Thanksgiving

It's an interesting time of the year when we still think about a harvest season, although many of us have no understanding of the land and its' bounty. Even working in any form of garden is probably getting more and more unfamiliar as we are fast becoming city dwellers.


Giving thanks is part and parcel of many of our upbringings when writing thank you notes after Christmas kept many a child away from playing with their toys! Thanksgiving is so much more than the token thank you... it's a heart felt expression of gratitude to Mother Earth for another year's crop that would not only feed the farmer and his family but would produce an abundance that was able to be shared by all. We call it a cornucopia ... and know that the word signifies that all our needs will be met.

There is also a harvest season in people's businesses and personal lives when the seeds that were planted many years ago reach fruition. Everyone needs to celebrate their annual harvest with a harvest thanksgiving... looking back at the previous year and celebrating what the year has brought.

What will you be grateful for this year? What is your offering of abundance? we all have our own individual cornucopia... so let's get this party started and share!

Altogether...

View from San Gimignano

How many times do we set off on a journey and wonder how it will all work out? Not knowing the terrain or the road ahead. Then afterwords there is the sense of wonder when the plan comes together and you look back in amazement at the completeness of how the event itself came "all - together".

This is certainly how I felt recently as I marvelled at how the various strands of togetherness combined in a fusion of joy, namely our September Living It Yoga week.

Villa Brignole, Monteaperti

The story started last year when I took the initial bookings for the annual spring yoga week in Italy. Kenneth, elder son, and I had found the most amazing venue in Tuscany,Villa Brignole, Monteaperti and I had decided to book not just one week in April but a second week around my birthday time in September, reasoning that I always spend my birthday in Italy so why not make it a Living It Yoga week!!!

The logistics for the April week involved 3 drivers for a total of 9 people... however for September's week we only had Andy, my husband, and myself as drivers, so this meant hiring a 5 seater car and a Galazy 7 seater as we had 9 attendees and Andy and I made 11 people altogether. I just loved driving the 7 seater... yep I got the big car!

The September week was to prove a logistic challenge not just regarding driving and transport but the various attendees booking on the week were in flux. One minute we had a full complement then we had a cancellation or two... then another three interested. More appartments booked to accommodate increased numbers and then another cancellation... and so on and so forth. Then of course there was Mr Ryanair mixing it with flight time changes to Pisa!  All in all, it was an example of using the "living it yoga" approach to life to let trust come in, and that all would be well.

The week was full on with the day begining at 7.30am with a meditation followed by a morning hatha stretch before breakfast... various excursions organised, dinners in and out, hatha classes and deep relaxation techniques as well as a flexible approach to time. In fact I even slept in one morning and was late for my own meditation class! now that is being really relaxed...

Needless to say we had a ball, visiting many favourite towns, cities and places of interest... including a restaurant or two. Once the week was over I stayed behind to enjoy some more fun filled days with my pal, Anne who joined me and together we explored more places in Tuscany, such as Cortona and Arezzo and enjoyed being very, very lost while doing so. The secret to enjoying being lost is to know that you are where you are supposed to be and who you are supposed to be with. It's a great metaphor for life...

The yoga week was to be my swan song. The intention now is to find our own personal place in Italy that we can escape to and invite other like-minded escapees to share a journey or two together.

Complete with speed limit!

Whatever the road ahead... whether it looks easy or difficult, whether straight and narrow, whether clear or obscure or fills you with awe at the endless possibilities... it is worth looking back and seeing where you have come from. It's good to reflect on all those other journeys that brought you to the here and now. It's essential to notice how everything was working together and to trust that it will continue to do so until you reach your journey's end.
Life's a journey... enjoy!

Grazie mille mie amiche! September 2014

Goldilocks and the Three Bears

The Three Bears

Photo taken by Goldilocks aka my husband, Andy  when we were on an impromptu visit to Canada last month. Gordon, the younger son, is working in Whistler, BC just now and his girlfriend, Lianne is now working there too. We were only in Canada for two weeks but managed to pack a lot in, including zip lining...  

... golf and spa. Well I was "spa-ing" with Lianne and Andy was golfing with Gordon!

