Hello and welcome to a new decade and a new look, a work in progress. Here we are nearly a quarter of the way into this New Year and I’m just making my first appearance. Actually, it’s taken a fellow blogger to draw me out of my seclusion with a happy request to be a guest on my site.
So, in my attempt to get up to speed with a new theme, I’m happy to be back to introduce you to my friend, Diana Jackson, from across the pond with her new book and written contribution for your reading enjoyment.
We first connected back in 2013 when I came across her series of posts she had written about Norman, 103 years old. I was intrigued and enjoyed the stories about this man and their endearing friendship. She even published his memoir , “The Life and Demise of Norman Campbell”.
Diana now lives in Fife, Scotland, and is the author of ‘mystery inspired by history books,’ a fantasy memoir and historical romantic fiction ~ the Riduna series ~ set in 19th and early 20th Century.
We have followed each other ever since and she is a talented and accomplished author with a number of published books, along with her latest, “Missing Past and Present”.
So, without further delay, here is Diana’s story for your reading pleasure.
~~~~~~~~~~
FRIENDSHIP OVER THE POND
By
Author Diana Jackson
ABOUT OUR FRIENDSHIP
Pat and I have followed each other’s blogs for several years now and it does not matter that we have never met and live worlds apart, Pat in the USA and I am in the UK, it is lovely how friendship bonds can grow through blogs, Twitter and Facebook.
It was her blog title which caught my eye first ‘Plain Talk and Ordinary Wisdom’ and her catch phrase, Kitchen Table Stories to Inspire and Warm your Heart. It was the domesticity and warmth which shone from her posts which grabbed me, as well as her honesty. What qualities and ideas do we both share?
We both like to write our own true stories but to share those of others too. Pat is much more proactive than I am about collecting or reposting other tales and memories. Mine are on https:/selectionsofreflections.wordpress.com which I must return to after all the excitement of my book launch on my other blog https://dianamj.wordpress.com/.
It is not that it has always been cosy for both of us. No, we have had our fair share of life’s issues to deal with, but I believe it is that we look upon the world in a similar way, trying to see the best in people and situations.
We are both moved by a sense of belonging and feel a longing to visit places of our past or family history.
We share a sense of family and we experience joy looking at old family photos.
I believe that we have a quiet faith which is important to us in everything we do.
Pat lives in the Colorado Rocky Mountains in Denver, an area in America I don’t know but it sounds beautiful. I now live in Scotland with only an hour’s drive to the Cairngorms.
Pat has family links with Scotland too and maybe one day we will meet either here in Fife or in America.
Why is a blog like Pat’s so important? I believe it is because it helps us all to focus on the positive and to look for the good in people. I nearly had a mis-type ‘the God’ in people, but maybe it is that too!
When I moved to Fife and took a break from my writing life, only just keeping social media going, we lost touch for a while. Pat too had a time when issues at home took over her life and she did not post blogs for a while. I found myself wondering how she and her family were, but I was so pleased to see her posts again and it is good to pick up from where we left off! We now email from time to time and see each other on Facebook ~ that wonderful way of linking people worlds apart.
ABOUT MY WRITING
The Healing Paths of Fife is my own story of how I survived redundancy and relocation three hundred miles from Bedfordshire to Scotland. We made our home in the fellowship of a wonderful community, surrounded by the Scottish countryside and the wee fishing villages of Fife. It tells how I gave up writing for a while to settle into this new life, but was finally stirred to take up the pen once more. The book is written in allegorical form with fantasy talks with folks in history as I walk the beautiful Fife coastal path including Robert Louis Stevenson and St Margaret. Quirky I know! It is currently for sale with all royalties benefiting Kirkcaldy Foodbank.
I can hardly believe though, that it is six years since my last novel Murder, Now and Then was published but the next in my Mystery Inspired by History series, MISSING Past and Present has just been released. Is it really over six years since we were first in contact Pat? I think it was when I was posting about Norman, a very special 103 year old friend, wasn’t it?
On Line Friendships
Neither miles nor continents,
Seas nor countries,
Cities nor villages,
Streets nor homes,
Can break a friendship bound by
Caring and sharing,
Joy and hope,
Good will and kindness,
Thoughtfulness
and above all
Gratitude.
By Diana Jackson
Thanks so much Pat!
I’ve just downloaded your book and look forward to it.
~~~~~~~~~~
I’m thankful to have such thoughtful and caring followers over the internet, like Diana, that have developed into friendships over the years. We are worlds apart; yet, our lives are connected in similar ways living and working through the same daily events . . . loving, laughing, listening and supporting one another.
Thank you, Diana, you helped bring me back stirring the juices to reboot up my site and begin writing again.
