Sacred Life Sunday: Celebrations!!

Ten years ago i was giving birth to this amazing blessing - a little girl. she only weighted 6 pounds, but she was alive and well and beautiful!! that christmas, i was HUGE and we had a few false alarms racing to Queen's Medical Centre in Nottingham in the middle of the night... but my poppet knew when she was good and ready to make her entrance, and she wasn't to be rushed!!!

yesterday we had a housefull of giggling girls - sam invited a friend to keep himself sane. the girls played blind man's buff, hide and seek, and drew hopscotch on the drive; the boys watched a movie...

Esther has never really liked her name (it is my husband's mother's, grandmother's and great-grandmother's name), because it's never printed on any mugs, or rulers, or pencil cases you can buy in stores. so i had this banner made for her bedroom by Kirsty at PaperFish - she LOVED it :o)

And of course there was candlelit chocolate cake for dessert. what a day!!!

Wellness Wednesday: Hope

I know i'm a couple of days early - the winter solstice is on friday - but i love this jethro tull song - from 30 years ago! - and i've just worked out how to embed a video from youtube!!
there are two more days of deep darkness - it's already 6.45a.m. and it's as black as midnight - but i hope and trust the light will slowly reappear and lengthen our days. i wish we still rang out the bells to celebrate this natural phenomenon...
starting on friday, i will be starting a yearlong online course to study the earth's rhythms with susan gregg. i don't know what to expect, but i looking forward to reconnecting my soul to the earth's and learning how to celebrate the natural (as distinct from human-made) times of the year.

enjoy the video as i send buckets of solstice and yuletide blessings to you all xxx

Sacred Life Sunday: Inner Peace

i'd been a bit under the weather the past few days - hence the silence... also the lack of daylight is getting to me. thank goodness after next friday the days will ever so slowly lengthen...

i promised myself i would tackle this meme from carla's blog, so hear goes...

Do you own a gun? No

What do you think of hot dogs? i never buy from vendors, but i love homemade - nick makes the most scrummy onions - sooooo sweet and crispy... we actually had them last night :o)

What do you prefer to drink in the morning? herb tea - my favourite at the moment is yogi tea's women's tea...

Can you do push-ups? i wish!!

What’s your favourite piece of jewelry? My inner peace

ring - see pic - i wear it every day.

What is your secret weapon to lure the opposite sex? i don't think i've ever had a 'weapon' - i'm a peace-loving soul...

Middle name? elizabeth

Name three thoughts at this exact moment:

i'm getting hungry
i really must wrap more pressies today
finally the light is growing outside

What time did you wake up today? 6.15 a.m.

Current hate? War, the long dark nights

Name three drinks you regularly drink:
filtered water
herb tea
my one daily cup of fresh-brewed coffee

Do you own slippers? Yes, I'm wearing them right now - pink ballerina style :o)

What shirt are you wearing? pyjama top :)

Do you burn or tan? Burn - i tend to keep out of the sun

Favourite colour(s)? it totally depends on my mood - but i don't like wearing black - i own one obligatory l.b.d. and one pair of faded 'black' cords

Would you be a pirate? no - it involves my least-favourite things - riding on water and violence

What is your favourite holiday? definitely Thanksgiving - the food, the family togetherness, the lack of expectations - i really miss it now we're not in the states

What songs do you sing in the shower? i've never sung in the shower - it's a more quiet, contemplative experience for me

What did you fear was going to get you at night as a child? whatever monsters were on doctor who that week

What’s in your pockets right now? I don't carry things in my pockets - that's what handbags are for :o)

Last thing that made you laugh? something my almost -10-year-old daughter said :o)

Best bed sheets as a child? fresh clean cotton - then as now!!

Worst injury you’ve ever had? where do i start!! my poor little body has never been robust

Are your parents still together? my mum died in 1999 aged 55. she and dad had been together since she was 14....

Do you wish on shooting stars? the one time i've seen them!

What is your favourite book(s)? i could devote a whole blog to this!! but these books are deeply embedded in my soul:

The Hours by Michael Cunningham

A Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien

Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy

The Red Tent by Anita Diamant

True Colors by Kathryn Bold

What is your favourite candy? dark organic chocolate from Montezuma's - a small UK business

How is the weather outside right now? Cold and grey *sigh*

What was your first thought this morning when you woke up? when will the sun come up?

Wellness Wednesday: Soul reading

I honestly can't remember where i first saw this book - i'm sure it was on someone's blog... but as soon as i saw the title, i knew i had to read it - especially given my reiki card 'the cave'...
i started it yesterday and read 50 pages - no mean feat for my recovering brain :o)
all i can say is my dear soul so needs to read this... having decided to leave the Anglican Church last year - after 25 years faithful service - i have been somewhat lost... i left because too much of christianity is misogynist and my heart was finding it just too hard to reconcile parts of the bible with what i felt about god, love, the world, judgement, women's gifts...
demetra george in these first 50+ pages gives an overview of the interconnectedness of the moon's cycle (waxing new moon, full moon, waning dark moon) and the cycle of plants (seed sprouts, flowers bloom, harvest and decomposition), the four seasons, the three ages of woman, the celtic wheel of the year...
the dark phase of the moon - the four days it disappears from view - is the place when death occurs in the life cycle - the seed pod in the dark earth, the 6 weeks from hallowmas to the winter solstice - the shortest days in the year - and it is the place of formlessness and transformation in the cycle of life from birth to form to death to rebirth...
i've always 'known' time is cyclical not linear, i've always 'believed' i am made of the same stuff as plants and creatures, and i never reconciled this with the church's teachings of death and resurrection... demetra george has verbalized my soul's knowledge that this cycle is what connects me to this world, and whether or not i sign up for eternal life according to the church's beliefs, death and transformation will happen and i will change and experience a new life...
and i will encounter who knows how many 'mini deaths' along the way as i grow and change and grow some more... the important part is to embrace the dark phases of my life and the time of formlessness, so i can transform to a new form and live again...

Sacred Life Sunday: 7 random things...

Deborah tagged me with this....

1. Link to the person’s blog who tagged you. 2. Post these rules on your blog. 3. List seven random and/or weird facts about yourself 4. Tag seven random people at the end of your post and include links to their blogs. 5. Let each person know that they have been tagged by posting a comment on their blog...

1. I adore calenders, datebooks, notebooks - I dream of being locked up in Paperchase overnight... nothing beats that first new page...

2. I really don't like Elvis Presley - the man or his music!

3. I could live in my pjs... I would love to shower in the morning and just get into a clean pair... they are the perfect clothes!!

4. I don't like tomato ketchup!

5. I read Jude the Obscure when I was 14 and decided there and then I wanted to go to Oxford.

6. My favourite children's TV programme was Daktari - I knew I would travel to Africa one day... and yes, my family nickname was Clarence - I had a 'lazy eye'!

7. I soooo want to do a parachute jump - and yes, I'm afraid of heights :o) But what a buzz!!!!!!!!

And I'm sorry, I can't find seven friends who haven't already been tagged...