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Tag Archives: Reflections

Another gate opens, another ship sales from dock, and the crew is getting bigger all the time

14 Thursday Jun 2018

Posted by in Change is a coming, Friends, People, Reflections, The background story, The continuing adventure

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When I first started this blog, I chose the tag-line carefully….

I said in my intro to this blog that I was writing it for all the people who were wondering ‘What if?’ Or, like us, were thinking that there must be more to life than this – and not necessarily material things. who were thinking about making change, about people who were thinking about stepping off the path that we are all led to believe we should follow, and going off into the woods to see what life may hold.

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I have written about serendipity, one of my most favourite words, and something I believe in: A series of events that we were not looking for that add up to make something wonderful.

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I have written about our mini-bus of life, and asked who is on your mini-bus, how many people do you allow on your bus, give them a seat only for them to try and  influence you  to do what they think you should do, often because they want to feel safe in numbers, and need to know what they are doing is right?

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How often? When, in fact, you should not let them influence you at all. How many people have told you that your mad? That you need to keep doing what you are doing even if it is clearly killing you?

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I have had people contact me from all over the world to tell me that I have made them think. Not least when I share my experiences with regard to mental health (I am not going to call them issues, they are not issues they are just another part of the body that sometimes find’s it hard to work with all the shit we are bombarded with!!) Some of those people have made me cry, to know that my words have resonated with them. Some have made me smile when they start to make change.

I have made people laugh and I have made people cry, but most importantly for me I have inspired people. Not least our friend Karen:

I share her blog often, Dylan’s Welshie World. It is a blog about her puppy and her antics, but it is not just a blog about that, it is a blog about how that puppy has changed Karen’s life, how Karen has stepped off that cliff (or fell off! As she said the other day!) at a time when she needed the love that, sometimes, only a dog can bring.

You should read her story it is a young blog , but it will make you laugh out loud and make some others who have been on the hamster wheel for so long ask themselves if they need to make that change too. Karen has been brave, she had to overcome the worry of opening up to the world – but the response she had has been life affirming.

So I have inspired Karen, she has set up her blog after years as a high-flying editor she went back to writing, doubted herself because it had been so long,  until I convinced her and now her blog has become a hit and she is receiving high praise for her writing. – See, she just had to believe and have someone believe in her, of course she could write!! The things we come to believe!! Because we listen to that spin doctor in our head!

A series of events led Karen and I to being back in touch and closer than ever; sadly Karen’s dear mum died, her last remaining brother died a short time after, and, as death does, it started Karen on a path to looking at her life and the career that had defined her. Then a person who she had known for many years and got back in touch with showed that they were not the person that she thought they were all along, and left her at a time when her life was in upheaval. Just as that happened we got back in touch, I had sold a story to one of the Magazines that Karen edited, and, although we had seen each other over the years, I came back into her life at a time when she needed someone who would listen, had been through something similar, and would tell her the truth. In addition my husband makes her laugh all the time, and she needed that.

So Karen came over to see us, fell in love with our dogs (who couldn’t)….

 

Karen returned home with the firm intention of finding a Welsh Terrier puppy. They are hard to get, and there is normally an eighteen month waiting list, but serendipity clearly had a plan for Karen, and she rang a breeder who had just had a little girl puppy rejected because she had a kink in her tail. The breeder  liked Karen, liked the way she talked about the breed and just knew that, although others were waiting, Karen would love this Welshie with all her heart, and she does.

In the September Dyls came home to live with Karen, and the rest, as they say is history…

As Karen came over more and more and fell in love with the serenity of France, it made her think about her life again. No least watching Dylan run free around our garden like a mad thing helped her decide to come to France and spend the summer here and see where life takes her – she is starting to understand that she is not doing the driving!!

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So  today Karen packed up the car with the final bits and bobs, and she is now in France, with Dylan, and on her way to our house. On Saturday she collects the keys for her rental and she will be over here for at least two months, maybe more, who knows what we will find in our house hunt.

We have a new member of our family, two in fact, and she helps me in the same way as I help her. We are both straight talkers, and so alike, whoever is driving this bus knows what they are doing!! Not only that Karen loves my husband and his mix of madness, and vulnerability at times.

But it does not end there…. In August Jen, another old friend who we have all got close to again over the past year, is coming over for another adventure, travelling on her own, something she has not done for some time! Who knows where life will lead her; and then there is my other dear friend Mary, who has been inspired to sell her home in Herne Bay and go to pastures new in the countryside of England and take that chance. She says I have inspired her, and for that I am truly honored.

