Wellness Wednesday: Don't we look well?

our family lunch on sunday

l to r: jon my baby bro, sam my gorgeous boy, esther my poppet, brian my daddy, and me (nick, my hubbie took the pic)

today i started the actual intensive physio - yesterday was 1.5 hours of assessment, today 1.5 hours working my left hip (the 'good' hip). the theory is the 'good' side has been compensating for a year, so everything's out of alignment... so by reprogramming the good side to move correctly, the weakened side will join in...

at the moment i feel fine - hence the post! if i don't feel so great tomorrow, i can at least look at this jolly photo and know some days me and my loved ones feel very well indeed :o)

Sacred Life Sunday: Building walls??

i can't believe it's been so long since i posted, but then i feel i've been away such a long time on an inner journey...
it's been a tough few weeks and i'm afraid i didn't feel able to talk about it while i was in it...
this quote by may sarton, which i found on misty's blog, sums up my feelings

I am here alone for the first time in weeks, to take up my "real" life again at last. That is what is strange - that friends, even passionate love, are not my real life unless there is time alone in which to explore and to discover what is happening or has happened...

i have felt the need to protect myself, to build walls to hide behind, to get acquainted with this awesome inner landscape... it's taken all my energy to interact with my family on a day-to-day basis, so there was nothing left for blogland. hopefully now i'm feeling ready to peer over the wall...

tomorrow is my 44th birthday (what a year, huh??), so we're having sunday lunch today with my dad and brother at the kids' favourite restaurant, and on tuesday i'm beginning three weeks of intensive physiotherapy - 1.5 hours a day, five days a week - it will be painful and exhausting, but we're all hopeful we'll see amazing results! i will try and post once a week, but you'll know why if i don't manage it...

Wellness Wednesday: Remembering...

one year ago today, five intrepid explorers braved the snow storms to meet for lunch in thirsk, yorkshire. these five gorgeous girls had never met in person before, but they were cyber-sisters having joined the ranks of violette's glitter sisters the previous year.

the picture is courtesy of kai, who was visiting from the US, and shows from left to right: daisy lupin, kai, denise aka mrs nesbitt, sue and me :o) we had the most wonderful time together laughing, exchanging handmade gifts, enjoying the scrummy lunch, trying not to drink too much wine...

one precious moment in time...

one year later, dear daisy is no longer with us having passed away suddenly last june, i am no longer the able-bodied, independent person i was - what a difference a year makes...

remembering isn't always easy... sometimes we're reminded too sharply just how fragile our life is... we just want to relive that moment again and again as we were - alive and happy, full of laughter... remembering just reminds us of what we've lost and makes our souls ache...

Celebrating the New Moon

the subtle energies of the new moon create the perfect time to begin a project...

so i decided to try adapting the lovely new celtic divination kit i received in the mail today from bobbie with the celtic oracles book i got last week...

the oracle is cast by tossing two coins three times. the combination of heads and tails are given a numeric value - heads/heads = 1; tails/ tails = 2; heads/tails = 3; tails/heads = 4 - and the three tosses give you a total of 64 possible combinations - the 64 oracles of the book.

by using bobbie's light/dark coins as the heads/tails of the two coins, i drew the combination of 4-2-1, which is assigned to oracle 53...

turning to oracle 53 why O why was i surprised to find the new moon oracle?? when O when will i learn to trust my intuition??

if you are drawn to this oracle, you are learning to see with the eye of the heart... it will be as though a veil has been lifted before you. you will see more deeply into the nature of things... your actions will be more in accord with natural patterns around you... in time, these softer wisdoms of the heart will bring you greater wisdom and nobility of character.

WOW!!!!

Wellness Wednesday: Discovery and rediscovery...

i've been discovering and rediscovering A LOT these past few months, such as:

1. this gorgeous little garden gate leading to a beautiful cottage down a leafy lane...
2. this wonderful singer - i just love her nigerian lilt and the power of her songs...
3. all the wealth of creative talent and artisanship of this site and this...
4. my childhood love of trees and plants and just being outside with no particular place to go...
5. my fascination with all thing celtic, such as this book and these cards...
6. the sheer hard work involved in relearning how to walk and talk and write and... and...
7. the importance of patience and the precious beauty of slowing down...
8. the importance of prayer...
9. the importance of unconditional love...
10. the wonder of poetry each day in your mailbox - here's today's...

i know so many of you are on this voyage too! this lovely lady has discovered innate talent, and this beautiful person has been rediscovering herself, and this wonderful writer is discovering the wonder of motherhood...

let me know what you're discovering :o)

i forgot to add - my reiki attunement has been rescheduled to next monday 10 march.

Sacred Life Sunday: Sacred places

the first pic shows the lane that leads to the open fields you saw in the last post. please don't be deceived by outer appearances, it is a very special place...

first, there is an underground spring - hence its name 'spring end' - and the lane floods every time there is heavy rain. according to the 'old ways', the site of naturally flowing water is always a sacred place.

on the left side this old, wise willow stands guard (incidently my birthday falls in the willow month), next to a corkscrew hazel tree and opposite a couple of rowan trees... as i'm learning, this combination of trees' energies makes for a heady, sacred mix!

my spirit connected with this place ages ago, before i 'knew' anything of tree lore. i come here as often as i can, to 'top up' my energy reserves...

speaking of which, tomorrow is my reiki attunement - i'll let you know how it goes :o)

and today is a special day - mothers' day in england - so i've had a gorgeous cooked breakfast and been given handmade cards and chocolates... what a glorious way to start the wonderful month of march!!

Sacred Life Sunday: Beauty all around

last sunday my poppet and i went for a walk... and i felt brave enough to try my scooter off-road (we both had mobiles and my hubbie was at home if i beached it going over the fields!). our village is at the top of an escarpment, so we can see for miles facing north (first pic) and west (second pic)...
this was one of my favourite walks before the stroke, so it was so special to experience something of it again - and to share it with my precious daughter!

thank you for those who have commented and emailed asking how i'm doing - really doing...
i realize i haven't been posting as often. one reason is it's really tiring typing one-handed, and i get frustrated. another is, i find it boring to just give folks health updates - mainly because recovery is soooo slow, and so little can be seen day-to-day. i am making tiny improvements... i receive physio twice a week - one session focusing on my leg and walking better, the other focusing on my arm and hand. both are getting stronger, and i can now push through my wrist and hand - as in i can lean on the table transferring my weight from left to right. my physio now thinks i'm ready to tackle stairs. as we live in a bungalow, we'll be practising on fake stairs at the hospital physio department...

one thing i am really excited about is i'm taking a celtic reiki course. last year i took usui reiki I and was due to take reiki II the week after the stroke happened. a friend told me about celtic reiki which i realize is much more in tune with my deep, inner spirit. i'm doing the first attunement remotely, as the teacher lives the other end of the country. i'll let you know how it goes...