Category: Personal Musings

Posted in Life, Personal Musings, Photography Art, poetry

Little of All

Posted on by Sugar and Spice..... Among Other Things

Somedays one hopes that a switch could be made, that would give on ean option to just change places and get some peace and quiet. No sooner than this thought balzes through the mind, that another one follows that no matter what the present circumstances may be, there are certain things that one would prefer to carry with them wherever they may go.

“The heart of man is very much like the sea, it has its storms, it has its tides and in its depths it has its pearls too” Vincent Van Gogh

Troubles. True they are plenty in number; then again once in a while we do need them to appreciate what we have at hand.

Blessings. We all have a share of them, whether they be in ounces or gallons; they are there in one form or the other; depends on which we look.

Grace. They do exist, maybe coming along to prove their existence when least expected. Then again, they are there; if not one does find them or they chance upon us along the way.

Steps. All it involves putting one foot in front of the other, though direction of those steps involve a matter of choice, effort and the innate conscience within us.

Hope. Look forward to experience the colours along the horizon, then somewhere along our dreams get a spark to give a little light within.

Add a little of all above and more, it would give us a semblance to live through some moments that life takes us through. All of us need a little of the “good and the bad” to let us know that the beast within do have a rhythm and will of their own. When the varied notes come into play, it may be a sonnet, a pop, a song or just a tune. What ever it may be, the music with the dance is our own, so what are we waiting for ?

This is Life
Ken Smith

I saw the glory of the sunrise,
Breathed the invigorating air,
And my soul rose to the very skies
When I sallied forth, proud to dare.
That was the morning.

The awful heat of the day came down;
I stooped, and my brow was wet with sweat.
And when I saw Misfortune frown
I cried, “I am not conquered yet!”
That was the noonday.

The softer shades of twilight fell
And released my grip in the strife.
I am contented now to dwell
Where understanding sweetens life..
This is eventide.

Posted in Family and Society, Personal Musings, Photography Art

Of Import

Posted on by Sugar and Spice..... Among Other Things

Hindsight is often a painful thing, but in retrospect a gift in disguise. Unfortunately, the latter bit is well appreciated years later.

The things that matter most must never be at the mercy of the things that matter least.” Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

What one needs to remember that the thoughts running through, song whistled or felt in the morning, doesn’t mean much in what is it. Instead it holds a special place for it gave wings to fly for the whole day.

Whether it be a big house or a small one, as long as it is a “home”, it is indeed a blessing to feel so.

Source:https://vk.com/thesemagicmoments
Source:https://vk.com/thesemagicmoments
Source:https://vk.com/thesemagicmoments

If it follows that one is alone or by self for now, or enfolded by family and friends, more than the style or way we live, embracing life as a harmony of sensations. Of the sparkling moments evened out by the more mundane, dull or unsavoury ones; life is to be lived and felt as a whole.

More than the words that float about us around us, unless one deeply knows who they are from within; life along with her best parts and gifts may be lost in the wind.

More than that, over time, one realizes that we are a part of a bigger fabric. Each of us holds a special song, a tune or a turn; part of a special thread. This is felt by the heart and soul living within each of us. All this is what makes one, every now and then, be able to thaw out the iciness and bring in the gentleness in the world that surrounds us. As time refines us, one realizes that these are the things that really matter the most.

Source:https://vk.com/thesemagicmoments
Source:https://vk.com/thesemagicmoments
Source:https://vk.com/thesemagicmoments
Source:https://vk.com/thesemagicmoments
Source:https://vk.com/thesemagicmoments

Posted in Christian, Family and Society, Personal Musings, poetry

Splash of Promise

Posted on by Sugar and Spice..... Among Other Things

Improvisation is a must, especially when running a houseful of tiny feet. This subtle fact is realized, when off-hand promises are called into account. When guile doesn’t help, it’s time to bring out the big guns and aim for a happy outcome. Alas, real life, especially for us big ones, it doesn’t always happen so.

“For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favour and honour; no good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless.” (Psalm 84:11)

Each of us may have had our fair share of promises. As the years go by, we realize that some mayn’t be kept as duly when said; while others may happen over time, albeit in a manner such that the snail may go at a faster pace. Yet many a time, we just let those words go fade away, for the mind and the heart feel those words would stay in the infinite emptiness.

