Friday, March 25, 2005

Easter...

What can I say? The first three months of the year have just disappeared... Here we are at Easter... I guess because my life has been so hectic that I really haven't noticed Easter in the shops... Yes I have commented on the Easter eggs and hot cross buns that appeared so close after Christmas that it wasn't funny... I have always said that eventually Father Christmas and the Easter Bunny would arrive together one day and toss a coin to who would stay... As I have got older I have felt sad that these two events are so intertwined with the dollar... Although not a religious person by any stretch of the imagination I have been saddened by the lack of respect and the decline of the ritual aspect which seems to have all but been lost to some. I was gosmacked a couple of days when one of the young women I work with asked why everyone bought fish for Good Friday... Now, it might have been different had she been from a different cultural background but she wasn't. One of the other women voiced my own thoughts when she asked her where she had been bought up... Down on the coast of Victoria was the reply.

Good Friday was always a very quiet day and although I have never gone to church I have always felt that it was a day of quietness and reflection - perhaps this is a throw back from my childhood days. Having read sharonb's blog earlier it was reasurring to see that someone else felt the same. Like sharonb I intend to do something other than sit this afternoon - although Melbourne is turning on typical Easter weather - chilly, overcast with promised rain. I am sure that there must be people out there complaining that the shops aren't open today.

'They' - those who make up the 'questioning moral fibre' of our society often ask why we have a lessening of values both family and societal... Perhaps looking at holidays such as these might hold a few answers... Again I am not a religious person - however when the main thrust via the media seems to be sales, chocolate eggs and football matches it makes me wonder what life will hold for future generations... I will step off my soapbox now...

Stopping to catch my breath over the next few days - and perhaps looking to what I want to pursue over the next few months. Perhaps finishing off a few things might be a start. Although I have been 'cruising' through a few sites and 'looking'.

Crazy quilting still intrigues me - but I lament at my lack of embrodiery skills - a definite need for this craft... I think that my ideas are far greater than my skill base. I seem to lack the confidence to start and I think partly this is due to not having the interaction with other like minded people to keep me motivated and stimulated - that and the time facter. I some times feel as though I am moving in an alien environment - working in a position that doesn't interest me - but must be done to keep all the other aspects of my life functioning... I guess the basis of all this is the thought that time is running out and I haven't even begun to explore heaps of things... Hmmm....

Enough!!! I have four wonderful days to do what ever I like , well nearly!!!!!

1 comment:

Linda said...

I feel a little sad about the loss of meaning for Good Friday as well - although I am also not one for going to church.

But two things brought it home to me this year - I work with the ABC radio on, and there is was all chocolate, and which day is the real day to eat hot cross buns (a few callers got the religios perspective in then), and what "cold calls" we would get on the phone over the holidays etc. This was radio - nothing spiritual, or to cause me to stop and reflect.

TV was a little better, especially Compass, on The Big Issue - giving people a dignity to earn their own money (and get a message out there about humanity at the same time).

But what really stunned me was - my Mother's usual bingo was cancelled (at the Bowling Club), but one still went ahead on Friday afternoon at the Greyhound Club!!!! And there were reportedly huge crowds there.

I am just so saddened that there is now even gambling (let's call it what it is) on Good Friday, and without even a murmur.

For a long time I have been thinking about making a Peace banner - just a shield-shaped crazy patchwork banner, with a gold and white dove in CQ in the centre.

I might just have to put it back on the list of things to do.

And, on the subject of starting CQ - maybe it is liek that - think of something yoou want to make, and then use CQ as a vehicle - it may come easier that one. One of my most popular vests is in purple and green, and I use the same simple seam stitch for the whole lot. And it is very effective (and quiet enough to wear during the day)