Question of the day.

What’s the most beautiful place you’ve ever been?

My answer:

The most beautiful? Hmmm… I’m sure I’ve been to many beautiful places, although it’s hard to recall them now. I consider Stockholm very beautiful, because I just love Sweden, even that little piece of Sweden I’ve been to. Also when I think of beautiful places I think about one of the beaches we’ve been to, it’s in one of national parks and it’s really beautiful there. The village is called Smołdzino, and it is a very small, poor village, but very clean and quiet, and the sea and the beach seems cleaner than anywhere else I’ve been to, even though it’s the same sea as anywhere else in Poland. It was a very nice place. I also consider my room a beautiful place simply because it’s a safe space for me. It’s a bit messy though so I guess I’m not objective. 😀

How about you? 🙂

Question of the day.

Which of your friends are you proudest of?

My answer:

I’m proud of many of my friends, for different reasons. But most?… Like most?… Hmmm. I guess my friend Jacek from Helsinki, the one with whom I was writing about the vikings and the Norse gods. I really admired his passion and determination. He didn’t have the best family situation, and lots of other mostly situational difficulties to overcome, but despite them, he decided he wants to study Finnish, and go to Finland, and he did just that. Despite he had dyslexia, and many people were apparently just openly telling him: “Languages?! You’re not serious, it’s not for you!”. He lived in a rural area but he moved to a city quite far away from where he lived, and started to study there. And then they sent him to Finland. And he just amazed me with his social skills, that he was able to get things from people very easily because he was always so friendly and charming. He managed to get a job in Finland while still studying. I’m sure that if he wouldn’t pass away, the world would hear about him. He had such a charisma around him and I just felt lucky to be his friend. So if I had to pick one specific person, it would be him, because, well he was overall quite a remarkable guy. Also it was really impressive and moving to me how brave he was when he finally became ill.

But other than that, I think it deserves mentioning, that I am also proud of my friends that I have in the mental health email groups that I’m in. Particularly those who are trauma and abuse survivors. Won’t be naming particular people here, as I’m not sure if they would be OK with it, but I feel proud for all of them. I myself also have been through some traumatising stuff, which I’m still having trouble acknowledging but, well, it’s hard to call it otherwise so I guess that’s how it should be called, but no abuse other than some emotional, and I don’t have PTSD. And I’m just so very proud of all of them, that although they’ve been through so much often very horrendous stuff, they still keep going, and are so incredibly resilient. And I’m happy to be their friend and proud of all their achievements.

Same about all the mental health bloggers whom i already know at least a bit, I feel lucky to know so many inspiring people.

Also when I write with some of my penfriends, who are travelling a lot, or doing other fascinating things, I just can’t help but think: “Gosh, what gorgeous people I happen to know!” 😀

Well so actually I guess I mentioned all of my groups of friends since most of people with whom I’m in touch fairly regularly, other than my family, are either from mental health lists, or from the blogosphere, or my penfriends.

I guess I could find a reason to be proud of everyone of my friends, at least those closer one with whom I talk more regularly and personally.

How about you? 🙂

Enya – “And Winter Came”.

Hi guys. 🙂

Heres another wintry piece from Enya. I love it. It’s so relaxing, full of warmth, and soothing, perfect for winter. 🙂

The many forms of Sophia

Which of these forms of Sophia is your favourite? 🙂
I have a bit of an ambivalent approach to it. In opposite to Carrie-Anne, I dislike Zofia, even though it is my sister’s name. I just never liked it, nor the most popular nickname Zosia. So when she was born I started to call her Zofijka and that’s how she’s called to this day. We’ve also created a whole lot of other nicknames, most of them quite funny.
On the other hand though, I LOVE LOVE LOVE Sophie, and Sofie, and Sofia, and I often call my ZOfijka Sofi or Sofija too, or Fifi. Sophia is cool too, though sooo popular, and it is a bit of a downside in my opinion.
I absolutely love the Hungarian diminutive Zsófika, which according to my knowledge should be read like ZHO-fee-kaw, it’s so funny and cute. I also like Finnish Sohvi, and it’s fabulous nickname Vivi.
I’ve never heard before about Hawaiian Hopi, mentioned in this post, but it seems lovely and quirky, will have to ask my zippy Zofijka what she thinks of it. 🙂

Onomastics Outside the Box

British novelist Sophia Lee, 1750–1824

Sophia, which means “wisdom” in Greek, has been extraordinarily popular over the last 15-20 years, after decades of being unfashionable and considered geriatric. In 1997, it shot into the U.S. Top 100, at #94, up from #124 the previous year. It continued rocketing upwards, reaching #1 from 2011–13. In 2017, it was down to #5.