I’m reposting this from some 7 years ago now and the message still rings true on this eve of the Christ child’s birth. May you all have a blessed and loving Christmas.
The night is dark and there’s a silent hush. A candle shines calling out to the heavens from here on Earth.
The light flickers with diminished promises of Hope for mankind as it looks now to the stars this Christmas for the magic of love, peace and kindness for one and all.
It doesn’t understand the turmoil. There has been unrest, despair and hate in the past but this is different. “Where is mankind?” the candle asks, “Is he in trouble?“
As it searches the depths of the oceans and mountain peaks, there are scars and pollution.
As it searches the sky, there is clutter of metal space stations and confusion of air waves.
As it searches the Holy Lands, there is the threat of war and nuclear holocaust.
As it searches the deserts, there are hideouts and weapons, casinos and golf courses.
As it looks to the children, they are in harm’s way.
“I see signs of him everywhere of what he’s been doing but somehow feel he has forgotten and lost his way” says the candle.
Christmas Star Photo from MSN Clipart
Suddenly, a star appears in the heavens shining bright as it did over 2000 years ago for the birth of Christ. It glows again with warmth and brilliance and seems to send a beam in the direction of the candle.
“Be of comfort” it says to the candle “mankind is WAKING up! Its loving presence is not found on stages or in bright lights but can be found in the quiet corners of a small apartment, around a kitchen table or in prayerful, quiet places of slumber as it drifts off to sleep.“
“Don’t give up, even in the midst of chaos and unrest, there have been many acts of kindness appearing – now more than ever.”
Though small in comparison, the candle notices evidence of mankind reaching out to one another with help in time of need gaining momentum through love and comfort. It’s happening in our neighborhoods, homes, in our country and the world. The changes are beginning to appear.
Mankind is poised to realize and experience an AWAKENING like never before! It’s time and we’re ready for love instead of pain, joy instead of despair, comfort instead of rejection and prosperity instead of destruction.
I feel HOPE again this Christmas and the coming New Year for beloved family, friends, myself and everyone from the testimonies of love that have poured out this year for those who’ve experienced great loss from fires, hurricanes and precious loved ones in harm’s way from war and shootings.
May God bless all of you this Christmas and Hanukkah and rejoice in the New 2013 Year! May you and all mankind experience the evidence of AWAKENING with renewed hope, love and peace!
We dream, and dream some more, saying to ourselves, “One of these days.” Most of the time, we never get around to seeing it happen. Well, I’ve done a lot of dreaming, too, over the years; but, this time, my “one of these days” came true. I got back home on a long-awaited trip.
If you read my last post, “One of These Days”, I talk about taking a trip back home that I’ve longed for, like this, for many years. The moment came when family circumstances made me decide I had to go for it. It’s been 15 years plus since I’ve been home and I don’t know that I’ll have another 15-20 years like this to go back again. My family typically doesn’t come west to visit – very often – hardly ever.
My aunt, now 92, got sick and depressed this spring with the sudden death of her youngest daughter in January and her health appeared to be going downhill. Something in me said, “It’s time” and I felt that if I didn’t make this trip, I may never see her nor any of my family again. We all aren’t getting any younger and I always wanted to get back, not only to see family, but to pay tribute to loved ones no longer alive who gave me life and purpose – my way of saying goodbye as a type of closure, coming full circle, in paying respect.
So, I answered the call of this particularly strong inner pull to go back home in these pressing family times. This is the beginning of my adventures, reflections and how it all came together – miraculously!
Answering The Call
Hubby and I had always dreamed of taking a road trip from Colorado back to my home, on the east coast of Philadelphia, Maryland (where my aunt lives) and Virginia; taking our time, connecting with family and revisiting places where we first met, fell in love and got married. Over the years, we kept telling my aunt we both were going to make it back some day but it never seemed to happen. I’ve been back a number of times but she hadn’t seen hubby since we first left to go west in 1969 (50 years ago) but the money was never there for us to go.
The same was true this time in that the money wasn’t there but there was an urgency with my aunt’s health. Something in me knew I had to find a way to get back. I wanted to see her as I have for years. She is the only living relative connected to my parents and those of my childhood and I longed to spend one last time with her.
With that intention to find a way, I started looking for jobs online and applied to an opening at our rural post office. I was surprised to get a call for an interview, though in my ‘70’s, and was encouraged that maybe this was the answer to make money for my trip. I had no doubt I could do the job in this small mountain, one-man, non-techy U.S. Post Office operation. I could create and manage e-mails, Excel spreadsheets, service customers, calculate package weights, compute shipping charges on a computer and run a cash register. Hah, how hard could that be—all by myself!? It was a small post office, right?
