(Sun Light)

I was getting ready for our NLP course tonight in Bray. We always start with a relaxation and this week we’re including a quote from Marianne Williamson that Nelson Mandela read on the day he was freed from Rodden Island. Thought you might like to read it too……

(Let a little light shine for every year you’ve been here)

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

Go shine your light, Mairead.

(Beautiful Killruddery)

I was very busy on Saturday. So busy. Very, very busy. Doing loads. Couldn’t stop for a break, much too busy. Loads to do. But Liam and Kate were going to a Christmas Fair in Killruddery gardens….. Well… no… I couldn’t possibly…. too much to do…. maybe I could take a little break? Just for forty five minutes? I could get back to doing some more of the loads of things to do.

(The back of the house and bit of the garden)

Two hours later we were on our way home. It was so beautiful in the gardens and there was food… and I met a friend I hadn’t seen in years, we sat on a bench and talked and talked. I never did see the Christmas Fair. When I came back, it only took a few hours to complete everything. Turned out the fresh air and good conversation speeded everything up.

(Lunch – ham, cheddar and relish crepe – yummy)

So now, except for a few tweaks I will not be complaining about assignments or projects or exams, it’ll all be over next weekend and I will have so much free time I won’t know what to do…… unless “free time” and “busy” are figments of a demented mind…..

Sometimes it’s better to take a break, Mairead.

(Fred enjoying a game of chess)

Since the rainy season began the stray cats seem to be settling into their new home with us. There’s a small problem with fighting, though. Only small, because they seem to have the hierarchy sorted. My favourite, the black and white one who arrived with the diamond studded collar (not real diamonds…) is the bottom of the pile… and she knows it. She moves out of the way when the other two come close. Difficult to continue eating when another cat is biting your back but she manages.

(Diamond stray… really shouldn’t be on the table)

The competition for top cat (remember Top Cat?) is still raging between our original cat, Fred and the other stray. (By the way we still haven’t given the strays names, because we haven’t checked with all neighbours in a kilometre radius.) So, back to Fred and the black stray, I think Fred has a slight lead, and it might be because of his very advantageous ability to growl – he sounds very like a dog.

(Black stray having a sleep after long play with his teddy)

We’ve had cats since we got married so we understand that they are all different but having three at the same time really makes it clear. Fred is haughty and doesn’t like to be picked up and will meow loudly and scratch and bite if you try. He also doesn’t like to sit on my knee (he will sit on a visitor’s knee but only if they have previously mentioned that they don’t like cats…..) My diamond stray loves to be picked up and will stop meowing loudly when picked up. She also loves to sit on my knee. She also loves to play for long periods (five minutes is long for a cat) with a plastic cannon ball. The black stray loves to play with a teddy Ciara brought me from Harrods, he’s the only one who likes it, he also likes dry cat food which diamond stray won’t touch.

Anyway, I was thinking, we’re all unique, even cats, we don’t have to be like anyone else.

Celebrate your uniqueness, Mairead.

(On table in Avoca cafe Dublin)

I finally got to bring the recycling to the recycle centre. It’s been three months, there was a lot…. We do get our recycling collected with the normal rubbish but they don’t take plastic. So we store it in the larder and once a month go to the recycling centre. Until today I considered this a chore, but today I noticed how satisfying it is to have the floor space.

(Jellies)

And that made me think about the grocery shopping…. I also always think about grocery shopping as a chore but recently I have had to fit it in early in the morning or at the last minute when there was no food left in the house. And it’s just dawned on me that treating grocery shopping as an afterthought is not much fun. (Fun? How could grocery shopping and fun be even in the same sentence?)

(Beads… like jellies but less fat)

I’m not too sure where this is going but it might be time to enhance my attitude to the grocery shopping. There is a lot of creativity in it….. the route around the shop, packing the trolley and the bags, minimising the number of car trips by making a list. Even the list could be very creative, colour coding, meal coding, shop coding……

Have fun with your groceries, Mairead.

(My notebook…. not finished yet)

At the knitting and Stitching Show last weekend I learned how to make a notebook cover from scraps of old material. I have always liked patchwork quilts and one of the reasons is the different materials. So I was drawn to this project. And I loved it.

(The stitches aren’t even…… and that’s ok!)

The teacher is a textile artist and I was hooked from the moment she said, “you can measure the material by eye”. Nothing after that was difficult… I couldn’t get it wrong…. I could look at the material and at the notebook and snip away at the material until it felt  right for the notebook. With patterns you usually have to measure, then there’s all the adding of something called the seam allowance and the keeping it square and generally a lot of boring stuff before the sewing starts. And the sewing (along with the finishing) is the best bit, I want to get straight to that.

(There’s a button to keep it closed…. look at the coloured thread in the button holes….that was accidental)

So now I’m thinking that if I can do everything I do by eye it might be useful…… no measuring, no comparing…..

Feels good to me, Mairead.

(Breakfast on Friday morning…. coffee)

There’s bits and pieces of paper everywhere. There are magazine articles piled high. There are books, half read, half open in bundles on the floor. I’m coming to the end of my course and there’s just a few more things to do, to write, to validate, to record, to print, to collate. What have you learned, what do you know, what will you do with what you have learned and what you know?

(Work in progress….)

It’s too soon to answer completely but I do know some more things about myself….. I like writing every day and I miss it when I stop. I love to make stuff and it’s good for me. Deadlines are really horrible but really useful….. from now on I’m going to set my own. And finally….. I can’t wait to get back to the coffee shops!

Almost done, Mairead.

(Nice sky)

Still finishing assignments so…….

“A bird doesn’t sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song.” 
– Maya Angelou

Sing your song, Mairead.

(We’ve arrived!)

Ok I’ve been walking for hours, I’m exhausted. May not last until dinner (cooked and served by someone else, joy). So this’ll be short and sweet. I’m at the Knitting and Stitching Show.

(Our new address for the night)

Beautiful colours and textures everywhere. It seems like hundreds of stands. Demonstrations and classes for everything from doodling to felting and christmas tree decorations to hats. I’ve booked two classes for tomorrow….. one is called Drawn Together. The description on the ticket says “come and experiment…make space in fabric by removing threads and pulling warp and weft to leave gaps for new threads, materials or found objects…” sigh, sigh, beautiful…… I may not be able to sleep tonight with the excitement, and trying to work out what it means.

(This is my favourite mother-in-law, Eilish)

The other class is called Upcycling with a description, “explore textural contrasts…. use simple hand stitching….have fun with the original construction of well-loved old fabrics…” sigh x 3, still no idea what that means, don’t care and can’t, can’t wait. It’s at 11am tomorrow and is probably significant….11am on the 11th day of the 11th month of the 11th year their century!

Must rush, have to practice my doodling, Mairead.

It’s been another busy day. I’m working on the last of the assignments for my course, but I’m still going to take the next few days off. Tomorrow I’m going to the Knitting and Stitching Show in Dublin with my favourite mother-in-law! We’ve been going along every November for the past three years, but this year I had a very good idea.

I got a deal and we’re going to stay overnight in a hotel. So this year when we get tired looking at the cards and threads and buttons and ribbons and wool and needles and materials and paper and paint and….. and…… we can have a little rest. There’ll be dinner tomorrow night and on Friday morning we’ll go back and do it all again.

Can’t wait, Mairead.