Source:https://vk.com/thesemagicmoments
Source:https://vk.com/thesemagicmoments
Source:https://vk.com/thesemagicmoments

Nevertheless when those believed to be empty promises do happen, the first feeling that swamps through is the gift of His Grace. Once this is known, the feeling of awa and surprise lights up within the self. In building our plans or going by our regular, we often tend to overlook the fact that there is He supreme above all of us. Every now and then, as we are shown, His Love and His Grace has the power and gift to dissolve the stones across the path or give us strength to chart a new route. His Promises hold true for those with His Faith, whether it be smaller than a mustard seed. The strong belief and faith that each of our rainbows will come in our due time, would bring in the light to chase away the shadows of uncertainty. And when the mind is being weighed by those unfulfilled promises, know that each of us will have our share our share of His Rainbow, all we need to do is to survive through the torrential rains or gales, whichever way it may be. Till then, hold true, pray deep, preserve on, buckle down and let His Love and Strength lift us from within.

“Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.”(James 1:17)

Source:https://vk.com/thesemagicmoments
Source:https://vk.com/thesemagicmoments

God’s Rainbow
by Author Unknown
The falling rain dissolves into mist
And the thunder begins to die
As the sporadic lightning fades
An arch of color pours from the sky.

Rainbows appear after mighty storms
When things look their worst
Just when the sky is darkest gray,
Out of Heaven does a rainbow burst.

God first sent the rainbow to Noah
As a sign that His word is true
The rainbow’s eternal message
Still speaks to me and you.

The rainbow is a sign of God’s promise
That He will guide us through any storm
That He will ease all our troubles,
No matter what their form.

When you feel battered by life’s storms
And you are filled with doubt and dismay
Just remember God’s rainbow is coming,
For it’s blessing you have only to pray.

“With the new day comes new strength and new thoughts.” Eleanor Roosevelt

Source:https://vk.com/public138314547
Source:https://vk.com/thesemagicmoments
Source:https://vk.com/thesemagicmoments
Source:https://vk.com/thesemagicmoments
Source:https://vk.com/public138314547

Posted in Family and Society, Life, Personal Musings, poetry, Random Thoughts, Reflections, Work

Hazy, but in Form

Posted on by Sugar and Spice..... Among Other Things

The usual say, is that when the going gets tough, the tough get going. Sadly no one ever mentions, how to get the going part. In short, where or how does the inspiration for the going strike. For now, the skies offer some comfort.

“Your present circumstances don’t determine where you can go. They merely determine where you start.” Nido Qubein

Source:https://vk.com/thesemagicmoments
Source:https://vk.com/public138314547
Source:https://vk.com/thesemagicmoments

Have you ever seen the shape of clouds ? They flit, they float, they reshape and they transform. The new game was a chance discovery by the kids. From heart shaped to fluffy shaped pillow like, or the wisps that looks like boots, the skies offer a break from the mundane and the lag of the present. The beauty of the endless forms of white scattered across the dusky or bright to dim skies, show one of the endless possibilities of the world.

“Often it isn’t the mountains ahead that wear you out, it’s the little pebble in your shoe.” Muhammad Ali

While nature has it’s own furies and wrath, the clouds in the skies offer a semblance of comfort in the tough moments. Each time one falls, look to the skies and the answer shall come to the self later. As for the cloudy and rainy days, the skies after may hold the rainbow in the vastness of own.

Source:https://vk.com/thesemagicmoments
Source:https://vk.com/thesemagicmoments
Source:https://vk.com/thesemagicmoments

 

Still I Rise
BY MAYA ANGELOU
You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I’ll rise.

Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
’Cause I walk like I’ve got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.

Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I’ll rise.

Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops,
Weakened by my soulful cries?

Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don’t you take it awful hard
’Cause I laugh like I’ve got gold mines
Diggin’ in my own backyard.

You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I’ll rise.

Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I’ve got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?

Out of the huts of history’s shame
I rise
Up from a past that’s rooted in pain
I rise
I’m a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.

Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that’s wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise.

Maya Angelou, “Still I Rise” from And Still I Rise: A Book of Poems. Copyright © 1978 by Maya Angelou. Used by permission of Random House, an imprint and division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved.
Source: The Complete Collected Poems of Maya Angelou (1994)

Source:https://vk.com/thesemagicmoments
Source:https://vk.com/thesemagicmoments
Source:https://vk.com/thesemagicmoments
Source:https://vk.com/thesemagicmoments
Source:https://vk.com/thesemagicmoments

Posted in Life, Personal Musings, poetry, Quotes, Reflections

Solace of the Rain

Posted on by Sugar and Spice..... Among Other Things

“ Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass…It’s about learning to dance in the rain.” Vivian Greene

There’s something about rains that brings out the liveliness in each one of us. Whether from the smell of fresh earth, the sound of the raindrops hitting the windowpanes, the cool air around each of us, the warmth of the hot cup of Joe to the maddening rush at the market, the splash of the tyres against the puddles and so on; the rains brings out a number of emotions and memories in many of us. With the monsoons still going on strong, the rains bring back memories of childhood, of paper boats to bigger sailboats; games of stepping into the puddles and the walk back from school, getting drenched and later warmed with hot chocolate and biscuits.

