A Smile With Coincidence Photos

A smile today with these couple of Coincidence Photos, snapped at just the right time. Thanks for sending them to me JC.


Coincidence Photos:
A Trio Of Coincidence Photos
Coincidence Photos Of Children And Their Dogs
There Is Only Our Realisation Of How Things Are
... More

60 Things To Put Sparkle In Our Lives

Lesley Evans, a librarian from Kent, England, has generated some interest in herself by becoming a newsworthy person. Why? Because she has just turned 60.

Okay, a lot of people turn 60 every year but Leslie wanted to do something to remember her 60th year, so she is determined to fulfill 60 of her dreams in celebration.

In other words she's made a list of 60 things she wants to do - well actually she now has only 11 more to complete. But this is no 'Bucket List' or 'Things To Do Before I Die' list. Leslie explains:

"I decided to compile a list of 60 things I've never done, and work my way through them to make this year memorable for all the right reasons.

It had to be a realistic list. Sixty tasks equates to more than one a week, and I didn't want to spend the year bankrupt and exhausted. Also it had to be achievable. It would be ridiculous for me to set myself a challenge I knew I couldn't do, as I would end up feeling disappointed and a failure."

So what sort of thing has she put on her list? These are a few she has already completed:

Apply to go on a television quiz. She's been on UK's Eggheads and this ticked off three of her items: (1) Being on the quiz itself; (2) Meeting two millionaires - she met two contestants who have won this amount of money and (3) to have her make-up done professionally - the TV company did this for her prior to the show.

Other completed tasks are: To eat a squirrel casserole (yuk!); have a fish pedicure; visit a Sikh Gurdwara; wear a fascinator; drive a forklift truck (photo right); sing at a Karaoke; Go go-carting; ride a tandem bike; drive in a 40 ton truck; meet author David Nicholls; see 'As You Like It' at London's Globe theatre, play Nintendo Wii; be interviewed by a newspaper; drink sambuca; hold a tarantula spider and so on and so on.

Though this is maybe all a bit off subject for this blog I thought Lesley is quite inspirational. She shows how we can all put some sparkle in our lives, whatever our age or circumstances.

I've never created such a list myself (it would be very different from Lesley's list if I did!) but I have always believed that we should have seven things to look forward to. I've no idea where or even why I ever began to think this way - it just felt right. In my case one of the seven usually involves some form of travel but also small things like my grandson's first birthday party coming soon and looking forward to starting to read a book my son bought me for Father's Day.

I feel we should all be able to look forward to things that give us pleasure. How sad if we don't - but, as Leslie has shown, we can all do so with a little thought.

Life can be an adventure. Travel, and doing different things can open up all sorts of new avenues, ideas and opportunities - plus, of course, they often lead to meaningful coincidences, so that gets the blog back on tack after all.

Let's see: ride an elephant, visit Graceland, climb to the top of St Mary's Island Lighthouse, eat a rum-baba ...

A White Feather From Her Daughter

I hadn't intended returning to the subject of the meaning of white feathers again so soon as I felt that Saturday's post The Meaning Of White Feathers As Messages From The Dead said it all. However the following story touched me greatly and I thank Penny for sending this to me.

"Thank you for your posts on white feathers it was good to read something that confirmed my own beliefs.

Two years ago I tragically lost my daughter who was ten years old. I won't go into details about this but it was a very stressful and heart breaking time.

It very nearly broke up the relationship between my husband and myself, it was a dreadful time. What kept us together was the fact that we also had another daughter who was just four years old. We had to do our very best for her and I'm glad to say that our relationship survived.

I was very strong on the outside but inside I was a mess. Just before the funeral for our daughter I went for a walk with our four year old. She was skipping along quite happily while holding my hand. My own head was full of our loss.

Our little one looked at me and said, "Don't be sad. Here's a present for you," and she handed me a beautiful white father. I had no idea where she had picked this up from.

I asked her where she found the feather. She looked up and said, "It's from Sis."

"How do you mean?" I asked but she shrugged her shoulders so I didn't press her.

After the funeral she was playing in the back garden and when she came indoors she was carrying another white feather. She said this was for me and daddy from Sis - meaning her sister, she always called her that.

My husband is a very practical man but when I told him about the feathers tears ran down his face. He said the feathers were from our oldest daughter to say she was alright. He then told me how the day before he found a feather outside of his office where he worked and he had kept this in his drawer.

Following this for several months we often found white feathers. This was seven years ago. Her birthday was on Saturday the 2nd of July which was the day you published your blog post on the subject. The three of us were out together earlier that day and we found a white feather by our front garden gate.

You were right when you wrote that our loved ones are always with us."

- Penny

Penny allowed me to edit her story slightly - Mike.

Tourists Hair Stands On End As Tsunami Strikes Cornwall

Last week, where I live in Cornwall, we had a tsunami that made people's hair stand on end. Not a joke, it really happened. Luckily there weren't any injuries or damage caused other than perhaps a few split ends.

