Shiva's and Metta's Mother's Sutra

Raq, Dany, me, Ghin and Wuth!!! It was a wunnerful weekend! Raq and Ruth came over - Raq with Dany - and Belfast really shone - like literally. We went to St George's market, visited the Warhol exhibition, mooched about town and today we went to Helen's Bay and Crawfordsburn. We also decided to go to Morocco this October. Why the heck not eh? :-) Close ups Cow and child Mao and Ghin Sofa so good City Hall tries out ping pong diplomacy Shiny helium balloons...Much nicer than any fleg Raq checking eBay...seeing if she can buy City Hall Ghin practises the life of a hobo - eating out of a box on the ground I like the way they made the effort to put Chinese lanterns up for Chinese New Year. I feel a bit better about my paltry efforts at home now. If its good enough for the City Hall it's good enough for my dining room.

Picture from the school in Princeton Yesterday i took part in the class' eurythmy session. It was really lovely. We did a poem about a pancake which eventually sacrificed itself for three children - i thought it was really really clever. Then later on today when i spoke to the boys about the class Ghin said, i LOVED eurythmy today he said! It was about a pancake...did you dod the No! No! No! I said yep - and we did it together - well bits of it because it was quite long and complicated. I was smiling as i did it and the children were smiling as well and with the on coming spring, it was difficult to make it a better day really. I know i am lucky. Honestly i am. I am grateful for this. When i got home we vegged in front of the TV, and Oisin said to me - i made the fire. It was a really good fire and i was dead impressed. YOU made this fire? Yep, he said. And proceeded to describe how he did it. Oh yes, i also went to the hospital to get my head checked out...which gave me...

...However there is the small worry about the bump on the head. I spent most of the day recovering by getting lots of Admin done. The course, personal stuff, etc. We even went to get passports sorted and ate at Wagamama for a wee treat. Came home, did budgets, etc and THEN i went to get Ghin where he was looking at old diaries. I looked at some entries from the Golden Bhudda Island resort - it was amazing. Really it was. I saw that i had documented the time before the tsunami struck and after. To think we had missed it by four days! It was a truly sobering thought. That people we knew had died - engulfed by paradise. Oisin was so young then - 2004 i think it was. He was only 3 and a half and already he seemed to be such a big boy to me. I still have photos of him from then looking up and smiling at me. He is truly a remarkable boy. Last night i began to DWELL again, but then i stopped myself. I tried to feel happy and then i stopped myself. What i then did was to centre myself and ...

Last night was sort of a turning point for me. After i spoke to my mom, i listed all the great things about my life and my goodness there was an awful lot. Bookending this were my sons - on either side of the great things in my life. And in the centre was love. So love is interesting. I've been thinking a lot about this recently. Mostly because of Theosophy by Steiner, which i'm reading for sanity and for the course - love which is not infatuation or makes you crazy. But love which sustains you, that gives you a cloak against the cold, and that lights up the darkness. That kind of love. And for a moment there was a glimpse into this love. Love that is unconditional and unending. Which underlies all actions and gives you strength in difficult times. It gives you strength to do what needs to be done everyday, to the best of your ability. Then i thought of all the most important things in my life and they were all sources of love. And most of all that i was a source of this love. ...

Wakey wakey rise and shine Was awake at 4.30 today. To be honest i didn't really sleep. The boys were in my bed...Oisin was still unwell and i was keeping an eye on him and Ghin was just messing about in my bed. I have to admit i know these years of bed sharing are running out and so i enjoy it when they want to share the bed. However it does mean i don't get very much sleep. I try to remedy this by reading the Foundations of Human Experience - this time round it did not work however. It made me start thinking about how best to engage some children in the class and if i was doing it the right way. Working on the will is of course critical - i balance this by reading Theosophy, which is a great book on how to live. It reminds us that we need to be healthy and need to take responsibility for our own health. If we are ill we are of no use to man nor animal. This is important vis-a-vis sleep. I had to get back early yesterday as Oisin was sick and Peter needed to go to work ...

Steamboat begins Ruth looking fetching under the raised red lanterns Cash has a go! Ghin's birthday party! We cut the cake! People try the durian! Lara's attempt I say it was pretty good...and i dont even like durian!

Snacks..with intrepretation. No idea how much of this will get eaten this year... Oisin and Ghin decorated their own cakes The steamboat table Three kinds of chillis Bittergourd and mushrooms - seaweed and dofou skin Beef sukiyaki My sons! Oisin is born in the Year of the Snake! And me!

Ghin insists that we put candles in each room...he also has a full scale plan for doing stuff during the party I found pussy willow in the florists - Ghin's finger knitting holds it up Snack box Soaking the mushrooms and fatt choy Pyromaniac Lanterns are going to be a big feature It's a funny sort of celebration. My mother tells me it is also the Kitchen God's birthday. He comes down and spies on us and then goes back to Heaven to give a report. He leaves no presents. Some mouldy kueh bakul which is supposed to make his mouth so sticky he can't speak and tell tales. Chinese people are plagued with regular visitations from the unseen world. Everything is alive, has its own numinous reason for being here. Everything has a spirit. A presence, a being. A friend recently said to me, Epicurious said there were multiverses because of the existence of atoms, isn't it amazing that they thought this in Whatever BC... but, i replied, multiverses ar...

The nicest thing about the course amongst the many many nice things is that we draw a lot... and i love drawing... I loved William Morris - to me he is the perfect - and the pre-Raphaelites - embodiment of the ideals of art and politics and nature. Making the world better, a more equitable place through the nourishing of the soul i.e. beauty I used his work to illustrate Knowledge of the Higher Worlds Working like this i get the chance to think of lots of things... maths, language, life in general - being a better person. Someone asked me why are you so into Morris... its hard to say, but my answer was: well, one day i hope to be able to draw like him, but until that day arrives, well, i will learn from the master. David... We had to do the ML drawings last month, but i just did it in one night. It took me 3 hours... it was not ideal. For class 7 i chose David - i started drawing him until i got to his willy and then went - oh yeah, he is naked... any excuse to draw ...

Is what i'll be telling the kids this semester. After the total wipeout of the last semester, this half term will be all about the maths. It's very interesting prepping for the ML.I'm rereading bits and piece. Study of Man - the Will nature that lies in our limbs, the most spiitual part of us, Active Maths, Practical Advice to Teachers... and the list goes on. Having done a couple of terms i'm thinking, i wish i was more patient. Some children would deeply benefit from learning patience. Strengthening their will nature would be an excellent thing for them. Something which is deeply undermined by the instant gratification of computer games and TV. As you know i had an awful month. It began after the last teacher training course ended. A series of slightly self inflicted and then mostly universe visited pain. Of course life is about pain, but my response to it was to hiberante and cry a lot. However, after the last blow, i could not put up with it any longer and so ...