Monday – and we’re into April … I suppose stranger things have happened, but seriously, how did we get here so fast?

Not so long ago I was wondering about a name change for my blog – but what I will do is headline any blog post I may put up with what I thought could be potential name changes. For example, ‘Chop Wood, Carry Water’. ‘Halfway up the Mountain’ was another thought. These last two are titles of books I’ve had for a long while (over 25 years at a guess) and were highly influential for me. ‘This and That’ also came to mind – which reminded me of the word ‘neti’. if I was seriously thinking of a name change, I may have chosen that. But I think I would make a blog post about that – ‘neti, neti’ Which means: ‘not this, not that’. ‘There’s a crack, a crack, in everything’ was also a possibility in my radar –

But I’ve decided to keep my blog name and its image (whew!). I like that there is an acorn growing from the cracked stone and the graphic is simple. I like the image of there’s a crack, a crack, in everything, that’s how the light gets in. Who can forget Leonard Cohen singing this song, The Anthem, live in London. The lyrics are heart-rending, beautiful. The chorus and the band are beautiful, and Leonard – sigh –

Leonard Cohen – Anthem (Live in London) – YouTube

I listened and read a 2015 interview with Krista Tippet of ‘On Being” with Mary Oliver. It’s very profound. It’s worth saving for some later stage (transcript and audio) –

https://onbeing.org/programs/mary-oliver-i-got-saved-by-the-beauty-of-the-world/

I’m out on my balcony in the coolth of the day. The weather has turned – it is now chilly. Even this turn has come upon us fairly suddenly. I suppose there were signs.

My husband’s been away for a while, back home Wednesday evening. I’ve enjoyed this time on my own, but I’ll be pleased when he’s back. Some serious decisions to be made about the garden – I want a complete overhaul. A garden man is coming to see me on Wednesday morning –

Davey, Jüte, my grandson Sam and Pablo the puppy (Boston Terrier) left Plettenberg Bay yesterday morning to return to Johannesburg. They’ve been here for a while, a little over a month. They’ve been staying with Jüte’s parents for much of the time. I’ve seen them a fair bit. They were very generous in sharing baby Sam with me. There was a spot a few weeks back when I had bronchitis and a hacking cough so there was no visiting with Sam. But we more than made up with it. It was so wonderful to interact with this little baby and be rewarded with smiles. He’s 3 months old. Wonderful too to witness my son and daughter-in-law in their roles as parents.

A few photos below – on the Robberg Beach with the Robberg Peninsula in the background. One with me holding this little one.

Mike with Sam setting off for walk from his house
on the Robberg beach

Dave & Jüte have seen their dream home here in Plettenberg Bay. My husband has not seen it as he’s away. The price of the house is probably fair (prices are rising at the rate of knots) but somewhat beyond their budget. But it ticks all the boxes and it is really lovely and spacious. They’ve put in an offer and have until this evening for first dibs at any bidding going on – which I believe has begun. It is a most desirable home and environs …

I’ve been getting in some much needed walking. We’re doing the Wellington Wine Walk towards the end of this month. We walk and wander for several days, staying at lovely places overnight, sampling wines and olive oils along the way, delicious lunches at a winery, stretching those muscles in wondrous scenery – impressive mountains in the background. Neil and I walked it some years ago, in a different group maybe 6 or 7 years ago. I remember it being a wonderful adventure. A meandering, in beauty. I need to get my walking muscles into gear. I don’t think I have the proper hiking shoes. Hopefully I’ve got something that ‘will do’ for sauntering through these sublime surroundings –

Some photos of flowers just because they’re pretty, the yellow flowers on a late afternoon walk, the impatiens are in pots in my garden

Easter is nigh and so is Passover. Ramadan began either last Friday or Saturday on the first sighting of the new moon. It is a meaningful month where they fast during the day, and get in touch with the feeling of hunger and thus of those around the world and do much charity in this regard and in other ways. Each three hold a deeply religious orientation in way and deed.

