Writing and receiving letters via virtual post

[Appleblossom]

@Sophia1 

It brought tears to my eyes to read your little extension story.

The little girl would like to remain nameless, and she is grateful to the professor/father/uncle/friend for allowing her to stay.  She does her best to entertain herself and finds Little Bee, Sooty, and Horrace Bat all wonderful company.

@Flax @HenryX @Oaktree @Exoplanet 

At the moment she is eating from her blue bowl.  Thanks cook @Shaz51 

She is not sure why she is so old fashioned, maybe it is true she is a time traveller.  The piano lessons are occasional as they were in real life, Gumnut must be very busy. but she does like to tinkle the ivories most days if she cannot get outside to wonder freely.  She is practising From a Wigwam like Zoe ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEYinaFxuiQ 

Glad this bee is not in her bonnet, but doing what he is meant to do!

@Oaktree Hugs Bella

[Oaktree]

Last picture got rejected even though it was from the internet so here's another try.

[Appleblossom]

Ah hah ... is that Sooty being well behaved, if only for a moment curled up at the little girl's feet.

[Sophia1]

@Appleblossom 

I have a print hanging in my home 

this print of a painting in 1876

draws me to the feelings and ambience of the period..

I feel and see me in this little girl...

I had very dark brown long hair with wide, very dark brown eyes almost black....intense and deep..

my hair is lighter now...my eyes are still the same colour and some people find them too intense as I always look into a person's eyes when talking to them..not intrusively though..more from a point of interest and having my attention...

the feelings that I draw from his painting match mine...that look of apprehension.....questioning...the slightly furrowed brow...worrying and dissociation...

I will post the picture as ...the little girl without a name for the story..

I will write to you separately also appleblossom...I was unaware of your current situation..

so very hard to keep up where people are at particularly more so as the forums have grown and expanded into a hive of activity an almost a hornet's nest of ranging,,varying emotions..

Sophia

[Sophia1]

all that was left to love

the little girl with no name who lives in an ancient castle..

look closely and you will see that she is holding ever so carefully a loss of life.....

Sad yet part of learning of life for children who are at one with nature ...

💚

[Sophia1]

well the little girl in different times has been a shape shifter...

Sophia

[HenryX]

Hello @Flax 

@Sophia1 @Oaktree @Appleblossom @Shaz51 

and all the other members of, and visitors to this thread,

I am sorry that I haven't been able to address your earlier post from yesterday before this time.

"

I really enjoy Sooty's reflections on what's happening, possibilities, mischief making, in anticipation and action and the adventures into which he projects himself, with bravado and action. Consequently, I am very much in favour and appreciative of his, and your continued presence and involvement.

"

Your observations about why you joined the website are somewhat different to my own. I joined the website more for the development of my own knowledge about MI/D's and mental health issues. And, hopefully being able to contribute, in some useful and mutually beneficial and rewarding ways, to each other's progress as members of the site in considering and addressing common issues.

"

Your intention, as you express in the following statement, all of which appeals to me, appears to be more for finding some support, light hearted relief, diversion and lifting or distraction from personal problems and the day to day drama, grind and pressure of the more serious aspects of living with MH issues. I believe that these are among the valid reasons for being a member of this site.

"

“Sooty confession - he joined SANE to link to people with MH problems, occasionally share, but find an outlet, find some support, and meet interesting people; support meaning diversion from his own problems and not too serious. He doesn't need support ticks (too similar to being 'liked' on facebook). Ugh, social media popularity is such a parasite. A Sooty rant for another day”
"

As a result of these, and other differences, we contribute, each in our own varied ways, to each others benefits, 'rewards' and pleasure, from this site. Consequently I benefit from reading the light hearted creative stories, developments of ideas, and creativity in this thread

"

What I hope is that I contribute, in my own different way, with thoughts and ideas that may be useful for others also. Another wish that I have, is not to compromise the well-being of any other member. The only rider to that is, as I have expressed in another post, that we give each other a little leeway and flexibility with regard to minor clashes. But in some ways, these reasons are why I have not been projecting myself into this thread very often, despite, and possibly, because of the fact, that I derive great enjoyment from reading the stories people have written here. I, for the most part, do not want to interject, with more serious and heavy thoughts, thereby disrupting the creative flow of enjoyable activity on this thread.

"

I also allocate quite a lot of time to preparing and posting responses and comments on this and other threads.

"

Concerning the infamous “Support” issue

• I, selectively, use the support function as an acknowledgement to a comment or response of someone else, when I have read their post.

• Positive posts, I generally support, in any thread with which I have some connection.

• Comments, the content of which i consider, that I am in strong disagreement, and against which, I have no strong countering arguement, may simply be provocative, without substance, or are generally just plain negative, I normally avoid and do not place a support.

• I, sometimes, find it difficult to support someone's comment when they are declaring distress, if I am not in a position to offer any thoughts that I feel may be appropriate or helpful.

• Normally, as a courtesy, I avoid supporting a comment before the person to whom the comment is addressed. So, I will often come back, to support a comment, after the person to whom it was addressed has done so or, if the comment hasn't been supported by that person after some “reasonable” time.

