Gifts

I missed this week's Sunday Scribbling prompt of "Language" because I was away for the weekend - hearing the same language I speak, but in a different accent. My sisters and I were in Manchester.

Do you know of L.S. Lowry? We went to visit the centre which houses an exhibit of his paintings, saw a film about his life and work, and really were so delighted to have had a chance to encounter his art up close and in its original setting.

It was a special weekend for us, for a number of reasons. We were helping the youngest of us celebrate a special birthday. We were enjoying something we'd planned for a long time, and we got to meet a cousin we'd never met before. - A wonderful afternoon of sharing, of laughter, of discovery and illumination, and really the highlight of the weekend for all of us, and something we knew would have made our mother's heart fill with joy. (In fact, I think she had a lot to do with that reunion.)

Strolling past the city Art Gallery, we happened to spot a banner inviting us to go see "Ten Drawings by Leonardo da Vinci". We didn't need a second invitation! What a treat.

And then, on Saturday evening, another great treat... We're all three fans of "Dancing on Ice" - as spectators, not participants, I might add. We were really lucky that our planned weekend coincided with the visit to Manchester of the 25th anniversary Torvill and Dean Bolero tour. What a show! We whooped and cheered, gasped and clapped along with a huge, delighted crowd. I'm afraid the only video I can find isn't good quality, and wouldn't give you a sense of the event, (well, there's a little bit in that link above, so do click there) which was spectacular in every way. Magic is the word!

Less than 48 hours, delayed flights... the stuff of travel, and still, it was a great weekend. We made excellent choices in restaurants and accommodation (thanks to the sister who is a wizard at internet searches!).

It was all a gift. I feel very, very blessed.

A little montage of photos from Argentina

Some people asked for photos from my trip to Buenos Aires. Here's a few, a little taste of what was a wonderful ten days. I tried to find some tango music to accompany them, but failed!

Sunday Scribbling: Miracle

Time passes. That is no miracle. That is what time does. Sometimes, the most mundane, ordinary things can seem like a miracle. Like, you can climb into a giant metal tube, sit in it for a couple of hours, and when you climb out, instead of leaden grey skies above you, you might see something like this: You lie down. You feel the warmth of the sun on your skin, soaking into your bones. You sigh. Many times. You begin to feel good. Really good. That is no miracle. That's what the sun is designed to do for us.

You spend days wandering from leisurely breakfast to poolside, to leisurely lunch to poolside - oh, with a trip to a beach for variety - and then out for leisurely dinners. You sigh contentedly. Many times.

You take clifftop walks, breathing in salt air, enjoying the cool sea breezes. You go visit an exhibition of sand sculpture. Now, this is a miracle! People who take sand and water and create...

scenes from all your favourite movies. There are so many, you can't photograph them all, and because it's almost sunset, shadows make it difficult, but you capture some interesting scenes

They were made in May. It's now August. That is a miracle - or where I come from, it would be for sure!

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That is my offering for this week's Sunday Scribbling prompt of "Miracle" Find some other, (perhaps more real) miracles HERE

HERE'S a LINK to a gallery of great photos of the sculptures

And there are a few photos of the site, with artists at work OVER HERE

Oh... Where was I? Carvoeiro, in the Argarve, Portugal, with my sister. It was lovely.

Sunday Scribblings: Fellow Travellers

I think first of those who are on my day-to-day path, the friends and colleagues who know when I've got a cold, who check in how I'm feeling at vulnerable moments; those who have gathered up the details of my family - who's not well, who I'm concerned about. These people - they pick up my satchel and carry it a way, they reach out so that I'm sheltered by their umbrella as we walk along. They find a sweet in a pocket and offer it. Hum a tune that will carry us a little farther along the road. They share details of their lives, and we pass words - memories and hopes - back and forth as we travel. This is my tribe, these people are my kith.

Our steps are not always synchronised. Some drift onto other paths, and we call out a Hello! that is heard faintly from time to time. But we do not forget one another, and when we find ourselves again on the same stretch of pavement for a time, we meet with gladness, and pick up the threads of our conversation again.

And then there are those met just once along the way. Brief times of connection with another soul. There are two whose memory warms my heart particularly.

