I have a lot on my plate; most of it is unpalatable and indigestible which means I have very little energy to write my blog posts. This is unfortunate because a couple of weeks ago, in a moment of hubris ( hubris in the sense of excessive self-confidence), I agreed to accept Sheri de Grom’s nomination for the Travel Blog series. And this means that, today, I should be answering 4 questions about my writing process and passing on nominations to 3 other bloggers, as well as linking back to Sheri.
Now the latter instruction requires minimal effort and can be easily done. Many of my followers/readers will already know Sheri who writes from the literary and legislative trenches with passion and compassion for so many issues and so many people. And you will also know that her plate is almost always more than full. But, no matter how heavy, or over flowing, her dish is, Sheri always finds time to encourage and support other bloggers. Thank you Sheri . I am also wishing you a good, steady (no speedy, please!) recovery from your latest setback aka as an unexpected tumble on to a concrete floor.
Lacking Sheri’s fortitude, ( but taking on board some of her relaxed attitude to blogging ‘rules’) , I am going to leave my travel blog commitment at this point. When I regain some verve, I will return to follow-up on my participation.
In the meantime, here is a photo taken on Saturday, when we took time-out to enjoy the tranquility of the Groynes. We were in an area where visitors are asked to be quiet, so there is a wonderful aura of deep peace which blankets all who enter that space.
The Quiet Life
Deep Peace…..of the quiet earth to you.
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A warm hug from me to you. Lovely place you have in the Groynes – so calm and soothing. Sometimes we have to rest to be able to come back.
Indeed we do. Are you at your summer house yet? Enjoying your relaxing time?
I hope you take some time and recharge. We wouldn’t want you to burn out totally. 🙂
Recharging is underway. 🙂
Beautiful photo. Wishing you loads of tranquility and creativity all the way from Portland. : )
Portland tranquility and creativity… wonderful. I love it.
It’s the best stuff…I promise.
🙂
The Groynes looks like such a peaceful place (from this photo and your previous ones as well). I like that this section has a quiet zone. I wish more parks did that.
I wish you a quiet, peaceful few weeks….
Thanks Letizia. Fortunately (for me) most of our parks are quiet simply because we don’t have all that many people to populate them. However the idea of designated quiet spaces is very appealing. I am looking forward to more peaceful times. 🙂
Galivanta, what a peaceful photo with those fascinating tree ferns? We have somethihg similar here in Australia that we call ‘Bush Boys.’ Don’t we all need these quiet recreational areas where we can visit to relax and unwind.
We certainly do need them. But, as in my case, we need to make a bigger effort to go to them. I find it hard to make myself go out during the winter time!
Hmmm. So I’m not the only one to bite more than she can chew and then be forced to – ahem! – regurgitate a bit? 😉 Love how you still found a peaceful spot despite the hubbub. The rain is trickling down my windows and I have a quiet moment tonight to catch up on some long overdue reading. Hope you have been keeping well…
Hubbub! I had forgotten that lovely word. Would it be one that your little students know well? 😉 And, yes, I do bite off more than I can chew. 😦
My students may not know the word but they sure can cause one! 😉
LOL; the joys of hubbubbing!
Only you could turn that word into a verb…you and your words! 🙂
The temptation was too great!
Between the wonderfully calm picture and the lovely music video, you gave me a much needed and appreciated quiet moment. I hope it did the same for you.
It did Marylin, it did. I am glad you could enjoy the calm with me.
I just noticed that my comment hasn’t been moderated, and I thought I’d mention it, only because there’s a blog or two where I often end up in a spam file. I haven’t a clue why the great cyber-gods would throw me on the spam pile, but so they do. Silly cyber-gods!
Linda, it is all here waiting for my attention. I am getting round to everything but very slowly. I have been listening to the beautiful music you sent and feeling very soothed by it.
Wonderful! It’s the soothing that’s most important.
Truly, truly. Now I am off to bed to spend some time with the delightful Flush by Virginia Woolf.
Love the peace of your photo, Ann, and I hope that a little of it has rubbed off on you. 🙂
Hugs!
I think some of the peace has rubbed off, Jo. I need to get out more when the sun shines. It does me good.
I totally understand having too much on the plate (and blog posts as well) – I’m in a bit of an anti-blogging state at the moment. Although I am listening to that beautiful children’s choir video you posted at the moment and it’s very moving! What gorgeous voices they have 😉
So glad you are enjoying the video. The choir has been around for quite awhile but it was new to me. The voices were perfect for my mood. And Deep Peace is one of my favourite blessings.
