Eeyore

Following on from "The Wall", I received a surprise gift today from a lovely friend: Eeyore's Little Book of Gloom a book for those Eeyore-ish moments! I'm ever so grateful for this caring and thoughtful gift.

"If you follow your own footsteps... you'll only find the road to nowhere."

"Even if you think you have nothing  worth stealing... someone will  come along and steal your tail."

 Ahh, I feel the 'gloominess' lifting.

weekend away

Well, we had a brilliant long-weekend escape - a road trip to Melbourne with good friends.

We started off at SAYCO for a few hours on the Saturday. It was great to see a big team of enthusiastic young leaders and a few 'old hands' all working well together. Each year it gets a little easier for me to visit - I still miss it: the event, the people, the excitement. The hugs and the genuine welcome were lovely.

Then we were on the road to Melbourne....We spent what was left of Saturday on the road, stopping off overnight at Ballarat. Sunday was the big day:

• brunch with an old friend in one of many busy laneways full of cafes;
• ACMI at Federation Square for the Tim Burton Exhibition; 
• a wander around Federation Square, where they were celebrating Seniors Week(!) - why do seniors like country music and bootskooting?
• back to ACMI to see their exhibition of a history of moving images, TV, animation, special effects, social media, gaming - fascinating stuff
• checked into our apartment in South Yarra (by the railway line!)
• had dinner at a Greek restaurant - yum!
• watched the movie Alice in Wonderland, appreciating Tim Burton's creativity.

Then back in the car to drive home to Adelaide on Monday.

I really enjoy visiting Melbourne: the eclectic mix of architecture, artwork and people. So much to see and so stimulating.
The Tim Burton exhibition was excellent. For a few hours we were immersed in the art and creativity of this talented director and artist..."the creative genius behind Edward Scissorhands, Batman and Alice in Wonderland." He is heavily influenced by Dr Seuss, Roald Dahl and Vincent Price. An interesting mix of horror and humour.
I was really interested in seeing how small ideas formed in his early years re-appeared and were adapted for use in different projects. It has inspired me to be more careful about keeping my own ideas.

It was a great weekend escape - quality time with friends and lots of creative stimulation. We returned home tired and happy. Now we need another long weekend to relax!

The Wall

I should be packing, or writing a reflection paper, or working on stuff for worship@Synod. Instead I'm in mega-procrastination mode.
Why? I've hit a wall. An invisible huge solid wall. It's called fear and self-doubt and tonight I've let it block my path. I know what's happening, I know it's illogical, but this wall is still there. I hope that typing this blog will make the wall crumble a little.

There are times when I'm prone to extremes of emotions: joyous, giddy, silly Tigger-type excitement but then other times, like now, I can be self-doubting, miserable and whingey - a bit like Eeyore.

Paul and I are going on a road trip this long weekend with friends to Melbourne. Hopefully, I snap out of this mood and return to a mild-mannered Tigger (I think a full-on Tigger might be a bit too much for the other passengers in the car!)

Enough of this self-doubt! Enough