I don’t think I was a particularly appealing candidate, as I had no long-term employment ambitions, and was also requesting 2 or 3 weeks’ vacation within 6-months. I wanted to be completely transparent with this Federal institution that my main goal was to first make enough money for an important trip with the intention to stay on the job afterwards. If hired, they said the most vacation time they could give me was 2 weeks. I was okay with that with the hope I could make enough for hubby and I to finally make this road trip together.
Little did I know that the universe was intervening and that there would be other ways for money to come. There was never any response on the job after my interview nor from any of my numerous follow-up calls; and, it wasn’t until after my trip that I got an email that the position had been cancelled. Presumably, they hired from within.
Even though I had no response on the job, I still held onto there had to be a way for this trip to happen and, then, the money began to come in – in bits and pieces, over the spring and summer. We got an electric company refund check amounting to more than we had ever received, my daughters and a friend gave me trip money on Mother’s Day and my birthday and I got a large order for the last of my pinecone fire-starters.
It ended up, getting back I would travel solo, again, with just enough money for my flight, rent a car and some extra for expenses. I booked my trip for a week and was waiting for the day when I would finally be launched on my long awaited trip back home, now last month, September, with my return on the 11th, the infamous 9-11.
It wasn’t exactly how I had hoped for over the years, with hubby, on our leisurely road trip back home; but, the universe was pulling and telling me now was the time. I answered the call and sensed there would be more to this trip than I had initially imagined. I was on a type of pilgrimage to the divinity within and, along with connecting with family and paying tribute, I was looking to meet some goals I set for myself. Namely, find my voice, face some fears, come full circle with love and gratitude and meet my transformed self.
I had changed over the years, since I last spent some significant time with my family; of course, there are the physical changes, but spiritually, mentally, philosophically and politically as well. I wasn’t quite sure how that would be received and perceived and was curious as to how much they had changed, too.
Isn’t it curious how friends, even only acquaintances, seem to know us more than our own blood relatives? I suppose it’s because they’re the ones that are there when we have those goofy, unpredictable moments.
I think we all grow in mind and spirit, as life edges us along, and I was looking forward to spending some quality time and learning, in depth, what had been going on in their lives. More than idle chitchat, drapery talk and the weather, I felt the need to be open to whatever events unfolded, late-night talks with heart-to-heart love and kindness, whenever – however.
They say you can never go back home – it will never be like you imagined
There’s a lot of truth to that. Things can never be like we remembered and I understood that from the beginning. Plus, pushing 20 years is a long time since I was back and my old homestead had been sold years before, bulldozed and rebuilt to someone else’s new beautiful home. Highways had been rerouted, old landmarks changed and new businesses replaced old ones; but, nevertheless, I wanted to see how memory would serve me and what still held energies of the past. I was alone on this adventure and open to whatever unfolded.
From Philly airport before heading onto my sister’s, I wanted to check in on an old classmate, Bill, remembering where he lived, just a short jaunt from my old neighborhood where I grew up as a child. His wife, Julie – also a classmate, had died a number of years ago and he lived alone in their home. We had kept in touch on Facebook and I tried to contact him about my trip to let him know I was coming back, along with calling an old number. But, I never heard back. I even tried one of his Facebook relatives but never heard back from them either. So, next best thing was to pop in and try to see him in person.
Julie and Bill – Senior High School Yearbook Photos 1965
It’s pretty daunting in this stage of my life and, especially at the beginning of a memorable trip, to find out from neighbors that Bill had died a year ago. I lost a few childhood friends and classmates over the years, Viet Nam, accidents, health; but, it never gets any easier when you hear those words that someone you love had died and I’m standing in front of their old, empty house.
So many memories we had, as friends growing up, especially middle school and high school. Julie and Bill were always destined to be together. They were never apart. I remember one year, when I came back for a visit, they both took me to our old middle school that had been turned into an Administration Building.
We were allowed to go through the old halls and downstairs, in that creaky old building, with them trying to get me to remember this classroom, that teacher (when we staged a sit-down protest in the hall in front of the Biology lab because of the smell), the tunnel through the boiler room to the cafeteria and onto the girls and boys locker rooms recapturing those moments of long ago.
I could remember most things, especially when they said names and told old stories. We were laughing and joking, just like old times, and it felt good to remember old memories with them, right down to the mural on the wall, at the entrance, that Bill said our class painted and is hung there to this day. I never knew about that and he was pretty proud of it. It was a special time back then reliving those times with them.
I love them . . . and now I missed him and whispered a special prayer to him hoping he’s happy back with his beloved Julie. Somehow, while standing there I felt them together again and in love, as they always had been. I said my goodbyes, got in my car and left to take the short ride over to see if I remembered how to get to my old homestead. I was on to see what this trip holds for me next. If this is just the beginning, what else awaits. My heart is full.