“I love when rain falls like wet curtains, layer after layer of perfectly shaped individual drops. It’s so easy to think of rain as a collective unit, one consistent and omnipresent mass. It’s so easy to forget that each raindrop is falling alone to meet the earth for the first time. So too are we. Always falling alone, but part of something so much bigger, so much more beautiful than we could ever be alone.” Tyler Knott Gregson

Source:https://vk.com/thesemagicmoments
Source:https://vk.com/thesemagicmoments
Source:https://vk.com/slideshowarts

As the childhood days get left behind; rain brings out a range of emotions in an adult with the hassles of downpour running foremost in the mind. Yet amidst the clamorous thoughts, these rains remind the adult mind of the earth being washed clean and given a new lease of fresh life.

Rains brings to focus of new beginnings, days of freshness, rivulets of eater forming their own stream, the coming together of the various animals under the shelter to keep dry and above all, fills up the streams for the joys of swimming. Rains, one of the elemental pillars of nature brings with the joys of the rainbow.

“Life is full of beauty. Notice it. Notice the bumble bee, the small child, and the smiling faces. Smell the rain, and feel the wind. Live your life to the fullest potential, and fight for your dreams.” Ashley Smith

Source:https://vk.com/thesemagicmoments
Source:https://vk.com/thesemagicmoments
Source:https://vk.com/thesemagicmoments

Let’s live, love and wonder,
Let’s believe, remember and regret,
From happiness to cry, laugh heartily
Let’s live, so as not to grow old in our hearts

Let’s just admire the
Fields, the sky, the silver of the dew,
And if it is difficult, still do not give up –
Go ahead without lowering your head.

Let’s be sincere in communication,
Honest in words, deeds and deeds,
Let’s believe, holy, without doubts
To live in waking life, openly, not in dreams!

Let’s honestly admit
In your mistakes, envy and lies,
Let’s live, love and admire –
Spread your wings with your soul!
Rus Svyataya

Source:https://vk.com/thesemagicmoments
Source:https://vk.com/thesemagicmoments
Source:https://vk.com/thesemagicmoments
Source:https://vk.com/thesemagicmoments
Source:https://vk.com/thesemagicmoments
Source:https://vk.com/slideshowarts
Source:https://vk.com/thesemagicmoments
Source:https://vk.com/slideshowarts
Source:https://vk.com/thesemagicmoments

Posted in Life, Personal Musings, Photography Art, poetry

Of First Light

Posted on by Sugar and Spice..... Among Other Things

Being thrown in at the deep, the past couple of weeks have been running on, in a non-stop mode. Hassles of keeping our professional security intact, resulted in splitting up of the adult part of the family unit. Adding to them is the current system of “online-schools” ( with plenty of home-schooling, the latter being a necessity); work from home, lack of help due to curbs on travel, unexpected setbacks and expenses; things aren’t really looking good. Then again, this holds true for most of us. When things are few and far between, the choices waver between being in limbo or just picking up the pieces and find a way through.

“The first step towards getting somewhere is to decide you’re not going to stay where you are.” J.P.Morgan

Source:https://vk.com/thesemagicmoments
Source:https://vk.com/thesemagicmoments
Source:https://vk.com/thesemagicmoments

Truth is no day is consistent. Some days one gets to breathe a bit or an optimistic turn to look at the bright side of life; whereas other days just become a drag. For those with family, we may wish to be alone at times. For those of us staying alone for now, we wish our near and dear ones were at hand. The mind is in a constant of conflict, not just from emotions but also random thoughts which may plague one at the odd times of the day. Restlessness becomes a part and parcel of the self.

“For a tree to become tall it must grow tough roots among the rocks.” Friedrich Nietzsche

Change is there. Whichever way one looks at it, things will never go back to the old norm. Uncertainty fuels the inner restlessness, upsets the mental balance and this cycle just goes on. Over the past few weeks, being stationed on the porch way before the cockcrow began a new routine. Watching the rays chase away the dark of the night, gives one the hope of another try, a different way to handle each situation and look for any missed chances or overlooked possibilities. If it rains, an eye still is kept for the warmth of the light. For now, that alone is sufficient to chase away the chill within. After all, life has to go on.

Source:https://vk.com/thesemagicmoments
Source:https://vk.com/thesemagicmoments
Source:https://vk.com/thesemagicmoments

By Candlelight
BY EDITH SITWELL

Houses red as flower of bean,
Flickering leaves and shadows lean!
Pantalone, like a parrot,
Sat and grumbled in the garret—
Sat and growled and grumbled till
Moon upon the window-sill
Like a red geranium
Scented his bald cranium.
Said Brighella, meaning well:
“Pack your box and—go to Hell!
Heat will cure your rheumatism!” . . .
Silence crowned this optimism—
Not a sound and not a wail:
But the fire (lush leafy vales)
Watched the angry feathers fly.
Pantalone ’gan to cry—
Could not, would not, pack his box!
Shadows (curtseying hens and cocks)
Pecking in the attic gloom
Tried to smother his tail-plume . . .
Till a cockscomb candle-flame
Crowing loudly, died: Dawn came.

