Happy 2014 with Monkton Mondays!

So here we go again! A New Year is upon us with endless potential or pitfalls depending on how we choose to look at it 😉 and how well we learned last year’s lessons.

This year end has been quite spectacular for me! I spent Christmas and New Year in Goa surrounded by family and friends, music, dancing, much laughter and more alcohol 😛 I love the upbeat mood a good, hearty celebration puts me in 🙂 There’s promise in the air – of good times to come, of obstacles overcome, of dreams fulfilled and goals achieved…and even if it is fleeting & largely illusionary – who cares 😛 It’s good while it lasts and I for one choose to savour the feeling.

2013 as I said in my previous post or I think I did, (it’s too long ago to remember!) was another transitional year for us as a family. We moved from Bombay to Bangalore and are just beginning to find our footing in our new city. 2014, will hopefully see us getting more comfortable  – in our city, our home and in our skins! It’ll be a journey as always, a roller coaster of a ride I have no doubt 😉 But I feel good about it in this moment and that’s what I’m holding on to. I don’t make resolutions anymore – I never keep them anyway, but I do have a few things I hope to achieve this year. I’ll share them when and if I do 😉 Wish me Luck! 

And so in keeping with all these good vibes and positive feelings, I thought this simple message from Mr. Monkton a great way to begin the Year with, not in the least because as I grow older, my ongoing endeavour is ‘To Keep it Simple.’ I find that more often than not – it keeps me out of trouble 😉

So here we go Folks without further ado…2014…LIVE IT 😀

 

Monkton Mondays!

I’m nursing Junior through the Flu at the moment and can’t write much, but we’ve had such a wonderful time these past few weeks, what with Holidays and visits from loved ones, that our Cup Overfloweth! Junior’s nose is also overflowing but that’s another story 😉

So I just wanted to share this film from Mr. Monkton, in which we learn how The Pig of Happiness invented himself and how leaky Happiness can be! I’m hoping some of ours is seeping out from our world and into yours – wherever you are 🙂

Happy Monday Peoples 😀

Monkton Mondays!

Another week, another Monday! I realize I haven’t posted in a while, again, but I’m past making up excuses for myself or for anyone else…it’s just the way Life gets sometimes – there are days, weeks, even months – when I stay away from the Blogosphere for no reason other than ‘no reason’. You know? I just couldn’t be bothered and there’s no deep secret as to why…it’s just because…

Other times, I can’t stay away and will abandon everything to sit and write, as if writing is the only thing that will keep me alive. Over time I’ve realized that I like to share the happy times but not the sad, and yet when I put ‘Happy’ down on the page, it often sounds mundane and boring because so much of Happiness is about context right? Can you tell I’m rambling? I am! It’s just been one of those Monday mornings when I got up with great intentions but lost steam even as the clock approached noon! Perhaps it’s because I was reading Louise Penny’s How the Light Gets In (the concluding book in her Inspector Gamache series), and was lost in the forgotten village of Three Pines that always seems to me like it  exists somewhere on the edge of Time. A good mystery can do that me, and these days I find it so much easier to live in fiction than deal in reality.

For those of you who read the last post – there’s an update – have ‘sort of’ made up with my Mom – although not before another blowout that happened – you guessed it – last Monday. Now we’re talking to each other – carefully, delicately, probably calculatingly – weighing every word, trying to predict every reaction and just being very ‘polite’ to each other in that awful way, if you know what I mean. Denying that anything serious ever happened also helps of course! Denial is the cure for all things – at least in the short-term, until they come and bite you in the you-know-where! And they do! So until the next crisis – All’s Well. If neither of us is jumping with joy – we can always blame it on our arthritic knees – what say? 😉

And so as usual, after another rambling post about nothing in particular, I reach the end and wonder yet again how to tie in my words with a Monkton picture. And as always, Mr. Monkton rises to the occasion. The man is beginning to frighten me with how perceptive he is! Is it even legal for men to be so smart and sensitive? 😛 Since I’m feeling all pensive and rambly today, ‘A Deep Thought on Life’ seemed just the thing. This one seemed to fit my mood best…I’m sure you can see why!

