Friends – Paper, Pen and a Mug of …

How a Sound Can Lead Us to …

My craft room sounded differently and felt different. The colour on the wall had changed. I looked up from my megga sorting to find the rain had stopped and the sun was out.

I like the sound of the rain on the roof. There is something comforting about the rhythm of rain. Each shower has a different rhythm and funnily enough there is a totally different sound to rain after a long dry spell.

However, let me explain something. A long dry spell for Ireland is perhaps 7 days. Yes really seven days. This year was a heat wave which lasted from June until August with record low levels of rain throughout the country. Ireland has not experienced such a dry spell since 1976.

Today’s rain had a very soothing sound and it had a constant rhythm which gave a great background to a sort out. Yes it was time to sort out my fabric stash. Or that was the idea. Yes, I did start on my Christmas fabric. This lead me to taking down my “Christmas Journal” and choosing fabrics for people. Then I just had to think of items I could make for them. Which in turn lead me to a different selection of fabric. You know how it goes or perhaps not? Perhaps it is only me who goes off on these tangents.

It was the sound of the rain stopping which put a halt to my gallops and I realised that I had accomplished little or no sorting but had a great few hours thinking of people. So definitely not time wasted. Spread around me was a sea of Christmas colour with ideas for Christmas presents. My journal had new ideas with many word maps in varying different colour pens. (That reminds me I must try and see if I can get colour cartridges for my fountain pen.)

I know it is only October and I am thinking of Christmas but if like me presents are made then it does require numerous weeks to plan and execute.

Girlfriends

Today is National Girlfriends Day and what a fantastic thing to celebrate. I personally think that friendship among women is something very special.

There are those friends who are only in your life for a short period. Perhaps it is during the school years or perhaps during various stages of one’s working life. They keep us going. When those friendships come to a natural conclusion that is fine. Life intervenes and to be honest I think it would be impossible to keep every friendship going.

There are the friends one meets during difficult times. They support you and then as those difficult times ease you both move on with your lives and again that is ok.

There are those friends which one meets through perhaps pastimes, hobbies, shared interest. Perhaps you only meet them during those shared interests, but they are an integral part of the enjoyment of those interests.

Perhaps you have some friends who are years or decades younger and their perspective on life adds to your knowledge as we are always learning.

I was listening to someone recently who looked on her local librarian as her friend as every two week she knows that there is going to be a new book waiting for her which will stimulate her, intrigue her or even get her riled. These books have been chosen by someone who cares and that is the definition of friendship for her.

Then again there are those friends who you may be privileged enough to have had them for twenty years or more. They have become part of the fabric of your life. That is such a special blessing.

I have been blessed with so many gifts of friendship that I am humbled. Today I am remembering with great fondness but also with a heavy heart some friends who have died. I still go to the phone to ring them or I am just about to send them a text, or message them and even had a card made for one friend when I realise “No “they are no longer here. However, their legacy of friendship remains within my heart.

I have been privileged to have received the gift of friendship from so many.

Happy Girlfriend Day.

Friendship

Friendship is everything in life,
Life without friendship is like life without air…
Life without friendship is like eats without food
And
Life without friendship is like body without soul…

(excerpt from Friendship by Qistina Zani)

Friendship

Friendship can mean many things.

Friendship can be transient as our life develops. Sometimes friendships fade as our lives take us apart. That is ok. Those people came into our lives for a short period and gave the gift of friendship when it was needed.

Friendship can be a gradual process. Sometimes it flows and ebbs like the tide but there is the knowledge that with a letter, card phone call even a text that friendship will still be there.

Some friendships have lasted decades and have seen us though happy, ordinary and devastating times of our lives. It is as if, those friends have been a part of our lives since forever.

Some friendships have developed when we least expected them to. Perhaps through the joining of a group perhaps from a shared interest. Perhaps going through a difficult time. Perhaps at a time of happiness.

Some friendships develop despite age differences. It is the age difference which adds to the friendship and gives a different perspective on life.