Lots and lots to see and do in Whistler. We were there when there was an international mountain biking competition, Krankworks, and the town was buzzing. Everywhere you went there were people in plaster, using sticks and elbow crutches or just limping and showing off bruises and scars. Although those last ones may have been the ones dancing on the tables! Mountain biking is not a sport for the faint hearted or even the sane!

We included many gondola and chair lift trips into our schedule and saw the mountains from their best perspective, the top!  

Whistler town

We even had a fleeting glimpse of a brown bear and met many, many chipmunks and marmosets. Whistler is so called after marmosets who live on the mountain and whistle!

It was wonderful to spend time with Gordon and Lianne, meet their friends and get acquainted with the place they now think of as home. It was also wonderful to experience the expansive countryside and get some understanding of what the land means to The First Nation. This is the name given to the people, whose ancestors first came to that part of the world approximately 11,000 year ago... give or take a decade! They consider many of the rivers, lakes and mountains to be a spiritual expression of the land and recognise many places as healing sanctuaries. No need for spas for them. One such place is the series of lakes called the Joffrey Lakes.

 This photo is of one of the Joffrey glacier lakes and just looking at it makes you feel so much better!

The First Nation have so much to offer us... not just the sharing of the land - they don't believe in ownership of the land - but also the connection that they have with nature. Respecting it, by honouring and taking care of it. We can copy their example in our own back yard and cherish all that we have been given... and I include the opportunity to zip line amongst those gifts!

The Friendly Games

What an excuse we had last week and the week before, to be friendly to complete strangers! At the Commonwealth  Games, my husband Andy and myself managed to attended various sporting activities including squash, rugby sevens and the athletics. We queued with the best of them and were chatted to by many an official... not just the Clydesiders but the police, the transport staff and everyone in between.

Whether grey skies or blue ... or the torrential rain that showed exactly what the cyclists were made of... and the spectators who didn't let the skies emptying stop them supporting the athletes... everyone was in determined mode. Some determined to finish... some determined to get a medal and some just determined to enjoy themselves.

I am working with that approach this week too... giving myself a reason to be friendly and determined to enjoy myself! I have taken a leaf out of the athletes' book... and aiming for my personal best!

Life's a journey - enjoying the journey from Fort William to Mallaig.

Glenfinnan Viaduct

This is a very famous viaduct, thanks to the fame of the Harry Potter films. However it has been around a lot longer than Harry's celluloid career and is inspirational whether you are enjoying the train journey or just admiring the scenery as you travel through some of the most breathtaking scenery in Scotland.


The west coast of Argyll is a place I was very familiar with, when growing up in Oban and holidaying every summer in various destinations on the west coast. All the views benefit from being seen on a sunny day but even on a wet and misty morning the scenery can still thrill.

Eigg and Rhum

The view of the islands on the day we decided to take the train from Fort William to Mallaig was superb and the combination of their shapes and the clouds made me smile. It is as if there are  smoke signals rising from the islands informing those on the mainland what is happening... and when you are in holiday mood, on a train, what is happening is pure pleasure. I can thoroughly recommend just sitting back and letting yourself get taken from A to B and delighting in every loch and lochan on the way.

 

Neptune's Staircase, Caledonian Canal

If travelling by train doesn't float your boat, how about making the time pass slowly on a beautiful yacht. These boats were travelling up the 9 locks on the Caledonian Canal. A short journey of distance but one of amazing engineering, as they travelled from one gradiant to another. Time was immaterial as convenience won over travelling around the north of Scotland. We learnt that the canal was built during the Napoleonic wars as too many ships were being shipwrecked by the storms that gathered around the north coast of Scotland.


Metaphors abounding, scenery astounding, I am now enjoying the latest home enhancement project - creating an en-suite bathroom off one of the guest rooms! and yes projects are part and parcel of life's journey, although they bring their own surprises and not the pleasant ones of Argyll's sandy coves and glistening waters. During the renovations, the joiner and the electrician decided that due to the uneveness of the roofs, they needed to come down!... and so they did and much to our surprise we discovered 5 wasp bikes in the eaves! They are now dealt with and work is progressing along nicely. It is just like the effect of building the canal... sometimes what we plan has unexpected long term benefits. We are now wasp free... and previously we didn't even know that there were metaphorical storms gathering overhead.

