Merry Christmas - Happy Holidays - Happy New Year

To all the Mind Blogglers!

Hope you all have a peaceful Christmas and here's to 2008!

See you soon,

Emma.

Welcome to the world!

On 22nd November 2007 at 5.20am - a new baby boy arrived into our family!

My beautiful sister had a beautiful baby. Welcome (yet to be named)! And congratulations to your Mum and Dad.

Dietary advice

Had to go to the Quakers meeting house in Newcastle for a meeting the other day and whilst I was hanging around the reception I read the following and thought - I like that, so wanted to share it:

Native Wisdom

A native American sat with his grandson on his knee.
He said "Son, inside you there are two wolves locked in battle. One is the wolf of peace, love and kindness and the other is the wolf of fear, greed and hatred."
"But Grandad, which one wins?" asked the little boy.
"The one that you feed!"replied the old man.

Hope you're all doing well!

Images of summer!

This is a photograph of a fox sunbathing in our garden! He came back 3 or 4 days in a row. I've seen him sunbathing on the roof of a nearby shed too.

Positive anticipation rather than negative speculation!

'Approach with positive anticipation rather than negative speculation' - what a gem! Superbly uplifting piece of advice! One of many examples of the positive, caring, sincere and generous spirit of the Mind Bloggling community!

Thanks to you all for your kindness, support and encouragement - without you it would not exist!


Here's looking forward to the future with positive anticipation!

For him in doors - hope the boys in red win!

Here's a blog dedicated to you!

DIY

Just putting some shelves up - will be back shortly. Rather scared myself when the drill bit broke off in the wall! Wear goggles!

Mmmm...

I didn't see it! Just shows how fallible our perceptions can be!

Food glorious food!

Whilst searching the BBC web site for the weather forecast (in the vain hope of finding that it will be sunny for the foreseeable future - not looking great by the way, but we live in hope) - I came across the following link.

I love curry and would like to be able to cook it better than I do (in fact I would like to be able to cook anything better than I do) so am going to have a go at some of these recipes and tips.

If you have the chance to have a go and have some successes - do let me know! Marvelous.



http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/mostof_indianessentials1.shtml

Welcome!

Welcome to the world baby Bailey!

A little girl - arrived about an hour ago.

Your Dad and Mum are a bit tired but over the moon to see you.

An autobiography in 5 chapters by Portia Nelson.

Read this and liked it - wanted to share it with you.

Chapter one.
I walked down the street. There is a deep hole in the pavement. I fall in. I'm lost. I'm helpless. It isn't my fault. It takes forever to find a way out.

Chapter two.
I walk down the same street. There is a deep hole in the pavement. I pretend I don't see it. I fall in again. I can't believe I'm in the same place, but it isn't my fault. It still takes a long time to get out.

Chapter three.
I walk down the same street. There is a deep hole in the pavement. I see it there. I fall in. It's a habit. But my eyes are open. I know where I am. It is my fault and I get out immediately.

Chapter four.
I walk down the same street. There's a deep hole in the pavement. I walk around it.

Chapter five.
I try walking down a different street.

Back on line

I've not been able to access the internet from home in weeks. It's incredible how much of my life is tied to the net. I've been able to check my emails intermittently, but unable to reply. It was like losing your voice. It's quite dramatic. I couldn't do this...well, not from home. I couldn't find any information out about random 'stuff' I chose. Couldn't download maps, couldn't check the weather forecast, of which I am a bit obsessive - it was so strange.

Anyway - it's all mended now thanks to Al (great friend) who is a bit of a genius at this kinda thing and despite having an over-flowing plate of 'things to do' not to mention a baby who is days from being born - he got me back on line.

He's one of those people that you come across in life (of which I am very fortunate to have found quite a few, particularly recenty), who you know if you fall, they would catch you. It's a two way thing - I would catch them too.

So this blog is dedicated to friends - they are very precious!

For the people of Rotherham

Here's a bit of a thought for the 900 people living in Rotherham's Herringthorpe leisure centre at the moment, because of the floods.

Hope the sun starts shining for you soon!

Sanity Fair - BIG THANK YOUS

When I got home on Saturday night, my feet just began to throb and throb. I hadn't noticed them all day. In fact the only thing I had noticed was the excitment and fun and sense of community that saturated the air (along with the rain later in the day) But even the rain just added to the excitment for me.

Sanity Fair happens because people want it to. It's so easy to say 'no'. But everyone said 'yes'. It takes time and commitment and thought and causes worry and stress and stuff - but it's fantastic that people come together and help give the public a better understanding of mental health, a more positive, clearer, more realistic sense of what it's all about. It goes along way too, in encouraging people to think about what affects their own mental health.

