A collection of my favourite photos..

As taken by me!

I swear they are flukes! Although I do enjoy taking photo's! Yep, I am all out of words at the moment. Maybe I should be like PFE/Ticharu and offer my services..but rather than for £15 I am going free! Yes, I am cheap!

Hope you like my piccies :) They may go bigger if you click on them! I haven't tried it though!

Entwistle Reservoir, Bolton..
A local nature site..The first two photographs were taken 'as is' no filters, photoshop or anything. They just turned out like this and I love the colour and light that was captured at that particular moment. And the third I like because of its' solitary nature and, again, the colours that transpired.

















Heysham Estuary, Morecombe.

The pin prick in the first one is a person, unknown, walking his/her dog. This is probably my favourite photograph. At first glance it almost looks as if the person is walking on ice. Again, another solitary pic. I must go for lonely figures in the distance!

Trees...

I have a 'thing' for trees. Not interesting to most, but, for some reason I ALWAYS end up taking pics of trees. My Photo collection is reet rivetting!! And...I have lots more you know!!!

I do love the bottom one though, the 'hand tree' as it looks to me!

And finally ....

a few pics from close by, about 5 minutes walk from my house, in the middle of an industrial town such as this! I just love the bike! Do you think I should go back and get it? If I was being all philosphical about it I would say such a picture illustrates the throw away society we live in today! That said the bike looks like it was made in 1903! Oh, and I admit it, I didn't take the second pic here..but I was there at the time and I love the pic!

Hopefully next blog I will be inspired to write!
Ta ra for now!
Blessings,

Lily-Wren
:)

My Runes as made by me....

So the 'runic rambles' blog finished as soon as it started!

The intentions are there it is just finding the time! Anyway I shall try and make more of an effort with this even if it is just for me. I intended on having a blog for runes and one for general waffle but I am not sure this is working! I think it might work out better if me runic ramblings went in Lily-Wren!! Plus it is hard to keep 2 blogs. I have trouble with just the one...

It is difficult, I try to be disciplined in my efforts with the runes however, the runes call to me. I can't force them. It is hard to explain, I know I should learn more avidly but it isn't until the thought comes to me that I feel able to pick up my little pouch and cast!

Today I intend on doing a full reading that will consist of using all the runes and casting them on
the ground. There. I have said it now, and to all the world, so MUST do this. And MUST report back once I have discerned the meanings! But for now, I shall leave you with the rune I drew this morning.

Eihwaz.....
This rune always gladdens my heart when I see it. It has been there for me through some difficult times and I always see this rune as one of 'mine'. Runes are like friends and strangers. There are a core 5 in my set of runes that turn up time and again. Some I have never 'met' yet. But these 5, well, I have become familiar with them. They are old friends I know well.

Eihwaz is such a rune. I feel a comfortable sigh of relief when I see it, a kind of homecoming and a sure sign that I need to keep on track and not give up. Eihwaz helped guide me through a very hard time a year or so ago and visits again to remind me these times pass.

There are several ways to pronounce the rune but I seem to gravitate to "Ay Waz". It is the thirteenth rune of the alphabet and its' symbol is that of the Yew tree. This alone is significant as the Yew represents Yggdrasil, the world tree. Odin, in his quest for knowledge, is believed to have hung upside down for 9 days on Yggdrasil where he discovered the Runes and their meanings (a bit of a simplistic explanation I know, but that's for another blog I feel).

The yew tree itself represents wisdom, strength and protection. As such Eihwaz teaches us to draw from these elements.

When used in divination it brings out aspects that can be linked to the Yew tree, a tree that has withstood the test of time and thrashing of all the elements:

* Survival

* Strength
* Reliability

* Dependability
* Trustworthiness
* Regeneration
* Enlightenment
* Endurance
* Defense
* Protection
* Secret

* Sacred knowledge

On a more personal level, I see Eihwaz as offering hope through even the hardest of times. Hope and protection. Obstacles may stand in our way and, at times, seem immovable. Hope has gone and we may feel like throwing in the towel. Eihwaz is sent to remind us that, like the Yew tree, we can withstand anything given the strength and endurance to see things through. It speaks of new beginnings and learning from the hard times we go through which enables us to grow and develop, enduring these hard times and knowing that they are for a reason.

