Weekending (A Wild Ramble)

Joining Amanda @ Habit of Being for Weekending...



Saturday morning we packed up a picnic, spent the day under the sun.
Nola ate a bite of everyone's sandwich and took me on lots of walks.
We sat by a stream for about half an hour while she threw in bits of twig and grass and the odd mouldy acorn undiscovered by a squirrel last Autumn.
She made me go all the way back to our picnic for some bread (numnum) for a duck which had vanished by the time we had returned!



I got "caught in the act" by Tani, eating a couple of bites of an apple turnover :) He threatened to post them to my blog :0
" I am being very honest about my raw eating habits on the blog" I say. "I'll fess up first thing tomorrow"






Boo loves to challenge herself climbing.
Fina loves to follow the big kids wherever they go and even surpass them if she can. She is such a determined little character. She nearly slid right off this fallen tree right into this new flood created bogland!
Luckily Daddy came to the rescue.
She may have disturbed a few ducks though.



Finding beautiful bugs in the grasses! It is amazing what an alive little world you find deep among the grasses.



The girls love to take turns being the leader and leading us off into adventures and unexplored routes.



This little girl is becoming far more adventurous. She loves to run and find that she is being chased by someone :)



The girls have come to a beautiful stage now where I can give them so much freedom without feeling worried that they will get lost etc... They had so much fun exploring and playing hide and seek in the long grass and behind trees.



They also love to take turns looking after little Miss Nola, and she relishes the attention of being the baby of the family :)





Boo has discovered a real passion for birds recently. Here she found a fledgling still covered in pieces of down. She took it into her own hands to alert reception about the bird. She is a shy girl and finds it hard to talk to new people. I was so proud of her that she wanted to tell them herself because she had found the bird and felt it was her responsibility.
She really loves birds :)







Emmy got braces about  two weeks ago. She never used to smile in photos because she had been bullied in school for her "buck teeth"
I am so happy that she has rediscovered her smile and her confidence to show it :)



My Matilda has an affinity with all animals. This dragonfly alighted on her hand and she was so excited!

Soulful Sunday

When you feel a peaceful joy, that's when you are near truth.
~Rumi 

 

 

 

{This Moment}

Joining Soulemama today for {This Moment}  - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. 

{Beyond} 5 minute Friday

 Joining Gypsy Mama today for 5 minute Friday. And Jennifer @ Getting Down with Jesus.

 

Write for 5 minutes flat – no editing, no over thinking, no backtracking.

Go... 

Beyond

Beyond you call me.

You say

"go beyond yourself...

I live over that hill, see?"

You tell it like a story

But I am the one who must walk out there. Not knowing what I'm doing.
Out into the dark forests of my fears, my failings, my limitations.

Yesterday I thought I didn't have enough
money
time
energy.

I held on tight to my own scraps of each.

Threads,
unraveling,
fraying,

All material things turn to dust in the end,
 Except those woven by love.
You say "Remember, this is the only safe way."

Maybe it was a prayer with a child, rushed and hasty at first.

Or maybe the glimmer of sun before it fell away to the night,

Or a sudden feeling of being alone

In that unknown moment,
I uttered the word "Yes"
"I'll go beyond this place of only me
to touch the hem of you."

It was a brief fling of abandonment beyond.

But that's when the water came swirling, into this dry land again.

And I understood,

Beyond is just another word for home.

a little light {weekending}

Those who bring sunshine to the lives of others cannot keep it from themselves.

James Barrie

*Don't be afraid. Have courage.

* Speak your truth; don't care what others think of you.
* Trust in Love.

"Blessed are the single-hearted, for they shall enjoy much peace. If you refuse to be hurried and pressed, if you stay your soul on God, nothing can keep you from that clearness of spirit which is life and peace. In that stillness you will know what His will is."

Amy Carmichael

"Through return to simple living Comes control of desires. In control of desires Stillness is attained. In stillness the world is restored." 

Lao Tzu

If, as Saint John of the Cross said 

"In the evening of life we shall be judged on love alone,"  

then that which enlarges our capacity to love well is the only thing that will ever really matter in the end.

 

Weekend was all about meeting new and special friends
Emersing ourselves in the beauty of Summertime
Swelling streams sparkling clear
Special shells and pebbles and flowers and rocks
 Empty nests and fledglings
talking, eating cake (accept me although I devoured a gift of exquisite raw chocolate :)

Sunday was all about girls playing in a friends garden
Beans sweet from the pod
Warm tubs of water for Nola to splash around in
Washing all the dolly clothes and pinning them on the line
Making mud pies and cups of daisy tea for the fairies.
Late garden play as the sun set
and I took out my knitting basket,
perfect.

