Category: daughter

challenges · daughter · enchanting · inspiration · photography · spiritual

The Psychology of Colours ~ The Colour Purple

Joanne20 Comments

purple

“Listen, God love everything you love – and a mess of stuff you don’t. But more than anything else, God love admiration.

You saying God vain? I ast.

Naw, she say. Not vain, just wanting to share a good thing. I think it pisses God off if you walk by the colour purple in a field somewhere and don’t notice it.”

~ Conversation between Shug and Celie, as told by Celie to her sister Nettie in a letter. From the book The Colour Purple written by Alice Walker.

If I were asked to pick one colour as my most favourite of all colours, I know that I would not choose the colour purple, yet I can totally relate to the quote above from the book “The Colour Purple”. I’m sure my heart skips a beat when I see a purple flower, or anything in nature showing the colour. I even love to see purple in the sky, although it is usually a sign of imminent, or earlier, bad weather.

After wild weather, as the colour purple shares the sky with some orange.
After wild weather, the colour purple shares the sky with an orange sunset.

As a child, one of my girls absolutely loved purple, everything she owned had to be purple, there were no if’s or but’s about it, so I did a bit of research on purple to find out, if anything, what a love for the colour signified. The one thing that struck me the most all those years ago was how purple was regarded as a spiritual colour. My daughter, who was crazy for the colour, could look deep inside a person’s soul. Even today, at age twenty, she “feels” her way through life, like no other young person I have ever met.

In the Catholic Church, the colour purple is worn by cardinals and bishops and during lent is regarded as the colour of pain and suffering. Up until the mid twentieth century, purple was regarded as the colour for mourning in England.

Thought of at one time as a regal colour, purple fabric was so expensive that only the rich in society could afford clothing made from purple, therefore purple became a status colour, worn only by the wealthy or privileged.

Buddleia's are also known as the Butterfly Bush. If I were a butterfly I'm sure I'd love to sit in the sunshine on this flower, enjoying the colour.
Buddleia’s are also known as the Butterfly Bush. If I were a butterfly I’m sure I’d love to sit in the sunshine on this flower, enjoying the colour.

So having established that purple has enjoyed quite a colourful history throughout the centuries, what effect does the colour have on our personalities?

Besides being a spiritual colour, purple, and the lighter shade of violet, are both connected to the imagination and intuition. Lovers of purple will want to run their own race as individuals, are often surrounded by mystery, can be psychic and can live in a world of fantasy, needing to escape the realities of the world. Purple lovers are often the daydreamers among us and being around the colour has a calming effect on the person.

The negative aspects of the colour purple, especially a liking for the darker shades, can be that the person is possibly immature, can be cynical and arrogant and can at times be seen as a social climber. It can also represent loneliness and mourning.

I love the plum coloured beading on this lamp.
I love the plum coloured beading on this lamp.

But lets not dwell too long on the negative aspects of this most distinguished of all colours. Something that you may not know about the colour purple, being a combination of the colours red and blue, it possesses the strength of the colour red, combined with the integrity of the colour blue.

And here’s another thing you may not know about what I have written here, and the photos I have added showing The Colour Purple in my life ~ this is my contribution to Karma’s “Colours of Your World” photo assignment. And it gets even better, after Karma red read my last post here, “The Psychology of Colours ~ Featuring the Colour Red”, it gave her the inspiration for her latest photo challenge!

It's lilac, and it features nature, so this picture gives me great enjoyment.
It’s lilac, and it features nature, so this picture gives me great enjoyment.

Karma has set the deadline to get the assignment in by April 28th (but she’s pretty cruisy about deadlines!) so if you too feel inspired, why not join in the challenge and add a post with photos of some of your favourite, or not so favourite, colours.

I’m enjoying learning about the psychology of colours so much, and there seemed to be quite a bit of interest in my findings on the colour red, so I’ve decided to feature a new colour each week, (until I run out of colours!)