Just recently, I was thinking about the idea of community. To me, community is a place where the burden is shared, the joy is multiplied, and hope surrounds us all. You have created an extraordinary place where people from all over the world are welcomed. I am so very glad that I am here. Thank you for every post that you give us! They are gifts.
“What should young people do with their lives today? Many things, obviously. But the most daring thing is to create stable communities in which the terrible disease of loneliness can be cured.” Kurt Vonnegut
I am so very glad you are here, too, sharing your insights and your wonderful quotes. Loneliness is a terrible disease. I would love to build communities where it is banished. To be alone is fine, to feel good in solitude is fine and often rewarding, but heartbreaking loneliness is just horrible. In the past few days I have seen a wonderful nursing home community at work. What a joy. Elderly people cared for and loved as they should be.
What Nursing home community is that? I assume it is here in Christchurch?
In Methven. It’s the loveliest nursing/rest home. A real gem. A good many of my relatives have spent their final years there.
My mom lives in this type of community. And it is a profound joy for her, especially on days like today (Father’s Day) when the memory of dad becomes ever more present. We need each other – in the end, all that we remember is the connections we make and the love that we have shared. When I remember that, my life becomes very simple. And certainly more calm and meaningful. Have a great week. I’ll be on a work project for a few days, but will be back by the end of the week.
How lovely that your mother enjoys this type of community too. I am slow with responding to comments this week. You will almost be finished with your work project by now!
One of the great blessings of blogging (at least it seems so to me) is that there are no rules, only choices. Your choice to let things slide a bit seems wise, and entirely reasonable. There have been a few times when i’ve done a re-write and re-post of a previous bit of work. There’s value in sharing earlier pieces with current readers, particularly when I can improve them. But I confess — I’m most likely to do a re-postt when I feel the need for a little breathing room, for whatever reason.
I enjoyed the musical selection. John Rutter is one of my favorites. I have friends in England who’ve been active with a choral group over the years, and they introduced me to his work.
My favorite hymn from the Episcopal hymnal is “I Bind Unto Myself Today”, a more singable version of “St. Patrick’s Breastplate.” I was introduced to that in Liberia, by an Anglican couple. What a world!
You might enjoy this version. It has much the same feel as what you posted above.
No rules, just choices; that is a very good way to look at things. And I do like the video clip, very much. I have heard versions of it before but it was lovely to be reminded of St Patrick’s Breastplate. Very comforting. And, yes John Rutter has to be one of my favourites. I first heard of John Rutter many years ago (perhaps 20 years!) when my daughter’s choir sang his ‘For the beauty of the Earth’. I was captivated. It seems to me no matter what I am searching for, or needing, John Rutter has the music for my ear and heart to hear. We are so blessed to have his beautiful work in our world.
may I start with a heartfelt hug, Miss G?! – you can imagine why, so thanx in advance! ❤
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3 giant likes: for your post, its title and its content, of course… 2 questions, please: what's the floating animal: a birdie or a croc?… are those what we call in French "dwarf palm trees"?(palmiers-nains) merci, Madame! 🙂
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I do understand your point and feelings about blogging… as far as I'm concerned, I'll visit you with the same joy and pleasure, as to me you're une personne intéressante et de qualité… I'm sure you've understood these French words! 🙂 Try to stay healthy, "cool", and optimistic… I do know it's often difficult, delicate and complicated, but I repeat to myself now and then:"hey, remember that everything(anything) is always temporary!" my very best and lots of positive vibes from me to you… ❤
P.S. oh, I’ve often wondered why my comments are still awaiting moderation and must be manually approved as long as my first one has been approved by you for a while?… @ my playground, once approved, the following comments appear(show up) immediately, yours – as well, of course… 🙂
Yes, I still have my settings set to moderate all comments from everyone. I guess I am making extra work for myself. 😦 Silly me.
Everything is always temporary ; ‘and this too shall pass’. Now the floating animal is a bird; probably a coot. The trees are, I think, young cabbage trees http://www.doc.govt.nz/conservation/native-plants/cabbage-tree-ti-kouka/ . Thank you for the positive vibes. 🙂
Bonjour(here!) and thanx for your infos: so, a birdie and cabbage trees – never heard of… I did check out your link, very interesting, indeed! 🙂
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@discussion settings… it’s your blog, so you decide for all settings, of course… 😉 my very best and have a serene weekend! ❤
A serene weekend would be wonderful. Hope you have one too.
