Linda M Hartley

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  Washing and the scent of memory

  Linda 9:23 am on February 17, 2010 | 1 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Fabric (3), Gorgeous, Heart, Heroes, Memory, North Berwick, Salt Air, Salt Sea, Salt Smell, Sea Breeze, Sea Wind, Sun Air, Sun And The Sea, Sunny Day, Washing Line, Zombies

  

  
  washing

  Originally uploaded by bobsee
  

  
  Here’s the washing at North Berwick waving to the famous harbour washing line in Cellardyke the other side of the Isle of May.

  Washing.

  There’s something about a line of clean washing blowing in the sun in a good sea breeze that gladdens my heart. The washing absorbs the sun and the sea and you get a hint of that when it’s gathered in. Great armfulls of cold, slightly damp fabric that smells of the clean salt sea wind.
  When you come to iron it the washing will take the heat from the iron and start to give you back that gorgeous scent. The kitchen will fill with that heady, evocative smell of sun and salt air and it will be softer and nicer than any chemical could ever make it.
  Eventually you, or someone you love, will wear that shirt, maybe weeks later and that faint clean, salt, smell will linger, taking you right back to that cold sunny day.
  Via a great post on Heroes Not Zombies

   

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  Linda 12:25 pm on January 14, 2010 | 0 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Common Ground, Community Interaction, Creative Energy (2), Curtains (2), dream board (2), Dreamboard, Feedreader, Keeping A Diary, Photo, Point Of View, Six Weeks, Space Fire, thoughts, Twitter, Ufos (2)

  I’ve had a strange few weeks since my last post on here. My December dreamboard didn’t quite bring the space, fire and creative energy I’d hoped for. December brought its own gifts and troubles quite apart from anything I might have wanted.
  I’ve been questioning again just what this space is about. I’ve never been very keen on keeping a diary, much less a public one, so that’s a slightly uncomfortable fit.
  And yet, I like to blog maybe I just enjoy writing. The dream board experiment was partly to see if it brought engagement with a wider community. From that point of view it sort of worked. People were kind and welcoming, generous with their comments. Six weeks later very few of them have stayed in my feedreader or my twitter and I suspect I haven’t stayed in theirs. Not enough common ground I suspect.
  Where to find engagement then? I’ve become so used to this online world I miss the feeling of community interaction but I just can’t work out where to find it. I do know, though, that it is worth finding.
  As for the projects in the last post. The main task continues and has had some success. Some of the UFOs just kind of quietly went ahead and formed themselves to the next stage without much thought on my part. So there’s a bit of learning. I can just wait and see what comes up next.
  As for the vintage curtains, they should be back up later today. There might be a photo!

   
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  Clearing Away the Clutter

  Linda 11:44 am on December 12, 2009 | 2 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Back Of My Mind, Clutter, Creative Energy (2), Curtains (2), Fabric (3), Free Flow, Phrases, Rag Bag, Stack, Tickling, Ufos (2), Unfinished Projects, Web Projects

  Clearing away clutter is a great way for me to really start to make progress with things. What things? Just about everything. My mind is a bit of a rag bag of cluttered unfinished projects at the moment.

  Hmm, that’s familiar – when I used to sew my work basket was always overflowing with UFOs (Un Finished Objects!) and gorgeous bits of fabric that I couldn’t resist. Hours would be spent planning things I never had time to start let alone finish. So I made it a rule that I couldn’t start a new project or buy fabric, no matter how tempting, till I’d either finished or abandoned and thrown away (eek!) one from the stack.  I think I need to re-introduce this rule but apply it to my web projects.

  My main focus this month is working on a number of key phrases for our main properties, adding posts, tagging, back linking etc. It’s going quite well I think and I’m enjoying having identified goals to work to for once. Usually I’m much more free flow in what I do so this is an interesting challenge.

  There are still the usual round of blog posts for other sites to get through but I’m shelving a couple of little tempting project that have been tickling at the back of my mind and draining creative energy for the last few weeks. Enough is going on already. No more new fabric till these projects are finished!

  Oh and I’ve almost finished restoring my vintage curtains .

   
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  Muse, where are you?

  Linda 1:23 pm on December 10, 2009 | 0 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Aching Desire, Comfy, Cup Of Tea, Good Food, Headache, Herbal Tea, Light Lunch, Limited, Muse, Nice Cup Of Tea, Sleep, Spirit, Warmth

  So yesterday my spirit wished for energy but today had other plans. Today will be a day of getting by, of doing what is possible and accepting what is possible today is limited.
  My muse has wandered off and I don’t know how to find it. I’m left with even less energy, an aching desire for sleep and comforting warmth. And then, of course, writing this I start to see what needs to be done. I need to be gentle with myself, comforting cups of herbal tea, small portions of good food. Now there, I just noticed I’ve a headache! I didn’t even notice it before. Ok so I’m off to put on a comfy soothing cardi, make a light lunch and a nice cup of roobosh. Later I’ll search for her again.

  

  A nice cup of tea

   
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  Wish Casting Wednesday

  Linda 12:31 pm on December 9, 2009 | 18 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Brain, Photo Credit, Spirit Questions, Worries

  Jamie’s prompt today for Wish Casting Wednesday is:

  What is your spirit wishing for?

  Sounds easy enough but I’m not used to asking my spirit questions so I’m finding it hard. (Skipping swiftly over intellectual worries about whether we have a spirit at all and if we do what it might be “Hello rational brain, nice to see you’re looking out for me but just relax, this might be fun “ )

  My spirit seems to wish for  Energy this coming week, it wants to fizz and pop, maybe even spark (ah, there’s that Sami fire again!).It’s a specific kind of energy, graceful and not forced. The kind of energy that burns bright and clear, that gets things done with ease and is purposeful not restless.

  
  photo credit: ashfay
  See other people’s wishes for the week at Jamie’s Wishcasting post