Snowflake

I am one of a kind. Unique. Different. Individual. Solitary. There is no other like me. How can that be? I mean, surely there must be SOME other that is exactly the same as me. But no, I am told that none of us are the same. We are all created individually. Surely God must have had at least a bit of trouble at some point in time, creating a different pattern. I mean, there are only so many you can have ... right? But no. Every one of us is different.
I dream of this as I flutter softly, slowly, sometimes speeding up but slowing down again in a matter of seconds. The wind takes me where'er it chooses. I am content. I know that where ever I fall, it is that place where I was always intended to be. There I will sit, until the warmth of the ground melts me, first from the outside and slowly moving in until I am a mere drop of water. Someone may come. Perhaps they will fly straight over me in a toboggan or on a pair of skis. Or maybe the rain will wash me away. Perhaps I will land in a stream or a pond and be melted almost instantly by the cold water. Maybe I will land on a busy street and some tall man in a black suit will stand on me as he waits for the bus. Perhaps I land on the tongue of a small child trying to taste the snow. Or maybe I will fall in a wood, and not a living sole will notice me.
But it is no matter where I land. For that is where I shall remain ... well, that is until I am whooshed back up into the air as I am evaporated and I will become part of a small cloud once more. I can see the ground now, the cloud from whence I have fallen has disappeared. All I can see is a field of white. White trees are scattered throughout this field and a small white house I can just make out over to the north. I can see a small dot down below. Closer I fall, faster I fly. Yes, the dot is becoming clearer. It is a small child. A little girl. With a sledge and mittens, a red hat and a fluffy cream coat, which appears yellow against the pale snow. Closer, faster. Yes, there she goes, flying down the slope. Closer, faster. I am almost there now, my flight will shortly end. But wait, the wind has picked me up again. I am swept away. Now white is all I see. Here we go, falling once more. I am going to fall onto the roof of the white house. Smoke is billowing from the chimney. No wind, do not take me there where I will be melted before I land. Yes, over to the left a little. That's it. I have fallen. I can see more flakes up above slowly falling towards me. There is the little girl. I can see her from the roof. She is laughing. Someone is with her. A woman. A pregnant woman. Now they are embracing.
They are gone. I cannot see the woman or the girl. I have been covered and will shortly melt. I am content. This is my life. The life of a flake of snow. Different from all the rest. Unique. Individual. Solitary.

Miss Aalyn xx

Wonderful Voices

Some people have beautiful voices. They just seem to make music with their way of speaking. The best of them can make you feel wonderful inside, even when reciting the contents of the dictionary or a shopping list. Some of my favourites are;

-George Clooney
-David Attenborough
-Rupert Everett
-Cary Elwes
-Liam Neeson
-Eric Bana

Miss Aalyn xx

ps. and no, there is no particular reason they are all guys ... just a coincidence I guess.

Hippies at the Beach

So 'I haven't written for a while' would be kind of an understatement. Yes, I do realize that I have been neglecting you all for quite some time. I still have my queries as to whether anyone ever actually genuinely reads this ... well if you are, then people must. But who are you? Where do you come from? Do I know you? I suppose I will never know.

So since you have gone to all the trouble of reading this far, I suppose I had better tell you what's been going on in my life recently. Well, let's start with everything that has happened (everything major that is ... I don't expect you to be interested in every minute of my life as that would just be sad and kind of creepy) since I last wrote. Let's see, well I went to see Jane Eyre again and ... well, let's just say it wasn't really much better the second time. Oh, and the Julia Child cookbooks arrived and they are AMAZING!! I haven't actually read through them yet but I have flicked through the pages and they look simply divine.

Two weeks ago I had the flu ... yughhkk! It was absolutely hideous and I spent the whole week in bed, coughing like a honking duck and crying shamelessly. I also managed to read a whole book in that time. I am now slightly tired of Harry Potter. A week of reading it non stop has kind of exhausted my 'Harry Potter Meter'. I also watched hours of terrible lifestyle shows which were highly amusing. Mostly they were about weddings or fashion or renovation. Oh yes, I went there.

