I know it's very British, but the weather really is going a bit nuts at the moment. Unfortunately I'm learning exactly how cold it is outside by how freezy it is inside (I love my house, but it's a bit of a challenge to heat at the best of times and when it's super cold outside it's pretty much impossible!) but that just gives me a great reason to cosy up in my bedroom / study and do whatever I so please. Huzzah.
I am hoping to warm up sufficiently to brave the basement at some point as I've got some more seeds to plant. Operation Home Grow is going fairly well (in that now I'm in one place full-time I am avoiding death-by-drying-out significantly more) but there are more window ledges and more seeds available! Yesterday's disappointment was discovering some fruit bushes I'd brought (rather cheaply) seemed to be mainly stick and very little root. I'm going to give them a whirl and see if they resurrect themselves but my aspiration for blueberries and more raspberries may have to wait for another supply of bushes or another year.
Regardless of the weather, I'm really struggling to get my head around the fact that it's almost Easter. Earlier in the week I was getting bamboozled by the simple fact it wasn't 2012 any more. The year has already been incredibly full but Easter? Really? With a trip South planned for the Easter weekend coming up much more rapidly than I'd anticipated it seems to be a rollercoaster of fun and adventures at the moment. This weekend's adventure (to the Middlewood Trust) got rather kiboshed by the 4 ft snow drifts they've got but gave me a very legitimate reason not to subject myself to the crazy cold and be all snuggled up at home this weekend instead. Which was rather nice. Last weekend saw the hen weekend of a friend getting married in May which was great fun - we were staying in a cabin in Sherwood Forest...with a hot tub! Needless to say I spent a large chunk of my time in the hot tub and even managed an impromptu visit from another friend who lives down that way (sort of) who also got to benefit from the hot tub joys. Being in a cabin in the wood got me thinking about eco builds and ways to make best use of resources when it comes to outdoor hot tubs (which are SO on The List) but with the oodles of books on all my other hot topics lurking around the house, I think sustainable building will remain a brain-ponderance only (other than the times I stumble across books to browse).
Being in a different part of the world also gave me the opportunity to make the most of my National Trust membership and visit two new places, one of which was interesting (The Workhouse) and the other absolutely awesomely brilliant (Clumber Park). If you're ever in the area or have the opportunity, I would VERY highly recommend Clumber Park. The parklands are gorgeous and seem to go on forever, there are a variety of fun seats and shelters built in yesteryear (semi-circular stone seat with mosaic? Don't mind if I do) and the site of the mansion that used to be on the site (but was demolished almost a century ago) is incredibly evocative. I had a brilliant meander around and look forward to my next opportunity to drop in. Brilliant brilliant brilliant - and even more so because I had no expectations. Good times.
And this morning I managed my first proper lie-in in AGES (10am!) followed by some good old fashioned written correspondence before various other bits and pieces. Unexpected lazy weekends are brill.
Saturday, March 23, 2013
Sunday, March 10, 2013
The Brain. The Body. And the Plant Kingdom
My word - aren't all three totally awesome? Lying on the floor of my attic room I found each playing a part and each being AWESOME. Let me explain.
I feel like I'm saying it all the time at the moment, which in itself lessens it and makes me question whether it's really the case, but life is really full on just now. There's a lot going on in many different aspects of my life and it feels like a very exciting time - lots of change which, although bringing new possibilities, is also a bit scary at moments! And as a product, or a coincidence, of all this I've spent the past week or so doing battle with The Cold That Wasn't Desired. Now, I'm aware illness is rarely desirable and whenever I get ill I tend to be "oh, can't this just be over?" but this week has been different. When illness strikes I've started to get a bit more zen about it and take it as a chance to catch up with myself. But this week, of all weeks, I really couldn't be doing with being ill. There were moments I thought I'd have to call it a day (off the top of my rather muzzy head just now I can think of 2 immediately) and just when the cold was easing my hormones decided it was a suitable time to get menstrual. Which is how I found myself lying on the floor of my attic room on a Sunday evening.
Lying there I was pondering all sorts of things. I was letting my mind wander around all sorts of places (including some hopes and fears and "intractable" things which my brain seems to want to wander around a fair bit at the moment) and although I'd originally intended to do some Decompression Therapy exercises my wonderful body realised it wasn't movement it needed, it was stillness. So as I lay there, wandering around in my brain, enjoying the stillness, I began to feel my body let go of tensions, much in the way it does when I receive a Massage. And yet my magical body was doing this without having a Massage. Clever Body! Now don't get me wrong, I wouldn't stop having regular Massage even if I totally mastered this "lying down and letting go" as I suspect much of the letting go came from being able to recreate that "receiving a Massage" feeling (and because receiving Massage is ace). But the way that my Brain and my Body were both taking what they needed from something as simple as lying on the floor well, I just thought that was awesome.