Do you see now? Ever so often I’m off dancing to someone else’s drum!! How can I help it when their music seems much more appealing than mine? Even if just for a little while? And sometimes, dancing to someone else’s drum is the only way to unbreak your own 🙂

Happy Monday People! Dance to music of your drums if you will, but don’t be afraid of switching from your Samba to my Tango, if that’s what gets your feet tapping 😉

Monkton Mondays!

My friend A posted a Monkton gem on Instagram a couple of days ago and was kind enough to mention that she missed Monkton Mondays 🙂 I was delighted of course and also somewhat chastised coz I’ve neglected this Blog rather cruelly for a long time although, for what I tell myself, is a great reason. I’ve moved cities after all – and setting up a new home, getting Junior accustomed to a new school and routine while trying to keep ‘self’ positive and motivated is no walk in the park! 

Settling down is a slow business for someone like me at the best of times, given my natural talent for restlessness and impatience – but I suppose if I don’t force the writing out occasionally, it’ll dry up and wither into a tangled web of shriveled thoughts – and that wouldn’t be good for my health now would it?! So Thank You A, for the nudge that has made me determined to pen this post, although I’ve just spent a good two hours stuck in the harrowing Bangalore traffic and will no doubt spend two more when I leave to pick up Junior. 5 hours a day in a car! Hmmm…maybe now’s the time to get that dream car 😉 After all this trouble, all I want to say is – He better be worth it! Coz Lord knows I’ve earned it! 😉

Since I had the two hours to stew in traffic, this gem from Monkton seemed particularly appropriate today. I wish I had a tablet that would sprout me wings so that I could fly freely over every traffic jam Life threw my way! Now that is a powerful wish 😛 Perhaps in the land of Faerie, they would sell me my wish 😉 I’m reading Stardust by Neil Gaiman, (my first Gaiman, although certainly not my last!), and spend much of my day inhabiting Faerie in my head 🙂 It helps with those traffic jams too! And so this week I pay due homage to those ‘magical chemicals’ that keep me ticking even when somewhere deep within, I would rather just curl up and sleep the ‘sleep of the dead’. Coz where would I be without the little white disc that I trust to keep my pressure down when I’m stuck in traffic? Not in a very good place I assure you 😉

You have a wonderful week People. Hopefully you’ll meet no jams (other than the edible kind!) and will need no chemicals 🙂 unless they’re legal & the kind of spirits that keep you happy of course 😉 Me…I’m look forward to my refreshing Gin & Tonic at the end of what I know is going to be a very long day!

Hurrah for the Chemicals 😀 😉

Monkton Mondays!

Life being what it is – I’ll keep this short and simple. Lord knows none of us need long lectures and endless suggestions! This morning was typically chaotic – what with Mom running out of cooking gas and Dad acting up and Junior who’s in a state of perpetual hyperactivity – not a pretty picture!

So here’s what I did – went out into the verandah with my coffee and camera and waited for the birds. Didn’t get any pictures but managed to reduce the frantic scrambling in my brain 😛 So as Mr. Monkton says – “Dunk & be Happy!!”

Keep it simple, People 😀 I hope the beginning to your week was calmer than mine 😉

Monkton Mondays!

It’s been a while and I was wondering whether I would ever get around to doing another Monkton post. Life has been busy but more than that – interrupted, if you get my meaning! The 5-yr-old feels it his duty to interrupt my thought, my actions, my speech, my everything – every 2 minutes!! Yessir!! On the dot! By that count, I leave you to calculate how long this short post has taken me! Maths in any form being an inherent weakness of mine 😛

So Life being rather a mess at the moment with the upcoming move on top of all else, naturally the mind turns to Tidiness! Neatness. Order. I CRAVE it and no doubt the moment it arrives will abhor it – but such is the nature of the beast 😉 And so once again I turn to Mr. Monkton as I am wont to do in times of despair 😛 And although despair might be too harsh a word, I don’t have the patience nor the inclination to search for another 😉 As usual, he doesn’t disappoint!

A visit from The Tidy People would do me a whole lot of good just about now methinks! They’re friendly and  effective…and that last word…SILENCE…What I wouldn’t do for a bit of it right at this moment…sigh!