It’s also #3 in Canada; #5 in Austria; #10 in Northern Ireland; #11 in England and Wales; #15 in Australia; #17 in Switzerland and Scotland; #18 in Ireland; #23 in New Zealand; #42 in The Netherlands; #54 in Belgium; and #90 in Norway.

Saint Sophia with her daughters Faith, Hope, and Love

Sofia, which is modern Greek, Italian, Catalan, Romanian, Slovak, Estonian, Finnish, Portuguese, Scandinavian, and German, has also been enjoying great popularity. It entered the U.S. Top 100 in 2003, at #97, and shot up to its…

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My Inner MishMash is a year old!

Whohooo! Yaaaaaayyyyyyyyyy!!! Congrats to me! My Inner MishMash is a year old today. I just realised it a while ago. How cool! What should I do with this fact? Any special celebrations? Changes? A giant birthday cake? I just really forgot about it sort of so didn’t think about anything, what a shame! But oh I’m so proud of myself for having this blog, developing it and sticking to it, and I think it has helped me so much in various areas of my life throughout this past year. This was such a damn good decision to start it and I regret I didn’t think earlier about it, well I did, but that I didn’t start it. But well I guess my English needed some time to become more communicative. Yay! Happy birthday, my dear blog. 😀

Question of the day.

What was your favourite toy growing up?

My answer:

I guess I’ve written about my favourite toy sometime earlier on my blog, but since I don’t even remember myself where it was, I guess it could be very recently. OK, so my most favourite toy ever was a teddybear called Pimpuś. Apparently it wasn’t really a teddy bear, but a mouse, but at the time I was when I got him, I was crazy about bears so it could be anything and I would call it a bear. Besides it looked so that it was easy to confuse with a bear. His name was Pimpuś. He was just an average, medium sized stuffed animal, with a rather long and funny-looking tail, with which I liked to fidget. I got him from my grandma’s friend who really liked me for some reason. Pimpuś was a great comforter for me and I liked to sleep with him, I slept with him all the time. I rarely played with him though, he was just a cuddly toy for me. When I went to school, or to nursery actually, I didn’t take him with me because I didn’t want him to “stink” like it, so I had to live without him for weeks in a row at the boarding school, but when I was home I was sleeping with him every night. Even as a teen I still had him sitting on my bed and keeping me company, until Misha replaced him. No one can vie with Misha, haha. So now Pimpuś is on his well deserved retirement, and it is visible that he has been through a lot. He has undergone over three surgeries, and is now living peacefully on one of my shelves, watching over my room from high above. I must say that I never really played like an average kid, unless I had to. I remember it being a bit of a concern for some reason for my grandma, who therefore used to buy me lots of dolls and accessories for them, hopeful that it will encourage me to play “the right way”. I was always very interested in them whenever I was getting them but only for a short while, and then they were gathering dust, unless they were sort of figurines, then I played with them a lot. I much preferred playing with balls – glass balls or metal balls, like from wheel bearings, – small porcelain figurines, things that I thought looked interesting, or my Dad’s garrage accessories, as well as things like shells or stones or such. I still have a huge collections of all sizes of glass and metal balls, and a huge box with other things I used to play with. I liked to make up stories, and I used my synaesthesia to base them on. For those of you who don’t know or don’t remember, my synaesthesia is auditory-tactile, so that when I hear a word, or sometimes even a single sound, I associate it with some tactile stimulus, or even a few sometimes, and vice versa, when I hold something in my hand or feel something, I can easily match it with word(s) that I associate with it. So while I was playing with all those things, I could easily think of all different sorts of words that I could associate with them, and made up very intricate stories with them, in which even I myself often got lost. While I created a story, I either just fidgeted with those things in my hands (I guess it was some sort of a sensorism), or illustrated the story with them – like imagined that those things are people, or other characters/objects I needed in the plot. Sometimes I played with them in a more conventional way, like my Dad made a little sort of toy stage for me and I played that my figurines or balls were acting or singing or whatever, or I played normal stuff like hospital or school but just with these things, but that was quite rarely.

