Some of you will have noticed that I have been peeking round the cyber curtain lately, much like the child who has been sent to bed on the night of the party, but can’t resist peering round the door to see what the grown ups are doing.
And, like that child, I am enjoying my glimpses into the other room ( of WordPress ). Am I ready to cast aside the curtain and boldly enter into your presence? Not quite. Not yet. I am still busy gathering up the riches of a lovely warm autumn; storing them away for the winter ahead.
I have also been gathering memories, like this one. In April I spent time with my parents who live in Australia. My mother and I worked on a small art project which involved threads and beads and ribbons and decorative butterflies. When it was finished I held it up, and said to my mother, “It’s very pretty but I have no idea what we have made, or what it is for? What do you think it is for ?” She looked at it, uncertainly, and said, after a moment’s reflection, ” A wigwam for a goose’s bridle.”
I laughed. A truer word was never spoken. (Though I don’t think she meant the saying in its “mind your own business” sense. It was more that she thought we had made something nonsensical!)
‘A wigwam for a goose’s bridle’ April 2016
And with that piece of nonsense, I am going to retire for the night. I love knowing you are just on the other side, with your songs and stories, your words and your wisdom, your photos and fine art, your feelings and foibles, your heart, your smiles. In the hush of my room I listen to the hum of your cyber chatter. Bliss…….
Goodnight.
silkannthreades 
Very talented and beautiful ❤️
Thank you, Laleh. My mother is very frail now but we have had some wonderful times in recent years.
That is awesome ❤️
🙂 🙂
I love this post Gallivanta. I know this is a post Mum would have loved too. A wig wam for a goose’s bridle – I knew that saying from my Nana – Mum and Nana used it in exactly that way – meaning nonsensical.
Isn’t it lovely how an expression like this brings back memories, and gives us a common heritage. I wonder if we would find those words in the latest edition of the Australian National Dictionary? http://www.anu.edu.au/news/all-news/new-words-for-australian-national-dictionary
I am loving your blog and the sentiments behind it. We have those sentiments in common I suspect. But this post in particular caught my eye. The only time I’ve ever heard this phrase is from my partner – yup, he’s a Kiwi! I’m looking forward to following along and seeing more of your beautiful corner of the world 🙂
Thank you Sandra. Kiwis have some odd expressions, don’t they? I expect you will find a few oddities in Cornwall, too. I have just finished Margaret Forster’s biography of Daphne du Maurier; lots of Cornwall in that!
Ha, yes – plenty of oddities here! We are in Du Maurier country; I have passed Ferryside many times. It’s years since I read Forster’s biography; I shall read it again before much longer. Hope you enjoyed it 🙂
I did enjoy it. Though I think it made me feel ambivalent about du Maurier.
I wondered where you gallivanted off to. 😉 Good to hear you’re doing okay.
I have been away again since then; another trip to Cairns as well as Sydney; all to do with family. 🙂
I have been poking my head out as well lately after a bit of a hiatus. And it has been refreshing! So nice to catch up a bit and love your goose’s bridle!
I have just realised it’s 3 months since I wrote a post. Where does the time go?
I miss you. Just wanted you to know.
Thank you!
Just peeling in on your blog today. My turn to play the peeking game. 😉
I see you! And welcome. 🙂
I have missed you so! And as with you been peering but not making a plunge into the action! Don’t you think as with all of life, it comes with seasons. Seasons for full days outside in the sun and quiet ones spent in contented silence. How lovely to be able to spend time with your parents. I’ll be heading home to Malaysia for the summer to be with my parents too. I look forward to making nothing or something and laughing about it! 😀 Hugs, Sharon x
Definitely there are seasons for everything, and we must adjust to them and make the most of each one. I am pleased to know you will be in your Malaysian home soon. I am imagining the hugs and the laughter for you all. 🙂 🙂
It’s been wonderful seeing you around my WordPress home, Gallivanta! I have been slacking on keeping up with my blogging friends with all of the craziness of life, but I’m hoping to get back on track with that. Hope you’re doing beautifully!
I am, Britt, I am, but my blogging is very low key at the moment.
