Solstice Celebrations - Stonehenge

Sorry Archdruid -  this is the only possible way to celebrate the coming of the Piper at the Gates of Dawn. I'd normally have been out in the park with GP dog to greet him myself, only having an unexpected Friday morning off, I had a mini lie in until the deliciously decadent hour of 8 a.m!

In my defence,  in my latest reading, I've just reached the section on The Woodwose and what better wildmen than our wildmen of rock! The fact that I now have wildwoses, minotaurs, the Wolf of Gubbio (thank you St Francis!) and Spinal Tap wandering round the labyrinthine recesses of my mind is neither here nor there.

Zen Moments in The Alps

Yes, Mr GP's just returned from his latest cycle tour. Read all about it over on Mr M's Tour de France. Especially useful info there for anybody considering riding the Etape event.

Tree of Life

As the earth yields her abundance for all to share, so these healing leaves of the Tree of Life are for all. Our witness of Christ's indiscriminate love in the world is the way we gather these leaves and use them well.

            - Annie Heppenstall, from The Healers Tree: A Bible-based Resource on Ecology, Peace and Justice, Wildgoose Publications, 2011
                        

Holiday Reading

Unearthed during my spring cleaning  binge - an  ancient copy of 'Oldchurch' magazine. The theme was Times of Refreshment and it  included a couple of reviews by my goodself that as I read them took me straight  back to those   endless summer days spent  dreaming my life away on a French campsite.   There's more than a hint of the old rose-tinted glasses here, of course there is; with two teenagers around at the time, doubtless even our times of calme et detente were relatively limited. Still -  I remember going through a tremendous period of  spiritual growth  back then, and it's wonderful to return to experiences like this and reflect on just how far I've travelled since.  The foundations for what was to come were being laid even then.  Though I'm sure, like many of us, that I could usefully revisit some of the handy hints on living a balanced life that our then rector included in his introduction. Here are some of them:

• Be gentle with yourself
• Find a hermit spot. Use it daily
• Change your routine often and your tasks when you can.
• Be a resource to yourself. Get creative. Be an artist as well as a technician.
• Schedule 'withdraw' periods during the week. Limit interruptions.
• Say 'I choose' rather than 'I should.'
• If you never say 'No' what is your 'Yes' worth?
• Laugh and play!

Childish Things

When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. 1 Corinthians 13:11 (KJV)

 The word 'childish' has simply become this awful word that we use when we want to put someone down as being immature. It seems to denigrate all those things that go with childhood: wide-eyed wonder, a sense of fun, even a sense of irresponsibility....For me the child in me is my soul. If you lose that I think you lose your soul. And I think that one of the worst things about growing older in our society...I do think St Paul has something to answer for - an assumption that you have to grow away from being a child in order to become an adult, instead of the child in you becoming part of the adult that you become.

               - children's author Michael Morpurgo OBE in the June edition of Third Way Magazine

Embracing Minimalism

That should bring in more traffic; or at least traffic from real bloggers as opposed to those pesky persons in trenchcoats bearing tins of luncheon meat. When I say 'minimalism,' I'm referring not to the simplicity element of my rule of life, more the enforced space and burst of energy caused by the last Bank holiday sunshine and by Mr GP being away cycling. Put another way, I've been making hay...that is, whirling  round house and garden like a dervish, mop, broom and spade in hand. Plants have been planted, floors have been mopped, cupboards (well, one cupboard anyway) have been cleared, paper clutter shredded, dog hoovered (only joking), bags dropped off at the charity shop and the whole place generally spruced up.  How long it'll last is anybody's guess, I'll make the most of it. I do some of my best thinking when I'm physically occupied.

Smile Awhile

It's catching. Even for me, your original dyed in the wool Eeyore. I logged on just now to find Chris Goan's smiles waiting in my in-box:  photo montage and poetry celebrating   timeless beauty and life in its fullness. Real people, wrinkles and all; genuine smiles rather than the cheesy, perfect airbrushed and photoshopped grins the media bombards us with. It makes me want to...yes...smile. ...Memories of my Grannie quoting that old rhyme: 

Smile awhile, And while you smile, Another smiles, And soon there's miles and miles, Of smiles, And life's worth while, Because you smile.