Two blogs in particular have given me a bit of an elbow in the ribs recently. Sue, on The Quince Tree quoted a poem by Grace Noll Crowell, called Such Joy in Simple Things, which pulled me up short as I had been in low-grade grumbly mode. Then I read Penelope's post, on L is for Love, where she was considering 10 Good Things Right Now.
Having a high level of intolerance for....well, all sorts of things, really, I can easily slip into an irritated frame of mind a propos of almost nothing at all. And it is annoying. Both for those around me, and for me, too. So without wishing to get too right-on and positive thinking, shoving my gratitude for life down folks' throats, I'm going to be considering some Reasons To Be Cheerful on a regular basis.
Now I shall be posting this on Saturday, when I've sorted the photos out, but I'm writing it now, on Friday. And obviously, it is a given that my family and friends are always souces of cheerfulness to me!
REASONS TO BE CHEERFUL
The sun is really shining today, and I'm basking in its warmth.
All around me Great Britons are allowing themselves to feel proud about being British!
The Garden is still looking quite good, lush growth and colour.
I have been reading some lovely comments on the last blog-post.
I actually got down to organising the neccessary for my Baskets Quilt! Yay!
......and actually made a start!
My new business cards arrived from Moo, and I love 'em...thankyou Cathy (Potter Jotter)
I managed to work out the left hand all by myself chords and basses to the new tune I'm learning on my melodeon! I shall amaze Nick, my tutor on Tuesday! Love it! (It's the RSB by Andy Cutting - who else? - in case you're interested.)
I bought this mag a couple of weeks ago, only got down to reading it today!
Reached page 15...the Feedback page and there I found..........
.......................my Angel! Yes, there she is, Gloria, in all her ........glory! What a surprise. And look at that total we raised.....fantastic!
I finished a journal page using my new Inktense Pencils...love 'em!
While rummaging for the Basket Quilt fabrics, I came across this.........
It's the Auntie Green's Quilt which I saw in mmmmmm, I think Australian Quilting Magazine ages ago. I got as far as the central appliqued panel and the first border of pinwheels. One day.....one day.....but it was great to look at it again and ponder.
We got into town early this morning and did the shopping before most other people were up and about - bliss!Today just meandered along, in quiet contemplation and harmony between us. Nothing wildly exciting happened, it was just laid back and gentle. And very, very cheerful.
Now you see I love the last but one photo of your doodles.... but find it so frustrating that I can't think along the same lines myself. Don't spend much time on many sites but looked at Pinterest at the art journals there... WOW! Amazing!
ReplyDeleteSo I have a little watercolour book for trying out ideas with paints, and I have a little facsimile of a Ladybird book as a notebook, which has a little pocket in the back (only just discovered this and had the book eight months!!!) where I can keep little bits of this and that I may want to incorporate into journal pages. I may not be as talented as you and other journallers, but having fun and that's the main point of it all for me.
The flowers are just very stylised versions of....made up flowers! You start with a little corner, add a line round it, add a wavy-er line round that, draw some loops or V shapes underneath the line...or above it, then draw another line to encompass the whole thing. Then you go back and doodle in the shapes. No talent required -believe me! ANd to be honest, things always seem to look SO much better on screen, and back-lit! I start off in pencil, to get the spaces right between the main flowers, and then go for it.
Deletehaving fun is totes the idea!
Meant to say I have a couple of interesting books in my Amazon basket for the next buying session.... '365 Things to write about' which I thought might give me prompts, and 'Taking Flight: Inspiration and Techniques to Give Your Creative Spirit Wings', for inspiration.
ReplyDeleteMmm, yes, I have the 2nd one.....I bought it because I have long admired her art-work.However, though the book is heavy on the journaling process ie the WRITTEN WORD and what inspires it, it isn't a book about creating journalpages. She shows a lot of mixed media techniques for making art canvases, and there is a chapter by djPetit whose fabric books I LOVE, on actually making a small journal.
DeleteNo, it's a lovely book, but it's not about journaling as I do it. Lots of inspirational thoughts about 'journeys' which you may or not appreciate! (my tongue is firmly in my cheek as I type.) And should I ever decide to paint a small canvas...and I may...then this is my go-to book. Just sayin'.