We wrote a list of 'people we must thank' and there were over 100 individuals on there. A hundred people without whom...

For me the lead up to the day was also really enjoyable and one moment in particular when all the people who regulalrly come to MAGMH were working preparing for the day - it encapsulated what Sanity Fair is all about.

Thanks again to everyone - it was remarkable.

Sanity Fair - BIG THANKS

What a great day! it really was fantastic.

I'll blog more about it later.

But for now - MASSIVE THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO SAID 'YES' AND MADE IT HAPPEN!!!!

oatcakes

I bet that if you google oatcakes it comes up with the Scottish hard biscuit top of the list - I'm gonna try it, bear with me.

Yep - it did. These horrible dry, foul tasting biscuits are not a patch on the staffordshire oatcake. When I first moved to Stoke On trent they were a bit of a revelation. At first, I didn't know what you did with them (except eat them of course). I used to have them cold with jam, then discovered that grilled with cheese was the traditional way. Wow! When I worked in Alsager we were right next door to an oatcake shop and people would have an entire breakfast on there, including beans (You needed a straw to eat it).


Now I've introduced them to my family who live in Scotland and even taken them to botswanna for my sister.

It's one of Staffordshire's finest inventions (of which there have been many).

I was wondering, how do you eat yours?

Ride the wave...learn to surf

Read this yesterday and thought how appropriate it is for Mind Bloggling.

Saw some good friends last night - great to see you all. And for the ones who were missing, I'll be thinking of you.

Sheep

My brother took this picture near his home in the borders of Scotland. It's a lovely place! Today my sister, dad, sister in law, nephew and brother are all there - I miss them.

Cat in a case and other random stuff!

I got home last night and one of our cats had adopted the mandolin case as her bed - cute, don't you think.

And I read in the paper this monring that if you want to go to Glastonbury and you're prepared to work on the car park doing twelve hour shifts then you can get in for free (so they should I guess).

PS. the mandolin in the background in a flying V shape - how cool is that!

Living life to the full: e-learning

I became aware of this CBT based self help book about a year ago and have just found it on-line. Might be worth a look - http://www.livinglifetothefull.com

It focuses on developing life skills and also on issues surrounding anxiety and depression.

Somert I noticed...

Been doing lots of thinking recently. In the absence of doing a million and one things (which is what I used to do) I've had more time to think. It can be a scarey thing to do, thinking, it can be a bit un-ravelling and makes you assess what's going on in your life. But I think I have to stick with it.

One thing I did notice, is how your wants change depending on your circumstances. A week or so ago, I was skint. I was wandering round M & S and every isle I turned down I came across delicious looking food which I was longing to have. A few days later when my financial pressures had eased a little I went there again. This time, I couldn't find a thing that seemed tempting, even though I could now afford to buy it.

It's an odd thing. When you desire something, you put yourself through the mill if you can't have it. When you can have it, it losses its appeal. That's a big old thought - I think.

Ruskiboots.com

I've cannot begin to tell you how pleased I am - pride I know is bad thing. But I am beeming a little. I've been asked to be a God Mother twice in the space of 6 months. I've never been asked before and maybe it's more of a reflection of the passing years and greying hair that give me the credentials. But I do feel quite honoured. I have to admit that I'm rather more agnostic than perhaps a God Mother ought to be, but I think that it means that these new lives will have a special place in my life. I'm also to be an Aunty (my sister is pregnant!) - and I am over the moon about this too! It's gonna be a busy babysitting time for me. Can't wait.
Here's a picture of some baby foot gear knitted by a very dear friend and Mum to be - Alya.

Life in the open air

We had a expedition yesterday to the local country park with the Mind Blogglers. The plan was to take the cameras and make it a bit of a photo workshop.

Here are some of the rather fabulous results.


The day was perfect, great company, great weather. Thanks for coming.

Simple satisfying things

Sun
Snow
Long soak in the tub
Laughing
Having all the right documents when you re-tax your motor
Bagging up pennies and finding that they're all correct when exchanging for 'real' money
Doing a job that you've put off for months (or probably years) only to find it takes no time and is really easy
Planting seeds when you're meant to
Daffoldils
Snow drops
Blue bells
Sculptures (particularly if they've not been drawn on)
A satisfying sleep
Smell of freshly cut grass
Cooking something new that actually tastes nice
A good cup of tea
Answering two questions in a row on University Challenge (these are particular to me!)

How about you?

Bob, me and the Angel

Last night I travelled to Newcastle Upon Tyne to see Bob Dylan. I had been incredibly fortunate to have been given a pair of tickets by someone who couldn't go (people's kindness and generousity never cesases to amaze me).