So over these last three years, I have read the Tao, learnt to let my ego go, to still be kind (even to arseholes! Oops!).

I have learnt to unlearn all that I had learnt – that material things are not important, and often make you unhappier, to not plan way in advance – you only have this moment that is all you are guaranteed; I have learnt to laugh in the face of adversity, to know that you can survive even when that spin doctor tells you that you can’t. Of course you can you wake up tomorrow and you are still alive! I know the people that count are sitting on my mini-bus and that all the others, whilst of course allowed to have an opinion, are not the ones whose opinions count where I am concerned.

I am thankful every day.

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I have read others stories as part of my book research, and my heart has broken all over again for those people, and I have learnt to just be me, and happy in my own skin.

But most importantly I have learnt that I can touch people with my words, from all over the world. Whilst it is an honor to be in the top twenty expat blogs in France, it is the people who I inspire who make me want to do more and more. For that I thank you all…..

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Moisy

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Living calmly…

27 Sunday May 2018

Posted by in Reflections, The adventures of living life in the French countryside

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“Vow to seek a calm inner response to the circumstances of your life,”

People who have known me for many years have known me to be a person who takes no crap, I would have rather lost what I had than take crap for it. I would fight my corner, ferociously, like a tiger, (and, to be fair I had to sometimes) and nobody would beat me. In fairness and as I have said in previous posts, including a little but more about me, I was conditioned at one point to not say anything, whilst this caused a rage that seethed inside me; and as a lot if you know it made me ill.

But now, as I sit here today, I have a different perspective. I still don’t put up with crap, but the difference is that I now look at people and choose to step away, or more often than not say nothing, because there is no point in confrontation, it gains nothing. I may say something to them I just don’t confront.

I do think that moving here, and living a simple life has enabled me to learn that an I have inner strength and I just don’t need to show it to others so openly. I have read the Tao ( some have even thought I have found God! Each to their own!) and I now dip into a verse each day, sitting here, surrounded by nature, and peace and solitude at times.

Over the past week we have randomly opened the Tao on the verse ‘Living calmly’: it is a lesson about living your life without letting others, or circumstances control it. It is about staying calm and believing that what you need will come, if you let it. Yesterday our dear friend Karen opened the book to choose the verse and it opened on this one again. When she said that we had read this already this week my immediate response was “Then we didn’t get the lesson, and we need to read it again!”

That is what this adventure has shown me, being so close to nature, that all you have to do is sit in peace and quiet, surrounded by nature, as I am now, listening to the bees humming, the birds singing and watching the swifts dancing in the sky, and I know if I believe what is needed will come.

Embrace the silence folks you will be amazed by what you hear!

If you just listen.

Moisy

Growing up too fast!

18 Friday May 2018

Posted by in My family and other furry creatures, The continuing adventure

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Growing up too fast!

Growing up too fast!
— Read on dylanswelshieworld.com/2018/05/17/growing-up-too-fast/

A poignant post about Dylan, the Welshie puppy. These dogs, all dogs, they change your life.

And then life runs away with you…..

06 Sunday May 2018

Posted by in My family and other furry creatures, The adventures of living life in the French countryside, The continuing adventure

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I cannot believe that it has been two weeks since I blogged! Life has just seemed to take over!

My dear friend took all of my stock of ‘handmade with love in our barn in France’ wooden hearts, moons and much more, back to England to promote at an artisan market. I spent two days painting and embellishing this promotional board for her to use, and then sod’s law stepped in and the courier company did not deliver it in time!

But such is life and the stall looked stunning anyway and has generated a lot of visits to our Etsy shop petiteFrenchfancies.We are blessed to have such food friends who help us, and I always count my blessings.

As part of promoting a shop, and raising my media profile, because I WILL get that book published, I have twitter, Instagram, and PinInterest accounts, and spend quite a bit of time posting to these sites, but they do work and so it must be done. It was no surprise to me that the stars of the show at the Artisan Market were the moons because I have a moon board on PinInterest that has just gone berserk averaging up to thirty pins a day!

This has inspired me to develop that particular part of the range and branch out into moons and hares, and I love it…

Also Spring has kicked in and the clematis, and hydrangea needed feeding and rearranging quickly, and our pots needed to be fed and prepped for the summer. I plan to have a blaze of blory in my pots this year.

Adding to that we are still frantically trying to clear our garden of the trees that were felled in February, just so we can mow our grass and stop any ticks getting to our much loved animals, especially these two…

The grass has got so long around the tree branches that they are literally becoming embedded and that will have to be our focus for the next week in between working and the two bank holidays that are in France!

