You've got me feeling hella good...

The Power of words (ode to Katina and all of my lovely peeps)

Well, here's the scoop. I'm having a bit of an off day...feeling a little blue to be honest wid ya. Normally I'm a big ray o' sunshine....yes I am, damn it!! :-)
No, I really am quite an optimistic person by nature and when I do get down I usually can rely on my humour to give me that kick in the arse that I need to snap out of it. See, being born Canadian and having British parents, humour is my birth right...these are two places just brimming over with the ha-ha's. Anywho, I digress...as I was saying, I normally get myself out of feeling blue pretty quick.
Today I guess I just didn't have time to crack myself up with my kooky antics...the other day, due to an even greater than normal lack of sleep, I tells ya, I was down right punchy all day long....where was that version o'Mel today?? Too busy in the 'world of mum', I guess.
Anyways to my surprise I received a lovely message from Katina today, telling me how my 'blog' words had cheered 'her' up, and in turn that really cheered me up.
I guess that's why we call it a 'circle of friends', we just keep passing the baton of kindness round and round, each time adding more good vibes for the next recipient.
It doesn't have to be a big thing, just a few kind words really do go a long way in making someone feel better and in turn that makes us feel good too.
My Mum always says, 'Don't buy me flowers when I die. If you want to show me you care for me buy them for me while I'm alive and can enjoy them.'
She makes an excellent point, we should try to remember to tell people that they matter while we have the opportunity. Now I'm not talking a grand speech ala Hallmark, just a few words here and there to say, 'hey pal...you ROCK!!!'
I hope my friends will always feel like they are the flowers that I choose to have in my garden, and I must say y'all sure smell sweet!!

Love S.A.M.
XX

P.S. A shout out to Marcello who also sent me some kind words earlier today.
(those 'old man' pants sound cool ;-) )

Written Thoughts

Fallen Bird

You flew so far
from where I was

You soared so high
that I lost sight of you

You sang so loud
but by then I had left

Fallen bird
you remain unheard
fallen bird

Polite Canadians

Even our wildlife give you fair warning....ya can't ask for more than that.

My Cousin Vinny (actually he's no relation)

Watching a program on tv tonight about Vincent Van Gogh reminded me of a couple things that all of us as creative humans should remember.
One, is to always be open to outside influences and seek to use them in a way that feels right to us. Not to be afraid or leary to try what is new and unfamiliar, for by doing this, we often surprise ourselves with some astounding results.
Van Gogh found, in the colour chrome yellow, the intensity that he needed to represent the brigthness of the sunflowers, to best convey what his eye was seeing. This particular colour had not always been available, and achieving a yellow so intense and bright just wasn't seen in earlier periods of art. This colour seems to give life to many of his paintings. Although many paintings before this famous work were either very dark or done in quite soft pastels pallets there is something quite special about the boldness of his colour choices during this period of his paintings. It was new and done with no apologies, or concern of acceptance.
Also in this same painting Van Gogh paints the background in the same hues as his main subject, going against what would have been expected. In theory, it was thought that the best way to show off the intensity of the yellow flowers would be to have a blue background, which in turn would really make the colours pop.
For Van Gogh to go tone on tone is really quite an unusual choice, but again, it's how 'he' chose to paint it, and for whatever reason, it somehow makes the whole scene in more intriguing. His 'own' choices have resulted in one of the most famous paintings in the world.
So as I watched this show tonight it stood as a good reminder that we should always be open to what the world has to offer us, but to also stand by our conviction that how we see or interpret these influences is what makes us each unique. There shouldn't be a wrong or a right way, just our own way.
We may all look at the same vase of flowers but hopefully we all will view it slightly different. After all, isn't that what makes the world interesting?

When Does It Happen?

This is the thought that has been in my brain for the past few days. It entered my head as I was standing in line at the pharmacy waiting to pick up some pills for my mum. The lady in front of me was probably in her mid-seventies, and had one of those 'old lady' perms. I don't say that to be mean, that's just the best way I can describe her 'do'. We've all seen them before and perhaps our own Nan's had them.
They are the perms that are really tight and close to the head. It just made me wonder....when does it happen? At what age do we decide, it's time.
I personally never envision myself sportin' that look, but maybe that part of our destiny we have zero control over? If we did, why would so many ladies be wearing that look?
Is that what the future holds? Tight perms, plastic rain hats, and hard candy in the bottom of our purses that get caught up in tissues that are so old, that they actually start to disintegrate when they're pulled out of the purse...ya know, they have that cloud of lint that bursts from them.
On the hard candy front, I definitely think that the target demographic for Werthers is the 70-80 year olds, these hard toffees are like crack for seniors.
I seriously hope that this phase of our lives does indeed come with some sort of warning.
Maybe on our first OAP cheque, they could slip in a little reminder...you are about to enter a new phase of your life, you will become obsessed with bingo and lottery tickets, you will only buy shoes that are beige and you can say goodbye to zippers, it's elastic waists from now on baby!!
If we were to receive this heads up, at least we could try to resist some of these changes.
I see myself as a cool hip granny in the future. I have no plans on wearing those faux denim slacks, or having a tight perm. No sir-ee, I plan on remaining the ultra cool chick (work with me) that you see today...only older.
I think I'll go for the long flowing white hair, ala Dumbledore...minus the beard of course. Saying that, I'm sure by then I'll be growing a few whiskers from my chinny, chin, chin....oh GAWD...maybe our fate is sealed!!!
Okay at minimum, I'm ordering up my tight perm with the stylin' mauve rinse....once cool, always cool!! ;-)

More lines from the vault.

Lost

Despair crackles like a fire burning,
fans the flames of all my yearning.

Trickles down over my weak hands.
Can't grasp it now.
Can't understand.

-Melanie

Opening my poetry vault.

The Nature of Invention

The spider spins his web of lies
but he's no master of disguise
waiting for you to stop and stare
he's surrounded by beauty but unaware

You've had your chance
to join his dance

The black bird sings his simple song
he waits for you to sing along
he flies deep, into the night
just to prove that he's alright

He's tricked you into believing
everything that you are seeing

Though I'd like to be the answer
to your biggest question
I won't make you choose
that's not my intention

The bird still sings his song of hope
while I sit and wait, and try to cope.

-Melanie