At the end of that week I felt much better and managed to heave myself out of bed long enough to undergo a barista course with my best friend. It was TERRIFIC fun and I even managed to be the only one in the class to utterly make a fool of myself by spraying milk all over the floor and myself, much to the horror of the young assistant yelling at me to 'turn the mixer off, switch it OFF!'. By the end of the 3 hours however I was rather exhausted and I couldn't hold off my 'inner duck' for much longer. Almost as soon as we exited the building I burst into a major bout of honking and spluttering ... oh dear.

Anyway, the next day I went to Northshore again. Remember that place I told you about? Where we go and have picnics? Well, as it was father's day, we thought it would be nice to take my mum's dad along with his wife and other daughter (my aunt) with her husband and sons for a picnic. It was a lovely outing, and the boys enjoyed it thoroughly. My youngest cousin (around 1 and a half), was absolutely fascinated by the beach and the sand and consequently spent most of the time buried knee deep in dirty brown sand, smiling broadly. The elder brother (5 and a half) managed to find himself a 'follower'; a beautiful little girl with lovely blonde hair who ran after him wherever he went. I went up to check on them at one point and shortly found myself playing 'horsey' and galloping around wildly, 'running away from Indians' and eating apples until I was quite breathless and mum called me in, slightly startled that I should be gallivanting around like that so soon after being sick. Seeing her logic, I politely quitted the game, shortly followed by my disappointed cousin.

Last week, I was invited (via facebook) to a friend's 18th birthday party. I was rather touched that she should think to invite me and so immediately agreed to attend. I was also enthralled to discover that my best friend would be attending also. Reading the invitation further, I discovered that the party would be 'hippie themed'. Having absolutely no hippie clothes currently in my wardrobe, I invited my best friend to come along on a shopping trip with me. I was thoroughly pleased by the end of the experience (which is rare) as I had bought everything needed to transform myself momentarily into a 'modern hippie'. I purchased; a long tan skirt (short to the knees at the front and long to the ankles at the back), a white formal shirt that could be tucked into the skirt, two sets of gold bangles, medium sized gold hoop earrings, a brown and lace small handbag, a thin cotton headband and a pair of 5-inch tan heels. Okay, so I went a little overboard with the accessories, but hey, it is hippie! I was so excited with the success of my purchases that I completely forgot who I was shopping for; myself. Ah, yes ... a 15 year old girl with a single mum ... oops! You can imagine the shock on my mother's poor face as I reached into the shopping bag and pulled out the 5-inch heeled shoes. She would probably have crashed the car if we hadn't been pulled up at a set of lights. Actually, I think she was so shocked, she found it slightly amusing. So now I am forced to show them off to anyone who comes over, only to be pelted with a torrent of disapproving 'tut-tut's' and 'oh dear's' and 'goodness gracious''. But graced with my mother's good nature, I have been allowed to keep the shoes and even wear them to the party! I guess that comes from being such a good child (cough, cough).

Well, this is becoming rather long my dears so I think I shall have to leave you there for now.
Toodle-oo!
Miss Aalyn xx

A Picnic with Jane

Another lovely day, another picnic. Northshore is a lovely place to sit under the shade and read for hours on end. Mum, Mel and I drove up on Saturday for the second time this month to have a beautiful, relaxing picnic by the shore. I just love the sound of the waves lapping against the sand and the grass waving gently in the breeze. We have our own little spot to sit now and it's a really relaxing and lovely thing to do on a Saturday afternoon. We just sat there for hours; reading, listening to music and munching on my own homemade chocolate cake. I hope to have more of these precious moments, where we are all together, happy and relaxed. I think that people make too much of the big 'in your face' moments, and don't cherish enough the 'boring' ones; the ones that don't shout 'I'm so amazing!'. The ones that pass you by without you even really noticing they had even taken place. Or when you just think too much about the little negative things and don't focus on the big picture. I mean, I will probably cherish this moment right now in about 50 years time. And all the times I've walked to school with my sister in the morning, which now appear to me such a chore, will probably seem so pleasant and lovely to me in the future.

