Reflecting on a few blog themes over December.

The Firewood Poem

By Lady Celia Congreve.

Beechwood fires are bright and clear
If the logs are kept a year,
Chestnut’s only good they say,
If for logs ’tis laid away.

Make a fire of Elder tree,
Death within your house will be;
But ash new or ash old,
Is fit for a queen with crown of gold.

Birch and fir logs burn too fast
Blaze up bright and do not last,
it is by the Irish said
Hawthorn bakes the sweetest bread.
Elm wood burns like churchyard mould,
E’en the very flames are cold
But ash green or ash brown
Is fit for a queen with golden crown

Poplar gives a bitter smoke,
Fills your eyes and makes you choke,
Apple wood will scent your room
Pear wood smells like flowers in bloom

Oaken logs, if dry and old
keep away the winter’s cold
But ash wet or ash dry
a king shall warm his slippers by.

Start of December saw the finalisation of our daughter’s move from a two bedroomed house into a four bedroomed one. Yesterday’s late evening FaceTime call had my daughter reflecting on how fantastic this year’s Christmas experience was for them all. Four children and two adults finding space a blessing. All the October to end of November applied chaos to getting the move done and dusted was suddenly, in my eyes, all worth the efforts.

December was, and still has, long periods of dizziness and discombobulated function. I think my inner ear is in a bit of crisis. Fingers crossed it will settle, get fed up and go away. My nurse’s, well now ex-nurse’s, diagnostic brain cannot self analyse the symptoms to pinpoint a certain diagnosis in reality. But it certainly feels as if some horrible virus or maybe dodgy semi circular ear canals are to blame.

December brought a few blog scenarios.

Frankie the Fella, kitten to cat but yet still a kitten in vibe nature.

A re-visit to photography and seeking new negative film developing pathways with use of natural products to be offered by nature’s gifts.

YOU CAN TAP ON ANY SMALL PHOTOGRAPH WITHIN THE BLOG TO ENLARGE ITS IMAGE. CHEERS!

A plan started with a Dream Map journal scenario to plan a synergy of my songwriting and recording each song (already recorded in parts) all anew starting in January. A CD and Bandcamp platform aim which involves some form of artistic inclusions. Hence fountain pens, dip nibs and photographic considerations for the presentation of video, site presentations/advertising and the CD cover and lyric booklet needs.

Receiving a book from my wife regarding a perceived lonely status. Staying in at home, alone, for very large extensive parts of the year. And actually three and a half years since retiring in fact. Which, in reality, is born from my introverted nature. I think I am pretty self motivated enough to stay sane and can claim an inner calmness in this outlook. The book’s content has my reflective senses feeling ‘I feel comfortable and inherently okay in all of this ‘on my own’ situation actually. Do I miss the chaos of career choice in nursing? Nah!’.

Writing a bit of poetry and prose on some blogs was nice. Gave ideas into application of using some for songwriting lyrics. A different rhythmic ideal to apply melody and sing spatially to.

Had a brief revisit to looking over my pottery making days. Shame I never took photographs of the different stages of development over the decade plus. They could have shown my various stages into ceramic adventures. The latter year pieces were very strange, yet very satisfying. I had been influenced by blocked layering and decorating akin to Oceanic/South Pacific tribal art/deity pieces.

Other blogs? Well, I wrote a few on positivity and its role in reflecting, outlook and subsequent healing whilst doing so, putting up the Christmas decorations with more focus because my Nan would have approved, making decent coffee in earnest, the Gray Summers’ WordPress photography site revisited and gaining a few followers (Thank you), spoke of intentions to re-record my songs from this coming January, and I also put on this WP site a few of the recent recordings of unfinished songs.

ONE OF THE SONGS BELOW.

Oh, And Christmas CD listening. Bought five Christmas albums of Kate Rusby’s music and played all of those mostly. But eclectic other choices too. So a veritable listening extravaganza from about two to three weeks before and up to Christmas Day. Actually….it would be nice to go see some gigs of Kate Rusby’s next year. And especially the Christmas Winter tour. Looks well received on YouTube evidence.

And, as the Fireside poem links to….. a blog about getting scammed with a bulk log purchase, having to order a load more from a different supplier (far too many) and a subsequent five and a half hours experience of ‘getting the logs into the log store’! I felt like I was negatively blog subject moaning, so I took the post down and shoved it into draft. The year should always both start, contain a vast amount of positivity and certainly end positively.

So, December blogs were a bit diverse.

And the icing on the cake, of course, was from all you fellow bloggers. Not only those wonderful exchanges in the comments and replies on my blogs. But your own blog contributions and the fantastic reads over the year that I had from all your own subjects. So cheers for that. Much appreciated.

And introvert nature can, as below shows, be a quietly positive experience. Thank you all and a Happy New Year.