A Year to Change

Once upon a time, after surviving rather a rough patch in my life, I devised the following simple chart to help me do more than just survive, and to make sure that I was looking after myself as best I could in all the areas of my life, re-dressing any imbalances.

I've put some examples in each box, below, to demonstrate how I used it, and there are of course several overlaps/duplications.

Home c/o house/garden c/o dog	Work Mon/Fri Pep.Hse Tues/Thurs St A. Wed St V alt wk/ends Ips	Play Gardening Singing Walking Reading, Writing
Mind Studying Reading, writing Brain training prog	Body Food/drink Exercise: walking, swimming, gym, Rest/sleep	Spirit Reading, writing, singing, walking, gardening Church, personal devotions
Family Visits Phone calls Cards	Friends X,Y, Z (They know who they are)	Other (empty for a long time!)

As a method of self-care, and of rebuilding self-esteem, I found it worked for me, so well, in fact, that eventually I didn't need to use either the file on my pc nor the printed copy of it: I just kept it in mind when things seemed to get out of balance a bit - which they inevitably did - and still do!

That was all a long time ago, and life no longer fits those nine boxes, not least as I've taken early retirement from both paid employment and unpaid church responsibilities, been awarded a Doctorate in Divinity, and, with The William and Shadow, have re-settled in Brittany. A revised, pyramidal version of my former 3x3 plan might now look like this:

Pack/Home

Friends/family      Everything else

Mind                    Body                   Spirit

I could, of course, just fill in the (invisible) boxes again as an aide-memoire, but instead, not least as I have a bit of thinking time on my hands during this hiatus of our staycation (staycation interruptus?!) recuperating from having slipped and fallen down the stairs yesterday (yes, big OW!) I'm going to do something different and create a project for my self: A Year to Change.

We all have goals and aspirations and resolutions, and sometimes we take steps to achieve them!... and sometimes, often-times, they get side-lined by day-to-day life. Well, this project, A Year to Change, is my concerted effort to achieve more of my goals and aspirations, and to fulfil more of my 'resolutions'. If I don't do this for my self, no-one else will - actually, no-one else can - and if I don't do it now, when will I ever do it?

So, I intend that my next blog-post will be my outline plan - which will itself, of course, be subject to change! - and I'll be documenting how I get on in future blogs, not because I think anyone else should be, or indeed is, interested, but because I know I need that discipline of writing to keep my self going - although your guess is as good as mine as to whether that's carrot or stick!

Staycation postponed for the weekend...

Today we were going to have a lazy-ish day at home, doing a few pottering about things and having lunch at the village restaurant, Les Retrouvailles. The latter part of the plan fell by the wayside when we discovered yesterday that the restaurant is closed for an unspecified holiday period, which makes sense from the point of view of Josianne and Gerard, as many of their usual working customers will be off for at least part of this month - but disappointing for us.

However, this morning I have really kyboshed things by slipping on the staircase - only from the penultimate step, fortunately - and bashing my back rather badly between the shoulder blades. Ow. And then some. I was carrying a small potted plant at the time, a Kalanchoe, going outside for some fresh air and sunshine, so the living room floor got rather covered with soil, which The William cleaned up while I crawled about testing all my bits are still working ok - which they are. Just rather a shock and rather painful, although eased by good old ibuprofen and a hot bath. 

So having had to postpone our original staycation due to The William's back, it's now postponed again due to mine! What are we meant to learn from this, do you think? Are we trying to do/carry too much? Probably, but who doesn't - and who would if we didn't?! So no deeper meanings, just a bit frustrating: I was looking forward to playing in the garden!

Staycation Jottings, Days 1, 2, & 3

Tuesday 31st July and our 'staycation' begins with a warm, sunny morning: more laundry pegged out and a bit of weeding done before we head into Rostrenen where it's market day, with the added bonus of Breton/Senegalese musicians performing in the Place de la Fontaine, which is also home to a children's play area and a boulodrome. Lots of people wandering in the sunshine, sitting on the grass, picnicking, walking their dogs, browsing the market stalls... a nice relaxed atmosphere. 

We didn't find any of the herb plants we still need for the raised potager beds, but we did enjoy a galette and a cup of local cider in the relatively new creperie La Rozell - nice food, although a surprisingly urban red/black/white décor. Back home and The William is busy baking a loaf for tomorrow, which is Lammas, the first of the three harvests, being the harvest of grain  - all 'safely gathered in'.

Wednesday 1st August, and we head west for a day at the seaside! Almost due west, in fact, to Camaret-sur-Mer, a nice little town at the far end of the Crozon peninsula, with a harbour and lots of yachts moored in the marina. 

