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A Modern Memory Box

By Happiness & Joy, History, Technology, Thinking2 Comments

A few years ago I wrote about Memories explaining that I keep a shoe box of trinkets (birthday cards, christmas cards, valentines cards, gig ticket stubs, letters, the odd photo, etc.) for every year that passes. These Memory Boxes ended up in the attic because there was so many of them and they were taking up to much space. Up in the attic I forgot about them, until recently when I went up into the attic for something else and I saw them. I realised I don’t look at them as often because of the number of boxes and number of items in the boxes, but then I had an idea…

I bought a scanner and painstakingly scanned every item onto my iMac. Then I set up a screen saver:

In the end I scanned in over nine hundred items, but it was worth the time and energy invested. Now every time my iMac goes into screen saver mode I see the wonderful letters, cards, ticket subs, etc. and my memory is triggered transporting me into the past – usually to a time filled with happiness and joy. My iMac has become my Modern Memory Box, which I hope to add to often.

Write soon,

Antony



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Monday 3 December 2012

A Special Robe

By Friends & Family, Paganism, Thinking2 Comments

Sometime after the death of my young brother Alex (see My Darling Baby Brother), all of his siblings got a small amount of money from his estate to buy something to remember him. I thought about what to buy for months, months and months. I thought about a tattoo, he liked tattoos but it isn’t really my sort of thing. I thought about a nice ring, but then I don’t really wear jewellery.

With Samhain (see Pagan Festivals to learn more about Samhain) a few months away, I pulled out my ritual robe to air it out. Simon & Chrys created it for me in what was once a stunning white, but ritual after ritual had left it covered in oil stains and looking rather drap. So I decided to have a look and see how much it would cost to buy a new one.

The more I thought about Alex and what to do with his remembrance money, I realised that since his death I only thought of him on that hospital trolly cold and blue. That’s not who Alex was; he was a live wire – full of life. So I thought to myself: When do I feel full of energy and life?

The answer instantly popped into my head like a lightbulb being switched on, when I do ritual. There’s something about feeling the energy of the group swirling around in a vortex (before it’s released into the Universe) and feeling interconnected to everyone and everything that makes me feel energised and so alive. So I decided to use the remembrance money to buy a new ritual robe. I found The Pointy Hat a pagan woman in the US who creates stunning robes. Here’s the new robe:



Navy mid-weight cotton ritual robe, hung up.
(Click on the photo for full size image.)



A closer look: The hemming around the lined hood and clasp.
(Click on the photo for full size image.)



Me in the ritual robe, cord tucked into a hidden side seam pocket to stop the cats from thinking it’s a toy.
(Click on the photo for full size image.)

It’s beautiful, comfy and warm. Now every time that I do ritual and feel truly alive, I think of Alex my younger brother who left us far too soon.

Take care,

Antony

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Thursday 15 November 2012

Samhain 2012

By Friends & Family, Happiness & Joy, PaganismNo Comments

This year Samhain was a two day event! It started on Tuesday (30th) night when Sye and I carved pumpkins (for how to carve pumpkins see Making a pumpkin lantern for Samhain). Here’a our finished pumpkins:



Left: Jill – looking shocked (mine),
Right: Jacko Sye’s piece of artwork.
(Click on image for full size.)

Sye & I also used the pumpkin insides to make some Pumpkin Cookies after I found a recipe on the Facebook of Pagan Magic, here’s a photo of the cookies:



They look fantastic and were so delicious.
(Click on image for full size.)

Sye & I had a cookie (or two), a brew (or Milk in Sye’s case) and I wished him happy Samhain as by the time we’d finished it was the early hours of the morning.

In the evening of Samhain (31st) I went round to do ritual with Jayne & Joan. We wrote letters to ancestors which was a brilliant idea of Jayne’s that I have never thought of doing. Then we burned the letters to release the messages into the cosmos in Jayne’s fire pit:



The Fire Pit lit, despite the rain.
We even had some green flames,
I’ve only ever seen them on Samhain.
(Click on image for full size.)



Me tending to the fire in my ritual robe.
(Click on image for full size.)

By the fire we discussed what we were thankful for over the last twelve months; we also burnt slips of paper with things we wanted to banish over the next twelve months. To finish the ritual we went inside, relaxed and asked any spirits that wish to communicate with us to do so. I didn’t get any spirit communication unless you count the cat that uncharacteristically came up to me and started purring.

That’s how I celebrated Samhain.

Write soon,

Antony

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Sunday 4 November 2012

Sye’s Summer Stay

By Friends & Family, Home2 Comments

My good friend Sye was back from Uni for the Summer and needed a place to crash; I happened to have a spare room so he came to stay. His creativity and motivation seemed to rub off onto me as I got on top of the housework and even started putting together my ‘Loved Ones’ Wall.

The ‘Loved Ones’ Wall is in my hallway and the concept is to buy one photo frame a month, fill it with a photo of good times with someone who I love be it family or friends. When complete it should be a wall of mismatched photo frames that come together show the people I love, their personality and diversity reflected in the different photo frames. It’s an idea I’ve had and been saying I’ll get round to starting for two years. Sye helped me decide the positioning of the first few photo frames, did the manly, butch job of hammering the nails and slamming the doors to makes sure that they were secure enough on the Wall. Here is the work in progress:



(Click on image for full size photo.)

Now before I get loads of comments saying: “Hey, I’m not on the Wall…” Please bare in mind that I’ve only just started this and that I’ll be added too it every month.

Sye’s been a great support while I’ve had problems with my waterworks. No, I didn’t mean those waterworks…I mean’t that my bath had been leaking. The cost of the plumber to fix the water leak has been covered by me, but luckily the cost of replacing two damaged floors and a wall is covered by my buildings insurance.

Without a doubt the best thing about having Sye to stay has been being able to share experiences of day-to-day life. Talking about our successes and celebrating them with cake, discussing anything that wasn’t a success and learning from the experience. I miss being able to come home and exchange stories about the day. The cats listen but to be honest don’t seem that interested – sometimes they even yawn before falling asleep.

So I’d like to thank Sye for his stay over the Summer, he’s probably helped me out as much – if not more than I was helping him out.

Take Care,

Antony

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Wednesday 17 October 2012
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