Creative Expression

I had a strong feeling to be creative today - to 'let my art out' as my brother says, so I dusted off my sewing machine (gosh! its only a couple of weeks old!) and made this bag.

The beautiful yellow and black fabric is called Aso Oke, native to the Yoruba people of West Africa - used for important ceremonies.

The cloth has been mine since 1990 and it featured as my costume when I played the role of Madam Ajanaku (in Ola Rotimi's Our Husband Has Gone Mad Again) when I was with the African Playhouse at Reading University (1991 - 1994)

I have made the bag out of the scarf piece - and given it a new purpose in life :)

World Wide Words

I am particularly interested in words, what they mean, how to pronounce them well, how they can be modified to mean different things, taken in and out of context...

I recently stumbled on this website while researching the meaning of the word 'gobsmacked' called World Wide Words. It's simply delightful and will engage lovers of the English language (from a British perspective) for a long long time!

Check out the World Wide Words

(please note this is not an advert. I truly enjoyed my experience looking through the site and felt it was worth sharing)

Fellowship

I received some great news yesterday! I have been elected a Fellow of the Institute of Training and Occupational Learning in the UK.

My first degree was in accounting and economics (joint honours) but I did not go either route. I was just thinking the other day that if I had followed the accounting route to become a certified accountant, I would now be eligible for Fellowship...and now this!

There's an inscription on one of my (many) journals that I find very inspiring and it speaks to this so beautifuly:

Sometimes on the way to your dream, you get lost...and find something better! :)

Reciprocity

Just 'borrowed' this picture of me hard at work from a blog belonging to Fabiana one of the lovely Italian girls in my sewing class week before last.

We worked together on a short project and I gifted her one of my tomato pin cushions. She immediately gave me a fabulous gift she had made by herself in return...the law of reciprocity in action!!! Thanks again Fabiana!!!

Dynamic Inconsistency?!!!

Let's face it. There is no woman on the face of this planet - even the ones we consider worthy of the appellation 'goddess' - who is 100% happy with her body. We are always trying to lose a few extra pounds, change this, nip this, tuck that.

We have more resources and information now - books, websites, DVDs, blogs - than there was available in out parents' generation, yet they were healthier on the average.

Although this is a brilliant book (101 Things) aimed at making me more aware of the reasons I should be taking better care of myself, etc, I have found myself eating more biscuits and ice cream between laughs than I have eaten the former 3 months prior combined!!!

The author discusses a concept psychologists call 'dynamic inconsistency' which I think is another way of describing what apostle Paul was trying to convey in the following scripture from Romans 7 (The Message):

^14-16I can anticipate the response that is coming: "I know that all God's commands are spiritual, but I'm not. Isn't this also your experience?" Yes. I'm full of myself—after all, I've spent a long time in sin's prison. What I don't understand about myself is that I decide one way, but then I act another, doing things I absolutely despise. So if I can't be trusted to figure out what is best for myself and then do it, it becomes obvious that God's command is necessary.

^17-20But I need something more! For if I know the law but still can't keep it, and if the power of sin within me keeps sabotaging my best intentions, I obviously need help! I realize that I don't have what it takes. I can will it, but I can't do it. I decide to do good, but I don't really do it; I decide not to do bad, but then I do it anyway. My decisions, such as they are, don't result in actions. Something has gone wrong deep within me and gets the better of me every time.

^21-23It happens so regularly that it's predictable. The moment I decide to do good, sin is there to trip me up. I truly delight in God's commands, but it's pretty obvious that not all of me joins in that delight. Parts of me covertly rebel, and just when I least expect it, they take charge.

²⁴I've tried everything and nothing helps. I'm at the end of my rope. Is there no one who can do anything for me? Isn't that the real question?

This is the question I ask myself every time I walk past a reflective surface and I'm unhappy with what I see. When I am closest to throwing in the towel, I remember that there is more to what Paul is trying to convey....

²⁵The answer, thank God, is that Jesus Christ can and does. He acted to set things right in this life of contradictions where I want to serve God with all my heart and mind, but am pulled by the influence of sin to do something totally different.

These words give me strength in the deep places of my soul that the finest confectionery can't reach!

My new BF?

No, not boy friend...best friend!!! (apologies to the gorgeous people in my life who currently own this title, but you can't do for me what my potentially new BF does for me!) :-)

In the past few days that i have been learning to sew, the one tool that has kept me on the straight and narrow is this humble but mighty helpful seam ripper. Basically what it does is that as the name suggests, it allows me to correct mistakes in my work by gently unpicking the seam (line of stitches) and redoing another, better line. No one ever has to know I didn't do it right the first time.

If only life had an 'eraser' like that...one that would allow you to gently 'unpick' your mistakes and allow you another take like nothing else ever happened. But the truth is LIFE is not a dress rehearsal (if you will pardon the obvious pun). Yes we make mistakes - with and without consequences - BUT with every new day we get the opportunity to choose to do things better/differently/or do nothing at all.

Take friendship for example. You regretably betray the confidence of a close friend, who trusted you with their most intimate secret. It was a mistake and you are broken up about it. Try as you may to make restitution, the damage is done and it may take years of consistent 'better' behaviour to mend that bridge - or it may never happen. However, you learn a valuable lesson and get to be a better friend to the next person who honours you with trust.

For everything else, there is a seam ripper/eraser/your original shade of hair colour/laser tatoo remover...

Maybe they are telling the truth for once?

After a long hard day, seeing this advert banner (circled) was a welcome 'laugh out loud' moment. In case you cant see it clearly, its an advert for a 2 step programme to a FLAT stomach. Only, someone must have put the pictures on wrongly, because the model starts out at day 1, pale but with a waist definition and by day 30, an obviously different model is now tan with a deliciously rounded tummy and a cute mushroom above her pant band.

Maybe they are telling the truth for once?!!!