Tag Archive for magic

The Probable Future by Alice Hoffman

27/01/2012 Joh gratitude, reading

This book was gorgeous. I am sold on Alice Hoffman’s writing and I want to read everything she’s written. There is a long list. This is her 16th.

The story is about a family line of women who discover a gift on their 13th birthday. Stella, the latest in the line of Sparrow women rewrites the past. I find she writes such empowering female characters. Flawed, human women who use their strength to have what’s important to them. This quote from The Times says it better than I could:

Alice Hoffman hits bulls-eyes on the incomprehension between the young and the old, on the magic and pain of ordinary life. She is erotic and romantic, funny and clever and humane.

Finding a new author with troves of books I haven’t read, is like the first days of summer. I have been reading in my lunch hour by the Lake in Sale some days, or when I’m in a rush I just read for some of the time. Things are getting busier as my half holidays draws to an end. I do more when I’m busy and more important things. I think holidays are a little overrated for me. I enjoy the life I’ve created, including work.

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Strange Attractors by Kim Falconer

18/09/2011 Joh astrology, reading

Book Three of the ‘Quantum Enchantment’ series was the best yet. I put a lot of it down to becoming familiar with the characters and having a sense of the lands and time travel. These books are vastly interesting with a great mix of magic, technology, time travel and astrology.

I loved the twists in this book. The characters are interesting. This time I paid more attention and noticed An’ Lawrence was a Virgo p242:). Should have paid more attention in the first book and I could have won Mystic Medusa’s competition:). If you are into astrology you will love this series. I can’t wait to begin the next trilogy.

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Life Magic by Ruth Ostrow

03/07/2011 Joh Business, gratitude, reading

I read Life Magic in an evening. It was published in 2007 and I found it at the library. I’m loving the library lately. I enjoy looking up the catalogue online and placing books on hold and then getting an email to say they’ve arrived. You can access most of the libraries in Victoria and the books usually arrive within a week. Today Darin and I went and found a magical pile of books from browsing, which was also interesting. It’s like going to a free bookshop. I love it! It’s very convenient to be able to renew your books online also. It’s made the library much more accessible for me.

‘Life Magic’ was a pleasurable read. I never tire of reading books about creating your life the way you want it. The basic premise is usually the same, but I always get some small distinction from it and I think reading a variety of descriptions of how it all works keeps the philosophy fresh in your mind as well.

I’ve had a beautiful weekend. I have to say I am feeling great right now. There is much to do, but I have the school holidays to get organised. I had to make a lot of calls on Friday and I wasn’t looking forward to the conversations I had to have. People I am dealing with have been so kind and helpful. I feel very blessed right now. Darin is feeding me great food. The weather is crisp and sunny and we’ve been walking. Life feels gentle.

I have a new project for next term that has already materialised, quite effortlessly, I am really excited about. I am also quite happy to be working in schools in between the new directions. It’s great to have the luxury of getting my finances handled with work that is fun.

I really like the way Ruth Ostrow writes. She has a common sense yet magical way of looking at the world and she often writes about things I’m interested in. She has a blog.You can follow her twitter feed @OstrowRuth In 2007 I subscribed to her once when she was blogging for The Australian, but it dried up so I deleted the feed. I am so pleased to add her magical voice to my reading list again!

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The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd

09/07/2008 Joh reading

This book is a delight. It’s uplifting and made laugh during the sad bits and sniffle when things were rosy. The central character, Lily, an innocent, imaginative and optimistic young girl with a hunger for love that leads her toward it in magical ways. I adored it and just have to quote some of my favourite bits to share what a treat it is:

 ” ‘You know, some things don’t matter that much, Lily. Like the color of a house. How big is that in the overall scheme of life? But lifting a person’s heart- now, that matters. The whole problem with people is -’‘They don’t know what matters and what doesn’t,’ I said, filling in her sentence and feeling proud of myself for doing so.‘I was gonna say, The problem is they know what matters, but they don’t choose it…’ “(p183)The surprising candid insights into human nature in this book are so refreshing.

Later Lily is anguished about revealing who she really is, but hesitant to share due to bad timing…..

” ‘..And then it would all come out. Whatever terrible things might happen, would. When I peered up at her, though, she was brushing tears off her face, looking for a handkerchief in her pocket, and I knew it would be selfish to pour this into her cup when it was already to the brim with grief…’ (p250)I also enjoyed the secret life of bees that was shared although the title alluded to this, I had no idea how facinating and beautiful it would be….“According to August, if you’ve never seen a cluster of beehives first thing in the morning, you’ve missed the eighth wonder of the world. Picture these white boxes tucked under pine trees. The sun will slant through the brances, shining in the sprinkles of dew drying on the lids. There will be a few hundred bees doing laps around the hive boxes, just warming up, but mostly taking their bahtroom break as bees are so clean they will not soil the inside of their hives. From a distance it will look like a big painting you might see in a museum, but museums can’t capture the sound. Fifty feet away you will hear it, a humming that sounds like it came from another planet. At thirty feet your skin will start to vibrate. The hair will life on your neck…’ “(p354)

It is full of facinating facts about honey and bees. Just before I began reading this book, I’d purchased a rose and honey in olive oil balm for dry skin and I’ve enjoyed using it so much more after reading this book. Bees and honey have replaced pomegranates during this winter as what keeps reappearing in my world. Andy took an amazing photo of a bee that I posted on our blog earlier this year also, and it’s been the most popular photo on the site.

