Climb The Mountains

Climb the mountains and get their good tidings.

Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees.

The winds will blow their own freshness into you...

while cares will drop off like autumn leaves.J

ohn Muir

We ALL make mistakes!

The importance of being human….ah yes…. We’ve all done it…some of us more than others…. Making big boo boo’s in life, one way or another…

I visited my sister this afternoon and we were looking of photos from when we were kids. We looked, we commented and we laughed… out of embarrassment I think! There were quite a few pictures there of my late husband and my son when he was really small. Now we must have been somewhere really special like a wedding or something, because he had, had his haircut, and he was the type of guy that was always going to get it cut ‘this weekend’ and the weeks dragged on. We took out a photo of my son stood next to his dad in practically matching shorts! I think they were called Bermuda shorts… but I could be wrong. Now there’s probably nothing really wrong with this (although there didn’t seem to be at the time!) but looking back you have to wonder…was my son ultra trendy at 6 years or did my husband think he was a trendy adult kid? He was after all 22 when Paul was born! Lol. Poor Ken, it’s ok laughing when someone’s not there to defend themselves. He did have a good sense of humour though and I’m sure he’ll be laughing too. Then I looked at my niece… she also likes purple hippy, dancing, floaty kind of dresses, with tie dye, ribbon and lace, she also wears stripy socks! AND I’m not just 22 years her senior! Hmmm… I wonder if I should start wearing slacks and crimplene. So can’t really take the Mickey out of my late husband really can I!

My brother had the most amazing hairdo, something like Duran Duran (very new romantics) lol. Quite bouffant if I say so myself.(SORRY LITTLE BRO' TO MOCK THE AFFLICTED IN HIS ABSENCE) I did try and persuade my lovely sister to lend me the photo so I could put it on my blog… knowing he reads it sometimes…. But she point blank refused. Well, it’s a good job there’s one decent, moralistic sibling out of the lots of us! Lol.
What was even more embarrassing was MY hair!
I have for years always kept it short, because of it’s texture and refusal to lie down, no matter how much gel and other sticky stuff I have clagged (Stokesley slang for slapped on – especially when referring to sticky stuff). Now I have always been under the impression that my style hasn’t changed, but something really stupid must have happened in the 80’s. I must have thought (in my higher wisdom) that I could get away with a brushed over from one side kind of look! … DEFINITELY NOT a good idea! I'm not sure WHO I was trying to be.... but it definitely DID NOT WORK! a lesson learnt me thinks!
Thank god she hasn’t got a blog! That’s all I can say. Funny thing is me and my friend Rachel were reminiscing only yesterday and
I'd like to think it was just me and a few of my older friends that were getting all nostalgic about the 80's but my son does too! Not sure what that's about!

Over on Philip Carr-Gomm’s Weblog I noticed that more than I can make a boo boo and this particular post will send you to a link I think you will enjoy.

Brightest Blessings,
Sue – The Purple Pixie who refuses to dress her age… no matter how much she looks it!

And a few faux pas that I have spotted over the last few weeks

This one was on a wall in Glastonbury

And this worried me a bit…being a pixie and all that! I only read it AFTER I had been the loo… good job I held on tight!

And this one…. You will either get it or not.

The Lodger

Phew! The studio has been a hive of activity. I’ve got lots of new stock made for the camp (thanks to Rachel working her fingers to the bone). I’ll photograph it within the next couple of days and add it to my blog.

Steve came to pick her up….and you know how you get that….Oh my god, just what I need right now feeling…. Well I had one of those moments! Steve knocked at the door and shouted… Sue, do you know you have a hedgehog out here?’ Oh…S**T! Just before camp….AGAIN! This always seems to happen just before Oakleaf, personally I think they get together and plan it in advance. Now anyone who has read my blog over the last couple of years knows that I have done B&B for many a hedgehog. I can’t quite remember how I became the local hedgehog fixit woman, but word soon got round! Now if you know nothing about hedgehogs let me tell you a story… (Sue puts Bardic hat on)….

First, you know a hedgehog is poorly if it’s out during the day. They prefer the cooler night air and as their vision is about as useless as mine, well they’re blind as bats! That’s why when your headlight hits them they are startled…. So am I when I see headlights while crossing the road!
Anyway, assuming you find hedgehog during the day, bring inside and feed CAT FOOD, not bread and milk this WILL kill them! Then feed water unless you have Goats milk. Goats milk is good, cows milk kills.
Ok assume the little monkey eats, take into bathroom and de flea with flea powder by placing the hedgehog in the bath. Do Not fill bath with water first, they cannot swim! The bath is merely to make sure the little sod can’t climb out! Dust with powder, stand well back and leave for half and hour.
Then as soon as possible after that feed cat worming granules and let them drink dehydration fluid obtainable from your local vet.
Experience will show whether the spikey one is actually ill, dehydrated or just pulling the wool over your eyes for a free meal, board and lodge. Please be warned, these thinkgs are not cheap to keep in B&B. If you want a pet got and get yourself a cat! For an adult hedgehog will eat the same amount of food as an adult cat. They chomp when the eat, they grind their teeth and above all they stink!
A sort of disinfectant crossed with an earthy kind of smell. Something to REALLY consider if you intend to overwinter them and keep them out of hibernation. This happened to me one year with the most ungreatful little madam that ever was. I reared her from a baby, then she was too small to hibernate, she escaped in the kitchen one Christmas which resulted in the whole kitchen having to be dismantled at 2.30am! My late husband was thrilled! Lol…. Then as it was a very late spring that year I had to keep her till May! She was called Spitz, because she spat! She spat at me, the dog and especially the cats, she hated everyone and saw it as her right that she was fed what and when she wanted. And although this blog entry may sound like I dislike them….. no it’s not true…they are lovely things really, and if you have one in the garden you are truly blessed, there’s no better way of keeping down the slugs so please look after it and make sure it stays.