J... my sister and I shared 3 seats together with her on our flight home from Lanzarote, a few years ago - winter 2004. She noticed that my sister was reading Ulysses, and was impressed. We counted the number of failed attempts we'd all made between us. (Reminder: Check with A whether she actually finished it that time!) We compared notes on the holidays we'd had. We two on a typical tourist visit, taking in everything and everywhere associated with Cesar Manrique, swimming, reading, eating too well. She'd been on a yoga holiday, and it had had its challenges for her. We clicked. Found we had more interests than books in common. We shared email addresses, and she and I have been in touch occasionally since then. She has health difficulties, and she runs writing workshops. Last year, she shared one of my poems with a class, and I had an email from one of her students thanking me for the inspiration for her own poem. I think of J far more often than I contact her. She was one of the fellow-travellers I feel blessed to have encountered. We could meet again. Sometime, I hope we will.

And then there was K... I'm sitting at Shannon Airport, May 2006, in the departure lounge. Nearby, a woman is smoothing and folding some silk scarves, checking whether she's accidentally splashed them with water. Our eyes meet. "They're beautiful" I say, and she immediately turns to me: "Aren't they? I couldn't resist buying them as gifts to bring home..." She's been touring ancient sites in the West of Ireland with the wonderful spiritual writer, John O'Donoghue, (who died quite recently, and is remembered by many, including Cate, HERE). So began a conversation that was to continue through our wait at the airport, and later on the flight to New York - which was only half-full, and where we could choose to sit wherever we wanted. Our interests too dovetailed in strange, synchronous ways. We had taken workshops on either side of the Atlantic with the same wonderful Poetry Therapy teacher. When she heard the purpose of my first visit to the States - to attend SoulCollage(R) facilitator training - she had heard of it. She had the book. As we talked, we discovered that our personal lives had parallel experiences, and we found we were both travelling along the path of single life after the end of our marriages. I shared secrets that no-one else in my life has heard. We laughed. I learnt something of her spiritual journey, she of mine. When we parted, each to take different connecting flights to different parts of the west coast, I knew I had met someone who would be in my life for a long time.

Our contacts are sporadic, but just as with J, there was a feeling when we met that left me knowing we two were meant to meet at that time and in that place, and that we would always be connected, in some ways - as fellow travellers along the road of life.

Confirmation of that: Last year, I return to California for a SoulCollage conference. When I turn to the participant on my right during introductions, she tells me what city she's from. "Oh... I've only ever met one person from there" I say, "... her name was K..." They know one another! Friends! It's a small world, and in it, aren't we blessed when along our paths we meet such fellow travellers? I know that I am.

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[And note...I haven't even touched on or mentioned my feelings about the fellow travellers I meet day by day here in Blogland and just how much so many of you mean to me, because I did just recently, on my 2nd Blogiversary post. You know I love you! ]

For more Sunday Scribblings on Fellow Travellers, go look HERE.

Friday stuff

It's Friday, and one of the Fridays that I don't work. In fact, it's the start of my mid-term break, which sees me free for a whole 10 days, but as for many of them, I will be away from easy Internet Access, I may not be showing up here any more than I have over the past few weeks, so I thought I'd pop along this morning to see what's happening all over my favourite blogs. Feels good just to check in and see people are still out there, busy with stuff, doing interesting things.

After my last post (written when I should have been sleeping in my bed, I was so tired!), I alarmed Julie Marie by speaking of "NaNoWriMo" and "NaBloPoMo" as thought they were really nasty things causing me distress. I forgot to link to them or explain. NaNoWriMo is short for National Novel Writing Month, which runs through November, during which participants aim to write a 50,000 word novel. Last year was my first attempt, and as the badge in my sidebar tells you, I "won" by completig 500098 words... skin of my teeth, in other words. (oops, I notice, now that the 2007 season has started, they've actually changed my badge back to zero!) It was great fun. I wrote through trips to visit family, and a dose of shingles. I wrote while I had visitors, and when I had other responsibilities to be seen to. But this year, I just know I cannot set myself the goal of writing 1600 words a day. So I'm not going to do it. Hoping next year will feel different. When I realised I wouldn't be doing NaNoWriMo, I considered NaBloPoMo, or National Blog-Posting Month, during which participants simply post to their blog every day during the month. But, as I'm going to be away a couple of times during Novembere, and internet access is impossible when I visit family, and not always easy in other places, it's not a runner.

