Your secret activity squares are an absolute delight - how Egyptian of you, lol!
Loving the whimsy here and as a fellow no-sense-of-directioner I am well impressed that you were able to identify a pylon on a map - or anywhere. Applause!
I hope you are feeling alright too, it's a LOT sometimes to keep up with all of one's fellow Substackers and can be overwhelming especially if not feeling 100% - and especially in our current, completely insane world. Thinking of you with many hugs, Rebecca xo
LOL re Egyptian - I hadn’t made that connection, so thank you! I love the thought of that!
It was only when I was in the depths of being lost that I’d ever needed to know what a pylon looks like on a map - I’m so glad I had the map with me (even though I have little clue how to use them - I’ve got such a mental block in that department!). 🤣
All will be well - and gosh, yes, the current, completely insane, world. Just gotta keep going, haven’t we?! And thank you so much. xxx ☺️
This was a delight to read Rebecca! I'm so happy to learn I'm not alone with the emojis...LOL... I appreciate the link to learn more. :)
Happy Valentine's Day to you and Jim. I hope you had a great week and give yourself some grace. You're doing great! I've recognized lately, I need more time to think (to help my writing), which means less time on the screens.
It’s been so long since Dear Reader, I’m lost has appeared in my substack feed, Rebecca- it’s an absolute delight to read another issue. I can’t say I’m an avid user of pictograms or icons much in my daily life although I certainly have the chance to use them. Period tracking apps come to mind with the plethora of symbols for different symptoms/experiences on any given day and I simply can’t be bothered to log them. But one thing I can relate to is being lost in a field with only pylons! This has happened to me too many times.
Oh, thanks Camille - lovely to see you, thank you!
When I started logging things I wondered if I’d struggle to keep up, but those little squares are really manageable because they’re so small (even if I sometimes have to catch up a day or two later).
Getting lost is so frustrating - but it certainly makes for limitless stories! 🤣
You're the second person who's written about marking the days in tiny diaries. One woman had been writing in her daily diaries for ninety years! Imagine the trivia recorded over that vast time. A photo of one of her pages reminded me of the tiny daily diaries he had amassed in a metal desk drawer over the years. That drawer and its treasure trove were throw in the garbage by my sister and nephew while clearing out his house after he died. Those little diaries were the only thing of his I wanted to keep. But I was too late. I think my sister enjoyed my despair.
Thanks so much for the emoji link. Thinking about it now, who knows what I have actually been saying with symbols!? I better study the language before actually applying it.... I might be embarrassing myself and not even know it. I hope you will not begin to feel that writing for / reading Substack is burdensome, my friend. That would take all the fun away. Whenever you write for us, we are delighted. We will read Rebecca Holden any day, any time and are not counting days. No rules apply to joy.
Love your little squares on a grid full of treasure-map-like symbols. I'm beyond impressed! The bleach symbols' review was spot on (or spot out?) Thanks for the little shout out, too. ❤️ Cheering you on and hugs from across the pond. Rest well, RH. P.S. Hope you and your Jim had a lovely Valentine's Day. ❤️
Ah, I'm not the only one to see that you cleverly write in heiroglyphs. You and many ancient civilisations have much in common. I also think that the Covid squares explain why you are so good at puzzles. I simply get lost!
I adore your posts - your word-skill, your inventiveness, your evident artistry. But we're all human, Rebecca, and sometimes we need to rest everything. None of us are going anywhere without you and so just give yourself permission to have time on your imaginary chaise-longue, just being.
Oooooh, an imaginary chaise-longue - oh YES!!!!!!!!!!
Trust me, I get lost in plenty of puzzles, although I’m proud to have managed to solve four clues (out of 30, so I’m hardly prolific!) of the Telegraph cryptic crossword this morning! Here’s one I liked - and which I know you’ll relate to, given your love for the sea:
'Ebb and flow' - well, that describes the whole answer - 'tide'.
'this does regularly' - okay, 'regularly' is telling you to look at alternate letters. Start with the first - t - then miss one - then i - then miss one - then d - then miss one - then e = 'tide'!