There is a classic approach used in management settings to help people who feel overwhelmed with their workload – ‘how do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time of course’. I don’t mean at all to trivialise the problems you are facing at the moment, but just wanted to emphasise that you are doing the right thing by taking matters at their own pace, at a speed which is manageable for you.
Meanwhile, thank you for the beautiful Rutter clip. Here’s an equally lovely one back for you as a gift across the world. I hope you find more peace and harmony in it. Lots of love as ever x
Well, your elephant gave me a giggle. And food for thought! I don’t want an entire elephant on my plate, that’s for sure. And the Rutter blessing you sent me was one I was considering for my post, so you caught my mood perfectly. My daughter sang a version of this blessing for my parents’ Diamond Wedding anniversary, a few years ago. Today, I sent the clip to my mother, via Skype, for her birthday. She is 92 today and during our Skype conversation we sang the Blessing together. So special. We have found much peace and harmony in your gift. Hugs and thanks.
So glad we continue to be in harmony as usual. Many happy returns to your wonderful mother. I love the thought of you both singing together across the airwaves 🙂
We weren’t exactly tuneful but the feeling was there! 🙂
🙂
Tranquil photo. I rested there a few minutes on my journey, and will probably visit again when I come back for cake.
😀
Cake (or, in reality, dessert) is about to go in the oven any minute now. I am making a fruit sponge; possibly known as a fruit cobbler in the US. Not sure.
Yum.
It was!
🙂
Gallivanta – I actually read your blog last night and fell into the photo of the Groynes. The last thing I honestly remember was listening to the music video of Deep Peace and I fell asleep on my keyboard. I wanted to bounce in tonight to leave a proper reply.
I’m ever so pleased you are accepting the ‘relaxed approach’ to blogging rules. We have more than enough ‘have to do now’ rules in our lives and blogging isn’t one of them. Remember to take good care of yourself. Sheri
How delicious that Deep Peace and the photo gave you sleep. 🙂 I hesitated about including that music because for ever such a long time I have not been able to associate earth with quiet. Perhaps it is part of the healing, post earthquake, that I am now reasonably comfortable that the earth does indeed have quietness; not always, but mostly it does.
The Groynes looks very peaceful. . . and the Fall photo really made it sink in that your seasons are 180 degrees different from where I live.
My thoughts are with you–and I hope that you have less on your plate very soon.
Yes, we are so opposite in seasonal terms. Thank you for your kind thoughts. Less on the plate or at least something more delicious would be wonderful. 🙂
I am sad to hear you have a lot on your plate, I have been wondering how your daughter is doing. Take care. 😉
Thank you. My daughter made some nice progress but, unfortunately, there are some hiccups (administrative) now which are causing us all anxiety!
I hope things ease soon. 😉
Yes, hiccups are tiresome and exhausting. 🙂
Wishing you well.xx
Thank you! I felt wonderful after reading your latest post on the crochet project.
I seem to be tune with you as you have been in my thoughts quite a bit these past few days. Try to squeeze some time visiting your sacred places, those places that help to wash away the emotions that overwhelm us. Right now I am spending quite a bit of time at the ocean washing away mine.
On a happier note, I was walking through the arboretum at my daughter’s school and they had it divided into sections by country. Most of it is presented in a native untrimmed state. I enjoyed walking through NZ with my best friend whom I haven’t seem in six years and thinking of you… It was a good therapy for us all. Feel free to private mailing you needed to bend an ear .
Oh, imagine me bobbing about in the ocean beside you, please. That would be wonderful. I do believe warm ocean water is very healing/soothing. I am very curious about the arboretum. It sounds delightful and to be there with your best friend would make it even more delightful. Thanks for being willing to have your ear bent for me. Too kind!
Lovely photo. It does indeed impart a sense of quiet and tranquility.
Thinking of you and sending peaceful, positive, comforting thoughts your way.
Thank you Cynthia. I am enjoying those positive peaceful thoughts. 🙂
We all deal with our tough times in different ways and taking time for yourself and finding peaceful places seems a good start. You bring delight to so many of us through your blog but I know your life is more complex than our virtual glimpses… Warm wishes and peaceful spaces to you Gallivanta as you work this through.
Thank you for those warm wishes. I had a day with lots of sunshine and peaceful spaces today. That took my mind off the ‘plate’.
What a serene place the Groynes looks. It matches the singing very well. Good luck with the challenge; I never have time for these.