So, dear Julie Marie, you didn't need to worry about me being upset about these mysterious things. They both are things I'd just like to be able to get involved in, and can't! Maybe you can, though?

Yesterday was a really good day for me. You know a day where everything just fits? A day where all the bits come together, and you feel like you belong in your place, and you meet the people you're meant to meet? I think my stars must have been perfectly aligned or something, because it was one of those days... from the pinkening sky of morning to the perfect moon of night. My work, my meetings went well. I came home to a most exciting email, inviting me to join with Seena B Frost to train as a trainer of SoulCollage(R) facilitators. It's a process that will take a couple of years to complete, and I don't begin until I attend a training in June of next year, but that's wonderful. It allows plenty of time for me to run a number of workshops that I'd been planning, and to introduce as many more people as possible to the process here in Ireland. This just really affirms my "following my nose" when I decided to go for the training in 2006, and returned for a facilitators' conference this summer. I am hugely committed to SoulCollage and really thrilled to have a chance to help more and more people encounter this life-changing process.

That wasn't all! In a conversation later last night, my son enquired what I'd like as a birthday present (I enter my "Golden Years" in December, hitting the big 5-0). I didn't know, so he's offered to fund the trip my sisters and I are planning to Paris in May next year! See? I've raised a great kid!

See what I mean? One of those wonderful days, when I feel grateful for the people in my life, the paths I've been able to follow, and the places I've been able to visit and live.

It reminds me to give some thought to the many, many people in distress at the events in Southern California. It is horrifying to see pictures from the area, and my heart goes out to all affected by these terrible fires. My affection for Northern California has grown with my visits, but wherever it is happening, I find it awful to think of the devastation being wreaked on homes, land, and lives. My prayers are with you.

Hope, wherever you are, your weekend is safe and peaceful.

Other Sunday Stuff

I've just posted a Sunday Scribblings post, but realise that I have the time and the inclination to keep going here and fill you in on some of the other stuff in my life, but it's seperate from what I had to say in Sunday Scribblings, so that's why this is another post. (Having said that, suddenly I'm sitting here, stopped, wondering "What was it I meant to say?")

Without having a decent picture to show you, I will say here that last week (was it Monday? it may have been Monday!) two wonderful gifts arrived from Liz Elayne. Way back, I won her birthday button-counting (or guessing) competition, and the exchange of addresses took a while, but was the prize worth waiting for? Oh, yes indeed. A beautiful tote-bag in shades of orange. Oh... what am I saying? No picture! I can link to her Etsy shop, where you will see, not the exact bag I received, but others like it! I've found a special use for it - holding my copy of Organising for the Spirit, my journal and vital "bits and pieces" for my ongoing project of making my home and my life places where the real me wants to live. It was such a thrill to have the notice of a package arrive! Hurrah! ... And not just one, but two packages from the same Liz, because, as a 9/11 memorial, she very generously gave away some posters of 'Awakening', a Brian Andreas Storypeople print. I wasn't familiar with them, but this resonates deeply with me, and I feel very grateful to have received one. I will be framing it to hang in my therapy room (the "where" just came to me right now... of course!)

She (Liz) asks in her latest post that we name "Five Really Good Things". Well, there's

1) Couscous. Good with almost everything, I'm realising. Fantastic when I need to prepare a meal in a hurry. quicker than defrosting. Add salad... Dinner!

2) Finding music I'd forgotten I had. Searching for a tape for a friend, I rediscovered Mary Chapin Carpenter, Janis Ian, Leonard Cohen, Guy Clark... Hurrah.

3) Memories of my sister's wedding. My attempt to post after the 14th September wedding was frustrated by computer problems, and a few days later, my attention was focused on the loss of my little dog, Trixie, so I never got to tell any of you about it (and I'm not sure she'd appreciate having her photos up here in public), but I will tell you she was a beautiful, elegant, radiant bride. More than one of us noticed her resemblance to Grace Kelly. It was a happy, happy, day - filled with emotion, laughter, poignant memories and moments, and some tears. She and her new husband make a beautiful couple. His tender care for her is a joy to witness. Her total love for him is open and profound. His family's embrace of my sister is full and open and reassuring to see. Their words of that day echo in my heart. Their happiness is a Really Good Thing.