How do you feel about the colour purple, do you love it, or loath it? It could be fascinating to look at the reasons why you feel the way you do. 🙂

These tiny violets are a beautiful ground cover in my garden.
These tiny violets are a beautiful ground cover in my garden.

The Violet ~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (Written 1773)

A violet blossom’d on the lea,
Half hidden from the eye,
As fair a flower as you might see;
When there came tripping by
A shepherd maiden fair and young,
Lightly, lightly o’er the lea;
Care she knew not, and she sung Merrily!

dark purple in excess can be strict, foreboding, lonely, mournful or even pompous. – See more at: http://www.feng-shui-and-beyond.com/meaning-of-purple.html#sthash.AgYDczVY.dpuf
Australia · Changes · daughter · Mount Warning · spring

Ten Minutes of Sunset (and a wet kookaburra!)

Joanne11 Comments
5:52 pm

The rain crashed suddenly onto the car as I drove south along the M1 Motorway. Sitting beside me in the passenger seat was my daughter Emma. She said nothing at all and I didn’t dare look at her although I could feel the tension in my girl, as I struggled to see the road.

At first, I wasn’t sure whether the loud crashing was due to millions of huge raindrops on the car, or hail. It could have been either.

5:52 pm A close up of Mount Warning in the south-west. Yes, there’s a mountain behind those clouds!

When Emma did speak, all she said was, “we can’t even pull over mum, we’re on the freeway”.

She was right. The visibility of the road ahead was perhaps two metres, we couldn’t pull over safely, freeway or not, as I couldn’t see to find a safe place to park for a while, whilst we waited for the deluge to pass.

5:53 pm, the southern sky.

I continued to drive, oh so carefully and ever so slowly. I knew Emma was scared; so was I.

Our exit off the freeway seemed to take forever to arrive and thankfully, by that time, the rain had eased slightly, so I could actually see our exit! We could have ended up having to continue over half an hour further south on to Byron Bay. Not that Byron Bay isn’t a lovely town to visit, but please, not today, not in this weather!

5:53 pm Looking directly west.

Five minutes later, (after we had reached our destination!) the rain had stopped.

Showers of rain continued on and off for the rest of the day, but nothing anywhere near as ferocious as the rain Emma and I had driven through, for perhaps ten minutes, on the freeway.

5:55 pm Mount Warning has been completely hidden by the clouds.

Late in the afternoon, when safely home and standing in my back garden, camera in hand, this is the series of photos I took, which also spanned a ten minute period of the day.

5:55 Looking south again, the sky is changing rapidly.

Did we need to endure the sudden colossal downpour a few hours earlier in the day, to be rewarded by this amazing sunset? I suspect we did, as I don’t remember ever having seen the sky on fire in such a beautiful and magnificent way!

5:57 pm Mount Warning is completely hidden behind the clouds.

In some of the photos you will notice Mount Warning peeking through the clouds here and there. Mount Warning is an extinct volcano and has been there for as long as time. I can imagine the sunsets that the mountain has seen over the years.

5:57 pm Within moments the view has changed again, and the top of Mount Warning is just peeking through the cloud mass.

These photos are straight from the camera, just as I took them, no editing other than reducing the size to download them here. This is the colour that I saw, standing in the garden, shivering, after what had been a sunny and pleasant morning. Isn’t it spectacular? I just had to share these with all of you.

5:59 pm Hello Larry!

And look who came to visit, just as I was about to head back indoors to the warmth of the house!

6:00 pm As Larry and I enjoy the fading sunset.

One poor, wet, bedraggled kookaburra. This is my very tame friend, who I have named Larry, due to his Three Stooges hairdo!

6:01 pm Here’s a close up of Larry. He really is very tame and will take bacon rind from my hand. 🙂

I would like to think that Larry was there to enjoy the sunset with me, but in all honesty, I have to admit that I know he was there for the bacon rind I feed him!

