Gardening and grey skies

Sunday 18th April.
I got out into the garden early the other day, and cleared loads of weeds which had taken over the "secret garden". Weed pulling was made easier with the ground damp and I got much more done than expected, I also got busy pruning stuff, and once I started couldn't stop, its just such a satisfying feeling, needs a bit of muscle power, but then the unwanted branch falls to the ground and light floods in where there was only shade before. Poppy came out to watch, but just watching me made her tired....
Later I took her to task sat her down and gave her a lecture on how she should take a more active part helping out in the garden

I was going to bash on but skies got darker and darker and it started raining again, its rather nice working when its cool and grey, but not in heavy rain. Deprived of this pleasant physical work I kind of lost track of the day, and got to thinking about dust clouds and flight groundings, and wondered if we should be learning something from all this.... maybe we have just got too used to flying off to other places .... (I still yearn for a "beam me up Scottie" device though!) and wondered if perhaps I should programme myself to just accepting that I live here and stop trying to escape ... then checking my email found a long breathless excited one from a friend who had just been to Cairo , Petra and other middle east countries, then another from a penfriend travelling around in the States... hmmm, so much for that idea! and now with my Poland trip all sorted and departure imminent, the news of dust clouds dissipating has not come yet.. we shall see .... watch this space.....

Of Poland, pendulum swings, meditation, shiatsu, scientific papers and other things...

Finally got my trip to Poland sorted! News from that part of the world on Saturday though rather takes one's breath away, at least they weren't flying Ryanair!!

Weather here still subject to big pendulum swings, affecting energy levels and general state of "animo", well mine , anyway. Yesterday tried to do something about this , on a personal level you understand and went along with a friend to a small intimate class of " meditation"...
Before you imagine us sitting around cross legged on the floor, in impossibly uncomfortable half lotuses, trying to subdue the "monkey mind", I will tell you we did nothing like that at all... but some curious little activities, with eyes closed, raising sensory awareness and moving around gently bumping into people and at the sound of a gong gazing into others' eyes till the gong sounded again and moving off again ( here the question arises - how do you gaze? do you go from one eye to the other? parallel eye balling is pretty well impossible or do just go fuzzy and fix on a point in the middle? answers please! also doing things like the "trust circle" which I knew about, but had never experienced , in case you don't know bout this, the group form a more or less close circle around one person who stands in the middle with eyes closed and arms folded over their chest, you are gently pushed in one direction or another by people in the circle, supported and pushed again, the person in the centre should be completely relaxed and not impose anything, but
" trust" the others to support them. It's kind of weird, but curious and is meant to reduce fear, build confidence in a group. The guy who runs the course, is a big cuddly bear-like guy, who it is pleasant to be hugged by, and who has unusual green/ grey? eyes, I should know , I gazed into them, but I got to thinking that somehow gazing into eyes that are not dark brown somehow feels very different maybe cos more light is reflected and you get the impression you are really looking into them, ie the person.... hmm. interesting as I am working on a series of drawings of eyes at the mo...

I wish I could add an image or two for you here, but taking pix wasn't quite the thing! We did some other things too, but won't bore you with all that now, because in the evening I went on yet another pursuit for calm and renewed energy. My friend Manolo is a Master of Chi- Gong and Shiatsu , I did chi gong with him and a few friends last year in our garden, and from time to time was lucky enough to have the wonderful experience of a shiatsu. He had managed to clear some time to give me a shiatsu, it is just sooooo relaxing, you never want it to stop. I love the closeness, the intimacy and the warmth of hands , it also requires a lot of trust , if you are tense its hard for the practitioner... he decided I needed another session to work on my back, so I've got that to look forward to next week... In the meantime , if I feel more energetic that will be a bonus, but just having a shiatsu in a darkened room, with gentle music and an expert and being completely relaxed was just fine. At the end of a session Manolo always thanks me, thanks me?? but the reciprocal thing is important, he has told me before how if people are tense and resist , then it is draining, but rather it should be a two way exchange of energy.... I am also convinced that having shiatsus and doing chi gong last year when I was trying to crack the dreaded Sudeck Syndrome after the wrist fracture, speeded up the whole process.. Thank you Manolo, bezaf.
This morning I have just finished revising a scientific paper for a colleague, words like: lipid peroxidation, apoptosis, protein nitration in rat lung/ hypoxia/reoxygenation, abounded. Why did I never do any science at school? Though this is all way beyond me, I am intriqued by the words and concepts..... well I'm off to do half an hours gardening, need to clear my mind....
Unfortunately these photos don't reflect the garden at the moment, they are more like an incentive to remind me that there was a time when the back garden didn't resemble a jungle, or a "secret garden" as my friend Bea pointed out the other day, when she came to visit and discovered our garden went all round the house and wasn't limited to the bit with the lawn in front