Joining Amanda @ Habit of Being for Weekending

A soulful life

 A soulful life is an intentional life.

A life that seeks to nourish and sustain the soul first.

A life that remains still and small and quiet enough to listen to the songbird  and the rustling leaves and the falling rain.

A life that sees with the heart more than the eyes.

A life that gives fearlessly knowing deeply that giving sustains more than taking.

For whatever is measured out will be given back a hundred fold in ways you cannot imagine.

 ^" Give, and it shall be given unto you: good measure, pressed down and shaken together and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete, therewith it shall be measured to you again.”

 

A Soulful Life seeks and finds goodness in others.

Understands that I am no better than you.

We all stand in awe of this mystery called life.

We are all on this wondrous journey together.


The bark of a red wood tree, the blade of green grass, the sparkling stream, the gentle fawn,
you and I are  connected and a part of one another.
   

If you are deprived I will never be satiated.

If you are in prison, I cannot be completely free.

If you are oppressed, I remain shackled.

 

A soulful life is a life that puts love first.

Before my ideology, my creed, my religion, my politics, my colour, my country, myself.

Comes love

And love comes after too.

"Let all go dear...

                           So comes love."

e.e cummings

                                                                       
 

 It is the pearl without price for which everything else must be given.

{this moment}

Joining Soulemama today for {This Moment} -
A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

What is Enough ? {5 Minute Friday}

Joining Lisa Jo for 5 minute Friday today...

One word - Five minutes - write - stop.


Enough.

What is enough?

I think of a day when I sat with my friend on the concrete street and enough was a strangers smile, a free cigarette and change for a three day old reduced price sandwich.

But that lingering empty hollow that went deeper than my belly kept telling me I was still hungry.
And I always wondered when the sun would smile it's warmth again.

And now, small house, squeezed tight with love. Are you enough?

So full with imperfection that refuses to straighten up into perfection. And a life that has no time to iron out creases.

How my pride gets buried under the knowing that I'm not enough.

And that is a perfectly small place.

Small enough to fit the palm of my hand.

Like a piece of pounded sea glass, polished smooth.

Small enough to smile at a stranger without feeling afraid.

Small enough to be brimming with the simplest of things.

And big enough to hold just enough bread for the day.

{Yarn Along - Craft On}

This week I have been re-reading "The Return of King Arthur" by Diana Durham. 

 It is a really fascinating chronicle of the soul's journey, symbolized by Arthurian Legend.

I have always been drawn to King Arthur and the legends of the grail.

I have also always wanted to live in the West Country ever since visiting  Glastonbury Tor as a child.

Here is one of my many highlighted quotes...

"This ability to disentangle ourselves from structure is beautifully
symbolised in the myth when Arthur draws the sword Excalibur from the stone.
Written in gold letters around the sword is a prophecy that whoever can
free it is king of all England. The sword represents our power, our leadership
potential, and in order to lead we have to be able to free our selves from, or
cease investing our power in, the structures and pressures that surround us.
Many stronger, mightier and more experienced knights than Arthur (in
fact at this point, Arthur is not even a knight) had tried in vain to wrench the
sword out. Yet Arthur was the true king - he was the true king by birth, but his
ability to draw the sword out demonstrated that he was the true king by
character as well because he was not seeking power for himself."

And this is the crux isn't it. We need to feel our truth, our limitations, our frailness until we can truly use our goodness for something powerful. 

 Something beyond the measure of ourselves... Who do we serve?

"On the quest the knights must not only find the grail again, but ask the
question : Whom does the grail serve? Meaning, whom or what does our heart
serve? What do we serve? This question goes to the core of leadership because
it asks what is in control of us. Whatever our heart serves is what controls us."

And what better companion for deep and profound thoughts?

 Why knitting of course.

 

Here are Nola's Autumn longies, slowly making their way from tummy to toes.

I think they should be ready for September don't you ?

And I am inspired to knit them up so I can start the Nola Jane retro ruffle sweater!

in happiness - in kindness

 

 

 

 

 

First Holy Communion

 

The sun shone brightly as we herded our brood into the busy church. It was a perfect day for such a special moment. Boo's First Holy Communion.

 

 

 

More Holiday pics

Joining Soulemama today for {This Moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo ( or just a few more:) - no words - capturing a moment from the week (before:). A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

grey text mine :)