I think we can all take heed of this and note our reasons to be cheerful - love the photos of your garden and that artwork for your journal page is brilliant. Hope you finish the Auntie Green quilt as it is lovely. Enjoy the weekend.
ReplyDeleteHi Jane, well, it's such a simple thing to do, without making a song and dance about it; I do just need a prod now and again to look on the bright side!
ReplyDeleteHmmm I think Auntie Green might have a bit of a wait....lots of other stuff taking precedence. Our weekend is going nicely thank you, hope yours is too!
Hi Lynn,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoy reading your blog and seeing this huge amount of proof of your widespread creativity.
Love your idea of the "things I'm cheerful about" posts.
I find myself sometimes down due to stress at school and too many problems and things I have to think about. And suddenly one day it came to me - the negative things stick so much more to your memory than the good ones. So I try to keep the positive things in mind too :-) They are harder to find and are pretty rare (at school!), but they are there.
Love, Martina
Hello Martina, nice to have your comment!
ReplyDeleteYou are SO RIGHT! It's awfully easy to get bogged down by the negatives - and you know, stuff happens, so we can't deny it, and we'd be pretty irritating if we went round doing the I'm a little sunbeam thing all the time. BUT you can help yourself (and those around you) if you just stop before you moan, and make your mind up that 'today I will choose joy' to coin a phrase.
A Buddhist writer I admire has a book called 'Change your mind, change your life' and it is so true. I'm trying, I really am! Hope you are in a 'good place' this week end.
Great post Lynne. And yay, another Andy Cutting fan :D He's a reason to be cheerful if ever there was one.
ReplyDeletehey Annie! You love Andy too! I think his music is great, and aim to learn as many of his tunes as I can...bit more difficult for me on the box than on my fiddle, but I'm SO loving it. I did a 2 day course with him last November, in Somerset...it was a little over my head as I'd only been playing (box) a couple of months, but it was brilliant. Am hoping to do another weekend at Witney later this year and he is teaching there. He was at Norwich with Blowzabella a couple of months ago - I blogged about how my legs had shin-splints after too much Breton dancing! OOOof, that's enough fan-droolery I think!
DeletePS I'd love to learn to play the melodeon. How difficult would you say it is, for someone reasonably musical who used to read music?
ReplyDeleteAnnie, if you are musical and can already read music then you are half-way there. It is a very intuitive instrument. The only thing you have to get used to is the fact that each right hand button makes a different sound depending on whether you push or pull the bellows, with the left hand. Once you've got this, and the 'patting head and rubbing tummy' thing with the pushy-pulley, watching the air supply, and playing the melody, you are on your way.
ReplyDeleteI CAN read music but not to sight-read, I'm very slow, and I don't do the theory bit. I learn by ear which is great on the box... I really have no idea of the name of the notes I am playing so the music is irrelevant anyway. But my 'notey' friends swear by it. Horses for courses. Melodeons are pricey but you can get basic models cheaper....have a look at the music room website...the shop in Cleckheaton, Yorkshire. And do check out melodeon.net wich is a BRILLIANT forum with loads of info about buying, learning etc etc. I spent a week sitting up til stupid-oclock reading their archives before I took the plunge. Oh, and find some folkey types who can support you, playing with other people is what has helped me most of all. Phew, I'm going to lie down in a darkened room now........ ! Lx. ps ....as someone of fairly advanced years I would say if I can do it at my age there should be no problems for you!
You're a star Lynne. I will do some research. I used to know all the folky haunts locally but stopped going along when the kids reached teenage years and started needing lifts everywhere. Years ago I sang, mostly contemporary and traditional folk, hence the ability to read music, though I'm very rusty.
DeleteI first encountered Andy Cutting in concert with Kate Rusby by the way. Back when she was still with John McCusker. Now that was a night to remember! I'm still a big fan of all three. My kids have bought me tickets to a Kate Rusby gig, and a Civil Wars gig for an upcoming birthday, just a couple of nights apart. Can't wait!
Hi Annie, you know I first encountered him at a Kate Rusby concert too...but then I really only had eyes and ears for John McCusker's fiddle! It was BM...before melodeon!Hah!
