Inspiration - La Oriental

It's no secret that from little things, big things come, and from tragedy new beginnings are possible.  This positively ancient saucer was passed down to me many years ago, and tragically, the fragile cup was smashed a few years ago when some busy boy tenants I co-shared a house with, lumbered past, and somehow clipped it.  They say you see accidents happen in slow-time, and strangely it's true, even the smashing of crockery.  I wept real tears of loss and shame that night, after ranting and raging against them, accidents, fate, and myself for being so silly as to leave it in 'public' space.
I still feel loss and shame when I think about it, and the idea that something so old, that I was 'looking after' wasn't protected and respected as it should have been.  All I can do is treasure what's left as best I can, and do my best to enjoy it's stand-alone beauty.
Today's post is to remind you that inspiration can come from any treasured item; inspiration for parties, craft, activities for toddlers, or a journal exercise.  Take the plate, if you use Stream of Consciousness (or writing quickly without censorship), here's the first 10 or so things that spring to mind;


Cherry blossoms, Oriental, birds, China, fragile, loss, beauty, old-age, springtime, seasons, eternity, dawn, new beginnings.
Now I can easily imagine an oriental party theme, with birds and blossoms as the motifs.
If I was going to write a journal entry I might use the ideas of old-age, seasons, eternity, new beginnings as strong places to start.
A scrapbook page could be built around springtime, seasons, fragility, or new beginnings.
Craft ideas could be sourced for cherry blossoms and birds, decorating china plates, or in fact anything oriental or China-themed, again, use stream of consciousness; pandas, rice, bamboo, dragons... to create a new list of ideas to try.  Yesterday I did a post on birds, tomorrow it will be blossoms.
Ok, so the cup is gone.  Boo hoo.  And I mean that in the most respectful, heartfelt way possible; I'm sad, and I always will be when I think of it.  But.  Life goes on, and from both little things and loss, new beginnings, new ideas, eternal inspiration, even activities for toddlers can all turn negatives into positives.