trimmingthesails

This I'd love to see ...

... said Sian, throwing down a gauntlet (in a manner of speaking) for her Scrap 365 sketch this month over at From High In The Sky: "Go digital", she said encouragingly. "Hum", I thought, "that's a lovely template but I haven't got any bunting, butterflies or bits" ...

But Sian threw me a lifeline. "Go really clean and simple!", she enthused. So I did ...

I hope this fits the bill, Sian. Though what with running to pick up that gauntlet and clinging to your lifeline, I think I'm going to need a rest for a week :). Thank-you! It was a lot of fun ... And if any of you would like further inspiring suggestions on how to use the sketch, Sian has lots over here, and there are lovely sample pages at Sketchbook 365's October Challenge.

It's been a real delight to read so many glimpses in the lives of those who have written about their Simply A Moment: just to say that the linky is open till Monday.  Gloria and Alison have added theirs recently, both with a lovely hispanic feel. Oh, for some warmth! Have you been washed away yet?

There are two 'e's in leaves ...

I thought they might not be, this year. Just not exist. That after the gloom of cool summer skies heavy with rain, the leaves might simply drift from green to sodden brown. But finally, the soft russets of autumn are beginning to shade across the garden. Every morning I am reminded as I perch on the stone step, wisps of steam from my tea curling into the moist air, how like, and unlike, them I am. They have no idea of how or what they will become: it belongs to us, the ability to envisage what might be, and it brings joy and sadness. But we share with them the ability to endure, to go on; and - who knows - we might even glow with the markings and tatters of age ... Today, I am inspired by these:

envisage: to conceive of possibility in the future.   If you have a few moments, this  xylophone in a forest is a witness to its power.

endure: to make hardy, to bear with patience, to withstand adversity without sinking. If you love colour and stitch, honoré's beautiful quilt, fashioned in the intense heat of the Washinton summer this year, is surely a testament.

Envisaging and enduring: I need to draw on these, this time, this year. And I'm wondering: is there is something in the season where you live which speaks to you too ...?

And there is wonderful gathering of simple moments in September over here: scrolling down to the linky at the foot of the post, you'll fnd Linda, Irene, Amy, Miriam, Cheri and Rinda. :)

Brickbats and bouquets ...

And as we sail, a little erratically, towards the weekend, here's how it is up here ...

Dear Word Verification: I would be very grateful if you could inform your progamming team that the command "Please type two words" is an inappropriate use of English for a clutch of vowels and consonants followed (or preceded) by a number. Pedantically yours. Dear Dentist and Dental Nurse: thank-you so very much for your gentleness and courtesy to my father. I am always touched by kindness to our older citizens, as is he. All is healing nicely and he, and we, are very pleased. This comes with our grateful thanks. Dear Waste Collection Team: we apologise for having inadvertently included some cotoneaster cuttings in our green bin that were apparently too big. We understand from the large bright yellow Name and Shame Sticker which you plastered across the lid that some of our larger branches exceeded the regulation length by an inch. We will indeed measure more carefully next time. With apologies. Dear blog readers: it's been a pleasure to know that you have popped in this week and it has cheered my heart. Appreciatively yours. Dear Canon Camera Company: I enclose a CV in support of my application to rewrite your camera manuals. Intelligent users wishing to reuse a memory card from an old camera are less than thrilled at being sent from page 2 to page 146 and returned to page 57 where they are unceremoniously dumped by the instruction "open the format screen" and offered no assistance in locating it. I am confident I could do a better job. Yours with hope but little expectation. Dear Sian and Miriam: your heart-warming posts and photos here and here on the theme of " Love Is ..." have inspired me. Happy, thanks to you both. :)

Oh, and you might like to know you can generate some lovely gobbledygook of your own, thanks to the Plain English Society. As I urgently need to cascade memos about my new quality transitional paradigm shifts, and it's just not possible to fail with holistic policy processing, this is clearly not the time to be biting the bullet with parallel strategic incremental alignments. Hopefully by next week, I will be more on-message about my synchronised asset matrix approach. Or possibly not. I think I need another Martini ... :).

(Edited to add the psd. template for Simply A Moment, as promised, and hope it is useful to you. Suitable for PS and PSE. If there are any problems, please do email and I'll do my best to help.)

SimplyAMomentSeptember.psd

September's Simply a Moment

Hello! Welcome to a midweek, mid-month Simply a Moment for September ...

It's been a lovely surprise to find that the concept has struck a chord with many of you. If you're not sure what it's about, you'll find the information on Friday's, Saturday's and Monday's posts. Again, I'd like to acknowledge its germination in Ali Edwards' wonderful 31 Things class. I hope it's been, or will be, an interesting or meaningful experience for you in some way, and that you'll feel able to share with us here or on your own blog how you've felt about it. And if you'd like to join in, I've added a linky below, which will be open for a fortnight. The multi-talented Paul of The Artsiders, and a regular reader and friend, has already posted his over here, so please do pop in to have a read - you might be intrigued as to where he stopped for his moment!

And thank-you all, so very much ... :)

Memory making ...