How about your favourite toy? 🙂

Just Jack – “Starz In Their Eyes”.

Hi people. 🙂

This one of my newest re-discoveries. I found this song somewhere recently and I realised I had to hear it sometime in the past, can’t remember the circumstances, only that it was a long long time ago and that I have some nice memories with this song. How interesting is that. Sometimes you can’t recall the memory or what was going on, but the music you heard then stays in your brain and can get you back to those feelings you experienced in the past. This is not really my type of music, but because of those nice associations and memories, I do like this song a lot, and boy I didn’t even know before re-discovering this song that the name of the singer is Jack! 😀 How cool. 🙂

Queen Of Questions.

I’ve seen some of the bloggers I follow taking part in

Queen Of Questions

hosted by The Haunted Wordsmith. So I thought I’ll do it too, ’cause it’s fun, and because the questions are food-themed, they sort of match the short story I’ve just published! 😀

Here goes:

 

1. What is your favorite chocolate dessert? I like most chocolatey things, I like plain milk chocolate, chocolate with hazelnuts, various biscuits with chocolate, some chocolate cakes, etc. Yeah most of it all I guess.
2. Where do you go first in the grocery store? – I guess we don’t have any routine, depends on a shop and what is where and what we need.
3. You win three minutes of free shopping in the grocery store with an empty cart…what do you fill it with? – Kefir, olives and other veg I like, some fruit like tangerines, grapes, oranges, freezed chips, some crisps or other snacks, raspberry tea… don’t know, whatever I need. That’s just what came to my mind spontaneously and what I usually think of while grocery shopping.
4. What is your favorite fruit and how do you like to eat it? I like most fruit, except for bananas, papaya, avocado and some others, and I am not a big fan of plums and cherries, well I can eat cherries as such but I hate cherry-flavoured things ugh yuck. But the rest of fruit I like or love, at least those I know so far, and I actually can’t say which one I like the most. Maybe raspberries? Dunno really. Anyway, I usually like to eat them raw, on their own, or in a salad/jelly/cake. My Mum also often makes jams or marmelades or preserves in the summer and they are good too, or she makes what we call kisiel in Poland, it’s such a type of jelly so to say, but it’s thinner and usually served hot, I guess you don’t have a separate word for it in English. You can eat it or if it’s thin enough even drink it.I also like some fruit dried.
5. You go to a magic cafe where plates fill with whatever you request…what do you get? – Some delicious spaghetti, the best spaghettii in the world. Recently I’ve been really craving for spaghetti for some reason. 😀
6. How do you like your fish? – Preferably not at all. I’ll it if I’d have to, but I’m not a fan of fish. Oh maybe except for tuna. I quite like it, especially tuna salad.
7. Do you eat jello (what is your favorite flavor)? – I do, I really like it. Any flavour other than cherry and my other least favourite fruit flavours will do.
8. What is the most, ahem, “adult” food you can think of? – Adult food? Hmmmmmm in what sense? Maybe some hot food, children don’t seem to like hot things most often.
9. What food do you eat that might put you in the “old” age? – I think old age food would be all kinds of mashy, pulpy things, or bland, insipid food with little or no spices, or non crispy food. Stuff like bread without crust, completely peeled apples, mashed potatoes, semolina, all sorts of gruels, overcooked meat, etc. you get it, I feel deeply for anyone who has to eat such things unless they are OK with it and it’s their choice, then I don’t understand them.:D
10. Mall food courts…yes, no, where do you eat? So far I’ve never eaten on a mall food court.

 

The Power Of Food And Music – myshortstory.

And so, the time has come. I decided I’m going to write a short story in English. Please be understanding as it’s my first one, so it may not be perfect stylistically or grammatically, also my vocabulary in English is still much less extensive than Polish, so my skills are limited, and I wanted to start off with something very simple and uncomplicated, probably even quite superficial, but I hope it will be enjoyable and still of bearable quality. i came up with this idea on Tuesday, and I based it on some writing prompts for Tuesday that I found on WordPress. Opinions are more than welcome. 😉

 

 

*   *   *

 

The Power Of Food And Music

 

It was a gloomy,

Tuesday

afternoon, and Eleonora Greene, known as Ellie among her friends – a young chemist – has just come back home from work. She was knackered. She spent most of the day doing all sorts of experiments in her

laboratory.

