Author: Christine

Christine http://www.mombie.com I'm a writer/storyteller/director/creativity & lifestory coach with a black belt in ITF Taekwon-do. I read voraciously and I write like my fingers are on fire. I'm the founder and Co-Chair of the Association for the Arts in Mount Pearl and I'm the current president of the St. John's Storytelling Festival. I bake a mean chocolate chip cookie.

In Praise of Tangential Conversations

I spent the afternoon with two of my dear friends having a wonderfully relaxing conversation that went all over the place.

It was delightful to have my brain off-leash and to feel safe that I would be listened to and understood.

Our topics were broad-ranging, minuscule and enormous, superficial and nuanced – we covered it all.

It was full of ideas and connection and absolutely perfect.

I wish everyone had the same opportunity on a regular basis.

One of my favourite views

I love the way the ‘gateway’ to my yard from my patio looks.

I feel relaxed just looking at this photo.

A photo of a backyard as seen through the opening in a patio rail. There are flowers in pots on the patio.
Image description: a photo of part of my yard and patio. Near the centre of the photo is one side of the opening in my patio rail where the steps come up. On the right is the patio rail and post with some sunflowers in a pot with a beam of sunlight on them. On the left side of the photo is a green pot with purple flowers growing in it. Through the opening is the sun-dappled grass in my yard, in the middle distance an orange lawn chair and my square fire pit, and in the far background is a wooden fence with a small shelf, raised a little from the ground, with three flowerpots on it.

Winding Down The Week

More by happy accident than by design, I have found myself with a slow Friday afternoon.

I have let my brain off leash and now I’m reading until it occurs to me to do something else.

PS – I like the non-alcoholic version of Corona just as much as the alcoholic one.

A beer and an ereader in a case sit on a red patio table.
A beer and a book makes for a good way to spend a sunny afternoon. Image description: my Corona Sunbrew sits on a red patio table next to my Kobo ereader which is in a blue, purple, and gold patterned case. Beyond the table, the floorboards of the patio are dappled with sunlight.

Drawing with dots

I have many many different versions of drawings like this – a figure, back on, standing on a hill, reaching their arms towards the sky.

I don’t know exactly why I am drawn (ha!) to draw this so often but I am and I do.

Today, I experimented with creating this image from dots.

I really like how the sky turned out but I think that, next time, I’ll make the figure taller with longer arms.

A drawing of a person standing on a hill, arms outstretched toward the starry sky. This drawing is made entirely of dots. Curving horizontal lines of green dots for the hill, vertical lines of blue dots for the sky, clusters of yellow dots of stars, and a three triangles and a circle of black dots for the figure.

Avoiding the Crowd

Today is the St. John’s Regatta – a long running event that not only features a set of rowing races but also a variety booths with food vendors , games of chance, and other fun things.

I used to go every year with my family when I was young but now I haven’t been there in over 20 years, maybe longer. And I have no desire to be around that many people.

I enjoyed being with a large group when I was younger and I never gave much thought to crowds but now the thought of spending time in a crowd exhausts me.

For a long time, I thought I had just gotten out of the habit or that I had kind of borrowed my husband’s aversion to crowds and I kind of chastised myself for taking that on unnecessarily.

But now, I don’t think that’s what happened.

When I was young, I had someone else to do the navigating for me – to get me there, to make a plan, to choose how long we were spending at an event.

And I was less consciously aware of my own feelings, energy, and discomfort. I would put aside my feelings for the good of the people I was with.

I *can* still put my feelings aside now when necessary but back then I did it automatically. And I would sometimes get overwhelmed and say or do something that was embarrassing or that I regretted later. Or I would burn myself out and have no energy for days after an event with a big crowd.

So, I think that when I was younger, having someone else manage a lot of the details was a buffer for me that made crowds easier.

And the fact that I wasn’t paying attention to my feelings, comfort, and energy meant that I didn’t notice the things I notice now about being in a crowd.

I can still be around crowds when the event is structured (like a concert) or when I have a specific role (I’m the host or I have a job that needs to get done and I can prioritize that) or if my desire to be at the event is stronger than my desire to avoid a crowd (i.e. someone’s wedding) but mostly I avoid crowds and save my energy for things that I enjoy more.

And I’m ok with that.