Who's looking at me?

It's happened a couple of mornings this week. I open up my lap top, and there's this tiny green eye shining at me -- the webcam. Now, I didn't leave it on, or turn it on, so what's it doing there? I tell you, this kind of freaks me out. Who would be looking at me??

In the days of apartheid when we lived in Cape Town, our next door neighbour was a retired school-inspector. He was a good neighbour to us, but maybe a little over-interested in our visitors who were not restricted to 'whites' 'European's, whatever you like to call them. What impressed me though, was how, when he came into our home, he'd clearly be taking in every detail of his surroundings. As a writer, it would be useful if I had enhanced abilities like his!

At the moment I'm taking an on-line course on self-publishing, run by a teacher. She comments how strange it is to be doing this, like talking into a mirror with few responses! That's kind of like writing a blog, I guess. But what about Facebook. That's different, isn't it? Yes. But the question still nags at me: 'Who's looking at us?'

Chain mail

I received another of those this morning. You know, some nice sentiments, even true ones about who comes into your life, for how long and what purpose these friends may serve. And then comes the demand to send this on a.s.a.p. to seven others and then, ta da... something good and surprising will happen to you (me). In this case, even a precise time is given! 10.27 a.m. to be exact.

What do I do in such a case? Forward it back to the sender, as requested -- well, usually anyhow -- but I don't send it on. I'm grateful that this particular chain mail didn't contain any hint of a threat, as some do.

So, I'm wondering what lies behind this phenomenon. Mulling it over, a theory came to me. Perhaps we human beings carry a deep, mostly hidden longing for proof that a spiritual world exists and that it can work into and manifest in our earthly world.

Shine on

What's this? So many posts? Well, it's because, having recently finished those two long-term writing projects, I'm now in a different creative space.

Did you see the moon last night, or the night before, or the one before that? Yes, it's the Harvest Moon that's been shining. Before coming to North America I had no idea what that was, although I used to happily sing "Shine on, shine on harvest moon," along with my Dad. Now I have the opportunity to experience it shining in all its autumn glory. Twice I've seen it through a buttermilk sky, those mottled clouds that the silvery disc peeps through. Quite spectacular. If you haven't had a chance to look up at the heavens these last evenings, why not take a minute or two tonight?