Sometimes in this busy world, you just need to hit pause for a few minutes and reset.
For me connecting with nature, especially water, is my space of choice to pause, rest, reset and refocus, even if its just for a few moments at the end of a long day.
So, excuse me while I enjoy the tranquility of the view.
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Tagged #blogger, #CoralMcCallum, #daydream, #IndieAuthor, #pause, #recharge, #reflect, #relax, #reset, #tranquility
She had just put the finishing touches to her makeup when she heard a truck crunch over the gravel in front of the house. By the time she had made her way down the hallway to the front door, Jake was already on the porch. His long hair was still damp – signs of a recent shower- and he too seemed to have taken care with his wardrobe. Behind him in the driveway she could see a black Dodge Ram pickup truck parked under the tree.
“Your chariot awaits,” he declared theatrically.
“Hi, Jake,” she smiled, stepping out onto the porch, pausing to pull the door closed behind her.
“Hi,” he replied. “Are you still ok with this?”
“Of course! I’ve been looking forward to it,” she said. “And to seeing you,” she added silently to herself.
“Ok. Let’s go then. The local metropolis awaits you.”
Getting into the passenger seat of the truck proved to be a challenge, but Jake swept in and lifted her up into the seat. He slid her crutches in behind then handed her the strap of the seatbelt.
“I hope you’re impressed. I even cleaned out the truck for you,” he said proudly. “It’s not usually so tidy.”
“I’m honoured. Thank you.”
As Jake turned on the ignition, the stereo burst into life and the cab was suddenly filled with very loud hard rock music. He reached to switch it off, but Lori stopped him.
“No worries. It’s fine with me,” she assured. “Is this the kind of stuff your band plays?”
“Yeah,” said Jake reversing out into the narrow road.
Want to know how their date goes? Download Stronger Within, book 1 in the Silver Lake series for free today
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Tagged #amreading, #booklovers, #CoralMcCallum, #freebie, #freebiefriday, #freeebook, #Kindle, #StrongerWithin
And the prompts were….
There she was in her usual seat in the corner by the window. Sun shining in through the glass was catching on the dust motes in the air. They sparkled around her like stars. Her waist length blonde hair was catching the light too, causing the silky strands to fall like liquid gold onto the desk in front of her.
It was four o’clock on Monday. His favourite after school study period. True, he saw her in class every day and in the hallways and school cafeteria but here in the library for an hour on Mondays was his chance to watch her unobserved.
“Keep quiet!” boomed the librarian, chastising a noisy study group on the far side of the room.
The blonde girl never looked up at the noise. As always, she had her ear buds in.
“What’s she listening to?” he wondered and not for the first time.
She wasn’t like the other girls in school. Her spirit was free. There was no conformity to the fashion dress code. She blatantly shunned this in favour of her own simple style. Most days she wore black skinny jeans, Converse and band tees. The bands were seldom anyone he’d ever heard of but he’d note the names down in his planner then listen to them later on Spotify. Even her choice in music was non-conformist. He liked that. He was less sure of most of the music her t-shirts introduced him to.
He felt a familiar twitch in his boxers as his gaze fell on her breasts, perfectly outlined thanks to the thin tight cotton.
He’d been watching her all term, ever since she’d arrived in school after the Christmas holidays. There were only three weeks until summer break then two long months would pass before he would see her again on a regular basis. Somehow, he needed to find the confidence and the courage to speak to her. If he couldn’t speak to her without tripping over his words, how was he ever going to ask her out on a date? As far as he knew, she didn’t have a boyfriend. He’d never seen her with anyone else, even when he occasionally caught sight of her at the mall or the cinema.
There were only ten minutes left of the study hour.
On a brave whim, he tore off the bottom corner of the page he was attempting to solve a maths problem on and hurriedly wrote, “What are you listening to?”
Before nerves and shyness got the better of him, he slipped out of his seat on the pretence of fetching a book from the shelf behind the window table. Checking that the ever-watchful librarian wasn’t looking his direction, he slipped the torn piece of paper under one of the girl’s text books, grabbed the first book his hand found on the shelf and scurried back across to his seat.
His heart was pounding.
His palms were sweaty.
His boxers suddenly felt very tight.
He glanced down at the book he’d scooped off the shelf – “A History of 19th Century Romantic Poets”. Now, that was something he’d never be!
He stared down at the faded cover waiting for his heart rate to drop and the adrenaline surge to pass.
Trying to act casual, he lifted his gaze and looked across towards the window.
She wasn’t there! Her books were still scattered across the table along with her coffee cup.
A movement to his right caught his attention.
She was standing at the bookshelf beside his table with her back to him. He stole a surreptitious glance at her butt in her tight jeans. His boxers tightened again. As she turned to return to her seat, he watched as she left a small folded square of paper on the corner of his table.
He unfolded it with trembling hands.
“The Sound of Silence by Disturbed. Fancy a coffee? Starbucks in the mall tomorrow after school.”
Hardly daring to breathe, he looked up and turned to look across at her. She was watching him.
Time seemed to move in slow motion.
She smiled.
He smiled back and nodded.
She smiled again, packed her books into her backpack and left the library.
