that ol' man, Romance

i've been enjoying myself of late, having recently concluded 2 weeks of holidays, i feel like i've been rested and had time to reflect on beautiful things (instead of programs, reports and professional development).

things like romance - in the true 19th century literary sense of the notion; the enlightened vision to the truth of beauty and essence of human emotion. i must interject and tell y'all where this strange romantic impulse and conviction came from - one quiet afternoon in my holidays i visited a friend, and we sat in her living room as the day's light fell and watched Jane Eyre (the newest, most beautiful version of this painfully beautiful story, with Mia Wasikowska and Michael Fassbender). i was earnestly transfixed, quite. and it wasn't just Fassbender i was transfixed by...maybe not, anyway.

its not the first time i've been consumed and entranced by the beauty of the 'old romantics'. remember my thing for John Keats and Bright Star? something captures me in this writing. i had a serious long think about it over the holidays, and enjoyed myself in the process.



so, i beseech you, enjoy this marvelous moment in film.

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a gift that teaches.

for my birthday, i was given a cross stitching starter kit, by my lovely brother and sister. it was a surprise gift, and very thoughtful, because i love it. i love that i can now learn and practice a new craft.

i remember when i was young, my mum used to cross stitch - i even have faint memories of me as a young lass having a go myself. thinking it was quite simple in theory, but really a little too time consuming for an itchy foot people person, who's frequent utterings included 'I'm bored' and 'wanna play a game with me'. i was surely such an unbearable kid. (i think my brothers felt this more than anyone, still.)

so, off i go on a new cross stitch journey. but this time its 'cool'. my sister who gave the gift (i know it wasn't really your idea Dave, sorry), has a good eye for design, fashion, art and creativity. and she has demonstrated this many a time, when she has mastered and used an old time craft for brilliant home beautifying. see...

along with the supplies i was given i raided my mother in laws sewing room, which opened up a whole new realm of possibilities. she has, like, hundreds of cross stitch, patchwork and sewing magazines. i swiftly scoured the stash for different cross stitch texts - that will be my first task. learning to 'type'.

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picture books

while in the library at school, supervising (babysitting) students, i had the pleasure of encountering some of my favourite stories from when i was young - but probably too old to be reading picture books. the colourful, contemplative and deceptively 3 dimensional like picture books of Jeannie Baker.

i saw the book Window lying on a desk and immediately had memories of pouring over each page, finding new things in every image - little creatures, things in trees, old coke cans in the grass. strong memories of the books theme came flooding back; the way we drastically change our environment, the way we don't notice over time. but i always liked the way the book watched this little red-headed boy grow, from his first trip home with mum to the day he started his own family. i followed this family, and i knew them. Baker builds such a joyous and real family story, and opens our minds to the way we affect our environment.

"...by opening a window in our minds, by understanding how change takes place and by changing the way we personally affect the environment, we can make a difference." Jeannie Baker

she was onto something back then.

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