Two of my favourite bloggers.....

I love reading your comments, my friends. LOVE it. And it is great to see how you feel too. By the way, I never expect everyone to agree with me - differences are what make life interesting, after all. Having said that, though, I love seeing how many of you can identify with what I wrote a couple of days ago about returning to the simple storytelling times. We absolutely CAN poke the embers of the dying flames and rekindle our fires. Voices. You know what I mean. (The words sort of ran away with me there in a fit of enthusiasm.)

Now I want to tell you about some of the bloggers I love, who have continued relating the rhythm of their days. Blogs I can settle down with and feel as if I were sitting across the kitchen table, pushing the piles of ironing out of the way to accommodate the plate packet of biscuits (cookies) while we chat about the ordinary, laugh about the absurd and weep in times of anguish. It happens. This is what community feels like. Size doesn't matter. The warmth and caring does.

I am not going to list them all in one post, or in any order of preference either. Just a couple every now and then, because I want you to go and scroll through their posts and get to know these lovely ladies. Take your time. And just remember to come back here.

First up is a sweet friend in Arizona. Diary of a Stay at Home Mom. Sandra and I have a lot in common. She is from Southern Africa, with a bit of Mozambique, Portugal and South Africa thrown in together. The South African connection is strong. We know what we are talking about. She married her American Air Force husband, and moved to the States. Another connection. We both moved countries. Hemispheres. She is a stay at home Mom. So was I. She loves crafting. So do I. And then she bakes. Good grief, she is an amazing cook! Chef. Baker. The similarities grind to a halt here. I love baking but Sandra is on a different level altogether. I fully intend being a house guest one day and sampling her cooking for myself instead of drooling over the keyboard while looking at her photos. Did I mention that she is also a great photographer?

She is not a saint. Stop worrying. She is just like me, doing her best to be the best she can be, where she is. And she is not afraid to share her ups and downs and homeschooling stories, and dreams and all the rest. I love her to bits. And so will you.

And the other friend I am going to introduce you to today is Chris. His Unfinished Work. Chris, like Sandra, had a small break in blogging, but she is back. And she and I have weathered all sorts of storms together over the years. We are roughly the same age. No, I lie. She is a bit younger than me, but we both have older children and then younger ones as well. Think my oldest and youngest with a 12 year gap. So we know what being a Granny is all about. She and her husband are renovating a house to rent out, and their escapades are hilarious. She works full time and is planting her garden, and she has dreams too, just like me. We have skyped and chatted and laughed till we have cried, and there have been tears too, when she lost her Mom a few years ago. I love her dearly. She is a friend. And that is what this is all about. You will love her too, I know.

You see, just making a few connections where you identify so clearly with the words you read can add so much to your life. It has, to mine. I know I keep saying this, but when Geoff died, I found people to connect with on line when the world around me was asleep. Back then I wrote very little about what I was feeling or thinking or how our world was turned upside down. It was all too new. But there was a human connection at a time when it was absolutely crucial for me to have one. A life line of sorts. I cannot begin to tell you how much of a difference that made to me.

Anyway. Two bloggers who some of you may not know yet. I know some of you already follow them, but a little reminder that they are posting is always good!

It is a foul day today. The sun has gone AWOL again, and I refuse to turn the heating on. Layers. We are all wearing multiple layers. And Diana has made an interesting soup for lunch and has just been out to buy a lovely loaf of bread to go with it. I think the soup is parsnip, bacon and potato. It smells wonderful and I am quite sure will taste divine. I may just take a photo, seeing that the camera is lying idle next to me.

The days are filling up with appointments and telephone appointments to come, and we are planning a visit to David, down south at the sea the week after next as well. He has been on a dig on some big estate. They had to uncover and examine mass graves. Not real ones of course. This is England. But he has had a muddy and wet time dressed in a white CSI type suit which forensic investigators wear in real life. They do not have their long hair swishing about contaminating crime scenes IRL. He loves pointing out all the wrong bits to me.

Photo taken by one of David's friends, Fiona Mak.

I think they all look rather like Casper the Friendly Ghost. 

The soup is amazing. Just so you know.