The New Improved Milkmoon Manifesto (of sorts).

My dearest friends, readers, and fellow bloggers,

I wear many hats, and even though some days I even wear two or more at the same time, I like to try and make them compliment each other. There are some days I feel overwhelmed by having so many, but loving each of them equally, I cannot give any up.
Now, I am not, of course, talking about real hats, though this household has an impressive collection, rather, I am referring to metaphorical hats.
I blame my mother.
I have written before about growing up in the home I did, and how music was a huge factor for us, the effects of which are, to this day, a major influence.
I could write five different posts on the vast variety of other influences provided without effort by my parents. Honestly, I do not exaggerate when I say my mother is a SuperWoman: Seamstress, potter, wood turner, furniture maker, painter, glass artist, gardener, cook. A walk around my parents home and I would say my mother has made more than half of it! The quilt you tuck round your sleeping child, the lamp you switch on, the dress you wear, the table you sit at, the bread, the salad you eat, the bowl you eat out of, the cup you drink out of, the painting you gaze at, all made by my mother.
I like to say she is a hard act to follow, but also an amazing role model and inspiration.

And did I mention that my Dad writes? And aside from being the best practical joker in Dun laoghaire, he is a splendid cartoonist, as my children will shout to the rooftops about.
And so between them both, they have made me (and my four siblings) a very busy bee indeed.

So I like to write, and take photos, and draw pictures, and stitch little things, and cook, and listen to and share music, and I've also added my own things to this list, such as my yoga practice, and my interest in diet and nutrition as a result of my own inability to eat quite a list of things.
While everything on the first part of this list is generally what makes up Milkmoon, it's the latter things that are somewhat missing. Now don't worry, I won't be posting pictures of yoga poses, more, it's the influence that practicing yoga has on my life, that I want to share. A mindfulness, (not a word I like, but  I'm sure you understand what I mean by it), a compassion that influences everything from how I strive to  parent my children, to how I endeavour to conduct myself day to day, and it's influence on how I 'tread on this earth'. And I would also like to share this journey I am on with regards to cooking and eating, something that has a profound effect on my day to day living.

Some of these things might seem like strange bedfellows on one blog, but all I can say is, they are all my hats, and together they make up something quite well rounded and, well, me! They work for me, and so I hope that translates into a blog of diverse and interesting topics, but ones that sit comfortably together, and I hope that those of you who come to see photos, or read my flights of fancy on the weather, or the seasons, or whatnot, will also pop by to maybe find a recipe, or muse over something I've discovered, or shared.

This blog of mine will be five years old next week! And so, over the next week or two I'll be launching a new-look Milkmoon, posting a number of wordy posts like this explaining just what is coming on the new and improved Milkmoon, and hosting a Giveaway of Splendidness!

So, for any of you that read this with dismay, please don't. I think apart from the new look, the other changes will be subtle. I am feeling newfound enthusiasm for blogging again, and my previous doubts about continuing to blog are nowhere to be found. For the first time in years, I have several draft posts lined up, awaiting rewriting, editing etc.

Over the last couple of years so many of my favourite blogs of old have sadly fallen by the wayside. I know it is very difficult to keep up enthusiasm for it, and I was on the point of giving up myself, so many times. But the reality of it is, now I have a growing number of new pots on the boil, so to speak, and I want to share it with all of you.
I hope you'll stay, and please do bring a friend!

Love Ciara xxx

One Of Those Days.

Are you like me?
If so, then you know how it is.
You wake up in fine form, but by the time you have nagged, cajoled and hustled everyone to where they need to be you are in decidedly bad form.
What you ate for breakfast you know you shouldn't have, but you were too disorganised, or too busy, over the weekend, to plan better, and you drank too much coffee.
And on top of that it is raining, and the washing that was dry but you never brought in, is now soaked through and lying on the soggy grass.
And the traffic was hell, so you were late for school.

It happens more often than I care to admit.
Usually I do have a tendency to be a bit of a Pollyanna, but this is something I have consciously become, and at one point in one of my rants this morning I found myself telling my children that school, the rain, life, is so much easier if viewed from the perspective of such sages as Billy Connolly, or Reinhold Niebhur,  that there are some things we cannot change, so we might as well accept them, and just get on with it. It makes for a far happier and easier life. Yes, it's raining, so we better bring a raincoat!
Believe me, the irony of my own grumpiness in the midst of this was not lost on me.

But none of this is nothing that a good shoulder stand, followed by a cup of Lady Grey tea cannot sort out, so I take myself off to an hour and a half of yoga, and now I am back to 'normal', enjoying my tea as I look out the window at the rain that blows across the marsh, listening to something soothing. And I know this is just one of those days when the daily grind takes a sneaky little dig at me when I am unprepared. There will be more, some other time, and yes, they tend to follow a period of blissful contentment and happiness, but they truly are just one of the knottier threads in my weave.
They are there and I'll just have to admire the texture they give my days.

This Moment....

Inspired by SouleMama.

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.

Let Us Talk About The Sea.

What is it that happens to you, when the cold saltwater hits your skin?

When your breath catches high up, and every nerve ending tells you to stop! 

What is it that happens when you literally take the plunge, and envelope yourself in the briny, endless silence of water, suspended, nothing below your feet to hold you up, and there you float.

No matter how far you stray from the edge of the land, from the places where the sea begins, no matter how many years without it, or how many babies keep your feet on dry land,

you cannot ever take the salt out of your skin.

You will dream about it, run there in your sleep, 

until it finds you again.