Blimey .. Don't It Come Round Quick - Day 4

March 6th 2006

On our walk today, Corbin was on the lookout for the odd sneaky 'BabyBel' which might be hidden under a bush, around a lamppost or inside a gate. I was in the moment and realised how much nature there is around me even in such a built up area. I decided to count and take note of every tree I passed if it was growing in the street. I counted 69 trees just on the stretch of Fishponds Road I walked, I was shocked, imagine how many times the dog and I have walked past all those 69 trees and never 'really' noticed them.

Some of them are quite huge. There is one with hair like Sideshow Bob and another whose bark is swirling, twisting around the trunk. Even without leaves some of them are magnificent to behold. In the moment as I was, not really taking too much notice of the dog, he got bored and went into the newagents to get a paper. We had a miniature barn dance with an old guy in an electric wheelchair (those things should have limiters !).

It was a glorious day, brilliant sun and blue skies.

We found a mandala in St Mathias Junior School, it used to have a tree in the middle, now just a stump .. such a shame. Also there was a haphazard mandala of tiny purple crocuses in a cottage garden along the way.

I had stopped counting trees by the time we reached Thicket Avenue and Corbin was glad because he had read all the interesting bits in the paper and there must be at least 200 trees on this road.

Courtesy of a work colleague who yesterday showed me how, today is a paper star day. I sat at my desk in front of the window with Robert Miles on the CD player, candles burning and the sun on my face. The birds chirping merrily (there was a great tit trying to have a bath, he was chased off by bigger bully sparrows, he had to make do with a shower as they flicked water on him). I began to make paper stars and found it very calming.

Some of my stars are perfect and some of them leave a lot to be desired.

I sat in the sun to have my lunch there was a large run of cloud passing by, it looked like an avalanche of pure snow from a mountain top. How beautiful the sky is.

I intend to send a star to each Deepener. I made several mandalas with the stars, then I named them, one for each Deepener and decided to sit and meditate with each one. I put on my Ambient Meditations CD and sat with the first star on my crossed ankles and the Deepener in my awareness, I did this for each star in turn and then for the last two tracks of the CD, I sat with all the stars together including my own. The CD finished and I was so calm, centred and still inside. I sat for a while longer, the world carrying on outside, the trees blowing in the breeze, the birds twittering, the traffic on the Causeway, the clouds continually rolling by, the water flowing through the downpipe, the sun beating down on everything. Maybe this is what life is about ?

I seem to have currently some kind of attraction to rainbows and the colour black, I sat to draw a larger than A4 circle of rainbow, in it I drew hills holding the sun and a path leading into the hills towards the sun, my journey toward the light ?

I laid all the stars around the mandala, making another mandala ..

I cooked dinner, individual vegetable mandalas with fresh basil (mmmmm fresh basil) served on pasta. Afterwards, my project day treat, a sherbert fountain .. a mandala of sherbert and a liquorice stick (not really a mandala no matter which way you look at it, hey but so what, who cares - and it's all down the front of my dark blue top !).