When I saw the week's parcel colours of red, black and white, I looked out for embellishments that would go with that colourway, and loved this 3-D decoupage set. This week back in May was an important one as it was then that whilst waiting for the counselling to restart that I heard by chance Julie Chimes’s interview on Radio 2 with Jeremy Vine.
I was returning from Malvern (from a quilting show) and ordinarily I would not have been listening to the radio at that time in the day, but I used to live in Malvern during a bad, abusive time in my life and I try to return there for other reasons to detach the emotions from the location as the area is too beautiful in itself to avoid and give into the past. Each visit isn’t without some anxiety though, although the amount does decrease with good experiences.
Julie Chimes is a survivor of a fearsome knife attack which left her near-death. She recovered (no mean feat in itself) but more importantly she forgave her attacker and now spends her time promoting forgiveness and compassion, using her experiences to illustrate recovery and well-being. There is a saying that when the pupil is ready, a teacher will come. I wasn’t quite there at the time but was ready to listen to Julie’s words and remember, for a time to come.
The interview was a definite turning-point on my journey and this page reflects and celebrates this new path found. Julie wrote a book on her experiences, which I would recommend to read, particularly for its life-affirming qualities and the letters she composed in her mind as she recovered - "A Stranger in Paradise".
Credits:
Striped paper, cream paper, Girl on books, "new heights" tag, flowers and frame - Crafthouse Press, Santoro's Gorjuss 3-D Die-cut Decoupage
Pale green paper scrap - from my stash
Black pen - Sakura
My son through the ages of 0, 1, 1.5, 4, 5, about 7 and at 13
Whilst we were in London, there was an art project on called "The London Elephant Parade". There were 260 painted elephants "celebrat[ing] the beauty of the magnificent Asian elephant" - according to its website http://www.elephantfamily.org/how-can-you-help/events/elephant-parade-london-2010/ The elephants were in "parks, squares and [the] streets of central London... the biggest and most beautiful outdoor art event the city has ever seen... from May to June." The website said that the parade auction afterwards raised over £4 million. On our travels we spotted a few of them, so, in keeping with "from a different perspective", rather than including maps or photos of places we visited, I've mapped the travels by the elephants I photographed. The map placings of the elephants aren't necessarily correct but they were placed where they looked right, although the Natural History Museum one and the Covent Garden ellies are roughly right. The map and banner are from the website.
This week's theme was "A Different Perspective". It was also the end of the week that my son turned 13, and as it was his school half-term holidays, we went to London for a few days. We went to the Natural History Museum, The Tower of London (Tower Bridge being nearby), Covent Garden, the Ambassador Theatre to see "Stomp", and on the last day I went to the V&A, whilst hubby and son went back around parts missing at the Natural History Museum. We had an experience at the hotel - note to self: London's 4* is about everywhere else's 3* - but the trips out and walking around made up for that. We didn't actually drive there, so no road trip as such - we "let the train take the strain" - but we did go in a London Black Cab from Euston to Kensington (via Baker Street and Park Lane - a veritable Monopoly Board journey).
Again this is a thought I blogged in May, so it's illustrated here, using week 22's supplies.