DeleteI saw Kate and her new husband at Kings Lynn last year - she was as good as ever, and he is too BUT I miss the fiddle, and let's face it, that line up was a dream team, wasn't it? For heaven's sake, McCusker, Mcgoldrick, Andy Cutting and Ian Carr.......how can you chuck all that? For love, I suppose, and a little girl baby. Good luck finding some live music and someone to support you!
Blimey the Blogosphere will be rippling with positive vibes at this rate! We are all at it!
ReplyDeleteLove your reasons to be cheerful Lynne! The sunshine just makes everything better doesn't it? Your garden is looking GlOrIoUs too. Those business cards are just lovely especially the time for tea one!
ReplyDeleteEnjoy he ret of the weekend, Victoria xx
Hi Victoria, yes, am really just thoroughly enjoying our late sunshine, it effects everyone, doesn't it? You go into town and people are lolling about outside cafe's feeling all continental, as if we do it all the time.
DeleteI was chuffed with the Moo cards, you can have a s many different backs as you want which I thought was brilliant.
And a lovely w/end to you too. Lx.
Oh thanks for the info on the book, you obviously know just what I am looking for and the book sounds as if it isn't it! I shall remove it from basket...no doubt it won't take long to replace it!
ReplyDeleteI'd hate to think I'd dissuaded you from something you might have enjoyed, Maggie, it is a very pretty book. But it wasn't what I had expected, I must say, and there isn't much about the sort of thing I do. Most of the other books in That Pile are better bets.
DeleteLynne, you've got loads to be cheerful about! Love your journal, you are so artistic! You, grumpy! Never!!! Ada ;)
ReplyDeleteAh, Ada, if only you knew........
ReplyDeleteLx.
Those pics certainly cheer me Lynne.
ReplyDeleteYour journal looks beautiful. I could scream with delight at the sight of your pens.
Have a great week.
Chris
Australia
Hi Chris, well of course you are in deep midwinter, aren't you? Mind you we skyped our Kiwis last night and they said they had 17 degrees so not much worse than a normal summers day here!!LOL
ReplyDeleteNo, the sun is out again as I type and we are feeling very cheerful indeed. That photo of the pens in the basket is rather gorgeous, isn't it? I could run my fingers through them just for fun!
Wow Lynne, this is full of reasons to be cheerful, I am so pleased I inspired you, isn't the blogosphere fabulous for that! It's like a chain reaction which can only but create happy positive vibes. It's always the small things and I know that's a cliche but hey, it's true.
ReplyDeleteYou are so blessed with your multiple talents, your quilting is AMAzing to say the least, let alone your gardening skills and musical talent. Yay, keep looking for the itty bitty things in your precious life xox Penelope
Gosh Penelope, I don't know about multiple talents!!! But thank you any way. I must however come clean about the garden........I'd hate to give you the impression that I have ANYTHING to do with its care and upkeep! In my earlier posts I confessed to not having a green thumb, nor the inclination to potter and weed; my idea of gardening is to visit the nursery and come home with loads of plants, placing them confidently round the garden where I think tey should go...and lo and behold...the fairies plant them up for me! ; ) No Jim is the gardener, though I do the herbs, I me and myself alone!
ReplyDeleteLike you I love the good things that can come out of blogging....my own experience is of support and friendship and good humour. I know it isn't always the case, but certainly 'our' crowd seem jolly nice bloggers and though emight not agree on evrything -how boring would that be? - we seem to manage not to tread on each others' toes. Let's keep those vibes...er...vibrating! Lx
Hello Lynne, I love visiting your blog. You are so very talented . . . and you do so many different things . . . and to perfection. I love that journal page the details are incredible. Your melodeon is beautiful and it is so cool that you can figure the chords by ear. I still have to have all my music on paper in front of me. Oh yes and your business cards are great. I hope that your day is a glorious one, Connie :)
ReplyDeleteHello Connie, now don't forget when we blog we do for the most part edit out the minor frustrations and downside - mostly - I really feel uncomfortable with the idea you think I do ANYTHING to perfection! You only see the good stuff!
ReplyDeleteBut thank you so much for your lovely comments...and I did have a great day yesterday...see the new blog post...it was a day made in heaven!
Lx
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