Books

Books to the ceiling,
Books to the sky,
My pile of books is a mile high.
How I love them! How I need them!
I'll have a long beard by the time I read them.
Arnold Lobel

We love books and we love to read. I just didn't appreciate how many books we had until we had to do an emergency clearance of one of the bookcases yesterday (we needed to access the central heating pump - long story). Anyway, the contents of just one bookcase has taken up half the floor of our lounge! While not quite a mile high, if we added all our other books to the pile I think we could safely say it would be quite a tall order. The Arnold Lobel quote is very appropriate as most of the books in the house actually belong to my (bearded) hubby and he certainly hasn't read them all yet.

Money Money Money

Life has been pretty fraught the last few weeks. The garden is now nearly complete (just waiting for stepping stones to be laid) and we have a garden shed. However, my place of healing and inspiration will sadly have to postponed. We have another property which is currently without a tenant and with Christmas fast approaching looks set to be empty until into the New Year. With most of our money gone on the garden and with no rental income, money is a bit of an issue (there I go worrying about money again). The situation hasn't been helped by the fact our washing machine gave its last spin at the weekend. At least we still had a lot of wedding gift vouchers which thankfully offset most of the cost of a new machine. Still, I take comfort from looking out at our new garden and count my many blessings. It's only money after all.

"No one really listens to anyone else, and if you try it for a while you'll see why." Mignon McLaughlin

This is something I struggle with and, with my plans of becoming a life coach, is something I need to practice!

Middle-Aged Mayhem

"Whatever you may be sure of, be sure of this, that you are dreadfully like other people." James Russell Lowell

Well I'm dreadfully like other women, women of a certain age that is. I joined the 'grump fest' at the Music Hall in Aberdeen last night. No surprise that the audience were mainly female, although a few brave males had accompanied their partners so hubby didn't feel too bad. For those who don't know who the Grumpy Old Women are and why they are so grumpy, you can find more information here. Basically if you have reached that certain age and are just a little bit hot and bothered then you will (sadly) identify with everything they rant about. Nothing is off the agenda and you will laugh till your sides ache. For any women who enjoys looking through a Lakeland catalogue...

Heroes

We saw Tom Stoppard's play 'Heroes' on Saturday at His Majesty's Theatre here in Aberdeen. Tom Stoppard has adapted Gérald Sibleyras’ comedy about three old men living out the remainder of their days in a French veterans hospital. Gustave, Philippe and Henri are very different characters but there is a strong bond between them. Great dialogue and some really funny lines. Also a very poignant ending which brought a tear to my eye.


This quote is taken from another of Tom Stoppard's plays but could just as easily have come from 'Heroes'.


"We cross our bridges when we come to them and burn them behind us, with nothing to show for our progress except a memory of the smell of smoke, and a presumption that once our eyes watered." Tom Stoppard - Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead

This is Djunka, being released into a natural bush enclosure at Shamwari in South Africa after many years of being kept in a tiny beast wagon in France. Also released were two female lions, Shala and Nalla. The Born Free Foundation and One Voice rescued these lions from a circus in the Dordogne where they had been kept in appalling conditions. I watched a clip on GMTV this morning of Djunka being released. It was heartbreaking to watch him reluctantly leave his container only to turn round and go back in. The vastness of the bush enclosure was obviously so alien to him that he preferred the confined space. However, he did eventually leave the container and all three lions are now happily adjusting to their new life. Read all about the lions and the work of Born Free and One Voice here

Samhain

In the UK the Christmas season starts around June, with the promotion of office parties, and ends after the New Year celebrations – about six months all told. Is it just me or has Christmas even swallowed Halloween and Guy Fawkes, making them seem like one gigantic winter festival? I confess to feeling a little confused by all these traditions. Is it Guy Fawkes that comes down the chimney and Santa we put on the bonfire (believe me, I’m tempted)? What’s with all the spooky stuff? And what’s the deal with pumpkins? Christmas trees are springing up everywhere, and children are knocking on the door shouting “trick or treat”. Is it any wonder that I’m feeling a bit overwhelmed. Where did these traditions actually start and how did they all merge? Well, if like me you are looking clarity (or even some sanity) I recommend this website for more information about Samhain.