The gig was superb - I really felt like I was watching a legend. It was great to see live music again, I haven't done that for a while. Bob played house of the rising sun as a tribute to the Animals who were natives of Newcastle. He's sold 100 million albums and is permanently on tour. He can't be doing this for the dosh.

Newcastle itself was a bit of a treat too - a city not unlike Stoke On Trent in some ways, but it's managed to re-invent itself. The Angel of the North greeted us when we got there. To have that vision and conviction and the courage to make something like that happen - well...(as purkul would say).

It was a great night - thanks to those who made it possible.

Erm...

Bit stuck at the mo to know what to blog about. Will get back to you.

Passion for service

I had to get some food yesterday and went to the supermarket. Whilst waiting in a short queue there was announcement over the tannoy which said 'We have customers with a passion for service' - it just made me smile.:-)

Routing

The American saying routing like the British would say the word route (but with ing). The British call it routing in a sort of rout style with ing on the end. What ever you call it, I've been routing with my router for some hours over the last two days, my hands are shaking and my knees are weak (I am in fact All shook up - but whilst it may be love, it's more likely to be the vibration from the router).

It's fab - what can I say - so far made 3 boxes for the spuds only 10 more to go and I'm glad to say (as are the neighbours and him in doors) I'm getting quicker (it's an awfully noisey noise).

Funny ol' time.

You know when you know that things aren't quite right and you know why, and you ignore it or you worry about it and try to ignore it and then eventually you can't ignore it anymore. Well, I've been through that for the past few months.

Nagging doubts, real heart pounding anxieties, sick feeling in your stomach, negative thoughts - the whole anxiety experience (sounds like a band). In fact reading this post reminds me and frankly I don't want (nor need) reminding. But what I discovered more than any other time previously is how I kept this worry going. I fed it and gave it life and made it grow. It also made me realise how anxious I had been in years gone by, I just didn't recognise it. I mastered it as a child - feeling very afraid a lot of the time and bravardo eventually won through. Could have been very different. My Mum helped.

In the end, I lessened the worry by being honest, with myself and others around me and that was such a relief. How powerful it is to be honest. To say what's on your mind, not in a harsh way - just in a way that is clear and straight forward. Then I started to remind myself of what's important. My Mum used to say, never lose sight of what's important, and I had. Life is simple and I was making it complicated. For the first time, I had to draw on my own resources, to pull myself back to the path that felt right. I had to try harder, to make more effort. I had often said it, but not really understood what that meant. It has something (a lot) to do with confidence. Knowing and believing that what you say and what you do has integrity.

And (for me at least) how right Domenica is - what ever the question - love is the answer.

I'm sure that I'll face harder more questioning times than I have recently - I just don't want to forget this lesson. So if I write it down I can refer to it later.

Right, that's that over with - going to plant some sweetpeas tomorrow - how fabulous. And I might plant some spuds if I can get the wood to make the boxes. Have spent all day thinking it was Saturday - bit of a blow, but never mind.

Just watched Jo Brand on Beeb 1 learning the organ - how incredible - what a woman. One of my claims to fame is that I met Jo Brand when she was performing in the Labour club in Rotherham, 17 years ago. She was just starting out, coz you don't come to Rotherham when you're BIG in showbiz. She was hilarious.

Weather update.

Blizzard, followed by just snow, followed by bright sunshine, followed by sleet, then bit of hail, then more sun, then, snow, then THUNDER (Hello!) then sun then snow...

Would I have the courage?

Whilst lying in bed this morning listening to the radio
a news story came on about a woman called Irena Sendlerowa. She was being honoured at the age of 97 by the Polish government for rescuing 2500 Jewish children from the Warsaw ghetto. Apparently she managed to use the Polish underground army disguised as workmen to smuggle the children out in tool bags.

She was caught and tortuted by the Gestapo but refused to give details as to the whereabouts of the children. Eventually, she was sentenced to be executed but escaped after her guards were bribed.

The courage it must take to do such a thing is extraordinary. When I read the blogs here, I'm struck by this too. Simon's blog about helping the chap home, such a selfless act and Alec's determination not to stand during the speech of the Chief exec despite the pressure of EVERYBODY else standing. And the way people talk about their experiences so honestly. Would I have had the courage to act alone like that or be to be so open? I would like to think I would - I hope I would - but...

What a difference 3 days make.