So bank holidays mean vide grenier’s where the French bring out all their old treasures,and often all their old merde! And sell them. This is the time I am in my element, searching for pretty little French things to stock my shop, only last week I found these beautiful and rare finds…..

I want to keep the shelf, vintage from the 1940’s but hubby has put his foot down and said it has to go into the shop. He is right of course, we have been without a kitchen roof for three years, so we have to focus now that life has sent good people our way.

But now they have been added to my long list of things to do, as they have to be put onto the shop, with photos to be taken, and settings to be made!

Sadly we also lost two of the girlies over the past two weeks, despite adding calcium to their diet, and rubbing their bellies because we thought they were egg bound they passed away. We could not kill them or eat them and we have had to have a funeral pyre for them so we raised a glass one evening this week to say goodbye as we sat by the fire bin they were in. Now Claude only has three girls in his life, where this time last year he had six.

Like I always say, the only constant in life is change….

So speaking of change Tilly did not return. Her bed still lies empty, and there is a big hole in our hearts.

Last weekend a strange thing happened, TIlly had a small toy bird, that when touched, or tossed in the air would tweet, it sounded just like a bird. It was up on her bed, and I had forgotten about it, but last Sunday, on a wet afternoon, it started to tweet, as if something was playing with it. For two hours it drove Wiglet the Welsh to distraction; perhaps it was Tilly’s revenge for all the times she had chased her! And then it stopped. There was a strong sense that our beautiful little cat was with us, in spirit. On the Monday it started again, and I looked up at the bed, with tears in my eyes, and said how much I loved her, and thanked her for coming to say goodbye. The bird stopped tweeting, and for me, she was gone. But not for Rich, he still hoped; and so on Monday of this week, as he was in the kitchen making the tea, I heard him say “Oh my God!” He came running in to get his shoes on, saying Tilly was on the windowsill crying to come in. I flew outside, frantically cslling her, but she was not there. Rich swore he had seen her, I believe he had, she had come to say goodbye, to tell him to let her go.

So yesterday as I was working on PinInterest this picture came up on my feed, it was as if to say Tilly is with Snowy our Westie Dude, and he is looking after her

i have to believe what I tell others, who lose their beloved pets, if Tilly could tell me this is what she would say….

And yes I do have tears in my eyes.

Have a lovely Sunday everyone whatever time it is for you in your timezone, treasure every moment…

Moisy

A house is not a home….

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Posted by in Reflections, The background story, The continuing adventure, The good life

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Three years ago yesterday i moved out of my beautiful house, by the sea, to start this adventure. I loved this house, have always said it was the most beautiful house I would ever have the privilege  to live in. Edwardian, with so many original features….

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I had put my heart and soul into it, worked so hard on it renovating and decorating and making it into our home.

We were so rushed when it came to moving day I do not even remember closing the door for the last time, but I do remember sitting in the pub that night with tears rolling down my face. When my book comes out you will understand why the house,  for Rich (and now, as time has gone by I realise  for me also),  had become contaminated; it could never be the home we thought it would be; and as three years have passed I have come to realise that.

So then we found our house on the pinnacle of the rolling hills that are Ambrieres les Vallees, and we fell in love. For me it was bittersweet, it was not the house I had left, it was not the house that had taken part of my soul. But over the three years, despite the well running dry, the crappy cesspit (literally, all over the cellar floor sometimes!!) and the mold on the walls; it has shown me this …….

 

I sit in my bedrom and I look out at this my favorite tree and I feel at peace

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And over the years I have realised that a home is about love, companionship, laughter, and tears; it is not the house, it is the people in it. I look at my husband, and he is happier here. I know neither of us could go back to a house where you could reach out and touch your neighbour, surrounded by people and noise. We are too used to the peacefulness that surrounds us; and I have finally come to realise that I do not miss my old home, it was ONE of the most beautiful houses I lived in; but this is the most beautiful home. It has not taken my soul it has replenished it.

 

A chair is still a chair, even when there’s no one sittin’ there
But a chair is not a house and a house is not a home
When there’s no one there to hold you tight
And no one there you can kiss goodnight

 

The late great Luther Vandross..

 

Have a good Sunday folks.

 

Moisy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reminisces – January 2015 – packing away

05 Monday Mar 2018

Posted by in Reflections, The background story, The continuing adventure

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Found this as a memory today. A retrospective blog about packing up our house in England for our adventures, showing how hard making this type of decision can be. But now I sit in my home in France and look around the room, and my friend was right: people make a home.

