..and shooting stars. We are looking out for he The Leonids meteor shower this clear frosty night. No luck as yet (it's 11.30).
Thank you to my grandaughter for the lovely photograph.
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Thank you to my grandaughter for the lovely photograph.
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The love of bare November days Before the coming of the snow.. Robert Frost  What talented young singers! A super lunchtime concert at the University of Glasgow yesterday.  I often comment on how much I love and appreciate the real thing - original art, live music, real food, face to face conversations, the wind and the weather. The other day on the porch a surprisingly warm gentle breeze, just enough to move my hair from my neck was delicious. Standing under the moon, a log fire... My URL/online life is important to me too (this blog!) and the technology which helps me with vision loss - I am now registered partially sighted - is invaluable, and inproving all the time, but there is a dehumanising element to AI which is really disturbing. Why on earth would we want a machine to write poetry, or a robot to look after our elderly people?! Rather than finding a work/life balance maybe we should focus on our IRL/UPL balance? In Real Life I have holes in my socks. Lighten up Freda! ;-) You will have noticed how much mental evergy it takes to procrastinate. And energy is everything, isn't it. Over and over I go considering the pros and cons of this way versus that way, now or later, the rights and the wrongs, the ifs and the buts, the shoulds and the coulds and the maybes..I'm worn out before I have taken any action at all. I fear I have become very indecisive in even in small matters. In fact mainly in small matters. (In a crisis I am very decisive and clear thinking. Plenty practice this year!) But day to day I muddle along, spending a lot of time thinking for examle about what order to do things in. The other morning I got so bored with myself I decided to decide. I would make three very small decisions and carry them out. It felt good. I made three more - the energy began to flow. By the end of the morning I was sailing along enjoying being decisive. When I want to be, I am still a decisive person! It just takes that first decision - deciding to decide. ..but so too do the seasons. This is the fourteenth October I have blogged about! So I repeat photographs of the garden in autumn, the table decorations, the last flowers etc, but isn't it rather wonderful that we can be thrilled by autumn, year after year? I browsed through some previous Octobers in the (now very extensive) archive and 2015 seemed particularly nice... see here. A special thank you to those of you who have stayed with me all these years, and more! I have so enjoyed your company.  Nature's gift. Prunings make a free, effortless and elegant table decoration.
..and do they really know better than you what is best for you?
I find it takes time to work out my own ideas, and to be an independent thinker I do need to be informed. I am very very choosy about who gets into my precious headspace! It's all too easy to be overwhelmed. I want to stay sane and calm and will not let my nerves be wracked by the latest news/trend/scare/speculation/prediction.. Posting this under Simply Chill, Simply Headspace and Simply Live and am simply sharing what works for me :-)  ..and the moon at night.  At long last we are having a spell of good weather! Clear blue skies and warm sunshine by day, and the most magnificent and huge full moon by night. Magical, beautiful, nourishing both body and soul. ..it's probable that almost half of the people reading this blog will have experienced cancer themselves. Quite a shocking fact. whcih has me thinking a lot abput resilience and recovery from both crises and any illness. I am lucky enough to have rarely been ill and I had not realised how patient one has to be as a patient - is that why people are called patients? I never made that connection before! So I am into all the re words - recovery, resilience, regeneration, recuperation, revival, restorative, reenergised... It is astonishing and inspiring to see how people respsond to difficulties far worse than mine. I jist have to think of the paralympics or the book The Diving Bell and The Butterfly by Jeam-Dominique Baugy, and the world of regemerative medicine is almost incredible - see Tony Robbin's book Life Force. So for a few weeks there, when I woke in the morning and my mind raced around the world and back but my body said 'Sorry, I am not going anywhere! ' I had to ssay okay, I understand you need all your energy for healing right now. I will be patient. As Karen said, healing isn't limear.  This one tiny quince scents the whole room! Possibly my favourite smell in all the world. I quite simply haven't known how to write (or whether to write) about the family crises which have occurred this year. Partly for reasons of privacy and partly because I don't have, and don't really wamt, a categorty called Simply Crises!! Writing his blog has been somthing of an antidote. A worsening of my eye condition, an unexpected divorece, a fraught house purchase, 999 calls and emergency hospital admissions, the putting down of a beloved family pet, a cancer diagnosis (mine. I am okay now) - it's only as most of these are somewhat resolved that I feel I can write about them now. Whew! I am living life in a beautiful state of........(fill in your word).  Today it was I am living life in a beautiful state of resting. How you start your day all depends on your own situation. There was a point in my life when I had a huge very noisy alarm clock with two bells, sitting on top of an empty bisvuit tin to wake me. I had a full time job, was studying and bringing up two children on my won. Only you can know what is best for you in your circumstances and with your temperament. You might start by imagining your ideal start to the day, and seeing if you can perhaps build in an element of that - work from your best case scenario and see how close to that you can manage! I have gradualy tweaked my start to the day to set myself up to be positive, productive and happy and strong. It quite often works. Takes practice. :-) I'm setting up July to be a super-healthy month. Join me?  ..to celebrate the beautiful things. Midsummer night and a brandy Alexander.      ..(flourish is my word for the year) Joie de vivre has to be cultivated, and la doce vita has to be created! By me.  Occasionally at lucky times these just happen, but mostly they require my attention and effort. I do flourish if I can have a little of them each day. The garden is flourishing, friendships are flourishing, and some precious relationships which sometimes flourish in times of adversity.. Can you think of an English equivalent of those two expressions - joie de vivre and la doce vita - other than direct translations? Forgive me if posts are a bit erratic this month. Late or even missing. There's a lot going on! Happy June everyone, ..the subject of Denmark, I thought you might find this film interesting. It's a 45 minute long film made by journnalist and advocate for Scottish independence Lesley Riddoch and gives a good insight into the Danish way of life (the population is similar in size to that of Scotland). I found it fascinating. My head was full of Stephen Hough playing Rachmaninov when we came out of City Halls to this magical sight.   There are times when life is a bit of an emotional roller-coaster aren't there! It's not simple, and it certainly isn't boring. May we all celebrate the good and wisely negotiate the bad.  Be well, be safe and be happy. Back in a week or so. Next week I will deal with the warmongers, disarm the gangs, sort out the badly behaving politicians and solve the climate crisis. This week I have crises of my own, and will concentrate on supporting the people I know who are having a hard time one way and another. It's the best I can do right now and I will give it all I've got. Today was dry and sunny and I was so grateful!  Watching the sun rise this morning.
..blue skies, new lambs, Easter eggs, hot cross buns, blossom, bees and a birthday cake for my sister. I hope you have aslo had a lovely day.  The unnspoilt parts of Scotland are so beautiful, and the roads so quiet at this time of year, I prefer holidaying out of season. It's a good time of year to detox and start moving again (if like me you have barely moved all winter!) After an early hour of yoga each day I realised I had forgotten how very pleasant it is to stretch and twist and really concentrate on moving. Walks in stunning countryside...I'd even stopped going for walks at home. Really let things slip without noticing. How easy it is to forget to do the simple things which cost nothing but make such a difference to our wellbeing. Moving, drinking water, eating just enough, meditating and resting properly, relaxing with good people, being outdoors. No cost, no special equipment, no membership fees or contracts. Simple.  Silver on the water on a late afternon paddle. Breathtakingly beautiful and bteathtakingly cold!
I love the line in the film Dr Zhivago when the embittered Pasha, now Strelnikov, asks Zhivago what he is going to do with his wife and child at his dacha and Zhivago answers JUST LLIVE  Narcissus February Gold tends to flower in March here!
..as I am sure we all are with the state of the world. It's hard, isn't it. This morning I remembered this- Grant me the serenity to accept the thngs I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. Some serenity and courage and wisdom might be good. If I could find a little of each in my days it might be helpful. I do have a moment of serenity at breakfast and at dinner when I light a candle on the table. That little pause is peaceful. Watching the colour suffuse the tulips is calming and beautiful, and beauty susutains me as I have often said.  And then of course there is the off-switch on the news... Why is that such a big issue? How do you cope? Have you read Dr Hannah Ritchie's recent book Not The End Of The World? I'd love to know what you think of it. A dara scientist, she seems to have taken up the baton of the late and great Hans Rosling. (I first posted this more than 10 years ago.) As with Hans Rosling there are lots of YouTube interviews, TED Talks and videos of Dr Ritchie and her message that far from being the last generation of humans on the planet we could be the first generation to create a sustainable world.  Two facsimile editions bought at Sissinghurst many years ago. Re-reading these will help me fall in love with gatdening again I am sure.
Great Western Road is a fascinating street. Hoos and Niki Jones are particularly beautiful. Curated and expensive - lovely for a specia gift. I resisted the exquisitely embroidered linen cushion and spent £7 in the market-like Tiger on Easter eggs and tiny cactus shaped candles. The cafe with the generously embellished almond croissants is the Cottonrake Bakery should you find yourself in the vicinity.   We did splurge on a lovely dinner at The Annchor Line. Oh, the High Life! I so enjoyed it. ..with Eliot. April is not the cruellest month. February is. As many of you will know, I've always had a bit of a problem with February. (Low moods/dreary weather/mud season/ spring-will-never-cone kind of thing). But since I Istarted to look at it differently (see here and under Simply Write ) it has become a very interesting month for me. Perhaps I learn more about myself in Februaries than in any other month. I began calling it my Writing Month and I had such fun with that. Last year I had Romantic February and so enjoyed the suggestions from you for music and films and books - it was a lovely time. This year I am creating Colourful February and have ideas for Generous Febtuary, Extravagant February, Fun in February, Foodie February - should I live so long! Philosophy February. Philosophy Phebruary? Now I am getting silly.. How is February for you? And what would it look like if it was your very best month?  |
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