I too have been following many others right now because of our political specter here on this side of the pond. But I know that we are all connected no matter where we live. Many of us here, after getting over the shock, are galvanizing into grassroots coalitions and are pushing back. We are making phone calls daily, getting out to state capitol buildings, boycotting and even encouraging other county’s to not buy American.
Through it all, I ground myself daily with my art, self care and reading uplifting essays like yours. So I understand the need for going inside yourself for some time out. The world feels heavy right now, change is a constant. To quote my late Dad, “It’s goin’ to be ok, everything will work out, it always does.” I even had that written on his headstone. LOL! 🫶🏻✌🏻🙏🏻
Rebecca, the precision with which you make your daily pictograms is amazing! I hope your journals survive well into the future and someone finds them just as fascinating as we find petroglyphs!
The embroidered version is astonishing. What a gift she has.
I'm very glad you found your way home that day, so you can carry on with your delightful writing.
Do what's needed to take care of yourself. We're here to enjoy whatever you have the opportunity to offer.
I love doing my little squares, Elizabeth - and it’s great to have something to look back on - even just to see when it was that B and I had last had one of our long chats, or how long it’s been since I did any arting, or when I was last out in the garden!
The embroidery is just amazing, isn’t it?
‘I hope your journals survive well into the future’ - gosh, that’s a brilliant thing to say! Thank you. I wish I’d grown up journalling, and that I had an archive going back through my whole life! As it stands, I only started bullet journalling in 2018, and have made a point of keeping every one of those books. It’s only ‘rapid logging’, rather than long-form journalling, but my books are an incredible resource, actually - I index them, so when I need to know when it was that a certain thing happened, well, I’ve got that information at my fingertips! I quite often look things up in them.
I loved seeing that journal entry of yours in your recent anniversary post - I’m sure you treasure that fabulous resource that you’ve built! Absolutely wonderful work!
You're probably going to laugh at me for this, but I never thought to associate "bullet journaling" with your style. I've heard of it, know friends who are devoted to it, and evidently breezed right over any real description of what it entails before now. Rapid logging. How smart! And you're pushing a decade of it. That's really something!
It’s amazing what some people do with their bullet journals - for many it seems to have evolved into a kind of art journalling! I subscribe to the method as it had first started - literally just very concise notes/observations/plans/dates on the pages of a notebook - and it has made my life make so much more sense!
My friend. You are more woman than I. I got to the 3-minute mark on that 4-minute video (that I notice has had 15M views!) and realized that I'd have needed to start in my teens to be able to assimilate that information into an actual routine. It is fascinating, I'll give you that, and I have nothing but respect for those who use it. I am not that girl. LOL!
I’m so happy that you looked, and love that you have decided that you are ‘not that girl’! D’you know, I’ve learned so much about planning from online content - 99% of which has led me to a conclusion of ‘wow, that’s amazing, but I wouldn’t do it like THAT'! I have to admit that my own version of planning is unlike anything else out there, because I need to do what’s best for ME (and despite best-laid plans, well, some days still go by when I forget to, I don’t know, put the bin out or buy milk or save the world or all of those other very important things that should have been on my list but weren’t!). 🤣
And I am NOT ‘more woman’ than you! Ha! 🤣🤣🤣 We are both women in our own right - and, dare I say it, both equally fabulous in our unique ways! 🏆🏆
You’re not the only one a little overwhelmed and running behind. I’ve actually gone through some of my subscriptions and made a note to cancel some when they fall due for renewal. There are so many wonderful authors here, but any form of social media needs limits, no matter how good. Sigh. Anyway, a lovely read. English maps are so FULL! What are the green diamonds? Intriguing! (And bleach is an absence of colour in a standard ‘container’ I suspect.) Fascinating and educational. Sending heaps of hugs. 🤗🤗🤗🤗
Beth, I've canceled quite a few subs in the last week because I just can't keep up. It's a tough call, though, as I love reading so many posts. I'm finding fewer hours in the day to do so, however.
