tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28133718.post590803835950628420..comments2023-06-28T22:58:28.247+10:00Comments on Sixth In Line: Listening for ghostsElisabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04015624747225433940noreply@blogger.comBlogger48125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28133718.post-27096025879290111712011-02-26T20:09:06.593+11:002011-02-26T20:09:06.593+11:00I know that feeling Ruth, the business of being fo...I know that feeling Ruth, the business of being forced to move against your will and then feeling resentful. <br /><br />I think I should enjoy reading a biography of Virginia Woolf, even at 700 pages. I find the writer - at least my fantasy of her - endlessly fascinating.<br /><br />Thanks, Ruth.Elisabethhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04015624747225433940noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28133718.post-78260645482023044882011-02-26T20:06:16.698+11:002011-02-26T20:06:16.698+11:00Thanks for your good wishes here, Kochuravi and we...Thanks for your good wishes here, Kochuravi and welcome.Elisabethhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04015624747225433940noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28133718.post-12891739339902043812011-02-25T21:28:43.762+11:002011-02-25T21:28:43.762+11:00I enjoyed this walk with you, through your school,...I enjoyed this walk with you, through your school, and on into the writing room. Inge and I had a long discussion last evening in our weekly supper, about Virginia Woolf. She is reading the biography of her that is 700 pages, I can't think of the author's name. We talked about women, and writing, and how we, more than men it seems must bear the guilt and responsibility of the household, and of society. Really, it's in our minds where we let others pressure us. Someone said recently (I probably just read it recently) that the soul does not want to move. I keep thinking of this. When I ask my soul what it wants to do, I am pretty responsible, to myself, and to the work that needs doing around me. But when I let someone else tell me what I should do, I feel resentful.<br /><br />Love how you get me going ...Ruthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14204074161539605133noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28133718.post-79369918925104470272011-02-25T21:11:38.315+11:002011-02-25T21:11:38.315+11:00One of the best posts I read so far in my 3 years ...One of the best posts I read so far in my 3 years of blogging... Warm Wishes Elisabeth...!Pranavam Ravikumarhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01994258982161346263noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28133718.post-82807765845710792782011-02-25T19:56:21.576+11:002011-02-25T19:56:21.576+11:00My apologies to both enchanted Oak and to Marylinn...My apologies to both enchanted Oak and to Marylinn for ascribing the above comment to one and not the other. I am so technologically Challenged that I cannot work out how to delete my own comments, so I will have to ask you both for your forbearance.Elisabethhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04015624747225433940noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28133718.post-73316392111792683312011-02-25T19:48:55.190+11:002011-02-25T19:48:55.190+11:00I am fully recovered from my accident, enchanted O...I am fully recovered from my accident, enchanted Oak. in fact at my last visit to the physio we found I was able to bend my leg up to 155 degrees which is the angle I had aimed for. That's how far back I can bend my good leg. I walk normally now but the broken leg still aches from time to time.<br /><br />Thanks for the good wishes, Enchanted Oak.Elisabethhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04015624747225433940noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28133718.post-78711328388311801012011-02-25T19:46:14.493+11:002011-02-25T19:46:14.493+11:00Thanks for the generous comments, Dave. You give ...Thanks for the generous comments, Dave. You give me heart. I've just finished reading an article about the difference between blog writing and ordinary writing, the stuff that makes it into print and it seems there is a difference. I might yet blog about it.Elisabethhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04015624747225433940noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28133718.post-69137700939959810712011-02-25T07:13:31.845+11:002011-02-25T07:13:31.845+11:00I, too, find there are not enough hours in the day...I, too, find there are not enough hours in the day to lead a writer's life AND an efficient, present version of an ordinary life...and I don't have a job outside the home. That family members may feel they are suffering because you have passion that calls you elsewhere does not mean that they are. From you writing, I know your family holds a prominent place in your heart.<br /><br />Since I haven't been here for a while, I hope you are fully recovered from your accident. The dream, before I knew it was one, concerned me because of what happened.