A View From My Summerhouse

WPC: Selfie

Posted on February 10, 2014 by Sherri Matthews

This week’s Weekly Photo Challenge has had me on the run. This is what Cherie over at the WordPress Daily Post says:

‘…whether you love it or hate it, selfie-portraiture is indeed a thing, and an expression of our ever-evolving culture in our digital age.’

Very true, but I don’t make a habit of taking photographs of myself! I know that others taking part in this challenge will be much more creative and cleverer than I, suggestions of silhouettes and shadows abound in this Challenge post.

Then it came to me. A photograph I took when on holiday in France in 2012. I remembered a day when I was upstairs in the bedroom of the farmhouse where Hubby and I were staying. I was faffing about with my camera because I was having problems with a couple of its settings.

There was a full length mirror in the room and at last, having fixed the problem, I remember looking up and noticing I was standing in front of it. For some unaccountable reason, I decided to test my camera, using the flash, by taking a photo of myself standing in front of the mirror to see what would happen, what it would look like. I liked the way the flash ‘bounced’ off the glass of the mirror.

Who knew that I would be using that very photograph for a blog post sometime in the not too distant future…

Problem solved then! Here is the end result, my selfie, after some heavy editing of brightness, contrast and cropping which I did for the purposes of this post.

France, 2012
(c) Sherri Matthews 2014

Posted in Photos, Weekly Photo Challenge | Tagged photograph of self, postaday, selfie, Weekly Photo Challenge | 88 Comments

A Lingering Look at Windows: Historical Lewes, Sussex

Posted on February 6, 2014 by Sherri Matthews

For this week’s Lingering Look at Windows challenge over at Dawn’s site, The Day After, I have been inspired by short bursts of time spent by Hubby and I in the delightfully historic town of Lewes in the south east of England.

Lewes is nestled comfortably within the chalky South Downs of East Sussex with the River Ouse running prettily through it. Pretty yes, although prone to flooding from time to time. Let’s hope not this time.

So much could be said about this town which dates as far back as prehistoric times. It oozes history but I will keep it short.

Windows of Lewes
(c) Sherri Matthews 2013

For one thing, Lewes boasts its very own castle as well as the remains of Lewes Priory, both of which date as far back as Saxon times. For another, it was the site of the Battle of Lewes between Henry III and Simon de Montfort in 1264.

Another interesting fact is that should you ever visit Lewes, you might come across a former windmill called ‘The Round House’ which was once owned by Virginia Woolf. Who knew?

‘Harveys Brewery’, which sits by the river, was founded in 1790 and is famous for its Sussex Best Bitter (strong ale!) which, to this day, is distributed to pubs throughout East Sussex. I’m not a bitter drinker but I have it by good authority that it is a very good bitter indeed.

Harveys Brewery, Lewes, East Sussex
(c) Sherri Matthews 2014

Lewes is, of course, best known for the ‘Lewes Bonfire’, held every 5th November. Celebrations are held in honour of the failed attempt of the Gunpowder Plot in 1605 by the Catholic Guy Fawkes and also in memory of the seventeen Protestant Martyrs who were burned at the stake in Lewes as part of the Marian Persecutions held between 1555 and 1557.

Controversially, a large effigy of the Pope is burned on a huge bonfire on this night and parades take place throughout the town as various ‘Bonfire Societies’ are represented. Think people parading through the streets with crosses on fire and that kind of thing. It is the biggest and most famous celebration of Bonfire Night in the country.

All a bit ‘Wicker Man-ish’ for me, I have to say. (Although I do love that film. The 1973 one with Edward Woodward, not ‘that’ awful one with Nicholas Cage…)

Sadly, in December 1836, an avalanche occurred in Lewes, the worse that Britain has ever experienced. Heavy snow which had accumulated on a nearby cliff came crashing down on top of a row of houses on a street now known as South Street. Fifteen people were buried, eight of whom died.

Today, there is a pub in South Street called ‘The Snowdrop’, so named in memory of this tragic event. (I thought it was named after the flower). Eldest son told me this sobering bit of information during our first visit to this pub. (Highly recommended for excellent food, surroundings and vibe, by-the-way).

Windows at the back of The Snowdrop pub in Lewes, Sussex.
Notice the chalk cliffs behind it. Taken in late summer, 2013
(c) Sherri Matthews 2014

However, for me, and since I am fascinated by all things medieval and especially King Henry VIII’s reign, I was delighted to discover a fifteenth century timber-framed Wealden hall house known as Anne of Cleves house. It was left to her as part of her divorce settlement from King Henry VIII, although she never actually lived there. It is now managed by the Sussex Archaeological Society and is a museum.

