Have your Cake...

I write this blog listening to the heavy rain drip dripping outside from the sill as night is well set in. Oh to be in a warm indoors. I missed the forecast tonight so I'm not sure what the week ahead has in store for us. Perhaps a bit of spring warmth and a glimpse of sun might be nice but I'm not holding my breath.

I am eating sensibly and although I haven't reported it on here, I have lost some weight and feel a lot better. Why then did I challenge my colleagues at work to do some baking? Every birthday the happy person chocked full with birthday cards and chocolates buys cakes from the local shop for everyone which is lovely and on their anniversary of joining the organisation, they buy special out-of-the-ordinary biscuits.

Surprisingly the ladies among my colleagues admitted that they like baking - I just never imagined that they would for some bizarre reason. Now it's many years since I baked - usually when the kids were younger for fun. I cook all the time, but baking is messy and I tend to avoid it if I can. Nonetheless I made a challenge and oddly said that I would make some carrot cake. I must be mad!

So it cost me a fortune on ingredients because we didn't have anything in like wholemeal flour, cinnamon, all spice, cocoa powder, caster sugar and baking powder as well as unsalted butter, icing sugar and full fat cream cheese for the topping not to forget the little sugar decorations to go on the top! The only thing I had in was carrots!

Anyway, here is a picture of the carrot cakes as they came out of the oven:

Here is a picture of them decorated ready to nosh on. I'm keeping four for us and taking eight to work just to prove I can bake. It might encourage them to follow suit.Thanks to the BBC food website for the recipe.
 

I've had my application to work part time accepted. This means I am now planning with my business partner Linda for the future for our therapy and spiritual work using the spare time I will have which I find very exciting indeed. One step at a time and marching on. One of the benefits of this is that there will be lots of writing to do. I have a web site to build and social networking tools to use. This helps concentrate the mind and also gives me an opportunity to learn new things about the practises I already use. 

Well I hope the weather for UK readers improves this week and wherever you are in the world, whatever you might be baking or cooking, have a great week! If you are cooking or baking something exotic - let us know with a comment on the bottom of this blog.

Chat soon

Ta-ra.

Don't Put Up With It

Despite the odd sunny periods in the last couple of weeks, the grey weather has set in with a vengeance with very cold temperatures, persistent rain and snow forecast for next week. I was going to spend a couple of days in the garden this weekend just tidying up really and preparing for the summer to come if it ever is going to arrive. But, as that is out of the question, some Internet work and reading is the order of the the day.

I've been to a spirit, body and mind fair today with good friends Linda and Helen just to be with good friends and to enjoy a pleasant atmosphere at the event held at a lovely local hotel. I hadn't intended to go and in fact I didn't even know the event was on. I happened to bump into another friend, a lovely lady, and we sat down for a quick chat while she was waiting for a couple of members of her family to arrive. 

I was upset and concerned that she told me that she was being bullied at her place of work. She has worked at this place for many years (I can't give you any details that may identify her) and a new manager came in and made what appears to be spurious allegations and has told some lies to put my friend under pressure. This has never happened to her before and has upset her a great deal. Undoubtedly she has been treated differently than other members of the organisation. 

I gave her what little advice I could to keep her spirits up - she is seeing her union about it. Another person I know (again I can't give details for fear it might identify the person) is being bullied, this time from someone they are responsible for - upward bullying. Again the effects are devastating. 

I guess our vision of the bully is the archetypal thug who threatens to punch kids if they don't hand over their pocket money or perhaps the manager who piles all the work on someone who will never be able to complete it and then makes their life hell for not doing so. These signs are easy to spot.  In my experience however, bullying can be much more subtle than that and that makes it worse. There could be just the use of the odd word here and there, a whispering to colleagues and looking in your direction, bullying because of your gender or sexual orientation, and sadly these days, bullying using social networking. It could extend to being beaten or threatened with physical harm, or down to being given the silent treatment.

