My best photo memories of our first year...
Sunday 28 September 2014
Wednesday 17 September 2014
Squam, Calm & Slow
Last Wednesday I headed for the airport, frazzled from work, life and parenthood. I was so tired that my expectations were just for peace. Peace to think, peace to breathe, peace to be. Wobbly at my foundations, after the tragic death of Robin Williams which hit home hard, I needed repair. My flight to Boston was like a roller coaster - seat belts at lock and load. I arrived at Logan with a 90 minute wait for my shuttle ride to the mountains. Oh my, what a sparce airport...Starbucks or Dunkin Donuts and a magazine rack. Coffee in hand I sat and crocheted the time away. No rush. Nice to be able to sit still for once.
Picked up on the dot by Joe, my shuttle driver, I headed to the mountains of New Hampshire and made great friends as we drove. Three awesome kindred spirits on the bus, plus the inspiring Joe who embodied the American dream. After 90 minutes we arrived at RDC...a wooded property on Squam lake, dotted with uninsulated cedar and pine cabins with stone chimneys and ancient "iceboxes" topped up daily by Ice Boys.
My room was like Little House On The Prairie...stark, clean, wooden with a cosy bed and a window that let in nature. I took a nap and woke up for dinner. An introvert in a crowd...of introverts. It was so easy to talk and make connections...so easy. What was that about?
My first workshop started with an activity to let go of concerns and embrace adventure. I pledged to stop thinking and just be; to slow down; to notice where I was and how I felt. Sounds easy but it took effort and courage. I had the best time from that point in, I painted, I walked, I danced, I ate great food but most importantly I had found my tribe. These were people who dressed like me; thought like me; creative; achievers; heroines of challenging lives. It was the most present I have felt in my entire life. It was the best of times.
It's so hard to describe further...but in 2 words it was calm and real. I can't wait to go again next year. Rather than wish away the year in between I aim to take what I learnt and apply it to my life now. Life is so short that we should embrace it and spend it wisely, doing what we love, close to nature, with kindred spirits.
When I was 18--25 I lived a hippyish style life, I worked with plants; my friends were hippies; It was the age of Aquarius. I was clean, but they smoked herbs. Those were fun times and I haven't thought of them in years. It's so funny...a few weeks back I had looked at my wardrobe and thought " I need to smarten up, get a more corporate look". In truth I now know that I need to dress more like me, more layers, more woollens, more autumn shades, more trips to the Thrift Store and more sewing my own clothes. I had it right at 18, and only now do I get that. I won't turn up at meetings in what my husband calls "bag lady chic" - don't bite the hand that feeds. But I know who I am now, and I met 100 people just like me, so in the spirit of Inclusion I will bring myself to work and throughout my life, without appology. Happy days.
Picked up on the dot by Joe, my shuttle driver, I headed to the mountains of New Hampshire and made great friends as we drove. Three awesome kindred spirits on the bus, plus the inspiring Joe who embodied the American dream. After 90 minutes we arrived at RDC...a wooded property on Squam lake, dotted with uninsulated cedar and pine cabins with stone chimneys and ancient "iceboxes" topped up daily by Ice Boys.
My room was like Little House On The Prairie...stark, clean, wooden with a cosy bed and a window that let in nature. I took a nap and woke up for dinner. An introvert in a crowd...of introverts. It was so easy to talk and make connections...so easy. What was that about?
My first workshop started with an activity to let go of concerns and embrace adventure. I pledged to stop thinking and just be; to slow down; to notice where I was and how I felt. Sounds easy but it took effort and courage. I had the best time from that point in, I painted, I walked, I danced, I ate great food but most importantly I had found my tribe. These were people who dressed like me; thought like me; creative; achievers; heroines of challenging lives. It was the most present I have felt in my entire life. It was the best of times.
It's so hard to describe further...but in 2 words it was calm and real. I can't wait to go again next year. Rather than wish away the year in between I aim to take what I learnt and apply it to my life now. Life is so short that we should embrace it and spend it wisely, doing what we love, close to nature, with kindred spirits.
When I was 18--25 I lived a hippyish style life, I worked with plants; my friends were hippies; It was the age of Aquarius. I was clean, but they smoked herbs. Those were fun times and I haven't thought of them in years. It's so funny...a few weeks back I had looked at my wardrobe and thought " I need to smarten up, get a more corporate look". In truth I now know that I need to dress more like me, more layers, more woollens, more autumn shades, more trips to the Thrift Store and more sewing my own clothes. I had it right at 18, and only now do I get that. I won't turn up at meetings in what my husband calls "bag lady chic" - don't bite the hand that feeds. But I know who I am now, and I met 100 people just like me, so in the spirit of Inclusion I will bring myself to work and throughout my life, without appology. Happy days.
Sunday 7 September 2014
Planning My Escape
After the longest school holiday season we have ever known I am ready for peace and quiet. Anyone with kids knows that "a holiday with kids" is essentially "same old same old, just in a different location". Unless you are rich enough to go to places with a kids clubs. or lucky enough to have relatives to go along with you, there really is no rest at all. Maybe we feel this so much because we have an only child, or maybe because we had him "late in life", likely both of those reasons plus a huge spoonful of our shared introvertion that values silence for a few hours every day.