Source:https://vk.com/thesemagicmoments
Source:https://vk.com/thesemagicmoments
Source:https://vk.com/thesemagicmoments
Source:https://vk.com/thesemagicmoments
Source:https://vk.com/thesemagicmoments

Posted in Life, Personal Musings, Stories Around the World, Work

Simple, but Vital

Posted on by Sugar and Spice..... Among Other Things

While listening to the car radio the other day, the various anecdotes told and the different conversations provided plenty of food for thought. Interestingly the point that struck out sorely, is just to be silent enough to listen. For many of us, our entire work may be all about listening. From complaints to hearsay, to grievances to information, interaction always involves all these things. Yet what makes those simple interactions stay embedded in mind is the way one chooses to listen.

“When people talk, listen completely. Most people never listen.” Ernest Hemingway

They are always different ways to lend a ear, but when lent with the entire mind and wholeheartedly gives a lease of fresh air to the speaker. Too many babble just results in an unfruitful rucks. when one learns to truly listen, the entity of empathy, genuine feeling of humaneness and a thread of trust or even hope, is brought out into the interaction. Those simple things do matter, for they are needed to make our life meaningful. As always, being silent to listen and help out if feasible, is indeed golden.

 

Source:https://vk.com/englisharoundtheworld
Source:https://vk.com/englisharoundtheworld
Source:https://vk.com/englisharoundtheworld

Vanilla Ice Cream that puzzled General motors’!!!!

An Interesting Story : Never underestimate your Clients’ Complaint, no matter how funny it might seem! This is a real story that happened between the customer of General Motors and its Customer-Care Executive. Please read on.

A complaint was received by the Pontiac Division of General Motors:
‘This is the second time I have written to you, and I don’t blame you for not answering me, because I sounded crazy, but it is a fact that we have a tradition in our family of Ice-Cream for dessert after dinner each night, but the kind of ice cream varies so, every night, after we’ve eaten, the whole family votes on which kind of ice cream we should have and I drive down to the store to get it. It’s also a fact that I recently purchased a new Pontiac and since then my trips to the store have created a problem.

You see, every time I buy a vanilla ice-cream, when I start back from the store my car won’t start. If I get any other kind of ice cream, the car starts just fine. I want you to know I’m serious about this question, no matter how silly it sounds “What is there about a Pontiac that makes it not start when I get vanilla ice cream, and easy to start whenever I get any other kind?” The Pontiac President was understandably skeptical about the letter, but sent an Engineer to check it out anyway.

The latter was surprised to be greeted by a successful, obviously well educated man in a fine neighborhood. He had arranged to meet the man just after dinner time, so the two hopped into the car and drove to the ice cream store. It was vanilla ice cream that night and, sure enough, after they came back to the car, it wouldn’t start. The Engineer returned for three more nights. The first night, they got chocolate. The car started. The second night, he got strawberry. The car started. The third night he ordered vanilla. The car failed to start.

Now the engineer, being a logical man, refused to believe that this man’s car was allergic to vanilla ice cream. He arranged, therefore, to continue his visits for as long as it took to solve the problem. And toward this end he began to take notes: He jotted down all sorts of data: time of day, type of gas uses, time to drive back and forth etc.

In a short time, he had a clue: the man took less time to buy vanilla than any other flavor. Why? The answer was in the layout of the store. Vanilla, being the most popular flavor, was in a separate case at the front of the store for quick pickup. All the other flavors were kept in the back of the store at a different counter where it took considerably longer to check out the flavor.

Now, the question for the Engineer was why the car wouldn’t start when it took less time. Eureka !!! Time was now the problem – not the vanilla ice cream!!!! The engineer quickly came up with the answer: “vapor lock”.

It was happening every night; but the extra time taken to get the other flavors allowed the engine to cool down sufficiently to start. When the man got vanilla, the engine was still too hot for the vapor lock to dissipate.

Even crazy looking problems are sometimes real and all problems seem to be simple only when we find the solution, with cool thinking. Don’t just say it is ” IMPOSSIBLE” without putting a sincere effort. What really matters is your attitude and your perception.
Moral of the Story: “Try to Fix the Bug instead of making it as a known issue.”

Source:https://vk.com/englisharoundtheworld
Source:https://vk.com/englisharoundtheworld
Source:https://vk.com/englisharoundtheworld
Source:https://vk.com/englisharoundtheworld
Source:https://vk.com/englisharoundtheworld