There’s such busy-ness all around, isn’t there? It’s so easy to fall behind. For now, though, I’m having a really lovely Saturday morning (still in my pyjamas - shhhhhhhhhhhhh!) sitting in the sunshine having a low-pressure high-enjoyment catch-up of my lovely SS notifications, and dipping in and out of various wonderful ‘Stacks. Life is good! xxx
So nice to see you here!!! I miss you, but in no way want that comment to encourage you to stop taking good care of yourself and resting as long as you need to. I simply share it to wrap around you like a warm shawl. 💕
LOL - ‘steer clear of crazy teens’?!!! Oh, and Koko - yes, such fascinating research. Gesture and picture recognition are such enormous parts of communication.
I hope you are ok Rebecca. I absolutely love your newsletters, so sending you lots of love right back 💕
Awww, Tracey, thank you! All will be well - and you’re so kind! xxx
How come there isnt a symbol for DONE MY WRITING HOMEWERK 😡?
Low priority. I have never NOT done my homework…. 😇
🤔
Your secret activity squares are an absolute delight - how Egyptian of you, lol!
Loving the whimsy here and as a fellow no-sense-of-directioner I am well impressed that you were able to identify a pylon on a map - or anywhere. Applause!
I hope you are feeling alright too, it's a LOT sometimes to keep up with all of one's fellow Substackers and can be overwhelming especially if not feeling 100% - and especially in our current, completely insane world. Thinking of you with many hugs, Rebecca xo
LOL re Egyptian - I hadn’t made that connection, so thank you! I love the thought of that!
It was only when I was in the depths of being lost that I’d ever needed to know what a pylon looks like on a map - I’m so glad I had the map with me (even though I have little clue how to use them - I’ve got such a mental block in that department!). 🤣
All will be well - and gosh, yes, the current, completely insane, world. Just gotta keep going, haven’t we?! And thank you so much. xxx ☺️
This was a delight to read Rebecca! I'm so happy to learn I'm not alone with the emojis...LOL... I appreciate the link to learn more. :)
Happy Valentine's Day to you and Jim. I hope you had a great week and give yourself some grace. You're doing great! I've recognized lately, I need more time to think (to help my writing), which means less time on the screens.
More time to think is always a good thing - it’s often so hard to find a balance, isn’t it?
And happy Valentine’s day (rather late!). Hope the two of you had a lovely day too! xxx
It sure is. When I find it I'll let you know. :) LOL...Have a great weekend.
It’s been so long since Dear Reader, I’m lost has appeared in my substack feed, Rebecca- it’s an absolute delight to read another issue. I can’t say I’m an avid user of pictograms or icons much in my daily life although I certainly have the chance to use them. Period tracking apps come to mind with the plethora of symbols for different symptoms/experiences on any given day and I simply can’t be bothered to log them. But one thing I can relate to is being lost in a field with only pylons! This has happened to me too many times.
Oh, thanks Camille - lovely to see you, thank you!
When I started logging things I wondered if I’d struggle to keep up, but those little squares are really manageable because they’re so small (even if I sometimes have to catch up a day or two later).
Getting lost is so frustrating - but it certainly makes for limitless stories! 🤣
You're the second person who's written about marking the days in tiny diaries. One woman had been writing in her daily diaries for ninety years! Imagine the trivia recorded over that vast time. A photo of one of her pages reminded me of the tiny daily diaries he had amassed in a metal desk drawer over the years. That drawer and its treasure trove were throw in the garbage by my sister and nephew while clearing out his house after he died. Those little diaries were the only thing of his I wanted to keep. But I was too late. I think my sister enjoyed my despair.
Oh, my, I'm so sorry that the little diaries were thrown out . . .😞
Oh Sue, that’s an absolute tragedy - what a terrible shame! I’m so sorry. xxx
Oh well, at least I still have lots of memories about Dad and am writing about him here.
