Growing Versions

Anybody can be good in the country. There are no temptations there. -Oscar Wilde We lived in suspension* last week. Suddenly, there was time, where no time could be found before, to paint and put beads on string. We were suspended in fluid.  Suspended in a fluid called The Atlantic Ocean. suspension   [səˈspɛnʃən] n 1.  an interruption or temporary revocation  the suspension of a law   YES, definitely 2.  a temporary debarment, as from position, privilege, etc.   Yep. 3.  a deferment, esp of a decision, judgment, etc.   At times 4.  (Law)  Law a.   a postponement of execution of a sentence or the deferring of a judgment, etc. b.   a temporary extinguishment of a right or title     New rules definitely applied. 5.  (Economics, Accounting & Finance / Banking & Finance) cessation of payment of business debts, esp as a result of insolvency       er.... ...

There are sce nts i n this world that bri ng me back to somewhere, places where I ca n not go.  I smell that smell a nd get a hit of some time before that will  not come agai n.  For me, lilac sce nt se nds me o n a be nder .  Upo n sight,  I begi n to remember what they smell like.  However, it is the smelli ng of them directly, which I ca n o nly  really bri ng myself to do  a doze n times a year (3 times so far this year), that fills me with such a mix of regret a nd pla n maki ng u nique to them a nd me  that I ca n barely sta nd to look at them.  I have bee n avoidi ng them, I see them across the street a nd a ki nd of lo ngi ng takes over. I remember a spri ng. I remember my gra ndmother's garde n a nd a freedom that I have  not really felt si nce. I remember glass upo n glass filled with lilacs, sce nti ng every room a nd shapi ng  pla ns I made. What sce nt makes you remember a place?  Does it eve n hav...

So, this game got invented last weekend.  I really don't understand the rules but I'm so intrigued by the set up. I have trouble remembering jokes and rules for games.  I'm hopeless at card games.  Once I get the rules I can't stop playing, but if I stop, darn it, they all drain out of my brain.  My daughter patiently tried to explain how you win but it is all too complicated for me.  There is still hope, I used to discount scrabble. I used to have a terrible track record.  I am on record tyring to get points for "wispygale" but despite this rocky start, I now enjoy a good round of scrabble.  Are there any games that you've decided are just not for you?

According to Wikipedia, Shulie has 2 inhabitants that goes up to 8 in the summer.  My grandmother was a girl in Shulie.  There was a big shipyard there back then.  Then  they floated it down the coast and Shulie                        only in a dwindling few's memories and dreams. As a kid we went there                   we stumbled on in the woods                                                              made us think it was a clue                      A place where people called home and was                       Now, having                 be  and ...

One time in university I got a nasty stomach virus and, after days of weakness and eating jello, I finally ventured outside to walk to school.  I was so weak that half way there I had to stop and lean against a tree to rest.  That tree was so solid and so there .  That was the first time in my life that I realized how important it is to have something (and of course, more importantly) someone to lean on.  I also realized how important it is to lean .  Sometimes I forget, but the tree makes me remember.

Source: one-summer-one-love.tumblr.com via Erin on Pinterest So, I have begun.  I have begun to write.  After many long years of composing things in my head, it was time to write.  Fear of failure, sky high standards, lack of a pen(sometimes) all conspired to stop me, but now that I have started I have set some rules for myself.  1. When you feel like writing, sit down and write (or jot down an idea on a receipt until you can sit). 2. When you do not feel like writing, take a breath, change the scenery, but do not wait too long.  If you do not feel like it, write down why.  Learn where being uninspired will take you. 3. Trust your voice. It's in there somewhere. Good and bad writing begets more ideas, more edits, more directions, more clues. Write.

In recent weeks, two things have come to my attention, this article by Mary Beth Williams,  T he real key to good health  and the viral hit created by Dr. Mike Evans,  23 and 1/2 hours: What is the single best thing we can do for our health?  Both coincided with when I was turning my attention to new years resolutions and reflecting on the year that was. Thanks to both,  a reckoning came to be.  Mary Beth Williams' candid advice was to get your heart stronger because you never know when you are going to need it.  She herself has been receiving treatment for lung cancer. Dr Mike Evans' way of putting the exact same thing? "Try to limit your sitting time to 23 1/2 hours a day".   In my day job, I sit a lot. I occasionally rise to retrieve something from the photocopier or to make a coffee, but an awful lot of the time, I'm on my bum.  This is in steep contrast to my night job. At the end of the work day, occasionally in the middle, I h...

  It does not take long for us to ramp up to senseless busyness after the holidays.  We went from an intense work week, into a day of intense socializing on Saturday.  In between the spurts of lurching madness, there were sweet periods of decompression.  The first period of unravelling happens right after we pick up our daughter after school on Friday.  For a few hours, she gets busy stripping away the layers of all that is expected of her all week by going into another world of her own making. This week, she wanted to help me with the laundry and then took it upon herself to hang it up on the folding rack.  She had a number of projects on the go... We had another good stretch of unaccounted for time on Sunday.

Back in the spring, my good friend invited me to a herb gardening workshop at the Tatamagouche Centre.  Frankly, herb gardening was just about the farthest thing from my mind at that moment.  I had just started a new business and, with two young kids, I tend to be rather protective of weekends. There were other reasons, I'm sure.  However, whenever this friend of mine and I have a chance to do something together, I never turn it down.  So, regardless of my ambivalence about herb gardening at that moment, which I had done precious little of in the past 7 or more years, I jumped at the opportunity to spend some time with my friend.   More than 15 years ago I had worked for a summer at an organic farm, and when I returned to rural NS, I had started a garden.  Since then, I had let the garden grow over due to all the usual excuses:  work stress, commuting and child rearing.  I diverted all of my creative juices away from the gardens in my life towards...