We’re here!! Last night my friend Gill and I arrived in Uluru. ‘I’m so excited I think my phone is going to explode,’ Gill said when trying to capture the view from our deck at Longitude 131. ‘Doesn’t it look like a giant brownie.’ Well er yes and no. That might have been hunger-speaking after…
Uluru
There must be red mud in my veins. Wherever there is scorched red earth underfoot I feel calm, strong and at home. I’ve visited Petra, Sedona and Puglia, but the red earth place that calls me most is Uluru in Australia. It is one of the world’s major energy vortices. Some say it is the…
Celebrate
I am celebrating a pinnacle in a journey that began long before I met Laura. Eleven years ago my life was very different. I had to wash my hair almost every night to stop myself from tearing at my scalp. It would burn so badly that even when staying with family or friends, I often got…
Laura’s Gift
My dear heart, Laura, was born 62 years ago today. She has been ‘gone’ nearly 3 years, almost the same amount of time that we were together. And still I feel her presence so sweetly and vividly. I used to think that she was reaching out from ‘the other side’ (wherever that is), but now I…
I heart you
Saturday is Laura’s birthday. This month she has been deluging me with hearts. I find them everywhere, usually several a day; a heart shaped piece of breakfast eggshell, a wet patch by the bath, 3 heart shaped pieces of gum on the pavement, a tiny heart shaped red leaf, a line of a dozen hearts…
One Love
The hardest thing to get my head around spiritually is the idea that we are all one. It makes perfect sense sitting on my meditation cushion when I’m all Ommm and Zen, but out in the street…well not so much. But recently I’ve tried something, a simple little act that has been shining up the…
A word from JK Rowling
To the well-organized mind, death is but the next great adventure – JK Rowling
Otto
Sweet Otto has gone. The only cat I ever loved. He was my sister’s cat and he seemed to know instinctively what I needed when I returned to England to grieve after Laura died (see post My New Love, 7 August 2014). He jumped (uninvited) into the hammock beside me and put his paws around…
Liz and Rayya
It squeezed my heart to hear Elizabeth Gilbert’s recent news. In case you missed it, the Eat, Pray, Love author Liz Gilbert announced recently on her Facebook page that after learning of her best friend of 15 years, Rayya Elias’s, liver and pancreatic cancer, she realized she was the love of her life and there was…
Dragonfly
This summer I’ve been constantly delighted by dragonflies. Kayaking along the Wallkill River in the Catskills, a beautiful purply-green dragonfly alighted on the prow of my little boat and accompanied me for a long stretch of my journey. In England last month, I sat to meditate in my parents back garden and afterwards opened my…
The Measure of Success
‘Are you a parking garage?’ the voice said on the phone. When I said ‘No!’, he sounded very disappointed. How I laughed at the silly surreal-ness of it afterwards. It was just the break I need in an otherwise colorless day. After three weeks away, it is easy to come home and start tidying…
Galicia
If you crossed Switzerland with California you might end up with something like Galicia, one of the least touristy regions of Spain. It is an oft surprising mix of mountainous land with pine trees, ambling dairy cows and misty, lush green slopes, combined with bougainvillea, white sandy beaches and intense cloudless blue skies. The whole place…
Life Backwards
The philosopher Kierkegaard said a life could only be understood backwards. Perhaps looking back we glimpse the patterns – the footsteps that led us to where we are now. Last night I awoke with a start remembering two funny coincidences that made me think Laura’s and my soul were entangled before we met. I remembered…
Santiago De Compostela
On the roof of the Santiago De Compostela cathedral, Spain with my Sister’s family
My Dear Sis
My dear sis is growing stubble on her head, she says. The chemo is over and her body is trying to rebound, sprout some new hair and return to vibrant health. Chemo sounded miserable. After the first round she wasn’t sure she would be able to do the whole 3 month course. Her liver…
Soul Love Forever 