Gift to Frens

May the love and warmth of friendship
fuel our being,
our hearts and mind cherish,
every moment of our living;
what all, we bring together
in our meetings, our crafts, our sharing,
in the peace of our laughter
and in the knowing of each other,
We strive
to keep our souls alive .

 - HA

To Awards and Friendships

St Augustine reflected that 'Friendship constitutes a country for those in exile, a fortune for the poor, a remedy for the sick, and a life for the dead. It provides pleasure for those who are well, strength for the weak, and a reward for the strong.'

From two of my favourite blogs, thank you Andrea Arise to Write and  All God's Creatures for the Circle of Friends Award and Farila Chapters From My Life and Discovering Myself for the Lemonade Award..Thank you both very much for your presence in my blog, I truly appreciate it..
Both these lovely ladies have created their own rules,  so I'll modify some too ...just so we can share in the receiving and the giving to be enjoyed. ...So to all bloggie friends visiting please take them for yourselves and pass them on to your friends.

The rules -  remember to acknowledge the bloggers(do a link) where they came from, nominate 5 recipients (let them know about it) and tell us any 5 things about yourself.

There have been a few awards going round lately so I am not just going to select a few. There are many of you who pass through, it doesn't matter if you comment or not but I believe many read what I put down. For your participation alone, it's sufficient reason for me to pass these awards on and share them with any of you who would like to pick them up. There is a joy in receiving and there is a joy in giving or passing them on. I hope you experience that feeling too.

5 things about me .....
- I have to stop and smell a rose when I come across one;
- I love the smell of smashed raw garlic;
- I remember my 'glory days' fondly - I used to play badminton for school(my primary school days) and netball for school thereafter all the way to college..(that means I used to have sports in my blood..)
- I love cooking but not the washing up..
- I am afraid to get another pet dog, because I don't think I could go through loosing another one again.

Have fun sharing the awards..

'Superior Scribbler' Award

Janice has kindly passed the Superior Scribbler Award to me and I appreciate it. Janice scribbles daily and she writes straight from the heart, her blog is at http://janmrp.blogspot.com.

Got to admit it's kind of a cool name for a blog award.! .. but let's not feel superior about this ...

Of course, as with every Bloggy Award, there are A Few Rules. They are, forthwith:

* Each Superior Scribbler must in turn pass The Award on to 5 most-deserving Bloggy Friends.

* Each Superior Scribbler must link to the author & the name of the blog from whom he/she has received The Award.

* Each Superior Scribbler must display The Award on his/her blog, and link to This Post, which explains The Award.

* Each Blogger who wins The Superior Scribbler Award must visit this post  http://scholastic-scribe.blogspot.com/2008/10/200-this-blings-for-you.html   and add his/her name to the Mr. Linky List. That way, we'll be able to keep up-to-date on everyone who receives This Prestigious Honor!

* Each Superior Scribbler must post these rules on his/her blog.

I  have carried out all the steps except for the first one so far. I am the 1197th person to be added on to the list of recipients.
I don't have that many followers so it should be easy, but then I have more than 5 so that's hard.  I know some of you already have this particular award (among the nominated too)  so I can skip you -  if you're got it,  you're got it right ... you're not better if you get the same award twice r..u  :). (grin!).. ok ok I'm just looking for excuses to narrow my choices.. .everyone who scribbles in posts or comments deserves this but I can only pick five..

And here goes, the five blog frens I would like to pass this on to:

Just Be Real who shares her real personal journey : http:justbereal77.blogspot.com/ 

Always a Mom (who's a musician I've lately discovered) :  http://llmoore2.blogspot.com/ 

Andrea who's got 2 blog sites (and has lovely dogs):  http://arise2write.blogspot.com/ 

Elizabeth who writes inspiringly on a few different sites :  http://www.blestatheist.com/

Judi at Lines Composed with curious lines of thoughts:  http://www.curiousjudi.com/

Sunday Solitude

A relatively peaceful day, today I don't want to ask for more, or think that life could be better or remind God of his to-do list for us, just gratitude and thanksgiving .........

1. Mom of Three described my blog as 'eclectic' and that means I write on diverse topics or experiences. I never really thought about it but it does succinctly describe the content. But on subject matter, it is mostly centred around  life and me. Does this then mean it is filled with variety? I am thankful that I have many interests to occupy me.

2. My parents are still around, and supportive without being judgemental of my current circumstances. They could have said 'I told you so'.  I thank God for them and their love.

3. I did not give up or go insane, I had strength to persevere. Thank you for my endurance.

4. I have a job, if not for that job, I would have been more hesitant and afraid to take the steps we needed. You have helped empower me.

5. I've been reminded by less fortunate parents, that God has blessed me with three beautiful children, I have 'nothing else to complain about but the normal mischief' that they would gladly have.  Thank you Lord for their well-being.

