Colouring and Writing

Today's post is a live broadcast of sorts - I'm sitting at my desk with a glass of Pimms and lemonade (the true taste of summer!) and my art book is open, and I've started a mandala. So I will be writing thoughts and colouring my mandala in between.

The weather has been hot today. Now I know it's a terribly boring British thing to talk about the weather, but honestly it's a big part of our lives! Today it's been in the high thirties, and I have not been a happy camper! My husband joked today that I must be a cross between a Pom and a vampire because I shrivel in the sun. I gave him my best scary horror movie scowl in response. It's not kind to laugh at another's weakness! So, yes, I have been a true whinging Pom today moaning about the hot weather, so much so I even got fed up with the sound of my own voice - I've decided to make amends and draw a mandala showing my gratitude for today! That is my artwork for today, and it will appear as if by magic by the time you get to read this.

I wrote some notes in my other journal today - with proper paper and pen. I really enjoyed writing, I don't seem to do it very much these days, and my blog has replaced my journal writing. It made me think that people don't write letters very much these days either. I still go to my mailbox with a bit of a skip in my step expecting a letter from a friend, but all I get these days are bills or junk mail. It would be a real shame if we lost the skill of writing letters or journals - it's fun to read over entries from years ago, or to re-read a letter from a loved one. I've kept a couple of letters from my grandmother that she wrote to me when I was very young. Although she's passed on, I still have that piece of her presence, her writing on the page, her voice in the words, and it's very comforting.

OK, I've finished my mandala, and it has made me feel better, much better to be thankful than grumpy! It is slightly meditative colouring in, and I just love drawing those spirals - very therapeutic! Strange though that you'll have seen it, before you've read this far ...

Think I will write once a week in my 'paper' journal and keep up those writing skills.