Summer Struggle 2016

Champions are made from something they have deep inside them-

a desire, a dream, a vision.

- Muhammad Ali

This is going to read a bit odd but getting through this summer has been one of my most difficult struggles ever and on a particular level I never would've expected. The reason why you haven't seen much on this blog until now hasn't been lack of subjects, boredom or writer's block or even writer's cramp. I've written more by handwriting this summer than I ever have in my life and my hands are fine except for sheer exhaustion. There. I said it. I'm exhausted from all the hard, physical labor I've been doing and it's been tripled and quadrupled this summer with extra work needing to be done around the house, more yard work, reorganization of just about everything in my house including moving furniture and equipment from downstairs to upstairs and vice versa all by myself. What I need is a house person. You know, like a house boy only politically correct. Here's the kicker: In the past I've been completely physically exhausted and then sat down to write and been just fine to think, edit and rewrite to my heart's content and completely in my element. 

     Now when I finally find time to sit down and write, I find that exhaustion is affecting my thinking. That's new and unwelcome. I've never known anything like this and I don't want to know it, either. This isn't happening because I don't like hard work or can't do it. I can do it and I don't mind hard work or at least I never have in the past. I'm digging in my heels because I don't want to be so exhausted that I can't think to write. That's where I draw the line. Here's the additional problem: quitting the heavy labor isn't an option.

     Not one to give up, I'm certain there's a solution and it would be something like this: Make a million dollars on my first castles book then hire someone to cook three square meals everyday and clean up after. Then, I would hire someone to make my yard look like a showcase home. I would have someone come every day to clean my house from top to bottom and do my laundry, fold it and/or hang it up and put it away. Having someone do all my shopping would be a bonus that would finally liberate me to sit down and just write for eight or more hours a day. Of course, I wouldn't give up my exercise in the morning which consists of yoga stretches followed by a swift walk up to the park, slam dunking 20 out of 30 basketball shots at the court and then coming home to write some more. That only takes about 45 minutes- tops.

     If there is any extra time after writing I could then take the time to rebuild a manicure/pedicure/nail clientele that doesn't exist for me anymore. Believe it or not, I really have enjoyed the profession I worked for three decades of my life before I watched my clientele dwindle away before my eyes. Either people don't care about the way their hands look, in the present day, or they don't have the money. No amount of discounting seems to work for these Asian discount salons. Most of them are empty, except for rows and rows of empty desks and two or three techs sitting around and watching TV. While I worked at storefront salons, including my own storefront, I don't think my client chair was ever empty. I worked ten hour days when I owned my storefront salon and never even thought about the amount of time I put in because I loved making women beautiful and helping them feel good about themselves. I guess that's out of vogue, too, but not for me. I can't go more than a week for manicuring my nails and I'd never give up the pedicures I do on myself at least once a month. If women have given this up even after years and years of being faithful clients then I can only think that they do not prioritize for themselves any longer and don't care what kind of details are in the look. Some hairstyles I've seen appear to have that philosophy!

     I will forge ahead with my dream of one day gallivanting the planet, doing site inspections any where castles can be found and writing about them and possibly showing them off on my own TV show. After that, putting them up on my web site will be done by my faithful and trusty web master who will turn my web site into a dream come true for myself and all my internet fans. You might even need an app to be able to buy my books at my web site! Bliss ! Another Cinderella dream achieved. Even though we both might be laughing now it will be followed with a sense of awe.

     I've always achieved everything that I've truly wanted to- believe it! I know I can achieve it. I've done that before. 

          

Some coincidences are not really coincidences...

" Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass on a summer day listening to the murmur of water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is hardly a waste of time."

     Has summer seemed too long to you? With high digit temperatures reigning throughout the land I'd understand if someone said they wished summer was over. I had a wonderful fan bite the dust last night and groaned because I knew it only meant one thing. Replacement. Interestingly, however, I've coped better with the heat today than usual and credit my willingness to do my high activity of the day when the temperature digits were still pretty low. I had practically forgotten what an early summer's day feels like and I think I'm going to like this business of going back to dealing with summer the way it is- not that I have a choice but at least I won't have to retreat to the basement as usual. Not yet, anyway.