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Packing away:

I realised as we packed away Thom’s room that we never did get around to changing his carpet!

A Sunday in January

Rich and I sat in the back room today, our snug, with the log fire burning, music playing. I got tearful about leaving our house. It will always be one of, probably the most beautiful houses I have ever had the privilege to live in. But…….We talked about the whole picture, how Herne Bay is a lovely place to live, but if you asked me if I want to live in this town in another ten years the answer would honestly be no.

I am bored with the walk along the beach path. I have done it nearly every day for the past ten years. Life is for embracing new things. There is a whole world out there to see and experience.

One of the deciding…

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A wonderful Winter’s Sunday

26 Monday Feb 2018

Posted by in Reflections, The continuing adventure, The seasons

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I have a few posts for you all this week – behind because I didn’t post last week and you will understand why soon.

But I feel compelled to write this one first. The ‘Beast from the East’ is upon us, and over the past five days the temperatures have been in the minus and on one morning we had a very slow supply of water (remember we have the water pipe above ground still so if it freezes!!!!!!!) So every morning we have got up and the first job is to check if we have running water, the second is to be thankful when we have; and be thankful for the lovely warm sunshine that we have also had that has clearly defrosted out pipe.

So after some busy days last week we decided that we would follow the French lead and have a Sunday of rest. The day started well with my husband waking me with a lovely cup of tea that we had in bed; he had lit the log burner to warm the house and raised all of the blinds to let the suns warmth in. I chatted to some friends whilst in bed and after another two cups of tea we got up, cleaned the kitchen (de rigueur when you live in the country) got dressed and out we went. I was determined to enjoy the beautiful cold day that had been given to us.

Hubby had had a ‘reccy’ recently and found a barrage – which is an electric damm, about a five minute drive from where we live and I wanted to go there for a walk. So we put the Welshie’s bra’s on (harnesses) and off we went. The skies were stunningly blue and clear, the wind was cold and crisp, and the sun was warm on your back –  giving you the distinct feeling of the battle that was taking place with Spring and Winter.

When w arrived at the barrage we were not disappointed …..

barrage cold sunday in Feb

There is a walkway across the barrage and as we walked across to the other side you could feel the power of the water thundering under your feet.

We then walked along the side of the river, where you could see across the river to  the the next town from us. view across the river in feb

The Welshie’s were in their element, there were so many smells to investigate that they even got there feet wet in the water looking for water voles, and chasing the ducks out of their hidey holes.

wiglet hunting by the river winters day feb

harley barley by barrage in feb

harely in the river winters day feb

To see our beautiful boy braving the freezing water, enjoying himself despite the cold was a blessing after nearly losing him last year. Like I always say, dogs teach us so much. He was having such a wonderful time that we through some rocks into the river and in he went!!!

harley in the river feb winters day

harely in the river winters day in feb

I just stood and looked around me and thought how blessed I was. I needed no money to experience the jewels that life can offer me, every day. The sun on the water literally took my breath away ..

sun on the river winters day in feb

We decided that we would come back to picnic on the side of the river, whatever the weather, and that we would bring our friends, who are visiting in April, to this place of beauty and tranquility. What a place to sit and be at peace with the world

seating area by river winters day in feb

As we wandered over to a little picnic area that was available we made a mental note that next time we would bring a flask of coffee and watch the world go by.

I just sat there and felt blessed

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Not least because I am married to him, and he makes me laugh, every day…

nutty husband on a cold feb day

So after a long walk we came home to our warm house (we had left the log burner topped up) got the flames going again and finished a perfect day with some wine and Toad in the Hole (perfect food for a winter’s day.)

When we got up this morning we had no water – after a temperature of -7 last night it was hardly surprising, and whilst I am ever hopeful the sun will defrost our pipe I know we will survive, we prepared for this eventuality. As I always say nothing apart from death or illness is insurmountable, it will all come right in the end.

Always believe…..

Moisy

Winter….. Cold cold winds and a smattering of snow

07 Wednesday Feb 2018

Posted by in My home, The continuing adventure, The seasons

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So the cold has us in its grip, my feet are like ice and I cannot warm them up, and I am currently sitting here writing this post with my feet on a hot water bottle. The room is warm but chilly old me, once my extremities get cold then they stay cold!!

The snow did come in a smattering and we have been wondering whether the pipe that is currently carrying water to our house, and above ground is going to freeze; but if we don’t keep thinking about it then we don’t give it credence and there bye  it won’t.