4) My Autumn/Winter wardrobe. I never did this before. I usually buy budget clothes far too often, running into a shop, buying somthing, finding after a couple of wears that it really doesn't suit, (or fit, or wear well...), and running into a shop again... a neverending wheel. Well, not this year, because when I was shopping for the wedding (see 3 above), I consulted a personal shopper (another one of my "If I could do anything I wanted..." items from the Artsits's Way), who outfitted me for the wedding, and for work-wear to take me through the coming months. I have trousers, blouses, sweaters, jackets and shoes that co-ordinate and match, are easily-laundered and pose me no dilemmas when I wake up in the morning! Hurrah!

5) Baraka, the movie without words, that is soul-filling, soul-lifting. It makes me feel my real relative size in the world, and the size of the world around me. It stretches me and connects me. This is a good thing.

Hmm.... there were other things I meant to speak of, but that little list took me in so many directions, I'm a bit scattered. I've decided that, as the balance of my life has shifted, in terms of time devoted to (employed) work, it's really important for me to make sure to schedule in friends time, Baha'i community time, me-time. (This counts as friends time, I guess!) A few days ago, one friend and her son came to dinner. Yesterday, I went to visit a friend - just an hour, but good, good, good to see her. Today, I'm heading out to enjoy some October in the countryside, going to one of my favourite places. I'll be going soon, in fact, so it's time to wind up this post.

Oh... and because my 50th birthday is coming up, my sister and I have been planning, and decided that, instead of celebrating it all at once on a single day, we're stretching the celebrations, and are going here (oh... can't get any pictures to post! OK... It's Paris!) in May. We'll be visiting Monet's garden at Giverny, and May is the best time. I'm so excited!

I know I won't get to visit and read up on everyone's posts from the past few days, and if I do, I may not comment, but I hope all my BlogLand pals have a really good weekend, and a great week ahead too. Au revoir!

Travelling Haiku

There you are, my dear.

I've been waiting all morning

to come say "hello"

Here on the shady porch

My heart and soul are restored.

I breathe in, breathe out

The sound of the falls

absent. The trees whisper though:

Sister stone, don't weep.

I walk among giants

Joyful laughter on the air

Was that me? Laughing!

Sisters of the soul

pilgrims to this special place

No heart in shadow

And where have I been?

Oh, I seem to recall last year not knowing how to find my way back in, having been away from the blog for a while, and there may be something similar here, but I think I just have to drop my bags, yell "I'm home!" and start forcing people to look through my photos. You can skip the photos if you want. It may well be that it will take too long to post them anyway. I wasn't having much success with photos before I went away.

Away... away, with most of my family, to Barcelona, for a 5-day fiesta to celebrate my nephew, Glenn's wedding to Claire. We lunched and dined, we strolled and sight-saw(?)... saw sights! We stopped for cafe con leche or tapas. We sang (well, some of us were the audience!). We clapped. We deepened friendships with a wide circle of family, in-laws, friends of younger and older generations. The cameraderie was wonderful, the togetherness was magic, and the wedding was special indeed. It was a treat to witness everyone's enjoyment of it all, to see people's eyes open to this beautiful city. The whole experience was a blessing for me and for my family.

2 days back home with my Dad, enough time to tidy up my luggage, re-pack and head off again, this time to San Francisco and its environs - the Bay Area, as they say. I was met by the most wonderful caring and kind friend (and her mother), and given such a welcome! They gave me days to just sit on the porch - and I did, watching hummingbirds (Oh, that ruby-throated bird!)and dragonflies. In the early mornings, I would spot deer and a visiting trio of young foxes through my bedroom window. One evening, we went to investigate a racket being created by the jays in the oaks outside, only to find they were trying to evict an intruder from "their" tree. - A magnificent great horned owl (we surmised from the sillhouette and the sheer size of the creature) swooped from branch to branch, but just sat there until HE was good and ready to depart.

Once I was rested, excursions began - down the coast, over to Palo Alto, into Berkeley to see the Hearst museum of anthropology and the museum of art; out for breakfast at little places called Tina's or Millie's, where french toast comes coated in sugar and strawberries. - This to eat with sausages! Culture shock! (But I coped!).