I chose this Easter image mainly because of the dove, the bird of peace. Which we all yearn for. For Christians and others alike, this time of Easter is deeply religious. It commemorates the crucifixion of Jesus (Good Friday – April 15th) and in particular, three days later, the Risen Christ which falls on Easter Sunday, April 17th.

This is a Raphael painting of ‘The Risen Christ’ –

Passover, also one of the most important moments in Jewish history, commemorates the Exodus from Egypt & slavery and the birth of Israel as a nation. At the initial Seder 4 questions are asked as if the person asking them is telling a story to another, so the other is incorporated in the story. The dates of Passover are April 15 to April 23, 2022.

It’s a much longer post than usual. Thank you for reading. Have a blessed Easter, Pesach and Ramadan. May The Force be with you and may Peace prevail.

48 Comments on Name change or not, noting Easter, Passover and Ramadan

  1. Hi Susan. I just popped by after you visited my blog because it reminded me that I never get notifications of your posts even though I signed up quite some time ago. I just re-subscribed and it took 3 times until ‘I think’ it accepted. Good old Mercury Retrograde in effect? Lol. And lovely post. I love that quote of keeping the cracks so the light can come in. Hugs <3

  2. Ah, Susan, it’s been too long since I’ve read your blog (…too much has gone by the wayside for me these past couple of years…) – and I’m just reading this today…and I feel like I’ve just had a wonderful little visit with you! Thank you for putting your warmth out there.
    (And by the way, I’ve often coined/used the word “coolth” myself , but never before reading it here in this post of yours have I ever heard/read anyone else use it! Is it a word used in SA, or have you, like I have here, just found it to be a fun turn of language to use?!) Hugs – Pam

    • Lovely to see you here Pam thanks for the visit. I’ve used ‘coolth’ for a long while. It’s so descriptive. Clearly great minds think alike –
      Keep up the story telling – it’s magic made manifest 💙 hugs to you too

  3. I’ve come late to reading this, Susan, so I hope you see my comment. I did change the name of my blog some years back. It is a bit of a hassle, but basically, as you may know, when visitors go to the old name address they are pointed to the new name address. But, when my old domain name came available on the internet, trolls appeared and wrote bad comments about it. I think, though, “Garden of Eden Blog” is perfect for you and what you present here. Otherwise, I have enjoyed reading your long post — about these holidays and about your family, and especially the photos. You make me smile. So nice. Thank you. –Carol

    • So lovely of you to come by Carol!Thank you for your lovely comments. I hope you’re having a special time over this Easter period ..
      Love, Susan

  4. Hi Susan,

    Now that I know more about you, “Garden of Eden Blog” suits you and your multi-layered blog. Your blog is informative, interesting, entertaining and beautiful. It enriches my life and I leave feeling better.❤️

    I read your post a couple of days ago and since then I have revisited Leonard Cohen, his music, poems and prose. I am a huge fan. I was fortunate to attend one of his magical concerts. I also did a major paper in 1st year English about him, thanks to a teacher who allowed me to go in this direction.

    I bookmarked the Mary Oliver interview. Always profound and life-changing words.

    I cannot (or possibly can) imagine the joy spending time with baby Sam, your son and daughter-in-law. A special time in your life.

    I love all of the smiles!

    The Wellington Wine Walk sounds like tons of fun. I look forward to hearing more about this in the near future.

    A beautiful post, as always, Susan. Much love and hugs in your direction.❤️

    • How lovely to wake this morning to your lovely comment Erica thank you. I so appreciate everything you said!

      Ah, Leonard Cohen – sigh – great that you did a paper on him. Canada has produced some of the best of fine artists. I think straight away of Margaret Atwood, Joni Mitchell, Robertson Davies – many others. I imagine in my way that the striking beauty of Canada east to west serves as a muse, as is evident in your writings.