We had a coffee at the Café de la Marine, bought postcards and a triskele pendant (my holiday souvenir!) and ate our picnic lunch sitting comfortably on a bench by the Tour Vauban, looking out over the blue sea, with seagulls sweeping across the sky. The 18 metre high polygonal tower, also known as the Tour Dorée (Golden Tower) was built in 1693 as part of the fortifications of Brest, and to guard the harbour, and is listed (along with twelve other Vauban sites) as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Vauban, the foremost military engineer of his time, who was commissioned by Louis XIV as a Marshal of France, was himself in command of the garrison on 18th June 1694, when an Anglo-Dutch attack was repelled, putting several British vessels out of action and scattering the British troops that had landed: the British estimate was a loss of 700 soldiers and 400 other men who were aboard the ships.

Sadly for us, and especially for Shadow, we were stymied by the fact that the tide was in, and, in any case, dogs are not allowed on the beaches. At Camaret itself that didn't matter too much, as the beach was shingly and sea-weedy, but we would have liked a walk along the amazing beach at the Anse (Cove) de Dinan - a huge stretch of flat sand, being enjoyed by relatively few family groups and surfers... Another time, maybe, out of season. Meanwhile we had a little leg stretch up to the top of the headland overlooking the beach: lots of heather in flower, and even more very prickly gorse!

We came home via the fabulous Pont de Terenez, a cable-stayed bridge over the river Aulne which 'connects Brittany with the Crozon peninsula' (which makes it sound like a separate state!) The cables are arranged as asymmetrical fans, and the bridge has a curved deck - and admiring it is rather a distraction from the view of the river!

The Aulne itself is actually part of the Nantes-Brest canal, which is no longer navigable over part of its length, due to the hydro-electric dam at Guerledan, which submerged some of the original locks. Aulne means 'alder', but the river is said to have been known to the Romans as the Alaunus. Alaunus was the name of the Gaulish god of the sun, healing and prophecy, who came to be associated with the (Roman/Greek) god Sol/Helios-Apollo, but there was also a Breton river goddess, Alauna. Her name derives from 'alanous', meaning both nourisher and wanderer/nomad, and is also the origin of the names of the Allen River in Scotland, called Alauna in Ptolemy's Geography, as is the river Aln at Alnwick, Northumberland. I do like these links between 'Lesser' and 'Greater' Britain, as well as the recognition of the essential nurture provided by the wandering rivers... And what a lot from one short day out! :-)

Thursday 2nd August, and today we spend a sunny morning at Huelgoat...

… browsing round the market, watching the world go by as we enjoy coffee and the local specialty patisserie (made of flour, sugar and butter, and served warm), wandering along the lakeside, and, finally, discovering Le Chaos de Roches -  a jumbled mass of hundreds of huge mossy boulders at one end of the dammed lake, next to an 18th century watermill which used to help in the extraction of silver lead from the valley. 

The William bravely descended 10 metres down a dark narrow rock step-ladder to reach the riverbank and the Grotte de Diablo. 

One Celtic legend suggests that the rocks were thrown here by a giant, and another that the Virgin Mary had a home here. A few metres beyond the tumbled rocks is a clearing with an outdoor amphitheatre, above which is an art gallery housed in a former school. Further into the Huelgoat forest, the name 'Huelgoat' meaning 'high wood' in Breton, and which is part of the Parc d'Armorique, is the Grotte d'Artus, where Arthur is said to have slept and hidden a hoard of treasure before arriving at the Camp d'Artus. Less romantic archaeologists, including Sir Mortimer Wheeler who excavated the site, suggest that in fact the ancient defences were probably created by a local Celtic tribe, and long pre-date Arthurian times, and it was used as a refuge by the Osisme Gauls against the Roman invasion in 57 B.C.E.

Pre-Staycation Journal

STAYCATION 2018: THE RUN-UP

Saturday 28th July
About a year ago The William and I set off on our Road Trip, leaving The Hearth behind us, and heading towards Karningul. It was a journey not only of miles, but of the mind and heart, and not an easy one. 

Now here we are, having survived the wild wet winter and the blustery wet spring, appreciating, at last, the summer sun. But having worked pretty hard in both house and garden, we're in sore need of a few days off, to enjoy what we have created here so far, and to recuperate and get ready for all the ongoing tasks that await us! 