Ellie loved her job, but today nothing seemed to go well, and her opinion was that on days like these – rainy, foggy and cold – everyone deserves a break. The weather was also affecting Ellie’s mood, and she felt slightly dejected. It wasn’t a normal thing for her. Ellie was an energetic and level-headed person with an optimistic, but very practical

angle

on life. When something didn’t satisfy her, she immediately looked for ways to change it. She just wasn’t used to feeling sad. Therefore, as soon as she came home, she thought: “It can’t be like this any longer. I need to find some

solution

for this and cheer myself upright now”.

There was only one thing in the world Ellie loved as much as chemistry. This thing was cooking. Not only because she liked food, as most humans tend to do, but also because her own view was that cooking is also chemistry. So there was only one way she could think of at the moment to make herself feel better. Make some good food! Ellie carefully examined the content of her fridge. Apart from many other edible products, she found there a lot of Swiss cheese. After some good thinking and flicking through her huge collection of cook books, wondering about an ideal comfort food and a way to utilise all the Swiss cheese piling up in her fridge, she decided to make Swiss cheese enchiladas. They sounded delicious, and she had all the ingredients

close at hand.

Moving around the kitchen, mixing and stirring the ingredients and baking, together with all the enticing smells filling the house, helped to shift Ellie’s attention to more positive things. Completely absorbed by baking, she forgot about the passing time. She found the whole activity of cooking so enjoying that in the end, there were many more enchiladas than she intended to make. Nevertheless, Ellie relished her meal thoroughly and ate away as much as she could. The feelings of joy and pleasure have

magnified

greatly and her previously low mood has become only a vague memory.

Just after she finished and cleaned up the kitchen, the doorbell rang. It turned out to be Ellie’s neighbour – Nadia. – Nadia was a single woman in her late 20’s, and both neighbours were good friends, despite all the differences in their personalities and tastes. While Eleonora was

curious

of the world, energetic and down to Earth, Nadia was pensive, refined and subtle. They both were quite deep thinkers though so liked each other’s company a lot and, paradoxically, had a good understanding of each other and complemented one another.

“Oh girl!” – Ellie exclaimed excitedly – “What a perfect timing! I’ve just made tons of enchiladas and don’t know what to do with them, come in and help me get rid of them!”

“It’s so nice of you, Ellie” – said Nadia slightly confounded – “but I’m afraid I can’t. I’ve just popped in for a second to ask you whether you would like to go with me for a chamber music concert. I have a spare ticket and don’t know what to do with it either. I don’t feel like going there alone, but I love this band”. Nadia explained to her friend briefly why she was left out with a spare ticket by a guy she had been dating for a while and what a big disappointment their breaking up was for her. “Chamber music?…” – Ellie thought – “That must be rather boring”.

But she really liked Nadia and felt for her at this moment. She knew her friend was very enthusiastic about chamber music and she wanted to do something kind for her. So although she felt much better listening to something a bit less sophisticated, without further ado she simply said: “OK, when does it start?”

“In an hour. Would you really do it for me? It’s so sweet of you, I know you said you don’t like chamber music, but I really don’t have anyone else to go with.

“I’m happy to go with you if it makes you happy. And to be honest, I don’t think I’ve ever listened to chamber music, so who knows, maybe I’ll like it”.

Twenty minutes before the concert was meant to start, the women found themselves in front of a large, noble-

looking building, which as Nadia explained to her friend was a medieval palace.Ellie felt both bewitched and dazed by grandiosity of the building.

Finally, they found their places in the chamber, and the concert started. Ellie graduately started to feel as if a warm wave of serenity floated through her body. It wasn’t one bit boring. She wallowed in sweet sounds of piano, violin, cello and other instruments, feeling all the bad emotions of the day going out of her mind, and being replaced by calmness and peace. Between one music piece and another she promised herself to NEVER EVER judge anything before trying it out.

By the end of the day she felt not only much better, but it even stopped raining, and the world looked just like a much better place to live in. On the way back, Ellie thanked Nadia for the lovely evening, and asked her to come over to her and finish it with enchiladas. Once they were both stuffed and Nadia went home, Ellie smiled to herself and said: “I would never thought such small things like chamber music and Swiss cheese can change your day entirely”.

Question of the day.

What slang or trend makes you feel old?