Bullying is a nasty, insidious and destructive behaviour but the bullies have no idea how it is as destructive to them as well as their victims. People die through bullying and victims can develop serious mental and physical illness - that's how serious it could be. I don't have many solutions because I am just a layman, but  if you are being bullied, please don't keep quiet about it - speak to someone about it. 

It's easy of course if you are in a union or have a representative organisation to help you, but most haven't. Have you got a friend or a family member you can trust? 

You don't have to put up with it and don't think you have to build up to summon up courage or be a strong person to do it, you don't. Just say to a person you choose - "I'm being bullied, I don't know what to do." By hook or by crook, because you've take this first step, you will find yourself on the road to a solution and to a better quality of life. No-one is saying it is necessarily easy, but at least you can make a start.

If you haven't got access to any of these resources, you can try Bullying UK Don't forget there will be help on-line in your country too outside of the UK.

Finally, if you have witnessed bullying, you might have been a bystander at work or at school and you decided to do nothing - my message to you is: bullys need you, you are the friend of the bully. If you weren't comfortable dealing with it or daren't intervene for fear of a backlash, you also need to speak to someone about it to find out what you can do and to get protection for yourself if necessary. Report it anonymously if that's what you feel is appropriate but please, please don't stand back and let it happen.

Well on that cheery note, I bid you farewell and hope you enjoy the rest of the weekend, whatever you are doing.

Chat soon

ta-ra

Hey Little Worm!

Just a quick blog today. I had a fabulous day healing using my Reiki this afternoon, what a pleasure to use this gentle healing technique and I get a residual blast for me too.

I've been feeding my compost bin all winter with the fresh veg peelings etc from the kitchen and despite the cold weather, it has been a little sunny here for a few hours here and there. When I took the lid off my compost bin, there were hundreds of little worms (or 'wogums' as we used to call them) just inside the lid, the photo doesn't do it justice to how many there were. Perhaps the warmth has hatched a few worm cocoons (I learned that today - I had no idea how they procreate.)

Compost will be starting to work shortly now the worm weather is in sight!

Hope you don't mind worms? By the way, fear of worms is one of either of these three conditions: helminthophobia, scoleciphobia or vermiphobia.

Chat soon

Ta-ra

The Wrong Film

The weather vane on John's roof set against a glorious blue sky. The wind direction just confirms its still chilly despite the sun

Life can be both interesting and weird at the same time but not without its humour. 

I went to the pictures last night, the first time for a while and I have missed going. I also missed a film I really wanted to see on the big screen, Hitchcock with Sir Anthony Hopkins and Helen Mirren. I booked tickets for Broken City at Cineworld, Hull which was in screen 2. For a reason I will never know, I walked into screen 3 with the person I went with. The advertising rolled and the auditorium was about half full and the British Film Board certificate came up with a title I had never heard of 'Safe Haven'. Was this another trailer for a film? Whoops, I thought the projectionist must have made a mistake but we decided between us not to make fools of ourselves and sat still.

We had gone to the wrong screen of course but ironically, the film, which started at exactly the same time was an excellent romantic thriller, not too much to test the brain, but entertaining nevertheless.

I went to see my son John in North Yorkshire today. He's been there a while but I've never had the chance to go, but I bit the bullet and went. It was a glorious day , wall to wall sunshine until early afternoon and no breeze making it very pleasant. He lives in Thornton Le Clay, a little bit in the wilderness north of York, small but very nice. It's a lot closer to his work than where he lived with me, but it is a little isolated down single track country roads.

John's door knocker (could do with a dust son!)

I saw a hawk on the way there and a mad March hare in the fields which wouldn't stay still for me to take a photograph of. Although the fields south east of York were still under water, the land around where John lives is dry and a farmer ploughing a field near his home was working on very dry soil. On this clear day you could see York Minster on the very distant horizon in silhouette against the sun to the south and the Wolds rising a long way to the east. The number of cyclists was phenomenal although by and large the land is relatively flat with just gentle rises in the land here and there.

