On a 'bad-weather' day

I am one of those annoying people who really doesn't mind any type of weather and can genuinely find benefits in all of them. Now, be fair, this is an asset, surely, in countries like ours!
Today is a case in point; it has been dull and gloomy, and now rainy, ALL day. I rub my internal hands together and think, aaah, a great day for just being in all day, doing those little jobs which we LIKE to put off for a rainy day OR, even better, for phoning friends we haven't spoken to for ages (as I have been doing since yesterday - gorgeous!).
I had sorted all my favourite pictures from last year's many calendars, all landscapes or trees or the beautiful things that family and friends know I love. I gave the tiled wall in the kitchen its once yearly fairy-liquid winter-clean and this afternoon, have spread out my collection and positioned them, for a change, to my satisfaction at the first go.
I actually based the idea on best friend S's mum's kitchen which I visited once many years ago. She had pictures up and down the walls and they looked marvellous. She said she preferred them where she could see them all the time. My efforts are part of her legacy to the world, I reckon.
I have taken a photo of them and posted it on our family whatsapp site, dubbing it 'Kitchen gallery 2017'. Some of the family who understand my ways and like to humour me have commented; daughter no. 1 'Lovely', son no.2 'Nice hang, Mum', granddaughter no.1 'Lovely, Gran'.
So, come rain or shine, it's all one with me.
The very best thing was, of course, the chats. I was poorly too, so I was actually, for a change, on lighter duties. Old school friend, T, over the phone, said it sounded like the Queen's flu so if it's good enough for Her Lovely Majesty, it has to be good enough for me.

About 'knowing me, knowing you'

9.9.24

The posts now number 9, soon to be 8, so definitely some progress shown, however slowly!! Here goes!

11.6.23

The post below was first written on January 1st, 2017 It has remained in 'draft' ever since! I am trying, slowly, to go through my drafts, numbering 99 at this present moment, and edit, publish or delete them as I go. So here goes with this one.


01.01.17

Today is the third anniversary of my properly starting to write posts for my blog so each New Year's day is very special to me in this context. The meaning behind the title of this Abba song has been in my mind for a long while so I thought that today might be as good a day as any to try to write about it.

Why is 'knowing me'  such an important idea to me and what is its relevance to my posts? It is this; whatever I write, however inconsequential or trivial it may be, is me. What you read is what I am. So, as you read my thoughts, opinions, views, they are 'me'. If you should be interested enough to follow them, you are 'learning me'.

My feeling is that as we 'learn' each other, we 'learn' ourselves. Whether or not we like or dislike someone, that person can give us an insight into ourselves. The 'realness', the honesty of each person I meet is, for me, the most important factor in our contact.

When people are 'not themselves', for whatever reason, and I'm not condemning or judging them, it makes me uncomfortable and I then find it hard to be myself. It isn't easy for everyone to be completely natural with others, especially on first meeting, for a variety of reasons.

It could be a person's nature, background or a combination of many other circumstances but it is possibly something that can be helped by sticking around people who are 'themselves', whatever that means exactly.

As ever, my hope is that some of what I send out on the e-waves may be of value to someone 'out there' in this very important aspect of life.  I would love to think that I might be a little point of reference in the 'landscape of someone's life', however unknowingly.

So here's to "knowing me, knowing you - aha" now, and in time to come, hopefully.

It is, of course, the title of an Abba song, one of the many much-liked by me and my husband, not only because we loved their music but also because one of our early dates was a visit to a local cinema to see "ABBA: The Movie", a filmed documentary of their lives which we really enjoyed. I can still see some of the images from the film in my mind, particularly of their plane landing at the Australian airport!

(Also, I was, of course, his 'dancing queen' and I remember us dancing to "When I Kissed the Teacher' at our friends' New Year's Eve party, shortly afterwards, a very happy memory.)