Thanks Juliet. It is a little piece of serenity between a golf course, a busy highway and a new housing development!!!!
That looks lovely on the picture. I do hope your plate gets emptier soon and releases more time to you! Take care and slow down!
I am going very slowly today. It’s nearly 3pm and I am just getting lunch! And I am going to fill my lunch plate with delicious food. Maybe that will compensate for that other horrible plate I have to deal with. 🙂
I hope you will enjoy your lunch plate and have enough strength to deal then with the other one!
Lunch and dinner and breakfast were all delicious and they gave me the strength I needed to visit my elderly aunt who is now very frail. Had a lovely visit with her, today, and she said it was time for her precious doll to come home with me https://silkannthreades.wordpress.com/2013/04/28/whats-in-a-name/ so I did as she asked. This simple transaction has given us all a lot of peace.
I guess, hard but yes peaceful!
Yes hard but it felt right. Do you still have any aunts or uncles?
One aunt, who I share my birthday with, she was 90 yesterday. My family is so small, my mum had one sistier my dad was an only child. I have one sister and she has no children either. I have the only grandchildren for my mum.
My family is small too. How lovely to share a birthday with your aunt. My mother will be 92 tomorrow. You almost share a birthday with her. 🙂
What can I say…. June babies…. 🙂 Wishing your mum a happy birthday!
Thank you. Yes, gorgeous June babies!
I also recently had some family affairs to attend to and am still trying to sort it out and only at this time did I realize that blogging takes time and energy. I am trying not to chastize myself as for me blogging has become a type of self-imposed discipline. I am only doing it as long as it is diverting from thinking and a mental rest. And I know that you do put a lot of thought into your posts so it isn’t quite as easy to just churn out a post for the sake of it. Don’t hurry. take your time. we shall be patient Gallivanta!
Thanks for your patience, Naomi. I do enjoy writing my posts but when my brain/thoughts are as scattered as they are at the moment I find it hard to concentrate on what I want to say. Family affairs are complicated aren’t they? Perhaps there should be degree courses to help us figure them out.
I left this comment with Sheri and thought you should read it:
“Rest, recuperate and recover! Please! You are so very valued my friend, as is wonderful Gallivanta! I have noticed in life that it is often the kindest and smartest people in life who face the biggest challenges. God doesn’t give hard trials to wimps! If only I were a wimp!!!! Maybe you and I and Gallivanta can get together and figure out a plan on how to become wimps????? Then maybe our lives will become perfectly placid????”
You do make me laugh, Cindy. I do think I am a wimp, most of the time, but, hey, if it helps, I’ll take on extra wimp lessons. 😀 😀
Wow.. Ilive in Chch and I have never been to that place. Where exactly is the Groynes. I love going to deeply peaceful places. there is so little deep Peace in our lives.
I am not sure where you are in Christchurch, jennyredhen, but the Groynes is off Johns Road, between Clearwater (Golf) and the Main North Road http://www.ccc.govt.nz/cityleisure/parkswalkways/popularparks/thegroynes.aspx The dog park portion of the Groynes is always busy but the rest of the area is usually very quiet. Hope you can get there sometime because we certainly need our peaceful times in Christchurch.
Sheri rocks and so do you! Hang in there my friend. I am praying and sending my positive hopes for both of you. You are so very valued and appreciated my friend. ❤ ❤
Your positive hopes are rolling in. Love them, Cindy. You should see the grin on my face as I write this reply.
Funny how life poodles a long then suddenly it’s all tipsy turvy. Hope deep peace returns soon 😉
The deep peace would be lovely but I would settle for the poodling. Poodling along sounds most pleasant. 🙂
ah, spell checkers 😀
Hope you are poodling along OK ! 🙂
Working on it!
I am sad to hear the plate of life is burdened with not-so-tasty bits for you right now, but it’s good to hear that you take time to unwind, and I’m positive that soon tastier dishes will be served. I’m here to support and to cheer! ❤
I can hear the cheering!
It is good to hear from you, even if a quick post. I know what you mean about too much on the plate. I hope to get my own post out this week. I did set up a new page on my blog that shows all our cats with some of their history.
I have just been over to read your post and agree that you have a lot on your plate. Won’t it be lovely when the day comes that you can set some of your own wine next to your plate? 🙂 Love your cat page.
I’ve been thinking about you and I’m very happy to see you, even briefly here, offering us peace and tranquility in the midst of your own struggles. Nature is a wonderful place to get centered again and helps us to regain inner balance whenever the storms hit. Sending you warm thoughts of encouragement.