Windows of 15th Century Anne of Cleves House, Lewes, Sussex
(c) Sherri Matthews 2014

I have always felt that out of all of Henry’s wives, and despite her initial disappointments, Anne of Cleves came out the best. After all, she was only actually married to him from 6 January 1540 to 9 July 1540. Thomas Cromwell ‘found’ her for the King, living as she did in Germany, after Jane Seymour’s death and promptly commissioned Hans Holbein, a German artist, to paint a portrait of her, making sure to present her in the best possible light (no Photoshop or air brushing in those days, remember).

However, upon setting eyes on Anne in the flesh and noticing that she looked decidedly different to her portrait (a bit like online dating methinks, medieval style), Henry was not impressed, famously declaring, ‘I like her not’. Perhaps he should have learnt a little German and got to know her a bit better first…

By that time, and unfortunately for him, Henry had no choice but to marry her but being ever impatient, rushed through an annulment on the basis that the marriage was never consummated. Lucky Anne!

She was packed off to Hever Castle in Kent, the Boleyn family home and given a generous allowance as well as other properties, including Anne of Cleves House. Known from then on and rather fondly as ‘The King’s beloved sister’, Anne was comfortable and well looked after with respect and kindness, living as a friend to both Henry and his children.

She must have missed her family in Germany terribly, yet she remained in England for the rest of her days until her death at the age of 41 on 17 July, 1557, in so doing surviving old King Henry and being the last of his queens to die.

More importantly, she got to keep her head which is more than can be said for most of King Henry’s other unfortunate wives.

Posted in A Lingering Look at Windows, HIstory, Photos | Tagged A Lingering Look at Windows, Anne of Cleves, HIstory, King Henry VIII, Lewes, Medieval, photos of windows, Sussex | 90 Comments

WPC: Object – Broken Tree

Posted on February 4, 2014 by Sherri Matthews

A day late and a dollar short, ha! Story of my life. Well, better to show up than not at all and here it is Tuesday but as promised, with my take on this week’s Weekly Photo Challenge theme which is ‘Object’. So many thoughts about this, so much to ponder. Can an object in this context mean just about anything?

Last week, being completely bereft without my laptop and I am not ashamed to admit it, (blog post coming up about technology addiction!) I became reacquainted with the ancient art of handwriting as with a pen, on paper. Not a bad thing as it turned out and with surprising and therapeutic results. I needed to be productive during my ‘offline’ time and so, after I got over my self-pity I decided to revisit my fiction assignment for the writing course I started three years ago and have until October to finish.

I was very inspired by my good pal Dylan’s excellent post over at Suffolk Scribblings where he shares how he came about his ideas for his recently published book, ‘Second Chance’. Congratulations once again Dylan!

I have no problem in writing about my experiences, past and present in a non-fiction, and of course, memoir capacity, but fiction? That’s another thing altogether. I have this mental block about being able to use my experiences and turn them into characters and plots for a novel. I just can’t seem to visualise a character or an idea. Usually when I write I know the ending first. Sometimes just a simple few words. That’s all I need.

So I sat down and started to jot down some ideas. Before I knew it I had come up with a (very) bare-bones plot outline and four characters, as per the assignment requirement. As I wrote, I began to see that indeed, my characters began to take shape and form and I got quite excited about this! For the first time in my life I began to believe that perhaps one day I might actually write a novel. Taking the time out to hand-write these ideas helped greatly.

This revelation led to another one: I realised that I have always hand-written my poems. Even when, as a teenager, I had an old typewriter (I taught myself to touch type on my mum’s old manual typewriter, took all my RSA typewriting exams on one and thought I had died and gone to heaven when I sat down at my desk in my job as a PA working for a lawyer in Los Angeles when I was given my very own electric typewriter!) I always hand-wrote everything.

In fact, when I was at school we had cursive handwriting classes using fountain pens with a flourish! Needless to say, my writing looks nothing like the writing I produced in those classes.

Perhaps in the very act of writing down our thoughts and our ideas by hand and so recording them in this more personal way we are able to discover more easily what is really churning around deep inside our hearts.

Moving on then to the theme of this post, and I do admit that a heaviness bears down on me as it has for a little while. That old black dog stops by for a visit and likes to sit at my feet from time to time. He is strangely familiar and perversely comforting, yet I hope he doesn’t stay too long.

So doing what I try to do at such times in search of a cure, he and I took a walk together to try to clear away the cobwebs.

Victim of the Storm - Dead Tree, Somerset(c) Sherri Matthews 2014

Victim of the Storm – Dead Tree in Somerset
(c) Sherri Matthews 2014

This beautiful tree, felled by the recent storms and lying motionless on its side, broken, never to rise again. Black mud, not frost-hard as it should be in winter but soft and deep, emerging from its flooded, watery grave. A tractor has driven through the mud, somebody has seen this tree but has left it where it lies.