Last night was the last night of the production of a play at a local high school - nothing much to blog about perhaps. But there hasn't been one in the last 7 years. So, for 3 nights after 5 months of organising and rehearsing it all came together. There were 11 musicians and over 50 actors (including the choir) in one way or another a fifth of the school were involved. It happened because of one persons drive, which quickly became two peoples' determination and from there it was never in doubt. Amazing how this can happen. It was a lesson in how to build young people's confidence and aspirations. Here's to you all - last night was a triumph! Thanks for the invite.

Words.

This is from a speech by Arundhati Roy. When I lose my way a little, I read this and it helps me a great deal. It reminds me to concentrate on what I think are the important things in my life.

To love. To be loved.
To never forget your own insignificance.
To never get used to the unspeakable violence and the vulgar disparity of life around you.
To seek joy in the saddest places.
To pursue beauty to its lair.
To never simplify what is complicated or complicate what is simple.
To respect strength, never power.
Above all, to watch.
To try and understand.
To never look away.
And never, never, to forget

Not a lot of people know that!

Did you know that the National Archives of Wales in Aberystwyth has 118 miles of shelves? And on average a runner (i.e collector of requested archive material) walks 7 miles per day!

Yesterday my pond was boiling!

Thought I'd try an attention grabbing headline!

It wasn't actually boiling and it wasn't actually yesterday.

But on Sunday there were literally 10s of frogs doing 'what frogs do' at this time of year (I'm really not sure what they do); all at the same time in our pond. Their combined action was creating tidal waves!

The half a dozen or so cats that congregate in our garden sat mesmerized for hours watching the spectacle. I'm very glad to say that no frog (as far as I could tell) was injured during the show (by a cat I mean). I wanted to take a picture of it, but when we got close they all stopped and when we turned our back they started again. Like something from the 'blue lagoon' I would imagine.

Frogs are great because they eat slugs - except ours don't. We have many many frogs that live in the garden and frankly none of them earn their keep. So...here's hoping for the coming year!

Spelling!

Why does my spelling and grammer go out the window whn I blog. See! Look at when. :-/

Wow!

How incredible is this! All these people brought togther for all sorts of different reasons, helping, supporting, encouraging, listening and caring about each other -I'm just having a WOW! moment.


Thanks to everyone - sincerely; without YOU this would NOT be hapening.

Right - off to get something to cook with! Pancackes tonight, I'm a wee bit behind on the week and feel I can't give something up before I've over-indulged!

Believe in the power of one!

Someone special said this to me today - what an empowering idea.

Propolis

Propolis is a red sticky substance collected by bees from the bark of trees. Bees use it to stick their hives together. It's called propolis because the beekeeper has to crack it before she can check the hive and I believe comes from the word pro (as in before) and polis (as in metropolis - city_) so before the city. Propolis (along with many other bee products) has anti-bacterial qualities. It used to be used, along with honey to clean burns and cuts. Apparently, you can buy honey soaked bandages, but I'd rather have it on toast - the honey I mean, not the bandage.

Anyway...just felt like mentioning this.

Let it snow!

I love snow. I make a point of going out in the snow and walking miles. I did it today.

Snow always brings back such fond memories. When I was a child we lived opposite our Junior school playing fields which had a hill on it. My best friend and I used to spend hours sliding down the snowy hill. We would make the perfect sledge run and use thick plastic bags to slide down. You couldn't even stand at the top of the hill because we'd made it sheer ice. And it snowed every year - I'm sure it did. We would come in frozen and soaking wet. I remember that gloves were always in short supply so we would wear socks on our hands. And we would make huge snow balls - I mean 4 or 5 feet - my brother would sometimes help, because they became too heavy to move.

If we got kicked off the playing fields (why on earth is was such an issue I could never understand!) we'd sledge down the middle of the road. One would act as look out for cars and shout a warning if one came. Because you were heading head first down the road, the noise made it difficult to hear and I remember turning to see two headlights no more than two feet from my heals - can't imagine how we were allowed to do this. But no-one ever got hurt.

It was utter bliss and all I could think about as I made my 6 or so mile round trip from home to work, through Stoke and back home again today in the snow. Loads of kids were going sledging, but perfect sledging has to be done when it gets dark, so the orange glow of the street lights reflects on the snow.

Brilliant.

Is 'outage' a real word.

I suppose outage is a real word if someone uses it and other people grap it and use it too. That's how stuff and ideas come into being isn't it? It infiltrates your world and before you know it, you can't imagine what it was like without it. I'm rambling a bit here.

What I wanted to say was, what a beautiful day it's been. It could have been May rather than February. I was busy all day (in between playing my guitar) - the back door was open and the sun poured through. I bobbed about in the back garden, mending fence panels, doing other stuff (sure I did more than just that) - but anyway what a brilliant day. I felt utterly content all day.

