Merry Monday – New Web Themes

 

I’ve set a goal for myself. “The Merry Monday Project” is taking the time to find just one little commonplace thing that adds a tiny spark of enjoyment, a little blip of happiness to your workaday world. I blog that one thing here every Monday. I invite you to share your ‘one thing’ in the comments below, or if you want to write a blog post, mention that in your comment (and link back here in the post if you would please) and we’ll get everything connected one way or another.

Yes, folks it’s true. I’ve changed the theme on the blog/website again.

Writing and all this is, for the moment, a part-time thing for me…more of a hobby than a job, really…so I have to stay on a screaming tight budget. Free is good, so that’s the themes I use. I have to admit, WordPress offers some really nice looking themes, but I hadn’t found one that really had the warm, welcoming vibe I wanted to offer here. Part of me always thought of this blog as all bamboo, purple lotus and new age music – think the scent of lavender. What I really want (it’s taken me a while to figure out) is the feeling of sunset and the smell of fresh-cut grass. So when this theme came along, I couldn’t pass it up. I want to make this part of the ‘blog cabin‘ like a tai chi retreat – not the stereotype of an upscale city “spa”.

I’ll be honest, the reason I first went for the purple lotus and chrome plated new age-y spa vibe is because I am SO not into “country” and “rural”. I despise country music, NASCAR and everything about that whole southern red-neck tractor pull cow ranch hee-haw vibe. Not to mention I’m politically a deep dark shade of blue compared to most who extol the “country” lifestyle. Please don’t misunderstand. I don’t want to imply there is anything bad or wrong about that world view. I’m just saying it is really, really, really not the right thing for me as an individual. To each their own. It’s the authenticity and deciding that is important, not the final conclusion. Make sense?

Now, flash to a weekend in New Jersey.

Back in the mid ’90s my husband and I went to a camping retreat and Mu Lan Fan clinic at Master Jou’s “Tai Chi Farm”. It finally got through my noggin’ that Tai Chi and Taoism came from rural agrarian China. Duh. THAT’s the natural and nature they were talking about. I wish I could share the energy and the feel of the place with you. It was neat, and tidy, and calm and connected to everything. The crows were groundskeepers and protectors, the trees the very gaurdians…all very poetic and an energy very much in keeping with the spirit of  taijiquan.

That.

That’s the kind of cyberspace I want to create here.  It will resonate with some, not with others but it will be honest, authentic and put a little Merry in my Monday.