Is Your Mind Your Own?

I used to think that the choices I made were mine.
But have we ever really been free?

In my teens, yes, I  loved fashion, denim, and bright colors. Now fashion has toned down to sort of non-descript and boring.
A friend of mine always said…if you dont give people a uniform, they make one.

In the UK, when I walked into people's houses, color schemes were very samey. When I moved into an apartment share, the owner said it was like watching herself unpack. We had identical items, even down to the same iron.

The internet has exerted even more pressure and channelling. So much so that we sometimes don’t understand what is true or false. We are bombarded by ads and the media.
There is violence every day, and many are no longer safe on the streets.
Teens under sixteen in Australia are banned from using social media.
Sixteen is old enough to vote, and grow up quicker than previously.
Do we really have freedom of speech? Reddit is suing the Australian government for breach of free expression and speech.
Yet three-year-olds in Japan operate computers and technology.
Many contradictions.

We all enjoy presents from Father Christmas, talking about him coming down the chimney, his mode of transport and his six reindeer.
OK, that’s all fun. We all love Father Christmas!

Boyzone - No Matter What

The Bonzo Dog Band - No Matter Who You Vote For The Government Always Gets In

David Bowie - Space Oddity

Napoleon XIV - They’re Coming To Take Me Away, Ha Ha

Education these days appears to partially brainwash.
It used to be..give me a child under five, and I will educate him/her, but not now.
So the theme is…Is our mind really an individual process, or are we pressured into our belief system?
Avoid heavy politics or religious comments.
The aim is to enjoy, be humorous and chat with friends. Enjoy and respect all who comment.

Lian

Let’s Get Christmassy

Have a wish for Christmas. Wish upon a Unicorn
A unicorn always lives by a magical pool. But this unicorn is flying to you, so that you may have a wish for Christmas.

Sufjan Stevens - Christmas Unicorn

Christmas is more enjoyable with a family around you.
It should be a time of peace and goodwill.
Snow is always a wonder at Christmas.

How do you decorate your tree?
What decorations do you use? Lights, paper chains, mistletoe?

I once had to tell my friend her two cats were using the Christmas tree as a toilet area. LOL
A lot of animals seem to think of that logic. Understandable.

Justin Bieber - Mistletoe

Animals Sing "12 Days of Christmas"

Christmas lunch is always fun, especially with a lot of people around the table.
We used to play Charades. Games can be fun too.
How do you spend your time?

When do you open your presents, Christmas Day or Christmas Eve?
Do you hang a Christmas stocking up?

Christmas is a time for giving. I used to enjoy charity work, raising money for hospices.
Do you give your pets presents?

Best Christmas fails of 2025

So enjoy your Christmas.
Play your favorite Christmas songs and post videos.
Chat to friends. Steer away from politics, please.

Lian

The Golden Years

Are supposed to be when ageing…if only.
Times have changed dramatically, no longer the optimism of the sixties or seventies.
Life was full of freedoms, Life was free…never had much, yet life was so good.

In the fifth form, we were really into music, and we threw huge parties. The Yardbirds had the idea to form a group, Top Topham’s idea, and Eric joined later. We were a small group, not very popular with the admin of our school. Eric Clapton was sent home for wearing pointed-toed shoes and later expelled for playing his guitar at art college.
I often wonder how the directors/heads of those schools felt when Eric became famous, and also Top Topham and Christopher Drejer, making more money than they would ever see. We were enjoying music, art, literature and spending money.
I would often bump into Pop stars, even Mick Jagger, in the King's Road or the Antique market. Jimmy Page had made a pile of money in his teens, too. And I used to see Billy Connelly and his daughter Daisy.
Even a can of soup was ‘Art’

I now do a monthly shop for gluten-free food. A couple of days ago, I was carrying two heavy bags, and it was pouring with rain. I wasn’t sure how to haul the shopping onto the bus. A sixteen-year-old asked if she could help, and we sat together. I spoke about sixties artists and my friend’s huge art collection that she should visit. Who was Mick Jagger she asked, and Jade?
I felt like royalty, she and her friend carried my shopping through the bus station with an umbrella held over my head. Those two delightful ladies were art students, hungry for knowledge, and promised to see my friend's art collection, which includes so many famous artists, even from the UK. In spite of rainstorms, it was a magic day, another good-looking, suntanned adonis carried my shopping off the last bus to my home front door. Poured with rain all day.