Game, set and match

Wimbledon... the place where dreams can be found. Andy (as in Andy Auld and not Andy Murray) and I were lucky to get tickets for the No 1 court on Friday the 27th June. Andy had drawn many Wimbledon tickets over the years from the Tennis Club's allocation but we had never managed to get ourselves down to the famous tennis arena. This year was to be the year... whether we got tickets in the draw or not... and we did! The power of intention folks...

We went down by train.. 1st class of course! on the Wednesday and intended to experience the queueing system on the Thursday. It is some system, with people camping from the night before and others queuing for 4-5 hours in the morning. We queued for 2 and half hours and met some lovely people in the queue including an American oil man from Houston!

Once in the grounds we were amazed at the activity on all the courts with the players having to rise above the noise levels ... and focus on their games.

Yes the Pimm's was weaker than the kitchen measures and yes the champagne bottle had a tennis cover on it and yes the strawberries and cream were delicious and yes, yes we had a wonderful time.


How could we not with the sun shining and all the tennis players working at making their dreams come true.

viewing an outside court

It had been a dream of our's to visit Wimbledon, but how much more precious were the dreams of the players to reach the ultimate destination of the final. We saw Na Li's hopes being crushed and shared in the William's sisters losses. Discovered Mr Dolgopolov as seen below, who took Grigor Dimitrov to 5 sets. Alexander Dolgopolov, Dolgo to his friends, will be one to watch out for in the future I am sure.

No1 Court.

We were inspired by Ross Hutchins and Heather Watson, who although they lost, made the story of tennis and overcoming the odds, a heart felt experience. So many heroes and heroines and no we didn't glimpse Andy Murray but I did say hello to Anne Hayden Jones who is still trying to work out who I was!

Attending Wimbledon may well be a fixture on the calendar for us ... don't think it will clash with any of the Italy visits!

Cheers folks... even the champagne had a touch of the "Wimbledons"!

Halfway down (or up ) the stairs!

The month of June is an important time in the calendar. It signifies the approaching halfway mark of the year... a time to look back and enjoy what has been and reflect on the successes and lessons that have been wrapped up in our memories.

Fiji

Castaway Island

These two photos are memories of the time I spent in Fiji at the Tony Robbins Life Mastery course.
The photo on the left is of Castaway Island, from the Tom Hanks film and the photo on the right is the view from my bedroom... bliss.

A halfway point is also a time to reflect on what the future could bring...

Tuscany

Budapest

It is my intention to visit Italy in September and Budapest in December. However, whatever the destination, whatever the direction, whether it will be blue skies or clouds, whether the road is straight or winding... what matters is that we have an idea of where we would like to be in the future.  We can start off with a three month plan, graduate to a six month plan and then who knows what we could accomplish within our allotted lifetime.

Most importantly, at the halfway moment, is to take time to reflect...

Holy Isle, Arran

The photo of the Holy Isle is a constant reminder of the peace and quiet that can be experienced in the present moment. The extended Auld family take time out every year for a holiday on Arran and the view of this Island is what we see every day as we practise being in the now.

Much like the deer in the photo below who took no heed of us golfers ...

deer grazing on the Lochranza golf course, Arran

Life is all about being in the now and breathing in all that the present is...what else can we really control.
An oft quoted phrase reminds us that the present is so called as it is life's gift!

So the recommendation for us, as we approach the end of June, is to unwrap our present..
and
Soak in it ... as if it was bubble bath.
Dance to it  ... as it if was your favourite song.
Listen to it ... as if it was the wisdom of Solomon
... or stop halfway on the stairs like Kermit's nephew, Robin, the frog who knows how, when and where to sit. Click on the alternative Robin below to hear the well loved song...

Robin's song

... or bask in the sun's setting rays. There is nothing quite like a sunset to bring you into experiencing the "now".

Sunset over Siena, Italy