Spring has sprung !!

Well, it's definitely springtime here in Scotland- the sun has been shining for three whole days. A very welcome sight after the dark, rainy and very windy winter. My front lawn has it's first cut yesterday - badly needed and when my neighbour did hers last week it made it look even more scruffy, so it just had to be done. 

Below is a picture taken at the Botanic Gardens in Edinburgh last Sunday, which I had not been to in years  - it's my favourite pic of the day, mostly because it came out so well.

I've just planted some sunflowers seeds and a few herbs- I can't wait to see how they grow!! Yes, I am most definitely in a spring kind of mood!

Firewalk- me??

I took part in my first fire walk last night at the wonderful Tir Na Nog. What an experience! I went along with my friend Sal, I'm not too sure what I expected but it was just so good!! I am still buzzing!
There was about 25 of us in our group - all women, apart from one man. First of all we went down to light the fire, carefully built earlier on in the day by Oona. The fire was really big and I could not imagine it burning down so that we could walk over it (but it did!).  We each lit 2 candles to feed the fire - one with a hope or wish for ourselves and then the second for a hope or wish for another person. Oona then handed around a bag of herbs she had mixed together earlier and we each put this into the fire with a positive wish. Three processes to add energy to the fire - three being the magic number and this being a magical time of year. Halloween or Samhain. I won't tell you what my wishes were - they were  very personal to me.  The fire burned really well - surprisingly actually given that it had been raining heavily earlier on (if fact there was talk at one point of the walk having to be cancelled) and also, it was very windy- I guess there was a lot of energy there! Watching the fire burn like that was very captivating. Then we left the fire to burn down - it takes about 1 1/2 to 2 hours to burn down. We all went back in doors to finish getting ready for our walk. We were each given paper and wrote or drew the reasons why we were doing the fire walk- what we wanted to achieve by it. Oona then showed us how to break through anything that was holding us back and stopping us from achieving our goals. You take an arrow and place the sharp end into the soft hollow at your throat, put the other end against a tile and after taking three big breaths, push against the arrow so that it breaks - hence pushing against the thing that is holding you back. Lots of people got up to do it for lots of various reasons. Each person asked for a word particularly special to them to be chanted while they did it. It was a very special bonding moment between the group! I myself did not get up, I felt I was happy enough to do the fire walk. After this we were all ready to get down there to do the walk. Oona explained that we would all go down to the fire and only when we were ready would we walk over the hot coals (she did remind us they were hot - no self hypnosis technique to trick you into thinking it was cool - it's hot!), if you didn't want to walk then you didn't have to, she said that each person would know when they were ready to go, when we were walking across the coals we were to take purposeful steps and head towards that thing we want at the other end.  Then we all walked down to the fire. I must admit when I got there and looked at the fire pit while Oona was raking it I did think 'that looks really hot! How am I going to do this?' but the doubt was only there for a fraction of a second. I was ready to walk over almost as soon as I got down there so I just did it. It was absolutely amazing!!! I just put my foot down and then kept walking - I could feel the heat from the pit, and yet not on my feet. I just felt such a high when I'd done it. Everyone was clapping and I actually did a little bit of jumping around!!!! What a high! Sally walked soon after me and when she reached the end we had a big hug. We each walked three times in total. Twice  by ourselves and once together. We each wanted to do it again. but we decided to keep it to three - the magic number. Three processes to light and give energy to the fire, three walks!
So - would I do it again - hell yes! I know it sounds like a cliche but it's such an empowering experience. I was on such a high last night and am still on a high this morning! The team at Tir Na Nog were fantastic!!! They really made my first fire walk experience special. Sally and I are already planning our next one!!!!!
I would say , if you've ever been tempted, been thinking about it but not got round to it - do it!!!! It's an experience you'll remember for the rest of your life!                       

Why has it been so long since I blogged?

Laziness - pure and simple! What can I say, may as well be honest. Although I have been fairly busy of late. Holidays, a couple of festivals and now the Edinburgh Festival is upon us. Plenty of things to blog about amongst all that - so watch this space. Several curious blogs to come over the coming weeks :) 

By the way............

Oh ...... and by the way...........I googled 'wine in bath' to provide a picture for my previous post and got the above. It's a wine bath in Japan and had the tag line - 'bath in wine and drink it'. Now why would you drink wine someone else had been bathing in - why oh why ? 

Why waste time on bad wine?

Well I finally got around to mowing the lawn this evening. Is is a very hot evening so I decided as a treat to run a lovely hot bath, pour in some aromatherpy salts which i brought last summer (and had been hiding behind my many bottles of scented lovelies in my bathroom) and pour myself a wee glass of vino. As I was listening to Tricky's Maxinquaye and enjoying the wonderful smells of the salts a thought came to me . Why do I waste time on bad wine? Now, I am not a wine snob - although given the budget, I so would be! But I know what I like and sometimes (well most times) I buy a couple of cheaper bottles of wine to enjoy of an evening with friends but really I should just buy one really good bottle of wine and savour the taste rather than drink it down too quickly.  So, as I was sipping my rather tasty Barbera D'Asti (a little treat to myself at the beginning of last month when I splurged £50 on two bottles of wine and a bottle of port at Valvona & Crolla- I only went in for some focaccia bread) I made a pact not to buy cheap wine just for the sake of having a drink and spoil myself once and a while with  lovely wine. Wine should be an occasional indulgence to be savoured..........or maybe that's just the wine speaking.

A wee Metaxa anyone?

Metaxa - the drink of the Gods is a distilled spirit. As I have been frequenting Christos a lot of late and am eagerly looking forward to my holiday to Kephalonia I have had one or two wee Metaxas recently.  Metaxa comes in five major varieties: Three Stars, Five Stars, Seven Stars, Twelve Stars and the Grand Reserve. The number of stars represents the number of years the blend is matured. The five star is notably drier, making the alcohol more pronounced. The seven and twelve star are more flavoursome and complex, while the twelve is again more dry because there is no addition of wine. The Grand Reserve is the most expensive and difficult to find.

I previously liked the five but have become a fan of the seven. I am planning to get some twelve and hopefully Grand Reserve on my holiday. My top tip for a yummy nightcap is chocolate milk and Mextaxa - a good night sleep guaranteed.  Στην Υγεια Μας! 

Kangaroos in Germany ?

Whilst gazing out of the window on my journey from Bremen to Hamburg this morning I was sure that I spotted two Kangaroos.  In a field. Just outside Bremen. Honest! My eyes were definitely not playing tricks on me- there were two Kangaroos. Are there Kangaroos in Germany?