Thank you for sharing your mother/ daughter art woven with love. Me thinks you would be wonderful at writing memoir. You could even have a glossary at the back for colloquialisms–I hadn’t heard of a wigwam for a goose’s bridle before now. 🙂
Blessings as you enjoy the remainder of autumn ~ Wendy
Ah Wendy, thank you for your encouragement. A long time ago I wrote short, very short, stories to read to my children at night. In one of our moves, I lost them all. My daughter often asks me to write them again, to tell the stories of our family, but the energy required for memoir writing is enormous. 😦
Yes, it requires enormous energy. When you break it down into a few paragraphs or pages at a time—it’s much more doable. But then comes the rewriting and editing, and it, too, is one bite at a time. 🙂 It’s never too late to start writing a story.
Yes, that’s true. Come to think of it, that’s how I started my little stories; sometimes just a paragraph or two each day. And, yes, some of life’s finest stories come from older authors. I have heard excellent things about this book http://www.wheelers.co.nz/books/9780143007821-miles-to-go-a-book-to-make-you-laugh-out-loud/ My friend is planning to lend me her copy.
That looks like a good read. And eventually everyone will be able to relate to the topic of aging–if they live long enough. Having a sense of humour is essential during the aging process–I sure don’t want to be a bitter senior citizen. Goofy—yes. 🙂
Goofy is good; the goofier the better. 😀
You are always good for the soul, Ann 🙂 🙂 What a great expression! I could use it in it’s true sense often 🙂 I know all too well what you mean, and you express it so eloquently and gently. Once sucked back into cyber world…. 🙂 I can feel a relaxed and happy you behind that curtain.
Thank you for your kind words, Jo. My mood is always better when there is warmth and sunshine. 🙂
Hello! Firstly, although I am not familiar with the saying, I think what you made is really pretty! My crafting sessions with the children often produce little treasures (I literally keep them in their “treasure boxes”) but I am not always sure exactly what it is that we’ve made. If I ask the children the responses are usually quite funny and inventive. I guess that’s just another part of the creative process… the naming of the things we make 🙂 Secondly, how sweet you are to be officially taking it easy around WP but to stop by with your lovely thoughts and comments. You’ve always been so kind!
Oh dearie me, I found your lovely comment in my spam box. 😦 I don’t often check my spam but I am so glad I did today. How lovely you have treasure boxes for your little ones. Such a great idea. The contents will make you all smile in years to come. I have collections of my children’s work which I still look at from time to time. But it’s probably about time my ‘little’ ones decided what they want to do with them!
swoon. I just love the feeling I get every single time I stop by. Such goodness. Thanks for putting a sparkle in my day. Simply perfect. I leave smiling.
So glad I have helped add some smiles to your day. You made me smile, too.
I’m glad that you linked back to the origin of the saying, as I had never heard the expression before. I’m sure your project brought pleasure to you both no matter what it was for. 🙂
Sometimes it’s fun to look at the origins of certain sayings. Often the origin is as surprising as the saying itself! And, yes, the project was fun.
This is perfect! I am half-way through Elizabeth Gilbert’s ‘Big Magic’ and one of her key messages is to do creative things just because we like doing them, regardless of the outcome. Your work with your mother is a joyful embodiment of this principle. 🙂 xxx
Oh that’s good to know, and makes me want to immerse my fingers in paint and do finger painting, just for the sheer fun of it! I’ll let you know if I actually do that!
Can’t wait to hear more! 😀 xxx
😀 😀 😀
I really can’t make out anything particular…but abstract is a love of mine, so I thought it was delightful.
🙂 It’s very abstract, but it was a good distraction for us both. 😉
Happy Mother’s Day to you and your mother, Gallivanta! Love your project. Good to see you, and know you are well.
Thanks Lavinia. We had a fun time. 🙂
It’s a very pretty wig wam 🙂 Glad to hear you’re enjoying your autumn gathering and taking comfort from the cyber chatter.
Fortunately cyber chat is not too noisy to me. 🙂 It’s just a comforting sound, like a radio on in the next room. Or that is how I imagine it. Others hear it differently. Here’s one http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/05/14/internet-machine-sound_n_5325515.html That is almost cicada like to me. 🙂
What a wonderful post! Sometimes it’s fun to do nonsensical activities with loved ones. It’s great to have you peaking around the cyber curtain again. 🙂
Thanks Sheryl. And whilst peeking, I am almost pecking at the yummy recipes that appear at your blog table. 🙂
New homes for old memories is such a wonderful idea. To still be having fun with your mother is a trick and a treasure. Good to pick up the thread of your story again.