Snowdrops were in abundance on the verges and in John's tiny garden and the beautiful yellow flower of the lesser celandine was making its appearance and I saw a honey bee on it too although I was surprised as it's still very cold despite the sun.

I took John for lunch to Sheriff Hutton, just a few miles away to the Highwayman pub. However of major interest to me was the castle there, high on a hill, dominating the village and surrounding land. Only the four corners remain and the site, (which is privately owned) is closed to visitors unless you want to pre arrange it with the owners.

Sheriff Hutton Castle

Originally a motte and bailey castle dating around 1140, the stone castle was built in the late 1300s and is a grade ll listed building, with the motte and bailey having an Ancient Monument status.  Richard lll, Duke of Gloucester has been in the news recently due to his body having been discovered beneath a Leicestershire car park under what was a long forgotten church. Richard stayed there at the Sheriff Hutton Castle many times. Importantly, the castle became the site of the Council of the North. Its purpose was to improve government control and economic prosperity, to benefit the entire area of Northern England. Today, crows and pigeons are the only regular visitors.

A lovely day today, one to remember.

Chat soon

Ta-ra.

Switch the Light on

Just occasionally, the light comes on. 

My lad John calls it an 'epiphany'. From the ancient Greek the word means  'manifestation, striking appearance' and some give it a religious connotation - a realisation that Christ is the son of God celebrated on the Feast of Epiphany on 6 January in the west.

I've had lights come on before (usually people say of me the lights on but no-one is at home!) at important times in my life when revelations have become clear, or something important has dawned on me.

The last weekend in January and this weekend just finishing in February, I have undertaken a course in EFT - or Emotional Freedom Technique. The first weekend was a foundation - an introduction to the history and techniques and this weekend, the Practitioners course, more practical use of the techniques we have learned with some additional bolt-ons.. 

I guess before I tell you about the epiphany, it is worth just a few lines on what EFT is. It is a modern meridian therapy, energy therapies that have developed in the last couple of decades yet with its origin in acupuncture and acupressure probably going back now over 3,000 years. Developed by Gary Craig, this tapping technique on the body's meridian points and the use of language is a calming and relaxation technique which stimulates the energy system to relieve stress and anxieties. 

I have long been a firm believer that negative emotions can turn into physical manifestations such as mental and physical illnesses - it disturbs the body's energy system. EFT clears the negative emotions to give someone 'appropriate emotions.'

So that's my layman's or inexperienced explanation of what it is. I will use it to help others. 

Like many therapies, (my other skill is in Reiki for example) the therapist benefits tremendously from self healing for all the obvious reasons really. Being self healed and understanding what is happening to your own body and emotions help empower me to do the therapies with a clearer mind and a healthier aspect to my life.

By clearing some of the negative emotions in our training, some of which have been around for years, I have been helped to see the wood for the trees. My path in life has become clearer. Explanations for my negative emotions, my stresses and anxieties have become known and some of them go back donkeys years yet condition my behaviour and reactions today. 

My epiphany or the light has come on through understanding why I have felt like I have for many years, how I am not going to accept being treated in the future like I have in the past and to have the confidence and courage to face the fear of making decisions for me - and the for the better. EFT has given me the tools to do that and help other people too. I am joyous, calm and excited about the future.

People have limited beliefs which block their progress in life (my teacher said I'd never amount to anything, someone said it wasn't possible to achieve something, i don't deserve it, people like us don't achieve anything in life, good girls don't do that, you'll never marry, you are too ugly, and so on and so forth.)

Emotions can have physical manifestations such as pain, being scared (spiders, dentists, flying, claustrophobia and so on) and EFT can help these situations and clear negativity and put people on the path to a change in their life.

Interesting times ahead as someone once said.

Hope you are keeping warm this winter?