Life is full of ups and downs. From the highest happiest high to the absolute depths of despair. Eihwaz reaches out to me in these depths, grabs hold of me neck and says 'Come on, it's OK to feel like you do but it shall pass. I promise. You have the strength to get through this, learn, grow and regenerate' A bit like Dr Who...

Blessed be
:)

Masquerading

The masquerading mirror,
sinks slowly towards the dying edges of separation.
And we walk towards a puritan winter,
with the voice of an innocent scripture grasping,
pawing at the heavy door,
as bravery dies.

The winter of illusion,
fades into the summer of truth and the dying edges of unison.
And the media jury looks for one that can attone,
one breathing flames of red, gold, amber..gasping,
clinging to the heavy door,
as bravery dies.

~~~~~~~~~

New Year Reflections

So, it is 2009 and Happy New Year to you all!

I have wanted to blog for a while now but either not had the time or, when I have, I have been too knackered to write anything! I am sure you know how it goes....So 2009 and, for me, New Year's Day brings back the memories of the last year (and indeed year's since gone) and brings forward thoughts of the New Year to come. This year my New Years Eve was quietly lovely. And, whilst I went to bed at 10.30 last night, I was safe in the knowledge that I would be woken at midnight. Fireworks, singing and all kinds of drunken revellery abound round our way!

So I was able to welcome in the New Year at the appropriate time! *Bangs* *Whooshes* *Weeeeee's* were aplenty up my end and I am not taking dirty here people so put away those sewer like minds and thoughts!

That said, and 'drunken firework setting alight hair on fire celebrations' aside, once I was awake I found it hard to get back to sleep. I spent a couple of sad hours fretting about what has gone by and what is to come. It is often one of my 'things'. It can be the New Year or same old night. Lying awake in the wee hours worrying, sometimes crying, rarely laughing and a kind of 'long dark tea-time of the soul' wee hours feeling we all may have had.!

But have no worries for lickle me! It doesn't happen too often and tis but the night hours and the moon calling that brings such a thoughtful yet disproportionately sad repose. By the time the sun peeps over the hill, I am feeling much enlivened and more able to switch on my invisible cloak which protects from such thoughts! (Shortly before they come and take me away..... *wobble wobble ramble ramble bleaurgh....*)

Anyway, where was I?? Waffling in the New Year I think! Yes, I just wanted to recap on a year that started on 25th December 2007 with a rune reading which I did, in fact, blog about.
2007 and 2008 have been years of such tremendous changes, upheavals, sadness, happiness, confusion and clarity. All lumped together with a dash of uncertainty, a pinch of guilt and a cupful of determination and resolve. The end of 2007 found myself 'celebrating' Christmas and New Year alone, uncertain of the future and, probably, a stone lighter in weight (one positive there I think!)

So, twas on Christmas 2007 I did the rune reading which can be seen here Rune Reading So, what was the significance? If Any? Well, as I say in that blog, there was a great upheaval for all concerned, secrets had come to light but, as Ing the final rune cast said a time for looking forward to a new beginning. This has happened and, completing a circle of a year from then to now, the beginning has started. However, I feel that I am only at the VERY beginning of that wheel and uncertainty and the overcoming of many obstacles, for me anyway, still prevails.

I suppose that is what life is about.

We can never be sure what is around the corner, what is waiting to jump out at us, waiting to hurt or heal us, waiting to make us smile and laugh or cry and scream.

What will make us dance in 2009?
What will make us withdraw?
Who or what willl come into our lives tomorrow? Next week? Next month?
Who or what will make us sit up, take notice and move along a path never previously noticed? Who or what will leave our lives in a blaze of glory, sadness, regret or need? And all the while making us look back ..experiences, lessons learnt, wounds made and then healed loves lost and gained?

The only certainty is that such things are certain. They are essential parts of life and the cycle of life. They help us move onward, forward and develop.

If anything comes your way in 2009 and it makes you sit up, take notice and think 'I wonder..' this is usually because we are meant to 'wonder'. Do exactly that 'take notice' and move forward.