There is a whole lot more going on in this book that I haven’t even touched on. For teachers wanting to share this book with students here is a link to some great resources. This book is not on the CBCA list. I am not as motivated to read the list this year and have read hardly at all lately. Not sure why!

Popularity: 11% [?]

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Retreat

10/05/2008 Joh gratitude, health

Yesterday at school the staff had a retreat day. We went to a place out of town in the hills. A Sister from the Marist order came to speak to us and draw our attention to the big picture. She asked some great questions and we recalled our intentions as Marist teachers. Our school motto that I love “Strong Minds, Compassionate Hearts”, is one I repeat often to myself and students. I feel it is a grounded and worthy motto. She called us to always remember amidst all the daily annoyances and battles (that she listed and obviously knew having taught for a long time) that ‘each person is an individual, a person with a name, with dignity, as a child of God’.

We often notice amongst ourselves how out of line we are in these ideals and intentions. It’s really challenging to keep it in mind all the time. I can easily see how others don’t do itSmile or just as ineffectively beat myself up for all the recollections of my own shortcomings. I want to realign with that intention and keep at it, without becoming disheartened or cynical. Marcellin Champagnat, the founder of the Marist brothers wrote that you must love children to do this work, and I do. That is why I am happy working in a Marist school and feel it is aligned to who I am.

I was tired beyond explanation and not in the mood to be there. I felt too tired to retreat and struggled to remain focussed. I was too cranky to socialise or be with my fellow staff members. I wanted the retreat to work it’s magic on me, but I didn’t see how it could.

Even as I left I felt the day could have been better spent chipping away at my to do list. Yet after a good nights sleep I can see some of it seeped in regardless of the weariness. I realised I haven’t been taking very good care of myself this week. I haven’t exercised, slept, eaten properly. I’ve forgotten to take my vitamins. It has created a perfect storm and as the week has gone on it’s just been getting worse. This morning I am going to get back on track with it all. I am going to have an epsom salt bath(inspiring by reading this)  after I exercise. I recall overhearing someone asking after a seriously ill collegue and thinking I need to put my troubles into perspective. I enjoyed seeing the large show of autumn in the trees around and my skin still feels the tingle of the crisp air up there.

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TED talks: Amy Tan: Where Does Creativity Hide?

23/04/2008 Joh reading

 I love Amy Tan’s novels. “The Bone-Setters Daughter”, “The Joy Luck Club” and “The Kitchen God’s Wife” were very enjoyable reads for me and I will have to track down the ones I haven’t read yet and add them to the pile that is turning into a bookcase! Time for reading for me lately is just not being found in it’s usual places. What’s that about?

This talk is amusing and revealing about her life and what has inspired her. She asks interesting questions and her thoughts mirror in her belief in serendipity, feng shui and other ‘superstitions’. Although she uses humour to reveal the off beat nature of her thinking, I can identify with it and the way one thing leads you to another and then you find the thing you are looking for.

The theme of ‘How do we create?’ is covered on that blog post at the TED Blog. I haven’t had a chance to watch the others yet, but perhaps this upcoming long weekend will give me that extra time… or not!

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The Book of Lies by James Moloney

23/12/2006 Joh reading

I want one! A book of lies, that is. The amazing book that this novel from James Moloney is centered around has the ability to discern if a person is speaking the truth or a lie. Truth can be a slippery thing though and the characters in this book soon find the the book can be an unreliable voice. I enjoyed it. There must be a sequel though as there are stories left untold when arriving at the last page. On his webpage, the author states the sequel is due in 2006. I haven’t come across it yet.
James Moloney is one of my favourite writers. We teach “A Bridge to Wiseman’s Cove” to our year 8s. I think “Lost Property”, which I read earlier in the year was one of my favourite reads for this year. My son also enjoyed it.

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Auntie Angela

07/08/2006 Joh family

An amazing coincidence today, the very same person I was referring to in my last post, came to visit. I looked up my planner and her name was there. I remembered I was intending to take my daughter to Echuca to visit Angela this mid-term break but had forgotten about it.Joh Blogs: Camping on the banks of the Murray
We were obviously in one another’s orbits!

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