A few of my favourite things

Inspired by Singing Owl's contribution, I'm putting in a late play in the RevGalBlogPals Friday Five posted yesterday by Songbird who wrote:

In a week of wondering how various things in our family life will unfold, I found myself thinking of the way Maria comforted the Von Trapp children in one of my favorite movies. Frightened by a thunder storm, the children descend upon her, and she sings to them about her favorite things, taking their minds off the storm.

So, let's encourage ourselves. Share with us five of your favorite things. Use words or pictures, whatever expresses it best.

1. Water. I love water. Streams, rivers, sea. Font, pool, fountain. This could take up my whole five favourite things. I like to be beside water, be in water, see water, hear water, drink water, feel water. I guess water is one of my favourite things. I like the catholic tradition of having the full font at the entrance to the worship space. For me a visible font (or other sign of baptism) is important in every Christian worship event. And water is such a precious commodity in our world. I hope I treasure and respect water in all its forms.
   
2. The feel of getting into bed made with freshly washed and sun-dried sheets. I remember the childhood combination of being rubbed down with a fresh towel, into clean pyjamas and then into fresh sheets. I guess it must have been on 'wash day'. Now the days I change the bed linen I look forward to bedtime!
3. Flowers. I'm not too good at growing them, but I do enjoy receiving and displaying them. Joining the flower roster at church has been fun (I notice I'm only on twice a year though and freely admit my efforts are not of a professional standard). But heading early to the flower market, finding the colours I'm after, having access to the empty church building and spending time preparing the space for worship: it all lightens my heart! And I did love this Advent wreath.
4. Ice cold lemonade. The traditional way. Place 2 cups sugar in a bowl. Add one cup of boiling water and stir until dissolved (even better if thinly peeled rind of lemon is steeped in the boiling water first) . Add juice of 2-3 lemons, 1 teaspoon tartaric acid and 1 teaspoon of Epsom salts and a second cup of boiling water. Pour into bottles (strain if you wish) and serve diluted with water to taste (about 1:5 or 1:6 seems good). For special treat serve with soda water, squeeze of lime and dash of angostura bitters.
5. Earrings. Those who know me would insist this is on the list. I have so many favourites. A new pair is always high on my retail therapy wish list. Most holidays I come back with some. My loved ones know that I will always appreciate a new pair as a gift. Most have some significance. Several are just randomly fun. But beware the person who ever jokes about my earrings! It may just be the wrong day to do so :-)

And there is more - movies, music, al fresco dining, camping (nothing like a tent in summertime), cool places on hot days, warm places on cool days, sensible shoes, linen jackets. I have lots and lots of favourite things but my top five are pretty indicative of my being.

11th hour 11th day 11th month

I bought a poppy at the railway station this morning and have been wearing it all day.

When I wrote about my uncle Thomas recently I certainly felt in one of those 'thin places' but I hadn't made the intellectual connection that it was so close to Armistice/Remembrance Day.

This year of course marks 90 years since the end of World War One. Sadly not the war to end all wars. But maybe the first time that armed conflict involved so many nations. And taught such hard lessons especially for the colonial nations. And changed forever the lives of generations.

I was 'on' for reflection at our curriculum meeting this morning. So chose Flanders' Field. With the modifications suggested by the narrative of those who saw the original pencilled by John McCrae.

I hadn't realised that this oft-repeated verse was written by a physician. John McCrae was Professor of Medicine at McGill University. Served in the Boer War as a gunner, and in WWI as a medic. More about him and the writing of the verse here.

In Flanders’ Fields

In Flanders’ Fields the poppies grow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders’ Fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies blow
In Flanders’ Fields.

Tomorrow at the eleventh hour I hope I remember to take time to pause and observe silence. Taking up the torch for me means working for peace and seeking justice. The Ottawa Charter sets out clearly the prerequisites for health - peace is the first fundamental condition.

As I think of our students, whose hands were so recently blessed by the Cardinal, I wonder where their careers will take them. What their eyes will see and their hands write. What healing they may bring. What will move their hearts. What torch they will carry and what faith they will keep.

Location Location Location

Friday Five from Singing Owl who says:

My daughter, her husband, and their toddler, Trinity Ann, are moving from Minneapolis, Minnesota to our place. It's a long story, but the short version is that they will be loading a Ryder truck on Saturday, and on Sunday afternoon we will unload it into a storage unit in our town. They will move themselves, their two cats and their BIG dog into our place. Yes, there will be issues, but this Friday Five isn't really about that. (Prayers for jobs for them and patience for all of us are most welcome, however.) This post is about locations. My husband has lived at 64 addresses in his life so far (16 with me) and he suggested the topic since we have moving trucks on our minds.

Therefore, tell us about the five favorite places you have lived in your lifetime. What did you like? What kind of place was it? Anything special happen there?

If you have lived in less than five places, you can tell us a about fantasy location.
I'm up to 16 dwelling places as well. Each has memories and a special place in my heart. So the selection is somewhat random but here goes.

1. Te Pahu. This was my first home. I left before I turned four so I don't really remember much about it. My parents were farmers and there are heaps of pictures showing that I spent time out with Dad in teh paddocks and Mum in the garden. I do remember having a babysitter one afternoon. We were out in the garden and she accidentally cut a worm in half. I got very upset and angry with her for harming one of God's creatures. And she patiently explained to me that the worm would be able to grow a new tail and live happily in the soil. It worked as a calming technique.

