A Blog of Sorts... New post 11/1

[Ish Ka Bibl]

Here's a post for your Nat,

[NavyGal]

Hahahaha ISH!!!!! What did you think?

[jedi_master_gimpy]

Mmmm! Tasty looking!

[Amidala Skywalker]

Nice post! I don't know how I missed it. Now you make me want to try some of that delicious-looking Finnish food...I've never had Finnish. I love trying foods from other countries.

 

As for cooking, I can cook, in terms of following a recipe. But like Gimpy, I'm much better at baking. I love to bake. I make cookies, brownies, cakes, bar cookies, cupcakes, muffins, breads, etc. I also make these great chocolate-and-carmel covered apples at Christmas time every year. I roll them in caramel, then chocolate, then a variety of toppings. Some I roll in chocolate chips, some in OREO cookies crumbs, mini M&Ms, coconut, etc. I've tried a whole bunch of toppings. I put them on a stick and they are sooo delicious! That's my favorite thing to make.

 

Overall, though, I enjoy cooking. I just don't do it that often.

 

*waves at Ish* Hey!!! Long time no see!!

[NavyGal]

Friends Make the Moments

 

There are moments in life where you go places, do things and meet people that have an incredible and lasting impact on your life. These moments are the moments that make life worth living. If you ever need to question the validity of life these are the moments that provide the answer.

 

My exchange year was the combination of all of these factors into amazing moments which put together created a single year long amazing moment. And the friends I made there are friends I will keep for life.

 

I may not get to see these friends often or at all. Or even get to speak to them often but when I do it never fails to brighten my day. To hear their voices as we laugh over things we remember from when we were together and make new moments to remember. And when we do get to see each other even if it is for the briefest period of time it's like we were never apart. And in half an hour it can feel like we have been talking for a year. Through shared experiences we have forged a bond that isn't broken despite the fact that we are all over the world. Whether it be Australia, New Zealand, Canada, France, Finland, or any other country we are all connected by ties that bind.

 

As for friends from high school, while it is true many people lose contact with the people they went to school with. But for a lucky few they manage to keep in contact with their friends. And if you manage to keep in contact beyond high school you can guarantee what you have is more than just a playground friendship and that you have loyal friends who will be there for you when you need them.

 

There are other friends I have made as well over the years. Some in the most unlikely of places. I have made friends on the opposite side of the world or country that I have never met or only met a few times by using the internet but these friendships are just as important. You never know when you will get the opportunity to meet one of these people and find they are like a twin but born and raised on the other side of the world.

 

The other place I have forged friendships that have lasted beyond the bounds of their original locality is in cadets. Common interest, common activity's and a growing of ones self in ways that challenge you to do the best and be the best you can be. Again friends that last and defy convention despite location.

 

So this is for you my friends. Wherever you are and however we have met. THANK YOU, for making my life worth living and creating the moments in time that give me the answer to the question when it isn't the number 42.

 

Sylvia, Sanni, Henna, Svenja, Veera, Salla, Mim, Joey, Jem, Natz, Elly, Martyn, Ellen, Robyn, Brandon, Courtney, Ashley, Travis, Beth, Amy, Niamh, Koit and the many many others I have undoubtedly forgotten. You make life worth living. And I thank you for it.

 

~~~

 

Hope you enjoyed!

[Ryoo Jaxxon]

Nat, that really made my day this morning. I'm tired, sick, and want to be done with classes... and it was 8am on a Monday morning. Nothing brightens your mood than friends. And we'll meet some day, don't worry

[Amidala Skywalker]

Awww....that is so sweet. Friendships are so amazing...humans really were made for close connections with each other. You certainly got me thinking about all of my friends, nearby and on the other side of the world.

 

BTW....the first sentence of your 4th paragraph is a fragment.

[Skye Organa]

Just got caught up on all your posts Nat ...

 

*raises hand* I'm guilty when it comes to books too - I have so many books that I can't count them all. I have boxes stored in the back of an old ice-cream truck!

 

*raises hand again* I'm also a klutz ... big time. If there isn't something to trip over... I'll trip over my own feet! Banging into things, colliding with door jams/cupboards/etc etc ... just part of the day...

 

When it comes to friendships ... I have many friends all over the place including online. Be them online or 'in person' I am glad to have met them all the same.

 

oh Nat.. btw, what we chatted about the other night about influences... yes I would agree that your writing reflects TWTWB

[NavyGal]

It's been a while but here is a new post.

 

I wrote this one on a train on New Years Day.

 

~~~~

 

If there is one poem I adore unreservedly it would be My Country by Dorothea Mackellar. It is a poem that epitomises Australia at its best and worst and my love for it. Many people only know one verse of this poem but it has become probably the best known piece of Australian poetry apart from The Man From Snowy River by A.B.Patterson also known as Banjo Patterson.

 

And as I travel on this train from Sydney to Wagga Wagga on the first day of 2011 I am reminded about what makes Australia what it is.

 

The fields flash past rolling over the hills. They are green and golden all at once. Scrubby brush and grasses cover some whilst trees dot others. Bales of hay are rolled and spread over fields- waiting to be covered perhaps and taken to a shed. Sheep and cows graze in the fields. The sheep run awat from the train line across the field as the train passes. A foreign entity in their existance.

 

Some trees are little more than skeletons of a former life. Bare branches and trunks. Perhaps they were victim to fire or simply ceased as they were with their bare branches reaching out and up like gnarled fingers.

 

I look a bit closer out the window and I see the wire fence which withstands nature though with the help of the farmer and marks the edge of a field. Closer still and yellow wildflowers, small and bright grow across the ground and along edges of tracks in bunches.

 

The bank rises away from the tracks the earth a bright shade of something akin to the colour yellow or orange made so by the sandstone and clay whilst other areas are bright ochre.

 

A stand of trees all vibrant shades of green gives way to more fields. Dams created by those who farm the land stand full of water given by recent rains.

 

Telegraph poles with wires swooping between them mark the path of the railway.

 

A rail crossing barrier, arm down and bells sounding flashes by in the blink of an eye; and as this passes me by I see what makes Australia. And I feel insignificant.

[Amidala Skywalker]

Awww, so nice. I'd love to go to Australia.

 

But actually, your description sounds a lot like here, in the height of summer...ahh, I wish it was summer again. In winter everything is so barren. *sigh*

 

Nice descriptions, Nat.

[The Jedi Master]

Very nice imagery; with the richness of the language from the third paragraph to the end I would say it qualifies as a prose poem.

[NavyGal]

Thanks guys!

 

Ami I suspect it was only as colourful as it was because of the rain and flooding that they have had through some of those areas more recently.

 

Glad you both enjoyed it.

 

Oh and I actually wrote that out with pen and paper originally which isn't something I do often at all unless its poetry.