Chat soon

Ta-ra

Look Up

With two of my children and I being interested in history, I have always told them to look up when they are looking at buildings. Look up and see wonderful things, higher up - usually decorative which become a talking point. In Hull, there are many old buildings going back centuries which survived the bombing in the war and there are many things to wonder at and behold.

I don't know the technical terms for these things, but there are many colourful crests and sculptures, carved words and phrases, ornate windows, quaint roofs and tiling. All quite surprising really and gives us clues about the past.

I was walking down the old town in Hull the other day going to a meeting held in an old  converted corn exchange. The exchange itself isn't that old, built in 1899 on the site of a much older building but as is my want, I was day dreaming on my walk down there and looking up to the tops of buildings and I was disappointed to see a buddleia bush growing out of a window moulding on the top of a very nice building. I did think this was a real shame and whilst I appreciate it might cost a few bob to have it removed, why don't people want to protect their investment? The roots of the buddleia must be a capillary for water to drain into the building during the rain.

I was privileged to teach four students over the weekend with my co-tutor Linda Lee for their Second Degree Reiki qualification. This allows them and equips them to enter the heady world of being a Reiki Practitioner.

Reiki is a lovely gentle healing tool using a hands-on technique to channel universal life force energy into a client. The course itself is a sacred event with the disclosure of symbols to the practitioner which when used in conjunction with the healing enhances and gives more power to the healing process.

The age range of the students was phenomenal from a young lady in her twenties, a qualified nurse to a retired public servant.    

The day consists of the theory bit, the symbols and how they can be used and then an attunement followed by a practical where two volunteers come in to be healed by the newly accredited Reiki students.  It was a wonderful day and the feedback was fantastically positive.

The day has been bitterly cold today with a keen easterly wind. We never got the snow that was forecast for us, yet our cousins across the pond got many centimetres of snow on the eastern seaboard of the USA. The office was warm for a change and for the first time since well before Christmas, I haven't worn a jumper inside.

Chat soon

Ta-ra

A Day Out in Yorkshire

I hope I find you all well this cold winter's day? I've had a bit whirring round my mind lately and so haven't been able to blog effectively, but I've had a fabulous day out today, so I thought it worthwhile sharing the experience with you.

A trip to West Yorkshire was on the cards for today and for those not in the know geographically, East Yorkshire, North Yorkshire, South Yorkshire and West Yorkshire make up the greater component of Yorkshire. Being so huge it has always been necessary to split the county up administratively and to travel from one side to the other can take in some cases at least two hours and that's using motorways.

Main Street Haworth looking down the very steep hill

The first port of call was a little hamlet called Haworth in what is locally known as Bronte country. The countryside is very hilly, isolated and even today after the vast majority of the snow has gone in the country, this area is so high and rugged, it still has snow laying in the fields where it has piled against dry stone walls and hedgerows. 

West along the M62 motorway and then north with the great city of Bradford just to our right, we passed through beautiful rural countryside with distant mountainous hills in the distance resplendent with the snow on the tops bathed in sunlight. We graced little villages with lovely quaint names - Hippoholme (there were many equestrian centres and lots of horses in fields), Stone Chair and Flappit Spring.

The vast majority of the houses are built of stone, even the modern estates are sympathetic to this style of construction although there is some need of tidying up in some rural locations which look a little worse for wear.

Haworth itself is a smallish village if not somewhat spread out with fantastically steep hilly roads which the faint hearted driver would cower at! The Main Street is cobbled and narrow at the top and has a small range of quaint shops catering for the local tourist trade and consists of crafts, cafes, second hand shops and spiritual things. The street is steep and you have to be reasonably fit to walk it but there are plenty of shops and a couple of cafes and pubs in which to catch your breath. Although I didn't visit it, there is the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway. The line was opened in 1867 and runs steam trains at certain times and featured in the 1970 film 'The Railway Children.'

