Here’s what I think

I love reading friend’s blogs. And I love it even more when they’re posts urge me to question generally accepted truths, when they get me thinking, when they stir up emotions, when they make me reminisce.

That’s how I reached the following conclusions.

 

1. Love shouldn’t be voted and debated on. period.
It really is all about the love! ~ on It’s all about the love, baby.

2. Things more often than not don’t come out as we think or want. And then again, sometimes the things that do come out the way we think or want eventually turn out not to be what we really needed. It’s a process. And all we can do is to accept (like Becky said), moving forward in a messy eclectic beautiful discombobulated ball of confusion – and being comfortable with it. ~ on That’s what she said…

3. Reading about integrity from the stillness Annie Q Syed found is a wonderful experience. Holding hands and not letting go might be hard at times, but more rewarding than anything. The fusions of fiction and non-fiction… it does require holding hands. ~ on Still Sundays

4. “…, but he knows them. Deeply, passionately, the way relationships should be.” – there’s so much truth to that sentence. Getting to know people, to really know them, is so much fun and so important. Because like Kenneth said, as wonderful as it is that someone knows us, it’s equally and sometimes even more important to know someone.
We’re happy when people remember our names, our likes and dislikes, and if it makes us happy, it can’t not make the people we know unhappy (right?) ~ on Cheers… Well, Not Really, But Close…

And for this last one I couldn’t find the poem (or was it blog post? Chrome sometimes doesn’t give me the ‘restore’ option…) I originally commented on with the following sentences, so here’s the second time this topic came up and my comment on that post.

5. I’ve just stated a couple of weeks ago how much of life is grey. How much is in the grey – which leaves so much possibility to be turned into either positive or be perceived as negative – not (solely) in black and white.
Life seems to me to be about dichotomous beliefs almost always.

Life’s definitely technicolor! ~ on Dichotomous j

 

I hope you’ll take the time to read all these posts, I’m sure you’ll love them!

Loving Love Graffiti

June, according to J’s Love Project, was the month of love graffiti, a month to leave behind little love notes and messages for others to find.

Since my phone camera is mostly for show, and vehemently refuses to take good photos unless it’s outside in sunny weather (although it keeps a selective mind even then), I didn’t take a photo of every single love message I’ve left, nor where I left them since my frustration with poor quality photos would’ve drawn attention to my sneaking around to leave said love notes.

So, to go with what I have proof of, this past month, I’ve left post-it messages to say there’s an endless supply of hugs in my room. To state beauty and lots of love. To wish bon appétit & yummy food to go along with the appetite; a sunny day; and a lovely day such as the person I was wishing it for. To send millions of kisses; and hugs. To say thank you for a walk and for turning my afternoon into a lovely one.

I also found this love graffiti downtown as I was walking home in the rain (for the Nth time).

 

And while I was at it, leaving love behind, I was more attuned to noticing how love didn’t always come in written form.

It came in the form of: a walk that turned out to be longer than both of us expected (but oh-so-fun), recipes printed out and stuck in my mailbox after I mentioned to a friend my need for some new rice recipe ideas, apples and cinnamon flavored micro popcorn in the mailbox (talk about unusual mail), paw print patterns – kitty love, real/virtual hugs and kisses, a statement that I didn’t look as awful as the rain actually did made me look, a cool new mug for the occasion of our semi-renovated house, conversations, prompts, sharing tech-savvy-ness as technology hated me more than usually this week, emails expressing love, links to (love (computer love)) songs, lending stuff/help/time, a plate of yummy cherries magically appearing on the counter. And so on.

Now I’m curious: what was your month like spreading-love-wise?

So you’re living with a writer

… but do you understand them yet?

Living with a writer might not be as easy as you first thought.

I mean, they will turn the volume down if they’re writing and can’t concentrate because of the decibel level you’re insisting on blasting the TV at even if you’re not in the room. Or how many times have you walked back into the room to find the TV simply turned off? They have an extra remote!

Writers will find inspiration in any and all happenings around them, turning that embarrassing slip and fall into the most hilarious thing online.

You’ll find them writing to ask questions, to mull over recent events, to let go, to find peace, to find anger and release it, to find answers from deep within them only writing brings to the surface.
Or even for no apparent reason at all, but simply for the pure pleasure of putting pen to paper – which might seem like a total waste of time for you.

They will want to be alone and want you gone when they’re deep in thoughts, staring at that blank page you can’t understand why they’re not just filling up already.
And then they’ll want you back the minute you’re not around.