6:02 pm As the night sky overtakes the incredible hues of the setting sun.

I wouldn’t have missed this sky show, only lasting for ten minutes, for anything.  🙂

Australia · challenges · Changes · daughter · freedom · gardening · Tweed Valley · vision

So Many Projects ~ Where to Begin? (Please be warned, this post is much longer than those I usually write. You may want to get yourself a cuppa first!)

Joanne12 Comments
Black Velvet

My mind is a-mush with so many ideas scuttling around in it! My husband has often told me that I have “more ideas than a dog has fleas”, said in a tone that suggests this isn’t at all a good thing, although I beg to differ!

Isn’t it indeed a good trait to have, one in which one is never bored, hopefully never dull and revving at the heels, ready to rush off and begin The Next Project? Isn’t this the very trait said to keep one young and active?

I rest my case.

To help my mind in remembering all the projects I wish to begin or complete, I think I would be well advised to write a to-do list, one which will have me organised, accountable and will aid me in not forgetting one single important aspect on my list.

To begin my to-do list, (which I intend writing here, to remain accountable,) the first item on my list is to add pages to this website. You all want to know about my other blogs, don’t you?

It wasn’t long after I began this site that I came to the realisation that one blog is just not enough! With so many ideas of different subject matter, ranging from one end of the spectrum to the other, then back again, I decided to start first one new blog, followed about a year ago by another.

One of these blogs “Memoirs of my Life” is where I record the ramblings and reminiscences of my life. Some are old memories, or stories related by family members who are no longer with us. Other stories I have written are here-and-now stories, written when something significant has happened and I don’t want to forget the moment.

It wasn’t an easy road for me to follow, when I began my “Memoirs” blog. I felt concerned that someone who knows me may read something I have said and feel offended in some way. If you pay a visit to “Memoirs” you will notice that I write here incognito, by the name of “Annie Potts”.

Well, it is time for Annie Potts to confess to her writings and take responsibility for her words! In all honesty, I really don’t know what I was worried about, as I would never in a million years write anything with the direct intention of hurting  someone! My feelings now have progresses to the point where, if someone is upset by something I’ve said, then so be it! That is for them to deal with, not me! Although, whilst I may be sounding defensive at this point, again, why? I have nothing to be defensive about!! (What was I thinking???)

Moving on, as “Home Life Online” is now in danger of making a strong imitation of the sometime ramblings of “Memoirs”, I’ll mention my other blog, “A Sense of Spirit”, which began its life just over a year ago. Again, I felt reluctant to write the words that my heart asked me to, but again, I have made a strong recovery and have written more frequent posts at “A Sense of Spirit” of late.

(Here I will digress with a question ~ does anyone else feel the need to make apologies for their beliefs, or is it just me? I seem to have made a habit of starting blogs, but not wanting anyone to read what I’ve written! Figure that one out!!!)

The building of another website is on the cards also, a website which I have been itching to build for years! It involves one of my life-long interests, that being genealogy. I spoke to a not-so-distant cousin in England about my idea for a family history website some years ago, his reply being that it was a rather ambitious idea and he couldn’t see how it could be done!

Trouble is, I couldn’t work out how to put my ideas into a readable format either!! It wasn’t until I came across the “Rodgers Family History” site that I began to believe that it is possible! Barbara has obviously put hours and hours of time and effort into the site, the results being absolutely fantastic! I have content galore to add to my new site and have been checking and re-checking details which will be added to this new website, before I begin.

As I am in grave danger of writing a to-do book, and not a list, let the list begin!