This broken tree has had its day, with nothing but the still of winter’s air to mourn it.

Yet see the deep, blue sky? This could almost be California. At a stretch. Life and death underneath the wide-open expanse. We all have our day. It is good to reach high while we still can and put down strong, deep roots to keep us firm in the day of our storm.

Why are we all so ‘busy’ to the point that we fill our lives with so many distractions just so that we don’t have to stop and be forced to listen to the clamoring sounds of silence? Yet, as writers, this is just what we have to do.

In the cold light of day we come face to face with our limitations, our failures, our worries and, of course, our fears. Yet it is here, in the very silence, where we meet our deepest expression. Maybe it is here that we also find our healing, our hope and ultimately our deliverance.

This is a poem I wrote last week, out of my silence. Dark though it may be, the blue-sky beckons. Always.

Havoc In The Peace

Wipe that gash of a smile off your
sick, plastic gaze, toying as it creeps up
into the no-doubt-about-it
lines leaching out from the
Death around your eyes.

Reach up into the cruel expanse
of purpose-built lies
As you grasp and seek havoc
Where the lonely dove sighs.

Oh to wonder in the meadow-green
with the cornflour-blue
and the Red-River seen
pure and driven, carcass-riven
In the deep of the unclean.

Reach up into the cruel expanse
of purpose-built lies
Where they seek havoc in the peace
while a little boy cries.

And when the end comes
As surely as it must of any
craven-filled dearth, spluttered
out and kicked to Christ
Where then, in a touch of breeze;
Just give it to me now, then

Turn into a whisper, caught unheeded
singing sweetly, spoken lightly on the air:
‘Keep your charm, for I deliver,
casting lots for my despair.’

Reach up then, into the cruel expanse
and embrace your dark lies,
As they reek of havoc in the peace
Where my broken heart dies.

‘The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.’
Psalm 34:18

Posted in Photos, The Black Dog, Weekly Photo Challenge, Writing | Tagged Handwriting, Photo of Tree, Poem, Poetry, postaday, Storms, The Black Dog, Weekly Photo Challenge, Writers, writing, Writing Fiction | 63 Comments

Just Another Day In Computer Paradise

Posted on February 3, 2014 by Sherri Matthews

Deep breath. Why, oh why is it so frustrating and darn-right hard to get back into the swing of things (again) after being forced to manage without my laptop? I know, it’s not the end of the world, far worse things happen at sea (especially if the computer crashes I would imagine, ha!) but still, I know that you will commiserate with me.

Focusing on the good points, although I still have a broken touchpad and have to keep using a mouse (which rather defeats the point of having a laptop, but there you go) my wiped-clean and restored laptop is now free of all software problems, hopefully.

The other bonus is that I now have a rather sexy-looking robot whose steely good looks pop up here and there on my monitor to remind me that he is guarding against any and all nasty viruses (well, alright, he is rather more androgynous in a metallic sort of way than sexy but he does have a slight ring of the Terminator about him and on a bitterly cold Somerset afternoon I’ll take what I can get).

I’ve tried my best to catch up with most of you and thanks so much for keeping in touch (although one or two of you did have rather too much fun in my absence, no names mentioned!) There are others out there going through similar computer/internet issues and I do feel your pain.

Which leads me to this: We all rely so much on modern technology now and since I started writing in earnest and then blogging I’ve realised that I’ve come to rely on it in a way I never did before. So alright, I admit, it has been a major pain in the rear but compared to the times back in the day when we were a family of five sharing one computer, it has been a walk in the park. On a sunny day.

Back then, it was like World War Three in our house if something went wrong with the computer.

Here is the scenario: Eldest Son comes home from school one day when he is about fourteen years old saying that the teachers have announced that they will no longer be marking hand-written work, such was the state of it that they couldn’t read it, so it was now necessary that all students turn in typed work if they want it to be graded.

Well that’s all fine and dandy then.

This of course meant that we had to get a computer, at huge expense, or so it seemed at the time. I remember we paid twelve monthly interest-free payments for it on our credit card. The fact that it would be a dinosaur within two years wasn’t even a consideration. Bearing in mind that this would have been in the mid 90’s and hardly anybody we knew had a home PC back then. How things have changed.

Of course everyone wanted a piece of the action with our new ~~expensive, state-of-the-art computer~~ toy. Meaning ex-husband (EH) who thought it was great for playing war games into the small hours. He worked shifts in a tough job, I’ll give him that, but if I ever hear a battle cry accompanied by a shrill horn blowing repeatedly at three in the morning ever again I cannot be held responsible for my actions.

Of course, with the arrival of the computer, so came the arguments. Thick and fast. Both boys needed it for homework (and their gaming too!) and then little Aspie D* who grew up from day one with all things technological and so thought nothing of grabbing the cursor away from me when she saw fit to ‘show me how it’s done properly’.

