Daily Prompt: Clean Slate

The Daily Post’s prompt is “Clean Slate”

Explore the room you’re in as if you’re seeing it for the first time. Pretend you know nothing. What do you see? Who is the person who lives there?

I came into this room in the conventional way…through the front entrance.

The first impressions were of a light, airy, open-plan room. The large folding doors stood wide open and looked straight through to more open doors that led onto a verandah.

The colours of the walls are very neutral.

Catching my eye was a big square blackwood dining table surrounded by eight dining chairs. Do the occupants like entertaining? Do they have a large family?

Further glances around the area showed the open-plan kitchen and then the lounge area. Clearly, whoever spends time in the kitchen wants to be part of the goings on in the house and not shut away whilst preparing meals etc.

Further inspection showed photographs of young adults.  Two were different wedding photos…was it their sons, daughters or a son and daughter who got married. Another photo shows a couple and yet another of a single man.  On closer inspection, the likeness of three of the boys shows them to be brothers and one presumes that the other wedding photo is of a daughter and a son-in-law.

In the lounge, the basic colours of the furniture, curtains and walls is very neutral, with accent colours being brought in with the throw and cushions. Definitely, someone who is going for safe option in decorating…neutral on the large areas and be a little more daring on the things that are easy to change.

Something was missing…ah yes…there was no art on the walls. Why?

 

This Is Your Life…

Over at WordPress’s The Daily Post today’s prompt is “This Is Your Life” – If you could read a book containing all that has happened and will ever happen in your life, would you? If you choose to read it, you must read it cover to cover. 

A book containing all that has happened or will ever happen in my life??

The thought of that is quite daunting. A whole book about me? A whole book about what has happened to me? Would it be a best seller or would I be the only reader?

Over the years I have kept journals. Let me qualify that statement…I have written at  intervals ranging from frequently to the not-so-frequently, in fact mainly occasional journaling! I am a good starter, but a terrible finisher.

I have read through some of those journals. Sometimes I laughed, sometimes I cried, sometimes I cringed. There were happenings that I had forgotten about and certainly things that I would rather forget about. Of course, there were things that brought back good feelings and happy memories.

I regret to say that those journals have been binned. Over the years of having to move house, countless times, and countries, three times in the last 20 years, I have had to have clear outs and my journals were amongst the sacrifices. Why? Apart from the fact that they were taking up unnecessary room, I do not really think that they are of much interest to others. Maybe, I am wrong. Maybe somewhere down the line one of my future relations will be on “Who Do You Think You Are?” and the journals would have given them a glimpse into my life.

If there was a book about my life, past, present and future, I would not choose to read it. Right now, I remember the important things that have already happened and I do not want to know what the future holds. I do not really want to know the bad/sad things that are going to happen and finding about the good things would be like opening a present before the appropriate day. It would spoil the fun.

P.S. Would my book be in hardcover, paperback or Kindle?

New year…new goals.

It is the third day of 2012 already and only the first time I have got down to writing a post. It is a good thing that I have not set my self a goal of doing 365 posts!!

Goals. I have been trying to decide what my blogging goals should be this year, but cannot decide. The year ahead is going to be one of big changes for us. We are hoping to move to our new home in South Africa sometime this year. Not only is it a new home, but it will be a change of country too.

For over twenty years we have been expats. Actually, we have only lived in two countries in that time (Mauritius and Nigeria), but we have lived in eight homes. Though that is not too bad considering other people in our position have probably lived in twice as many, if not more, homes.

As a result of this impending move, I have been finding it very difficult to settle in to anything, never mind sitting down to set goals for the year ahead. I am being an ostrich and burying my head in the sand at the thought of getting down to sorting out the last ten years of accumulated things in our house. Oh, I do understand that the sooner I get on with it, the sooner it will get done, but that is not helping right at the moment. I will get there, don’t worry!

Getting back to my blogging goals, I think that it is probably a good idea not to stress myself over that. I think in the months ahead, I will have enough stresses!

I think that one goal I will set myself, is to feel a sense of achievement  when I do write a post 🙂

I wonder if these geese below, are setting goals for the year?? Somehow, I don’t think so; I think they are concerned with the worries of “the now”. A lesson for me to learn…

Unto Us…

Wishing everyone a Blessed and Wonderful Christmas.

 

For God So Loved…

Being Good Friday it is appropriate to remind ourselves what this day means.

Colossians 2:13-14 – When you were stuck in your old sin-dead life, you were incapable of responding to God. God brought you alive—right along with Christ! Think of it! All sins forgiven, the slate wiped clean, that old arrest warrant canceled and nailed to Christ’s cross. (The Message)

Consider…

Photography can be the most frustrating thing sometimes! I have been battling to come to grips with my macro lens. I have not been able to take any tack sharp photos and I know it is the person behind the lens i.e. me and not the lens itself.

Today I picked up a couple of frangipani flowers that had fallen on the ground and brought them indoors to photograph. They are such beautiful, delicate flowers! After several more failed attempts, I got the tripod and put that to use. The photos definitely turned out better.