I recall when I first realised that I needed to live with and marry this guy - it was when we could sit in silence for ages and neither of us felt uncomfortable or the need to fill the air with words. Bring a baby into that world, on your 40th birthday, and its noise noise noise from there on in. I love the little bugger to bits, well both of them really, large and small, but I do need some peace - so I am off to an art retreat in New Hampshire for 5 days, stopping over in Boston for a night on my return "because I can". Not too sure what to expect at the retreat but its 5 days when I don't have to have debates about brushing teeth; not eating meals in front of the TV, restricting the IPad. "Oh mum, please let me watch videos on the Ipad, I'll only watch inappropriate stuff, I promise".
Being a planner you'd imagine I had everything organised, but not so much this time. I booked the retreat before I knew how I would pay for it; I fly out in 2 days and I still have no firm idea how to get from Logan Airpot to a lake side in New Hampshire. The only preparations I have done is to spend 1 hour in the local thrift store buying 9 T-shirts that I will transform into a wrap; a cardigan and - get this - leg warmers! "Fame!" In the joining instructions it talks about taking your own sewing machine if you want to. I'm guessing many folks aren't flying in. I plan to get all of my stuff in one holdall, but I'll check it in rather than spend 20 minutes at security explaining the presence of knitting needles and scissors. I think they are less stringent now but better safe than sorry.
In wider news, my husband's work contract was extended another 6 months; the kittens Mogg and Dave are 7 months old now, enormous and all set for the snip in a months time. The vet talked me through the process of spaying and neutering and I did have to remind him that they are both Female, even Dave. I guess he'd have spotted that soon enough. The allotment is at full harvest. We have 32 pumpkins, a tonne of beans and Sunflowers that reach the sky. Small person went back to school this week. He loves it! Thank goodness. After a miserable first year, getting into trouble in the pursuit of "fitting in" and being sat in the corridor most days, hopefully he'll enjoy this year. Fingers and toes are crossed. (although the downside of him having a group of friends is that our house is full of screaming children every day - downside is for the introverts who like some silence sometimes. Small person loves the chaos.)
I painted a fabulous picture for the local art show, only to get distracted by my paid work, and forget to enter it before the deadline. I am thinking about joining the board of the local community farm, as they have some challenges ahead around funding and securing their future and I think I can help. Small person and I went to family yoga earlier - it was a free demo. Small person enjoyed some of it and lay on the floor sulking for other parts, especially after he stretched too far and "split his pants". We won't be signing up for the programme.
I recall when I first realised that I needed to live with and marry this guy - it was when we could sit in silence for ages and neither of us felt uncomfortable or the need to fill the air with words. Bring a baby into that world, on your 40th birthday, and its noise noise noise from there on in. I love the little bugger to bits, well both of them really, large and small, but I do need some peace - so I am off to an art retreat in New Hampshire for 5 days, stopping over in Boston for a night on my return "because I can". Not too sure what to expect at the retreat but its 5 days when I don't have to have debates about brushing teeth; not eating meals in front of the TV, restricting the IPad. "Oh mum, please let me watch videos on the Ipad, I'll only watch inappropriate stuff, I promise".
Being a planner you'd imagine I had everything organised, but not so much this time. I booked the retreat before I knew how I would pay for it; I fly out in 2 days and I still have no firm idea how to get from Logan Airpot to a lake side in New Hampshire. The only preparations I have done is to spend 1 hour in the local thrift store buying 9 T-shirts that I will transform into a wrap; a cardigan and - get this - leg warmers! "Fame!" In the joining instructions it talks about taking your own sewing machine if you want to. I'm guessing many folks aren't flying in. I plan to get all of my stuff in one holdall, but I'll check it in rather than spend 20 minutes at security explaining the presence of knitting needles and scissors. I think they are less stringent now but better safe than sorry.
In wider news, my husband's work contract was extended another 6 months; the kittens Mogg and Dave are 7 months old now, enormous and all set for the snip in a months time. The vet talked me through the process of spaying and neutering and I did have to remind him that they are both Female, even Dave. I guess he'd have spotted that soon enough. The allotment is at full harvest. We have 32 pumpkins, a tonne of beans and Sunflowers that reach the sky. Small person went back to school this week. He loves it! Thank goodness. After a miserable first year, getting into trouble in the pursuit of "fitting in" and being sat in the corridor most days, hopefully he'll enjoy this year. Fingers and toes are crossed. (although the downside of him having a group of friends is that our house is full of screaming children every day - downside is for the introverts who like some silence sometimes. Small person loves the chaos.)
I painted a fabulous picture for the local art show, only to get distracted by my paid work, and forget to enter it before the deadline. I am thinking about joining the board of the local community farm, as they have some challenges ahead around funding and securing their future and I think I can help. Small person and I went to family yoga earlier - it was a free demo. Small person enjoyed some of it and lay on the floor sulking for other parts, especially after he stretched too far and "split his pants". We won't be signing up for the programme.
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