Christmas is coming..........

Christmas is coming and the goose is getting fat,
So please put a penny in the old man's hat
If you haven't got a penny a ha'penny will do
If you haven't got a ha'penny then God Bless you!

I haven't thought of that rhyme for years, I used to say it as a child. My Mother loved Christmas and she would play her Christmas LPs from aboout mid-November on, singing along with all of them; Jim Reeves, Max Bygraves, Bing Crosby and many various artists compilations. I loved them too.
Yesterday, David and I bought our tree in the Market and I took it home (always in my car!!!). After dinner last night we brought the tree in and began dressing it, lights first then decorations. Each decoration we have has a memory.......some were my Mums, some were presents from family/friends, some we gave to each other, some we bought at home and abroad. As we dress the tree we talk about the decorations and reminise about Christmasses past. This is out 28th Christmas tree and each year we say we won't buy as big a tree and each year we are suckers!

Once again in the background we play our Christmas 'LPs', including a great version of Sleigh Ride and Little Drummer Boy by Alexander O'Neil......very funky. When we hang our snowman on the tree, David always does a great version of Walking in the Air.......very special. Once the tree is up the LPs go away and the Christmas CDs come out. Sometimes tradition is safe and warm and reassuring.

Now the hard part.........Christmas cards!!!!!!!!!!!!

The House Above...

The photo in the previous post of the old tumbledown cottage is "The House Above". It is on McCaffreys mountain in Co. Fermanagh and it is the house in which my paternal Grandfather was born. As a child when I would visit I always wanted to go up the mountain, I would go in around the old house, and in later years also, yet always thought it was just an old shed.......until early this year. Now it has taken on significance, it is not just any old tumbledown shed or cottage, it is where some of my family came from. It is known as the House Above and it is where my roots lie, it is special, it has history, it is home in a strange way. When I went up there after finding out the story behind it, I almost felt I was making a pilgrimage......what had always been a very special place and area to me suddenly became even more so. As a child I always felt at peace on this mountain, I still do. Strangely, one of my hobbies is hill walking!

I am......

I am
I am me
I am getting to know me
I am not afraid of me anymore

Sometimes it was easier to get to know others than me
Sometimes it was easier to see beneath their layers than my own

I am
Iam me
Sitting here having a coffee and muffin
I now like me................
How are you??

I am your Body, Listen to me!

It always amazes me how easily we can be blown off track and start heading in a completely different direction to where we thought we were going. It happened me only recently, and it wasn't until I began noticing the familiar nauseous feeling did I take a step back and take notice. Our bodies have an incredible way of looking after us and giving warning signals, if we choose to take note. Fortunately I am at a place where I now can and do, however that was not always the case. Like so many others, I would forge on and on, becoming more and more exhausted until I reached a place where everything would shut down.....physically and mentally........pure and utter exhaustion. If you think about it, if we are truly at one with ourselves this would not happen. We have an amazingly intricate inbuilt alarm system to warn us of dangers, and if we know what we are feeling and why, we will notice any shifts within. Shifts which would indicate that something, internal or external, is not as it was and that it is time to deal with this change so that we can maintain balance.
On another note, I met an elderly gentleman earlier this week who proudly told me; he was 85 yrs of age, has 5 children -all teachers, he still drives, plants his own vegetables and goes to mass every morning. His eyes were as bright as a young boys and his skin glowed. I asked him what kept him so fit and healthy, his reply was "Hard work, and good cabbage." He went on to tell me that he always reared and killed his own animals for meat, and that he never sprayed with chemicals. We, as a people, had so much and then ruined it all with too much of everything. Fortunately, many are becoming aware of this, and there is a great yearning for simplicity again among many I know, myself included. I was asked this evening if I am aware when I experience pleasure, and my answer was simple things.

HOPE...................

Good Morning America and thanks for lifting your heads, straightening your backs and doing something which not only raises hope in your own country, but also across the world. For a long time I have watched America and wondered 'What the hell are they doing?', 'How the hell did he get there?' and loads of other questions. I was almost giving up on the people and their country. I am not political, and this is the first time I have sat in front of the tv early in the morning with tears streaming down my face watching the results from 'any' election. I think Obama gives everyone hope and he is a symbol for everyone, in that we all have the ability to be whatever we want to be. I wish him luck and send him loads of good energy, and I hope he has the strength and ability to remain clear and focused, and to follow the path he has before him.

I have spent today at a terrific seminar by Peter De Jager, dealing with Change Management and all things business. Great day, very informative, great presenter and I am shattered. At this moment I would love to be sitting on the rocks at the shore in Gleninagh, just like I did on Sunday. The sea was so still and calm, there was no wind and you could hear sounds from miles away echoing across the bay......it was magical. There is a great energy which comes from the rocks and the sea, it soothes and calms the body and mind, it is almost spiritual. After sitting in a heated room with 30 other people for 8 hours, I long for space, light and air. I long for the country, the sea, nature.

I think it is healthy for us all to tap into the basics in life......nature, family, friends, conversation, quietness, peace, laughter, SIMPLICITY.

Thurs morning, and I am looking out at the trees turning the colour of Autumn which my Mother so loved. I remember how she loved walking through the fallen leaves when they were dry, and kicking them up.......such fun, good memories. She loved to laugh, however she also had some down times when laughter was hard to find. The beauty was that if sparked she could laugh and that was infectious. Unfortunately, she lived with a dark cloud over her and it coloured her world at times. She was a great Mother, she did the best she could, at times she was hard and difficult, most of the times harder on herself than others. She had amazing eyes, they really were the eyes to her emotions, and she could not lie. If she was happy so were her eys. If she was sad, so were her eyes. If she was pretending, her eyes gave her away.

When I began this blog yesterday, I didn't expect my Mother to be part of it......don't know what I expected! She is part of it and that's ok, she would have loved the attention, so go for it Mum xx

Facecream

Hello again and welcome to Toni and Heather.....my first followers, my but I am getting into this.

I am sitting at home, just had some lovely Green & Blacks hot chocolate and have a good old fashioned facecream on for dry skin (well it is winter out there). I remember my mother would go into the bathroom at night for her wash, and emerge with a shiny/greasy face from Ponds coldcream, she had the most beautiful skin. She always used soap and water, nothing fancy, and would then put on her cream, and when the light would catch her cheek bones she would shine and look so young. She had amazing cheek bones, the only make-up she used was pressed powder and lipstick, I remember putting on eyeshadow for her once, but you know she didn't need it.
I haven't thought about that for a long time and I can still see her shining.

Wow, I have a Blog...........!

Wow! I have just set up my own blog...........may not seem much to some of you, however, I am so excited. I have been introducing myself to more and more technology over the last couple of months and the speed seems to be picking up.

I was born in the sixties, we had a record player and I remember our first colour T.V., and like many people of my age I have been slow to welcome technology.........possibly due to fear. Since I began welcoming it in, my God, I love it.



Today, I joined an online Global Community of Coaches, and have been connecting there also. So exciting, great ways to improve communication rather than what I would initially have thought. So I stand corrected, I have learned.



So who am I? For now I am enjoying just being out there, so I will introduce myself later. I am enjoying the newness of this and the freedom of this BLOG.

Hello to you all and Take Care.