Hello Coddiwomplers!
How are you doing? I hope July treated you well. It was a month of changes for all of us, which can sometimes leave us feeling unsettled and apprehensive of what the future might bring.
Here’s a tip for you if you feel overwhelmed by outside influences or someone’s negative energy that I learned a few years back and works well:
Imagine yourself inside a clear, crystal pyramid encasing you from head to toe. It’s your protective bubble preventing you from absorbing any outside stresses.
Give it a go, it may work for you or it may not be your thing, but it’s worth a try!
I’m sure I’m not the only one happy to see the return of some summer sunshine over the past few days. Maybe our summertime was affected by the Microsoft outage the other week and it just needed a Ctrl-Alt-Delete reset! Let’s hope it’s here to stay for a while longer, eh?
We didn’t go away last month, but we did enjoy some fun days out and an overnight camping stay by the sea down at Winchelsea for one of the recent hot, sticky nights, which coincided with the anniversary of when Dad departed this world 12 years ago. Some years the day passes easily and some years I find it more difficult. This was one of those years, but it’s all part and parcel of Life After Loss and it’s a case of just going with the flow knowing that this too shall pass. Therefore I always like to do something nice on that day and a trip to the beach was perfect. There’s also something very special about waking up to the sounds of the sea and wildlife going about its daily life.
Time at home has given me time to play around with some different painting and drawing techniques and I’ve been having some fun with pen & wash in my sketchbook, plus I created a “proper” painting of a Puffin. What do you think of this different style? I always value your opinions.
Puffins always remind me of my Mum, they were her favourite bird and I see them all over the place sometimes in the most unexpected ways. For instance, a customer came into the shop at Pashley last week and made a payment with her phone…her phone screensaver was a photo she’d taken of a Puffin on a trip to Skomer Island! Evidently they are meant to represent playfulness, creativity and joy and embody mental agility, quick thinking and adaptability.
Not sure what my August prompts will be yet, probably landscape, seascape and some building sketches…
I also published Part 2 of our Epic Northern Coddiwomple of 2024 blog which takes us from Pitlochry, part of the way up the east coast via some spectacular waterfalls and the Black Isle. I invite you to grab a favourite beverage and travel with us here.
I’m currently compiling Part 3, which will take us along the top, most northern coast of the UK where I discovered that Tim lives in a different time zone to me! The beaches are stunning and I can’t wait to share them with you when I can (my blog site is having some technical gremlins!)
My first blog in the series “Choosing the road less travelled” about growing up as an “only” and my decision to be childfree received some wonderful supportive comments and seemed to give other people the confidence to be more open about their decisions. If you missed it, here is the link. As you know, I’m very apprehensive about publishing these, but if they help just one person then I feel I’m doing the right thing. I’ve just finished compiling Part 2 which is about how and when I knew I would never be a Mum, even when I was a child and teenager. Hopefully I’ll get the techy gremlins sorted soon and be able to share that too. Bloomin’ technology!
Well, I think that’s about it for me this month. Next time I will share a 21-day exercise that I’m working through about learning to like and love ourselves more. It centres around negative self-talk and learning to pay ourselves more compliments like we would for other people. It feels very “sticky” at the moment!
In the meantime, I send you lots of love and wish you a fabulous August. Thank you for reading this, I’m always grateful and if you got to the very end, please add the word “Puffin” in the Comments. Any interraction helps with the dreaded algorithms!
Wendy xx
Puffin! Love your authenticity Wendy. I appreciate that you made and stuck to your choice. Not everyone has the strength to do that. Kudos!