My answer:

Well, I guess I’m usually behind trends and I like it, and because it’s a normal thing, I don’t tend to feel old because of it. Sometimes I do a bit when talking to Zofijka about trends in her school or age group, or hear her using some “weird” words, that I’ve never heard before or that I don’t know what context they could have for her. Like some months ago Zofijka started talking a lot about “pranks”. I did know what prank means, in English, but I’ve never heard this word in Polish, so was quite confused what she’s actually talking about and whether it’s the same that I think. 😀 We have some situations like this once in a while, as Zofijka, in opposite to me, always likes to fit in and be like others. But I don’t feel old or negative in any other way about it, I don’t care about trends among tweens, it usually just makes me laugh, especially Zofijka’s annoyed reaction when I don’t know what she’s talking about. I can usually keep up with slang, unless it’s just sort of youth/teenage school slang or something like this which I often find a bit cringey and never used a lot, even when being a teen myself. The slang words are changing and the times are changing, but it’s still cringey, unless it’s just me seeing it this way. Sometimes social media make me feel sort of behind the times, as I only use the Twitter and either don’t care about the rest or find them overwhelming, but I also can’t say I regret it that I don’t keep up with them. Social media definitely do have their big pros and benefits, but there are alternatives, and because they also have sometimes quite big cons for me, I’d rather keep away from most of them.

How about you? 🙂

Jack Vreeswijk – “Gull Är Död” (Gull Is Dead).

Hi guys. 🙂

Today is Jack Vreeswijk’s 55th birthday, if I count correctly. Happy birthday, Jack!!! 😍To avoid any confusion, and I guess it can be a bit confusing for the uninitiated, everyone in my surroundings who doesn’t know Jack, so most people, get confused which Vreeswijk is which and, especially that I love the name Jack, they usually think it’s Jack who is my crush. Jack is the son of Cornelis, and he is also a singer, and Cornelis is – besides Jack’s father – the one on whom I’ve had a crush, and whose poems I’ve been trying so desperately to translate to Polish, and he passed away over 30 years ago when Jack was 23 I believe. But Jack is still alive. I think Jack is also great, although luckily in his own way and not a copy cat of his dad, I’m glad he has his own individuality, even though he has made some covers of Cornelis’ songs, I like him a lot. And I think the song I’m going to show you is interesting. As for Gull, it’s a feminine Nordic name. So, let’s celebrate Jack’s birthday and listen to some of his music. 🙂

Enya – “The Magic Of The Night”.

Here’s another Christmassy/wintry song by Enya. I really love it. 🙂

Question of the day (23rd January).

What’s the silliest reason you’ve ever gotten into a fight with someone?

My answer:

I’m not someone who is quick to argue or fight usually. As most of us, I definitely don’t like conflicts, but also I think they are, most often, a waste of time and nerves for both sides. If you’re arguing, you usually can’t make your opponent think the same way as you, no matter how hard you try, right? You’ll rather enrage them more and become more cross and upset with them yourself. Of course there are exceptions, but they are just that, exceptions, or so I believe anyway. So I don’t like to fight. Unless I really think I could get something out of it and I need it, or just for fun, or something like that. The person with whom I usually argue or fight, if ever, is Zofijka. We can fight about anything, but even if we’re mad at each other, there is usually some element of humour involved and it’s not fully serious. But I really can’t remember the last thing we fought about, I most often don’t think much about it.

How about you? 🙂

Song of the day (23rd January) – Child Of Mind – “Take A Look At My Diary”.

I thought I’d like to share with you one of Declan Galbraith’s songs. Declan Galbraith has been one of my earlier crushes, and my crush on him started on 21 January some years ago, I don’t even remember exactly which year. Since Declan, I’ve already had two crushes, but I still like him a lot. So far I have showed you only 2 songs by him  one

“Strange World”

comes from his demo, and the other –

“Walking In The Air”

comes from his debut album – “Declan” – released in 2002 when Declan was 10 years old. Now he’s 27, and since 2017 I believe, uses the name Child Of Mind. He’s also working on an artistic project of the same name. He has released one EP so far, and it’s really intriguing. From a child who was mainly covering popular songs, he has come a long way, and developed tremendously! I find his lyrics particularly interesting. And the song I’m going to show you here – “Take A Look At My Diary – is the one that speaks to me the most, and is the most relatable for me. I think though that many other people with mental illnesses, but also other similar issues I guess, can probably relate to it easily. I am curious what has inspired him to write this song, as it is very true.