I took off on BART, made my way to the Museum of Asian Art - spent the better part of a day there. There is so much to see. Bus to Golden Gate park to visit the AIDS memorial garden, the Japanese tea garden (jasmine tea and rice crackers), the sculptures around the de Young art gallery. Simply riding the bus through that city - down the hills, I loved looking at the houses - no, not the big fancy ones. The houses on ordinary streets, where ordinary people live. I loved the farmers' markets, yarn shops, the post-office. I loved people's gardens, tiny patches crammed with colour and scent. I didn't spend enough time there. I'll have to go back.

Then there was Yosemite. Oh.... I hired a car, and took off. Of course I took wrong turns. Of course I ended up on roads I wasn't meant to take. I discovered highway 160 - the Delta ("What delta?"I wondered... turns out to be the Sacramento River delta). Levees. I was tickled. We don't have levees. I took my Chevy to the Levee! Drove along a road built up above the river. Water on each side, and an atmosphere of peace and tranquility. I'd set off early in the day, so I had plenty of time for this little detour. A coffee-stop at a boating resort allowed me to check with my map. Oh yes, I'd gone astray, but what a gem I found in that road.

This is what I realise I love about travelling somewhere new. When it's new, everything is interesting, so getting lost isn't a problem. I still get to see something I haven't seen before. But I did want to find Yosemite, so I sorted out my route, adjusted my heading, (so to speak), and made my way to Sonora for the night. I didn't stay in the park, as I'd left it to the last minute to try to organise accommodation (the downside of being spontaneous), but I liked the towns I stayed in. And I liked the travelling to them, and from them. When I saw there was a town called Mariposa, I just knew I had to go there, and go there I did. So, I spent a couple of days exploring Yosemite. I'm not a hiker, though. I'm a stroller. I was in sandals with no backs. I took the easy trails. The ones being followed by people with children in pushchairs. What's wonderful is that there's still so much to see. I did go up to Glacier point and Bridalveil falls. I felt a sense of bereavement when I got to Yosemite falls to find there was no water. Dry, dry, dry. It seemed wrong, somehow. I loved that there were huge numbers of people there, and that yet, it was so big, you could be alone, you could have quiet.

On my last afternoon, just before 5, I found my way to Mariposa Grove, and the last tour of the day was about to set off through the redwoods. Wow. Those noble trees. I can't say much about them, but that hour driving through there was really something special for me. There are a lot of lessons for me in the Redwoods. They need to survive fire to grow, to be healthy. When they have a strong enough root system and sap-building layer, they can even survive the loss of their heartwood.

Going 'home' to my hosts again, I felt I'd been away for weeks. I'd been somewhere wild and new, along mountain roads higher than anything in Ireland. I don't want to start sounding preachy (if anyone is actually reading this far), but I want to tell you if you are American, you are a trustee of something very special in Yosemite. You all have a responsibility to look after it for the rest of us. That's what I became aware of when I was there. Responsibility.

My trip didn't end there, but I think this post has to end here! It's too long, too long. I haven't managed to get a photo in. They all need to be resized. I'm going to put something about the final few days - the SoulCollage facilitators conference near Santa Cruz on my SoulFragments blog. It was magic. It was community and connection. It was a time of confirmation. I'm not crazy to be taking off on these excursions. This is the right thing to be doing now in my life. I couldn't have chosen a better place to go. Thank you to California for opening her arms and welcoming me. Now I'm home!

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And while I was gone:

Dana and Liz of Poetry Thursday announced that they are shutting up shop at the end of the month. I'll be so sorry to see it go. There are moves afoot to do something else, so the poetry community will still be active, but I just want to say here how much I have appreciated the initiative that these two amazing women took and the results of it have been absolutely astounding to me. It was a lifeline for me - when I thought I wasn't writing anything at all, to find that, actually, I'd done a little something for Poetry Thursday. And the range of poets that it attracted was something else! Everybody welcome, everybody finding their niche! Magic. I wish every blessing on whatever they take on in the future, because they deserve it. Namaste.

