Commitment to Change

When you embark upon a Voyage of Self Discovery
it is important to have some Outward Sign
so that the world knows that you are Serious.

Having considered shaving my head
(too cold)
or wearing orange robes
(no robes of aforementioned colour)
or having a tattoo of a dragon on my neck
(too vulgar)
I decided that cake cases would be my Outward Sign.

In the past I have been Absolutist about cake cases.
I have enforced the White Only rule.
Has this made me Happy?
(Well, yes, but I must get over it.)

I have broken through
this self-imposed barrier of Fear and Ignorance
and introduced
Red cake cases
and
Yellow cake cases
and
Spotty cake cases.

Why settle for White
when there is a Rainbow of Possibilties?

(Please don't mention coloured icing...
that is the Next Level of Enlightenment
and I am Not Ready.)

Message from my daughter

"I saw this and thought of you"

...Reader, I cried...

*****

Today MissM launches
an annual fund raising initiative
for a very worthwhile charity:
Help for Heroes.

So I am thinking of her.

Blue and White is not the only china...

...that I own
although it has felt like that recently.

I have become stuck in a rut
and I feel as though it is time
to make some changes.

I will need to be brave
and there are sure to be days
when I get
discouraged or distracted.

But I don't want to live
with a restricted palette
when there is a whole rainbow out there.

Between two oceans

I spoke to MasterM on Skype.

He showed me around his room which is small, functional and already very untidy. He hopes to swap to be on another corridor and so some unfortunate person will shortly be getting the full force of MasterM's persuasive powers.

He told me about his busy timetable of daily lectures and assessments. He has been asked to take an additional class in Afrikaans because he scored so low on the initial assessment (that would be a zero, folks) but I told him how impressed we were with his other scores considering how long it is since he did any academic work. He will be purchasing the course text books this week.

The rest of the time he is packing with good things to do. He has friends all over the campus that he knew before he arrived and new friends of those friends. They are going to parties, arranging mountain picnics of beer and biltong, working out and playing rugby, planning weekend breaks by the sea, preparing for the Two Oceans half marathon.

He said that Stellenbosch is the most beautiful and amazing place he has ever lived in and that life is outrageously hectic but crazy-fun.

I suggested to him that he could always come back and go to university nearer to home.

He laughed. "It's O.K." he said "I think I am sorted now."

Changing Perspective

Westminster Bridge on Lord Mayor's Day
Canaletto (1697 – 1768)

MrsM considered the bridge.

She thought of the energy and bustle of the crowds,
the noise, the smell, the warmth
and the sense of purpose
as you crossed from one side to the other.

And then MrsM thought about
walking from the safety of the bridge
onto the unknown side of the river.
She tried to imagine what it would feel like
to be in less familiar territory,
possibly without a street map.

And then MrsM realised
that she had made a fundamental mistake.

She had always assumed that
the direction of travel
was from the north bank of the river,
full of grand buildings and extravagant ambition,
to the quiet residential streets of the south bank.

But there was no reason why that should be the case.

No reason at all.

And, suddenly, the prospect was much more enticing.

Diversion Therapy

San Rock Art

If I am given a grant application
to fund research on the earliest hand axes
just before lunchtime
it is highly likely
that I will eat my
tuna and cucumber sandwich
while flicking through pictures
of cave paintings.

(Anything to avoid preparing exam papers...)

This herd of elephant rampages
before the San hunters
on the ochre walls of caves
in the Cederberg mountains
near Cape Town.

with thanks to the unknown person
who made this picture available
without copyright restriction.

Emailage

Wild Boar Piglet
Hans Hoffman (1530 - c1591)

I am so grateful for the friendship
that I find every day in my InBox:

1.
Encouragement from someone
whose grandson has spent time in South Africa.

2.
Good advice
that will inform the way that I behave in future.
And which I will always associate with apricots,
peachy and perfect.

3.
Happiness spills over from someone
who has been sad for so long.

4.
Plans!
A meeting with friends
whom I have not seen for too long.

5.
The unselfish offer of a small boy
to run around my silent home
and fill it with noise.

6.
A smiling photo of a bride-to-be.

7.
Generous comments from people I do not know:

Hi - thanks for this post.
My 14 year old daughter read the lesson on Sunday too.
You've made me realize how I felt listening to her.

8.
A corset making class!
Oh no...I read that too quickly...
A corsage making class!

9.
Sweet messages from the Mediterranean.

10.
News of a half written novel
is slipped in to a reply.
Am I impressed?
Absolutely.

11.
The unexpected image of a wild boar piglet
that arrives without explanation.

12.
A smile all the way from Tuvalu.

I could go on

(I have not even mentioned "The Clog and Billycock"...)

And on.

(...or the video of the Bird of Paradise...)

I am fortunate indeed.

MasterM settles in...

the following are genuine extracts from MasterM's induction programme

Day 1
a session where everyone learns the welcoming/ goodbye songs ... once they know the songs everyone gathers outside and the men and ladies sing their songs to each other

Day 2
first years fold "flowers" from crepe paper to put them into chicken mesh and create our RAG Float

Day 3
an overnight camp to learn values and how to be a brother in a co-ed residence coming back to the residence as gentlemen and brothers

Day 4
first year men come back from their overnight camp and bring the girls flowers

Day 5
the Dance Society teaches us how to salsa

I am quite sure that MasterM would not have learned to salsa in Edinburgh and so I feel that his decision to move to South Africa has been vindicated.

the sound of her voice

It is a cold Sunday evening
and we are sitting in the Cathedral.

MissM is opposite us, waiting to read the lesson.
When the time comes she walks calmly to the lectern
and places her hand upon the page.

Her voice is clear and silvery
and I realise with a shock that I did not know this.
I hear her speak all the time:
at the end of a phone,
from the top of the stairs,
beside me on the sofa,
behind me in the car.
And yet I have never fully appreciated
what a beautiful voice she has.

I close my eyes
and try to fix the sound
in my memory
as MissM reads aloud:

"...for to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom;
to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit..."

The Hyacinth Bowl

I have been reading Spitalfields Life almost since it started.

I love the descriptions of the East End of London,
the people, the graffiti,
the pubs, shops and market

but, most of all,
I love the Gentle Author's china collection.
Every now and then a new item is featured
and it is always greatly to be desired.

When I read about the inherited bowl
that is always used for Hyacinths
I knew that I HAD to have one too
and it arrived today, by post,
from my wonderful friends at Blue and White.

I fully intended to plant pearl white Hyacinths
but I got distracted by the Winter Anemone.

I hope that the Gentle Author would approve.