Sometimes you have to pause and look around and reflect back over the ground you have travelled so far.
I did that a few minutes ago as I was looking at my WordPress stats and thinking “what the heck am I going to blog about this week?”
I pulled up the stats map that shows the “all time” view of where in the world my blog has been read. (Yes, I know that some of these could quite easily be bot pings but don’t burst my bubble please).
The very fact that most countries around the globe are pink and some are red, indicating a lot of hits, blows me away.
Why would someone in Australia or Japan or Brazil even find my blog in among the millions of blog posts out there?
The very thought that people in all of these countries have taken time out of their busy lives to even glance at my blog fills me with warmth and pride.
An indie author/blogger’s journey can feel quite lonely at times. Seeing the “likes” notifications and the occasional comment on my blog posts helps to make it much less lonely so thank you to those who have taken the time to hit like or comment. It really is appreciated.
I do try to keep the content on here varied. It was a conscious decision when I started this blog that I didn’t want tied down to one genre or theme. It would have been all too easy to fill it each week with photos of my cats but so far I have largely resisted that temptation.
So I guess that this week’s blog is really just a simple thank you to each and every one of you who read my ramblings each week and keep coming back for me.
Something that would really make my day …my week…my months…even my year would be if someone from Greenland stumbling across this blog…..oh well, a girl can dream 😉
Page
Blank…
What are you hiding,
In those empty lined depths?
New worlds waiting to be revealed.
Old worlds waiting to be revisited.
Young love ripe to for exploration
Relationships that bloom,
Then wither through time.
Goodbyes to be said.
Laughter to light up the world.
Tears silently being shed.
A myriad of possibilities beckon
As I pick up my pen.
The writer’s blank canvas awaits.
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Tagged #bloggerlife, #CoralMcCallum, #imagination, #IndieAuthor, #inspiration, #poem, #poetry, #poetryblog, #poetrylife, #writerslife
When I switched on my laptop the other day, the Bing photo caught my eye and piqued my curiosity.
What was this incredible looking round gold building? Where was it? Was it real?
The photo was an aerial view similar to the one below
I quickly discovered that it was real. The photo was of an experimental town in India called Auroville and that glorious golden spherical building was The Matrimandir.
I needed to learn more…cue an evening of Googling and reading.
Auroville, is situated near Pondicherry, on the eastern coast of India in the state of Tamil Nadu.
“But it sounds French?” I hear you muse. It was designed by the French architect, Roger Anger. Auroville is also known as the City of Dawn and it gets its name from “aurore”, the French word for dawn and “ville”, the French for town/city.
The Matrimandir, the golden building that caught my eye on the laptop’s wallpaper is also known as the Temple of the Mother and the Soul of the City, and is built at the heart of Auroville in a large open area called Peace.
I was still intrigued….
Now for a brief history lesson (I’ll share more detailed info links below for the history geeks and curious among you)
Step back in time to the early part of the 20th Century and that’s where you will find the origins of Auroville. There was an Indian philosopher, yogi and maharishi called Sri Aurobindo. He was a political activist but whilst in jail, he had a mystical/spiritual experience that led to him developing a spiritual practice on his release that he called Integral Yoga. He settled in the Pondicherry area and collaborated with a fellow spiritual guru and yoga teacher, Mirra Alfassa, who was also known as The Mother to her followers.
In 1926 they founded the Sri Aurobindo Ashram. After Sri Aurobindo’s death in 1950, Mirra Alfassa continued their work, pursuing his vision, and in 1964 the Sri Aurobindo Society passed a resolution to establish a city dedicated to that vision- Auroville.
In her first public address in 1965, Mirra Alfassa, the society’s executive president declared “Auroville wants to be a universal town where men and women of all countries are able to live in peace and progressive harmony, above all creeds, all politics and all nationalities. The purpose of Auroville is to realise human unity.”
Three years later on 28 February 1968, in front of representatives from 124 countries, Auroville was inaugurated. Mirra Alfassa wrote and delivered a four point charter, setting forth her vision for the city and its ethos of integral living.
Initially self-governing, Auroville aspired to have 50 000 residents. It’s initial community was considerably smaller, numbering around 400. By the late 1980s two acts had been passed that saw the creation of a three tier governing system for the city formed of the Governing Board, the Residents Assembly and the Auroville International Advisory Council. These three tiers work in harmony and collaborate to continue to try to accomplish the vision for Auroville as set out in the charter.
So, where does the Matrimandir fit into all of this?
The Matrimandir, in all its glorious golden splendour, is the heart of the community. Matrimandir translates to Temple of the Mother and is a place of spiritual significance to the practitioners of Integeral Yoga. It’s foundation stone was laid at sunrise on 21 February 1971, Mirra Alfassa, the Mother’s, 93rd birthday. Sadly, she never saw the finished temple as she passed away in 1973. It took 37 years to complete the magnificent building with its stunning Inner Chamber and it was finally completed in May 2008.
Today Auroville has a population of circa 3000 from 54 different countries and has been endorsed by UNESCO. The temple and surrounding gardens are open to visitors. This is not a tourist site however. It is a place which should be visited in a quiet mental and physical state, a place of contemplation and meditation. You can book a visit to the Inner Temple on an individual basis for some quiet reflection.