Two classes to come today and as this posting is a bit thin on pix here's one to appeal to visual types
this is a painting of mine, an interpretation of a place called Galera, where my friend/ student and archeologist, who is coming for her English class later on, has been involved for many years excavating an ancient settlement..... well, there's the connection!

Thursday 8th April...
Yes, it's that couple again I saw in Granada,they seemed so happy and at peace with each other and the music they made ,this kind of magic needs spreading around.

Finally getting stuff moving for the Poland trip on 24th April, after so many hold ups in admin and the new system, that thought I might never get to go.

When I went to Estonia in May last year, it was very chilly. Some of my Estonian students have just come back from visiting home, and there is still lots of snow there. I like talking to these students, I can visualise the places they come from and I remember fondly the lovely square in Tartu with its divine cafes, where you could happily spend tranquil hours, reading , writing, thinking, or just watching the world go by. Nice place, would like to go back again sometime.
My favourite cafe in Tartu and a couple of the Uni there. This one is one of the Uni buildings,
in each window is a life size photo of Faculty members. Cool!

Still a bit unsure who I am writing for in this blog, maybe I'll find out soon, but if anyone does chance to read it, enjoy , who ever you are...

Going to off to teach for a few hours now... back later.

Of gardens and Granada

Saturday 3rd April. I spent the day with a friend, she loves gardens so we went to the garden centre, enjoyed walking round and choosing stuff, I bought lots of petunias, and two hanging plants, very pretty even though the name reminds me of skin disease(scabalona). I hung them under the porch next to the wind chimes and the easter eggs.
Sunday 4th April.
Surprise visit to Granada... it was a glorious technicolour day, the sun really warm and it was pleasant to sit on terrasses and watch the world go by , or wander through the old narrow streets of the Albaicin. Everything was bursting into leaf and flower, it seemed like nature was putting on a very special performance after the long miserable wet winter.
As we were walking we heard music, thought it was coming from one of the old houses, but as we rounded a corner, it turned out to be a young couple playing (later found out the instuments are called "hang", they originate in Switzerland and make gentle melodious ethereal music). They played beautifully and were lovely together, and when later we sat in a little plaza (and I had a glass of Moroccan mint tea) and listened to more music, the young couple stopped on their way down the hill to listen too . I couldn't resist taking a few photos of them.... ah, to be young and in love....

and so to technology....

1. For three weeks at the uni, no one could work out why I had no internet connection, in the end turned out to be a question of furniture rather than technological glitches. In the big move to another building my computer had been plugged into the wrong socket , the right one being inaccessible behind two heavy and full bookcases, having got this sorted , I was told I was getting a new computer, wow! and it duly arrived , it is of the tablet variety, and apart from that also have a much bigger separate screen, now I just have to suss out the wonders of tablet computers..... so brought it home to play with...

2. When I got back from my visit to the UK, my MP4 refused to work, a bit like me..... everything was still on it, but the screen was dead-Lost without it, decided to get a new one, through the internet, from China! It arrived a couple of days ago, I liked having the package in my hand , it was postmarked, Kowloon,East Post Office, Hong Kong and took me back to our visit to HK a few years ago, one of the best trips ever....( couldn't resist digging out a few photos of that trip)

3. Chris brought his new camera with him at the weekend, he took lots of pix, and promised to send me them... but had still to discover how to send them in reduced format for emailing , he's working on it...hope to get pix soon... then you might get to see some up here...