Another very cold day on the island but with some welcome winter sunshine. A busy day on the smallholding with Pete at home getting on with some overdue jobs. You just have to accept that there is always more to be done when running a smallholding but it is good to see the raised beds being cleared ready for their winter mulch. I have been making wreaths all day and I am sure I am getting slower. I am a lot slower than I was a few years back but I also thinking that I am getting terribly fussy. When you start cutting off individual hydrangea petals and spraying just the very middle gold you may be starting to lose it. I am hoping that this attention to detail will be appreciated and translate into sales.
The first batch of bases I made used binding wire to secure but as time progressed my weaving improved so there was no need for the wire. You just know that I am now undoing the first batch to redo without the wire. It is worth it though, at least that is what I am telling myself. I am quite determined to get all the dried ones finished by the end of tomorrow so that the early part of next week can be back to candle making and sewing. That will then leave Thursday and Friday for the fresh wreaths. I always get nervous when I put a schedule together because invariably something comes along to drive a massive hole in it. I prefer to move through tasks organically; allowing one task to suggest the next. That method works fine when there are no deadlines.
Yesterday was a tough day because more friends shared bad news and this was on top of friends sharing awful news earlier in the week. Sometimes there is nothing you can say to help and I find that so sad. That said, it is important to stay in touch with reality. If there is nothing to say then staying quiet is sometimes the best way forward. Bad news that arrives on top of bad news is very hard to bear and I am sure we have all had times like that in our lives. I am a firm believer in letting the news sit for a while and allowing the mind to absorb it before even attempting to move forward. Creating some space is never a bad thing as it allows us time and sometimes that is very important.
I now have a ridiculously large proportion of my friends going through very demanding times so something is out of alignment. I am also working very hard with a couple of international charities on projects in both Syria and the Philippines. It is important for me to let all this go if I am to be of any use to anyone. I use meditation now to get to sleep and in those precious few moments I let the sadness escape from my mind. It allows me to sleep well and tackle the next day as I need to.
Photograph taken by David Newell.
One of my students on my meditation through writing course sent me a piece of writing she had done in response to one of my exercises. I am always so pleased to receive writing and feel incredibly privileged. This piece of writing stopped me in my tracks. The quality was beyond question but the clarity spoke to me in a deeply convincing way. Combining meditation and writing is, for me, such an exciting development and I am proud of my course. The writings that have come in have convinced me that meditation has enabled the writer to delve far deeper and find new truths. The next offering of the course will begin in late January or early February so if anyone is interested do drop me a wee message.
I am currently working on putting together a batch of really good references and resources that I think you guys might enjoy in January when Scottish island mum goes a little quiet. I use January every year as a month to look both backwards and forwards before identifying the priorities for the year ahead. I plan to post these links in the final few days of this project in the hope that some you will find them useful.
One soul many hearts has had a busy week and there are lots of new things for you to enjoy. Kathy's tale of her trip to the US is now complete and available for you all to read. More photographs have been added into the 'keeping it real' gallery and we also featured the work of a wonderful young artist.
Next week Robyn and I will be pulling the December newsletter together so if you haven't yet subscribed just enter your email in the box on the home page and your newsletter will be delivered to your inbox automatically. Please remember the site is running a theme of 'enchanting' for December so if you have anything you would like to share that makes a response to that them do get in contact.
Photograph by Sasha Cookson
Our week has centred around the wonderful news that Molly has got a place on the MSc at Nottingham Trent university that focuses on endangered species. Molly and I are now busy researching various ways she might fund this course. We are contemplating setting up a student funder campaign where Molly can attract funding for people who want to help. These people would be essentially sponsoring her to complete her masters degree in conservation. If enough people got involved contributions could be small but, I would hope, the impact would be great. Molly is dedicating her life to bringing endangered species back from the brink. She has held this ambition for so long that is clearly a calling. She will never be rich working in the field of conservation but she doesn't care about that. She just wants her life to make a difference and we could not be more proud.
A student funder campaign reaches out to communities, businesses and individuals for financial support. My thinking is that we can not all do what Molly does and intends to do more of but maybe some of us can support her in it. It is a radical but innovative approach to postgraduate funding but I think she might just pull it off. Molly has to be prepared to do things in return for any donations she receives so we are thinking her Conservation Stories blog is a good place to start. We have plans to expand and deepen the blog so that it may be a place for readers to be both informed and inspired. It will be full of practical projects that we can all engage with as we support conservation of our planet. It is all promising to be an exciting, if a little ambitious, project but if anyone can pull it off it is Molly. I will, of course, be doing my bit to do all I can to support her through my existing networks. Molly has produced a piece of writing that responds to the theme 'enchanting' and I hope that when people read it they will realise the potential of her work and get behind her.
So, as usual there is lots happening in Scottish island mum land but my thoughts remain with my dear friends who are finding life tough at the moment. I have let them all know that I am here to help in whatever they need me to. I am helping a couple of them in very practical ways and that, I hope, is useful. But this final sentence is for a very special lady. I know you don't like to ask for help and I understand that too well but I can be right by your side in a heartbeat......
Until tomorrow. xx
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