• While I often skim, what I refer to as, courtesy or social threads, I generally don't interact, or place “supports”. Unless a comment, or response, has been directed to me through Notifications, or is intended for general interest, or there is a stated or implied request for comment or response. In this case, I will then support the original comment and post my own.

I do hope, that what I have offered, is of interest and may be useful for other members of this and other threads.

With My Best Wishes

@HenryX 

[Sophia1]

@Oaktree 

Are you Megs? I might have missed your answer somewhere in amidst a busy hive of activity..

If you are Megs...the cartoon caricature suits you to a tee...

my image is more deep in thought...

so lovely contrasts of images represented.. is how they all fit well...creating more depth to our evolving story...

Your treasure trove has been discovered or at least one coin...dropped at some stage whilst you hurriedly reburied it's trove...

I am intrigued where you will take that..

[Flax]

wow - some awesome pictures!  Why don't we hang them in the castle?

Sooty actually read back through a few pages for once.

@HenryX once again your sagacious and emapthetic words are great. 

@Shaz51 your spoiling Sooty and he loves it 😉  

@Appleblossom lol...Sooty was being very good during the portraiture. Bribery with cream will do that.

@Sophia1 that was quite a profound picture - so forlorn, yet as you said, a part of life.

Sooty did notice one missing but important picture. @Sophia1 the soul of our adventure

I hope you don't mind, but I found this picture of a Selkie. Its how I picture you in the story. Note the otter skin dress, and, no its not Versace. Perhaps a Celtic seamstress or even by your own hands! 

L

Lucky we now have a magical coin in the Castle library. One of its powers is to transform people or creatures into another person or creature.You just have to hold it and make a wish. This is handy if you want to change character, persona or even your picture in our fantasy journey. 

Hope you all had a sunny day. Remember the sun will always rise tomorrow, so if not a sunny today then maybe tomorrow or the next, but the sun will rise. That's rather profound, even for Sooty 

⭐⭐⭐

[Flax]

A real life Sooty story:

Just a quick thank you to everyone on this thread. This is quite a long post, but Sooty needed to explain a few things to his friends. It will be worth your while to read, well because its interesting and true.

Believe it or not, Sooty has been severely mentally unwell for the last few days. This thread and my little bubbling away about whatever has probably helped keep me out of hospital. Seriously, had a discussion with my shrink today, chatted about hospitalisation, but we are over the crisis.

This thread has kept my mind occupied on our fantasy place rather than personal mental health issues. Even though I may not post a lot. atm I can't read, watch tv or basically do anything, and thinking about Sooty and his adventures has kept me safe and out of the pit of despair.

So thank you for just being yourselves....and putting up with Sooty going off on tangents. Its been a way of coping with real life stuff.

Actually there is another Sooty story here - more real life than fantasy and involves CBD Oil. Something for our Professor to put his formidable research talents too.

Sooty went off all medications 2 months ago, and started using CBD Oil for anxiety and depression instead. Worked extremely well for one month - improved mood and sleep, then it stopped working as well for sleep, so Sooty had a brilliant idea - 'lets put the recommended CBD Oil dose up'....oops, Sooty doesn't do things by halves - he doubled the dose with catastrophic results 2 weeks ago.

The best the shrink can figure, the tiny amount of THC in CBD Oil when the dose was doubled was enough to trigger a mental health crisis. Looks like I'm one of those 1% of people to whom THC is quite toxic in even small amounts. Even my psychiatrist says CDB Oil has great MH potential at the recommended safe dose of 5 drops twice a day. Sooty decided to double it. He is so naughty - and frankly sometimes quite dumb because he gets impatient.

Sharing this to say thank you, but also for any of you with anxiety, sleep or depressive type issues - have a good think about something called full spectrum CBD Oil. Its very very safe at recommended doses, just don't do a Sooty...'it seems to help, so lets double the dose and maybe it will work a miracle.' It didn't.

This is quite funny - it was my 82 year old, very conservative Mum who suggested CDB Oil for me because she was taking it for chronic pain and it worked wonders, and she discovered that it was also very good for MH. My old Mum laughs that she takes a cannabis product now, and how she would never in her life consider any type of illegal drug, but now its legal (and safe providing you buy Austrlian) - she laughs because of the dramtic improvement in the quality of her life. She has crippling and painful arthritis, and CBD has made life liveable again.

In case you didn't know, CBD Oil no longer requires a medical prescription in Australia - it became a legal OTC in Feb 2021 - meaning you can buy it in Australia without a prescription, and its legal. But use it as recommended is Sooty's advice....well my psychiatrist's advice, and I'm paraphrasing.

If your interested in CBD Oil, then one of the best Australian manufacturers, and cheapest, where I get mine from can be found at:

https://www.blacksheepfarmoils.com.au/ 

As the old Persian proverb goes, may all your dreams come true except one.

PS Sooty has made a bet with himself. At least one person in our thread is on antidepressants, benzodiazepams, or sleeping tablets, and he hopes this post might give them at least food for thought, if not hope for a natural alternative. 

PPS lol Sooty hates 'alternative' therapy - all those supposed herbal supplements are just a waste of money and clever marketing. But CBD Oil has clincial and scientific evidence that is growing, so worth consideration.