Your warm thoughts and your lovely post on the ospreys are a tonic. 🙂
I’m sorry to hear about your plate being so full (in a negative sense). The sun is shining in Austin this morning, so I’ll send some your way.
The sun has arrived. Thank you. Much appreciated. 🙂
I can definitely feel the peace in the photo. There is a different kind of quiet here where my Mom lives. But even in the suburbs, the birds rule the roost! I love it. Since we live in town, I didn’t realize how much I miss the birdsong…
Isn’t it wonderful to have birdsong? I think we do quite well for birdsong but when I visit other places in Christchurch which are nearer park areas I realise that our birdsong is poverty stricken. I still love their small efforts though. 🙂
We had a bit of birdsong at our first house in the heart of Arles but oh how it is rare! I am hoping to be surrounded by it in our next house!
I do hope you will be. 🙂
Lovely photo of the Groynes. I really like the idea of a peaceful place where people are told to be quiet. How tranquil and restful it must be there!
I have always found that section very peaceful and quiet but I guess there are times when it isn’t, such as summer weekends. The birds were all very calm and came quite close to me; just going about their business.
I’ll second this comment. One of the downsides to modern life is noise pollution, with most of us not being able to find a nearby place in nature that’s completely free from the sounds of traffic and people.
And I was horrified to read today that what I thought was a new housing development taking shape on the outskirts of the Groynes is actually a new 4 laned highway plus new housing. Shaking my head! No one can spare a few million to upgrade the existing railway tracks but there’s never a problem about finding millions for new highways to ‘decorate’ the landscape.
thanks for the picture and the video…Peace seems to be a recurring theme in my life as I have hit some bumps as well. Hang in there.
You, too! I had a brief glimpse at your post this morning. I think we are facing some of the same bumps. But I need to come and read carefully.
I’m holding your hand through this rocky time.
Thank you!
peace the little things bring
Indeed.
Happy to see you post, love the photograph and I understand about the feeling of being overwhelmed – where I’ve been lately. Lovely spot you found, thanks for sharing with us.
Thanks Mary. I hope your feeling of being overwhelmed is lessening and you have time to enjoy those beautiful roses of yours.
Thinking about you, and hope that you are able to enjoy more serene moments such as the spot that you captured.
I do hope so. I saw some wonderful sights today; snow capped mountains, green fields and miles of farmland. No photo opportunities though. 😦
It’s good to see you here, even briefly and even if you’re feeling somewhat overwhelmed. Going to a quiet, serene spot is a smart plan–probably not a full antidote to troubles but an anodyne. Are those ducks in the water?
It was delightful. There were several different birds on the water and on the shore. I took some photos of them but they didn’t turn out very well. The bird on the water in this photo may have been a Eurasian coot.
The smooth surface of the water with some disturbance by the two ducks (I am guessing) moving slowly along are so peaceful. I hope all are well and things are getting better for you as those steady moving ducks.
When I see birds gliding along the water like that, I so wish I could do the same. In the days when I went swimming I used to try and swim without making a disturbance on the water. I was not very successful. 😀
Sorry that your plate is full of chunks of hard-to swallow pieces of life. Thank you for taking the time to give us a window into serenity with your lovely photo of the Groynes. I can feel the calm peacefulness of the environment seeping off the screen towards me. I hope that the peace you felt that day can return to you from time to time in the hurly burly of happenings.
The Groynes is a favourite spot but I always have to suppress a little giggle at the Quiet notice in that one particular area. At first it seems incongruous, as if one has just enter an old fashioned outdoor library and one almost expects to see a stern librarian keeping watch at the picnic tables! Most people seem to respect it, though, and there are lots of other areas of the Groynes where you can be as noisy as you like.
Looks and sounds so quiet and peace.
It’s a very beautiful place and I always enjoy my visits there.
Can we sit on the grass by the water bank?
Of course!
It’s nice. I wish I was there. 🙂
It’s much nicer in the summer time though.
… and take a little more time to enjoy delicious breads from Gallivanta’s kitchen. 🙂
And don’t forget I would make delicious cake too.
Oh yes!… with a cup of Java coffee or tea. Aahhh…
You can bring the tea or coffee 🙂 🙂
😉
I hope you know I join Sheri in always wishing you the best and offer any encouragement you need!
Yes, gp, I am deeply thankful for your encouragement and I know Sheri appreciates the support you give to her, too.