And also while I was gone:

Tinker nominated me for a Blogger Reflection award. I'm highly honoured. It means something I've been doing here has "inspired her with my creative spirit through my blogging". If you frequent Tinker's blog, you know what creative spirit really looks like. She is a wonderful soul, and it's really made me feel special to think she'd nominate me. .... And then Kara at Spiritdoll did me the honour of nominating me for my SoulFragments blog, and again, there's someone whose spirit and creativity inspire me all the time, so I am really delighted with that. Now, i get the pleasant task of nominating five bloggers who inspire me. Oh. I've been away, I haven't been reading, and it will take me a month to catch up, so maybe everybody has already been nominated, but I would like to mention some of the bloggers who have meant so much to me over the journey since I began my blog with the Artist's Way group in January 2006, so I will be nominating Fran at Sacred Ordinary. Wenda at Daring to Write, Kathryn at A Mindful Life (who is expecting her first baby in 4 days time!). Then there's Theresa Williams and (oooh, this is hard. I love and am inspired by ALL my blog-friends), but I don't think a lot of the people who come here also go visit THIS blogging Mommy. Go see. They are wonderful.

The task, as explained by Kara, is for each of them to

"nominate 5 bloggers that are an encouragement, a source of love,impact me in some way and who has provided a Godly example. In otherwords, five cherished bloggers whom, when you reflect upon them, you are filled with a sense of pride and joy"

I'm sorry, it's been so long since I've done this I don't know how to post the relevant badge here. There's one on Kara's blog HERE. Hope you can use it.

Travellin' Shoes

I've got my Travellin' Shoes on, and am hittin' the road tomorrow, so won't be appearing here much in the coming month. It's past midnight and I still have packing to do, because I went off to dinner and to the new Harry Potter movie with my son, and when I came home, instead of looking after practical details, I got involved in finishing a project I'd left half-done - laminating a mini-version of my SoulCollage deck.

So, here I go - tidying, packing, sorting, and getting ready to go, go, go.

Hope you all have a great summer! See ya!

Poetry Thursday: Homage to Gaudi

I have a fascination with the architect Gaudi. His work thrills me, and I feel blessed to have been able to visit Barcelona and be in his buildings; to stroll about Sagrada Familia; to walk through Park Guell.



The salamanders there delight me, and prompted this poem:

How to Build a Salamander
...............after Gaudi

You’ll need the kind of wife who shouts a lot,
stamps her feet and throws things – pots,
plates, all the crockery piled on the table.

Better yet, a mistress or two girlfriends – lots
of women smashing all around them. Give them
reason to. It’s all in the cause of art.

When they leave, as they will, gather the bits.
Sweep all the broken pieces into piles. Save them
somewhere out of sight until the time is right.

Then – you’ll know just when – climb to the roof
of a house with odd windows, misshapen doors.
Sleep in the sun until your brain feels fried.

When it seems as if the plane trees below are saying
Jump, when it seems that the sky has blue dragons
painted on blue that only you can see,

call the boy, fill a barrow with your hoard – with
plaster, wine, all the stuff essential to the work.
Yellow, mustard, lemon, tan, terra, all blues,

all greens – a hundred shades, product of years
of anger, product of fury and a name gone to mud.
Pebbles – smooth, rounded, black, cream, polished, brown.

Where the park will be sit and wait
until an eye blinks before you. Catch it.
Place one cobalt shard right there, and wait.

The rippling of skin becomes a frantic challenge
to capture – work fast, grab pieces, bleeding fingers
placing waves and rivulets of colour on the beast,

the beast that calls you – only you – to give it life.
Under your hand, a heart beats. Under your hand
a quick tongue flicks, a cold eye glimmers.

............................................................ (© Imelda Maguire, 2004)
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On 20th July, I'll be back in Barcelona to see my nephew (and only God-child) be married. It will be a wonderful family occasion, and apart from the wedding, there will be the added pleasure of spending time with my sisters and brothers (and other relatives and in-laws) in one of the most beautiful cities in the world.

I dedicate this Poetry Thursday post to my family, and especially to Glenn and Claire.

(not) Lost in France!

In Drumcliffe Churchyard - Yeats' Resting Place

Poetry Thursday participants have shared poems of W.B. Yeats from time to time. There is one of my favourites posted this week at Jen's Page. I visited Yeats' grave last week, and thought you might like a chance to pay your respects, so here are some of the pictures I took.

















The famous epitaph reads:


..................Cast a cold eye

...............On Life on Death

...............Horseman, pass by