Nothing to Say: Syria

Victorian Romantic Tarot

AnnaK Tarot

I haven't anything to say that others haven't already said about the death of 3 year old Aylan Kurdi, his 5 year old brother Galip, and his mother Rehan. I have cried until my eyes hurt; and then I cried some more. His father has lost everything. 

I can't imagine what it must be like to be in a situation where putting your very young children on a small overcrowded flimsy rubber dinghy, without even lifejackets, to travel about 5 miles across open sea, seems like any kind of acceptable choice compared to enduring circumstances wherever you are.

However, a picture of their home town, Kobane in Syria, might give an inkling to the origin of their desperate journey, and why they were refugees - not economic migrants:

Picture from the BBC Feb.2015

TABI is raising money to help Syria Relief via our JustGiving page; you can simply donate, or request a reading from one of the readers listed on the page.

Old Year's Night 2014

Labyrinth Tarot

Wildwood Tarot

Taslimur Tarot

Well, I am glad to see the back of this year; my sister Halcyon dying in July, my Uncle in November, and so many of my favorite famous people too, it has just seemed like a year of death. And of course the Yule holiday season never passes without at least one disaster, and this year we have more than one: the loss of the AirAsia plane, the Italian ferry disaster, and some smaller scale events that are just as tragic - the Australian children, the Edmonton family.

Quite frankly, I am sick of it.

I passionately hope your year has been better than mine, and that we all have a much better year next year.

WIP Wednesday 144: Winter is Coming

Tarot of Leaves

Sorry, I forgot all about Friday. I was doing something. If only I could remember what it was now, I'd share it with you.

Today's rather autumnal card from the Tarot of Leaves echoes the weather right now: gales, heavy rain, and low temperatures. Totally not May weather at all - we are still wearing our winter coats and boots. So today's post is likely to be a short one: me and the dog need to time our walk carefully, as neither of us like getting wet.

I have cheated slightly on the KTQ13: I moved a shawl that had been in my favorites for a while, into my queue, and then started knitting it as an end of term present for Mini Diva's teacher:

Afternoon Tea Shawl

The main history theme for Grade 5 is Victorian times, and includes at least one dress-up day, so I thought a Victorian-looking shawl might come in handy. This too is made using Sirdar Softspun DK, this time in the colorway 'Faded Jade'.

My reading time has been taken up recently with 'A Dance with Dragons', book 5 of George Martin's 'Of Ice and Fire' series, which I had read so long ago I had forgotten all the details (to be fair, there are loads to forget). I had got used to his writing style and repetitive vocabulary- which needs better editing - and had somewhat adjusted to his habit of killing off major characters:

But not only was this particular book very slow in pace, full of details that had little to do with anything that had come previously, the introduction of random new characters that served no purpose to the storyline, but also one of my favorite characters is killed unexpectedly. In fact, you could read just the final 3 or so chapters and save some precious time to do other interesting things in instead of reading the rest of the book.

And to add insult to injury, Martin has still not completed the planned books 6 and 7, leaving so many plotlines hanging in the air it's ridiculous. He's notorious for the time he takes to write the sequels, and now I am worried that by the time he finishes the last 2 volumes of the epic saga, I will have forgotten the story again, and will have to re-read again. In addition, the televising of the books as 'The Game of Thrones' should mean he needs to complete sooner rather than later, so that the TV audiences are not also left twisting in the wind.

So, my grumping over for now,  Sebastian and I must dance between the raindrops all the way to the park; you, however, may stay in the warm and dry comfort of your chair, and check out other lovely things at Tami's Amis ....