I think I may just have added another destination to my travel “bucket list”.
Information links (for the curious)
Welcome to Auroville | Auroville
Matrimandir – The Soul of Auroville
Sri Aurobindo (sriaurobindoashram.org)
Integral Yoga (Satchidananda) – Wikipedia
(All images sourced via Google – credits to the owners)
Deciding what to write each week on here can be tough, especially if the “real “ world has been encroaching on the creative one.
Over the past couple of weeks I’ve been taking part in an online writing sanctuary. (I mentioned it last week Fragments | Coral McCallum ).One of the takeaways from the workshops was this…
My Measly Mason Jar of Motivation. It’s filled with writing prompts that were kindly provided by the course facilitator. (Thanks, Beth) It’s a mix of words, phrases, and questions to ponder.
I thought I’d give it a try for this week’s blog.
Here goes…..
And the words I have pulled from the Measly Mason Jar are OBLIVIOUS and A SMALL BOY……hmmm
A vast expanse of monobloc driveway was his Jurassic world. Dinosaurs from all eras roamed freely across the terracotta plains. In their midst was a small boy, hunkered down as he acted out battles and adventures with his plastic companions. Lost in the innocent world of a child’s imagination, he played contentedly while his dad was busy mowing the lawn.
As the dinosaurs traversed their terracotta plains, they encountered an obstacle…Two Step Mountain. Only the biggest and strongest and the small boy’s favourites made it to the plateau on top of the mountain. Once up there, the herbivores grazed on an undisturbed coir field, feasting until their bellies were full.
Oblivious to the fact that anyone was watching, the small boy played on.
Hours later, as darkness fell, the driveway and doorstep lay silent. The colourful dinosaurs were scattered all around. Indoors, the small boy was no doubt sound asleep.
With a weary sigh, the small boy’s dad herded the dinosaurs into their plastic crate ready for their next adventure.
Over the past few days I’ve been taking part in an online winter writing sanctuary. There are still a few days to go but the assignments have been fun. I thought I’d share this one with you.
Snuggling into the sanctuary of my fur-lined hood, I set off on my early evening meander. Thoughts, some more random than others, flit by as I walk. Slowing my breathing, I calm my frazzled mind by whispering my Reiki precepts to myself as I walk down the hill at a leisurely pace towards the river.
It’s blue hour. It’s quiet. The tree at the foot of the hill stands tall, its branches bare. It reminds me of the cover of Shinedown’s Leave A Whisper album. Good album that.
My mind wanders to an unanswered What’s App from earlier…. wonder what my friend is doing right now? I wish they were walking beside me. Been a while since I’ve seen them. Need to sort that…
The patches in the tarmac pavement trigger imaginative thoughts. What if each separate patch led you into an alternative world? ..a bit like worlds that Will cuts into with the subtle knife in His Dark Materials. I’ll need to find time later to watch the final episode of that…. The books were better.
The pampas grass that grows beside the pavement catches in my hood. I trail my gloved fingers through the leafy fronds. I wonder if the pink pampas grass I’ve lovingly tended from seeds to mature plants will ever bear pink fronds? Time will tell, I guess…
A queue of cars lines the road. The drivers impatiently wait their turn to enter the crowded ferry terminal to catch the boat across the river. Where are all these people going? Where have they been? Have they had a long day? A good day? Or are the just desperate to get home for dinner? Dinner…what to cook? Not much choice left in the fridge. Breaded chicken, chips and beans? Sounds like a simple plan.
Turning for home, I feel the wind in my face, its icy chill stinging my cheeks. Dodging the puddles on the pavement, I gaze upon the Christmas lights that twinkle in the houses to my left. Some white. Some colourful. Some tasteful. Some…well, let’s leave that thought there.
When I reach the turn off to head back up the hill, my steps falter and I sigh. My heart’s heavy. I take my time walking up the long drag of a hill, wondering if there are any deer watching me as I pass by the small area of woodland. Drops of rain are falling now. Nature’s tears. Home beckons.
Warmth envelopes me as I step inside. My meander complete for another day. Each walk is a kaleidoscope of thoughts, hopes, regrets and dreams…the unspoken colours of the day.
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Tagged #CoralMcCallum, #creativity, #Fragments, #freewriting, #imagination, #IndieAuthor, #writingexercise
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Happy 9th birthday to my blog!
As I step cautiously into its 10th year (eek!), I thought I’d reflect on 9 lessons learned so far during this creative journey.
I couldn’t have made it this far along the way without your love and support. Every blog you’ve read, every book you’ve bought, every person you have told about the books and/or blog – every single word helps to fuel the fires of creativity and for that I thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Another year is drawing to a close so I’ll seize this opportunity to wish you all the best for the new year when it arrives. May 2023 be kind to us all.
Love n hugs
Coral xx
(image sourced via Google – credits to the owner)
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Tagged #blogger, #bloggerlife, #blogiversary, #CoralMcCallum, #creativity, #dreamsdocometrue, #IndieAuthor, #nineyears, #reflection
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Coral McCallum 