That’s brilliant, Sue. Hugs! xxx
Thanks so much for the emoji link. Thinking about it now, who knows what I have actually been saying with symbols!? I better study the language before actually applying it.... I might be embarrassing myself and not even know it. I hope you will not begin to feel that writing for / reading Substack is burdensome, my friend. That would take all the fun away. Whenever you write for us, we are delighted. We will read Rebecca Holden any day, any time and are not counting days. No rules apply to joy.
‘No rules apply to joy’ - oh, what a lovely way to look at things!
Like you I had no idea what the hidden meanings behind some of those emojis were! I fear I’m getting ever more out-of-touch with popular culture! 🤣
Love your little squares on a grid full of treasure-map-like symbols. I'm beyond impressed! The bleach symbols' review was spot on (or spot out?) Thanks for the little shout out, too. ❤️ Cheering you on and hugs from across the pond. Rest well, RH. P.S. Hope you and your Jim had a lovely Valentine's Day. ❤️
Thanks, Mary! And yes, we had a lovely (but quiet) day and evening in each other’s company, just the way we like it! ❤️❤️
Ah, I'm not the only one to see that you cleverly write in heiroglyphs. You and many ancient civilisations have much in common. I also think that the Covid squares explain why you are so good at puzzles. I simply get lost!
I adore your posts - your word-skill, your inventiveness, your evident artistry. But we're all human, Rebecca, and sometimes we need to rest everything. None of us are going anywhere without you and so just give yourself permission to have time on your imaginary chaise-longue, just being.
Lots of affection and take care.
Oooooh, an imaginary chaise-longue - oh YES!!!!!!!!!!
Trust me, I get lost in plenty of puzzles, although I’m proud to have managed to solve four clues (out of 30, so I’m hardly prolific!) of the Telegraph cryptic crossword this morning! Here’s one I liked - and which I know you’ll relate to, given your love for the sea:
Ebb and flow - this does regularly (4)
NO PRESSURE TO SOLVE IT! xxx
Gaaaaahhhh! I can only think of tide or wave. Don't do this to me. It makes my brain ache!
YOU’RE RIGHT!!! It’s ‘tide’!
'Ebb and flow' - well, that describes the whole answer - 'tide'.
'this does regularly' - okay, 'regularly' is telling you to look at alternate letters. Start with the first - t - then miss one - then i - then miss one - then d - then miss one - then e = 'tide'!
Gold star! ⭐️
O-M-G! I managed to solve something!
You absolutely did!!! 🏆
I too have been following many others right now because of our political specter here on this side of the pond. But I know that we are all connected no matter where we live. Many of us here, after getting over the shock, are galvanizing into grassroots coalitions and are pushing back. We are making phone calls daily, getting out to state capitol buildings, boycotting and even encouraging other county’s to not buy American.
Through it all, I ground myself daily with my art, self care and reading uplifting essays like yours. So I understand the need for going inside yourself for some time out. The world feels heavy right now, change is a constant. To quote my late Dad, “It’s goin’ to be ok, everything will work out, it always does.” I even had that written on his headstone. LOL! 🫶🏻✌🏻🙏🏻
Grounding ourselves in the known things is so important, isn’t it? Such a great thing, especially in worrying times.
And what a fabulous epitaph for your Dad’s headstone. Wonderful! x
Rebecca, the precision with which you make your daily pictograms is amazing! I hope your journals survive well into the future and someone finds them just as fascinating as we find petroglyphs!
The embroidered version is astonishing. What a gift she has.
I'm very glad you found your way home that day, so you can carry on with your delightful writing.
Do what's needed to take care of yourself. We're here to enjoy whatever you have the opportunity to offer.
So loved seeing you today!
I love doing my little squares, Elizabeth - and it’s great to have something to look back on - even just to see when it was that B and I had last had one of our long chats, or how long it’s been since I did any arting, or when I was last out in the garden!
The embroidery is just amazing, isn’t it?