Diane, you have made me realise how like our lives our little project is; not perfect, sometimes twisted, sometimes nonsensical; but in the end not too bad. 🙂
I love your creation and its name (which made me laugh out loud)! Am delighted to see you here even if for but a moment and to know you are well and warm.
And maybe if fortune favours us I will get to show you the creation in person; or my mother will. 🙂
That would be awesome 👍
I saw you peeking, it’s allowed and nice to see you here again. Whatever it is, the wigwam, it looks lovely, the colours and how it is made. Do enjoy the Autumn with sun and the warmth it still has. Wishing you a very good night and I hope our chatter does not keep you awake. 🙂
The chatter is like a lullaby. 🙂
Of course, there doesn’t always have to be a reason for the creation of our art. The pleasure of working together in the completion of a vision was reason enough and hopefully will continue for time to come.
I hope there is more time to come, too, Steve. Some more painting would be fun. And perhaps I could even persuade her to take some photos and put together a collage of them.
Hello lovely .. How nice to see you back 😄
Just popping in for a bit. 😉 Is the grape harvest over?
It sure is 😄
Excellent. 🙂
That was a saying my mother used to use too.
And our grandparents probably said it too though I don’t remember them doing so.
Sending good energy to you from across the globe…
xo
Thank you, Heather. I was pleased to post the info on the Compassion Collective Mother’s Day appeal http://thecompassioncollective.org/ on my Facebook page.
Thank you!!
It is pretty.
Thank you YC. I thought so too.
I think we need to be whimsical at times. It liberating, in particular when it involves beautiful butterflies. Your post made me smile 🙂
Whimsy is wonderful! Your posts always bring me smiles. I am glad I can offer you a smile, too.
Lovely! Good-night and sleep well Ann!
Thanks Clare. I am feeling wide awake and well rested this morning. 🙂
I should have been in bed hours ago!
Ah, I know how that goes! It takes me so much effort to get to bed at a reasonable hour. I fail nine times out of 10.
Yes, the effort! I hope you have a lovely day 🙂
It’s been beautiful. We harvested our Jerusalem artichokes today. I will be attempting to cook them for the first time tonight.
I love Jerusalem Artichokes. I haven’t seen them for sale for many years and really should grow them. I like the plants themselves and the flowers too but the artichokes are a little fiddly to prepare. Worth it though!
How did you prepare them? Did you have a favourite recipe?
I haven’t cooked them for ages and I wasn’t very adventurous; I boiled them and I roasted them. They have a very delicate sweet flavour. I found this link which may be of interest
http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/jerusalem_artichoke
Thank you. I like the idea of the puree with apple. I may be adventurous and try them raw.
Let me know what you think of it!
Didn’t quite get to raw or puree last night but I did lightly fry them in butter and they were delicious.
Oooh good! I’m glad you like them.
🙂 yes, because they are so easy to grow; very useful to have in the garden as long as it doesn’t become invasive.
There is always that danger 😉
Mine are contained in a raised garden bed so hopefully there’s no danger of invasion. But who knows, I have all sorts of escapees in the most unlikely places in the garden.
I know exactly what you mean. Plants do their own thing and often object to the places we want them to live in and find their own more congenial spots.
A lot like people really. 😉
Yes 😀
I always wondered what one of those was…
Yes! 😀 😀
I do enjoy your posts. I have been off the grid myself lately visiting family in Edmonton Alberta. You would love Alberta – the bluest skies and a horizon that goes on forever. Have a wonderful day…
Clanmother, I am already in love with Canada. Fingers crossed, my dream of visiting one day will come true.
I believe that dreams become our reality. Life is full of many possibilities!! 🙂
Indeed, indeed. 🙂
Hello Gallivanta, it’s lovely to see you peeking over the bannister, however briefly. 🙂 We had a discussion about this saying on someone else’s blog post earlier this week – I’d only ever heard it in context of not knowing what the thing was, so was educated in the other meaning.
Pauline, do you have a link for the other blog? I would love to learn more about this expression.
It is somewhere in this blog, in the comments section of a post made in the last few days. Though I think there is no more than the two meanings you made in this post. https://weaveaweb.wordpress.com
Ah, I found it. So much fun to read. Thank you.
