Mind, Body and Spirit Wellness

Yesterday I spent much of the day in a workshop group learning all about needle felting. It was a day well spent, for I was with others and being creative. I made this… We often forget how it feels to simply be. To be oneself. To be with others. To be happy. To be quiet and still. To simply be! We have forgotten…be kind, be kinder. We are oft times unkind to ourselves. We can never fully know or understand what others are struggling with, yet we all know the value of a kind word, a caring call or a shared…

Building an Ark…One Garden At ATime

September 24, 2016September 24, 2016 Categories: Animals · Bees · Birds · Buddha · Earth · Gaia · Garden · GardensTags: allotments · Ark for Earth · barren land · Bealtaine Project · bees · birds · butterflies · cash crop · creating a garden for Nature · food and shelter · forestry · garden · habitat · lughnasadh · monoculture · Planting trees · pollinators · survive and thrive · wildlife37 Comments

As the thousand and more trees and thousands of plants of the Bealtaine Project grow taller and more dense, so it is the once barren land seems more and more as it is…an Ark for Earth, set into a monoculture landscape of Cash-Crop-Forestry and animal grazing fields. This summer witnessed the most Bees, Butterflies, Pollinators and Birds ever! The wildlife in search of home are migrating to the oasis of Bealtaine Cottage. They know where the food, shelter and ultimate habitat is to be found! So, I thought to myself, what if those with gardens, allotments, smallholdings etc., pledged to…

View from the Edge of the World

July 24, 2014November 30, 2016 Categories: Buddha · Cottage · Country Living · Culture · Current Affairs · Garden · Ireland · Life · Permaculture · UncategorizedTags: Cicero · empire · fall of rome · Imperium · integrity · lead pipes · lead poisoning · Lustrum · madness · politicians who lack compassion · Robert Harris · Roman Empire · template of decline · the dark ages · the Roman Empire26 Comments

As the Roman Empire came apart at the seams, the safest place to be was on the very edges of that dying empire. I have recently been reading the books, by Robert Harris, detailing the life of the great thinker, orator and statesman, Cicero. It is uncanny how many parallels with modern day life can be drawn from the novels, ‘Imperium’ and ‘Lustrum’…(the third in the trilogy is yet to be published). Of all the cumulative reasons why the Roman Empire came apart, endless wars, an over reliance on slave labour and corruption in government appear to be at the…

Uplifted

May 16, 2014 Categories: Bealtaine Cottage · Birds · Buddha · Cats · Earth · Organic Garden · Smallholding · Thoughts · UncategorizedTags: Bealtaine · Che-Mousey · cheerful · moon · roses on the veranda · Scorpio · uplifted · view · waning moon · window7 Comments

The roses are in bloom on the veranda. The view through the sitting room window is cheerful and lovely! I sit with my back to the stove, warm, waiting for the kettle to boil on the hob, so as I can make a big pot of tea. As I type the kettle begins to sing… The day has been warm and dry with lots of sunshine. I am still in my dressing gown, more relaxed and rested, thank goodness! Sammy-Bear and Che-Mousey have kept me amused all day and Jack has been excellent company, staying close by my side, stoic…

Scorpio Moon

May 14, 2014May 14, 2014 Categories: Animals · Bealtaine Cottage · Buddha · CatsTags: Bealtaine cottage · Bealtaine full moon · full moon · full moon in Scorpio · Scorpio · tired and emotional8 Comments

This month marks the tenth anniversary of Bealtaine Cottage. Today, the 14th of May 2014, is the full moon of Bealtaine. This marks the actual Bealtaine celebration, as many of you know. The full moon is in Scorpio, my star sign. All I can say is that I am exhausted and feeling like I have reached rock bottom. According to what I have read on many of the Astrology sites, this is to be expected! Apparently, all the ups and downs I have been experiencing are almost at an end. Even as I write this, my photographs are refusing…

The Light of Spring

March 8, 2014March 8, 2014 Categories: Animals · Bealtaine Cottage · Bees · Buddha · Cats · Climate · Garden · Ireland · Permaculture · SpringTags: Bealtaine cottage · Buddha · cats · cottage · Gunnera · heat · light · looking at life through a mirror · mirror · otherworldly · Romantic Poets · Spring · stove · temperatures · warm nights · weather · winter7 Comments

Sammy-Bear lies concussed by the heat from the wood burning stove! It’s a tough life being a cat at Bealtaine Cottage! Over the past week there has been a struggle between Winter and Spring as temperatures have moved up and down the thermometer, with hard frost, heavy rain, warm nights and brilliant sun all in the mix! The rising sun reflected in the mirror at the far end of the veranda. The amazing light of early Spring… Moving closer to the mirror, the rising sun looks back at me over the head of the Buddha…quite otherworldly. This was how the…

Midwinter Cottage

December 6, 2013December 6, 2013 Categories: Animals · Art · Bealtaine Cottage · Buddha · Cats · celebrations · Childhood · Christmas · Crafts · Inspiration · Life · Personal · photography · Spirituality · Thoughts · WinterTags: album memories · blessings · Christmas · Christmas jingles · clay · cotton gingham · fabrics · Laura Ashley · London · Midwinter · midwinter light · natural fabrics · Northern Hemisphere · old lace · patchouli oil · Portobello road market · pottery · retro · sackcloth · William Morris5 Comments

The air is still. The storm has passed. Stillness and silence pervades the cottage. Jack is in his bed, and the boys continue to doss away the morning in the Lodge. A midwinter scene repeated all across the northern hemisphere. Someone remarked on the increasing silence they noticed in the world around them. Midwinter is a silent time, suffused with echoes and occasional sounds from strange places. Places that are more difficult to pinpoint on the landscape…it’s a trick played on us by Mother Nature as she paces the dormitories of sleep and hibernation. Candles illuminate the darkness, dispelling matt grey for moving…

Thanks, Thanks, Thanks!

November 29, 2013 Categories: Bealtaine Cottage · Buddha · Earth · Garden · Inspiration · Ireland · Life · Lifestyle · Permaculture · Spirituality · Thoughts · UncategorizedTags: beauty · Blackbird · depression · Divine energy · look around · morning · sad · thanks · uplifting25 Comments

Today I felt a tiny bit sad. Not for any reason in particular…I’m sure we all feel like this every so often. So there I was, having a good old wallow in being down, when something caught my eye, causing me to look up. It was a simple cameo…a blackbird that peered inquisitively back at me through the kitchen window. I “heard” the look. The beautiful bird brought me a message from Nature, saying, quite simply, “look!” And so I did. I looked out the window. I stepped outside and looked. There was an entire world around me that was…

The Wood in the Willows

November 16, 2013November 16, 2013 Categories: Buddha · Cats · Climate · Cottage · Country Living · Edible Gardens · Garden · Life · Permaculture · Trees · Uncategorized · WoodlandTags: Bealtaine cottage · Buddha · coppicing · growing veg in November · potager beds · Spindle berries · temperatures in Ireland in November · willow · Wind in the Willows · wood4 Comments

This is when the coppicing begins…early winter as soon as the leaves have fallen. This Willow will make excellent logs for the stove, once properly seasoned. The thinner bits will be added to the kindling pile and left to dry. Coppicing allows for continual regeneration of woodland and is an excellent way to help young woodland get established. This is a selective process and involves wonderful interaction with Nature, as it is slow and steady work. This is the interface of the young woodland, colourful and vibrant! The warmth of Bealtaine Cottage on a Winter’s night, is fast becoming dependent…