L E O N I E . W I S E

-1-
the olive branch got dropped in their salad
it’s now being tossed around with ego, intolerance, hatred, pain…
being dressed with anger and confusion
who will be served the peace? will
they even  notice it amongst
the more bitter flavours?

-2-
i want to be like a leaf -
charmed and carried
wherever the wind blows…
landing wherever it wants to take me

-3-
a lie becomes truth
from being thought about
too often

-4-
silence stretches out to eternity
for me to walk it’s thin black ribbon

canary wharf shrouded in a quiet grey cloak this morning

quite eerie walking to the tube station this morning and seeing the big buildings appear through the mist as we approached canary wharf

kodak brownie six-20 f, in mint condition, complete with original bag & manual as well as a kodak guide to taking better snaps that used to sell for a sixpence

this year’s birthday wish

it’s the beginning of a new year and quite a long time until my birthday in august, but this is the *biggest* thing i’ve ever had on my birthday wishlist.

i really really really wanted to go to the first squam… so many people i love and admire were there and came back with amazing stories and photos to share of their experiences. but it’s so far far from here that i couldn’t. we spent a fortune last year travelling to shiny places and needed to regroup and make some more money!

now i discover, that this year, there will be two more! and i am wishing and dreaming and planning and surfing the cheap airfare websites to see if our travel and adventures budget can stretch far enough to go to the september squam in new hampshire. it’s a crazy birthday wish and i’m crazy enough to believe it might even come true!

i’ve been drooling over the workshops and the website all morning, trying to decide which classes to attend.

i would definitely be doing one of andrea’s through the viewfinder sessions (how could i not, when this post she wrote got me so excited about the whole ttv thing that i went and got myself a kodak six-20 f brownie camera to play with) and spent a whole month posting photos on my blog/flickr using a fake ttv filter.

then, there’s jen’s truth & consequences sessions, christopher frost’s temporary earthworks and just about every other class listed that all have me so excited that i’m almost literally jumping out of my skin to sign up!

a true story about the power of love, gratitude and abundance

when my faith wavers and my eyes begin to see more despair, dirt and grit than hope in the world, something happens to remind me of the power of community…

like the little house that love built.
(back story from kelly-rae here, more from jen here and a request from my dear friend gypsyalex here)

most of you who visit any of the above inspirational beings quite possibly already know about this story. for those who don’t and who are feeling even a little despondent, without faith, or hope, or anything good to cling to, hold on to this…

in order to create there must be a dynamic force, and what force is more potent than love?
- igor stravinsky

yesterday when i looked at the chip in site of the little house that love built, the final few dollars of the $2500 that was needed had already been raised…

yet more was being given.
today, when again i visited, still more had been given.

jen shared a beautiful short story of thanks which you can listen to here

it makes my heart sing to see so many people in this amazing online community giving to another in need and it fills me with hope.

maybe if it’s hope that you need today, it will give you some too.

in the company of friends

if you asked me what i know now that i didn’t know then
i’d say to you that i’ve learned how to be alone in a whole new way
a way that has forced me to grow up…
without losing any of the playfulness i admire in myself.
i bring to the now, the realisation that some friendships endure
despite the size of the ocean that divides them, and that
some friendships i thought would last forever are just not meant to be that way
i bring to the now, precious new friendships found in the past year
and carry with me the dreams and plans for my future
i would say to you that creativity is something that can’t be ignored,
or abandoned, because it will keep showing up at the door,
until you let it in. and i’d say that there’s always room in here
for joy and for sadness… because i have learned that i cannot truly
appreciate one without the other. and that sometimes,
not knowing what’s next is the best way to be.