And I think we all love the sense of you being there…far away in your Wig Wam, but yet so close ♥
It’s strange isn’t it……this distance and this closeness? This real life and this internet life which is somehow very real as well.
I love that you and your mother create art together. My mother and I garden together and there’s something lovely about spending that time, sometimes talking sometimes not, creating something.
We do our best, Letizia! I puzzle my mother enormously with some of the things I ask her to create with me, mostly because I am making things up as I go along. Your gardening together sounds wonderful. My mother and I don’t do that but she loves a wheelchair walk along streets where she can see lots of flowers and trees.
So nice to ‘hear’ your voice if only for a little intervention. I love that you and your mother created something lovely – just the act of doing it together is quite special. Goodnight to you too.
Yes, just a little intervention. I don’t want to lose touch completely whilst I am busy in other directions. I am hoping to be back with my mother in June when she celebrates her 94th birthday. So between now and then I will have to think up some more projects we can do together. A while back we had her doing some wonderful video messages
Thanks for the foray into the world of that whimsical expression and its variants, none of which caused me to bridle at them.
Thank goodness for that. 🙂 I am sure there must be one or two old sayings which would cause hackles to rise these days.
These days hackers are a greater concern than hackles.
Sadly true. 😦
Lovely to know that you are filling yourself up with memories and adding them to your treasure trove.
Thank you Sally. And finding ways to record them is also important especially as I don’t keep a diary or journal.
How lovely… enjoy your bliss! 🙂
🙂 🙂 🙂 Long may it last.
You made a memory, and that’s beautiful.
Thanks April. And hopefully by writing it down I will be less likely to forget it. 😉
This story is so warm and cuddly I want to hug it right across the monitor 😉
Thank you 🙂 🙂 Perhaps the time will come when that will be possible????? Well, a version of it is already here…http://www.euronews.com/2015/02/02/share-touch-smell-and-taste-via-the-internet/
I say, Gallivanta, I have missed you and thought of and am so glad you spent some time in my alleys Down Under where wig wam you made could fit other’s than just Goose’s taste – very gentle beauty 🙂
I do enjoy my little trips across the Tasman. I would enjoy them more if airports weren’t involved! Hopefully over the winter I will have more time to blog.
Not a big fan of planes & airports myself 🙂 Look forward to your new blogs as you get back into it so to speak :0
🙂 🙂
A wonderful moment to share with your mother and now with us. And I like your mother’s use of this mysterious, magical old saying!
It made me laugh so much. It was so unexpected but so apt.
I like when that happens!
🙂 🙂
At first, I saw dragonflies rather than butterflies, but that’s no doubt because our dragonflies are flitting. I’d never heard the expression in its original form. Of course, having grown up with wigwams here and there, I took that part quite literally, and was having a hard time putting a bridled goose in with the squaws and chiefs, not to mention the papooses.
Those little shared projects are such fun. I’ve always smiled to realize that, just as my mother kept my first pieces of awkward, unpolished drawing, I did the same with her last pieces of awkward, unpolished needlework. They help to make the best moments stay.
It’s lovely to have you here this morning — enjoy your continued memory gathering.
Linda, it is lovely to see my mother so busy with her colouring and various little projects. And, yes, just as she collected our early efforts, we are collecting her late age efforts. They seem very precious. We collect the funny little stories and sayings too. Some we are hearing for the first time. Some come from her early childhood, I am sure. She is taking us back to a time we know nothing about ; giving us another dimension to our family story. Who knows how many other wigwams or goose bridles are hiding in there waiting to be rediscovered. 😉
It’s so good to see you poke your head out and say hello! So, tell me more about the phrase “wigwam for a goose’s bridle”–did your mother just come up with that out of nowhere or is it a colloquialism I’ve never heard? Either way, I love it! And I’ve been meaning to tell you that your photo styling for the vintage items you’ve been selling is beautiful!
It’s a colloquialism peculiar to Australasia, so says Wiki. And one that is rarely heard these days. It reminds me of another response I used to get when I asked my grandmother for a story. She would say, “I’ll tell you a story about Jack a Nory and now my story’s begun. I’ll tell you another about Jack and his brother, and now my story’s done.” It’s used to make me a bit cranky but , in the end, I would go off and find my own stories. 😀 I am very happy you like the styling. I am having some small successes with selling but the main thing I want is not money but new and loving homes for these beautiful items. I feel I am achieving my goal.