Clean up your lives or beware the ‘Attack of The Tidy People’ 😀 😉

Have a wonderful week ahead People 🙂 

Monkton Mondays!

This will be my last Monkton Monday post for a while. The next one, with any luck will be on the 3rd of June, since I’m away for the whole of May! YAY Me 😀 Am rather busy getting all the last minute stuff organized at the moment. Closing house for a month at a time is no joke! And although I have great plans of updating the blog regularly, at least with pictures, while on Vacation – I know myself too well to believe I will 😛

So, I thought I would leave you guys with a rather sweet thought from Monkton to brighten up your day and in deed your Summer 🙂

I have no idea if indeed Elephants find Joy and Wonder in each little thing they do…but I’m not about to argue with Mr. Monkton?! 😉 Are you? 😛 Especially, when he does look rather Joyful doesn’t he 😉

Have a Wonderful Summer People and Happy Holidays 😀

Monkton Mondays!

As the 2nd of May approaches, Travel is taking over my Life 😉 Are you like that too?

I LOVE traveling and so spend many happy hours dreaming of the journey ahead – the sights I’ll see, the food I’ll eat, the pictures I’ll take, the long hours of relaxation with a book and a drink 🙂 It’s a dream – so I skip over the longs lines at immigration, the hyperactive 5-yr-old boy traveling with, the jet lag, the exhaustion from sight-seeing, the one toy forgotten, which is the only one that will do…you get the picture? 😛

The key word here is ‘dream’! I’m not a very organized person (which is why I married one ;)), and packing is usually a last minute frantic exercise in gathering everything I think I need and piling it into the suitcase! I’ve gotten better at it over the years and this time I’m determined to be calm and collected and so have started getting stuff together and making piles well in advance 😛 I’ve made list of the medicines we need to take along, although of course I cannot now find it 😉 Still, I know we’ll be OK!! We always are in the end – and sometimes I think all my chaos just adds to the spirit of adventure! I’m sure Hubby doesn’t share my feelings but it’s not like he has a choice 😛

And now lets see what the inimitable Mr. Monkton has to say on the subject of Travel shall we?!

 

LOL…that sounds so familiar 😉

Happy a Happy Week ahead People 😀 Use Maps 😉

Monkton Mondays!

Well, Well, Well!! Whaddya know! I almost forgot today was Monkton Monday! You know how it gets when you’re just back from a short trip and trying to get back into routine 😛 If you have a 5-yr-old of your own then you already know what I’m saying 😉 Just goes to show, how quickly things slide if you lose focus. Me, faster than most because my focus at best is fuzzy from looking at a million things that interest me at once!

Well, thankfully almost and completely are two different things 😉 And so here I am to trouble you with yet another Monkton gem 🙂 This one is dedicated to all the senior citizens in my Life – there are so many!! They  are all Ninjas in their own right albeit now more in Spirit than anything else! Which may not be such a bad thing coz these are some POWERFUL Spirits we’re talking about 😉 And although Time has reduced some parts to crumbs – they are by no means DEFEATED!

Hip Hip Hurrah to the Senior ‘Ninja’ Brigade 😀 

Have a Happy week ahead People 😀 Channel that inner Ninja 😉

Monkton Mondays!

Here we go again! A quiet weekend during which I had one conversation with Mom, which as always reminded me about the loneliness that often accompanies old age. Even in the presence of well- intentioned and loving family and friends, we are, all of us, in essence, truly alone. It’s hard for Mom, living as she has chosen to do in a large house (much too large for 3 senior citizens), with two people of dwindling speech, to find ways to amuse herself. She’s a text-book introvert too which does nothing to help her cause! And it pains me that I don’t seem to be able to help. I have solutions of course – just none that are acceptable to her! 

As you can see, the conversation wasn’t a very happy one, but miraculously we didn’t get into an argument 😛 In any event – what I need desperately and what she does too (although she’s not going to see this post) is some good old Monkton magic to lighten the mood and perk up our spirits 🙂 So here goes…

See?! I feel so much better after that Mooing session 😉

Have a great week ahead People, and anytime you feel overwhelmed – just find a spot and MOO 😛