Jane Eyre; a fantastic novel by a wonderful author. I went to see the movie on the weekend. I must say I was a little disappointed by it. I mean, I didn't really like it as much as I thought I would and ... get this ... I didn't even CRY!!!! IT'S A MIRACLE!!! I cry in EVERYTHING. But, it was almost as if it didn't give me enough time to work up an emotion and tear up. The moments moved by so swiftly that I found myself getting rather annoyed. I wanted to feel more emotion and attachment to the characters. But I just couldn't! I don't really think it was a movie for people who had not read the book or did not know the story because it wasn't exactly very clear. I read the book about two months ago and absolutely loved it but the movie didn't quite exceed my expectations. The characters were portrayed poorly I must say and I just didn't buy it. It's really a great shame, because I wanted to be able to say how amazing and enthralling it was. But I speak only my opinion, the rest of my family thought it was great. So I shall just leave it at that then. I am seeing it again this weekend anyway, so hopefully I will grow to like it more the second time.

I just bought the Julia Child 'Mastering the Art of French Cooking' two book set! I'm so happy! Ever since I saw the movie Julie and Julia I have been just itching to buy the cookbooks. I suppose now this means I shall have to be more inventive with my cooking and broaden my horizons to something more advanced than spaghetti bolognese and chocolate cake. Well, bring it on I say!

I now have a lovely two day holiday ahead of me and I am exceedingly glad of it. I think I needed a holiday, which is an absurd thing to say as, compared to most adults, I have far too many. But still, I am very happy about it and shall relish in the much needed rest!

Much love,
Miss Aalyn xx

Curious Imaginings

Last night I had a dream. Not a particularly good dream, but not a bad one. I was running. Somewhere in the countryside, probably in England. Hills were surrounding me. I was running with another person. It was my future husband. I never saw his face (woe is me). We were running across the countryside and then through a great mound of snow and under a bridge. We came to a pile of material. Plastic mainly; huge sheets of it. They were all different sizes. Most of them were probably as big as a small tree and as wide as two cars. Massive! There were two other people there also. It was another couple. For some reason we were trying to steal the sheets of plastic and glass off them. It was materials for a house. We wanted them for our house but they had got to them first so we tried to steal as much as we could. It was kind of a race to see who could get the most material. But before we could haul the first sheet, the image faded and another segment of the dream took place. All I remember from this is a mountain and a huge house, and a lot of running and snow. But the snow wasn't cold. It was just ... there. I also remember vaguely something to do with a cup of tea. But that is all. Very strange indeed.

Miss Aalyn xx

Stuff and Nonsense

10 reasons why I love food:
-It satisfies hunger
-It comforts one when in times of trial
-You don't need to have a reason to eat it
-It is highly enjoyable to prepare
-It relieves tension during an awkward moment
-It is different where ever you go but, at the same time, never changes
-It provides a topic to blog about
-To prepare it requires love and attention
-It tastes good!
-It draws people together

Yes, as you can probably guess, I LOVE IT!!! I mean, really, I absolutely adore it. But I hate it at the same time. Isn't that funny? Well, talking about food, tonight I cooked a most delicious Chinese dish called 'Garlic and Ginger Chicken'. Yummo! I also prepared some of my 'famous brownies' for a birthday party this Sunday. They were even better than usual, if I do say so myself. I'm sure my cousins will most enjoy them. Well, that is, if they actually eat anything, which is seldom the case, with two of them at least.

I am determined to learn French. Just putting it out there, not that you will care most likely. But I do so love it and wish more than anything to be able to speak it. Sigh, imagine speaking in French! How I would love to babble away to someone in French and for them to not understand a single word I was saying. As it is, I can hardly say a single word myself. Well, apart from bonjour and au revoir. But, then again, who can't?

Au revoir pour l'instant, mes chers!
Mademoiselle Aalyn xx

ps. And yes, I did use google translate. So nobody correct me if there is anything wrong with what I have said. Goodness, translator does do strange things to phrases. Once I typed in 'best friend' and it translated back into English as 'fluffy duck'! How my best friend must have laughed when she read it!

Adorableness

I came across the most adorable video the other day. It is located on the abc iview website under 'All Programs' and then click 'Drama'. It is called 'Ten Minute Tales; Deep and Crisp and Even'. Here is the link for ABC iView:

http://www.iinet.net.au/my/media/abc/index.html

It is the sweetest and most beautiful thing you ever did see. It only goes for about ten minutes, as the title suggests, so it doesn't take up too much time. But its definitely worth a watch!
Aalyn xx