Forget the ‘Barbie’ horse-riding computer game, she wanted what the boys had, but I had to remind them that when playing such ghastly things like ‘Doom’ or such not to let her watch too!

The kicker was when EH would arrive home in the late afternoons after the day shift (it was so much better when he worked swings) usually in a foul mood and wanting to relax by ~~sharing a nice cup of tea with me~~ blowing someone’s brains out and exploding a few bombs along the way. Working in a prison will do that to you.

Never mind that Eldest Son was sitting quietly at the computer halfway through a vital homework assignment. Despite my protestations on my son’s behalf, his father took over insisting that it ‘wouldn’t be for long’ and that was when the trouble started.

‘Dammit!’ he demanded to know, ‘Why was the computer running so slowly, and what was all that crap the kids kept downloading and putting on it?’ So you know what he did? He went in and erased all their music and games just so that he could play his games. Never mind all the ‘crap’ that he downloaded. I don’t think I need to explain any more just what kind of effect this had on family relations.

We do actually laugh about it now but back then it was a different matter entirely.

So, with the battle scars very much etched into our psyche, it was not much better when we were reduced to a little family of three after my divorce and we moved back here to the UK. Eldest Son was away at University but me, Nicky and Aspie D were back to sharing a computer.

I set a timetable between brother and sister for equal and fair use of their share of computer time after school. I found a part-time job as a legal secretary in the same town where we lived thankfully as it wasn’t uncommon for me to take a call from one of them up in arms about the latest computer crisis. Always the computer!

One call in particular did break my heart. Aspie D called me up in floods of tears. She could hardly get the words out. Reception was full of clients and I had mountains of work to get through but never mind all of that. I was naturally very concerned at her distress and I could only imagine the worst.

Had something happened to her or her brother at school or on the way home, I questioned? No. Had one of the cats got out (they were indoor cats at the time) and, God forbid, been hurt? No. Had we been burgled? No. At last she was able to tell me the horrific news.

She used to play a game designed for children called Neopets and she had worked really hard to have earned, much to her delight, the much sought-after magic mirror. But when she had gone into her account she was devastated to learn that someone had hacked into it and had stolen her prized magic mirror.

It took me the entire evening to calm her down about that.

Not long after that, we watched in horror as we were held powerless at the mercy of a ghastly virus which caused our computer monitor to turn jet black with a very strange message in red letters appear across it while the CD drive kept opening and closing all by itself repeatedly. I was so freaked about it that I actually called the police.

They were no help to this single mother with her two frightened kids thinking that we were being stalked by some unseen cyber monster.

So I think you can better understand why, as soon as I get any kind of a whiff of computer trouble, my blood turns to ice. I really do think that I’ve got computer-related post traumatic stress disorder.

In fact, I do believe I can hear the distant sound of a battle horn even now…

………………………………………………….

The very act of writing this post has helped me clear my head somewhat but I apologise that this is not the weekly photo challenge you might have expected, having just committed to producing these on a Monday. Instead I shall do this tomorrow and then, all being well, things will get back to normal for the rest of the week and beyond. Thanks so much for bearing with me and as I always say:

Watch this space 🙂

*Thanks Nav 😉

Posted in Childhood Memories, Current Affairs, Family Life | Tagged Blogging, Childhood memories, Computer, Computer Problems, Family Life, Laptops, Technology, The Terminator | 57 Comments

Isn’t Modern Technology Wonderful: Yeah Right!

Posted on January 28, 2014 by Sherri Matthews

Modern technology – wonderful when it works, but when it doesn’t it’s a nightmare.

Hi everyone, this is a very quick update to apologise for not being able to reply to your lovely comments on my posts or catch up with your blogs today as planned because my laptop is not cooperating, putting it mildly. I’m hoping to have it back by late Wednesday.

Very annoying to say the least.

As soon as I get it back I will catch up with you once more (Is it me, or am I always playing catch-up these days??)

Don’t have too much fun without me, will you?

Love Sherri x

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Uncategorised | 57 Comments

Weekly Photo Challenge: Juxtaposition is British High Tea in California

Posted on January 27, 2014 by Sherri Matthews

This week’s theme for the Weekly Photo Challenge is Juxtaposition. Juxtaposition is defined in the Collins English Dictionary in this way: ‘The juxtaposition of two contrasting objects, images, or ideas is the fact that they are placed together or described together, so that the differences between them are emphasized‘.

……………………………………….

How wonderful to visit a tea room where traditional ‘high tea’ is served. What better than to have a choice of teas ranging from the delicately perfumed Earl Grey or the light flavour of Darjeeling to every day English Breakfast tea, accompanied by tiny cheese and cucumber or salmon finger sandwiches all rounded off with a delectable selection of petit fours and homemade Victoria sponge cake.

