12. May 2013 · Comments Off on Looking up · Categories: Courses, Looking up, Re-awakening, Renewal, Spirituality
Ossian's Hermitage, Rumbling Bridge, Perthshire

Ossian’s Hermitage, Rumbling Bridge, Perthshire

 

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Much appreciated, all round

Funny how life can turn on a twist, or in this instance a lie down. We had friends staying last week, from Sydney via Ireland. One day we took them to The Hermitage (Ossian’s Hall) near Dunkeld, where we stood on what in my childhood we called Rumbling Bridge, because of the sound of  water-falling tumbling below, and wandered among the towering Douglas Fir trees. Which is when and where we found it. A seat, shaped and hollowed out in the shape of a pine cone, and inscribed with a quotation by David Douglas, after whom the tree is named.

Made for each and every one of us

Made for each and every one of us

We all lay on it one by one, and the sighs of content – the slow relaxed release of stress (Fred and Louise had been in Ireland for a memorial service, so very sad) – made us all hug one another and smile. When it came to my turn, my body fit like a glove and there I was, lying down, looking up. Up, up, up to where new Spring foliage was beginning to green into lime light. Suddenly all negativity fell away and I was my self again. Totally anchored and secure. My view is changed. Instead of looking down (as when I took the photograph of Winter Aconites among rocks and gravel for my first banner), now once again I am gazing upwards into the sky and the mysteries of beyond… DSCN3515Yes, finally, at long last, life is looking up.

08. May 2013 · Comments Off on Another fine mess I got myself into · Categories: Uncategorized
Welcome to a wintry Scotland...

Welcome to a wintry Scotland…

Welcome back.

Sorry about that. What with internet idiocy (my own, no one else to blame), winter weather that seemed interminable, innumerable culture clashes (and crashes),  127 boxes of stuff arriving from Japan, plus various blockages of the physical as well as psychological kind (linked, of course), it has taken four months to restart this blog.

The best way for you to catch up with me is to go to the series EAST TO WEST on the website www.embrace-transition.com/ The most recent, BOXED IN, was posted mid-to-late April. At the bottom of the piece are the links to  the previous articles… Ideally start at the beginning, but going backwards may be an equally interesting exercise. They tend come very fast once I have decided on the theme, title and first line…

The best way to catch up with my self is to take a good hard look at what I wrote in January and change the banner at the top of the page; this showed winter aconites, photographed in January and at the time the only colour on the land outside). My mother planted a sprig over a decade ago and now they are spread far and wide.

Vanessa and Akii

Vanessa and Akii

In the meantime, gratitude to Vanessa who alone braved my first PW workshop on April 17. Having grown up in Kenya, and moved to Perthshire after 35 years in Africa, she was open enough to try something new, and desperate enough to give it her all. Akii joined her, not because he wanted too especially, having resisted all invitations and prods over the last seven years, but because I learned right at the last minute that it’s impossible in the UK to teach one-to-one without clearance through official lines. As it turned out, he learned something valuable about himself in relation to his family, so they both went away happy. There is a very nice picture of them both on GALLERY (he being the one with the beard!)

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Happy to have found a labyrinth to walk at The Orchard, which at least takes me on productive journey rather than placing obstacles in my way

Me? Frustrated by rules and red tape every which way I turn, I’m left wondering that has happened to this country while I’ve been away.

IMGP1395Until next week, promise.