Last chance to enter my giveaway!

Happy Friday everybody! As I am writing this, I am reflecting on the week gone by and hope that you have all had a good one! Don't forget that this is the last chance to enter my giveaway - I will announce the winner in next Fridays post.  For the early birds who commented first thing last week, You may not have seen this patchwork  and stitchery which I added later as I had forgotten to put it on!

 Don't forget there will be a few other goodies in your parcel too besides what I have already shown. Anyone new?  Have a look at my last post to see what I am giving away!

Hey! Look what arrived in the post! I was lucky enough to win this fabulous giveaway from Aunt Spicy. I will use this gorgeous bag to do my bits and bobs of shopping! Anyone living in Lancashire, watch out for me sporting this lovely little number!

Also in my parcel were these......

Yes! a rather yummy selection of chocolates and a cupcake party pack! Now! You are know what I will be doing ... shopping for ingredients for cupcakes, carrying them home in my nifty shopper ( which says on it , the Sur la table - art of cooking!) and displaying my creations in those lovely festive cupcake cases with a delightful santa or xmas tree sign to top them off! And of course, munching on chocolate too! Thank you so much Aunt Spicy, you are a darling! Please go and visit her, she will always make you welcome and her blog is a delight! Spicy had also included and written this lovely little sweet handmade card which I will keep forever and proudly display here where every one can see it!

 

It was so exciting to recieve this in the post Spicy! You really are so kind! A BIG kiss to you!

The post before last I talked about invisible friends and this post is about invisible people!

As I was walking to the post office to post a parcel full of fairies  (I really don't know why they couldn't fly there! What is the point of having those tiny wings?  It was awfully windy though.  so....)

Anyway, as I was walking I was thinking about when I was a teenager. Yes I can just about remember that long ago, just after the wheel had been invented I think! The teens can be a difficult age for some, or many! My early teens were like that a bit, I hadn't wanted to leave Canada, and then I found it hard to settle in high school.

             This was my town in Canada - Port Mulgrave in Nova Scotia!

As a matter of fact I found school excruciatingly painful - I was shy, I was bullied and became a bit of a loner. I felt unable to confide in my Mum for quite some time, as I felt that as she was a teacher, she would march in there and it would become worse than ever, so I suffered in silence, dreaded school each day and cried myself to sleep at night. I remember saying to myself, that I didn't need anyone.

I think I have said before that as a philosophy I really gel well with buddhism. One of the meditations is that all day you focus on every task to the exclusion of anything else, so lets say I am cutting out a piece of lovely fabric, I must meditate on the task, but also be thankful. Thankful and mindful of all the work and all of the people's lives that have gone into that one piece, the cotton being picked, the factory, the dyes, the designer, etc., You get the drift? Then there are the scissors. Who made them and what materials were used, and how many lives were involved in that process?

 

                                 Hi  ho! Hi ho! Its off to work we go!

All around us, every day, we are affected by other people, invisible people. People, without whom we would not have shoes on our feet, food on the table, a roof over our heads.... in fact we would be sat about with not a lot! Even the seat I am sat on, I couldn't make myself. Oh yes I could sit on a rock, but I wouldn't have my computer to write this blog! We rely on so many invisible people!  The point being of course, that each and every one of us really do need each and every one of us!!! So my teenager me was a bit off the mark really! I try to remember to do this now and then. It is humbling and helps to remind myself how even the most simple thing I own is wrapped up with someone elses lives and history, and to appreciate even the smallest thing, because in actuality every small thing is in fact a big thing! We truly are all connected and without sounding too gushing, we all gaze up at the same moon!

My teenage me, you will be pleased to hear, found a really good friend, who is still my friend  - my soul sister! And on a windy cold day on the hockey field, I mustered up the courage to ask one of my bullies why she did it. She was a little taken aback to say the least and there was a silence for a moment as she studied me (like I was a specimen!). Then she told me, she said it was because I was different! Well, I did have a Canadian accent, was very skinny, little, flat chested, a bit of a dreamer, artisitc and had victim stamped to my forehead!
For a second I felt quite hurt, and then like a light bulb coming on, I thought ... well I am glad then, because if I was like you, I would be a spiteful bully of a person! I had desperately wanted to fit in, and then in a moment saw that maybe it was sometimes good not to! A valuble lesson indeed!

 After that, I started building up a good strong sense of humour, and decided that from then on, if there was something to cry over, I would try to see the bright side instead! On the whole I think I have managed to do that! I have no ill feelings toward the perpetrators, after all they must have had problems themselves to act in such a way. Years later one of them asked me out for a drink. Curious, I agreed, and it turned out that she had felt tormented by her actions for all those years, and asked me to forgive her! my heart just melted! How lovely! Of course I had actually forgiven her years before that! But it was a wonderful and brave thing for her to do!

Now I wonder how much work and how many people it took to make these delightful tins in red and white?

These tins were from Laura Ashley, there is a sale on at the moment. I also got this polka dot oversized mug.... .....

And from Lakeland I got this little lady who is also a money box too! .......

Guess what? I like red!!!! It is such a cheery colour and I find that little splashes of it in my home makes everything brighter and happier looking. Maybe red reminds me of childhood - those lovely red shoes!

What ever the reason is for my liking red, I love it and find myself completely drawn towards it! I also love blue, and if a certain shade of blue gets together with a certain shade of red, I can go into a hypnotic gaze of awe and wonder!  Sad I know, but I get a kind of excited feeling in my tum!  What colour/s are you all drawn to the most?

Thats all for this week! Remember to pop back next week to find out who the winner of my giveaway is!

Until then remember to embrace the little things, and have a wonderful weekend and week to come.

Love and joy to you all, Suzie.  :) xxx