During a writing session, most likely they won’t reply to your questions or stories. Or if you’re lucky, you might get a “Hmm…”, “Yeah, sure”, “No. Yes. I don’t know.” or “Let me just finish this paragraph…” before they sink back into silence and comfortably ignoring you for the rest of the evening.

And when an idea flashes through their mind, they will stop from anything and everything to jot down said thoughts. And they’ll give you an impatient look if you start asking why they couldn’t wait until getting back home.
Writing will not stop just because they don’t have a notebook or laptop with them. A napkin, business card, coaster, leaf will suffice too for penning down an idea.
Even if you’re currently watching a movie. Or staring at the ocean’s waves crashing into the rock you’re sitting happily chatting on. Or in a busy shopping center right in the middle of the women’s products isle. Or sleeping – don’t you just love having the bright lights turned on in your face when the best part of your dream comes on?

Or even if you slipped from the edge of a cliff and they’re currently holding your hand to keep you from falling. They will stop to make a note of anything you might say, to describe the view and the feelings they’re feeling at that exact moment.

However, they won’t ever let go.

Recipe of the month: Log cake

My favorite when I was a child, this cake used to be the one I repeatedly requested for my birthday and my mom decorated it differently every year.

For my grandparents’ birthday this year, since it was May, we decided to decorate the cake with jelly berries and I drew some leaves and grass with icing aside from writing the ages on it.

Ingredients:

Sponge – 6 eggs
6 tablespoons sugar
6 tablespoons flour
5 tablespoons grated walnuts or hazelnuts

Cream – 3 eggs
15 g sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa
the grated peels of 1 orange
20 g butter

Preparation:

Whip egg yolks with half the sugar mix, then add the whipped foam of the remaining beaten egg whites with sugar. Gently stir in the flour and grated walnuts or hazelnuts. Place in pan on cooking paper. The sponge cake should be baked and covered with warm cloth after it’s done. Sprinkle with one or two tablespoons of rum several times, coil it up and allow to cool.

Whip the whole eggs, sugar, cocoa, orange peel and stir constantly with a whisk over steam until it becomes a heavy cream and simmers. Let it cool, then add the butter (previously mixed a bit).

Fill the sponge with cream, coil it back up, then cut pieces to form the logs. Frost over everything. With a fork previously dipped in cold water form the texture of the tree bark. Decorate with frosting, jelly beans, fresh fruit, dyed green sugar to create moss, grated coconut for a snowy effect, etc.

Leave in fridge for at least a couple of hours before serving.

Bon appétit!

Stillness – by Estrella Azul

"Through a lens I glance
At the beauty around me –
Capturing stillness"

 

Loved the natural artsy light/shadows effect coming through our new window after closing the curtains for the first time.

The above haiku was inspired by this photograph and Kevin J. Mackey (who just published his amazing haiku collection – if you haven’t already purchased your copy: What are you waiting for?).

Weeks in Tweets & Poppies

In the midst of business, while walking to the DIY retailer, it’s lovely to notice and not walk past small gems like these poppies by the tracks.

Yes, I’m still slightly busy, though the place finally resembles a house again and most everything is in its (final?) spot.

So here it is, for those of you who don’t follow me on Twitter or Facebook (which clearly states that there’s something wrong here, go correct that ASAP), my past weeks in (selected – cause I’ll spare you) tweets/FB updates.

(early) PS: if you feel like it, check out this cover of HeyHiHello’s “Don’t quit! Not quite!” I uploaded to YouTube.

Rush into oncoming traffic

Courage is a choice. A big one for that matter.

After watching one of Bernardo’s vlogs, I commented with the following sentences:

A friend of mine recently told me I must be so courageous for rushing into oncoming traffic the way I did when I was heading for tutoring (and running late). I kiddingly told her it’s either that or I had a death wish
But it made me think about something I once read about courage – that it’s not the absence of fear but what we do in spite being afraid.
What ever the case may be, choosing to – rush into oncoming traffic, say something you might be misunderstood because of or which might hurt someone, write that email you’re dreading, quit that job, say "No." to something/someone, or just leap into life [and live it fully] – it all takes courage and we must also choose to not let fear stop us!

As I look back, one of the sentences that I used most frequently over these past few weeks is “I don’t know.” And that sentence, that fact, makes me feel discombobulated, uneasy and flat out scared.
Because who doesn’t like (even a false sense of) control? Not knowing takes all that away.

However, despite the way it makes me feel, no matter how it makes me look at the world and the future, I’m choosing to allow myself only one thing in situations like this.
One thing, which defines what courage is to me right now: rushing into oncoming traffic. On all Life’s stages. On a daily basis.