Colours

This weekend the colours in the kitchen and the colours outside have caught my eye.

Each has been a small gift, and something that has brought pleasure after a busy week. I'm struck again how you don't need big things to make the difference in how you feel, it's just having the time and being able to go slow so you can appreciate the things around you. My head at times has hurt in reaction to the lists from the week, spiralling and fighting against all it has been challenged by, my body telling me to slow down, enough is enough. And in the letting go of lists, worry and the next thing; I notice the beauty right in front of me.

Weekend, rest, peace.


Jane

thankful thursday

thankful for deadlines met, for time to relax with friends and time to relax alone, for just enough energy to get jobs done, for the handprint of the maker on the tapestry of life and for the hazy pink hue oozing through my white cotton curtains prompting me to get up early and rewarding me with the image of beautiful skies.

Emma 

A trip to the theatre

This weekend we went to Manchester, and covered those 183 plus miles to stay with Emma.

Apart from seeing Em the main reason to visit was a trip to the theatre to celebrate our wedding anniversary. This theatre is special, it's the theatre that inspired my love of plays, where I first had that moment watching a play when you are so transfixed you don't want it to end, of sitting hanging on to every word. Walking back in the memories come flooding back, of trips with my parents, school and friends, and of scenes that have taken the audience to a different place.

It's also in the round, intimate, small and in amazing building that used to be the exchange in Manchester.The building is one that you walk in and can feel the history in the walls, plus get a buzz of what's going on there today. The lighting is beautiful, as your eyes are drawn upwards.

We saw an Arthur Miller play, who also happens to be my favourite playwright. I love the hidden undercurrents all his plays have, the family tension and most of all the exposure of broken ideals. At heart I'm still an idealistic art student, and his plays always makes me think, and that's what I love about art, the capturing of emotions, the desire to be more.

I 'll leave you with some Arthur Miller, from All my Sons, to get your creative side going for the night, and thinking about your star.

“...he'll come back. We all come back, kate. These private little revolutions always die. The compromise is always made. In a peculiar way. Frank is right-- every man does have a star. The star of one's honesty. And you spend your life groping for it, but once it's out it never lights again. I don't think he went very far. He probably just wanted to be alone to watch his star go out.” 

Jane

friendship memories

Emma

thankful thursday

these last few weeks have been dominated by a looming deadline that seemed not only unachievable but totally ridiculous to try and attain. whilst the finish line is still yet to be fallen over, the majority of the work has been done and that which is still required is slowly falling into place - i might even dare to dream that the deadline will be met. as it has closed in it was tempting to give up my rhythm of resting on sundays to give myself a chance to get ahead without adding more stress on top of an already stressful circumstance. but this week i am thankful that i kept the routine - it has shown me more than ever the importance of rest. if i had carried on working on sunday and turned my six day work, one day rest routine back to a seven day work one i know i would have been on my knees - i was running on empty. taking time to get out of my house to go and see a film, spending time with family and friends and finally flopping on my sofa to watch the next episode of downton abbey was just what was needed. suddenly the workload that lay ahead on monday seemed achievable. and achievable it was. 

Emma

weirdly, home

my parents were born and raised in aberdeen, scotland. my brother and i were born in edinburgh but we can't claim to be raised there as we moved as a family into england when i was eighteen months and my brother six months old. 

as kids we went back every year in the summer holidays - staying for two weeks with our grandparents. the journeys were long, my mum driving six to seven hours with by then three kids with as few stops as possible. we would always watch out for the "welcome to scotland" sign and as family tradition dictated promptly stop at gretna green services. after using the facilities we would all pile into "the canny scot" the gift shop attached to the services which stocked all things scottish. there we would spend our pocket money on anything with tartan on it but mainly on sweets and edinburgh rock - although edinburgh rock is nothing like its blackpool counterpart - it is soft not hard as the name would suggest - a fact that always amused. i spent the car journeys either staring out the window listening to music on my walkman or curled up with a cardigan over me trying to get some sleep. as the years passed the scenery became familiar, i'd watch the yellow rapeseed covered fields turn into purple heathered mountains and as it did so, i knew i was going home. 

it's a weird thing to feel that somewhere you lived for only eighteen months as a baby feels like home. maybe it's the childhood year on year collective family memories, maybe it's the teenage years spent with friends at the edinburgh festival or perhaps the times spent there with my dad in my twenties when he relocated to the scottish capital. but i know the feeling within me when i arrive and depart scotland is a feeling i do not experiance anywhere else in this land. perhaps that is why when english friends try to tell me i'm english as i've lived most of my life there i struggle to explain to them why i know i am scottish. 

this weekend i went to see a film called "sunshine on leith". there on the screen in front of me i saw edinburgh in all its sunshine soaked glory, i don't mind admitting i was a little teary for it. if you want a pick me up, feel good film that is beautifully and poignantly written, shot and acted or if like me you have ever seen the proclaimers perform live and wondered how on earth they made a film incorporating their music go and see this i guarantee you will not be disappointed. 

 

Emma

thankful thursday

this week i am thankful for memory making. my brother, sister, their partners and their kids - all of us - playing, chatting, laughing, eating - together. did i mention we live almost 200 miles apart? these are the days that will form memories i hope my nieces and nephews will carry with them always.

Emma