‘I hope your journals survive well into the future’ - gosh, that’s a brilliant thing to say! Thank you. I wish I’d grown up journalling, and that I had an archive going back through my whole life! As it stands, I only started bullet journalling in 2018, and have made a point of keeping every one of those books. It’s only ‘rapid logging’, rather than long-form journalling, but my books are an incredible resource, actually - I index them, so when I need to know when it was that a certain thing happened, well, I’ve got that information at my fingertips! I quite often look things up in them.
I loved seeing that journal entry of yours in your recent anniversary post - I’m sure you treasure that fabulous resource that you’ve built! Absolutely wonderful work!
x
You're probably going to laugh at me for this, but I never thought to associate "bullet journaling" with your style. I've heard of it, know friends who are devoted to it, and evidently breezed right over any real description of what it entails before now. Rapid logging. How smart! And you're pushing a decade of it. That's really something!
It’s amazing what some people do with their bullet journals - for many it seems to have evolved into a kind of art journalling! I subscribe to the method as it had first started - literally just very concise notes/observations/plans/dates on the pages of a notebook - and it has made my life make so much more sense!
This 5-minute video describes what I’d call ‘pure’ bullet journalling - it’s fascinating: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fm15cmYU0IM&t=14s
My friend. You are more woman than I. I got to the 3-minute mark on that 4-minute video (that I notice has had 15M views!) and realized that I'd have needed to start in my teens to be able to assimilate that information into an actual routine. It is fascinating, I'll give you that, and I have nothing but respect for those who use it. I am not that girl. LOL!
I’m so happy that you looked, and love that you have decided that you are ‘not that girl’! D’you know, I’ve learned so much about planning from online content - 99% of which has led me to a conclusion of ‘wow, that’s amazing, but I wouldn’t do it like THAT'! I have to admit that my own version of planning is unlike anything else out there, because I need to do what’s best for ME (and despite best-laid plans, well, some days still go by when I forget to, I don’t know, put the bin out or buy milk or save the world or all of those other very important things that should have been on my list but weren’t!). 🤣
And I am NOT ‘more woman’ than you! Ha! 🤣🤣🤣 We are both women in our own right - and, dare I say it, both equally fabulous in our unique ways! 🏆🏆
Or save the world! 🌎🥰😅
Always keeping you in my thoughts. 🫶🏼
Awwww, so lovely! Thank you! xxx
I'm always happy to see your posts in my feed. So many symbols, so much shorthand. Grateful for the symbol keys to keep things together. ❤️
🥰
You’re not the only one a little overwhelmed and running behind. I’ve actually gone through some of my subscriptions and made a note to cancel some when they fall due for renewal. There are so many wonderful authors here, but any form of social media needs limits, no matter how good. Sigh. Anyway, a lovely read. English maps are so FULL! What are the green diamonds? Intriguing! (And bleach is an absence of colour in a standard ‘container’ I suspect.) Fascinating and educational. Sending heaps of hugs. 🤗🤗🤗🤗
Beth, I've canceled quite a few subs in the last week because I just can't keep up. It's a tough call, though, as I love reading so many posts. I'm finding fewer hours in the day to do so, however.
There’s such busy-ness all around, isn’t there? It’s so easy to fall behind. For now, though, I’m having a really lovely Saturday morning (still in my pyjamas - shhhhhhhhhhhhh!) sitting in the sunshine having a low-pressure high-enjoyment catch-up of my lovely SS notifications, and dipping in and out of various wonderful ‘Stacks. Life is good! xxx
Wonderful! Perfection. Enjoy. 🤗🤗❤️💕
So nice to see you here!!! I miss you, but in no way want that comment to encourage you to stop taking good care of yourself and resting as long as you need to. I simply share it to wrap around you like a warm shawl. 💕
You’re so very kind, dear Sue! Thank you. All will be well! xxx
So the youth hostel symbol is a red triangle. What could that mean!!?
Also, I am reminded of Koko the gorilla communicating by pointing to various symbols and pictures. It makes you think doesn’t it?
LOL - ‘steer clear of crazy teens’?!!! Oh, and Koko - yes, such fascinating research. Gesture and picture recognition are such enormous parts of communication.