Author Archives: lyonsroarforgod

Conundrum conundrum

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I am stuck and need help.  I have been rather fixated for the past day on the word “conundrum.”  It’s one of those words that I really like, and I have on occasion tried to use, but truthfully, I really can’t wrap my mind around the full meaning.  Here’s good old Webster’s words of wisdom:

1
: a riddle whose answer is or involves a pun
2
a: a question or problem having only a conjectural answer
b: an intricate and difficult problem
OK, all you readers…I got meaning 2.  It’s meaning 1, the riddle with the pun answer that kind of boggles me.  I looked “conundrum riddles” up on google, and mostly just found a lot of silly jokes with word pun answers.  Is that all there is?  It feels like it should be something more, something deeper, you know…more of a conundrum.  🙂
The best thing I found was a passage from Alice in Wonderland from Lewis Carroll:
“Why is a raven like a writing desk?”[…]

“Have you guessed the riddle yet?” the Hatter said, turning to Alice again.

“No, I give it up,” Alice replied. “What’s the answer?”

“I haven’t the slightest idea,” said the Hatter.

“Nor I,” said the March Hare.

Alice sighed wearily. “I think you might do something better with the time,” she said, “than wasting it in asking riddles that have no answers.”

So maybe that’s what the conundrum is; we can’t really figure out what it is or what it really means, and that is the perplexing part that makes it the conundrum.
If any of you are conundrum experts, please write and share your wisdom with me.  🙂   Slainte, Lisa

Time Machine

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The time between my baby boy being born and his going off to college as an 18 year old young adult has passed as if I was traveling in a time machine.  I was aware of time passing; each day passed at a normal rate of speed, but they seemed to compound into years at an abnormal speed.  Everyone says this, I know; it’s quite the cliche among parents.  But when you’re experiencing it yourself for the first time, it is quite something.  You find yourself smiling and bursting with pride one moment, and crying and trying desperately to hold on in the next.  And since I don’t want my sweet son to think I’m a wimp, I try to hide it alot.  But all in all, I am happy for him, proud of him, and excited for the next chapter in his God-given life.

Here are two pictures, taken in the drawbridge section, beside the same door, of Cahir Castle in Ireland, 2001 and 2009.  And he’s even taller now.  🙂  Slainte, Lisa

Raising the drawbridge in Cahir

Taller than the door at 15

The Return Home

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“A man travels the world over in search of what he needs and returns home to find it.”

-George Moore, Irish poet

Life is ironic sometimes…you feel dissatisfied, restless, yearning to roam somewhere new and just see something different.  You save, you plan, you go to this new place.  You walk around looking at the new buildings, sceneries, faces; moved but sometimes overwhelmed by the sheer amount of newness.  You look for glimpses of familiarity in the faces and language swirling around you, and sometimes you see & hear it and it brings a modicum of comfort.  Could it be?  Do you actually miss home after all this wanting to escape it?  You face the last day of the journey, feeling nostalgic already for the place you are leaving.  But then, you make it home…the familiar bumps in the driveway feel more endearing, the rise of the house in front of you makes you happier than it has in a long time, and the love that you feel for home, for those dear to you that you left behind, becomes very clear and poignant.  You are home, and you are happy.

Slainte, Lisa

Rambles, Plans, Dreams

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It doesn’t take much reading between the lines to figure out that I love to travel.  I adore planning out new holidays, pouring over travel books and reviews, searching the internet for the best deals.  I am a frustrated would-be pilot (maybe one day!), so I love the airport/flying part, the thrill of sitting in the airplane seat, feeling the roar of the immense engines as we tear down the runway for lift-off.  I love seeing the new sights, smelling the new smells (well, sometimes)  and trying out new foods.

I found a great passage from Last of the Donkey Pilgrims by Kevin O’Hara that encapsulates many of my thoughts:

” ‘Tis the beauty of travel, isn’t it,” she looked wistfully upon her poor but scenic domain, “seeing things you’d never see if you just kicked about the old place.  And you’ll take it all home with you, won’t you, these memories, and be all the better for it.  Well, be off with your rambling, so, and I’ll keep on with my dreaming.”

“It’s only a half-door you’re standing behind,”  I told her.  “You could easily hop over it.”

“Oh, I know,” she smiled, “but could I ever hop back in again?”

Enjoy your rambles, planning, and dreaming.  Slainte, Lisa

Originality

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“Originality is not doing something no one else has ever done, but doing what has been done countless times with new life, new breath.   – Marie Chaplan

Creativity, originality is placed carefully into all of us by God.  Because He is like that, and we are made in His image.  Whether it be music, writing, drama, art, decorating, gardening, caregiving, athletics (the list could go on indefinitely), we all have that originality within us.  Find that thing in you, even if it is very small right now, and breath new life and new breath into it.  Nurture it and let it come alive.  What a blessing you will be to the sad, worn-out world that needs a spark of hope and life.

Shine!  Slainte, Lisa

“You are the light of the world.  A city on a hill cannot be hidden…Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.” – Jesus (Matthew 5:14,16)