2. Dunedin. University city. It's hard to believe I moved so far from home at the same age as my youngest now. Lived in a hostel for a year, then boarding with a woman from the church I attended, then flatting with four other 'girls'. Lots happened there. Good and bad. Growing up!
3. My first home purchase. In a provincial city. I've had a mortgage of one kind or another ever since. I just loved this little Hardyplank house. Decorated in pink and blue. With a garden full of indigenous trees and exotic flowers. Scene of many a pot luck tea with the 'sisterhood' and of a surprise party for my parents' 30th wedding anniversary. And I was completely smitten by a lovely guest who mowed my lawns. I've lived with him ever since as well.
no pic sorry - it was before the digital age :-)

4. Wanganui. Manse. Scene of 'courtship' and the first home we shared in our marriage. Bushwalks and drives up the River Road. The place where our children were born and brought home. A city of big-hearted and generous people. I was delighted when a work commitment took me back to speak on children's rights many years later. Those people are worth knowing.

5. Sydney. I started with the first and will end with the most recent. This involved an international move. We brought our cat! The climate is generally very pleasant. We're back in a church house with the frustration of maintenance by committee. But they also paid for the landscaping which has provided an amazing back yard retreat. Last year was one of the most challenging I have had. Now settling into new workplace and routine it is beginning to feel like home.

Developmental snapshots ex libris

Christine invites us to her 25th Poetry Party and over a year of poetic inspiration! She writes

I had no idea when I began these how meaningful they would become to me and to those of you who participate by writing or reading. Thank you for the wonderful creative community that forms around each of these.

I select an image and suggest a title and invite you to respond with your poems, words, reflections, quotes, song lyrics, etc. Leave them in the comments or email me and I’ll add them to the body of the post as they come in along with a link back to your blog if you have one (not required to participate!) I’ll add your contributions all week and then I will draw a name at random on Friday morning from everyone who participates and will send the winner a special prize in honor of my 25th Poetry Party — a signed copy of my new book Lectio Divina: Contemplative Awakening and Awareness . Feel free to take your poem in any direction and then post the image and invitation on your blog and encourage others to come join the party!

This week’s theme is simple, I invite you to write a poem celebrating the gift of the written word in your life.

The photos below were taken this past summer in the library at Melk Benedictine Abbey in Austria (to see the library, click on the link in the righthand sidebar that says “The Abbey museum, marble hall, library, church” and then click “Library.”)

From their website: “In the order of importance of the rooms in a Benedictine monastery, the library comes second only to the church” –another reason I love the monastic tradition!

Developmental snapshots

Books from long ago

Grandparents' bay window seat

Christmas afternoon

Aunty Ruth's Bible

Write and draw in my notebook

as I daily read

Box came from city

while I was at school today

Read until dinnertime

D H Lawrence is

required reading for English

Hide it under bed

(what would Mother say?)

Behavioural Science

Grown up now share books with Dad

Discuss not agree

(and that is fine)

Long distance plane trip

Wonder at power of fiction

almost forgotten

Dust coated bookshelves

Emptying parental home

cherish memories

Grandmother's Bible

gift to highland teenage lass

Treasure here and now

Back to School

A very timely Friday Five from Mother Laura this week. Here are the graduates of my primary class going back to school many years later.

1. Is anyone going back to school, as a student or teacher, at your house? How's it going so far?
How could you know? This very afternoon I submitted an application for a Head of Department position at a local University. I met with some of the staff last week and was really impressed at the integration of personal and professional development within the curriculum. For those who follow my ramblings - yes this is a surprise. I had just started 2 days a week in Palliative Medicine when I was approached to consider the Uni position. In the short term I can continue both part time. But come the start of the new academic year in February I'll need to make some changes.
2. Were you glad or sad when back-to-school time came as a kid?
I was generally pretty happy to be going back to school.
3. Did your family of origin have any rituals to mark this time of year? How about now?
I don't remember any from my childhood. Getting the uniforms drycleaned is almost a ritual in our home now. YES the students do wear uniforms to school in Australia and New Zealand!
4. Favorite memories of back-to-school outfits, lunchboxes, etc?
Well that would be the uniform :-) I loved the lunches my Mum packed for me but I don't remember the boxes particularly.
5. What was your best year of school?
I loved my first year at school with Miss Hull who wore amazing large flowery dresses (it was the 60s !) And when I started post-grad studies in Public Health I had a huge sense of being where I belonged. Both were excellent years. But for attachment to place it would have to be that little country school (below) where I learned to love to learn.

Where's your wonder

Driving home this afternoon with the radio on left two lines running through my mind:

Wicked wise men where's your wonder?
From Loudon Wainwright III School Days on the album Recovery.

I was struck by this line. It set me thinking about the dangers we expose ourselves and others to when we lose our sense of wonder. No matter how wise, or evidence-based, or ideologically sound we are. How can our leadership be wonder-filled and not wicked?

Happy memories bloom in my heart
Translation of traditional Tibetan folk tune.

This was part of a documentary on Tibetan folk music recorded by students in their home villages. The researcher Gerald Roche said:

We found this in our discussion early on, that the reasons for songs disappearing fall into a few very simply categories. The first one is that life is changing really quickly in Tibetan places. It's mostly economic development, positive economic development which is improving people's living conditions, such as the mechanisation of work. For instance, in some nomadic areas there used to be felt-making songs, but people now sell their wool off and the felt is made by machine. You no longer need that song. People are using machines to harvest, so you no longer need a harvesting song. People are building their houses of bricks, you don't need a song to synchronise all the workers to ram adobe anymore.

The music was engaging (you can hear it on the link above). I liked this line. It fits where I am at the moment as I reflect back on our family experiences over the years. The happy memories do bloom. In a deep place. They can be overcome by not-so-happy memories. But good gardening technique can value each and keep them in healthy perspective.

May it be so