Salts Mill

After a cuppa and a browse round the shops we drove some 5 miles to Salts Mill which is in the town of Saltaire. As the name suggests, this is a huge and well preserved mill originally opened in 1853 which is now home to a collection of David Hockney art, a cafe, antique centre, a book store and a home shop. It is sadly underused although some of the mill is used by private businesses not open to the public. The mill itself is in a fabulous state of repair and the old features such as the vaulted brick ceilings, stone floors and original fittings are still in evidence.

A display case with a range of chemists medicine bottles - brings back memories of my own local  chemists shop, 50 years ago.

We didn't see the Hockney exhibition, through time constraints, but all in all a great day in dry weather. Haworth will be worth another visit because a lot of the shops were closed and it was too cold to spend a lot of time wandering about, a summer weekend visit is in order I think.

Chat soon

Ta-ra.

I'm Back!

My son gently and tactfully reminded me that I hadn't written a blog for sometime by pointing out the number of posts were falling. An old friend Bryan once quoted on his blog a Mark Twain witticism: "I you have nothing to say, say nothing." I guess I have plenty to say, the issue is, would it be of interest to anyone else! Then - everything happens at once!

Great blogger and writer Paula Readman has had a short story published on a site called CafeLit titled  'Cold Calling' - it's a stunning short -  read it and be chilled!!!Read her blog here.

I was at a friends last night having returned in thick falling snow from the cinema in Hull from seeing Les Miserables. I hadn't been particularly interested in seeing the film because the trailers showed it to be - well - miserable: revolutionary, dark, wet, people crying and dying in poverty, something wonderful to lift the spirit!

In fact this was a super cinematic production of popular theatre culture. I knew nothing of the story and had never been to see the stage production but the film was an absolute delight with all the emotions coming into play at one time or another. The ensemble cast were excellent and the singing was great, even from Russell Crowe (of whom one critic said, he couldn't sing.) If Hugh Jackman as the lead Jean Valjean  doesn't win award after award for his performance, I would be very surprised and disappointed.

The singing was done 'live' on film rather than being dubbed, I don't know what the technical term for this is but it's a rare technique in musical film and the resulting emotions the actors gave to their parts whilst singing was very moving indeed.  Rated at 12A, thoroughly recommended.

There was one spoiler and that wasn't on the screen, it was two young women sat behind us a few rows back who were talking and giggling throughout the film. Anger got the best of me at the end as the closing credits began to roll and people were getting ready to go, I stood up, looked directly at them and in a voice loud enough for several rows to hear I told them what I thought of them (no swearing - remain dignified at all times) and perhaps the cartoon in the next cinema would be more suitable for them. Needless to say they hurriedly exited heads down before everyone else. Fortunately, I had several murmurings of support.

Leaving my friends house around two a.m. this morning, a fox slowly trotted by along the footpath in the thick snow as I exited the door. Nothing unusual in that you may think and I've seen many foxes in that area, but it almost immediately sat down in the middle of the footpath and curled up. I had my trusty point and shoot Lumix and took a few pictures of it. It allowed me to get within ten feet of it before sauntering off a few yards and curling up once more. I saw lots of other foxes on my way home foraging for food and I think this one I saw close to had probably been breeding and was too tired to run off!

I have no cliche photographs of the snow - decided not to take any unless I saw something unusual. We've had our first major dollop of snow as mentioned above and today, most of it is still around although it's wet. The main danger comes from ice and freezing that goes with it. The next lot is forecast for Sunday night, just in time for the commute to work on Monday morning, hey ho.

Chat soon

Ta-ra

Now or Then?

The sun sets on 2012

As 2012 draws to a close, I've heard a mixture of views about the year. Certainly a number of people have said it was their worst ever and 2013 needs to be a whole lot better. I wonder against what you judge a year's success or failure. 

I can imagine the loss of a loved one, redundancy, serious illness, divorce could be a hint that it's a year you'd rather forget, but on the other hand a successful year might be a marriage, a birth, a house move, a windfall of cash, a new job or an adventure you'll never forget.

