On the move...

Thanks to my fabulous webmaster, I have relocated to my very own little world of sophistication and bubbles. Literally. Come find me at http://www.keepingupwiththeevansjoneses.com ...

I've taken all my old posts with me although there's nothing of particular note at the new 'house' yet. Just add me to your readers and wait with bated breath (or something) for me to re-emerge to the blogosphere...

Beauty in the midst of chaos

Life is starting to calm down. Finally. Just in the last few days, as some big preoccupations have begun to recede, I have begun to rediscover spaces in my mind that I had forgotten existed. I have reconnected with an old friend, albeit it through shared grief. I have started to see some light at the end of the tunnel that has been the last 18 months of craziness. I am starting to feel like me again; I can feel my brain starting to branch back out into the undiscovered, taking all the adventures being offered to it.

I have been so blessed with beauty in the midst of the chaos that has been my mind for the last 18 months. I've found real, true, deep friendships in places I never expected to discover them and am honoured to share my life with such lovely, special people. I have people to look after and people to look after me. I am putting down roots and starting to settle, and with that, I am starting to bring myself back out of the clutter of my mind.

It's nice to be back,

Love, etc.

xx

June's Big Blog Photo Project part 1

We've lived in our little cottage for nearly a year now, and decided it was about time we did something about the garden. So we did.

Lillies

Poppies

Trailing fuschias

There were definite colour schemes in each boarder, but the plants seemed to have slightly different ideas. Apparently that's what they do. Anyway. The next project? Sunflowers and a deck for the BBQ. All because there were two old iron gates in the garden when we moved in. You never can account for my brain.

Love, etc.

xx

Stream of Consciousness part 4

Somehow it's the middle of July. I haven't posted my June photo posts yet. Combination of lack of camera cables and lack of time. So much for making time for the important things. You'd think finishing my course would leave me with all the time in the world, but my summer is rapidly disappearing and my writing is taking over my time. Pre-marketing is a combination of huge incentive to keep going and hugely terrifying. Scared of bad reviews. Scared of lots of things at the moment. Almost certainly directly related to lack of sleep. The curtains in our room are too thin, and waking up at 5.30 each day is starting to not be so fun. Still haven't caught up from Glastonbury either, although the mud has finally all gone. I've never seen so much mud in my life. And never been so proud of my rockstar of a husband - alongside his regular band, his 6 degrees of musical separation is now one, yes just ONE, step removed from Bob Marley. Perks of playing with Junior Marvin. And, I guess, that means my 6 degrees is now two. And all of yours who have played with me? Three. Glad to be of service.

Degrees of separation. That's something that has been playing on my mind recently. Times and seasons of life are constantly changing. When someone told me years ago that friendships are for seasons, I knew that was something that I would never settle to overly easily. I don't like drifting from people. The last 12 months have been hard, but it is nice to come out the other side and discover that those who really matter are still around and that those who aren't are still happy doing their thing.

I'm definitely still happy doing my thing which, for the moment, is enough for me too.

Love, etc.

xx

May's Big Blog Photo Project part 2

I've learnt a few things doing this project, apart from the fact that I appear to have an obsession with food. Namely that I don't have enough time to do everything I would like to do. Ever. But also that if I make time for the things that are important, the things that are necessary are more manageable.

Here's to the important things in life.

Love, etc.

xx

May's Big Blog Photo Project part 1

One of those rare perfect afternoons happened in May. The Drummer peeled me away from my work and dragged me down to the river for some fresh air.

We intended to be out for about half an hour, but three hours and a lockgate later, we'd discovered one of the most beautiful parts of our local world, right on our doorstep, that we didn't even know existed.

However busy life is, you really should stop to take a look around once in a while,

Love, etc.

xx

Stream of Consciousness part 3

I have no idea where time goes. The year is literally flying by at the moment - now it's May and I finish in just over a month. In September, getting to this stage seemed impossible and now I'm here.

Strange.

Some people are being strange at the moment...people who have no place commenting on my life and my choices feel the need to weigh in with their opinion; others whom I'd expect it from are absent.

Some very noticeably absent with poor excuse.

Excuses make me mad (which is ironic, because it seems that PGCE is short for "Sorry, I can't come out again, I have too much work to do) but even so. Some people I thought were here for keeps have gone, which makes me sad, but I have had too much success this year to grieve for them for long - they are missing sharing the good stuff because they aren't around.

The year hasn't really shaped up as I expected, but already May is looking far more like I wanted my first year of marriage to be. Can't believe it's already nearly a year. Planning holidays and spa days and fun days. Graduation. Weddings. Engagements. Maybe even babies but not mine. Not for quite some time.

Time. Always a lack of time.

Blog posts running riot in my brain. Books to write. Books to read before being able to write. Books to read just for fun. For an almost-English teacher I don't read enough. Having a Kindle makes life easier, but life shouldn't always be about easy.

Bible study at our new home-group is focusing on life not always being about the easy. New people were scary at first but now are comfortably routine. God currently has my full attention for two hours on a Tuesday evening and two hours on a Sunday morning. Sunday evening if He's lucky. That should probably read "if I am lucky" I need to work on that.

Lots to work on. In one short month, lots more time to work on it all.

Love, etc.

xx