penneylaneonline

Thank you all for reading me in the time that I have been here. I decided it was time to move on and to that end I'll be setting up my own website with a Blog. I've been thinking I'd like to set up a writing community like this (well NOT like this but a writing community) in it, maybe you'd be interested. Let me know if you are penneylaneonline@gmail.com I'm only in the initial stages just now but I'll keep you informed. Drop me a line, tell me what you think would make a good writing community... Sign in to see full entry.

Does art imitate life? Or life imitate art? Are they wheels within wheels? Are they simply reflections in the mirror? Do we distinguish one from the other or are they indistinguishable because we cannot define where one ends and the other begins? So many questions. I'm listening for answers. Gardening allows my thoughts space to breathe. Such thoughts for the most part lie dormant in a mental seed bed of hyperactivity that allows little (if much time) for proper soil conditions to prevail. I... Sign in to see full entry.

The way back is fraught with all manner of challenges and dropping bread-crumbs along the way is a clear as mud example of wonky thinking at its best. Or is it? Lately I've been thinking that 'being' is as good (and sometimes better) than starting out in a particular direction and finding out along the way you don't want to go there mid-journey. Has it been a complete and utter waste of time then? Maybe! Maybe not. Journeys are funny things, they make us look at where we are going or they allow... Sign in to see full entry.

We're social creatures at the best of time or complete and utter hermits on others. I prefer the social butterfly thing (within reason) mainly because we tend to come alive in ways that may defy where we might really be at. Are we then being social frauds? I don't think so, mainly because you're never going to be on top of it all of the time, every time. And that's okay. I never really understood why you'd have to fake it till you made it but in saying that I realise that sometimes that's what... Sign in to see full entry.

We do many things in the name of love. We engage with another human being (or favourite pet) to the point where our hearts feel they might burst and we go to war (for love of God and country). Both points on the same continuum. Strange that isn't it! Strangely odd. Oddly strange when you really think about it. T he incongruity of such a happenstance never ceases to amaze me. Hugging is so affirming in its outwardly affectionate way. I find children are the most genuine huggers there are. They're... Sign in to see full entry.

Regret is an anathema to confidence because it puts a dent in it every time. Yesterday was one of those days. Have you ever had a day when (of its own accord) your mind hangs up the "Gone Fishing" sign without so much as a courtesy one of "Back in 5 minutes" too! The thing about regret is it's so immediately chastening and we only ever become the recipient of it when it nags us to consider our actions with a little more scrutiny than we'd probably like. One of my chief regrets in a gloomy day... Sign in to see full entry.

My lap-top died an invirtuous and most undignified death yesterday. With an epitaph befitting a poor man, the message on the screen was short, sharp and to the point. It was missing a driver (poor sod!) nothing to propel it further in its life it simply gave up the ghost! So today, after 15 mins in a a store full of technological wizardry I brought a new one and will send my old one into the boffins to resurrect those things I'd forgotten to back up the last time (and commiserate on my... Sign in to see full entry.

Beauty is as enchanting as it can be deceptive. Is it really in the eye of the beholder? For the most part it can certainly seem like that. It has about it an ethereal quality that feels so fleeting that you can miss it if you blink. Being the beholder only means you're the original filter through which everyone else gets to hear second-hand that you think a thing is beautiful or not. Bit of a bias binding methinks! Still it's the way things are most of the time. On the flip side of the coin, I... Sign in to see full entry.

Fence-sitting can be contagious, not just some of the time by some of the population but most of the time by most of the population. Fence-sitting is safe (or so they say, I beg to differ) which is precisely why so many among us do it! The trouble with trying to point that out to people is firstly they don't want to hear it and secondly they feel it's none of your business anyway. Fence-sitting for them is personal! From time to time I like to open up a can of worms (because I like fishing) and... Sign in to see full entry.

Infidelity is painful. To be the innocent party in it is gut-wrenching. My dear friend is in this gut-wrenching, god-forsaken place and I feel helpless to help her. Instead, I hide my own tears in a purposeful resolve to listen well, make strong pots of tea (because I'm good at it), make her dinner (to satisfy myself that she's eating) and to hug her often. I'm opposed to filling the air with words and more words, there are enough people who'll do that to sink a boat, I'm simply determined I'll... Sign in to see full entry.

