Believe

This is what I believe.

This song is by Amy Steinberg, an American independent songwriter and I love everything about it.

"I am exactly where I need to be, I need to be exactly where I am."

"I believe that we are light and we shine."

Sending you huge love, 

♥

My First Pencil Portrait

A little while ago, I wrote about how I was practising drawing different facial features in a bid to be able to put them all together and create a portrait that didn't have any cubist elements to it.  You can read about my attempts here.

After managing to master the intricacies of drawing lips, eyes, a nose and ears, I took the plunge and drew a portrait.  This was actually in the spring of last year, but, for anyone who's been reading my blog for a while, you'll know that the proverbial c**p hit the fan in May last year, with a multitude of things happening throughout the summer that meant that my blog had to take a back seat, while I navigated the series of "Unfortunate Events" Lemony Snickett style. You can read about that here.

So, in a bid to "catch you up" with what I drew last year, here are the pencil studies of the facial features...

And here is my first pencil portrait.  Her name is Abigail.

I drew Abigail with the help of a library book all about how to draw portraits.  She took several days. Due to energy being a very precious commodity for me, I had to work on her in short bursts, and take "energy breaks" to sleep and rest up, (my energy doesn't last too long when concentrating or sitting in one position! Boo!)  But, I'm learning to listen to my body and be gentle with myself and I have very happy memories of being completely surprised as she started to appear on the page.

I still can't believe I drew her!

How are you doing with your creative adventures?

Sending much love through the internet ether.

The Best Postman In The World

I have the best postman in the world. He's called Phil and gives me a smile and a wave every day as he goes past my house.

He laughs and jokes with me whenever I need to sign for anything. He's an all round decent bloke who, in small ways that I'm sure he has no idea about, makes a difference to my days. 

He knocked on the door this morning to drop off a book I'd ordered, and I got a chance to give him his "Thank you for being so great" Christmas present. We got chatting and during the chat he said to me...

"You won't see me for a few months now, Emma, I'm going to Afghanistan for nine months. I'll be back in September. My little girl is 8 years old so she's old enough for me to go. I've been wanting to do this for years but the last chance I got to go my little girl was only 2, and if anything happened to me she wouldn't remember me. She's old enough now, so I've decided to go. I've been in the Territorial Army for years and I want to make a difference. I'll be at Camp Bastion."

In the smallest moments of any day, you never know when you're going to have a moment that touches your heart. 

Every day I've seen him, and smiled and waved back, having no idea that he was harbouring this dream. Or that he'd have to wait until his little girl was old enough to remember him before he could fulfil it.  

I asked him how he felt about going and he said, "Hopefully I'll be OK."

It was the moment he said those words and I saw a quick shadow of doubt go across his face, that I understood how much going to Afghanistan mattered to him, and how difficult it had been to make the decision to go. 

I'm going to miss his wave and smile as he goes past each day, and will think about him over the next few months and hope he's keeping safe. I have the best postman in the world.