Shiva's and Metta's Mother's Sutra

It already looks different. Class 8 have created two new beds I never really notice the days passing because they do so that quickly. I was doing long division in school today. Every day the children recite the timetables (just the one timestable for the week, i am not a sadist) and sometimes i think, is this going in? But today, we did the long division - only by 2s and by god, it was so easy! I remember when i began teaching if there was one thing i promised myself it was, the children will do times tables everyday. Because the times tables are beautiful, because they are fun and because they are really good to train the mind. Plus they are of course extremely useful. So we do them skipping, clapping, in speed maths - we do them division and in multiply, we do them tirelessly... and today the children somehow, by osmosis went - yeah we understand that long division stuff Stephanie. Long division I know, you are asking about the googly eyes... I tell them when the sum...

Selfie... For my mom (very relieved i am not doing the wine anymore) and dad... After week of detox and exercise :-)

I get to run here every other day.... When i began my detox a week ago, i said to myself it will take me four months to sort this mess out. I give myself till June 21 cos, you know, that is the summer solstice. One week on and i feel so extremely good. My skin is glowing, i have rehennaed my hair so it feels like i love it again, and of course doing all that exercise means that i want to move my body and do stuff again. I have also lost weight and i know cos my trousers feel a little looser. I think that it will probably take me about a month to get back in form if i keep this up, but it is pretty amazing. So, what have i done? Lots of veg and fruit. Much less meat - in fact i have not had any real meat for a week - i had the Chinese New Year celebrations, but i barely ate any meat. Exercise an hour a day - a 40 minute run, sit ups and stretches. Getting up early - 4.30 am and going to bed early - 9.30 pm Cut out alcohol, which was easier than i thought it would be. Cut do...

So i began my detox at the start of the week. I have now run almost every day and not had any wine, and begun eating my way through a mountain of veg and fruit. I have also started doing a bit of yoga - youtube is a great thing - just the Salute to the Sun. The results are a bit astonishing considering it is only one week. My skin has more or less regenerated so that it is now glowing and fresh again and i also feel absolutely wonderful. If anyone asks what is so good about detoxing, i would have to say, everything. So later today, despite the shite weather i am going running around the Craigantlet Hills. There are any number of great places to go running around Holywood and Stormont. After one week detox I am also, after this planning the rest of the school term. I am doing the house building Main Lesson and the Volume Main Lesson. It was supposed to be only Volume but i spent so much time on time that... well... anyway, the house building Main Lesson is going to be awesome. ...

It is the Year of the Sheep every year in Ireland I have started a very quiet detox. No more drinking and more running. More water. Less tea and coffee. Less sugar. More fruit. More gardening, less social media. More playing piano and craft. More walks. Less work. Just stuff like that. More alone time. Good alone time. Not FB alone time. More friend time. Real friend time, not FB friend time. I feel kinda tired. It is the fag end of winter and many people are sick, so i guess being tired is as good as it gets. But also every year, when Easter arrives, i think to myself, i wish i did that detox. So this year i am following that through. There are many strange things that happen when one detoxes. The body feels shit at first. It goes, er, where is my glass of wine? Why are we doing this jiggling around? What about a nice cup of.... WATER???!!! And then after that it settles down. It takes about two weeks really to get used to the having to do without. I went out on runs thr...

Sometime back i stopped attending conferences and conventions. In my 20s, because i worked for the Singaporean government i attended an unholy number of these. I also had to notetake as well as help organise hospitality, media, photocopying... one of my most endearing memories is playing pictionary with a colleague while waiting for one of the plenary sessions to break up. We were doing movies and she only ever drew the Seven Samurai. These conferences were mostly a waste of time. The Seven Samurai one was for the writing of an MOU. When i first discovered what an MOU was i could not believe it. Here it is defined:  A  memorandum of understanding  ( MoU ) describes a bilateral or multilateral agreement between two or more parties. It expresses a convergence of will between the parties, indicating an intended common line of action. It is essentially a gentlemen's agreement and if anyone breaks it there are no legal repercussions, and if people break it they will just shr...

It has been a rather wonderful morning for me. First, i made breakfast for the boys. I got some choccy brioche for them and then we had a lovely breakfast at the dining table, with coffee, and cheese and things... i actually now i wish i had taken a picture cos it was so pretty. Here are some funny things my mother's house has acquired The bell is used to call the boys into dinner. It was bought at the bric-a-brac shop in school by Ghin for 20p. then the sugar caddy was something i found. The long serving plate was an impulse buy from TK Maxx, but i have used it for sushi and bread and everything in between. The table cloth was from TK Mexx, a Ralph Lauren which was so pretty i could not resist. Anyway, i don't take pictures of food. But this was more like not food, it was more like a special pretty time with the family. I am now reading Charles Eisenstein. I only picked up the book because it had a painting of flowers by the Dutch Masters on it, but also because ...

And a great time was had by all....