth tonight.

In very boring grown up fashion we're going to do up our kitchen over the coming weeks. I was entrusted by Tom to purchase new flooring, insulation and other flooring gubbins to kick start the project.

The only difficulty came when I had to push the trolley laden with 11 packs  of laminate flooring.

But I managed, and they're all stacked up in our house now.

Tuesday, November 06, 2012

NaBloPoMo 6 - If you were President of the United States, what would be your first act in office?

Apart from abdicate to an American citizen?

Get rid of the nuclear weapons.

Setup a proper healthcare system.

Simplify the tax system.

----------------------------------
Yesterday we had another PCC meeting at church. Had to vote against a budget that needed a £11k fundraising total to balance it. It's just not realistic! We could make that money if we put an enormous amount of time in, but in other years we've had more like £1k - £5k a year.

I feel quite strongly that we should be looking to increase the lettings to account for the need for an increased income. We can't get away from the fact that we have an £8k gas bill for example. But the building isn't full everyday, every week.

So if you'd like to help - why not hire our function rooms for your next children's birthday party or business meeting?

Monday, November 05, 2012

NaBloPoMo 5 - What are your thoughts about tomorrow's election in the United States?

What are your thoughts about tomorrow's election in the United States?

As a feminist with liberal leanings, I hope Obama wins again to help protect the rights of American women to access contraception and abortion.

As a Briton with socialist leanings, I hope Obama wins again to help protect the right of all Americans to health insurance.

But. I'm not American.

So I hope and pray my American friends make a choice that accurately reflects the will of the country. That's all we can ask for in a democracy.

Sunday, November 04, 2012

Waffle recipe to remember

NaBloPoMo 4 - Lazy Sunday

Today we woke to the noise of drumming and babies crying.

I think most of the people at the party decided in that moment to rethink their plans to have children.

We eased out of bed, laughed at Lula for spending the night sleeping in the bath. When the shoppers returned with supplies, Tom cooked breakfast for everyone.

I was suffering with being allergic to Louisa's dog, so we beat a retreat. We trundled off home, and cleaned it gently, and made spicy giant cous cous with halloumi for my friend Laura.

She turned up about 1:30, and we sat down for an enjoyable dinner and chat. I did some knitting tech support for her, and we ate the epic crumble she had made for us whilst watching Sherlock.

After she left, we've been quietly watching more Sherlock, napping, and getting ready for Monday.

It's so nice to have Tom home. Just to be in each other's presence and to be quiet together.

Saturday, November 03, 2012

Toddy and his hareem

NaBloPoMo 3 - off to a party

We're at Louisa's for a party tonight. I've bartered sleep in a proper bed for making curry and naan for the party.

We're sat chilling waiting for the party to start with wine and a roaring fire.

Today Tom and I have had a lazy lie in and shopped for party food. Last night we went to eat tasty pork from Oink and had icecream.

The highlight of last night was Tom teasing Ben and Laura's hamster. It would run up a cardboard tube, and Tom would spin the tube as Snoopy was running, delivering the hamster back where he started. The hamster looked so confused, then would try again. Then the hamster got bored.



Friday, November 02, 2012

NaBloPoMo 2 - If you could live anywhere, where would it be?

If you could live anywhere, where would it be?

A large farmhouse on the edge of a village that had a church, a farm shop and good primary school. Somewhere in rural England

There'd be room enough for you to all come to dinner at Christmas. Roaring fires, wild gardens.

Space for painting and making and sewing.

An outbuilding or two for Tom's cars and tools.

Friends round the corner or on site so we could pray together often.

Thursday, November 01, 2012

NaBloPoMo 1 - Tell us your favourite quotation and why?

It's that time of year again! When I try and blog everyday for November. I'm going to answer the BlogHer NaBloPoMo prompts, and then I'll bring in anything else that catches my interest.

If you've ever had a burning question you'd like me to answer, then feel free to tweet, email, FB me etc, and I will endevour to answer it this month as well.

So.

Thursday, November 1, 2012

Tell us your favourite quotation and why.

There's one right up there in the blog layout:

If I can not dance, I want no part in your revolution.
Emma Goldman

Emma Goldman, according to Wikipedia, was a Russian American, writer, feminist, anarchist, atheist who died in 1940. I'm sure she and I would have had a whale of a time debating.

Wikiquotes says:

From her autobiography: 'Living My Life', 1931
At the dances I was one of the most untiring and gayest. One evening a cousin of Sasha, a young boy, took me aside. With a grave face, as if he were about to announce the death of a dear comrade, he whispered to me that it did not behoove an agitator to dance. Certainly not with such reckless abandon, anyway. It was undignified for one who was on the way to become a force in the anarchist movement. My frivolity would only hurt the Cause.

I grew furious at the impudent interference of the boy. I told him to mind his own business. I was tired of having the Cause constantly thrown into my face. I did not believe that a Cause which stood for a beautiful ideal, for anarchism, for release and freedom from convention and prejudice, should demand the denial of life and joy. I insisted that our Cause could not expect me to become a nun and that the movement would not be turned into a cloister. If it meant that, I did not want it. "I want freedom, the right to self-expression, everybody's right to beautiful, radiant things." Anarchism meant that to me, and I would live it in spite of the whole world — prisons, persecution, everything. Yes, even in spite of the condemnation of my own closest comrades I would live my beautiful ideal. (p. 56)

This incident was the source of a statement commonly attributed to Goldman that occurs in several variants: 

If I can't dance, it's not my revolution!
If I can't dance, I don't want your revolution!
If I can't dance, I don't want to be part of your revolution.
A revolution without dancing is not a revolution worth having.
If there won't be dancing at the revolution, I'm not coming. 
So, it seems she didn't ever say my exact quote, but I think the passage that inspires this sums up why this is a favourite of mine.

I think often those of us who take up causes get bogged down in the misery of it all, the neverending struggle. And we miss the joy of living. There's a line in Anglican liturgy, I've talked about it here bedore, may God hallow the small and ordinary things. There's so much beauty in this world to be celebrated  along the way as we fight injustice.

So as we struggle in our myriad ways, I hope we can all take a little joy in the mere act of existing. For me, I often find that joy on a dancefloor, spinning and spinning and spinning. I never dance to be watched, I dance for how it makes me feel inside. Body and music as one.

So, if there is to be a revolution, I will be dancing towards it, and dancing after it.