More travels

On Wednesday we headed to Ludlow in South Shropshire to meet one of our friends for lunch.  Ludlow is a lovely place, a thriving market town perched on a cliff above the river Teme surrounded by the unspoilt and beautifully hilly countryside of south Shropshire and the Welsh border country. It has a wonderful castle, which was started in 1086 and the medieval town walls were built shortly after. The town has over 450 listed buildings making it rather stunning and heaped in history.

We ended up having lunch at a café made famous by Bill Bryson as he wrote about it in his book, "Notes from a small Island".  Yummy food before going for a walk around the castle and down to the river, lovely to catch up with Cerys and enjoy visiting a new part of the world.

On Thursday morning I went to Yoga again at the Cheltenham Yoga and Pilates centre, what a treat, it was a lovely class with Ian, finishing with some sitting and a nourishing relaxation.  I realised during the class how hectic my mind has become these days, without the opportunity for daily meditation it is amazing how quickly the mind starts racing again.  It is also amazing how a vinyasa practice, with focus breathe and movement can really help to focus the mind back in again leaving one feeling most grounded and centred.  So, so nice to be a student too.

After Yoga I met my boys and we visited our regular cafe for the final time, before heading out up into the countryside to enjoy the Cotswolds.  We trekked up the hill to a ridge on the very top affording fabulous views of the surrounding countryside before finding our way to the cutest of oldy worldy Cotswolds village pub with a big open fire and old low ceilings.  Strangely the two people who talked to us in there had both been to Guernsey, it is indeed a small world, albeit they visited back in the 1970s when it was far more financially accessible.

Friday and it was time to leave, we headed along the A40 to Chesham in Buckinghamshire to visit my Mum's best friend and the mother of my best friend, Anita, for lunch. I just love White Hill, the family home, which is also a residential home for 8 elderly people. I have visited this place on and off my whole life and have very fond memories of our annual summer holidays spent here.  I was really keen for Ewan to experience it for himself and also to see Anita for more Elijah cuddles. Such a treat, not least the lunch and the general welcoming nature of the visit but also to see Anita's eldest, Rachel, and her children, who I have not seen for years.  Thank you Auntie Anita. x

Leaving Anita's at 4pm on a Friday to head down to Brighton via the M25 was not clever, good grief we are so spoilt living in Guernsey with only the smallest of commutes and such insignificant traffic jams. Still we made it down to Brighton within two and a half hours and a lovely evening with our friend Charles in his new flat in Preston Parks. We are very blessed with such accommodating friends who love to cuddle Elijah and welcome him into their homes. Thank you Charles.

On Saturday I walked down to Brighton with Elijah and wandered around the Lanes and enjoyed the slightly grungy Brighton vibe before walking all the way back to the flat again, a 2.5 hour walk, so lots of fresh air for us both.  Walking through Preston Park I came across the Preston twins, which are believed to be the oldest surviving Elm trees in the world at 400 years old, amazing!!

Tea time Charles and I went to Bikram Yoga together.  Charles has been practicing Bikram for years now as he loves the 40 degree heat, and while it is not my favoured style of Yoga (far from it!), I generally try and get in at least one class with him on each visit. To be fair these classes have become less painful over the years as I have become more familiar with the routine and the variation of poses that are practiced in each class, plus I have experienced some benefit as they are incredibly cleansing, uplifting and clarifying.

Still it was hard.  So, so hot and so much like hard work!! But I left feeling taller, cleaner and more awake than I had felt all day.  And I slept so well that night.  It is worth everyone giving it a try, I do feel it can assist with healing, but of course like everything should be practiced in moderation.

Our boat back to Guernsey has been cancelled due to another storm in the channel which means we have been transferred to the slow boat, a whole 12 hours of sailing in a force 7 with a 10 week old baby, well I guess a journey would not be quite the same if it all ran to plan, nothing like a challenge to keep one present and flexible to change.

Happy Sunday!

xx

On the road again

All things do indeed come to pass.

Elijah is 10 week old today and while he may still be feeding every 2 hours - indeed hourly last night - it has all become a little more familiar so that this is now life as we know it.  And a travelling life of late.  Within a week Elijah has experienced his first flight, train journey, taxi ride and cross-channel ferry crossing, oh and motorway driving! 