<br /><br />I have not revisited any of my schools but live near enough to drive by them and they still stand. Reading your account of the visit, some things do remain in the past and do not come forward to reconnect with us, if that is a way to describe it. We remember, without too great an emotion attached.Marylinn Kellyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02759437467691163658noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28133718.post-39051418911084312412011-02-25T02:05:10.132+11:002011-02-25T02:05:10.132+11:00This is a tremendous piece of writing, not just a ...This is a tremendous piece of writing, not just a piece of <i>blog writing</i>: it would hold its own anywhere. Bravo, I say!Dave Kinghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08430484174826768488noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28133718.post-39761185981457242912011-02-23T20:52:50.260+11:002011-02-23T20:52:50.260+11:00Melancholy comrade indeed, Elizabeth. The mess st...Melancholy comrade indeed, Elizabeth. The mess still gets to me, but my pleasure in other things soon overrides it. How else could I survive?<br /><br />Thanks, Elizabeth.Elisabethhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04015624747225433940noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28133718.post-60260843845487307962011-02-23T20:51:14.571+11:002011-02-23T20:51:14.571+11:00The memories may well be relegated to your wife...The memories may well be relegated to your wife's and your respective year books, Robert, but I'll bet they're safe as well tucked away in your internalised personal memory boxes and minds, which is where most of mine exist. <br /><br />We cannot resurrect the past but we can re-imagine it in our memories.<br /><br />Thanks Robert.Elisabethhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04015624747225433940noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28133718.post-89156327658208940222011-02-23T18:18:11.711+11:002011-02-23T18:18:11.711+11:00I wish that I had already read this post before I ...I wish that I had already read this post before I stood in the doorway to my room/study today and nearly wept in stifled frustration at how cluttered it is. I might have smiled, then, and thought of my melancholy comrade down under.Elizabethhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03313726816776097840noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28133718.post-33369418443088858092011-02-23T05:23:57.574+11:002011-02-23T05:23:57.574+11:00My wife and I have lived long enough where institu...My wife and I have lived long enough where institutions such as our high schools have each been bulldozed. Hers replaced with a brighter, newer building; mine replaced with a housing development. The memories relegated to our respective yearbook pictures.Robert the Skeptichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10863488312604865183noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28133718.post-9313254189241730672011-02-22T20:32:47.890+11:002011-02-22T20:32:47.890+11:00Thanks for the generous comments, Ms Moon. Someti...Thanks for the generous comments, Ms Moon. Sometimes, in indulgent moments, I think the writing is all that matters, but most times I think life matters much more.Elisabethhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04015624747225433940noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28133718.post-11781065538420404682011-02-22T20:31:02.141+11:002011-02-22T20:31:02.141+11:00Age can be a help, Anthony when folks stop making ...Age can be a help, Anthony when folks stop making demands on your time and leave you be, at least to some extent. <br /><br />It must have been a strange experience renovating that old school. I know I felt strange walking trough my old school and its renovations. I wanted to strip the changes away and go back to the way it was.<br /><br />Thanks, Anthony.Elisabethhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04015624747225433940noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28133718.post-67686661164188914602011-02-22T20:28:04.706+11:002011-02-22T20:28:04.706+11:00Marja Thanks for your thoughts. I write to you an...Marja Thanks for your thoughts. I write to you and think immediately of the crisis that besets your country. <br /><br />You live in Christchurch, are you okay? Please let us know when you can how things fare for you. It's a worrying time.Elisabethhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04015624747225433940noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28133718.post-84408388486613238992011-02-22T20:25:50.257+11:002011-02-22T20:25:50.257+11:00Dreams are funny like that, Kath, and as for the s...Dreams are funny like that, Kath, and as for the slob who spat on his coat, I hate to think who and what he represents in my psyche.