Which brings me to the Plant Kingdom. Life is what it is, and life already lived is just that, but I do wonder what may have been had I opted for Plant Sciences as my final uni year rather than Zoology. Because right now, I'm totally in awe of plants. Animals are great, but I'm finding a rather exciting awe-inspiring mystery with plants just now. Take spider plants: even in a pot with poor soil and marginal, if any, additional nutritional input, let alone a regular water supply (I'd love to say this was experimental. It's actually down to my previously nomadic lifestyle and my now sporadic memory in needing to water said wonders of creation) they Just Keep Growing! Amazing. Truly amazing. And the step further I go to is the place over in Grange where I get to play with a rather incredible bit of someone else's garden. 10 years ago this patch was just limestone pavement. 10 years of neglect later (and the occasional blitzing) there are self-seeded TREES (let me be clear - the deepest the soil gets is about 3 or 4 inches. These are wonderous wonderous plants growing IN ROCK! Awesome), multi-rooted brambles a-plenty, soil which has developed from unraked leaves, a couple of "planted" plants which are somehow hanging in there and so much more that I haven't even begun to understand. I say there are: I've been doing a grand job on clearing said patch with a view to planting some more food-type plants (which started this weekend with three experimental raspberry canes and an experimental rhubarb root) but the incredible ability of life to grow leaves me awestruck. Phenomenal.
So there you have it - Brain, Body and Plant Kingdom. Awe is a fabulous thing and to have it in such great supply all around me is wonderful. Thank you, World :)
I feel like I'm saying it all the time at the moment, which in itself lessens it and makes me question whether it's really the case, but life is really full on just now. There's a lot going on in many different aspects of my life and it feels like a very exciting time - lots of change which, although bringing new possibilities, is also a bit scary at moments! And as a product, or a coincidence, of all this I've spent the past week or so doing battle with The Cold That Wasn't Desired. Now, I'm aware illness is rarely desirable and whenever I get ill I tend to be "oh, can't this just be over?" but this week has been different. When illness strikes I've started to get a bit more zen about it and take it as a chance to catch up with myself. But this week, of all weeks, I really couldn't be doing with being ill. There were moments I thought I'd have to call it a day (off the top of my rather muzzy head just now I can think of 2 immediately) and just when the cold was easing my hormones decided it was a suitable time to get menstrual. Which is how I found myself lying on the floor of my attic room on a Sunday evening.
Lying there I was pondering all sorts of things. I was letting my mind wander around all sorts of places (including some hopes and fears and "intractable" things which my brain seems to want to wander around a fair bit at the moment) and although I'd originally intended to do some Decompression Therapy exercises my wonderful body realised it wasn't movement it needed, it was stillness. So as I lay there, wandering around in my brain, enjoying the stillness, I began to feel my body let go of tensions, much in the way it does when I receive a Massage. And yet my magical body was doing this without having a Massage. Clever Body! Now don't get me wrong, I wouldn't stop having regular Massage even if I totally mastered this "lying down and letting go" as I suspect much of the letting go came from being able to recreate that "receiving a Massage" feeling (and because receiving Massage is ace). But the way that my Brain and my Body were both taking what they needed from something as simple as lying on the floor well, I just thought that was awesome.
Which brings me to the Plant Kingdom. Life is what it is, and life already lived is just that, but I do wonder what may have been had I opted for Plant Sciences as my final uni year rather than Zoology. Because right now, I'm totally in awe of plants. Animals are great, but I'm finding a rather exciting awe-inspiring mystery with plants just now. Take spider plants: even in a pot with poor soil and marginal, if any, additional nutritional input, let alone a regular water supply (I'd love to say this was experimental. It's actually down to my previously nomadic lifestyle and my now sporadic memory in needing to water said wonders of creation) they Just Keep Growing! Amazing. Truly amazing. And the step further I go to is the place over in Grange where I get to play with a rather incredible bit of someone else's garden. 10 years ago this patch was just limestone pavement. 10 years of neglect later (and the occasional blitzing) there are self-seeded TREES (let me be clear - the deepest the soil gets is about 3 or 4 inches. These are wonderous wonderous plants growing IN ROCK! Awesome), multi-rooted brambles a-plenty, soil which has developed from unraked leaves, a couple of "planted" plants which are somehow hanging in there and so much more that I haven't even begun to understand. I say there are: I've been doing a grand job on clearing said patch with a view to planting some more food-type plants (which started this weekend with three experimental raspberry canes and an experimental rhubarb root) but the incredible ability of life to grow leaves me awestruck. Phenomenal.
So there you have it - Brain, Body and Plant Kingdom. Awe is a fabulous thing and to have it in such great supply all around me is wonderful. Thank you, World :)
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