The ambient surroundings of the cottage-style tea rooms, its walls decorated with Royal Doulton plates painted with images of the Royal Family and china cups and crystal glasses encased within teak cabinets all lend themselves to the tranquility of the moment.

Outside, the Union Jack flaps gently in the summer breeze as the scent of lavender and climbing roses fills the air. The Stars and Stripes dances just behind it.

Outside The Tea Cozy, Cambria, California (c) Sherri Matthews 2013

Outside The Tea Cozy, Cambria, California
(c) Sherri Matthews 2014

The quintessential English tea room?

It would be except this tea room is in Cambria, California, a small community nestled high up in the pine trees overlooking the Pacific Ocean along the Pacific Coast Highway. Keep driving and it will take you to Big Sur, Carmel, Monterey and eventually to San Francisco.

The Tea Cozy, Cambria, California
(c) Sherri Matthews 2014

I spent many treasured afternoons ‘taking tea’ with my American friends in Cambria, just off the Pacific Coast Highway. It’s been a long time since I went out for ‘proper’ tea back home in England. I miss it.

Posted in My California, Weekly Photo Challenge | Tagged America, California, England, Friendship, Juxtaposition, Pacific Coast Highway, postaday, Tea, Weekly Photo Challenge | 71 Comments

The Taste of Words – Asperger’s Syndrome and Synaesthesia

Posted on January 24, 2014 by Sherri Matthews

My daughter and big brother on the Teacups at 1990s (c) Sherri Matthews 2104)

My daughter and big brother on the Teacups at Disneyland 1990s
(c) Sherri Matthews 2104)

The taste of LA on a Disneyland morning.

It is the taste of hot coffee, Winchell’s donuts and egg and bacon breakfast sandwiches.

This is what was brought to Aspie Daughter’s mind as we chatted one day about the times when she was little and we used to go to Disneyland when we lived in California.

I also knew just what she meant in remembering when we first arrived at LAX after a long-haul flight walking out into the warm, open air feeling exhausted yet exhilarated, of being hit in the face by the smell of French fries tinged with the fumes of gasoline. You could almost taste it.

Except that she actually did ‘taste’ it.

Over the years I’ve always been intrigued by the way Aspie Daughter told me how she could ‘taste’ and ‘see’ words in colour. I thought it was part of her unique creativity and that it was just one of her many creative and special little ways.

Then, last summer (and once again, thank you ‘spamgate’!) I met my lovely friend Jenny over at her beautifully written blog Characters From The Kitchen. Since then, we have shared many stories from our childhoods, put the world to rights and laughed so hard until my ~~hotpants~~ sides have split in two.

Reading her ‘About’ page, I was astounded to learn the unique way she ‘sees’ numbers as colours and that this is an actual condition called ‘synaesthesia’. Hence started a very lively discussion between us about this fascinating subject because I realised that Aspie Daughter must have some form of it. My interest grew even more when I read Jenny’s post about this very subject.

Then I wondered if it was more common in people with Asperger’s Syndrome and perhaps an extension of an already heightened, every day sensory experience.

Before I go on, I should clarify here that I am making a distinction between Asperger’s Syndrome and full-blown Autism even though they are both classed as an Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD).

Some of you may already know that last May, the American Psychiatric Association adopted new guidelines with its official release of the DSM-5 (The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition) meaning that previously recognised sub-types of ASD (including Asperger’s Syndrome) are now put into one diagnosis of ASD.

This redefinition of Asperger’s has been hotly debated and I will be writing more about this very lengthy subject in due course, but you can click here for further information in the meantime.

However, and referring to a study done last year using brain-activity monitoring, research seems to back up the idea that Asperger’s is a distinct form of autism. For instance, although those with Asperger’s and Autism both have difficulty with social interaction and restricted, obsessive interest, those with Asperger’s (also known as Higher Functioning Autism) have typical or even advanced language development and intellect.

Coming back then to synaesthesia. What exactly is it? The UK Synaesthesia Association asks this on its website:

‘What colour is the letter “A”? What does the number ‘1″ taste of? Does listening to music, speaking or eating food produce colours, shape or texture? For most people, questions such as these will either yield a look of bewilderment or an emphatic “No!”‘

Quite simply, for those with this ‘condition’ the answers to the questions above would be very different!

A BBC News health report written last November highlighted a new study linking synaesthesia with autism which was carried out by the Autism Research Centre at Cambridge University. They discovered that synaesthesia is three times more common in people on the autistic spectrum, including those with Asperger’s.

What I find so fascinating about all this is that this study seems to point to similarities in underlying and unusual brain connectivity with ASD and synaesthesia. When I consider that sensory issues play a huge part in ASD, and that synaesthesia seems to be a mixing-up of the senses due to anomalies in the way the brain is wired, I am very excited to learn more about this intriguing subject as more research takes place.