<br /><br />It's always hard to give writing the priority it deserves. I know it's work but more often than not, because it does not generate a huge income, it gets rated as a hobby. And yet the rewards for me in writing are incalculable. I cannot put a monetary price on them. <br /><br />Thanks, Kath.Elisabethhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04015624747225433940noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28133718.post-54128261869974189512011-02-22T16:40:06.548+11:002011-02-22T16:40:06.548+11:00Fancy turning your old school into a funeral home,...Fancy turning your old school into a funeral home, Steven. That seems apt: ghosts upon ghosts. <br /><br />Thanks as ever, Steven.Elisabethhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04015624747225433940noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28133718.post-11668193436409169062011-02-22T16:38:26.300+11:002011-02-22T16:38:26.300+11:00I must check out Leslie's post on her survival...I must check out Leslie's post on her survival of the Catholic school system, Kass. <br /><br />I've been snowed under of late, with this need for order, not only domestic but in the writerly sphere. Thesis writing can be fairly consuming. To me blogging is more fun, however messy. <br /><br />Thanks for your good wishes, Kass.Elisabethhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04015624747225433940noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28133718.post-71207255230253637462011-02-22T16:35:27.676+11:002011-02-22T16:35:27.676+11:00The writing that okay in bogs is simply not good e...The writing that okay in bogs is simply not good enough for the academic powers that be, Zuzana. This frustrates me but I also appreciate the difference. I value the literary freedom of the blog. <br /><br />Thanks, Zuzana.Elisabethhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04015624747225433940noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28133718.post-80028280447073072222011-02-22T10:03:25.148+11:002011-02-22T10:03:25.148+11:00Leslie - a further response to your comment, about...Leslie - a further response to your comment, about our personalities and those of women of a certain age being well matched when it comes to the pressure we feel to make up for lost time. I agree. There is enormous pressure, and the conflict between what we want to do and what we are obliged to do can be intense. <br /><br />Maybe if a different focus, more akin to Jim's suggestion-acceptance and not expectation - had been possible in your marriage it would have worked out better. <br /><br />Thanks, Leslie, I hope we both find more fulfillment in the latter part of our lives.Elisabethhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04015624747225433940noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28133718.post-39781859198982983382011-02-22T04:26:35.490+11:002011-02-22T04:26:35.490+11:00You may not lead the perfect writer's life (an...You may not lead the perfect writer's life (and is there such a thing?) but oh, my, how you can write!<br />I understand, though. I surely do.Ms. Moonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09776404747858099919noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28133718.post-58760342285259603682011-02-21T23:24:09.716+11:002011-02-21T23:24:09.716+11:00Thanks Two tigers, my response above belongs more ...Thanks Two tigers, my response above belongs more to you than to Leslie. It's late. I have worked all day long, been to a film and now am trying to respond in a meaningful way to all my beloved commenters and I'm beginning to make little sense. I shall resume tomorrow when I have more of a mind. <br /><br />In the meantime, thanks Two Tigers.Elisabethhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04015624747225433940noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28133718.post-22047527775733153392011-02-21T23:20:52.342+11:002011-02-21T23:20:52.342+11:00We can't help t, can we Leslie, this continual...We can't help t, can we Leslie, this continual call to arms: my house is a mess I must attend to it, even as we rationalise it's not necessary. A quick tidy up will do. <br /><br />These injunctions about cleanliness are ground in from earliest days. They're hard to shift.<br /><br />Thanks, Leslie.Elisabethhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04015624747225433940noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28133718.post-75237009257788409462011-02-21T23:18:01.105+11:002011-02-21T23:18:01.105+11:00I'm delighted that your boat floats past my bl...I'm delighted that your boat floats past my blog, Jeanette, and grateful for your comments here. You seem to have weathered many a storm but come out of it the wiser.<br /><br />I talked to a few divorcees at this wedding, mostly women, and most reflected on their sadness at the breakup even after many years but all had some sense that their lives were more meaningful for their breakup despite the pain. <br /><br />Not one resented the newly weds their optimism and despite their bucket loads of cynicism they were all keen to wish them well. <br /><br />Thanks, Jeanette.Elisabethhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04015624747225433940noreply@blogger.com