There is much more to share with you in the days and months to come as the stories of my trip take shape and come to life. My sister and I did get to see my aunt and spend the night with her after getting lost a number of times. We couldn’t stay longer as Hurricane Dorian was moving up the coast. I visited with nieces, paid tribute at the gravesite of my surrogate grandfather, had a moving and gripping discussion with family and reunited with a cousin I hadn’t seen for more than 55 years, since I was a kid.
And finally, topping it off, with it ending on a return trip, not soon to be forgotten, where I’m sandwiched between two fellow passengers and engaged in talks with them on a 4-hour flight home to Denver on 9-11. Here is a 51-year old successful businessman, I’ve just met, choking up with tears giving me his personal account on 9-11 at ground level telling me, “He doesn’t know what is happening to him . . . he doesn’t do emotions”. You can’t make this stuff up.
One thing I’m reminded of, however, is that there is a greater intelligence in charge no matter how chaotic the world seems and that this greater intelligence has a sweet presence that resides in me and in you.
It’s eye is not only on the sparrow, it knows the number of hairs on our head, the laughter, the pain and our deepest feelings and desires. We carry it around within us and when we connect and align with it for one seemingly unimportant, simple trip (that was much desired by me), it hears and miracles happen and materialize. That’s the wonder and nature of living this beautiful life. It couldn’t have been said any better than by Patanjali, an author of Yoga Sutras from India, many centuries ago:
“When you are inspired by some great purpose, some extraordinary project, all your thoughts break their bonds; Your mind transcends limitations, your consciousness expands in every direction, and you find yourself in a new, great and wonderful world. Dormant forces, faculties and talents become alive, and you discover yourself to be a greater person by far than you ever dreamed yourself to be.”
How many times have I said that over the years . . . “One of these days”? It seems to be a hope and dream for something distant. But lately, in these golden years, time is relevant and it has become more important with meaning and substance. That’s where it has to start.
And it did, the other night, while Hubby and I watched a 2006 Neil Young “Heart of Gold” concert on AXS-TV, when it became evident again. One of his songs resonated for me as one of my “one of these days” moments. It stirred warm feelings of love and family as a calling for home.
I remember, when I was a kid, I would go for a walk at night, out of my neighborhood and up a windy hill. I’d sit down in a remote area behind the elementary school and look out at the Philadelphia Airport. It was quite a distance away, but it looked magical, with all the busy traffic and rotating lights across the sky.
I could hear the distant sounds of the planes coming in and leaving. It was enchanting and I used to dream of going and coming just like that. There was never a particular place in mind – just the adventure of it. Even today, sometimes I’ll catch the sound of a plane off in the distance and that warm feeling will rise up once again in my chest.
Now, this “one of these days” feeling comes with a desire to connect it with something at the other end and not just the adventure. For a long time, I’ve wanted to go back home, visit with family and friends up and down the east coast, from Philadelphia PA, to Delaware, Maryland and Virginia, along with paying tribute at the old grave sites to those who played such a big part in my life. It’s time.
I’m checking, doing my research and putting my feelers out there for opportunities to make it happen. Dreams don’t just fall in your lap but the desire and spark has to begin somewhere with putting my intention out into this big, beautiful world. This is my way of declaring, “I’m ready, universe, for one of these days” . . . and it won’t be long.
What are some of your “one of these days” moments of things you want to do but keep putting it off? I’d love to hear about them.
I got a God wink today – that’s what I call it. For me, it’s a moment that connects me to something out there . . . like more is going on and someone is watching. Not creepy – just a spontaneous thought I had and it appeared – like magic.
It’s so instantaneous, when it happens, it can make you laugh. Which is what happened to me and had to say out loud to myself (and someone invisible), “You saw that?”
Every day lately, I’ve been pulling an affirmation card for a message to set the tone and start my day. It’s from a deck of cards my friend created and gave me a couple weeks ago.
Kim’s Affirmation Cards
Today, I took them out to pull a card and paused asking for
the perfect message I needed to hear for today. Then, I started shuffling them.
As I shuffled, the one at the beginning, pictured above, popped out and flipped over my arm and, as I caught it, I remembered a brief thought, “I wonder if that was my card.” I ignored the thought thinking, just as briefly, “Naaah”, and stuck it back in the deck and continued shuffling.
Then I stopped shuffling, with the cards in both hands, fanned
them out and picked one randomly.
Which one do you
suppose I picked? Hah!! Yes!! It
was the very one that flipped out of the deck earlier when I started to
shuffle. Coincidence – maybe. But, I think I’ll choose to believe otherwise.
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2020 Pat Ruppel
