Collaboration

col·lab·o·ra·tion Noun
1. The action of working with someone to produce or create something.

Remember when Astrid and I had the good fortune to meet up with Vision and Verb cohort, Petra, back in February?  Well, chalk up another one:  our own virtual reality named CherryPie becoming real in England!

Here's where the collaboration comes in.

Astrid and I met each other as virtual realities on 31 August 2007 when we first commented on each other's Shutterchance blog that day.  Actually, she started it.  And true to Blogging Ettiquette 101, I followed suit.

Just before that time in my life, I had been typing away day after day on my other blog, documenting all the traveling I was doing with my ex-partner.  Half of every month we lived in Atlanta.  The other half we lived first in Hannover, Germany, and later in Amsterdam.  Because of all the pictures I was taking, I wanted to start highlighting certain images in a bigger/better space for just one image/day.  Bigger images, fewer words.

That's when I picked Shutterchance (SC), at the end of 2006, a photoblog originating in the UK. By the time Astrid joined the same photoblog and found me in 2007, I was already pretty "established" in the core group of Shutterchancers, building a sweet little community.  In just a matter of time, Astrid, too, became part of the core.

Within 3 months of our first comments to each other, we had the chance to meet while I was  in Amsterdam...and, well, you know how they say the rest is history!   By 5 February 2010 we were legally married, living together here in the Netherlands.

That was last year, and for our honeymoon, we flew to England to be with Shutterchance friends, meeting up with 14 of them.  THIS year, in celebration of our 4th anniversary of meeting virtually, with those first comments, we flew back to England and had another meet-up.

And this is where CherryPie comes in! 

Our SC friends collaborated and planned a meet-up at Dudley's Black Country Living Museum on Sunday, 4 September, while we were visiting.  CherryPie, from England, who visits and comments regularly on my SC blog, read about the meet-up and wrote me that she would like to join us, even though everyone else was from SC. She was willing to brave the unknown...just so we V&Vers could meet!  And we did.

Are we happy or what?!  (Astrid collaborated by taking the image.)  Two women of a certain age met each other virtually on the WWW because certain other women conspired and collaborated to make a blog called Vision and Verb.  Within a short matter of time, BINGO:  they too/two were able to meet in real life.

My guess is this is not the last time it will happen...for me or for the rest of us.  Don't you wonder who will be next?  (Yes, Astrid and I are taking reservations should you like to make it to the Netherlands!)

Guilty Pleasures

Did you know that some of our "guilty pleasures" are actually good for our health and well-being!

I'll never forget the day I walked into a hospital a few years back and saw the poster, "Chocolate is Good for Your Heart," hanging right there on the wall.  The caveat was, of course, dark chocolate, at a minimum of 70% cocoa.  And in moderation.

Don't you love it when we have "professional permission" to indulge!

Most of you know that I moved myself, lock, stock and barrel, from America to the Netherlands in early December of 2009 to follow the love of my heart.  I had spent the entire year getting rid of everything I owned except the few treasures of my life that could be packed into 2 TruckPacks, 4'x4'x4'.  It was harrowing but invigorating.  I lost 10 pounds, reaching my 115 from high-school days.

It so happens that I had a "guilty pleasure" for many years of my adult life that stood me in good stead for my move.  I have no memory from whence it came but I got into collecting sheets of USA stamps.  By 2009, I had almost every sheet produced back to the 1930s, hundreds of them in myriad albums.  I would buy them off of eBay or at stamp auctions, one sheet at a time, usually between $3-10.  Like I said, it was a guilty pleasure. 

Little did I know I was collecting those sheets of stamps for my move to the Netherlands!  Religiously, relentlessly, I scanned every sheet, uploaded them to eBay, and sold every one, often at 10 times their face value.  They alone gave me enough money to buy our new car outright once I moved.  Someone asked me if I hated to see those stamps go.  Are you kidding me?!

Besides the stamps, I sold electronics and books and DVDs and anything I could get my hands on.  I LOVE eBay and Amazon.com.  They were my saviors, adding much-needed money for my move.  After the estate sale in November and then selling my car, it all was done.

Here I was, sitting on all that money earmarked for moving to Europe and buying the things we would need to set up a new home.  Astrid, too, was downsizing after her divorce.  We would need to consolidate what we salvaged from each of our past lives and build something new that represented us.

Now, if you're still following me, here's THE guilty pleasure I'm getting to.  Once I stopped all the packing and selling and was finally breathing again before the move, I mentioned to Astrid that I was toying around with the idea of buying a macro lens.  It had been on my "want list" for a long time.  But how could I reconcile doing that before the move, knowing every last penny would be important, especially considering the dollar-to-euro conversion.  I knew the lens would be cheaper in America, but ...still!

With adamant "professional permission" to indulge from Astrid, I just did it!  Blow all caution to the winds, right?  What she said made sense:  "Ginnie, call it your reward for what you've just been through the last 12 months!"

Funny thing is, I didn't start using the lens till this past month!  The above image is one of the first I took when I had no clue what I was doing.  It's been a steep learning curve but it sure has been fun, as any guilty pleasure should be!

