Scattered thoughts
I always mean to write a profound, amusing, thought provoking, fabulously constructed, life changing post. Clearly I have learned to live with disappointment. But I do at least try to not be too scattered.
Bad luck for you today because I feel like that is my life right now….a bit scattered. My narky inner voice tells me YOU LACK FOCUS. Another inner voice (there’s a crowd, believe me) says your life is rich in variety, truly abundant in diverse and seemingly unlinked experiences. However I describe it, it’s not neat and tidy! (See accompanying photo of my workspace recently. Also not neat or tidy. But colourful and fun! Edited to look less chaotic.)
There’s just getting on with living (always a tad messy) and gardening and travelling and walking and making and Samunnat-ting and the general body/ mind maintenance activities that are part and parcel of an ageing body. Thank goodness I feel like there’s an underlying thread. At the moment it happily hangs together thanks to poetry.
My mother, a lover of poems and threads, got me onto a fabulous website* (link below because I am heeding the advice of website gurus not to direct people away from your site to less scattered ones) where the author published a poem every day for several years. These poems were all chosen because they help to deepen…engagement with this moment we have. I am all for anything that helps me to be more mindful, so each morning I read a poem before I start my journalling and meditation. It’s been one of my better life decisions…even on the mornings where the work of a particular poet (let’s call her Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer, just say) has led me down a rabbit warren of reading poems and listening to her TED talk and writing copious musings so that consequently the productive part of the day all starts later than planned!
Choosing a poem a day, or writing a poem a day got me thinking about what a great creative it prompt was for me when I was mixing a colour every day. So I’ve decided to do this again. This time the “rules” are as follows:
Make a new colour using Cernit each day.
ONLY use some or all of the following colours: Cyan, Magenta, Yellow**, White and/ or Black.
One week of pure hues, one week of tints, one week of shades and one week of times. Then repeat!
Colour names will reflect the recipe: C,M,Y,W,K
More on the details later and I’m hoping that after a few months I’ll have some wonderful Cernit colour recipes. I’ll also have learnt a lot about working with Cernit which is newish to me! Watch this space folks! Those who are interested in the recipes can drop me a line. I might publish a 4 weekly summary for those here for the polymer ride!
These seemingly unrelated photos reflect bits of my scattered, abundantly varied life!! Our BEFORE VEGGIES garden shot and bits and pieces I made while humming Tom Waits’ song You Can Never Hold Back Spring. I’m wearing some of the earrings now and loving myself sick.
*The whole poetry thing began with a note that slipped out of a book I had given mum and dad for the library where they live. That’s a whole other blog post really but here’s the site I mentioned before. Give yourself peace and time and a massive treat!!! Here it is! And here is the site for Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer if you are looking for a rabbit warren of wonder.
**For you polymeristas, I am mixing Cernit Yellow Number One with Opaline Primary Yellow 1:1 because the #1 yellow is too….yellow!