Shiva's and Metta's Mother's Sutra

I got up early today because it is the only quiet time of day. Because i am used to it. The first thing i did was make some coffee. Then i opened the sliding doors to stand in the garden. I had spent the best part of yesterday transplanting nastursiums. I checked on them. I also checked on some of the calendulas. I did some weeding. I checked on the lettuces and peas. Then i stood and listened to the birds singing. There was a wren - very loud. And a wood pigeon. There was a chaffinch. There was a song thrush. Now that the garden is being looked after it seems much larger than it really is. Previously it was a pocket sized nettle filled hell hole. Now it is this tiny jewel of colour and serenity. What makes the garden beautiful? The same thing that makes every other thing in the world beautiful - that it is loved and cared for. If someone cares for something, then no matter how worn out and old it is, it will still be beautiful. The more people care for it the better - but t...

May has finally arrived in June. The plants are now beginning to flower. Gorgeous nastursium - my garden is about to bust into bloom and i am about to go away for the holidays My peas have finally become pods over the last week Everything has grown about about 2 cm this past week I harvest pak choy shoots - here they are with lavender The rocket is still struggling along tho The cherries are on their way - i must feed the tree this year Coriander and violas A new harvest of strawberries awaits

A burst of sunshine in the garden Today, we were at the Templemore Baths in East Belfast. There we watched a parade. All of the East Belfast bands were out playing their fife and drum - it was quite a sight. It was as if we were standing by the road, peasants, watching the army pass us sometime back in the 18th century. I was with Oisin and Ghin and we just watched the bands pass us. After that we went back to the Baths - it is a beautiful old building and we were there because Peter had suggested we go to watch a film there about community activity in the reclamation of these baths in Glasgow. It was all about communities taking charge of their own space again. As far as these things go, it was not very interesting. The film was not very interesting at all. Maybe i was tired. But the boys, veterans of this sort of event were incensed that i had suggested we go along for this with dad. Because they knew it was going to be not very interesting at all. I have been to so many of...

Happy solstice! I am now determined to get back on schedule. This was inspired by a lovely package sent by Natasa which i only saw today after i sorted the mail. Yes i am not very good with this sort of thing. Now that all my energies are channeled into the school, i am even worse at this sort of thing at home. It is a photograph of the ladies who stayed at Thomas Hall in my first year in university. This means that photograph is almost 30 years old. We all more or less look the same, which makes me wonder when or how aging takes place. I think i have a few wrinkles and some white hair, but all in all, it's not bad. But the photograph also coincides with my minor epiphany about the time of my life. The transformation. Today i sat in the car and waited for the boys to come down from the MAC and i was listening to a CD which was given to me by a friend a few years ago. In the rain i listened to Shearwater sing Rooks and it was very very beautiful. Yes, i thought, life is goo...

Yesterday, on the way to the Birthday Parade, Oisin asked me how did he end up being enrolled in Circus School. I said, well i was watching Vincent Cassels in Ocean 12 and he did all his own stunts. I then discovered that he had run away and joined the circus and i thought how cool is that. At the same time i was thinking of a sport which Oisin could do which was physical and artistic, without causing too many injuries - i was thinking of gym really, but that i was far too boring, i thought - so circus school was perfect. I also thought, imagine how he could impress the girls at parties. I was once lauded as a mom for thinking about this... anyway, that is how they ended up in circus school. Back then the wait list was not 1,300 children long. But i did have to wait for a bit. Now it is so sought after. Everyone wants to be in the circus in Belfast. It was also quite funny yesterday when we were plating up the flan fling, i was talking to a friend, and we were saying what is th...