Some friendships developed in the time of pen pals

batch business close up envelopes — Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

while some friendships have developed in the digital age.

apple applications apps cell phone — Photo by Tracy Le Blanc on Pexels.com

Each friendship adds to our lives. Each friendship is unique. Each friendship is special. Each friendship is unique because of what we put into it.

This poem was written by Robert Frost, has always reminded me that time with friends is special.

Time to Talk

When a friend calls to me from the road
And slows his horse to a meaning walk,
I don’t stand still and look around
On all the hills I haven’t hoed,
And shout from where I am, ‘What is it?’
No, not as there is a time to talk.
I thrust my hoe in the mellow ground,
Blade-end up and five feet tall,
And plod: I go up to the stone wall
For a friendly visit.

Where Have I heard that Line?

Do you ever find that a poem, piece of writing, a song lyric will resonate with you one day and on another day will have no impact? A word, a phrase, a memory will trigger a need to read the entire poem, read the entire passage or listen to that song.

“Sing and the hills will answer:

Sigh it is lost on the air;”

These lines have been reverberating in my mind for the last few days until last night when I decided to start a search to find the poem from which they come. This time I didn’t want to use a google search. I don’t know why but it seemed important to browse through poetry books and books of “sayings and quotes” to find the source.

It was an inexplicably comforting thing to do. It didn’t feel as if I was the only one wide awake and on a search at 2.43am when I began my search. It felt just right. There were many stops along this search when I was reacquainted with long forgotten poems.

I found “Desiderata” by Max Ehrmann again. This was a popular prose poem when I was in secondary school in the 1970’s do you remember the opening lines? “Go placidly amid the noise and haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence.”

The sun had risen and with a mug of coffee sitting on the back-door step I started browsing another book of poetry. This book was given to me to celebrate my recent 60^th birthday by a friend who knows how I love to hop in and out of poetry books. She gave me two books. “A Poem for Every Day of the Year” edited by Allie Esiri and its sister book “A Poem for Every night of the Year”. Anne chose well and through her I have become reacquainted with some old forgotten poetry but also, I have been introduced to new poems and poets.

It was in one of these books that I found it. I found from where those few lines came from. I had found“Solitude” by Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Solitude

Laugh and the world laughs with you:

Weep, and you weep alone;

For the sad old earth must borrow its mirth,

But has trouble enough of its own.

Sing, and the hills will answer;

Sigh, it is lost on the air;

The echoes bound to a joyful sound,

But shrink from voicing care.

Keeping Warm

Tea is a universal beverage which warms the body, heart and mind. It is strange how in the winter a cup of tea can warm a person and during a hot day it seems to cool a person.

Then there are the different methods of making tea. The strength of the tea is very personal. The variety of tea perhaps depends on the time of day. Now one can have an infusions of fruit teas. In Ireland, some people have their preferred brand of tea.

Tea is such a personal taste. In the morning my preferred tea is an Irish Breakfast Tea. It has a strong definite taste and I have a preferred brand – “Lyons Breakfast Tea”. Much of the tea would be grown in plantations in Kenya and Indonesia for this particular brand.

There are many ways, to make tea but it all starts with boiling hot water. It is so essential that the water is boiled and the tea infused immediately to allow the flavour to develop.

But how to keep the tea warm for that second or third cup? At home I have a tea cosy which surrounds the teapot leaving the handle and spout free for pouring. It was one of my earliest quilting projects long before tea became part of my every day.

My sister prefers a tea cosy which covers the entire pot and is lifted off to pour the tea. A friend prefers a knitted tea cosy as she firmly believes that it is the only way of keeping the tea at the correct temperature.

Now my friend Christl, who lives in Wurzburg, Franconia in Germany uses a totally different method. Once the tea has been made in the tea kettle, it is placed on a trivet containing a tea light. This keeps the tea at the perfect temperature. It is an amazing utensil and so very practical.

It is called “Stovchen” in German.

Perhaps this will be my new method for keeping tea at just the correct temperature? Thank you Christl.