      Alan Paton in his writing of his seminal book (published 1948)”Cry the Beloved Country” (referring to South Africa, Kwa Zulu Natal) “There is a lovely road that runs from Ixopo into the hills. These hills are grass-covered and rolling, and they are lovely beyond any singing of it. … The grass is rich and matted, you cannot see the soil.” It is true, I’ve been there to Ixopo,lovely beyond singing. These days much commentary on the state of affairs in South Africa invariably brings in the refrain, Cry the Beloved Country because of all the ongoing, unrelenting drama. I can see how it would pertain to many parts of the world ..

      The morning is young. I am meeting someone for coffee just now, picking up some altered clothes along the way. My husband returns later this afternoon – a delicious dinner was prepared by me yesterday (hard work, given that I’m unused to this over the last almost 2 weeks).

      Love & hugs to you Erica 🙂

      • Thank you for your thoughtful note, Susan. I have seen exceptionally beautiful photos of South Africa. Our planet and its many gifts. ❤️

        I did spend an evening reading the interview with Mary Oliver, and getting lost in more of her writing – making notes – inspiration plus wisdom. Thank you for bringing this interview into my radar. I have sent you a personal email with some updates and photos. xoxo ❤️

        • Thanks for coming by Erica and I’m so glad you enjoyed the Mary Oliver interview. ‘On Being’ is a lovely resource of which I wish there was more time to check them out. Much wisdom in them.

          And yes, our planet and its many gifts – just back from a long-ish walk with Neil & Mike, walking past Dave & Jüte’s new home to be; Neil had not seen it when we had, so just a walk in the ‘burb and seeing it from the outside was for Neil a pleasure, as was hearing the sea and a short hop skip and a jump brought us to the boardwalk onto the beach ..

          Hope you’re having a lovely Sunday xx 🙂

  5. Hi Susan, thank you for this lovely update. I enjoyed your pictures of your family and grandson. Happy Easter to you too 💖

    • Thanks Robbie. You too have a lovely Easter. I imagine you’re baking and decorating eggs and all – and all 😊

  6. Lovely lovely post filled with such awesome pics. A blessed time in your life.
    Hugs

    • Thank you DiDee – yes so blessed. Hugs to you. See you month end:)

  7. Susan, I like the name of your blog. This piece has much that fits in the Garden of Eden–thoughts about your husband, flowers, natural beauty, and especially little Sam. He brings joy to the whole family. You’re still writing about the Garden of Eden from a modern view.

    Spring is finally arriving here. The bluebirds take charge of perches and nesting boxes and there are early spring flowers. The forest is green with moss and ferns, so leaves are coming soon. In a few days, I’m off in a plane for the first time in 4 or 5 years (cochlear implant followed by pandemic). My son who lives about 10 hours drive away always makes the trip here and it’s my turn, but I’ll fly instead of driving. His brother who lives near me will stay at my house and take care of the dogs.

    The suffering in Ukraine and many other parts of the world is horrifying, but all eyes are on Ukraine now for so many reasons. I don’t understand the lure of war, but hold the suffering close to my heart with prayers for mercy to Sophia of Kyiv. Be well and safe.

    • Thanks Elaine for coming by. How terrific to be flying off to your son! Spring in a different place. And wonderful that your other son will look after Disco & Willow in your absence.

      You have your own Garden of Eden. That’s why I enjoy your posts so much whether it’s winter, fall, spring or summer, and the accompanying photographs. I love that you say I’m writing about the Garden of Eden in a modern way or perspective. I’ll keep that thought/feeling foremost.

      Meanwhile we’re feeling the nip of Autumn. I’m not sure how many times I changed today – but a few times. It was cold and rainy in the morning, then warm, then cold again. I changed my jersey to a very light weight one to go walking from Mike’s house, past Davey’s new house to be and then onto the beach late afternoon which was perfectly adequate. But now it’s evening time – going on 7, and it’s very cool. The change of seasons can be fickle indeed.