Question of the day (22nd January).

What’s the best way to spend a rainy afternoon?

My answer:

Well, you can do pretty much anything you wish, I guess, depends on your creativity. My go to activities would be probably to read a book, listen to some music, especially such that fits in the aura outside, get myself comfy and cosy in the house with Misha and something nice to eat and a hot drink, or go for a walk if the rain isn’t too heavy. But then I could do these things on a day without rain as well.

What do you think? 🙂

Question of the day (21st January).

Do you enjoy being out in nature?

My answer:

I generally do. I like going for long walks with my Mum, I like to be by the sea, I absolutely love horse riding. I like to go out when it’s raining sometimes and feel it, and I like to hear the sounds of nature. I like nature in general. Sometimes when I’m very anxious going out can be hard for me, as I often have some agoraphobic symptoms then, even though I guess I don’t have full-blown agoraphobia as such, I also have my balance issues so sometimes feel very insecure outside especially if in an unfamiliar area, so I’m not always up to it, but overall I really like it.

You? 🙂

Question of the day (20th January).

Hi guys. 🙂

I’m sorry I haven’t posted anything lately, have been doing lots of things with my languages and was just disorganised with it all. Here’s the SUnday question.

What did you always want to try but never found the courage to do?

My answer:

Lots and lots of things. I have different kinds of anxiety which all make it difficult for me to do different things. I know that overcoming ALL of them, and all the limitations they put on me is likely going to take me the entire life. One of the biggest and most courageous steps I’ve made in recent years was going to Sweden. I’ve always wanted it, I’ve always wanted to visit all my countries very very much, but at the same time I dreaded it so, so much. My Dad kept promising me for years that one day we’ll go to Sweden. We could realise it only two years ago, but before then, every year he promised me that, and then when we couldn’t go, on one hand I was very disappointed, but on other, probably equally relieved. Going to Sweden, or any of my countries, would mean facing all of my strongest anxieties. Because of this, it could also turn out disappointing, I definitely wouldn’t like if it was so that I would go to Sweden and then something would go very wrong, I rather preferred not to go there than have forever some very bad associations with this trip, I was also worried that I might be simply disappointed with myself, either with my social skills, or facing other anxieties, or even language skills, or that I could disappoint my family perhaps. Not to mention all the small fears I had, but in overwhelming amounts and relating to very different things. I did enjoy our trip a lot, but it was also exhausting for me, because of all the anxiety I had to face and cope with all the time. It was also rewarding because I saw that I can do some things I thought I can’t. THe frustrating thing though is, although I now have this experience under my belt, and know how it feels, I feel that if I’d go to Sweden, or any other of my favourite countries, for another time, the story would repeat. Despite all that I know already, that I can go through this. Maybe I’m wrong, but I can assume so after last summer when my Dad (I guess he must have gotten used to doing it) told me again that this year we’ll go to Sweden again, and would I like to. I said I would, ’cause I would, but as soon as I heard that, I knew my anxieties, despite I faced them back then, haven’t died and it would still be like for the first time for me.

I talk about this to show you that trying new and different things is pretty much always scary for me, even if they are good things that I in fact want. Same about most major changes in life. It feels very scary.

But Ok the question is about something I have never tried so far. One of such things is playing harp, especially Celtic harp. I have learnt to play some instruments in the past – piano and guitar, – though although I do have an ear for music, I wasn’t particularly good at it. One thing was that I didn’t enjoy it that much, just sort of did it because I felt I should, that I was expected to do it because of my “ear for music”. another was my shitty coordination which made it simply hard for me physically or technically to play well and it was always an effort, especially that as I said I didn’t have much motivation, and another thing was my anxiety and all the related stuff, I think they were also getting in the way. Finally, after some years of learning music I decided it’s not for me, and I just feel much better as a listener than a performer. Because I definitely do. And I started to use my musical skills for languages, which are also music of its own kind, in my opinion. But I’ve been always in love with harp, especially Celtic harp as I said, and loved to listen to it. And I’ve always had that dream about playing harp myself. Just for myself, to have fun. I’ve always been OK with having it just in the sphere of my dreams. Having in mind all my fruitless efforts with piano and guitar, I’m not even sure whether I’d seriously want to devote myself to studying it, after all harp is at least equally if not more difficult than guitar or piano, requiring a lot of dexterity and other things that are hard for me. Also Celtic harp is a niche instrument, quite expensive, the more that I woouldn’t be able to just teach myself how to play it, and would have to have a tutor. As I think about all my and my Mum’s trials to find language tutors for me, of whom the vast majority ran away screaming just after hearing that I’m blind, finding a Celtic harp tutor sounds ridiculous. So, I’d have a lot to dedicate, and I’m just not sure whether I’m really up to it. Whether I really want it seriously enough. I guess not, but if I had a chance and nothing to lose, I’d try, even just once, to feel how it is, as I’ve never even seen a harp, so if not because of anything else, than just out of plain curiosity. For now though, I think in this sphere my dreams give me enough satisfaction. What would I dream about if I could even play harp? Or if I learned that it’s something not for me because of my physical limitations? Dreaming about it probably wouldn’t be as pleasant then. And I love my dreams.