     There's something about summer that is God's (and nature's) way of telling you to slow down. Have a glass of lemonade on the porch without the aim of fixing something or cleaning up, perhaps. If stopping and getting lost in thought is some kind of crime then life is going to get mighty miserable. I say, let's all take a break and stop expecting to keep up a pace that the world around us expects but no longer wants to continue themselves. Summer exists for a good reason and when I figure out what it all is I'll be certain to let you know. This morning's musical fare consisted of listening to Brian Wilson sing, "In My Room", which always made me think of what it is like to just sit somewhere, unobtrusive- and watch the world go by while trying to solve the energy crisis in my head. It's always for something. Try it sometime. I think you'll like it.

    

-

Last wee at the beginning John Lubbock

Earth Day, Every Day: It starts with you!

    

http://www.alibris.com/blog/earth-day-every-day-starts/

Earth is our home so we should treat it with the same respect we show to our possessions.

 

We will be made accountable to God for how we treat it.

 Believe it!

Happy Earth Day a little late ! Better late than never !

The Castle Lady

Expectations + Prayer = Real Results

 

     If ever I could say that a year just flew past me while I was trying my best to harness time, it was last year. By November I had to look up my records to find out when I had posted my last castle entry on my Word Press blog and was astonished to find that my Hertfordshire entries were posted during the earliest days of March and in a matter of a couple of days! I've been so busy trying to swat problems as they continually crop up that there was no time left for writing much of anything- especially about castles. Even this blog has really suffered for want of some good entries all through 2015. It's all the result of shifting from spending my designated eight hours ( or more) of reading, writing and researching to fitting those activities around a basic DIY day, every day. Nothing in the world is more impossible- with the exception of preventing wars! It's also quite exhausting.

     In the future, starting this year, all those things are going to have to take a back seat to my beloved work. The dishes will always be there. Mops need to dry out. I'll really put soap and my vacuum to the true test in 2016. Maybe someone will bless me with a Molly Maids gift certificate and I can go out to lunch instead ! Well, I can dream can't I ? Better yet, a housekeeper can stir up a white tornado around here while I sit in the eye of it and write my head off. It would be about time, huh?

     I do apologize for what seems like neglect but really is not. My heart has been right there- buried in the photos and videos and new books on castles and England. I'll have you know it's very frustrating to me when I can't get to my pet project. I even get withdrawal symptoms and pull out all my castle videotapes and the photos I've taken during my castle trips. I'm wondering if I ever had to have brain surgery, when they opened up my skull, they'd find it was shaped like a castle.

     All joking aside, upon receiving a revelation from the Lord, I realized suddenly that I have lowered my expectations about life a bit too far and really need to shift up into high gear a bit more. I need to doff the habit of praying and then forgetting all about it. Putting matters in God's hands does not mean dumping everything in his lap. We need to be actively engaged in the process of putting our prayers into action. The verse in James 2:26 is often misconstrued to mean that faith without carrying the matter out by yourself is useless but if the entire chapter is read carefully you find that it's all about bringing your attention to the matter at hand and to raise your expectations. Your faith level is contingent upon how high your expectations are of the outcome of your prayers and supplications to God. You certainly can't build faith without high expectations and you won't receive or acknowledge answers to prayer if you stay down in the well of despair.

     Therefore, I am going to challenge my readership on this blog and from elsewhere to start putting forth stronger faith along with accomplishments, dedication and plain hard work. Giving in to disappointments and discouragements can become habitual and they only weigh us down and put a damper on every effort we make towards goals, plans and dreams. God would not have any of us thinking like that and I'm not saying it's going to be easy but if you keep your faith and expectations high it can only help you. It certainly doesn't help to let all the negative naysaying and bad reports take center stage. That's nowhere.

     In order to live a full and happy life we have to take charge of it and there's no better way than taking the opportunities which allow you to shoot strong and high towards those things you feel will make a difference. I feel that way about my castle work and I'll never quit until I have accomplished exactly what I've set out to do. It's a long road but I love travel...

     So, expect to see a whole lot more castles on http://thecastlelady.wordpress.com in 2016 on south England and perhaps even more often on this blog which has always been my catch-as-catch-can forum. Of all my blogs, this one tends to force me to take stock and then forge ahead. In other words,