Frances Antonia

‘Live in each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influence of the earth.’ – Henry David Thoreau

 

Hello friends,

How are things with you?

Were you a letter writer as a kid? I was. They always started with; How are you? I ‘m fine! A template of sorts. We must build up a great many templates as we progress through our lives. Patterns we  repeat. It makes life easier to create patterns, we automatically know how to colour them in or perhaps keep them black and white. Easier I say until we need to change them, change them by choice or because the season we find ourselves in has changed.

Continue reading “April, 2019, Little Acts of Rebellion.”

‘It must be obvious … that there is a contradiction in wanting to be perfectly secure in a universe whose very nature is momentariness and fluidity.’ ~ Shunryu Suzuki

Hello lovely ones,

It has taken me a while to get to this page to update you. So much has and is happening in this little space within the world I inhabit. This monthly exploration into accepting what appears and what feels right to explore has taken me beyond. Beyond where … I can’t quite put my finger on it, it is hard express it in words but I’ll just try. I think it is fear, fear of myself, my place in the world, where in the world, my time left in the world, the world. But, ‘the beyond’ is a wonderful place, I can say that without hesitation.

I started this month with a desire to be fearless. I’ve written a lot about fear, of rejecting the meme’s, of how this pushing to ‘extend’ beyond limits actually feels limiting. I am not sure I really understood fear, where mine comes from, nor its impact on me. With all scary things I think we have to find our own way there ourselves. And it’s a process … we don’t find ourselves able to face or do things without first learning and trying a few things along the way.

Continue reading “March, 2019, Fearless.”

“Keep some room in your heart for the unimaginable.”
― Mary Oliver

Hola lovelies,

I’m fascinated by the notion and process of a caterpillar’s metamorphosis. Cocooning themselves with just what they need before emerging, ready to fly. Their colours have brightened and they are secure in their form. Google tells me it takes about four weeks for this process and is weather dependent. This month if you remember I wanted build some armour … so I continued to wrap myself in my very own cocoon. I think of as it shrinking inwards to expand outwards. Securing myself.

Continue reading “February 2019, Creating Security.”

Lüfta ~ the practice of opening the windows in the morning to let the old air out and the new air in!

Hola friends!

It’s February and here I am writing up January. Oops. The depths of winter have certainly hit their peak, short days, dark mornings (with the odd spectacular sunrise) rain, ice and snow.

Some months do seem to need more days or weeks to come their natural end before the new one begins. Heck maybe even some years need more years. I definitely need this year to get to where I thought I’d be last year! So this extended January, well it was a month of tilting. The only peaceful option in our house was to move with what was necessary while a flu ran its course in which no one was spared!

Continue reading “January 2019, Cleansing.”

‘I think that somehow, we learn who we really are and then live with that decision.’ ~ Eleanor Roosevelt

Guten tag,

The clock hasn’t yet struck midnight on 2018 for us in the Northern Hemisphere. It will soon and the fire works will explode! As I lay here in my bed, in the dark, in a hotel room with a snoring six year old next to me – I think I drew the long straw!

Hubby and the older kids have walked into the old town of Salzburg to see the fireworks as they blast off the mighty Hohensalzburg Fortress when midnight strikes. It will be spectacular – I imagine. But you know what you don’t go to, you don’t know you’ve missed. The pure joy of missing out (JOMO) I’m ALL about that. And you never know I might get a little crazy! I could get myself another cup of herb tea from the bar. Nah. I just had a better idea! I’ll cut myself a piece of apple strudel AND because I am letting it all hang out (New Years and all) I will also have a piece of the cheese strudel type cake that’s sitting next to the apple strudel.

Continue reading “December 2018, Traditions.”

 “In the same river we both step and do not step, we are and are not” ~ Heraclitus

Ciao!

Could it be? A month already. Yes I believe it is. How has yours been? It’s been a full one here. When we left each other at the end of last month I left you with rituals on my mind!  Timely really as we embrace this period of settling in one place after all the exciting adventures and places our travels have taken us.

The season has changed and not just because the days are short and the air is cold. One of the adults in this house has gone back to full time office life. Not this half! I’m here holding the fort while he’s away travelling (for work) and adjusting the rhythm to the change this brings. I believe you Heraclitus ‘life is flux’ no matter where we land and true I’ve stepped into this river before but of course as always the water is different.

Continue reading “November 2018, Rituals.”

“What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.” ~ Jane Goodall

Hola friends,

There is a sense of déjà vu in this moment. I’ve been here before. The silence in the house, the fresh chill in the air, the world outside my house veiled in darkness. Farmers hours I called them last year. The secret time when the life within these walls still silently sleeps, dreams. I’m nestled at my computer, my feet cosy in my favorite woolly socks. There’s fresh brew of coffee tempting me to sip as I take this time to transpose the cacophony of thoughts that weave through my mind and into a story.

There is a feeling of this being a secret space. A safe space to honour what continues to call me. My secret world. And yet it is not because you’re reading. I know those of you who have found your way here also feel the world in a way that asks you to consider. To ponder. To reflect. To take creative action.

Continue reading “October 2018, Preparation.”

‘Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. The fearful are caught as often as the bold’ ~ Helen Keller

Hola friends!

Look! My first paddle on our local canal. A paddle in search of connection. And in the Autumn, that gives me away a bit doesn’t it! Cray-cray. I desperately wanted to feel one with this landscape I live amongst, to be stirred by it. At times the ‘scape here can feel so ordered. The Dutch are neat people. Hedges are trimmed, paths are swept and nothing seems to grow where it shouldn’t. Or perhaps it is because it is flat! I need this connection you see. I need it to keep my spirit awake and to move my soul. My hope was that from the water I’d feel wildness over the order. And I’d be inspired by it in the same way I was by the Irish landscape.

Continue reading “A New Creative Journey Begins”