“Roots” 1943 by Frida Kahlo, for the Sunday Muse prompt 171: ** They say that fiery flames beget cold ash, the certainty of beliefs passed down petering out into the lukewarm ambivalence of doubt and questioning. These roots are the things that hold us still each tendril like a link tethering us to the ones who went before.
Dinty W. Moore quotes Joan Didon as saying: I write to find out what I am thinking, what I’m looking at, what I see, and what it means. All of which suggests a certain absence of certitude which only fades when the subject of doubt is engaged through the meandering paths and rabbit holes it leads us through and down. This is what (I hope) this space will be for me, a place where the discordant notes of thoughts often coursing through my mind on faith, life, books and a fair few other things can be engaged, each assay like the blow of a chisel which though insignificant by itself, builds on the past and slowly carves out a thing of exquisite beauty.
The bare, Spartan space just outside my window - which I can just see if I crane my neck a little just beyond its normal range - is just that, barely noticeable. At least it was until a few days ago when swivelling in my chair, the profusion of reds and yellows it has become caught my eye. So certain was I that the flowers were new that at an opportune moment, when I could pretend it was a casual question, I asked one of the guys to confirm. It turns out that I was right, the flowers had not always been there. The coming of a certain big man in a couple of days had prompted the ground staff into sprucing up our surroundings. I am thankful for the splash of colours which will remain with us for a bit at least, but what I came away with was the sense that big men everywhere carried weight. It is a truism, as an old teacher liked to say. ...
Photo by Olesia Misty on Unsplash. For Day 13 of the November Poem-A-Day Challenge ** You have carried yourself into a far country untethering yourself from the strings of domesticity and caring and the hold of warm soup bubbling over the warm embers of Mother’s hearth. You have dragged your portion of our things over the misty mountains into a strange place where the voice of the Matriarch is obscured by the cooing of the birds and the singing of the sirens. ...
At the end of the storm, there’s a golden sky… False starts and disappointments notwithstanding…
Today’s CoE #LiveLent Devotional invites us to reflect on baptism, and how it is a symbol of our death and resurrection with Christ. Here goes: \\\* I come to this water, let me go beneath its flood and die, and then arise reborn, raised to freedom and new desires. Let me sense your welcome, your voice speaking once but echoing across the hills and the valleys telling me, welcome lost son, my prodigal returned.
\\\* Grateful for: Friends and great conversations: Church finished a little early on Sunday, following which we were all encouraged to catch up with folk we hadn’t spoken to in a while. It was a delight to have a lengthy chat with U and O. Delighted Good news on the job front, with significant progress towards getting a visa for my move to the Middle East. Thankful.
\\\* Grateful for: Opportunities to give back by giving a presentation at an AFBE school engagement session. It helped that there were friendly faces there, M included. Catching up with old friends via lengthy phone calls during which it feels like we never stopped talking, everything running seamlessly into each other Brunch at Bell D’Amico after several months away down south. Sunday brunch is becoming a thing! Survived another week at work - waiting can be a pain! Participated in a health challenge at work which shows my underlying numbers - blood pressure, cholesterol etc are in a good place. :)
The folk at AoM identify eight factors which feed into an assessment of the suitability of where one is at the moment. Given Aberdeen and Byfleet are currently it for me, a table with the pros and cons of each location seemed like a logical place to start. Here goes: [gdoc key=“https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1IZdb5os_AQNEjVBwEAscnsPzq2u2uqcj11jiaMktMBQ/edit?usp=sharing”]
For Day 8 of the AoM 31 Day Journaling Challenge: Reflect on Your Career. – Work for me has focused on materials, particularly ferrous ones, and how they perform in a variety of oil and gas environments, on two continents; Africa of my birth and Europe where I have spent the last few years. My journey began in December of 2003 with being hired straight out of University in 2003 as a trainee engineer through progressing via a number of roles in various aspects of the corrosion and materials discipline and eventually leaving in October of 2008, thanks to a mixture of burn out and the opportunity to return to the university for graduate studies. Since graduating in July of 2009, I’ve gotten back into the Corrosion & Materials field first with a service provider and latterly with an oil & gas production company where I am Corrosion & Materials Technical Authority. ...