To end this article, and as promised, I persuaded my lovely Aspie Daughter (and she very kindly agreed) to interview her as I thought it would be good for her to share her personal experiences with synaesthesia. I hope you will find her answers just as interesting and as enlightening as I did! Since it is one of her favourite colours, her answers are in green!

1. When did you first hear the word ‘Synaesthesia’ and in what context?

When you told me about the blog post you read about it, I immediately recognised something in it that seemed familiar to my experience. I had never heard the word until then or knew nothing about the condition.

2. When I explained to you what it was, in general terms, what were your thoughts?

I didn’t realise that it was a ‘condition’. I thought it happened to everyone and that it was normal.

3. Does this mean that you have been aware of having it all your life?

Yes. I noticed that I ‘tasted’ different, random words and saw words in colour but I never thought it was any different to anyone else or weird. I thought it was normal.

4. When you say you ‘taste’ random words, can you describe this for us?

Well, for instance, when I hear, read or speak the word ‘group’ I taste vanilla pudding. It’s not a literal taste, it’s more that my taste buds are remembering the texture and the flavour of the pudding but it’s not like I’m putting the food literally in my mouth. I would call it a weak taste, but it happens every time.

5. Can you give me some more examples of random word/taste association?

Yes, the word ‘tomorrow’ I always associate with baby carrots, the word ‘wood’ gives me the taste and scent of fresh water, as in a river. ‘Clock’ tastes of cheesy-rice.

6. What about colours that you see with days of the week?

Thursday I see dark blue, Wednesday is orange, Tuesday is like a cornflower blue, Monday is maroon, Friday is lilac, Saturday is dark green and Sunday is yellow.

7. This leads me to my next question. Do you think that the way you ‘see’ days of the week as colours ties in with the way certain colours make you feel calmer or more stressed?

I think the way they are is because maybe when I was younger I may have seen some sort of calendar or something with days of the week which has stayed in my mind. I don’t like yellow very much and I don’t like Sundays. I remember in California not liking waking up on a Sunday morning with it being very bright and sunny and everyone being up already, making noise around the house because it made me feel tense and anxious. Because the school week was so long and stressful for me I wanted to spend the weekend relaxing and sleeping in. This only happened on Sundays, I was fine getting up on Saturdays. So yellow, which I associate with the sun which I don’t like, is probably why I think of Sundays in this colour.

8. You always struck me from a girl how you phrased words in such a descriptive way. For instance, one morning when we went outside and it was cold and damp and you said it ‘smelled like dirty frogs’. You also said that beer ‘smelled like liquid bread’. You were only about four or five (quite why you were smelling beer I don’t know!) and you had no idea that it is made from hops, and that yeast is used to make bread.

* Laughing * Yes, I remember that!

9. All in all, now that you know that your unique way of seeing and tasting words in colour is quite unusual and an actual condition, how do you feel about that?

Fine, it is just there. It doesn’t affect me one way or the other.

10. Thank you lovely daughter! How would you feel about doing another interview some time?

That’s ok. Maybe! *Smiles*

There you have it! I hope you enjoyed my first blog interview with Aspie Daughter. I happen to think she is pretty amazing, but then I would since I’m Mum so I’m biased, naturally.

Have a great weekend everyone and keep warm and dry, or cool, depending on which side of the planet you’re on, and I will do my best to catch up with you in the next couple of days 🙂

Posted in Asperger's Syndrome, Family Life, My California | Tagged American Psychiatric Association, ASD, Asperger's Syndrome, Autism, Autistic Spectrum Disorder, Blog Interview, California, Daughter with Asperger's, Family Life, Synaesthesia | 70 Comments

A Lingering Look At Windows: Angel’s Light

Posted on January 23, 2014 by Sherri Matthews

This week’s ‘Lingering Look at Windows‘ challenge is not letting me do what I set out to do. Another day for that. Today, this is what I need to do.

What I can’t get out of my mind is the broken body of a three-year old boy called Mikaeel Kular found dumped in woodland behind the house where he once lived in Fife, Scotland. Some 25 miles away from his home in Edinburgh. He hadn’t been seen at nursery since Christmas and his mother has been arrested in connection with his murder.

How many children die every day, how many corrupted and destroyed? How many times do we read such terrible stories of innocents cut down before they have had a chance to live?

Why, when we are bombarded with news of disasters, terrors and murder day after day does this little boy’s story haunt me? I don’t know.

There is nothing I can do. I certainly can’t presume to know the facts but it doesn’t matter. A little boy was found alone, dead and he is gone forever.

