Sunday, February 21, 2010

Random Reflections


My babies who have spent the weekend helping me with garden, study and chores.


Still not sure what to read next, I thought I would share some random thoughts from random readings.

Firstly, Shakespeare. No, I'm not actually reading any Shakespeare - in fact I never have, but I did read the article in this weekends Australian Review about a hero of mine. I could never quite grasp Shakespeare to read, and I blamed this on my dislexia. So when I was preparing to turn 30 yrs old, I set myself 30 things to do before I'm 30. One of these things was to go to the theatre more often. My first theatre experience as an adult was to go and see the Bell Shakespeare Company perform in Canberra. Now I cant even remember what it was (Sad), but I was blown away with it. Suddenly Shakespeare started to make sense to me. I've since seen quite a few productions, most of the shows staring John Bell. Bell is now preparing for his role in King Lear which is about to roll out throughout Australia. I'm so going to go and see it.

Secondly, while reading the same magazine this morning I noticed a new book is out: Fruitless Fall: The Collapse of the Honey Bee and the Coming Agricultural Crisis. The review captured my interest because I am concerned about the role of the Bee in the permaculture garden in the suburbs. Without the bee things would be very different in the world of fruit and veg. Jacobsen reminds us that Rachel Carson (Silent Spring) predicts of the fruitless fall, and the prediction is unfolding before us. I'm going to keep my eye open for this one too - and maybe even pull out Rachel's Silent Spring as a refresher.

Thirdly, since blogging last week that I had Paulo Coelho's 'Pilgrimage' on my list to read, I've found his blog. 2 entries in the past week have given me food for thought. On Feb 11th he wrote about 'the accommodation point' in which he raises the point that 'love changes and nobody understands that'. I was inspired to think more deeply about my own relationships after reading his words and some of the comments. The on Feb 17 he shared a short story '15 second reading: rebuilding the world'. For me this is a reminder of what I believe in (think global, act local), so check it out and think about what it means to you.

Finally, I've been spending a bit of time researching for my new laptop... any suggestions?

Saturday, February 13, 2010

Just thinking

I haven't finished a book recently, and feeling like I'm in a reading slump at present. I've been feeling it for a while, and on reflection, I can recall buying several books in the hope I will get excited again. On my to be read list at present
But then again, several of the bloggers I am reading at present are doing the Woolf in Winter Read-a-thon and I am finding just reading these bloggers satisfying my reading thirst for now - and maybe I'll pick up a Woolf to read instead.
It's also back to class for me - while I work full time, and volunteer for about 8 hours a week, grow my own veggies, enjoy my walking and cycling - I am back to French lessons for 3 hours week for my 6th year now. So I'm currently reading the latest version of ParisMatch available in Australia (du 7 au 13 Jenvier 2010).

On reflection - there's a lot happening in my head - so Im off to spend a day in the garden, listening to my teapot fountain trickle and to taste my fresh strawberries. Je vous souhaite un bon weekend!