The chickens are loving the sunshine that has arrived with the cold, but not so much the fact that their water had over an inch of ice on it and Rich had to break it up and give them some drinking water in their Chicken Hilton Hotel. (Where there is good there is bad, and where there is bad there is good.)

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I have got loads of washing almost dry (although a tad frozen when I have brought it in) and we have embraced the cold and started to work on the garden; whilst wearing two fleeces and a woolly hat (I look so attractive sometimes, but then I look at Rich and so does he!!! Good jobs we loves each other!)

I have cut back my clematis that were starting to grow and were in a bad need of a hard cut; I also fed the hydrangeas that I bought last year, and went about the garden picking up the many many huge branches that have been blown out of our trees this winter during the wet and windy hooleys.

Add to that the precarious ones that were still blowing (unattached) in the wind…

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It made me realise just how much you are provided for if you just decide to get off your arse and get it!! As many philosophies say, if you just let go and stop looking what you need will be provided for you.

So Rich and I are now ahead of the game where wood is concerned, and will actually have a stock of wood for the next winter, and some still to be seasoned for the winter after. We have a ton of pine that needs cutting and we can intersperse that with other wood and use it safely if we do so.

I never thought I would be walking around my big garden picking up twigs to use to light my fire- but one of the biggest lessons I have learnt out here is waste not, want not; and now we have more wood to add to our pile and  enough kindling for the rest of this season.

As I was doing this I was thinking to myself and wondering if I had more money, would I still do this, would I still not waste things anymore? The answer was I would still do this; in my old life I would come home to my centrally heated home, it had real fires and we used the logs that could be bought already seasoned! Our’s are seasoned, the ones we picked up we had seasoned and, no, they are not pretty but they are real!

So yes, no matter how much money I have in the future I will still break up what my garden provides for us to survive the winter; it sure beats working in an office; and I know that I would rather work for nature than for my last employer!

It is a good feeling to  be ahead of the game for once, and we do finally feel as if we are getting there.

When we eventually came in from the garden, hands and faces stinging, the house was warm and welcomed us. I believe it is warming up every year because it knows we love it, each other, and all our furries; along with the friends and family who have stuck with us and shown us so much support; it knows we love living here; and love all the lessons we have learnt

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And we do.

Moisy

 

 

 

 

Older and wiser (I hope!)

31 Wednesday Jan 2018

Posted by in Reflections, The continuing adventure

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Mayenne

The Mayenne River at twilight

So it is official I have now completed my 55th year on this earth; and because I know I am such a different person  I thought that I would take some time to look back on the last year and share with you the things that have caused me to change, and make my life so much better in so many ways.

The first decision I made was way back in January, it was to stop looking at the group social media pages for this immediate surrounding area! I found them so negative, nasty, viscous and controlling and I just decided that I didn’t need that shit in my life anymore.

Now I was going to say more but have decided that this topic probably needs a post all on it’s own so look out for that one; all I will say is that my life was infinitely better after I stopped engaging or looking at them.

I really started to understand the Tao, and now follow my life pretty much in that way – although I do have to constantly remind myself every day to not get caught up in unnecessary crap. Due to this I have been accused  of becoming a religious nut! Of having ‘found God’ when really, for me, the Tao is a philosophy not a religion: a theory or attitude that acts as a guiding principle for behaviour. That is what it has done for me it has helped me to follow principles for my behaviour and also where others are concerned it has enabled me to make choices about whether I want their behaviour in my life, or whether I am going to let it affect my life.

In fact folks if you read the Tao I would ask everyone what is God? For me it is just a label that can be used to define something, nothing more, nothing less.

Now, I don’t do negative in all aspects of my life – and when I find myself in the company of negative people I feel like I am  in the company Dementors (to borrow from the wonderful J.K Rowling)  sucking the life out of me.

negativity quote

You must have been there, with someone who just moans and moans and everything that comes out of their mouth is negative; and eventually it is like having  your soul sucked out of you, you come away feeling so down and questioning everything you do and everything in life. This lesson really came to the fore for me in the summer when my darling husband really let a negative person get to him, he was in their company for some time and eventually he really did feel like hanging himself from a tree!! (I kid you not read my post a birthday wobble.)

negativity walk away

So after this I started to notice the negative people who were around us, people who only wanted to criticise, and when you actually listened to them not a good thing came out of their mouth – or sometimes it would when they realised that they had overstepped the mark. Too late for me I’m afraid. I step away now.