      My heart is also with Ukraine and the Russians who are not part of Putin’s gang. I hear that many of his former pals, oligarchs, are taking a stand against him. Prayers to Sophia also ..

  8. I love the name of your blog, Susan, and thoroughly enjoy your musings and meanderings, not that you asked. The wine walking tour sounds grand. Enjoy.

    Happy Passover to you. I am going to bookmark this post for later listening as both links are interesting to me. oxo

  9. I think you are wise to keep the name the same. You have name recognition here, and in changing sometimes something valuable is lost.

    You mentioned your husband being gone and looking forward to his return. My husband had a schedule like that for many years, doing art and music shows nationwide. Now he’s home all the time. We are even on vacation together. Ha! Your photos are lovely and I can tell you enjoy being a grandmother. 😀

    • Thanks Marian, I am now perfectly resolved to staying/sticking with it. The Garden of Eden is part of the long title of my first book afterall! And, as you say there is ‘name recognition’ and change can bring about a loss of something valuable.

      Glad that you and yours spend all the time on vacation together! We’ll be doing something together towards the end of the month. I am plotting and planning a visit to Johannesburg sometime this month or next month tout sole. Of course I plan to see as much of baby Sam as possible – his smiles are soooo rewarding 🙂

  10. I’ve thought about changing the name of my blog because it seems difficult for some people to understand or remember. I wear eyeglasses so it seems simple to me. Eventually I realized that my blog name describes me perfectly so I’ll stick with it. If something works [for you] then keep it. I like the idea of a Wine Walk. I would find that motivational. Enjoy!

    • Your gravatar (is that the right word?) Ally Bean is perfect being bespectacled as you are. Yes, I’m keeping it – am sure the WWW will be a garden of Eden as it was the last time, and as the day is turning out here. Thanks for coming by –

  11. I’m reading this at 5 in the morning, Tuesday, my time in New England, and I feel as if we’re sipping tea together chatting away. So very nice! Yes, stay with the name, but it was fun reading what your other choices would be. I knew years ago that I should change my blog name. I mean, Roughwighting… who could ever find that on their own? But it is uniquely mine, and as Jacqui says, it’s so hard to change a blog name. So let’s stay with our first instinct. Love your photos, your grandbaby, your joy in living.

    • I was also awake early this morning Pam … 5 ish. Lovely comment about sipping tea – not coffee? – together and having a chat! Anyone can use my potential name changes if they want … I reckon I’ll be doing that at some stage. I remember a long while back I had a post ‘this and that and the next’ … I left out the ‘thing’ on purpose I think. Never change Roughwhiting – how did that come about? Whiting is different only by one letter to writing. I always so enjoy your posts. If I’m behind on commenting, I’m sorry. Hope your spring is sprung! And thank you muchly for coming by 🙂

      • No apologizing for being behind on commenting. We bloggers do the best we can, and that’s perfect. I’ve been slow and late on blogging lately also (a bit of minor surgery, but all is good). My last name is Wight, so my creative writing students originally called my class the Rough Writers, and then changed it to the Rough Wighters. :-). Thus, I named my blog Roughwighting. Unique, yes, but not easy to find.
        I’ll take the tea when we get together, you can have the coffee! In the meantime, it’s always a pleasure to connect with our blogs.

        • I went back to check – your last post was about the alarm. Hope it was not the minor surgery that was the alarm? But if all is good, then that is good 😊. Thanks for the history of your name! Have a lovely day-going on 2 pm and the day has turned sunny.

          • Noooo, great tropical break before reality set in. But I pretend I’m listening to palm trees swaying as I recuperate. 🙂 (This is when a good imagination comes in handy.) Enjoy the sun!