Well, here she is....probably about 4 weeks old

I really thought this one had, had it. She lay on her side for a couple of hours after feeding and really thought that yet another one bites the dust. So, I put her outside in a box, went out an hour later….still in box….2 hours still in box on side….hmmmm….. just been out now… gone! I realise now she was just sleeping off the ¾ of a tin of cat food she had devoured!
By the way…. If you do rescue a hedgehog and it does die, take heart….. they really do have a high mortality rate and if you found it during the day, chances are it was ill anyway.
You must admit…. They’re a bit cute though :o)

Dreaming Is Dangerouse

If a little dreaming is dangerous,

the cure for it is not to dream less

but to dream more,

to dream all the time.

Marcel Proust

Holiness comes wrapped in the ordinary

We live in a world of theophanies.

Holiness comes wrapped in the ordinary.

There are burning bushes all around you.

Every tree is full of angels.

Hidden beauty is waiting in every crumb.

Life wants to lead you from crumbs to angels,

but this can happen

only if you are willing to unwrap the ordinary

by staying with it long enough

to harvest its treasure.

Macrina Wiederkehr

Dance, Sing, Drum

If you can walk,
You can dance,
If you can talk,
You can sing,
If you have a heartbeat
You can drum

Well, still nursing this most awful flu/cold virus. I was awake till 6am yesterday morning with the most annoying tickly cough. You know the one…. Your throat is sore and dry and no matter how much you cough there is no relief. My chest is clear so there’s no point in seeing a doctor…. It will just have to take it’s course.

For that reason I haven’t been to work today, the idea was that it would knock me for six and I would have to sleep at some point… but hey it’s now 8.30pm and no sign of tiredness yet.

As you gather by my last post I’ve now started the OBOD/Druid course again and as happened last time… my creativity has gone crazy! And not only that…. The Muse seems to have reared her hear again. My inspirational head is back on it’s shoulders and with only 2 weeks to go till Oakleaf (YEAH!), it couldn’t have some at a better time. Bring it on!

It’s amazing what inspiration we can draw and from what source as long as we leave or hearts and minds wide open for it to enter in, and I think that the connections we can make (as long as we are open to these too) can be amazing!

When you enrol on the Druid Course you are assigned a tutor, This tutor is assigned by chance. I wrote my letter of introduction the other day and she’s got back to me today and told me a bit about herself too. Well, don’t want to go through another’s personal circumstances but it’s amazing the synchronicity! I’m sure I will get on amazingly well with her.

It’s wonderful what can amuse, inspire, move or lift us if only we are open and receptive to it. Only with an open mind and heart can we experience joy, love, peace and pleasure…. The ‘feel good’ factors in life!

I find it difficult to sit still. So because I was at home today…. The cleaning had to be done!
I had no targets, no pressure and no rush… just thought I would do as much as I could between rests. I am feeling surprisingly at peace with myself, especially since I did the Druid Sacred Grove meditation and got some quite unexpected insights (so you can teach an old dog new tricks! – lol).
Anyway, I digress, where was I? Oh yes, I decided to put on some music, Parallel Dreams by Loreena McKennitt as it happens. One of the songs ( you can listen to a sample here) on there was a song that we all jammed to only a couple of weeks ago in the Tipi at The Rollrights at Summer Solstice. I think most of us there had the most uplifting and spiritual experience we had ever had while drumming.
I took my djembe out, the cats scarped and I played along, again and again and again.
I must admit that things are ok done alone… but things done with others is far better…. But hey…. A girls gotta do what a girls gotta do!

We think that to connect to that higher self, spirit, otherworld…. Call it what you like…. We need to sit quietly and meditate. But really music, sound and the beat of a drum which resembles Mother Earths Heartbeat can take us far higher and able to reach out far more than we can imagine. Music, dance and singing can all help us connect to that source of…. Dare I say it….. AWEN


Put the music on,
Sing your head off…

no matter how badly,

the operative thing here is the sound

which resonates throughout the body.
Take a wooden spoon and bash a

biscuit tin to the music if you have no drum….

Loose you inhibitions,
Get rid of your self consciousness,
Loose your fear of being wrong,
out of tune or out of time….
Lock the door if you need to….

And....Just do it!

Dance, Sing and Drum
And see what happens.

In love, light

and with the brightest blessings,
Sue xxx