Just like buses:) Possesions and persona

I make no apologies for posting more pictures of my yarn because I absolutely love it. I love the colours and the way they blend into each other. I love the fact that the Goddess had her way and I dyed exactly what she planned and not what was in my head to do.

I like the way the colours go from brightest corn and summer through autumn and apples to trees without their leaves. A metaphor perhaps for this half of the year?
I'm pleased with the 2 colours I put with my original Earth dyes and that the green one I mixed myself.
I like them in case you hadn't guessed:)
Casting on the new Elsewhere jacket after this so watch this space. I'm thinking that the brightest colours need to be at the top leading down to the darker at the edges and bottom but we will see what my muse has to say about it all.
So it is Lammas or Lughnasadh today. It started with rain but we now have sunshine. I've given thanks for my growing season and my harvest, have you? Is it what you expected or wanted or did the old ones surprise you with their gifts?

Blue Witch had a very interesting post yesterday on living with just 100 possessions. Her question was could you live with that number and your reasons for and against.

It made me think about my home and the things within it. Do I need them all and why?
Yes is the short answer:)
All my belongings have history, where they came from and why I have them. To me they are part of my persona, part of who and what I am and what I aspire to. All the craft items are used, often. All the books read,often. Any books I acquire that don't merit a second reading are passed on to the charity shop or to people who would like them. I tend to order books from the library, well I have always done that but I now order them with another purpose in mind. If they are ones I wish to read again then I can purchase them and not waste my money. We have lots of book space Mr Mog and I. We both love books.
The selection is very eclectic and ranges from many bicycle books(Mr Mog) through a large children's section to fantasy(both of us). On the way they deviate through detective fiction , Mr Mog again and his collection of Alan Hunter books. Sc ifi, my Robert Heinlein collection. They pass through a medium size mass of cookery books, tarot and witchy books towards dictionaries and their like. Other shelves contain my almost complete collection of Georgette Heyer and Diana Wynne Jones novels. I also have all the Charles de Lint books and all the Terry Pratchett ones. I love escapism, life can be dark enough without voluntarily reading about it.
Almost all the people who visit our house love it, they love the eclectic artwork on shelves and walls and the smell of the house always comes up in conversation. We always have some form of incense on the go sometime in the day. It may be sticks or quite often hand blended smouldering on charcoal. For me the sense of smell is exceedingly important in our lives and I use it on more than one level. All my artwork or gifts sent to people have a secret blend of essential oils used within their making. I think opening a gift and smelling an elusive fragrance is fantastic.
These are the things I count as persona possessions. Furniture and utilitarian objects are just that, they do not reflect me the same. Yes the clothes do because I have a need to always wear colour, bright colours. Colour lifts my spirits and makes me smile. That is a good enough reason for me. I think colour plays a big part in our lives and I use that in mine.

Journeys and inspiration/imagination

Doing a spot of tidying I came upon an old journal of mine and found a few lines on the subject of journeys.
Journeys through the mind like a motorway drive to hell.
Places you don't want to visit but you have to go through to get to your destination.
You can't go past there is too much traffic so you are forced to see what is there. But when you get to the other side it is worth it.
As a part of becoming more aware you have to examine things you have gone through and your feelings for them. Not always an easy task if you have as much cr&p in your life as I've had. Getting through it makes you stronger and also makes you realise that if it wasn't for the self same cr&p you wouldn't be the person you are today.Trying to live in the now for me means knowing who is the person actually doing that? What made me get to here and how did I do so?

One of my favourite quotes from Anne Morrow Lindbergh is
Only when one is connected to one's inner core is one connected to others. And, for me, the core, the inner spring can best be re-found through solitude.

This leads nicely on to another piece I wrote some time ago.



Imagination knows no bounds, it arrives how it pleases. Sometimes inspiration visits a little at a time. It doesn't want to overwhelm you see?
Other times it turns its attention full on to you and boy get ready to work.
It is all inside your head waiting to come out.
Have your pen and paper at the ready. Have your needle threaded or your yarn cast on.
Here it comes now, use it.
Imagination, inspiration they are both the same and come from the same source.
The muse, the indescribable, unforgettable core of you.
The part that taps into the creative soup of time.
The part that has to work, no matter what ,on the idea inside.
When you touch that core you know it, you feel it.
You taste it.
You are it.
.

All artwork by me:)