Six Senses

As you know, it’s been a stressful time of late and I’ve realised I stress about stressing, which kind of makes for a vicious cycle! So I’ve made a point of going back to remembering my lessons in mindfulness, reading Jon Kabat-Zinn’s Full Catastrophe Living, focusing on my breath and being more aware. And then, in that wonderfully synchronous way that things happen, I found this post over at Carol’s blog. It couldn’t be more appropriate to the moment. As Carol says, sometimes it’s important just to stop and remember what’s going on around us.

I can see
My Tigger mug, now empty of hot chocolate
The property section of the newspaper
Fluffy white clouds rolling across a blue sky
The leaves of the Australian Cherry Tree rustling in the breeze
The calendar created and sent to me by my wonderful blog buddy, Tessa, the Aerial Armadillo
A beaded red rose and a beaded sheep
Photographs and memories
My corkboard covered in synopses and images of my WIP

Beady eyed beaded sheep

The weekend's property section from the newspaper

Tessa's wonderful calendar

I can hear
The heating humming behind me
A hadeda ibis screeching in the sky
My fingers tapping on the keyboard
A guinea fowl ba-kaaking in the gum tree

Guinea fowl in his tree

I can feel
A chill in my bones as an early spring breeze drifts through the open door
The grip of my boots around my feet
The weight of my glasses on the bridge of my nose
The ache in my neck from too much stress

My corkboard...

I can touch
The keys of my keyboard
The smooth wood of my desk
The warmth of a newly brewed cup of tea
The wool of my sweater under my fingers

Photographs and memories

I can smell
Spring in the air
The winter jasmine which is still flowering
Warm dust wafting up from the heat of my computer
Paper and books
The remnants of chocolate on my fingers
The hint of vanilla in my empty chocolate mug

Winter flowering jasmine

Books and more books

Spring clouds behind the Australian Cherry Tree

I can taste
Memories of chocolate
Freshly made tea

My empty Tigger mug...

Thanks to Carol and FireByrd for posting this. Why not give it a go, and if you do, let me know!

Stormy Seas

It has been a somewhat torrid few weeks and hence the stunning blog silence.

My 84 year old - and generally extremely feisty (aka stroppy) - mother, started complaining of heart palpitations and generally not feeling too well. Since she's one of those "difficult" patients, the doctor didn't take her too seriously and diagnosed gastric reflux... Well, two weeks later there I was calling in the paramedics and rushing her off to the trauma unit - with pneumonia and a minor heart attack. Let it not be said that she does things in half measures. Anyway, a few days in Intensive Care and a few more days in hospital and she was back home. But we won't even go there. Suffice it to say, she is on the mend.

I, on the other hand, am somewhat stressed out and have been obliged to try and slow down. I keep forgetting that I have limitations which need respecting or I will end up flat on my back or my face. Which means other than running around like the proverbial blue-arsed fly for my mother, not much has got done. I can't even remember when I last looked at my writing or did anything remotely writerly. Actually, come to think of it, I get the distinct impression I'm in dire need of some R&R. Since that is in very short supply at present, I thought I'd just take you with me on a virtual trip to one of Cape Town's fishing harbours in the very beautiful suburb of Hout Bay - maybe next week, I'll even manage to get there in person.

Reflections

Bob-bob-bobbing along...

Immortalised...

La-la-la-laaaa...cough-cough... la la laaaaaaa.....

Reflections II

Dread-locked cool dude

Zimbabwean roadside bead vendors

The best gelateria in town - the real and genuine article! A good way to end any day.