We are on our UK road trip, enjoying a proper break from the Island before I return to the office job after my maternity leave.  Packing was interesting, having to consider all the baby clothes and stuff that are now a part of our lives, especially as I could not be sure how long we would be without access to a washing machine!!Still it is, we hope, the first of many touring trips, and we have been keen to start travelling with Elijah while he is still a baby.

We took the ferry to Weymouth arriving about 9pm, so we stopped for the night in Weymouth and enjoyed some much needed hotel time out - I do love staying in comfortable hotel rooms where you can just chill, even better if they have a swimming pool, which this one did so we were in our element - Ewan even more so as the breakfast was above usual standards!

On Saturday we headed down to Plymouth to visit Ewan's best friend, Nigel, his partner, Vicky, and two of his children, Ferg and Millie.  We had such a lovely time, the boys going out on the Saturday night leaving Vicky and I talking all things spiritual, for we share a passion for the spiritual and healing side to life - we went on a Yoga and meditation retreat together last year.  Over the weekend we chatted at length, especially about the law of attraction and how we can all tap into this to create and manifest the world we would like to live in and how it can support us in the process.

On Sunday we enjoyed a lazy morning and with so many hands happy to hold Elijah I was able to enjoy my own yoga practice for longer than normal. In the afternoon we headed out to Rame Head on the Rame Peninsula in Cornwall, which houses a 14th century chapel, which is built on ley lines. An incredible spot, an area of outstanding natural beauty no less, and it really is stunning as we watched a couple of weather fronts, storms out to sea then - a wonderful place to embrace and be blown away (quite literally too!) by the elements. 

Elijah really was showered with love and attention from the whole Powell family all weekend so we were a little concerned how he would react to life with Mummy and Daddy on our own once again so we thought we would shower him in crystal energy by stopping off at Glastonbury before continuing up to our destination in Cheltenham.

Wow, I do love it when your chatter turns into reality so that the law of attraction came alive, perhaps not surprising when visiting a place like Glastonbury with its wonderful Tor and Abbey, let alone the marvellous crystal energy in town. I have never known so many crystal shops in such a short space, let alone all the groovy little cafes!

So this is how it goes...we stopped at a café for breakfast on the basis of its name - the Ten Monkeys, due to the fact that we call Elijah, Monkey!  Next door to this café was a crystal shop selling crystal angels, which I had been keen to purchase for a friend who has recently had a baby.  The lady in the shop quite coincidentally (or not as these things happen) commented on Elijah and how life gets easier with a baby when they are 12 weeks - a conversation Ewan and I had had that morning - before answering our question about where to park to walk up the Tor.

So we drove to the suggested carpark, which happened to be the car park for the factory and headquarters of "Draper", an independently owned company founded in 1937, specialising in hand crafted English sheepskin.  Another coincidence - or not - as I had been discussing handcrafted sheepskin boots with Vicky over weekend and the fact I was on the look out for some and had tried to put "it out there" in the realm of the law of attraction.  And here we are, at a factory manufacturing exactly what I was looking for and even better, you could buy them from the factory shop cheaper than you could by post or internet!

We walked up the Tor, how stunning is it up there, another very precious place with marvellous views and energy - The Tor is mentioned in Celtic mythology, particularly in myths linked to King Arthur.  and has a number of other enduring mythological and spiritual associations..  As I do when I visit these places, asking permission to enter and then having a feel of the energy of the stone forming the building, yes there is definitely something special about that place and I can't help wondering if sun rise on the solstice would be stunning from here.

Back in the town centre we visited "Rainbow End", a Vegetarian cafe recommended by Vicky.  Very lovely indeed, I wish we had one of these back home in Guernsey.  The ethos of the town reminds me of Byronshire in Australia, another hippie place, with all the yummy and healthy foods in the chilled out little cafes and that back to land, independent and crystal and healing type attitude.

In any event just as we were preparing to leave a lady on the table next to us commented on the cuteness of Elijah (we are biased, he does indeed seem cute to us, especially as he was dressed in his duffle coat and new hand-knitted woollen hat and baby sheepskin booties courtesy of Vicki and Nige) before telling us not to have Elijah vaccinated because the vaccines are full of poison which will harm him and referring us to research to support this.   Random as it was, I know it was a law of attraction moment (possibly due to its randomness) as I have been questioning vaccines the last few weeks and here was a random lady randomly talking to us about it. 

