daisy's boy

this is arthur, son of daisy cow who lives in the field by the brook on the moor at the back of our house - he really is the most extraordinarily mellow creature - nothing phases him - he is even content when the ground is too frosty to chew ! - daisy is not having any calves this spring as she had twins a wee while ago - arthur seems to be enjoying the note of spring that is in the air - almost full of the joys (except that he is as usual too laid back to seem excited about it !)

- i have been away from this blog for a wee while - things have been very busy - overwhelming actually - but i was thinking in all that busy business about what has really been happening this past month or so - there is a lot of mustard seed stuff that goes unnoticed but is very clearly there - i am reminded that all the surface dashing, to-ing and fro-ing make my body very weary these days - but the underneath, where God is always mysteriously and marvellously at work, in more ways than i can possibly imagine, is incredibly energetic and lively - an abundance of creative energy - from little mustard seeds, bigstuff grows !

daydreamer

i was wondering today, how long it is since my chidlren had a chance to really just sit and do nothing and daydream - life is so busy for them at school - there are so many pressures and stresses - it is difficult to feel like there are any moments when nothing is expected of you - this is one of my favourite relations listening to the grown ups and enjoying a wee daydream - i wish there was more time for that !

sadness

we were thinking about all the sad things that weigh us down and make us heavy in our hearts - there was quite a pile by the time we had finished - a lot of little drops of sadness - all the hard stuff - sometimes that is difficult to let go of...........but it can be done

how i see things

am confined to bed again with a bad heart - very frustrating - all my plans for today (an end of term party, which was a 'spring visit to paris' with a class of P7 children, breakfast at a cafe, a virtual cruise down the seine, buying fruit at a street market, having a riverbank artist sketch your portrait, dressing up as a famous french person, building a paper monument - all really good fun stuff !!) have not materialised, so i am finding it difficult - but the view of the hills near my home is lovely from where i am lying, so guess i just need to change how i see things and enjoy the opportunity to rest up at home and appreciate the view - sometimes that's all we can do.......eh?

white sky thinking

gavin (he of three men in a float fame) hosts a great website for the cloud appreciation society at

http://www.cloudappreciationsociety.org/

part of their pledge is to promote cloud watching as an antidote to the dullness of 'blue sky thinking' - i like their quirky approach to living - and i didn't realise there was SO much to learn about clouds

by the slowest route

i have been listening again to a bbc radio four programme broadcast in february called Three Men in a Float - it is a traveller's tale of three adventurers who journey across england from lowestoft to land's end in a fifties milk float - their antidote to a timestarved, speed fixated world is to trundle along at 15 miles an hour and 'see' england in a different light - author dan kieran, editor ian vince and technical genius prasanth visweswaran make a beautiful voyage of discovery as they 'go slow' and 'prove that dawdling serendipity makes for better travelling than planning and speed' - their strategy (if they have one) is enjoyment and humility - by day they revel in the oblique perspective that a less paced life offers - by night they throw themselves upon the mercy of strangers who allow them to charge up their milk float battery for the next day - listening again, i was struck by prasanth's beautiful descriptions of a world viewed in slower motion and by the generosity and kindness of those they met along the way - great to hear about such scandalous hospitality very much in evidence amongst the english - a real experience of listening pleasure - made me wonder why i cave in to the constant pressure to race through life at breakneck speed !