Starting my River of Stones

Through the blog Writing Our Way Home I have decided to undertake to closely observe one thing, feeling, event every day and write a 'stone'. I have a separate blog for this and hope to include an appropriate image every day. So, that blog could be the only record. But then I remember buying this collection of notebooks, with beautiful handmade paper, in a box covered in images of pebbles.

Perfect! And each book has 60 pages, there are 6 books, so each one will be for 2 months. It was  meant to be.

Then I wondered why, in common with many people, I am drawn to pebbles and stones. For instance, this is one of my favourite mugs.

And it runs in the family. My grandchildren in Australia insisted their mother bring these in her luggage, specially chosen for me from their favourite beach, probably at Lennox Head. Yes, I know it's not legal, but hope the pebble police are not looking. It meant so much to think their small hands had held the stones that I now hold.

It is the primaeval, the tactile qualities, the resonance with water, rivers and seas, that makes them so special as if by holding them, we are capturing the spirit of the place and the person who picked that particular one.

So the idea of 'writing a river of stones' has resonances far beyond the practical. And that has to be good. It mustn't be a chore to write a small paragraph every day, but a joy in something held, like a stone, and examined minutely. No doubt with practice, they will be more polished, but it doesn't matter. What matters is the time spent observing, mindfully, of course.