We left Glastonbury after this, enough for one day in the magical world of how things come to play, and headed up to Cheltenham in the late afternoon sun setting light.  I have never been to Cheltenham and wasn’t quite sure what to expect but what a marvellous place indeed with all the wonderful regency buildings and space, very middle class, the shops on the high street prove this.

We are staying in a serviced apartment, perfect with a baby, not that it all went to plan initially.  We couldn’t find the place to begin with, call number one to the management company.  We arrived and unpacked the car and I put Elijah in a vest so he could enjoy a good kick around in a warm place, only for him to have a massive poo and for it to seep onto me.  Lovely!!  We couldn’t work the TV so call number two to the management company!

We went out for a walk to the shop and when we returned home we tried to put the buggy back into the car only to break the lock so that we had to phone AA otherwise we wouldn’t be able to get into the car.  Now we can get into the car, we just can’t lock it, wonderful when you have Guernsey number plates!!  Back in the apartment we discovered that the smoke alarm had run out of battery and was beeping, typical it should be the alarm up in the highest part of the ceiling out of reach, another call to the management company.  I put some washing on only to find water leaks onto the floor a little, another call to the management company! 

The irony is that it is a very lovely apartment, but we were clearly fated!  But this is life isn’t it, the ying with the yang and the challenges that arise when you least expect them – the fact Elijah woke virtually every hour last night for example...

 

Still today dawned bright and clear, a wonderful sun rise as it happens and lucky for me I was able to go to a Yoga class at the Cheltenham Yoga and Pilates centre, dynamic flow too and what a treat (thank you Ian), while Ewan and Elijah walked around town enjoying the morning activity.  After a visit to cafe with yet more compliments from random ladies we ventured to Ross on Wye, where Ewan used to live and work.  A wonderful place and more walking and general wandering, which is the joy of being away – so too the home made cakes in the cafe we visited – this is a trip of cafes if nothing else!!

Of course it is more than that, refreshing to be "travelling" again for it takes you out of the comfort zone and presents new opportunities and challenges.  I feel very blessed.

With much gratitude.

x

 

 

This too shall pass

We have just enjoyed a fabulous weekend in London, Elijah's first trip to the capital with E, me, Mum and Dad.  It was while we were navigating security in Guernsey airport on Friday morning that it suddenly dawned on me - the realisation then - that travelling was never going to be the same again, in fact life was never going to be the same again.

Not that I hadn't already realised this before of course, but travelling with a small baby while severely sleep deprived is not, perhaps, as much of a joyous experience as it may once have been.  And with that the realisation that everything is indeed much harder work now these days!

Yes, Elijah is almost nine weeks old and the cumulative sleep deprivation has indeed kicked in so that I do indeed feel - as I was told I would do - as if I am jetlagged half of each day. It is indeed a challenge to try to think straight and with that the further realisation that perhaps I should give myself a break.

You see I have tried to continue life as I know it.  Not because I don't want to embrace the change of new life in my life, but because that is the only way I know, but really I think a bit more resting should definitely be encouraged.  So what if the washing falls back another day, so what is the house is not as clean as I would like it to be, so what if I don't manage to respond to emails in a timely manner, so what if we don't manage to get out for a walk each day.

But of course it always sounds easier than it is, this ability to let go of all the things that you have tried to keep together.  Cleaning is a classic  one.  A definite OCD issue for me and one which gets worse when I feel myself losing control of things...but how ironic is this because we never have control of anything and really, talk about putting yourself under even more pressure when you are at your most pressured. 

I have been reading about this recently - our samskaras, the grooves that we create in our habitual behaviour patterns and how there are trigger events that make them worse...and how we need to stand still with equanimity and indifference almost when we feel the trigger being pushed so that we don't make those grooves any deeper, and if anything we allow them to dissipate instead - by non-reacting then and staying present.  It all comes back to awareness and being conscious of the decisions we make and the actions we take, and catching ourselves before we begin each process. Cleaning is definitely one I am working my way through!!