"What are you reading?", he asked companionably, plumping up the cushion and plopping down beside me. 'I'd have thought you'd have whizzed through that simplicity thingy by now". I had known by the slight pursing of his lips as he flicked through the first issue of The Simple Things that it didn't quite meet his high standards for magazine content.

"Nope, I'm snuggling up with The New Scientist" I replied. "Reading these back copies on how we make and retrieve memories. Really interesting."

"Right", he replied carefully. Nonplussedness hung in the air. "Your brain is like a wardrobe", I enthused. "Anything you put in gets stored in multiple categories. So your memory of that engraved paper weight for long service they gave you last week goes into a drawer for crystal things, a shelf called "work", a section marked "things with my name on", a hanger for paper weights ...."

"I don't see how paper weights on hangers would work", he interrupted dubiously. I sighed. "OK, forget the hangers", I said. "The point is that the brain is so clever in its multi-linking and layering that if you stored your paper weight on the crystal shelf, it could find it again for you if you went to feeling-appreciated-at-work drawer. You see ...  " (I was on a roll) "... the richer your awareness and the more all your senses are involved at the time of the experience, the more effectively the memory is stored. Isn't that interesting?" "Ye-e-s" he replied, easing himself off the sofa. "But actually, I came to ask you if you'd seen where I'd left the car keys." And off he oozed.

Clearly there's a market for a chocolate key ring fob that you can nibble as you set your keys down. But I'm hoping you see the relevance for scrapbooking a moment.

And the slightly maligned pages of The Simple Things did at least provide an idea for a page layout. :) See you Wednesday!

 

Simply A Moment Prompt (15 September)

Hello, and thank-you for such a welcoming response to the idea of Simply A Moment yesterday :). Jen wondered if I would be posting a prompt as a reminder, and so here I am. There is no specific time, so there is no deadline to keep an eye on or feel anxious about. I will be picking a moment sometime today, Saturday 15th September. As my days are so fluid at present, I am not sure exactly when, so I am allowing myself plenty of room - and if you find that today doesn't work for you, another day will be just as good. I'll be here on Monday with some thoughts about how I'm putting my notes together, and plan to be finished by Wednesday; but if it takes you longer, that's fine too - we all have enough in our lives without putting ourselves under additional pressure!

I've popped some ideas onto the page below in case they're of use to you, and the downloadable pdf is here:
SimplyAMoment(1)pdf

Wishing you a happy weekend, and a hoping you have a little space, just for a moment. See you on Monday?

From blurry to clear ...

I don't know about you, but there can be a blurriness to my memories. What did I actually eat yesterday? Was it Monday last week when Z rang? Where have I seen those keys?  So much to process every day ...  What do I actually remember? In years to come, when I look back at the landscape of my life, I don't want to peer at vague and misty outlines. I know it will not be possible to see it all evenly backlit in glorious technicolour. But I'll settle for bright pools of clarity, even if the edges shade into darkness ...

Of the pages I have created this year, the most vivid memories nestle in the most straightforward journalling of all: simple description. Its power came home to me in Ali Edward's 31 Things class a few months ago: one day at 9.15 we stopped and jotted down whatever was happening. That was it. Just had to write it down, with as much specific detail as possible. No evaluating, no trying to recall feelings from a previous event, no need for a coherent story. Simply describe.

When I re-read my description of that moment, I am astonished at the clarity and vividness of the memory. I am right back there. Experimenting a few times since, the result is the same. Intriguingly, it also brings back sensations, thoughts and situations not written down, but which were part of the wider landscape at the time. It's a wonderfully rich and simple way to capture experience and create a memory which is bright, textured and and alive.

So, beginning this month, for a year, I'm planning a Simply A Moment:

• a simple description of one minute of life
• made mid-month (around the 15th), posted a few days later
• could be varied in form: a scrapbook layout, a diary page, a bit of art-journalling added, a collage, or just a piece of writing and a photo (or something else yet to be discovered!)

And if you'd like to join me in capturing a moment in time, I'd be honoured :). Some of the things I've found most useful:

• just get the initial notes down quickly: who, where, what, how. ('Why' is less useful, being more evaluative)
• keep the details very concrete and specific e.g. the blue willow-patterned mug with the flower inside the rim
• what am I seeing/looking at, hearing, touching, tasting, smelling?
• what/how am I feeling, what am I thinking, pondering, wondering, planning, asking myself, wearing, carrying, about to do
• where am I / others at this moment?
• what is each person doing?
• what's the weather/temperature like
• no need to be profound: simply describe!
• can be humourous too

Wishing you a happy and unblurry weekend!

Growing younger ...

... is such a joy! We are home, thousands of miles later: muscle-sore from running alongside bikes and pushing swings (higher, grandma!), wetted in paddling pools and puddles, totally footballed-out, and completely and utterly happy ...

What more could you ask from a week away with loved little and big ones? Off now to sort the washing, ironing, pile of post, and the many photos. Oh, and hunt for a replacement point-and-shoot that does close-ups, after the light sensor on mine expensively failed. Recommendations welcome! I might even be compos mentis by Friday ... :).