life lists and me

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It is a strangely addictive and difficult task, that of writing a blog post each day.  I have published every day for the past year or more,  and it's easy to feel duty bound to produce the goods.  Sometimes inspiration is present like waves crashing onto a beach, and sometimes my mind feels as empty and parched as a dry river bed.

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One of the big decisions any blogger needs to take is how much will he or she reveal.  How much do readers really want to know? how much do they need to know?  Should a blogger always tell the truth?

Never has this been truer than when I was recently asked if I would write a life-list.... I admit I answered "a what?!!".   Then hunted around and realised I had already seen them, just didn't know they had a name.

Where has this fashion for life lists come from? ( And I don't mean the endless lists of things that must be achieved.  No, the life lists I like to read are those that draw a line, that state they way things are.)   Is it just that we are all getting to that age when it is natural to take stock?  Take one step back and evaluate where we are, what has been achieved, what missed and what - we hope - is still to  come.

my version of the quote from Henry David Thoreau

What would your life list look like?  Here's my challenge to you: (it's more difficult than you may think) put pen to paper and take stock of  where you are in a few simplified phrases.

Here to inspire you (and before I bore you to tears with my life list, which I am STILL hesitating about publishing at all ...) are some extracts from some of the life lists I have enjoyed:

  pragmatism   from   Pura Vida,  who finishes her latest life list like this:

"I have never been more tired and sore and blistered

but I have never been more in love and full of love than I am today

in this old rock house"

  loveliness  from  louboosandshoes,  whose opening lines grab you and pick you up and float you down to the end of this most poetic post

"All that time he was working away, he really would have rather been at home more.

I would do pretty much anything to preserve my children's happiness....."

 and   words of wisdom   from backwards in high heels ,  who lays great store on love, trees, kindness, good manners and dogs.

"Please and thank you are tiny matters, when the world is so crazed and

unpredictable, but I do think they make a disproportionate difference".

And so finally, (and this has to be the most difficult thing I have ever published on this little blog) to my life list, interpret it as you will ....

It's not where you live but how you live it

walking in the rain  in a good hat, coat and boots is delicious

I am difficult to live with

I am horribly disorganised

I wish I could have been a better horsewoman

 people are my best entertainment

the dumbing down of society is terrifying

jealousy is too destructive, I never go there

parents do a tough job

every day something beautiful brings me great joy

I spent hours with my children but know I could have done more

there are more important things than a tidy house 

good craftsmanship makes me happy

I would have loved to live on a ranch and ridden horseback everyday

I wish I could sing well

spoiling my children does me more good than them

I   do   NOT   like   video   games

my blog has taught me that I like to write

a simple life is sufficient

.....

I could continue for much longer, but I won't ...

If you have published your life list just let me know and I'll add you to the post, or if you simply want to write your life list in my comment box I would be honoured, beyond honoured actually.

Thank you to everybody who left such  kind comments after my post about the old lady yesterday.   You are more than generous, you are the reason I continue to write this blog.

Merci mes amis, à demain!

PS.  Here is a beautiful annexe to my post.  A lady sent me a lovely email in reaction to this post, and gave me permission to quote her :  

 Life lesson for me: befriending my instinct requires stillness … 

is essential for clear focus and sense of self… and for soft breathing...

anybody else want to chime in here? 

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maturing with good grace

The spring has got me back onto a horse after a too long winter pause.  I am very lucky to have found some new riding companions, although,  alarmingly,  they are all much younger than me.  Hmmm...

It has got me thinking.  There were days when I would gallop around the valley with the best of them, up and down steep hills, take part in trek competitions, show jump ... there were days ....

Today I still love to ride, as someone famous once said "it is amazing how much good the outside of a horse can do to the inside of a man" or in this case woman.  I love their smell, I love that you can't lie to a horse, that he will pick up on your slightest mood change.  If the rider is relaxed, happy and confident then so is the horse, and magical things take place.

So while I was riding with two young women last week, we went past a long alley, and I looked down to the far end wistfully.  "Wow, the gallops I've  had here, the rides I've been on in this forest, especially with my girls, .... ".  I turned to look at my companions, expecting I think to see looks of indulgence and maybe even pity on their faces.  But no, their smiles were happy, they were sharing in my pleasure.   Dare I say there was a hint of admiration.   Then one said, "When I was a teenager, I would have loved to have ridden with my mum".

How sweet was that!  

And then I got it.  Maturing gracefully is not about regrets for things we no longer feel up to.  It's about adapting, finding new pleasures and simply being grateful for ever having had the chance to do the other stuff, the more daring stuff, more dangerous even.

To celebrate this new found wisdom, I ended the ride with a lovely long canter, punctuated with a couple of jumps over fallen trees, yes!

To each age its pleasure, and when some pleasures can be shared between generations then that is just a big fat bonus.

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looking pretty, feeling fine

Somewhere in the middle of the story I am about to relate there is a moral - I'm struggling to find it, but I just know it's in there somewhere.

Maybe I should start at the beginning.  Yesterday afternoon I had an appointment to shoot pictures for the latest in my 'French girlfriend' series,  it was a beautiful day, I decided to cycle the 20km there and back.  Had a great time, easy ride, stopped to take some pictures en route, picked some berries for the imminent Christmas wreath, ... all went like a dream.

Stay with me, there is a point coming ....

At 5pm I collected my youngest from school and stopped at the sports shop on the way home.  Well, you can imagine after 20km on my bike, I was feeling like a positive sporty saint, and we sailed around the store looking enthusiastically at all sorts of instruments of torture  exercise machines, then we got to the cycle stand where my son was thrilled to find an electric bike and asked permission to try.  A very nice young salesman tried to sell it to us explained what a marvellous machine it was, and my boy was off.  Well, it looked such fun and I was feeling so sporty for the afore mentioned reasons, that I expressed the desire to have a go too.

Now you can see where this is going ....

Let me tell you never to ride a bike inside a shop with highly polished concrete flooring.  I sailed up and down a couple of alleys like a real pro, and was attracting rounds of applause and gasps of admiration (OK,  that bit I made up) until the last bend, where the bike and I parted company!  The shiny floor took control of the brand new wheels and pulled them from beneath me.

I am sorry to report that the first part of my body to hit the ground was my cheekbone, now black and swollen, hence the photo at the top of this post.  The resemblance is alarming, but there's no way I'm showing you a photo so you'll have to take my word on that one.

My sweet son  managed to mutter something about it being quite cool to have a mother who wants to try things out;  the staff in the store were in a frenzy, worried no doubt that I was about to sue, but I'm not that kind of a girl!

It is extremely annoying to have to admit that one is growing older, and although I don't feel I should abstain from being very active,  I guess that  age dictates that we have to become more wary of what we do - especially in public!!

Take care today!!

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