Inverary Prison, Scotland (c) Sherri Matthews 2014

Inveraray Historic Jail, Scotland
(c) Sherri Matthews 2014

A few year’s ago, we took a holiday in Scotland. It was the first time that I had visited and I was excited to do so. During our stay we visited historic Inveraray Jail which was built in 1820 at the same time as the courthouse. By 1848 it became known as the New Prison when many improvements were carried out, making it a model prison for its day.

The Jail today is a museum and as we walked around its many corridors and rooms, including the inside of its cells, we couldn’t help but feel a little unsettled. Indeed, the Jail is known for its ghostly sightings and phenomena.

Looking at this photo now I remember being drawn to the worn, flagstone floor of the corridor and then the way the light radiated through the window at the end of it. Especially as it was raining that day and the lamp above it was not switched on.

Now I think of the little boy as I stop for a lingering look at this window. Jesus said ‘let the little children come to me’. From the walls of his hellish prison was this boy saved, gathered up in the arms of angels and carried into the light of salvation, of deliverance.

The light beckoned him and in an instant he turned to glance for one, last, fleeting moment at the life he was leaving behind and then, like a whisper in the wind, he was gone and peace was his reward. Angels fly thee to thy rest.

His short, broken life has to count for something.

Posted in A Lingering Look at Windows, Current Affairs, Photos | Tagged A Lingering Look at Windows, Angels, Children, Inveraray Jail, Jesus, Light, photograph of a window, Scotland | 46 Comments

WPC: Family

Posted on January 20, 2014 by Sherri Matthews

A little late in the day (at least for my fellow same-time-zone bloggers) to start my new regime but here I begin with this week’s Weekly Photo Challenge theme which is ‘Family’. This gives a very broad scope for interpretation as you who regularly read my blog know, I write about my family life, both past and present, more than anything else.

So how to go about meeting this challenge, which aspect of family life should I write about, what specific photos should I share?

Not ironically, I spent the best part of the day today with my mum and we had a moment or two or reminiscing, as we always do, about the this-and-that of our family. During the thirty or so minute drive back home, my thoughts drifted back to last year. To the two weeks I spent in California with my daughter having returned after an absence of ten years and then, to a boating holiday spent on the Norfolk Broads in the early summer for the fist time in over fifteen years.

The resulting association of specific memories with certain photos seemed bizarre at first, the more I drifted, lost in thought, but then it began to make perfect sense. Family is family, after all, even if it means a gaggle of geese.

So it seemed right to me that the first photo should be one I took on the Norfolk Broads last year of a family of Greylag Geese sunning themselves on the banks of Salhouse Broad on the first morning of our holiday. Mum emerged from her cabin and threw her arms around me with such excitement that I was afforded a delightful glimpse of her childlike wonderment, not jaded for an instant.

‘The sun is shining! Did you see those geese over there? Isn’t it wonderful to be back on the water after so many years!’

I will never forget the look on my mum’s face as she revelled in her moment of holiday-bliss.

Canadian Geese, Norfolk Broads (c) Sherri Matthews 2014

Greylag Geese, Norfolk Broads
(c) Sherri Matthews 2014

What then of another, very different family? My childhood family and memories of holidays spent with my mum, dad, brother and grandparents on the Norfolk Broads.

Digging through a time-warp of endless black and whites flitting through my mind and ever thankful that my grandfather was a prolific photographer and cine-film maker, there is one photo that, for me, truly defines the unbridled joy of our care-free smiles preserved for ever in a flash of history, as taken by my mum who inherited her father’s skill and enjoyment of photography.

Me, my brother and grandparents
Norfolk Broads 1960s
(c) copyright Sherri Matthews 2014

So then I ask again; family, which family? The family life I once had as a girl? Or the one shared by three people later on, just Mum, my brother and I? What about the family life that went on to define me, when it was my turn to be Mom, loving, living, raising, nurturing my three beautiful children for almost twenty years in California?

What then of the warm and loving family life I have now, with my husband and Aspie daughter and visiting sons, returned to and embraced by my extended family, all of whom I missed so terribly when I lived so far away across the sea yet not without having left a part of me behind with my other, never-forgotten family who live there still, some six-thousand miles away?

Yet, as the association continues, it is not surprising to me that in the end the photo that wouldn’t go away is this one. Think the Boardwalk at Santa Cruz beach. A day out with my family, a young mom, pushing my baby daughter in her stroller, holding my three-year old younger son’s hand and my eldest son walking beside his father.

My Family on The Boardwalk in Santa Cruz 1992 (c) Sherri Matthews 2014

My Family on The Boardwalk at Santa Cruz 1992
(c) Sherri Matthews 2014

Think a family on a day out, like any other family, heading back to the car as the day comes to an end for the two-hour drive back home for pizza for dinner and then to watch a movie together on the VCR. Normal, family life.

