2 0 0 9!

© Photo: By Riihele. All rights reserved.

Ring out the old, ring in the new,
Ring, happy bells, across the snow:
The year is going, let him go;
Ring out the false, ring in the true.

Alfred, Lord Tennyson, 1850

Have a super new year 2009 in every way!

Picture Perfect: Celebrate

Love is
composed of
a single soul
inhabiting two bodies.
(Aristotle)

© Photos: Riihele. All rights reserved.

Love is an act of
endless forgiveness,
a tender look
which becomes a habit.
(Peter Ustinov)

This is my daughter’s wedding bouquet taken by me
in July 2008 at the reception in Ireland.

P.S.
The ‘filler’ plant is the Lady’s Mantle aka Alchemilla.
which belongs to the Rosaceae family of plants,
the same as the roses, strawberries,apples and almonds, for example.

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2008!

“For last year’s words belong to last year’s language
And next year’s words await another voice.
And to make an end is to make a beginning.”

T.S. Eliot, “Little Gidding”

A WONDERFUL NEW YEAR 2008,
FULL of WONDERS!
HUGZ from Rii

I put this photo of mine, taken in the spring, looking through a window,
for to me the new year always feels like one is trying to peek through into something,
that for the moment, is still unknown, unfamiliar…

“A new year is unfolding –
like a blossom
with petals curled tightly
concealing
the beauty
within.”

ThinkExist site

Photos: Riihele. All rights reserved.

SONNET of Chaucer: Legende of Goode Wimmen

For thy trespas, and understond hit here:
Thou shalt, whyl that thou livest, yeer by yere,
The moste party of thy tyme spende
In making of a glorious Legende Of Goode Wimmen, maidenes and wyves,
That weren trewe in lovinge al hir lyves;
And telle of false men that hem bitrayen, That al hir lyf ne doon nat but assayen

(Legend of Good Women or as he wrote: Legende of Goode Wimmen)

Isn’t it just wonderful? I do love the way the words are so recognizeable even today when one considers that these lines were written sometime between 1385-1386! As you know, I do love words and the beauty of languages  is in the expressions and the use of words, and this is no exception, for it really appeals to me very much indeed.

Chaucer wrote in continental accentual-syllabic metre, a style which had developed since around the twelfth century as an alternative to the alliterative Anglo-Saxon metre. Chaucer is known for metrical innovation, inventing the rhyme royal, and he was one of the first English poets to use the five-stress line, the iambic pentameter, in his work. The arrangement of these five-stress lines into rhyming couplets, first seen in his Legend of Good Women, was used in much of his later work and became one of the standard poetic forms in English. His early influence as a satirist is also important, with the common humorous device, the funny accent of a regional dialect, apparently making its first appearance in The Reeve’s Tale.

Geoffrey Chaucer (c. 1343 – October 25, 1400) was an English author, poet, philosopher, bureaucrat courtier, and diplomat. Although he wrote many works, he is best remembered for his unfinished frame narrative The Canterbury Tales. Sometimes called the father of English literature, Chaucer is credited by some scholars with being the first author to demonstrate the artistic legitimacy of the vernacular English language, rather than French or Latin. His name is derived from the French chausseur, meaning shoemaker.

The Prologe of IX Goode Wimmen

A thousand tymes have I herd men telle,
That ther is Ioye in heven, and peyne in helle;
And I acorde wel that hit is so;
But natheles, yit wot I wel also,
That ther nis noon dwelling in this contree,
That either hath in heven or helle y-be,
Ne may of hit non other weyes witen,
But as he hath herd seyd, or founde hit writen;
For by assay ther may no man hit preve.
10 But god forbede but men should leve
Wel more thing then men han seen with ye!
Men shal nat wenen every-thing a lye
But-if him-self hit seeth, or elles dooth;
For, god wot, thing is never the lasse sooth,
Thogh every wight ne may hit nat y-see.
Bernard the monk ne saugh nat al, parde!

A possible indication that his career as a writer was appreciated came when Edward III granted Chaucer a gallon of wine daily for the rest of his life for some unspecified task. This was an unusual grant, apparently, according to Wikipedia where this information comes from. Chaucer had a very interesting career as a diplomat, author, poet et al so there is so much what one could write on him but this is it for now.

Rii xx

Source: Wikipedia

Writers’ Block Challenge #20

LIFE’S UPS & DOWNS

Sometimes
life feels like
one is in a constant
Ferris wheel:
Up, up!!
Down, down..
Up down
Down up…

Slowly turning up skywards.
Slowly turning down earthwards.
Round and round it goes,
Its merry way
Without end.

Time to enjoy the scenery – if so inclined
Taking in all the colours, the views, the beauty.
Time to endure the ride.
Wishing it was all over and done with;
Pain is too much.

Sometimes
it feels like
one is
in a constant
Ferris wheel.
Up, up!!
Down, down..
Up down
Down up…

Evening is drawing to a close on this ride
Sun is going down with the most glorious blaze
I cannot take my eyes off without
gazing up at it with sheer delight-

Want to imprint this sky
full of magnificent brilliance,
deep, deep, deep into
my soul, my mind, my heart:

Colours bursting with their most dazzling,
Pinks, purples, yellows, golden tones painted over
With warm chocolate browns

Reflected so perfectly on the still water.