Then I pondered…getting into the ‘BLUES’. Old age has its own magnified problems and it ain’t cheap. Many old friends are no longer around.
My best friend went into a care home, to me, it seemed like a lonely prison, deprived of tv (just a blank screen), no internet, music and friends. A sign out with security just to walk in the garden, not the happy smiling faces in the ads, for sure. Apparently, real prisoners have better healthcare…fact check
Old age ain't cheap, so make sure you ain't poor to maintain a lifestyle, to enjoy your time.
Even many pets in their heated igloos have a good life in comparison to many care homes. That was a revelation to me! Pets never used to have electric blankets.
Would you prefer family or be in a care home? I realise I dislike restrictions and regimentation, and being escorted by security guards. My friend told me he met a lady who had escaped from a home three times. Good on her.
Well, there must be some good ones?
I need to paint, draw, and create. That may not go down well.

So play the golden oldies, and the Blues, chat with friends…Enjoy.
What are your views?

My friend's house and collections, I spotted a Bratby there.
John Bratby kitchen sink art, fifties and sixties.

Dining room.

"Come Back To Me" | Ellie Preston – A Timeless Sequel to a Classic (AI Created with My Lyrics)

Getting Old Ain’t Cheap, Brother | Delta King's Blues

Louis Armstrong: St. James Infirmary

Play It Again Sam, Casablanca, AS TIME GOES BY

No politics or religion, please, respect all who comment.

Lian and Kieran

Home Sweet Home, Home Is Where The Heart Is

I’ve been rich, I’ve been poor, but North South East West, they say home’s best!

I used to think my ideal home was an apartment in London, where I lived one time.
We were a community, and it was an ideal place. We all had to move out. In retrospect, it was not my ideal home. London and circumstances changed, and London is no longer the place that it was. It was exciting, colorful and good, productive too one time.

Covid virus made me appreciate a house and garden even more than any apartment, surrounded by other people.

I fell in love with the home that I live in now, even though a derelict at the time. A lot of work later, I call it ‘Home’. It’s still a lot of work.

Bosphorous

Beach house in Aus..just amazing architecture there.

My dream home would be a seafront house on Australia’s West Coast, a perfect lifestyle, or an apartment overlooking the Bosphorus, as my heart has always been in Turkey.

My courtyard and garden………….Bosphorous

Below my bedroom 100 sq mtrs, I love the spaciousness.

Is it the things we collect on our life journey that make us feel at home? I could not bear to part with some treasures.
My Grandmother always said…You cant take your treasures with you!

Perhaps there is a piece of my heart in many places or perhaps I’m just a dreamer in life.

Pound Hounds Home Sweet Home & Mellomen Lady

John Denver - Take Me Home, Country Roads

Alan Jackson - Blue Ridge Mountain Song

Tom Jones - Green Green Grass Of Home

The Temperance Seven - Pasadena

What made you choose your home, necessity, love, a person, the architecture, geography, spaciousness, or job? Neighbors? Neighbors…Not!!!
How do you really feel about places you lived in? Did you always have a real choice?
Have you collected what seem to be treasures for you? What makes your home, home?
What governed your choices?
Did you always make the right choices or did you improve on what you had?

Enjoy the discussion post images, music, and chat with friends.
Politics, and sometimes religion, doesn’t always go down well in a discussion.
Most of all, enjoy your friends. LFE is a place of respect for all who post.

Lian and Kieran.