By comparison to other well known tsunamis it was very small but it has puzzled experts as to the cause.

The wave wasn't too high but it was big enough to suck the sea out for over 150 feet, before surging back to the shore. It gave many tourists a good soaking as they walked over the causeway to St Michael's Mount from the mainland.

The wave rolled up estuaries as far as Plymouth turning over moored small boats.

The air at St Michael's Mount was charged with a surge of some sort of static electricity. The guide on the Mount told of how, "People's hair stood on end."

Other people reported how the air was warm and had an unnatural stillness prior to the wave hitting the Mount.

The question raised by the local media is: Why did this happen?"

There are several theories. The most common is that there was an undersea landslide out at sea, perhaps 200 or 300 miles away.

Okay, perhaps, but why did people's hair stand on end?

The experts don't really know but it's possible that it was the Piezoelectric Effect. The ancient rocks around Cornwall, which contain quartz, could generate high voltage electricity if squeezed together by some sort of landslide out at sea.

But there again it could have been the Lithosphere-Atmosphere-Ionosphere Coupling Mechanism. I hadn't heard of this either!

Michael Hanlon of the Daily Mail explains, "The theory is that in the days before an earthquake, the great stresses that have been built up cause a release of large amounts of radioactive radon gas from deep in the earth. The radioactivity from this gas ionises the air on a large scale, electrifying it and heating it up."

Maybe this is what happened in Cornwall. We have lots of radon in local rocks.

But ... not every one agrees.

Dr Simon Boxall, an oceanographer reckons it was a seiche. Right doc, but what is a seiche? He explains: "This is a freak wave which can be caused by an area of very high or low pressure crossing an area of water."

He added, "The static had nothing to do with the wave, but it did have a lot to do with a low pressure weather system."

All seems feasible but, if you prefer conspiracy theories - which are always a lot more interesting - it was caused by the Pentagon!

It is rumoured that recent worldwide earthquakes are being brought about by secret radio experiments - allegedly being carried out by the Pentagon. So, wonder what they've got against us in Cornwall?!

Whatever the cause of Cornwall's hair raising tsunami it's created a lot of discussion in the local media.

Just found out on Wikipedia that Cornwall also had a tsunami back in 1755, this was caused by an earthquake in Portugal. To quote: "At St Michael's Mount, the sea rose suddenly and then retired; ten minutes later, it rose 6 feet (1.8 m) very rapidly, then ebbed equally rapidly."

Mmmm, interesting that St Michael's Mount is mentioned in 2011 and back in 1755. This is where the St. Michael ley line starts. See my post Following In The Footsteps Of St Michael. I reckon we could dream up another conspiracy theory along these lines!

Zhuangzi Dreamed He Was A Butterfly

Last Sunday my blog post, Is Enjoying Life A Delusion, was a quote by the Chinese philosopher Zhuangzi.

Zhuangzi lived way back in the 4th Century BC. Today I thought I'd do another quote. This one is probably the most well known attributed to him and is usually called Zhuangzi Dreamed He Was A Butterfly". The following is a translation from the Chinese by Burton Watson:

"Once Zhuangzi dreamt he was a butterfly, a butterfly flitting and fluttering around, happy with himself and doing as he pleased. He didn't know he was Zhuangzi.

Suddenly he woke up and there he was, solid and unmistakable Zhuangzi.

But he didn't know if he was Zhuangzi who had dreamt he was a butterfly, or a butterfly dreaming he was Zhuangzi.

Between Zhuangzi and a butterfly there must be some distinction! This is called the Transformation of Things.

The Meaning Of White Feathers As Messages From The Dead

I'm returning to the subject of white feathers today and their meaning. Since first writing about this I think I've had more emails on the subject than anything else.

By white feathers I mean how they can often be found following a loved ones death. This has certainly been my own experience. I lost three people close to me in a short period of time: my daughter, my mother and my best friend of some thirty years.

After losing such important people it takes a while to adjust and you tend - or at least I did - to look for something to confirm that the person is still about. For me this came via white feathers.

The feathers appeared straight away after the loved ones death and at moments when I was thinking about them. This happened too often to be something that many would class as coincidence.

Here are a few experiences from other people. Most don't want their names published but nevertheless they are still meaningful.

The first is by Gloria Hunniford, a well known television and radio presenter in the UK, she lost her daughter, Caron, to cancer and this is what she said:

"I remember one time in a swimming pool, everybody and everything was awash with water and I just looked down and all of a sudden on the edge was just this white fluffy, dry feather and I thought, 'Oh my God!' It's just like Caron popping in to see how the children are getting on."

"My Mother passed away recently. I was with her and it's one of the hardest things in my life.

After the funeral when my cousin was leaving she said to look out for a white feather.

I had never heard of this before. Anyway, today, nearly two weeks since my Mum passed away I looked out the window and everywhere was icy. I went to get in my car and at my feet was a beautiful white feather.