Ps. I checked outage - it seems it is a real word, although Microsoft word couldn't furnish me with a definition - mmm...

Book learning.

I'm really lucky to work as a notetaker at a university. This means that I learn about loads of different subjects, but never have to revise for an exam - although I do sit them with the students and scribe for them. So far, I've taken notes for most a of a law degree - which has been quite fascinating and dare I say, quite useful at times. I've taken notes on advice work and social policy and even sat through films taking notes - brill or what. But on Thursday, it was ethics - which is really philosophy - blimey! Sure does make you think - it made me think how little I do think - so got to do more of that. I also sat through a forensic science lecture based on the different types of drugs and their effects. That made me think too.

Best gigs in the world ever part 1...

Following on from Blueshawk's blog. One of the best bands I ever went to see was Fairground Attraction. It must have been in 1989 and it was at the Leadmill in Sheffield (which I think is still going). Eddie Reader was the lead singer of the band and I thought her voice was amazing (still do!). I remember it so well, because I went with my friends from school and wasn't actually old enough to be there. It was all a bit of an adventure.

I saw Sam Brown at the Stage (now Sugarmill) in Hanley. She was incredible too - the energy of the woman. She stood on top of her Fender Rhodes piano and jumped onto the floor of the auditorium! Must have been 8 ft drop and she's just a wee thing.

I went to see INXS at the NEC - I wasnt a big fan but my best friend was a huge fan. We were really near the front and Michael Hutchins threw some dog tags he was wearing into the audience. They hit a poor woman, who was standig virtually next to me, on the head. She was completely oblivious to what had happened on stage. Suddenly 300 people (OK, maybe I'm exaggerating) dived on her to retrieve the reward. A minute or two later, after it was claimed by the quickest of the pack, the woman stumbled to her feet thoroughly bewildered.

I think the best gigs are the ones at smaller venues. When it's a stadium gig it all feels a bit unreal- even if you're near the front.

Gigs that I would most loved to have been at but wasn't - Live Aid and Nelson Mandela's Birthday bash at Wembley Stadium. I did go to the Wembley gig after he was released and heard him speak. There are loads of mixed views about live Aid - but I believed in it and it made me think beyond my own shores at 13 years of age - surely that's a good thing.

Thanks for sparking those memories T - I was in a school on Friday and the music teacher had quote on her classroom door - it read - 'without music...life would be a journey through a desert'.

The green eyed monster!

Jealousy is a terrible thing and I admit I am jealous. I want to have the moon waining on my blog like Blueshawk's blog.

Would a kindly person be able tell me how it's done?

Thank you so much.

Happy Birthday to ya!

It's my oldest (or is it eldest) brother's birthday. He isn't one for celebrating 'things like that' as he would say - but here's to you - may there be many, many more. I owe a great deal to my brother, he was the one who looked after me and my sister when we were young and was probably the biggest influence in my life as I was growig up. I love him dearly and remember thinking that he was the coolest person in the world. He used to play the guitar to us (in fact he still does) and taught us all the Beatles songs. I was in to Lennon and McCartney when everyone else at school was in to Spandau Ballet and Duran Duran. I'm not sure what I would have done without him. I feel honoured and proud that he's my brother.

Happy Birthday SRB.

Optimism

I feel full of optimism at the moment. I am generally quite optimistic anyway. Sometimes, I am hopelessly optimistic about things. It can be a good thing, but it can cause chaos, particularly to those around me. For example, I can underestimate how long things will take to complete, I sometimes leave home without directions to places I need to visit, I generally think everything will be OK and sometimes it isn't and I know this can be difficult for the ones I care deeply about.

But the way I look at it is, there's no point being pesimistic, or at least overly pesimistic and I know the realists will be saying, you ought to be realistic, and maybe they're are right (but I don't actually think they are, I'm just being polite). Some people have said that I delude myself a bit by being optimistic, again, perhaps they're right, but then you must delude yourself a bit by being pesimistic too.

If you imagine the outcome is going to be negative then you won't even try and maybe that's exactly the right decision, I'm not suggesting being foolish or reckless. But, most everday decisions aren't that significant and if you can imagine the outcome being positive then you're more likely to have a bash. It might be OK, then if it is, great and if it isn't try something else. I know this doesn't work for all aspects of life.

I have learned to be more sensible. I arrive on time more often than not, I take a map with me and I think that things will take as long as they take - except for slow cooking pots, which take forever - how do they manage to cook things so slowly! And isn't really worth the energy it comsumed. But I did think when I put it on that it would be quicker and taste better...

Happy New Year!

To all the Mind Blogglers - and everyone else - happy New Year! Hope 2007 is a good year for you! :-)