The initial travel realisation aside, our trip to London was fantastic, helped hugely by the fact my parents were on hand to help out with Elijah!  In fact my wonderful Mum looked after Elijah all on her own on Saturday afternoon so that Dad could go and watch Spurs play with his friend who has a season ticket, E could go walking around London looking for Banksy art and I could get in a class up at TriYoga in Primrose Hill.

It was really so lovely simply to sit on the tube on my own reading my book without being distracted by crying babies or me falling asleep mid sentence.  Not to say I was really with it, and the class was not quite as Anusara-inspired flowing as I would have liked it, but it was calming, grounding and stabilising and I felt much better for it. 

And in actual fact there was one word that stood out for me from the practice and that was "patience" and it is funny as I had been telling myself over and over to be patient when standing in the queue to pay for the class, and it has been on my mind that very morning, that one of the many things Elijah is teaching me - or trying to teach me - is the ability to be patient.  Another work in progress!!

Motherhood is indeed wonderful, each new development, the smallest of smiles, the gurgling, the cuteness of it all and it is indeed the most challenging thing I have ever tried to do, or indeed to be.  But there really is so much I can learn from Elijah, I know that, and I remind myself also that "this too will pass" when he wakes for the fourth time in the night needing feeding and a nappy change.  For everything does indeed come to pass.  And with that realisation one should therefore try and enjoy every moment.

On that note, I am off to enjoy the sunshine as that too shall pass!

With love and gratitude xx

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

It is incredible how quickly the last few weeks have flown past.  Elijah is now 7 weeks old and feeding well.  Life has certainly taken a different turn with him in our lives.  Funny to think that this time last year I was making my intention for 2013, which was to have a baby with Ewan, and now here we are at the beginning of 2014 with baby in arms. 

New year's intentions are powerful.  I like to do a burning bowl ceremony at the end of each year so that I can let go of the stuff I don't want to take into the new year before then writing my intentions for the year ahead - one has to create the space you see to allow grace to enter in...I did the same process this year and was most excited to find that the Capricorn new moon shared the 1st January. Now surely that is an auspicious start to the year ahead!

As to this year ahead, well I have a feeling that it will bring a little more grounding, balance and peace as we continue to realise our potential and do what we can to serve and make the world a better place, remembering of course that this begins with ourselves - as Mahatma Gandhi so wisely said, “be the change that you wish to see in the world.”  

It is all too easy to look to others to make the change, but we have to find the strength and courage to dig deep and go within, looking honestly at ourselves, at our actions and the effect this has on others and on the world as a whole – cause and effect.

I am certainly well aware of the need to be honest with myself.  Amazing how we can justify our actions without even being really that conscious of them and of course overlooking the effect this can have on others.   Not to say we need to get bogged down in the detail, awareness is enough, and perhaps from a point of awareness we can make small changes that help to make us a more honest, sincere and centred person in the long run.

Babies are wise little beings and I am learning a lot from Elijah - he certainly helps me to see sides to myself that have been easy to avoid in the past!  Funny how we are so many different sides that come and go!  The sleep deprivation is taking some adjusting, as too the fact I have no time to do anything anymore, but this has encouraged me to prioritise and consider the important aspects to ones life.  I am sure I have some way to go, each day presents a new challenge, but I guess just having the awareness helps, and of course reminding myself not to sweat the small stuff and to let go....

I am excited by this year, it certainly started in a more aware manner than last year when I drank far too much champagne and suffered on the first new day of the year!  This year dawned clear and as energised as one can be after a broken 6 hour sleep with a baby needing feeding and changing a few times during the night!  Not to say the weather was bright!  in fact the new year's swim in the sea was rather testing, the wind was so strong that it was an effort to get onto the beach let alone into the sea.  With Elijah in the car, E and I took it in turns and this really was a new year dip rather than a swim, good grief I have never known anything like it!

So here we are 2014 - cleansed by the New Year torrential rain and spirits tested by the dreary skies overhead.  Well I wish you all a very happy new year and hope that your dreams continue to come true as you remain focused and keep believing and that all the challenges make you stronger and brighter.  Yes, exciting times ahead, welcome 2014!!

With much gratitude and love

xxx