Think then of my mother, hanging back, taking photos of the Boardwalk and then, on looking ahead at her daughter and her family walking just ahead of her decides, at that precise moment, to take the shot. Think the click of her camera, the single press of the button, as she captures for all to see the epitome of family life.

The Giant Dipper would have its day.

Posted in Family Life, My California, Norfolk Broads, Weekly Photo Challenge | Tagged California, Family Life, Mom, Mum, Norfolk Broads, Photography, Photos of Greylag Geese, postaday, Santa Cruz, travel, Weekly Photo Challenge | 72 Comments

The Write Frame of Mind – How I Found My Perfect Distraction

Posted on January 17, 2014 by Sherri Matthews

Keeping the path clear
for the writing journey ahead
Walk to Ranworth Church
Norfolk Broads, England
(c) Sherri Matthews 2013

Friday already! Where has the week gone?

This has been the first week when I’ve felt properly ready and able to get back into writing and blogging on a regular basis again since Christmas.

Yet, I still couldn’t quite shake off a certain ‘brain-fog’ which has plagued me for some months now, a feeling of going around and around in circles, of being overwhelmed with my writing projects and not able to think clearly.

I had every hope that after the Christmas break I would emerge refreshed and invigorated with a brand new writing schedule to hand, fired up and raring to go but alas, this didn’t happen.

Not even a little bit.

What I did emerge with is the realization that the biggest obstacle standing in the way of my being able to achieve any kind of proper writing schedule is my appalling time management skills.

I used to be good at this, so what went wrong?

Every day, with the best intentions in the world I would set out with all my writing goals for the day in tact but I would fall at the first hurdle time and time again. This is because I couldn’t resist the urge to have just a ‘quick look’ at my emails first. Then my blog. Then read other blogs. Big mistake.

Before I knew it, the clock would be chiming 3 pm, my morning tea had gone cold, I was still in my PJs, cold, hungry and dehydrated, the cats swirling around me like sharks sizing me up for their midday meal (their lunch long forgotten) and not even caring why the postman looked at me strangely when I had to open the door to take in a parcel for Aspie daughter. (She has an Ebay habit you know).

Do you think that if I told him I was a writer he would understand?

No, I thought not.

So far as accomplishing any writing other than on my blog, the day would be lost and I would be left feeling frustrated, overwhelmed and very annoyed with myself. Not a good way to be.

Working from home is not as easy as it sounds, anyone who does so will agree. The distractions can be endless, if you let them. Holding onto a proper schedule is a constant struggle and takes great discipline. Procrastination becomes your closest companion. ‘He’ loves to huddle up next to you in bed first thing in the morning, tempting you with a nice cup of tea and whispering all kinds of plans and ideas for the day ahead.

None of which include writing I might add.

So I was not in the best frame of mind when this week started off, despite my commitment to really get down to writing my book yet still not knowing just how I was going to manage the juggling act.

Then, quite unexpectedly, I had my breakthrough.

Wouldn’t you know it, and it came in the form of joining not one but two weekly photo challenges. Yes, you read that right. My cure is to take on more challenges! This is what stirs me up, energizes me, enables me to have some badly needed structure and discipline in my week, and boy, do I need that.

These challenges give me focus, the perfect distraction. I will do my WIP first thing in the morning and I have my photo challenges to look forward to as well as my ‘normal’ blogging and I just know that I will be in a much better frame of mind to make the transition in this way. I need to come up for air when writing my book and this is the perfect solution.

Maybe I’m crazier than a box of frogs, but just to prove a point, on Monday I wrote 2,500 words for my memoir (up to chapter 4), two articles for two website newsletters and prepared my blog post for the first weekly challenge. I had time to visit you all and I’ve manged to keep up all week with my blogging. I didn’t panic, things flowed nicely, I still managed to go for a walk, cook dinner that evening and the cats were fed on time.

Can it last? Let’s hope so! I will certainly give it my best shot. I’m so excited about these photo challenges and once again I would like to thank all of you for showing such an interest in my posts.

The important thing though, as we all know, is that we do what works for us. This might not be the best way forward for some but for me it works. The key is to enjoy the journey and not to look too far ahead thinking, ‘I’ll be happy when…’ The problem is that ‘when’ might take an awful long time coming, sometimes it never does.

What about my annoying companion, ‘Procrastination’? Well, I’ve told him to take a hike. Maybe take a few photos while he’s at it. You never know, I might just decide to use one or two for one of the photo challenges.

Next week, in addition to my photo challenge posts, I will be delving back into the world of all things ‘Aspie’ and I will be doing my first-ever blog interview – with Aspie daughter! As I always say, watch this space!

For now I’m just off to check my emails and pay you all a little visit…I’m happy that at this moment you are my perfect distraction.

Have a great weekend everyone and keep warm and safe 🙂