The vast majority of my years for example are a mixture of emotions, some difficult times mixed with some good times. So how serious does the bad have to be to outweigh the good to dub it a year you'd rather forget? There's a whole lot of contradictory amateur and professional psychology about which talks about forgetting the past and look to the future only whilst others say the past has made you who you are and therefore how or why should you forget it. The past does shape us to become who we are today. But that doesn't mean to say we have to stay in that shape.

Some people bury the past because it's too painful to remember the traumas whilst others hang on the successes of the past and the pleasant memories. 

Perhaps this is too simple, but for me, the past can't be changed - success or trauma alike. It can't be erased and can't be changed to reinvent the outcome. It's just a spark of electricity in your brain, a piece of data stored away to come back and haunt you or delight you. Can we selectively forget, I suppose we can, but the memory is still there locked away somewhere and our character or behaviour is directly or indirectly affected by it one way of the other.

Ironically the future doesn't exist of course in any way shape or form. I guess we can influence immediate future events although this isn't entirely certain because events unknown or unexpected can come to bite us on the bum and scupper our plans very easily. 

So what do we know? Now. That's it, for certain, we know what we can see, hear and feel at this very moment in time. Many writers talk about the 'now' and how we should enjoy it for what it is, and if that's all we were able to concentrate on, living in this moment we call now will make the worries of the past disappear and the future isn't even a consideration. Of course this is more difficult that you can ever imagine, particularly in this modern and dynamic world and few people can concentrate hard enough to live in the 'now' for more than a few seconds or minutes.

This doesn't mean to say that we shouldn't give it a go, especially in times of stress or anxiety and one method could be meditation for example.

But before I go, I just want to mention a few people who have left us this year and passed on, none of which I have met and not even been particularly influenced by, but those I want to mention have given much pleasure and interest and have helped to pass the time now and then.

Singers Andy Williams and Robin Gibb, Davy Jones of the Monkees and musicians Dave Brubeck, Ravi Shankar and Hal David and actors Ernest Borgnine and Herbert Lom as well as writer, actor, director and stunning comedian, Eric Sykes. There have been others, writers, Kings, philosophers and astronauts as well as ordinary people who touch our hearts and senses in a whole host of ways. Gone but not forgotten.

As the New Year draws ever closer, I wish you and yours a safe, happy and successful 2013. 
 
Chat soon
Ta-ra.

One Over the Eight

I think these signs at the top of the street have been celebrating a little too early!

It's nearly that time of year again. I've just been out for a walk in the rain (with brolly) and thoroughly enjoyed it; time for thinking and watching the little rivulets of water running down the hill into the village by passing all the gutters still blocked with leaves. Fortunately, we are well above sea level here but the ground is saturated and even my garden has pools of water on it.


There isn't much preparation for Christmas, we're breaking with a fifty year plus tradition and this year, we're having steak instead of turkey which I am so looking forward to. Boxing Day consists of being with family and a short visit to a friend to say hello in the morning. Sadly, back at work on the 27th but as most people take Christmas off, the phone and e-mail should be very quiet until the New Year!

I haven't done a list for many months and I thought I'd do one that's seasonal and relates to the financial position at home - certainly mine! 

10 things that tell you you've overspent at Christmas:

1. American Express calls and says; "Definitely leave home without it."
2. Your idea of a 7 course meal is taking a deep breath outside a restaurant.
3. You think of a lottery ticket as an investment.
4. You give blood everyday, just for the cup of tea and biscuit.
5. You finally clean your house, hoping to find loose change.
6. McDonalds supplies you with all your kitchen condiments.
7. The wolf sends you food parcels.
8. You go back for seconds at communion.
9. Dried turkey is all you have for the twelve days of Christmas.
10. You rob Peter and then you rob Paul.

I hope you have a great Christmas, if you don't celebrate it - the seasons greetings to you.

Chat soon

Ta-ra