Reading is Power

    It's 'World Book Day' in the UK, Thursday 7 March. A day for readers, authors, illustrators, editors, publishers and all things in the writing world to celebrate stories.

    www.worldbookday.com is a charity whose mission is to give every child and young person a book of their own and their website has fantastic ideas as to how to get kids involved in this celebration. From readathons, designing a National Book Token, to being a guest of the BBC for a WBD live lesson and all  school children will be also given a book token.

    One other activity is for children to dress-up as a favourite character from a book, which I am all for. However, there is one thing that is getting on my nerves and please forgive me while I explain myself.

    The fact is that lots of supermarkets and various online retailers are now selling an abundance of costumes for adults and children alike to wear on this day. What do I have against this? Well, the problem I have with this is that there are so many children living in poverty all over the world, many of whom will never be told stories, or own a book. The retail price of some of these outfits are from £15.00 upwards. Hell, that could go a long way to providing reading, and writing materials for children in many classrooms. As well as filling little empty bellies in a time when we have seen a rise in food banks in the western world.

    Making costumes is fun, seriously, recycle old clothing, get out the bin bags and duct tape. Forget lining the coffers of the retailers, remember some of these outfits on sale will be made in conditions we could never imagine. #FairTrade

    This day isn't about making profit, it is a yearly event organised by UNESCO to promote reading, publishing and copyright. We're now in danger of forgetting what the whole day is about, as is happening with Easter and Christmas, commercialisation is taking over.

     World Book Day is all about demonstrating that #Readingispower.

A World So Fair

 

I will soon walk among the trees

Listen to the songful birds and the buzz of the busy bees

Stroll along the meandering path, edged with a variety of flowers, orange and white in hue

Where I might end up I haven't got a clue

I'll appreciate nature's beauty with every step I take

Dazzled by the Spring sunshine, sparkling like diamonds on the surface of the lake

I'll fulfil a longing to take a deep breath and fill my lungs with fresh air

And be thankful that I live in this world so fair 

     Christina Rowell

The Power of Storytelling

 

    Friday past, it was time for me to visit hospital once again. Seven weeks have passed since I fractured my ankle and I had no idea what was in store, meaning I was rather anxious.

    Initially, on my arrival I was sent for a couple of x-rays. They would give the consultant all the information she needed to hopefully set me free of my cast.

    The orthopaedic clinic, waiting-room was jam-packed with  people of all ages, from schoolboys to great-grandparents. Their injuries varied from fractured ankles, legs, wrists, spines and ruptured knees.

   Long waiting times at these out-patient clinics are to be expected and the strangers you find yourself sitting beside, or opposite can easily become short-term acquaintances.

    Friday was no different and a chap fitted with a back brace was the first to break the uncomfortable silence. For the next two hours stories were exchanged of how injuries occurred. Some of the stories were on the tall side and laughs were raised. Others, were possibly too graphic and gasps of astonishment reverberated around the room.

    The thing that was clearly obvious was that the power of storytelling brings people together, whatever misfortune they are faced with.


P.S.

Cast off and this boot is made for walking! Yippee!

Snow Moon

    Tomorrow, February 19, many of our skies will be lit up by a full moon (snow). I'm featuring a poem today by New Englander poet, James Russell Lowell, because his words conjure up instantly a picture in my head of me sitting alone, looking up into a starry sky, dominated by a full moon.

Moonlight

The moon shines white and silent

On the mist, which, like a tide

Of some enchanted ocean

Over the wide marsh doth glide

Spreading its ghost-like billows

Silently far and wide

A vague and starry magic

Make all things mysteries

And lures the earth's dumb spirit

Up to the longing skies

I seem to hear dim whispers

And tremulous replies

The fireflies over the meadow

In pulses come and go

The elm-tree's heavy shadow

Weighs on the grass below

And faintly from the distance

The dreaming cock doth crow

All things look strange and mystic

The very bushes swell

And take wild shapes and motions

As if beneath a spell

They seem not the same lilacs

From childhood known so well

The snow of deepest silence

Over everything doth fall

So beautiful and quiet

And yet  so like a pall

As if all life were ended

And rest were come to all

O wild and wondrous midnight

There is a might in thee

To make the charmed body

Almost like spirit be

And give it some faint glimpses

Of immortality

James Russell Lowell 1819-1891

 

The Diminishing Bug

     

 
    Insects, love them, or hate them, are important to the world we live in. An analysis found that 40% of the insect world are decreasing and many are now endangered.

  
    Butterfly numbers for example have shrunk by 58% in England and the buzzing bumblebee has literally buzzed off, their population halving in areas of the US in the last 64 years. Changing how we farm, grow our food and even keep our gardens impacts these necessary creatures.

  
    In the last week, after a short illness a former neighbour and friend of mine sadly passed away and I could not help but think of her when I read about this global tragedy.

    Her garden was a haven for the insect world. She thought through every year before planting her flowers and shrubs. Not only thinking about the design, but the effect of replacing, and replanting would have on the bug population and soil condition of her beloved garden.

  
    We all need to take responsibility for the world we live in because it's not someone else's problem it's a problem shared by each and everyone of us.


https://devilslayingamongstotherthings.blogspot.com/2015/03/mariposa.html

Stirring Thoughts

    I watched a movie yesterday. In fact it was one of several. Okay, movies are my guilty pleasure since becoming a bed potato.  The title of the film is totally irrelevant and to be honest it's not a movie I'm liable to recommend, write a rave review about, or even remember about next week.

    However, what I did like about it was the underlying message, that I took from it. The message being that sometimes after  being with someone for a long number of years we actually forget why we got together in the first place.

    So as St Valentines day is approaching fast, here is one of my poems that reminds me of why I'm with my significant other.

      Weekend hugs to you all. xx

Today and Forever

I feel your touch and my skin burns

Filling me with excitement and delight

Your lips upon mine send tingling through my body

Like nothing I have ever felt before

The love you and I express, I know is real

A love that we can share today and forever




Christina Rowell

Gong Hei Fat Choy!

    The year that has already begun on January 1st, I've decided as it didn't start too well for me it was just a preliminary for the year that is beginning tomorrow. That means the bit of bad luck that I encountered four weeks ago is last years news.

    It is both the start of a new lunar year and more importantly for 20% of the World's population, Tuesday, February the 5th is the start of a brand new year.

    Each year of the Chinese calendar is symbolised by an animal and this year it is the year of the pig an animal which has a fabulous personality and is blessed with good fortune in its life. Coincidentally, or not  I was desperately needing something to attract my partners attention when I'm in need of help and the little guy pictured above is what hubby brought home from the supermarket the other day.

    I just squeeze his little pink squidgy body and he lets out a great big honk. (The pig I mean and not my husband.) Confined to sitting on my butt all day means I need lots of help and of course sustenance. Although I think I will give the dumplings which is traditional for the Chinese to consume in abundance at this time of year. Otherwise, I'll be rolling around rather than hopping.

    Have a fabulous week guys and a Happy New Year, Gong hei fat choy!