On a final note (and speaking of moving forward!) has ANYONE read The Idiot by Dostoevsky? If so, did they actually finish it? And if they did finish it, were they still alive by the end of it?! I am reading it and, to a degree, enjoying it, but blimey I think 2009 will be beset by this book!!

Anyway peace, love, blessings and hot banana's to you all!
XXXX

Stripey Socks & the Toad

Illustration by Jen Oaks at http://www.jenoaks.com/

Wallow, follow the empty look.
List what you cannot see,
hear what you cannot touch,
and smell what you cannot love.

Follow the empty look.

Slept fitfully and still in a dream,
her stripey pink socks and ever so red boots,
make for an interesting sight as she
rummages through her pockets.

Stood at the side of a gloom filled road,
she looks for a toad,
destined to become a Prince.
She drumes her feet,

pitter, patter
on the gloom filled street.

It's after dark.
The stripey socked princess is looking for her toad,
buried beneath a pile of rubble,
at the side of the gloom filled road.

No luck, no joy she cannot see,
but when she turns round,
he is there 'look at me!'.
Fully formed and wide eyed,
a toad, now a man.

No longer the empty look
when she once waited for sun

Juniper and Lemons

Clouds of smoke lift on, upwards, bellowing out of the large man's body.... He lifts a wrinkled arm to wave at the pink cloud as she walks on by. The aromor of juniper and lemons fills the room as the cloud wafts on up and up to fill a haze drenched ceiling.

The juniper makes love to the lemon and creates a fire of citirus and a glow of amber as the large man looks on in awe....

Treacle falls down and lands at his feet.
His wrinkled arm reaches out as a nicoteine stained finger finds the treacle and lifts to his mouth to taste. Instantly, he is transformed.... His limbs become young and his mind returns to what it once was.

Agile...free...happy...

The man loosens his tie and rises up, onwards, higher to join the candy floss cloud and juniper and lemon scent.

He returns to love and joy....

Old ground new interest!

View from the top of Rivington

So, with Richard visiting the UK for the first time I have found myself visiting well trodden paths with new eyes. It is interesting looking at such familiar sights through the eyes of one from the US. I mean I have now come to the conclusion that Yes, we do drive way to fast and pack way too many cars in tiny streets.

Goodness knows how many of those streets I have driven up this last week! And yes, at least where I live, there is way too much crap and litter chucked about! But also, yes, we have some really lovely places...even up 'ere in the north west!!! It's been a whistle stop tour of the north west and we have yet to do Manchester, Liverpool and the Lakes before I go back to work next week!


York....

So York was extremely interesting and I got to meet Mark Cottrell in the flesh (at last!!!) It's quite weird knowing that Richard met Mark before I did in the bloomin states and Mark being here in this country! And having chatted to Mark via email and phone and IM's over the last year or 2 it was nice to actually meet the sweet feller!
Mark and Richard in the Evil Eye

Ah well we meet at last and what a lovely meeting that was! Sat in the Evil Eye taking pics as Neutral Sons meet in the flesh for only the second time! Then a boozy evening spent at Mark's place with Richard and Mark making some kind of sounds and a lovely meal cooked by Mark and his lovely wife Ali. Breakfast was a treat, Mark (resplendent in dressing gown and lovely knees) cooking a lovely Cheese on Toast (the gourmet version no less...) before moves had to be made back home to a Lucy cat awaiting breakfast...
and

Rain rain rain.... lots of rain interspersed with the odd spot of sun....

Hebden bridge....



But Sunday was literally 'Sun' day and we headed out to one of my favourite places, Hebden Bridge, and Richard got to meet a friend of mine and her cute dog Poppy! ..

Walking through Hebden it was lovely, the sun and the people and the vibes and stopping off for a cuppa coffee by the river and walking along the canal in the afternoon sun... A lovely place to dream of living...


Rivington.....



And so to Rivington, a local beauty spot complete with reservoirs, follies and walks a plenty! I have visited here many times before but it was interesting showing Richard around and reaching to the top of the hill with Richard.
Tired though!
So, all packed into just over a week! Not sure how much more I can fit in before work next week! It's certainly been action packed so far....!



Till next time!
Blessings
xxx