Words from a time gone by

Joey Jones2 Comments

How do you relax?

It’s possible once upon a time if I had heard the word poetry, I’d be ambivalent or worse if the idea of a dusty ol’ Shakespeare sprang to mind. But if Edward Lear, Spike Milligan or Roald Dahl were mentioned I’d sit up..So maybe I’d always felt something as a younger soul?

The most beautiful Lesuire by W.H. Davies has been on my radar for a very long time, and Emily Dickinson and Sara Teasdale, amongst others certainly stir me.

In the bleak mid winter ( once titled A Christmas Carol) by Christina Rossetti began life as a poem…and then became a Christmas carol. I love this, the words, the music. My favourite to hear at that time of the year. ( In fact, I’ll let you into a secret, I  find myself humming this tune all year found) So haunting.

Christine’s brother Dante Gabriel and the Pre Raphelites have fascinated me for decades along with William Morris, my hero. But I digress.

DP asked what we do to relax…I thumb through endless poetry  books and search sites to feed my appetite for words from a time gone by for poems that resonate. Bliss.

For one day only

Joey Jones4 Comments

If you had to give up one word that you use regularly, what would it be?

We’re bloggers WP, and you want us to give up a word? I’ve been thinking this over, and I cannot think of a thing. Arhh, there you go, you can have thing… but only for today..

More going out than coming in

Joey Jones4 Comments

I’ve got to that interesting stage in my life in many ways amazing. The wisdom that lets itself in is quite something.

I’m sure most of us have heard someone say ‘ knowing what I know now’ in respect to having the ability to go back in time and relive some of those years.

Yeah, if only in hindsight, we could live those lives differently. I may have chosen to be less generous. But hey.

And yet it wouldn’t have brought me to where I am now. And if we’re comfortable in our skins, we can be grateful for those experiences that led us to this point. Can’t we?

Funding our lives is a bit of a challenge, it has to be said…admitted at some stage. If I am going to be transparent and authentic with you.

Patch and his needs cost me the earth. But what he gives me on return is truly priceless.

If push came to shove, I’d sell my soul for him.

Money cannot buy true humbleness. Can it?

Let it go

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Are you holding a grudge? About?

A grudge is something we really do not need to be carrying around with us. Like it’s ally bitterness, it will chew you up and it doesn’t spit you out. It stays and festers, and  only the holder suffers.

It’s not hard to imagine that most people have at one time or another been wronged by another. Slightly or savagely.  It hurts yes, and it will own you unless you take hold and choose to let it go…

UK to India

Joey Jones4 Comments

Share a story about the furthest you’ve ever traveled from home.

London to Chennai 5121 miles.

It was beautiful, in so many ways, and I do have stories to tell. But not today. I’m not feeling it. Instead, a poem called ‘Freedom’…….

Give me the long, straight road before me, 

A clear, cold day with a nipping air, 

Tall, bare trees to run on beside me, 

A heart that is light and free from care. 

Then let me go! – I care not whither 

My feet may lead, for my spirit shall be 

Free as the brook that flows to the river, 

Free as the river that flows to the sea. 

by Oliver Runner..Published in 1918

Quality over quantity

Joey Jones10 Comments

What does your ideal home look like?

Yes, WP. I’m one of the first to complain when you press the repeat tab, but this time, it’s cool with me…and that’s because I can write it differently..with no expense spared..No not the I’ve a private jet and super-yacht expense…Just more than I have.

The location would be on the edge of a market town, so I could walk for retail one way and to the beach the other.

The house ( old school house or chapel) itself is going to be bordering on minimalistic. High-end fittings and fixtures by craftsmen.

Simple blinds and shutters. Linen bed sheets.

There would be one room where beautiful darkness would take over. Rich velvet drapes and squishy sofas. A fireplace with an aesthetically pleasing fitting of some description. Log type? Flames? Don’t  know yet. The screen would not be of obscene proportion, just comfortable.

The family kitchen would feature a six-door Aga. The colour? Maybe turquoise. And a huge rectory table.

Outside, the mostly lawn walled garden would have trees that showed blossom when they’re ready. An oak tree. Some Passion flowers. It would be a heavenly place for zoomies. And at the end would be a small private wooded area for all wildlife to live safely.

And there you have it. Just a peak of a home for us.

A genuine big thanks to my subscribers

Joey Jones8 Comments

7 months ago today I began blogging again on a daily basis. I’ve been with WP for many a moon..but this time I’m in proper.

I sincerely want to thank you..the guys who’ve engaged with me. It means the world.

At this time in my life, I want to open those floodgates that have been tightly closed for a very long time.

The Daily Prompts are allowing me to slowly release years of thoughts, ideas and memories from behind doors and dusty windows in my head …

I’m loving meeting folk from all walks of life with stories to tell.

Thank you for taking the time to stop by my posts each day. . Those of you leaving comments are deeply appreciated… With love joey x

Was it just my imagination.. . 🎶 running away with me?

Joey Jones2 Comments

Here we are at last September! I say ‘ at last’ because in my little mind, it’s been a long time coming.

Yes, you are right, I am the first person to  chime ‘ don’t go wishing your life away’ but there are limits. August has surely been the longest month known to man?

We have had the kind of summer Brits could only dream of. Months upon months of sunshine…hot sunshine.

Having a sun-kissed look was nice. Healthy looking, I’d say. But I got a bit crispy at one stage, and it wasn’t a pretty sight.

I’d always preach that getting enough light was important as well. Too much darkness just invites the gremlins in, carrying bucket loads of depression to leave at the doors of the vulnerable.

And there we have it. Too much of a good thing isn’t the way to go.

I will break some rules and look forward to less light for a while, to drawing the curtains late afternoon and embracing the cold….but I don’t know how long it will last.

The brown bear in the picture? Love him.

https://youtu.be/S13ZLMNQBjc?si=cyFgcosBKTZgJPJM

Tears and Joy

Joey Jones9 Comments

What brings a tear of joy to your eye?

A double-whammy for me with this DP. Thank you WP. Patch, Patches, The Patches, Himself, His Nibs. Bless his little heart, he brings me joy and has in the past brought me to tears – proper go to the hospital and get stitched up kinda tears.

He was advertised on a charity Rescue site as a ‘small dog’. The younger version of him was more lithe, and his head is definitely Jack Russell, so from his pic I thought maybe he was crossed with one of those long-legged JR’s.

I went to meet him and was quite taken back by his size ( turns out he is a JR/Beagle cross..hence as he has aged he has become very thick set) I’d really wanted a smaller dog this time, but of course, having set eyes on him, my heart was taken. He was mine.

The charity had an animal behaviourist ( what a joke and certainly another story there!) and Patch had come through as an unwanted dog from one of his private clients.

On the day Patch arrived, the  behavourist talked a lot and said nothing. Everything I tried to say or ask something, he shut me down.

It was early evening on our first day together. All seemed well. I was in the kitchen at the sink. Patch was as far as I know just milling around. Then there was a little nudge at the back of my knee. ‘ Aww’ I thought. ‘ How cute, he loves me already’.

Wrong! I turned with a smile and warmth in my heart only to be confronted by a very angry dog. Whoa! I grabbed a nearby hand towell and pretty much fed that to him until he backed down. Great!

That was the first of many tantrums. Some more serious than others..and I can tell you something- his teeth were sharp, he didn’t let go…and it hurt.

I’m his 4th mom and he’s been with me getting on for 5 years and only now do I feel his anger and upset with the world has abated…