Sometimes
Life feels like
one is in a constant
Ferris wheel.
Up, up!!
Down, down..

SOMETIMES…

Written by Riihele 7.10.2007. This is my entry on the Writers’ Block Challenge.

Tis for now. Riihele xx

Bitter-Sweet of Life – Poem

The
bitter-sweet
of life.

Life is
a combination
of the two
in varied
doses and degrees.

Sometimes
more of
the bitter

– sadness;

other times
more of
the sweet

– gladness.

Whichever way
it may be,
the two sides
are there
to balance

each other out.

Poem by Riihele.

Tis for now. Rii xx

The pic is off the net.

NOTE:

Bitter is never pleasant
– but it is needed at times as it has a ‘sobering’ effect on us.

Sweetness can be sickening, too
– ever eaten too much honey or had too many candies…

It is like the ingredients for a cake:
the only thing that is sweet, is the sugar,
the rest are bland or tasteless!

But the end result of all of them together,
the combination of all the ingredients,
is a most delicious cake
– fresh and sweet tasting to the palate
and cheering to the heart.

SWEDISH SUNSET: Da Blonde on HAPPINESS

Mark Twain – said this and more on the link on the word happiness :

“Happiness is a Swedish Sunset
– it is there for all,
but most of us look the other way and lose it.”

Why the ‘Swedish’ I do not know. Could it be that in the summertime the sunsets in Sweden are so long and so very bright that nobody could/should miss the stunning beauty and the illuminating brightness thereof? And yet one chooses to be blind to it by turning one’s head the other way – refusing to see the ‘show of this beauty’ by one’s own willful actions. One is so blind to one’s blessings of happiness right then and there. Tragic.

“Happiness or glad is an emotional or affective state that is characterized by feelings of enjoyment and satisfaction. As a state and a subject, it has been pursued and commented on extensively throughout world history. This reflects the universal importance that humans place on happiness. States associated with happiness include well-being, delight, health, safety, contentment, and love. Contrasting states include suffering, depression, grief, anxiety, and pain.” Wikipedia

The science of happiness is an interesting field, just have a look at this and this. The latter is called, The World Database of Happiness! There is even a test to do on the Beeb site. A strange thing to me is in the The Declaration of Independence – which particularly names the ‘Pursuit of Happiness’ as one of the goals/things to be achieved. That very word – pursuit – makes the happiness flee faster than the lightning, totally unattainable to all.

“Whether one is poor or one is rich –
whether one has nothing much
or one has millions to live on,
but nothing to live for;
makes one utterly
miserable and poor.”

(Riihele quote)

Tis for now. Riihele xx.

© Photos: By Riihele. All rights reserved.

Mum’s The Word!

MUM YOU ARE…


Someone who cares

when others care less,

Someone who encourages

when others ridicule,

Someone who defends

when others condemn,

Someone with patience

when others are impatient,

Someone who appreciates

when others fail to notice,

Someone who gives security

in a world of insecurity,

Someone who is accepting

when others reject.

You are a friend
for all time,
to cherish
and
protect,
and your achievements
will linger
for generations.

I LOVE YOU.

This moving and poignantly worded card Becki gave me one year for the Mother’s Day in Ireland. I have kept it in my wallet ever since through all these years, through all the countries and places it has travelled with me. Heli gave me a most beautifully worded handwritten letter and a note which have also been doing the same ‘travelling’.

It is one of the greatest privileges in life to be a mum. Now, that the girls are grown-up, there is the added bonus to be a friend as well as a mother. Indeed, it’s a different kind of relationship than when the children were small. Each phase, every stage in this common journey of mothers & daughters. has been filled with so much instances, so much growing up for both the mother and the daughters, that is has been amazing. I am sure that the mother has done more maturing than the girls put together in our case! (I can see them nodding their heads in my mind’s eye!!)So, for the mothers – all the mothers in the world –

HAPPY

MOTHERS DAY!

Tis for now. Riihele xx.

Today is My Mother’s Day Take 2 for in Ireland it was already celebrated in March and today it is the Finnish one. Double the prezzies and double the blessings of being an international mum! (The card and the text are taken from the MiniCARDS by Temple Products.)

Beauty of Friendship




	The beauty of the old, longstanding, true friendships
is that

	one does not have to do the spiel of re-acquaintaining
at all – but

	get straight to the point where one left before
and

,	continue from there even further on!
THANK YOU MY DEAR FRIENDS !!

All the text and photos by Riihele xx

Liquid Dark Chocolate – Photos

These photos of mine on The River taken in February 2007,
reminded me of the liquid chocolate and hence,
the quotes and thingies in-between in this entry today.

“Good Living
is an act of intelligence,
by which we choose things
which have an agreeable taste
rather than those which do not.”

Brillat-Savarin (1755–1826)

“What you see before you, my friend, is the result of a lifetime of chocolate.”

Katherine Hepburn

“If you are not feeling well, if you have not slept, chocolate will revive you. But you have no chocolate! I think of that again and again! My dear, how will you ever manage?”

Marquise de Sévigné
(French writer and lady of fashion) February 11, 1677

Tis for now. Rii xx

PS.
No, I am not a chocoholic for I prefer liquorice to chocolate most of the time, that is.

© Photos: By Riihele. All rights reserved.