  • All of the afore-mentioned, including updating my “Blogroll”, which can be seen to the right of this column. Oh, and remembering to update my “Quotes to Live By”, also in the right side column, just above the Blogroll, at least once a month. (Perhaps I should consider changing the title to “Quote of the Month” or even “(March, April, etc.) Quote of the Month”, which would force me to remember to do it!
  • Continue with my regular monthly contributions to the wonderful online magazine the “Calm Space”. Each month, when my article is added to the “Freedom Space”, I will add a post here also, so you won’t miss a single story!
  • Weed the garden. Yes, I know…boring! But really, you should see the weeds that have grown in the recent rain! I love taking photos around the garden to post here, and no one wants to see a photograph of the seasonal weed-growth, do they?
  • Start taking my beautiful rottie for regular walks. It’s early autumn here now, so the weather will cool down, making early morning or late afternoon walks a very pleasant pastime. Tess has turned nine and is in danger of becoming rather portly, if we don’t begin a regular exercise routine. Rottweilers should not put on weight, it’s bad for their joints, and we all love Tess way too much not to take the best of care of our Black Velvet girl. Regular walks with Tess will also prevent me from becoming portly, not to mention the new photo opportunities it will present to me! By the way, that’s Tess in the photo at the top of this page. She’s such a beauty!
  • Last week I took up an old project, one which I began about fourteen years ago and I never did finish. My daughter, then just beginning school and in kindergarten, asked me to make a quilt for her bed, one of her own design, including an appliqué of her name.  She finished school over a year ago, but I never did finish the quilt! We now have a drawn up design and the fabric for me to begin the quilt. I will “blog as I quilt”, keeping an online record of my progress.
  • Start my range of “Made in Australia” garments, yet another idea I have toyed with for some time now. When I’m out working, I sew. Yes, sew. That is my business, which I began from home, just after my first child was born, nearly twenty-seven years ago. My business has grown and shrunk over the years, depending on my families demands of my time at their various ages, now being at a manageable level (both business and family!), which suits me. I make school uniforms for a few of our local schools and as the demand for school uniforms is seasonal (eg mostly required at the beginning of each new school year), I go through some very quiet times, but at other times can hardly find time to lift my head up from my sewing machine!
  • Start up a new, online business. This is a very new idea and is more accurately described as an extension to my current business. No – not uniforms, but yes – it involves sewing. (I’ll keep that one just a bit under wraps for the moment!) Here is a photo, a tiny clue, to my new idea…

    I woke her up to take this photo. By her expression, you can see she was not impressed!
  • Sort out all of my parents old photographs and replace, in chronological order,  in a brand new photo album, with detailed notes beside each photo. I will also have to scan and reprint some of the photos, as some have managed to adhere themselves to the album pages! With my interest in history, both family and otherwise, it is necessary for me to preserve the memories of my family, both online and within the pages of books. Every family needs a family historian, right? In my family, although the interest exists among others, there is no one fighting me to take over the task of history-keeper. (And I wouldn’t have it any other way!)
  • Spend some unrushed, quality time at each of our local Tweed Valley towns, taking photos, then returning home armed with all I need to write a blog post, to educate anyone who cares to learn, about our very pretty area, here in northern New South Wales, Australia.

This to-do list is long enough, for starters, at least! As I complete the task on my list, I will link back to the points made here today. There’s no danger of lost notes with this list…it’s all online!

If you have read all the way through to this point, I thank you for your patience!

Australia · daughter · old house · Tweed Valley

“Lisnagar’s” Famous Bamboo

Joanne16 Comments
Leafy Bamboo

Continuing today with the third part of my “Lisnagar” story. Part one included close-up photos in and around the old homestead. Part two showed various old tractors and farming implements lying unused around the grounds of “Lisnagar”.

As you drive through the double gateway out the front of “Lisnagar”, if you look to the right you will see a massive wall of bamboo plants growing. You can’t miss it…it’s huge!

Apparently the bamboo is one hundred and fifty years old and has been a major topic of conversation between family and friends throughout the years. Legend has it that a giant snake resides in the vicinity of the bamboo. Whether he is there or not I really don’t know. I didn’t see him the day I took my photos, nor did I expect to bump into him!