So, how about you? DO you consider doing it in the future or leave it in the sphere of dreams?

The various forms of Daphne and Laura (and other laurel names)

Which laurel names out of these are your favourite, guys? 🙂
I didn’t even know Daphne had so many forms, other than Daphne and Dafne, which apart from Italy can be also used in Poland, well it’s used extremely rarely but still is and of course it’s used in reference to the nymph as well. I’m not crazy about Daphne, but I like it.
I like Laura too. I used to like it far more in the past but now as it’s so popular here in Poland I am not as fond of it as I used to be, but it’s still a beautiful, slightly mysterious sounding name with cool and smooth charm to it. Though I much prefer it pronounced our way, LAH-oo-rah, rather than like Lora. I think Lauretta and Laurette are lovely. I also like Laurel itself. And Welsh Lowri is cute.
I haven’t heard about Kelila before but it looks very interesting.

Onomastics Outside the Box

Pauline as Daphne Fleeing from Apollo, ca. 1810, Robert Lefèvre

Daphne is a naiad in Greek mythology, a female nymph presiding over bodies of water such as lakes, fountains, springs, and brooks. She’s variously cited as the daughter of river god Peneus (Peneios) and nymph Creusa, or Ladon and Gaia.

Versions of Daphne’s story vary, but they all have the crux of Apollo falling in unrequited love with her after a curse from Eros (Cupid). As Apollo chased her, Daphne begged her father to save her, and she was turned into a laurel tree in the nick of time. Laurels thus became sacred to Apollo.

Daphne is also used in English and Dutch. The variation Daphné is French. Other forms include:

1. Daphnée is French.

2. Dafni is modern Greek.

3. Dafina is Macedonian and Albanian.

4. Dafne is Italian.

5. Daffni is Welsh.

6. Dapine is Georgian.

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Question of the day.

Do you have an attic, basement or cellar?

My answer:

We have a cellar, though we usually call it laundry room because there is a washing machine, an iron and other stuff, but we also have a freezer there. It isn’t actually like most cellars that I’ve been to, it’s quite cosy and I like to be there with my Mum and chat with her when she’s doing something there. We used to regularly drink whisky there at weekends, now we don’t do that very often though. Misha likes to go there too and it’s a very intriguing place for him. It’s near the staircase and you can go straight to the garrage from there as well as to the boiler and my Dad’s smokehouse. We also have a shower in the cellar so when you come home and are really dirty and sweaty like I usually am after horse riding you can come inn through the cellar and have a shower on the way instead of taking all the dirt and smell with you inside, and we can just use it as a second bathroom which can be sometimes very useful when everyone is hurrying up to go somewhere at the same time as it often happens in families.

In our previous house in the countryside, we used to have both a basement and an attic shared with our grandparents, which you entered from the backyard, I liked that attic a lot, I generally seem to like attics for some reason, although that one was always very dusty, but somehow atmospheric. Also we had a small attic of our own, at first only my parents had their room there, then there was also Zofijka’s room added, but when Zofijka grew a little she turned out to be too nosey and sociable to be able to live and play upstairs while all the life was going on downstairs without her knowledge. So we changed rooms and she got my room downstairs which was way too big for me and I was very happy to take Zofijka’s small but beautiful room on the attic. I really liked it and this way our rooms suited us much better. Now we don’t have an attic though, and I think that’s a pity. 🙂

How about you? 🙂

Enya – “White Is In The Winter Night”.

Hey people. 🙂

Here is another Christmassy/wintry, nice and very colourful song from Enya. Enjoy. 🙂