            • Now at last I can reply – internet problems. Sometimes I can reply on my phone but when there’s a thread it gets all tiny and cramped. What a lovely sound palm trees make swaying (not that I’ve heard – perhaps in Mauritius a long time ago) but I too can use my imagination. All healing thoughts swaying your way Pam 🙂 xx

  12. Hi Susan – yes I could envisage a name change … so pleased you’ve kept it. Excellent to read the offer on the house has been accepted – that’s great news … for them, and of course for grandparents all!! Baby Sam is one lucky lad …

    The Wellington walk sounds gorgeous … do you ever get up to Tulbagh – the Paddagang restaurant brings back many memories with my father’s elder brother, who’d married a South African. Waterblommetjies … and the padda … the ones I remember of those were in White River. Oh how I miss SA so often!!

    Delighted you’ve kept your blog name and you’ve posted some gorgeous photos of the family – enjoy Neil being back … cheers Hilary

    • Thanks Hilary for coming by! As Jüte said, they’ll have to live on beans on toast. I suggested sardines on toast for a change and if they really wanted to splash out, cheese and tomato sarmies. (Jüte can of course make her own bread.)

      Thanks for saying about Tulbach. I’m hoping that before we get to Wellington (about an hour and a bit out of Cape Town) we do some prior visiting of places. Or at least afterwards. Neil will be back on Thursday, not Wednesday as I thought – just as well I checked! Hopefully we can do some plotting and planning – something that neither of us is any good at. Plus I want to get up to Johannesburg for several days .. if not this month then definitely next month.

      Thanks for saying about keeping the blog name! I’ll do posts with the name changes I imagined! (did you watch the Oxford Cambridge Boat race? – I did, glad that Oxford won!) Cheers to you, Susan

      • Hi Susan – oh great you’ll look into visiting Tulbagh – presumably you’ve ‘done’ Matjiesfontein? I hope the Jhb trip can be fitted in easily – the sooner the better, before it gets really cold up there … I remember those days!

        Yes – I’m glad about keeping your blog name … and yes I did watch both Boat Races … Oxford all the way (well Cambridge easily won the ladies’)… I was at school in Oxford, my father and that uncle were at Worcester College … one of my SILs was at Cambridge – so I can switch sides if necessary! Rather like South African or British sports games … I go to whoever is winning!

        Cheers and enjoy the planning … oh I used to love doing that … and then enjoy the trip and Neil being home – keeping us posted of course!! Hilary

        • My Father was a Rhodes Scholar so obviously Oxford for me. My sister is currently in the UK (Sussex I think) visiting her daughter and grandsons who she hasn’t seen for over 2 years, and I suggested to her she visit –

          Yes the Jhbg winters are something else – but those bright blue sunny skies! I need to see my dentist man – prosthodontist .. plus it would be lovely to see a friend or two. Will I drive on my own to Jhbg – I may just …through the Karoo – lovely how it rhymes! Throoooo the Karooooo 🙂 Maybe I’ll ask thekiffness to make a song …

  13. I too am glad you kept your Blog name as it means beautiful growth to me. You always present lovely thoughts and pictures. I enjoy seeing your family and it sounds like your family will live closer to you soon, thus making celebrating the holidays easier for you. Enjoy the holidays and may PEACE be with us. <3

    • Thanks Gwynn – what a lovely response about the blog name meaning ‘beautiful growth’ –
      You too enjoy the upcoming holidays and may Peace reign … 🙂

  14. I’m also glad that you’ve decided to stay with your blog name. It was one of the things that drew me to your blog in the first place – and still does.
    Thank you for the lovely catchup. So wonderful to have had your son, DIL and grandson so closeby this past month. Baby Sam is absolutely gorgeous!

    • Thanks so much Donna and the good news earlier on this evening is that their offer on this gorgeous house in plett has been accepted! These next few months are going to be pretty busy, but we’ll make it work.

  15. It’s hard to change a blog name. If the name reflects a goal that is no more, maybe, but that isn’t your case. I’m glad you kept it the same.

Comments are closed.