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Lots of happenings

Glittering Shards: Lots of happenings

Glittering Shards

Saturday, January 09, 2010

Lots of happenings



The weather is happening to us. It always does, I know, but when its this dramatic, you realise that the weather just happens to us. Any plans you may have had to work outdoors, travel here and there etc... are just stopped because we have been happened to. Apologies to you lovely folk in places of the world that get real big snow for several months a year, but for us here to have our whole country covered in snow for over a week is, well...quite a happening. 

It has made me think again about this balance between what you can and can't control. By and large the weather is out of our control (though I spent a lot of my childhood in a grape growing region of Italy where hailstones was the dread of land owners for its ability to decimate the grape crop. To combat this, small yellow cannons dotted the vineyards, disrupting the post-lunch siesta with their intermittent 'boom' of chemicals being fired into the clouds to prevent hailstones forming. Did it work or was it man's attempt to feel in control when he wasn't?).



It's the same when I am making a mosaic. I am currently planning a few commissions and am at the sketching stage. But I know that I cannot plan how it will turn out - that the materials and the process somehow take over and shape the work rather than my attempts to map it out and control it. As I mature in my mosaic making I am more aware of the design choices I have as I make (grouted or ungrouted? andamento? focal points? material choices? positive and negative space? balance? repetition?...) and this has helped me tremendously in trusting the process and going with the flow rather than trying to control too much from the start.

Control...ehm?! Then there is the question of little ones - raising them and remaining in control of the daily 'happenings' as the parent. Not being afraid to set boundaries even if it leads to major strops, whilst also being attentive to their uniqueness, needs, wants and what their sometimes vexing behaviour is signalling. Boy oh boy, what a challenge. I guess, with two under the age of 4, we are in the prime of that 'glorious' developmental stage (the first 'teenagehood') where the boundaries are being pushed, set and reset. I have to confess that over Christmas I got quite burnt out with it all and saw myself turning into a grumpy mummy at times - not too cool.


Things have settled again and we have attempted to gain some positive control over toddler happenings by using a start chart. The idea is that each child has a rocket with their photo in it, and we acknowledge and praise good behaviour (such as using a normal voice, not a whine or shout; doing what mummy and daddy ask; being gentle and kind...) by moving them up a star. When they reach the moon they get a little treat. When they reach the planet they get a big treat. The rocket idea was adapted from the Supernanny website. I cut out and laminated each rocket and put a magnet on the back (the chart is on a magnetic board from IKEA). I like it because it is simple and links behaviour to a consequence. I am still not 100% convinced by how it will work...the jury is out.




In the meantime, we finally made it out into the snow as a family and the camera came too of course!



Loving the snowball fights, the snow men building (don't laugh but we only got about two inches so Isabella's snowman is a miniature!) and coming home to hot chocolate and pop corn. Also loving how, because we are limited to how far we can go out due to the very icy roads and pavements, we are in and out of our neighbours houses more often than usual for a change of scenery and distraction for the whole load of toddlers who live in our street. Whoever said London was a place with no community has not visited our neighbourhood!.

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5 Comments:

  • Hello Concetta! What fun and magic times for the kids with snowballs and snowmen!

    It was so interesting also, what you wrote about control in life and in creativity! It struck me that trusting the process, trust, is perhaps the most important ingredient?! What ever the process is? Hm...

    I've been thinking that for myself some techniques seem to appeal to the perfectionist in me, the part of me that wants to be in control, while other techniques appeal to the intuitive part of me. I much prefer working with the intuitive part! The other, more perfectionist part is so easy to critisise and be unhappy!

    By Anonymous Kate England | Marmalade Moon, at 11 January 2010 at 12:54  

  • Oh Kate I think I need to practice with the intuative as I am soooo perfectionist! Now there's a good focus for me;)Have a good week.

    By Blogger Concetta, at 11 January 2010 at 14:56  

  • That is the sweetest little snowman!

    One of the things that charmed and surprised me (and now I feel nostalgic) about life in London was the strong sense of community. Not in the city itself, but in the many, little neighborhoods that dot the city. Even though there's a safer feel to places like Helsinki, I've never known any of my neighbors in Finland as well as I knew our many London neighbors. It's nice to see how much you seem to love where you live!

    By Anonymous Michele at A House Called Nut, at 13 January 2010 at 10:46  

  • Hello Michelle, late reply but thanks for the comment way back in the archives of the blog (seems another life time now!) Let me know if you ever come back to London!

    By Blogger Concetta, at 21 January 2010 at 14:10  

  • Oh, I absolutely will! I doubt we'll ever move back there, but I'm due for a visit this year (fingers crossed) and would love to meet you for a cup of coffee and see some of your beautiful mosaics in real life. x

    By Anonymous Michele at A House Called Nut, at 22 January 2010 at 09:50  

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