So, today we begin the run-up (or rather, the wind-down) to a little staycation - the weather forecast isn't very bright for the weekend, and we have the luxury of choosing what we do when. We had hoped to begin the staycation proper last night, with a sighting of the Blood Moon, but there was too much cloud and rain. But hey, rain's good for the garden and today's wind will quickly dry the laundry on the line - and test my latest mad bamboo creations (why grow bamboo and, in the absence of a panda, not use it?) - a pair of VERY high tripods (actually a quadrupod and a septopod), affectionately known as Asterix and Obelix - photo to follow, when we have enough sunshine again!

And instead of a panda we do have at least one mole, who The William spotted yesterday popping up in between the new raised herb beds. I hoped to glimpse it this morning - but it kept under cover as we watched it make its way around by the movements of the soil. I shall be gathering up the filtered soil from the mole hills, and am glad to think that its tunnelling will be improving the drainage for us.

Sunday 29th July
Wind-Down Day 2, and, like all the summer holidays of my childhood, today is a day for jumpers and rain jackets: it's bucketing down! Or actually not down, but horizontally.
Shadow and The William had a walk down the avenue, and, since he was already so wet, Shadow has had a bath and all his monthly treatments (teeth brushed, ear drops, anti-bug spotted on); The William is cooking his amazing lentil pie for lunch (my favourite!), and I am going to curl up with a good book. At the moment I'm re-reading Mary Stewart's Merlin series, and have got as far as book three, The Last Enchantment: great fiction, based I think on Geoffrey of Monmouth's 'history' of the kings of Britain, 'De Gestis Britonum'. 

Once upon a time, I stayed for six months close to Arthurian country, in a cottage called Avalon Sunset - named by its hippy owner for the 1989 album by Van Morrison, which one reviewer described as "combining religiosity and Celtic feeling, a sort of superior New Age music". Here's one of the tracks - and why am I surprised it's a duet with Cliff Richard??! - 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuzVwiL1i5M&list=PLGbb9KO9XC_MfFPA0P1yMyA9JXxgnP1Zt

Lyrics of another great VM song below...

These are the days of the endless summer
These are the days, the time is now
There is no past, there's only future
There's only here, there's only now

Oh your smiling face, your gracious presence
The fires of spring are kindling bright
Oh the radiant heart and the song of glory
Crying freedom in the night

These are the days by the sparkling river
His timely grace and our treasured find
This is the love of the one magician
Turned the water into wine

These are days of the endless dancing and the
Long walks on the summer night
These are the days of the true romancing
When I'm holding you oh, so tight

These are the days by the sparkling river
His timely grace and our treasured find
This is the love of the one great magician
Turned water into wine

These are the days now that we must savour
And we must enjoy as we can
These are the days that will last forever
You've got to hold them in your heart. 

Monday 30th July

Wind-down Day 3: more clouds, more wind, more rain, and an invitation to 'lunch' at 3 p.m. (?... We are insuring against who knows what by having maxistrone soup at our usual time of 12.30ish) with some acquaintances whose holiday home is one of the cute lock-keeper's cottages alongside the Nantes-Brest canal, where we often enjoy lovely easy walks with Shadow. Only three sections of the canal are navigable today, and none are near us, so it's very peaceful, although I do think that restoring it would bring even more tourists, of the boaty kind, here. My only canal-boat experiences are a week back in the 1990s on the Caldon Canal in Staffordshire, and being punted along the Lancaster Canal by The William even longer ago, when we were very young!

While I wait for the Theological Seminary I'm associated with to get back to me with the next units, I've been browsing the internet and came across an excellent initiative by Kurt Struckmeyer: The Mustard Seed School of Theology -  www.followingjesus.org

This is the introduction:

Like many other great religious leaders, Jesus taught a way or path to his followers. His teachings point to an understanding of the religious life as a journey. He spoke about alternative paths encountered on the journey — the wide path and the narrow path. He talked about seeking and entering the kingdom or reign of God. These are active words. They imply doing something, moving from where we are to someplace new. These are not words of correct beliefs and doctrine, but words that call us to get up and get going. Jesus called people to follow him in a way of living. As a result, the earliest members of the Jesus movement were known as “followers of the Way.” This website is devoted to exploring the Way of Jesus in a postmodern world.

For me this concept of a way of living that involves compassionate altruistic action, rather than a requirement to sign up for specific doctrine (and in particular, that of Pauline Christology), is spot on. What do you think?

(Emma Higgs has a blog here: www.patheos.com)

22nd July: Mary Magdalene

       O lamp of the world, and bright-shining pearl,

       who by announcing the resurrection of Christ,

       didst merit to become the Apostle of the Apostles,

       Mary Magdalene, of thy kindness,

       stand thou ever before God, who chose thee,

       to entreat him for us.

