Shiva's and Metta's Mother's Sutra

Illustration of The Soldier and Death (Russian folktale by batfish) It is getting silly. At first i marvelled when i turned around and it was the end of the week. Now it is getting ridiculous. I'm turning around and it is the end of the month. The days wheel themselves in and out on some silent, effcient mechanism and whirling like shadowy dancers pass by and before i know it, it is the end of the year. And what a year! I spent the weekend doing the teacher training. I say teacher training and of course it is teacher training but more than that is seems to be a reconnection to myself. It is like a reconnection to finding a true purpose, but in a very clear headed, very grown up way. Everything which we do in the course i love - from the reading and the drawing to the wool work and the blacksmithing. But i have to say doing the theory, the reading the stuff that Steiner lectures on and then applying it to real life is my favourite bit. I know that lots of it is still pretty...

Lazing on a Saturday I know that the sun is shining and that loads needs to be for Christmas prep...and there are friends to visit, but all the three of us can think of doing is just being in the house and snuggling. There's loads of food, there's a warm bed and we have all had our bath and we are just having the most chilled out time. After this i am going to clean the house and then later Oisin is going to circus school so, there's plenty to be done. I'm in the final chapters of the Pure City book and it makes me wonder about many many things. Of course the temporal nature of life. I love that word temporal. But also of place. It makes me think, in a contradictary manner also of the present even more - of how each moment is its own eternity. This is not a new thought. People have remarked upon it since they have been able to do any remarking, but it places so much emphasis on me to live a life of truth - whatever that truth may be. Possibly being true to ones...

We spent Saturday evening and Sunday morning with a friend in Ballycastle. It was such a perfect Sunday morning too. Ballycastle was busy with fishermen and bikers and we walked along the coast and just were happy to be awake and alive. Honestly on days like these nowhere is lovelier than Norn Iron.   Cupcake making in the Coastguard cottages. Fair Head - indeed Surf and sunshine - peace in the heart Breakfast on Sunday morning - coffee and a fry, is there anything else you culd want? Ghin looks EXACTY like Peter in this picture... but an Asiansed Peter, of course There are a series of benches up from the beach which are memorials This one was so exquisite - a tiny light house and these beautiful metal tiny sculptures... it beats a headstone on a grave any day The perfect view

I have honestly never known time to past soo quickly as it has this year. Between work, the boys and a very changed social life, it has just flown in and now, out. On Sunday, last Sunday i did what i do best. I sat down and wrote out a schedule. It took me about two hours but it was well worth it. As a result i know what i am SUPPOSED to be doing every minute of the day, which means that i am satisfied that i have enough time to do what i am supposed to do. Of course i dont have all the time i want, but i have enough time. Like now i should be cleaning the house... instead... and blogging should be done at 11 pm in the evening, when i am usually sleeping. However, at least i have the schedule. Had a great time on Monday with the boys at the MAC. We go for circus school on Mondays for Ghin and here in the MAC we saw this thing called the 15 second film festival. It was good craic. The boys got to dress up as ushers and carry the clapper board. After that Oisin and i went to the library...

So over the last two days Ghin and i have been under house arrest, mostly due to hi awful cough. I admit i have not made the best use of it. Wednesday i ended up watching lots of Friends and in the end we watched films... i think the Seven Voyages of Sinbad was on. I love the OTTness of it all. And how gay it all is really. As in i think yep he's gay, and yep he's gay and oh yes, Sinbad appears to be gay as well. I used to have quite a good gaydar so, well... Anyway we also ended up in W5. W5 i do not like. Most of the stuff in there is not real. They seem to be - no, they are, simulations of things. And they explain things to children as if children are adults. If i have learnt anything from the last two months, it is children are NOT adults and do not need things explained to them. I have to heartily agree with Steiner saying to give a child an explaination (an intelleuctual concept) is like giving a child a pair of shoes at the age of four and expecting them to wear it all...

I have to confess i did not do Halloween this year. What with Venice and all (oooo how annoying is that?) I did shop for Oisin's Slenderman costume, well we put it together, and Ghin was badly coughing so i stayed in bed with him while Oisin and a pal tried to mug a few people of candy. But i did take a walk with them in a windless Stormont park. This morning was spent getting financial stuff pinned down (yuck!!!) and getting all the laundry sorted. I must tell you that the trip to Venice was the most relaxing and most rejuvenating trip i had taken in years. Don't get me wrong, i love Singapore and Asia, but it is always a bit hectic and very crowded, as was Venice... but there was something about seeing a place which is so filled with history, with people still living in that history and i was also reading about Venice before i left and just marvelling at the craziness and outrageousness of human nature. I wondered really, have we sort of passed a Golden Age for hu...

I admit i didnt take many photos cos i'm a bit out of practise travelling. The children are wooo-ing outside like howler monkeys and gibbons... anyway, the highlight of our trip had to be the Bascilica at Torcello with its stunning mosaics. I just sat there dazed at its beauty. Here are the rest of the photos my lesson in this is, which is what i used to do when i travelled, is: 1. Carry a travel diary and put in entries daily. 2. Get postcards and stick them in 3. Take FAR MORE PHOTOS - especially of quirky things. obvious things have postcards taken of them I did like the face that we did not try and do too much. The Bienelle, oh yes collided with the Venice Marathon, dunno how that works around a city which must be less than 10 km around the perimiter, saw Burano, ate loads, found ourselves a local pub called Ruga Rialto, and wandered about pleasantly high with happiness and white wine. Well here are the photos i did take, well, not all of them ;-) Just behidn the Fo...