Best friends come in small numbers, great friends are even fewer and farther between. Why is that? Well I think mostly it takes time (I'm talking years here) to deepen a friendship that's prepared to bare all. It's as raw and naked as we are want to get because that's the very essence of a great friendship. Great friendships coax cavernous depths of emotion from us that other kinds of friendships don't. They command of the participants a frankness, a transparency and a depth of non-conditional... Sign in to see full entry.

Failure is a stern measure when it shouldn't be. Not getting up ought to be the thing that gets our goat up! I mean really, it should! The number of times I've tripped, fallen or simply stumbled over an obstacle are too numerous to count on both hands, but trip, fall and stumble I have. The thing about doing that is you can learn from it or you can give up. And trust me, the giving up is a darn sight harder. Why you ask? It would be easier wouldn't it? Well, no, it wouldn't be and it isn't... Sign in to see full entry.

Humility in a person is defining. It defines the spirit of a person's character, the essential core of who and how they are. I've often thought humility is bore from humble beginnings, beginnings that are remembered rather than ignored or tucked inside the safety of political correctness. I come from 'feet-in-the-mud' stock. My father was a farmer, you can't get much more 'feet-in-the-mud' than that. To me he epitomises humility. His is not false either. You can tell it isn't because of the way... Sign in to see full entry.

Australia is in the middle of a full-blown election campaign right now. It's been a bit bloody (as one might expect), it's been controversial (again, as one might expect) it's been full of loaded promises that hopefully will come home to roost when the song and dance routines are no longer necessary. But best of all it appears to be a tussle between comparative equals. Granted in-the-job experience between the battling wannabes is less than equally yoked but that's what makes the battle a worthy... Sign in to see full entry.

" I dreamed a dream in times gone by when hope was high and life worth living I dreamed that love would never die, I dreamed that God would be forgiving Then I was young and unafraid and dreams were made and used and wasted There was no ransom to be paid, no song unsung, no wine untasted But the tigers come at night with their voices soft as thunder As they tear your hope apart and they turn your dream to shame He slept a summer by my side, he filled my days with endless wonder He took my... Sign in to see full entry.

I miss the open spaces of my childhood but I'm caught in a bind. The city is where I've lived most of my life but it's the smell of the country that makes me feel alive again, the smell of open space and it's reminder of a different kind of days work that makes sleeping at night a cinch. Country people have that all over city people for sure. Don't get me wrong, country people have their fair share of worries too and they're not immune to the kind of pressures (Banks foreclosing on loans) that... Sign in to see full entry.

Many comedians these days rely alot on finding shock tactics to deliver the all too familiar four-letter 'f' word to every respectable sentence that ever graced a stage. I wonder sometimes if that's just a lack of vocabulary on their part! A good comedian (I think) has a repetoire of clever-witted (as opposed to dim-witted) speak that is not only intellectually engaging but also theatrically competent. I miss that about so much of what gets passed off for stand-up. I've often thought that if the... Sign in to see full entry.

The notion that one's popularity in a herd is interesting to me. How does one get to be a big kahuna then? Something as absurdly knee-deep as bigger is best? As insalubrious as mere good looks? As lofty-minded as self installation? How exactly? I find popularity contests a bore, an affront to my sensibilities that I can't make up my own mind about who I choose to hang out with, for whatever reason! And I hang out with many different kinds of people for many different kinds of reasons. I... Sign in to see full entry.

Jealousy is a killer however you experience it, one of those silent assassins that can turn inwards on the unsuspecting self without it even knowing. It's tough when you finally recognise its stranglehold on you and even tougher when IT knows it has you in its grip. Jealousy has, I suspect, it's origins in fear and an empty gas tank of trust and self worth. I have a friend who perpetually runs their car on the sniff of an oily rag. It mortifies me because I'm anally retentive enough to hate the... Sign in to see full entry.

Getting the wrong end of the stick can almost certainly cause a storm in a teacup but how do you stop it when you realise you've too far gone to pull back from it? Do you just continue on and finish it knowing full well you're in the wrong or do you nip the whole charade in the bud and hope all will be forgiven (eventually). Is it really such a tough call? I think it is because being wrong is so unhelpful to our thinking. For the most part we believe we know why we do the things that we do. I... Sign in to see full entry.