(The Dominican Benedictus Antiphon from the Mass of St. Mary Magdalene)

It was only two years ago that Pope Francis requested that the annual Catholic observance of Mary Magdalene be made a major feast day, marking women as the first evangelisers, and putting Mary Magdalene on a par, liturgically speaking, with the male apostles. She also now precedes the other eleven saints celebrated on 22nd July.

The Magdalene was long seen as a threat to male dominance within the Roman Catholic Church. It was in 591 Pope Gregory first suggested that she was a prostitute, and not until 1969 did the Roman Catholic Church admit that there was no textual or other evidence to support this.

In the decree issued from the Vatican in June 2016 with Pope Francis' request, it was stated that Mary Magdalene, 'recognised as one who loved Christ and who was very dear to him' can now be considered as 'a paradigm of the ministry of women in the Church'. A letter that accompanied the decree calls for 'a deeper reflection on the dignity of women'.

Mary is now widely believed to have been one of the leaders of the early church. The many references to her in the Gospel of Thomas and other non-canonical gospels confirm this: in the Pistis Sophia, for example, her name is mentioned 150 times, compared to just 13 times in the canonical gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John combined.

The Magdalene may also have been the 'beloved disciple' referred to in John's Gospel, and some people believe that she and Jesus were wife and husband, and that the wedding at Cana-in-Galilee (Kfar Cana/Kafr Kanna) was their own. There is an actual papyrus, dating back to the 4th century C.E. and written in Egyptian Coptic script, which contains this quote: 'Jesus said to them, My wife...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLioYdt8A5c

The following simple poem, written back in February, was inspired by some research about Mary Magdalene in my post-doctoral studies:

The Magdalene

Who are you, Dark Lady of the gospels,

you and the other women, providing for the Lord

as he roams throughout the Galilee...

Why are you, Dark Priestess with a jar of nard,

kneeling to anoint the Bridegroom's feet, preparing Him

for death, for rising, as you follow to Jerusalem...

When are you, Dark Sorrow, watching as Love dies,

then and now bringing your spice of solace,

sitting shiva with the other Mary at our tomb...

Where are you, Dark Mystery who disappears;

running to tell the others, you leave us in a garden

with angels at our side...

What are you, Dark Secret of church history:

recovering demoniac, repentant lady of the night,

for ages wholly side-lined - or the Holy Grail...

How are we to find you, beautiful black Magdalene,

Wisdom for our folly, Sister, Mother, Child,

shining through our Darkness...

4th July

Happy Independence Day to all Americans - and Brits?! 

Here in France, we have another ten days to wait before the celebration of la Fête Nationale. 

A week and a day after that, Tisha B'Av this year coincides with the Feast of Mary Magdalene, established as a major feast day in 2016 by Pope Francis - a step, I think, in the right direction towards a discipleship of equals.

The Summer Solstice

At last the summer has arrived, and it's too hot to work in the garden after 11-ish. Long may it last - after nine months of rain!!

So, a reminder to have a look at my other blog pages, which you can access from this one, and today I've added my little Summer Solstice celebration on the 'Celebrating the Year' page - enjoy!

Capsule wardrobe

Here, as a follow-on from my piece the other day about 100 pieces of me, are items 61 onwards: the capsule wardrobe. It's a work in progress! 

I've based it on my daily life, the local climate (although not anticipating quite so much rain!!!), and my preferences as to style (comfort, versatility, practicality... and quirkiness?!) and colours. I haven't included underwear, nightwear, gardening/dog walking scruffies, very smart evening stuff, or jewellery.

Capsule wardrobe for Summer (June, July, August)

1. Black linen trousers
2. Camel linen trousers
3. Khaki patterned trousers
4. Cream plain cotton midi skirt
5. Cream/brown patterned maxi skirt
6. Melon patterned midi skirt
7. Floral patterned short skirt
8. Cream patterned sleeve-less top
9. Black patterned sleeve-less top
10. Ivory cap sl. T
11. Floral cap sl. T
12. Cream T
13. Khaki knot T
14. Red T
15. Melon 3/4 sleeved top
16. Floral long sleeved top
17. Floral satin over-shirt
18. Orange knit tunic
19. Cream short cardigan
20. Khaki long cardigan
21. Olive/brown/red picture dress (sleeve-less, long)
22. Short olive jkt
23. Olive field jkt
24. Red flats
25. Melon deck shoes
26. Green sandals
27. Orange/black check scarf
28. Cream/black butterfly scarf
29. Amber scarf
30. Plain straw hat
31. Cream shoulder bag
32. Brown clutch bag
33. Red cross body bag
34. Black cross body bag