Bamboo Passage

In the midst of the bamboo wall is an entry into a large bamboo cavern. Although the day I spent at “Lisnagar” was not a particularly hot day, you could feel a substantial drop in the temperature within the bamboo “room”. Apparently it is a cool area all year ‘round. I thought it would be an ideal place to set up a dining table at Christmastime, out of the sun and in an area so refreshing and cool!

Looking outside from the bamboo cavern

When my husband’s grandmother Esther (the eldest child of Edward and Ellen Twohill who built “Lisnagar”) was alive, someone had told her that the bamboo had been removed. Gran lived in Sydney at the time and was most distraught at the idea that the bamboo had gone. On our next visit north, we checked the bamboo situation out for her. It was still there.

Gran had married her husband Percival in 1912 at the Catholic Church in Murwillumbah. After the ceremony the wedding party had returned to “Lisnagar” where photos were taken in front of the bamboo.

The Wedding, 1912

This photo shows the young newly married couple on their big day in January of 1912, with Gran posing beautifully as the typical blushing bride in her gorgeous wedding dress. The distinguished grey hair gentleman standing behind the newly weds is Edward Twohill.

Not surprisingly, the bamboo cavern was the highlight of the day for my two modern daughters. They are far more interested in the here-and-now than concerning themselves about what-has-been!

For me, the whole package of the “Lisnagar” experience is a highlight in itself. The history of the home, the antique furniture, the architecture, the artwork, the grounds, the bamboo, but mostly the people, the ancestors of my husband and children, without whom I would not have the people I love the most today. 🙂

This quote, for me, pretty much sums up how I feel about the place I call home and I can well imaging it to be true for a number of people, even back in the days when Edward and Ellen shared their beautiful home with their children. These words fit perfectly….

“Home is the one place in all this world where hearts are sure of each other.  It is the place of confidence.  It is the place where we tear off that mask of guarded and suspicious coldness which the world forces us to wear in self-defence, and where we pour out the unreserved communications of full and confiding hearts.  It is the spot where expressions of tenderness gush out without any sensation of awkwardness and without any dread of ridicule”. ~ Frederick W. Robertson

This photo gives an idea of the height of the bamboo next to the parked cars!
daughter · gratitude · happiness · Mum · son · traditions

Mother’s Day 2011

Joanne4 Comments
A recent photo of me with my two beautiful daughters, Hayley and Emma.

Mother’s Day comes and goes on one day of every year, year in and year out.

In a perfect world, we would show appreciation to our mothers every single day of the year. I for one didn’t realise the extent of my own mother’s feelings toward me and my sisters until I actually became a mother myself.

When I finally “got it”, (better late than never!) I constantly tried to show my mother the total appreciation, love and gratitude I felt towards her.

The “job” of being a mother isn’t an easy one. If you do not have children yet, and do hope to be a mother one day, if anyone ever tells you it’s easy being a mother ~ they’re lying!

When your new, precious little bundle is placed into your arms for the first time, with the flood of love and emotion you feel for your precious newborn baby, you may be fooled into believing that that’s as good as it gets.

Wrong!

Being a mother of four myself, I have learned that the first love you feel for your baby is only the beginning. The love just grows.

It can sometimes be an overwhelming love, distorting your usual calm and sensible demeanor, reducing you to tears. Other times, your love for your child can rage out of control, as you feel total panick for the well-being of your child, who doesn’t always make decisions for their life which you would regard as well advised decisions!

When your child finally reaches the ripe old age of eighteen years, a time when they are “mature” enough to head out into the world all alone, making their own decisions for themselves, you may be tricked into thinking you can stop worrying about them, finally.

Wrong, again!

Three of my four children have passed their eighteenth birthdays now. Take it from me, you still care, you still worry, you still wish for your child the most wonderful life, filled with amazing people.

To all of the mothers out there, who one day took the giant leap of the ultimate responsibility on earth by becoming a mum, I wish you the happiest of days on this Mother’s Day, 2011.

We all deserve a day to put our feet up and relax, don’t you think?