So, you know I'm gonna ask you:  What is your guilty pleasure?  HA!

Lady Justice

First of all, aren't you glad she's a Lady!  Not to be stereotypical and all, but it somehow just feels…just.  

Don't you wonder who decided that?  And why?  [There's a Lord Justice, too, of course, but he's in England and/or Wales, an 'ordinary' Justice of Appeal.  We're not talking about him.] 

She actually has a name, Justitia, the Roman goddess of Justice:
  

Justitia is most often depicted with a set of scales typically suspended from her left hand,upon which she measures the strengths of a case's support and opposition. 

She is also often seen carrying a double-edged sword in her right hand, symbolizing the power of Reason and Justice, which may be wielded either for or against any party.

She wears a blindfold in order to indicate that justice is (or should be) meted out objectively, without fear or favor, regardless of identity, money, power, or weakness; blind justice and impartiality.  (Wiki)

I've been thinking of Her a lot lately, since the horrific attacks in Norway and the alleged Dominique Strauss-Kahn assault.  Since all the civil-war atrocities coming out of the Middle East.  Since all the rapes, genocides, child abductions, suicide bombings and...political bickerings?!

Is there anywhere in the world these days where She is alive and well?  Has there ever been?  Do we still believe “what goes around comes around”…that people can get away with murder but only for so long?  That even our own sins will catch up with us?  

Don't get me wrong.  I believe in Mercy--not getting what we deserve.  Knowing that if we did, we'd probably all be dead by now.  I also believe in Grace--being given 'gifts' we don't derseve.  Two good words from my preacher-home days. 

I believe transformation, though rare, is possible.  I believe people can change from bad to good.  I believe even I can change and that I can forgive and be forgiven.  I believe anyone can see the Light and learn to understand and accept Truth.  I believe.

But this post isn't about Mercy or Grace.  It's about Justice.  It's about wanting that Lady, with Her set of scales, the double-edged sword and the blindfold, to become a bit more visible.  Wanting to believe she exists in our world today, draped in Her long, flowing robes, mature but not old or out of touch...symbolizing the fair and equal administration of the law, without corruption, avarice, prejudice, or favor.
 
Even if she is rarely seen or heard these days, I'm glad the thought of her exists...and continues to  instill awe and reverence, like here at the front of City Hall in Breda, Netherlands, seen a year ago.  I can't really explain it but I'm REALLY glad she's a woman.  If we had a bit more of HER, maybe we'd be living in a better world?

Home Sweet Home

[One of my favorite houses near where I live in The Netherlands.]

On the heels of my last post, A Stitch in Time, I'm dying to give you a follow-up...you who went before me and prepared the way for my trip to the family cottage in Michigan, alone without Astrid.  THANK YOU.

There and back again, with a smile on my face.  Why, you ask?  Because something happened to me.  I was more ME with my family than I can ever recall.  I was comfortable in my own skin.  I was not shame-based (as so often happens to us in the gay community).  And because I'm in the best place and time of my life, I was 'at home' with me, myself and I.

That translated into my reaching out to each of my 5 siblings present, as well as to several of their kids, the Cousins.  I was intentional about it:  "Tell me how you're doing and what's happening in your life!"  And because most people like to talk about themselves, they did.  One on one, in the lake, on the grassy shore, in the cottage, on the deck or the screened-in porch, over 3 days of the holiday weekend, I caught up 30-45 minutes at a time.  Filling in all the cracks.  Catching up on the stories.  THEIR stories.

Interestingly, no one in return asked the same of me.  A couple mentioned it was too bad Astrid couldn't be there.  But it was okay.  For some reason, this time I didn't need them to catch up on me.  I needed to catch up on them and let them know I cared.  Quality, intentional, uninterrupted, focused time.

A stitch in time with my family.  I was the one doing the mending and it felt good and right.  Next time, Astrid will be with me (the plan is for next May during cottage workday) and THEN it will be my time.  Our time.  THEN it will be their turn to catch up on me/us.

I didn't expect it would happen like this.  That I would be selfless.  That I would NOT be worried about what they were thinking of me.  Here I am, living on the other side of the world with a Dutch woman they have never met (most of them).  I didn't give a hoot.  I only cared about them.

As I drove my turn in the dark of night back to Atlanta, I mulled over the gracious comments you had sent beforehand, wishing me god-speed.  I marveled over the effectual mindfulness we have for one another in our hour of need.  Thank you.

You know how we say "Home is where the heart is."  In the same breath we might also add "I left my heart in San Francisco."  Even though I missed Astrid terribly and have no intention to ever make this trip again without her, I did not leave my heart in The Netherlands when I left her...nor in Michigan when I left my family.  I realized, perhaps for the first time, that my heart, which is here inside me, is my home.  As long as I am true to my heart, I am 'at home.'

There's no other Home Sweet Home as good as that.  My heart, my home.  But still, as daughter Amy says, coming home is always the best part of going away!  There's no place like home.  There's no place like home.