6. I have friends from my early school days, new friends from recent times, close friends who are even closer now and now I have blog friends to keep me company, at any time to stay in touch, to communicate with, thank you that I may never feel loneliness, they are my signposts.

7. I have two siblings with their own kids, who make time to to keep up family ties, I know they will stand by us should I ever need them more; thank you Lord that they do keep in touch, that they are there for me.

8. Thank you for technology that makes contact easy, and for enabling me the time, energy and health to participate positively in the life around me.

9. Thank you that there is light in my life.

A Poem for Bloggers

This poem 'A nameless relation' was written by A Known Stranger.  He has created many other poems on his website and I have enjoyed going through them, the poems express many different emotions and life situations (I have not finished going through them all). 
I thought that this particular piece as I read it, was too good not to share because I think most of us bloggers will be able to appreciate the words, it's about you and me.   To quote Aphrodite Orania  'this is a wonderful medium for most of us, who sail on the same boat to unveil, vent, confide, find solace and feel wanted and heard'... feels like  a celebration of blogging.........


Though you are friend of mine
Known in virtual world, living
Far away and miles away,
We do talk hours together
with interest,over phones and mails ,
on subjects strange to discuss.
We know not how we sparked
nurtured and grew our bond
To a nameless relation
That seems bizarre

You hold a special place in my life
So unique, that we share
Our joy and worries , with out meeting,
We understand each other
Crossing the barriers of age and culture,
Soothing each other with respect.
I picture your smiles and moods
How you think and behave
A game which is interesting
To play and enjoy.


I wish we hold this fragile
Sphere of glassware with
tenderness and hugs galore
It will seem unusall to any
Yet our relation is unique with
fantasy to live
and cheerish for life time
It will be seem strange to many
But this special relation I have
With you , I owe is true and
…………………….
And I wish I never shatter
This fantasy with any
eerie events …..


Thank you to A Known Stranger 

Let's Talk about Love

Here's one of my few favourite artistes .. Celine Dion singing one of my forever favourite songs for all you lovely people out there....enjoy.

Unwind or whine (both also can)

My friend tried to drag me out for drinks after late work yesterday.. I said no.
Then she said to me ' you have to live insanely to live' . ' it's good to let your hair down sometimes ' . What the hell (pardon my Spanish) does that mean.. take off my jacket and do the pole dance on the bar top or what? ..yeah right! get foxed, I think is what she meant.
I knew she was piqued by other things, so I gave in and went for A drink and let loose my ears(but no pole dance).

I understand the need to unwind, I know how to let my hair down (..maybe not all the way.. ..do I sound defensive).
But I think we each have different solutions for that. But my way is not her way. .. it's more like eating a whole tub of ice-cream while watching Brad Pitt in Troy :)

Don't mind my age, it's the new 30 I'm told !!

Yesterday was my special day. (I'm acknowledging it, I'm wiser)
My middle child woke me up with a wide smile to wish me. He wanted to be the first.
That made my day. Started well, ended well with the family

Birthdays can be fun if you don’t think about the age 'bit'. I had an earlier celebration with a few friends to cover two of us who were celebrating. This year a friend suggested a rather unique idea to spend time together. We usually meet for dinner after work but instead of just dinner, we spent a half day together at one of their homes, learning to bake cake (most of us were just waiting to eat it) and going through our favourite craft- card crafts and rubber stamps(we get to mess up someone elses' study [kidding.. hope she's not reading this].
It was relaxing and wonderful because it was a time we spent being ourselves. We didn’t speak of work just the things we enjoyed and happily stuffed ourselves (diet tomorrow).

Don't know who said this but I like it.. 'Age is a matter of mind over matter. If you don't mind, it don't matter'.

Happy Birthday to all you mothers who have birthdays in August.


http://groups.google.com/group/mothers-always

Alone

...we have to let go sometime and sometimes we just cannot be beside them...


http://groups.google.com/group/mothers-always

Friends

I have friends on 2 planes. The soul and the skin.

The soul, who know a lot more than even our parents or siblings are aware. We rant, complain, whine , we can laugh and cry on each's shoulder. And we keep each other's secrets.

The skin, our personal lives are mostly personal, no heady stuff except about our kids, school, our work lives, colleagues we 'can't stand' and our interests. We poke fun at each other, no hard feelings and when we laugh, we laugh and laugh. It feels very good.

It's like we want to be away from it all and just be us.

It's not superficial, it's just not more than we want to handle. leave the serious stuff to real life.

Thank God for all of them

The friend of my adversity I shall always cherish most.

I can better trust those who helped to relieve the gloom

of my dark hours than those who are so ready

to enjoy with me the sunshine of my prosperity

.

-Ulysses S Grant