unleash the power of inspiration...

                                         unleash the power of inspiration...

Don't you find it cool that unlike conventional statues it is their words that adorn the plinths rather their likenesses?

On-line, On-nine
Monthly post on the 9th of each month! 
On-line, On-nine  June 9th 2017

I pondered this monument listening to my thoughts and if you will permit to continue with the the theme of walking; we often say to understand someone else's position that we need to walk in their shoes. But as hard as we may try we are never really able to do that as fully as living their life - that doesn't mean we shouldn't try. Maybe the way to better understand someone else's point of view is to work harder at listening, paying attention to what they hold as important, true of people, cities & cultures. 
So to paraphrase a much over used expression I'm going to try to: Listen, Learn & Carry it forward.

Thanks for reading...I hope that you enjoy the photos! 

This month they link to my topic of walking but with a frivolous note....shots of my favourite shoes, my indulgence in Fluevogs.


Please check back next month to find out what my latest fascination is.

See you next month      
Fiona xxxx

One small step, one giant leap in thinking.


I've always been an avid walker. During my teens years I used walking as a way of burning off the frustrations that come with that period of our lives. I would take myself off to have a good cry about something hurtful that somebody had said to me, or to relieve the brain ache after hours of studying, or simply just to dream what I might become. My favourite route took me through countryside where it was quiet and peaceful and allowed me to contemplate the beauty of nature. Sometimes I would walk for so long and be so far from home that I would need to call my Mum to come pick me because either I was too tired to get myself home or it was getting dark. She probably still curses me for that, along with that life sized poster of Donny Osmond that used to give her a fright when she came into my room.


Anyways striding forward a few, ahem, many years, I still love to walk & I still use the activity for the same reasons I did when I was 15. But I notice that my motives have shifted slightly. Now the "etch-a-sketch" / breath of fresh air to combat brain ache is useful for solving design problems that may have stumped me. In dreaming mode I often find myself pondering the way of the world, including my small part in it. And the walking / thinking time helps me balance much of the negativity that we are all bombarded with. During these times I am able to turn up the volume of my own ideas and turn down the volume of the noise from the media, allowing me some personal insights. I  now also have walking buddies who love to meet up for a natter as well as a walk, it's the perfect to get my steps in and catch up with a friend. And yes I do still go out for a secret cry when somebody hurts my feelings. 


 It's not just walking in nature that makes me happy I LOVE to walk in cites too. In new places it's my favourite way to see the sights and if I'm in a familiar place I like to walk in neighbourhoods that I've never been to before. Today I'm in Boston Ma, a city I have been to many times before. I can hardly believe that it is just over 23 years since I first visited, on my honeymoon shortly before we moved to Massachusetts to live (embarrassingly I still had to check the spelling just now). So it's a city that I know well.  This morning I decided to walk along Commonwealth Avenue Mall (something I have never done before), a boulevard that is part of Boston's "Emerald Necklace" park system. Dotted throughout the length of the park are several statues and monuments. Like in most cities these include statues acclaiming important citizens, tributes to the fallen and monuments to struggles. I always find these fascinating because they can tell us a lot about what a place has decided is important, something of the story of a place - a glimpse into history of the thinking that moulded a city. And with a city like Boston which had such an important role in the founding of a country this can be maybe extrapolated to show us what a nation holds as important.  


There was one monument that stopped me in my tracks and filled my heart with both joy and sadness. One dedicated to the women's movement. Through the lens of 2017 it makes me want to weep that we are STILL fighting the same battles fought in previous eras but that a monument to this struggle exists and is in a prominent position gives me optimism that it's taken seriously and honoured. ​