I really like the 2nd photo; it almost makes me feel as if I could fall into the depths of the flower…

Looking at these pictures brings to mind the verses in Matthew 6:28, 31 & 33

28 “So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin;”

31 “Therefore, do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or “What shall we wear?’

33 “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” NKJV

Pick of the Click 3…

These broken, leaning posts caught my eye on my walk the other day. I wonder how long they had been standing there and how long it took for them to start breaking and leaning over.

Whilst looking at the photo the following scripture verse came to mind…

Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.

Pick of the Click…

It is cold and raining today and that has not inspired me to poke my nose outdoors! Time is flying by and, before I know it, I will be back in a climate rather warmer than the one I am in at the moment 🙂

I was looking through my photos in order to choose one to post today. In the process I was getting very critical about which one to use. None of them seem good enough. Professional photographers would look them over and be even more critical about my photos, which I find very intimidating! However, I am probably being way too egotistical…after all, there is probably no one of that category out there in the blogging world who is looking at my pictures.

In any case, all this got me to thinking that I really need to stop worrying about what other people think of me. Sorry family, that includes you!!! After all, I cannot be everything to everyone and it is more important that I am who God created me to be. I should be more concerned about what He thinks of me. How can I do this?

Hebrews 11:6 says: “And without faith it is impossible to please God…” The first step…to have faith in God.

Here is my pick of the click. I love the way the headstones are standing at different angles and they appear to be looking out towards the countryside in the distance. The picture is in keeping with the cold, though not snowy, weather at the moment and it pleases my eye 🙂

Doors and…

A new year and with it new things, new promises, new outlooks. It feels like a clean page, one waiting for exciting things to be written upon it. I am sure, as with every year, there will be high points and low points. My hope is that I will be able to learn and grow through whatever comes my way. I have not written my list of goals for the year yet. I laughed when looking at last year’s list…there were so many things that I did not accomplish! However, that should not be a deterrent to setting goals for the coming year. It is good to have goals in mind, but I do not think one should be a slave to them or get depressed at not achieving them.

A new year is also like a door opening to whatever lies beyond it. I love photos of doors and windows.

I do not know how old this door is or what is behind it, but that makes it all the more interesting…

Revelation 3:20 says:

Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.

I love the way the light is shining through this window from the one on the other side of the church…

John 12:46 says:

I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.

I hope 2011 brings you lots of joy, peace and prosperity – in spirit, soul and body!

Phew!…

Do you see these two discs?

Well the one on the left is a regular size CD, while the one on the right is a teeny CD/disc thingy. This small, teeny disc thingy is actually an instruction manual for  this gadget…

Nah, it is not just a clock. This smart gadget, as well as being a clock, can also give one:-

Wind Speed

Wind Chill Factor – ummm…I do not think “chill” is a factor here in Lagos!

Temperature – definitely on the high side here 🙂

It also has:-

A North Reference compass – might be useful if I want to navigate around the yacht club 😉

Programmable Race Timer – could be useful if I can follow the instructions!

Chronograph with 50 lap times – could be fun to see how fast Tom runs circles around me!!!

All in all, it looks to be a wonderful gadget. That is if I wanted all those functions. I really only got it for the yacht club, as we often need a hand-held anemometer i.e. a wind speed reader.

The main purpose of this post is to tell you what happened when I decided see what was on the teeny disc thingy. I inserted it into the CD slot on my computer and …..it got swallowed up in said slot and I could not eject it…aaaaagghhh!

Being a very technically minded girl, I ….PANICKED!!! I looked disbelievingly at the offending slot and saw that the disc was peeking out ever so slightly, so I pressed various keys that I thought would eject the disc. Nope, it stayed stuck! Then I got a pair of tweezers and tried to grab it. Nope, it stayed elusively out of reach. Next I thought, “Aha, I have not inserted it in far enough.” So, I pushed it in further, tried tapping keys again…no…sign of the dratted disc! No obliging icon came up on the screen to say there was a disc in there…aagghh!

Okay…breathe….calm down….followed by a panicked prayer, “Please, please, please God!”.

Next… I shut down computer…restarted computer….ummm…no joy! More controlled panic. Thoughts of having to wait 4 weeks till I go to the UK before I could take my computer to the Apple store and confess my stupidity entered my head!

Got out computer manual and had a look to see if there was anything there about un-ejected discs. I tried the various suggestions, all to no avail.

Then I got really technical. I shut down the computer, yet again, turned it over, located the teeny, tiny screws and took the back off the computer, only to find the CD compartment is neatly and firmly fixed in with more screws. Ummm…dare I…NO! I did not dare to try and unscrew that!

Eventually, I went downstairs to Tom and said “Help!” in a rather, small voice. I confessed my dilemma to him. He very graciously did not tell me what an idiot I was, but came upstairs and had a look at the inside of my computer. He confirmed my decision not to try and get inside the CD compartment and then came up with a brilliant idea…replace the back cover of the computer and turn it on its side and give it a shake!

What do you know? It worked! I gave the computer a shake and a tap and…voila…the disc appeared. I grabbed it and took it out before it could get swallowed up again! PHEW!

God did answer my prayer…through my husband, who is my hero of the day 🙂