I'm hoping this was a sign that my Mum is ok.

God Bless You Sweetheart x"

Anon.

"I lost my husband very suddenly in December 2010 with no chance to say goodbye.

I have been devastated ever since but have seen several white feathers. I like to think it is his way of telling me he is okay. I have put one in the diary I am now keeping.

I do believe in angels and that one day I will see my husband again."

Anon: May 2011

"My sister passed away very suddenly aged 17, a few years ago.

I had never seen a white feather in our house ever before, but they began appearing every single day for the first couple of weeks after she passed away. I wasn't very religious beforehand, but I definitely took it as a sign.

When it was time for me to leave my home a few weeks later, to go back to college, I found a gigantic white feather on my bag, and one stuck to the car door!

When things were most difficult, white feathers would appear. They then began appearing in my college dorm when I returned, something which never happened before.

As time went on, they became less common. Then, about a year later, on the morning of my graduation, a huge feather floated down towards me. I definitely take it as her way of letting us know she is ok."

Anon

"Hi, I lost my mum 13th February this year and in the last week I have found five white feathers. I really hope this is a sign."

Julie

"Thank you for your blog about white feathers, I found them very comforting.

My father died unexpectedly last month and my mum and I were devastated. At his funeral there was a beautiful white feather on the church pew where we sat. It was a message from him I'm sure. Mum and I looked at each other and actually smiled at each other through our tears. Mum said, "Dad's saying he's okay."

Since then we find white feathers in the most unexpected places. I even found one in a drawer by my bedside. They always make me smile."

Maggie

Other 67 Not Out blog posts on white feathers include:

White Feathers Comfort The Bereaved
How white feathers have helped both my wife and myself.

The White Feather Message From the Dead
A personal experience of finding a feather after looking after my young grandson.

White Feathers And A Special Beach
How a white feather indicated that our daughter knew about our son's wedding.

Sometimes messages come in different forms such as in my post Unusual Contact With Her Dead Mother. In this example they came in the form of strands of wool. And A-Mail Messages From Beyond The Grave tells of messages often included in car registration numbers.

There is also my personal story of how my deceased dad's watch stopped at exactly the time my own son was born.

Other Related Posts:

The Bird Angel Who Comforts As Someone Dies
The Guiding Light Which Brought More Than Just Pumpkin Seeds
Symbols And Signs For Positive Results
White Feathers And Perhaps A Deal With An Angel

Our loved ones are always with us, we just have to become aware of the signs.

The Holy Well Of St Sampson At Golant In Cornwall

It was a cloudy day yesterday but I had the urge to go for a walk to see the Holy Well of St Sampson, something I hadn't seen before. I'd read about it recently and it had stuck in my mind.

This Holy Well is in Cornwall and not too far from where I live. It's in a small village called Golant and has the added attraction of being on the Saints' Way. This is a route the Saints and early Christians are said to have taken from the north coast of Cornwall at Padstow to Fowey on the south Cornish coast.

My wife and I set off by car and parked in Golant. We then did our walk to see the Holy Well by taking a circular tour of about 4 miles which would take us along a small part of the Saints' Way.

We set off from Golant past the Fisherman's Arms pub, that's the white building in the photo below.


This led us to where we had access to the Saints' Way, which was indicated by the black symbol on a post. The yellow arrow shows that this is also a public footpath.


This took us over a stile and into the woods ...


... with the River Fowey on our left.


The smell of wild garlic hung heavily in the air, the ground seemed to be covered by the plant.


Eventually out of the woods we headed across undulating fields.


Below you can see the Saints' Way black symbol on the cross bar of the stile we had to climb over - so it's difficult to get too lost.


And after about 3 miles we reached St Sampson's Church which is the home of the Holy Well of St Sampson.

There has been place of worship or chapel on this site for some 1500 years and the present church is in the typical style of a Celtic 13th or 14th century church.

There is a stained glass window that features St. Sampson killing a serpent, said to have lived in a cave at Golant overlooking the Fowey River - unfortunately I forgot to take a photo of this!

St. Sampson travelled to Brittany in France to convert the 'heathens' and became the chief of the Seven Saints of Brittany


At the left side of the entrance porch is the Holy Well which is a natural spring. The water is still used for baptisms and the like.


There is now a metal gate in front of the St Sampson's Holy Well but this is easily opened.


Inside the church itself the roof has some wonderful wooden carved bosses. It's a very welcoming place open to all, and has a good vibe. It's obviously somewhere loved by the local villagers.


We had our lunch with us and ate this in the churchyard before moving on to the village of Golant and our finally our car. The photo below shows some cottages leading down to the River Fowey.


The photo at the top of this post is of a sculpture of Jesus which is inside St Sampson's Church, Golant, Cornwall.

Other Cornwall Posts
The Cornish Mystery Of Trevethy Quoit Stones
The Cornish Mystery Of The Men-an-Tol Stones
In Search Of Celtic Crosses At St Winnow In Cornwall