Samhain

Incidentally, it surely cannot just be a coincidence that Santa is an anagram of Satan…

Visit to Cumbria

We stayed in one of these lodges in the Whinfell Forest near Penrith. It was wonderful to wake up in the morning and see this view. We saw numerous red squirrels and rabbits. Sadly we didn't spot any badgers on the 'badger cam'. Were they hiding from us?

This was taken at Pooley Bridge at Lake Ullswater in Cumbria. I think they were looking for some bread in return for letting me take their picture.

These wonderful friends came to say hello while we were sitting outside the Tea Room. This one was particularly cheeky and kept turning away every time I tried to take a picture!

I wanted to capture the sunlight that was twinkling through the trees. It's hard to believe this was taken in October - the sun was so warm. Just looking at this picture I can hear the sound of the water as it passed below the wooden bridge.

I think this tree looks like a great big wringled old foot. After this the climb got steeper but the energy from the trees was wonderful.

This was taken during a trip to the Aira Force Waterfall in Cumbria. Actually I failed to get to see the actual waterfall as the climb was just too steep. My vertigo got the better of me and I had to turn back. This was such a beautiful spot and so peaceful. The weather was just incredible for October with temperatures more like July.

Gardeners were due to start work today but phoned last night to delay this until Wednesday - it was too wet! Feeling a little grumpy about it all to be honest as they were supposed to visit last month to discuss the schedule, the materials etc but didn't turn up. They have promised three times to call my in-laws to give them samples and despite me reminding them they still haven't called them. Pretty shoddy way to run a business. Let's hope their gardening skills make up for it. However, on the positive side two men came this morning to take down the old shed. Hubby has a virus and is in bed so felt bad leaving him to deal with paying them. And I met my first Polish tradesman! Nice young lad who didn't say much but was obviously there to assist Rory. My faith in tradesmen has been restored (for the time being). Now I just need to find a plumber...

Toltec

I was reading yesterday about The Healing Rooms' recent toltec retreat and made a mental note to find out a little more about these teachings at some later stage as I hadn't heard about this before. However, it seems I'm being prompted to to find out about this sooner rather than later as my daily message from With Forgiveness had a link to Life Mastery - a site about the Toltec Mysteries! Well, I thought I'd better dig a little deeper and found The Toltec Mystery School which has a Mastery of Awareness on-line course. Think I'll do some more research, but I think I was meant to find out about this now.

Funnily enough my horoscope for today reads:

"Unexpected results to your search for meaning can make you feel better, but you won't solve the unsolvable. Still, you could be surprised by what you discover from your persistent digging. If you keep an open mind and continue to trust those who have earned it, you will come out of this with deepened values and increased self-worth."

Anna and I were buzzing after attending the inaugural event for the Association for Coaching Aberdeen Branch last night. Networking was good! Spoke to Andrea who is doing the Coaching Academy diploma that I considered doing earlier this year. It was interesting to get her thoughts on the course and we exchanged emails so hope to keep in touch.

I was concerned by the speech made on the final day of the CA certificate course last December. A lot of emphasis was placed on how much money could be earned from coaching. Andrea agreed and felt that this could attract the wrong people to coaching believing they can 'get rich quick'. I'm certainly not interested in doing coaching to make a fast buck and thankfully the people at the event last night are of the same mind. However, Andrea is enjoying the diploma, although feels there is not a lot of tutor contact or practical work.

Also spoke to another woman who qualified with the Coaching Academy who works at Aberdeen University. She confirmed there really is not enough practical/supervision with the CA diploma. However, she is running a course at the University starting in January and has promised to send me more information. Anna and Lindsay did the pilot last year and they really benefited from it. This time it will be accredited and it has masses of practical work. It is six weekends over six months. Hopefully I can get some funding through the office which would help financially.

All in all it was a great night with a fantastic speaker. I was feeling like I had lost the way again recently as I was in two minds about continuing with my Style Coaching diploma. However, after last night I'm feeling inspired again. Will definitely continue with the Style Coaching but I'm really looking forward to the University course next year.