Negitity quote laugh at it

I mean lets us not forget, as I blogged earlier in the year,  I was actually told I was too positive!!! WTF!!!

So I distanced myself from the negative people and boy am I happier and in a better place now – good things are coming my way.

 

Tao quote on confrontation

 

As some of you may know (from my post a little bit more about me) I don’t do confrontation either. Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t give people crap and I don’t put up with crap from them; the difference now is that I don’t get angry, I stay cool, calm and collected but I still say ‘no’ if I need to.

It has been interesting for me this year where this is concerned, because I have encountered people who knew what had happened to me, knew that I have the Incredible Hulk inside me, and it was as if they wanted to press my buttons to bring it out. They seemed to assume that because I did not lose my temper I was weak and a pushover.

tao and confrontation

Those who know me well, and probably some of you that read this blog, will giggle at that thought because it is so untrue. In addition they would not want the Incredible Hulk inside me to come out because then they would be hurt, and I would be tired for weeks, feel awful and may possibly have been arrested!

Luckily I am now able to step away, or calmly ask questions for clarification -which they don’t want to give because they would have to acknowledge they were arseholes – and that tends to sort the situation out.

negative people being insecure

 

I have learnt over the year not to ask others for explanations and not to offer  explanations to others. I don’t expect explanations and when people expect them of me I now ask them why? Ego perhaps!!

The reason for this is because when people expect and explanation from you is this because they seem to think that you should care what they think?

There are some people that I know and love and  I do care what they think. But those people never seem to ask me for explanations. By giving explanations you are allowing others to live your life for you, and that is, quite simply, not my thing honey! If you are not on my mini-bus of life then I offer no explanations.  (For those new to my blog you may want to read the post – so who is on your mini-bus of life.)

So I don’t care what most people think and that has worked out brilliantly for me as a writer because if I did I would write absolutely nothing!! As one of my beloved readers from this blog told me ‘It’s all copy!!’

That brings me to one of the other big things I learnt and that is to  write what I want. My book – people will be shocked I have shared!! My blog who wants to read about where I went in France all the time! It seems to have worked my followers are now near 300 and rising every day with well over fifty hits a day. Thank you and welcome keep the ball rolling.

I have learnt who the important people are in my life, and what is important to me where people are concerned. I have also learnt to look at myself and how I react to others, and to let the past go and deal with the relationship now. Everyone is different and I just go with the flow – unless you are insecure or negative, sorry but they are a no no for me I find that insecure people tend to bring others down and I don’t need that. I wish them well, hope that they find their way and if they do and they want to reconnect always happy to.

 

And one of the most important things: My mini bus has driven along the road and picked back up some good friends that I had lost contact with along the way in life- We have all learnt things during the time we have been absent from each others lives and we have come to realise that there are some people who you cannot let go of , because when they come back into your life they are on the same page as you – they just took a different route to get there; and I have found we are all infinitely wiser for the journeys we have had.

Not least in that is my son, who has found his way in life and is flying high because by taking this adventure we pushed him off the cliff and trusted that he would be caught; just like we have. You have to believe, trust me.

Belief image

So here is to the next year of my life, I feel already that it is going to be a good one – ever positive me!!!

If you like my blog please share folks I am loving the new people joining from all over the world.

Quote ona adventures and good energy

Moisy

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And so the New Year is here with premonitions, omen’s and belief.

05 Friday Jan 2018

Posted by in Reflections, The continuing adventure

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I always love this time of year. It is something New, in fact the biggest new thing we will get this year, a New Year!!!  A time to reflect, and consider a way forward, perhaps a new way forward, an opportunity to change your life in fact. The opportunity is always there if you want it.

I started this post over two days ago, but just got caught up in other things, mainly some research for my book;  because, although it is written, I thought I would read some blogs about the topic I have written about. Other people’s stories that are similar to my own. But you see my book is about ‘our’ story, it is not just ‘my’ story, and as I have researched I can only find blogs on the singular and not the plural perspective; and I realised that there is, still, nothing out there like ‘our story.’

What does this have to do with the New Year? This is the year that I am going to make change, I AM going to publish my work, and I AM going to help others with regard to the topic of my book, and I AM going to make change for Rich and I.

I have had a strong premonition, picture really, in my head of our house with a new front door (sadly I cannot save the one we have, she is too far gone and is now on ‘death row’.)

BLUE STARS

It will be a double glazed UPVC because, do you know what? I have come to realise that sometimes we just have to be realistic with regard to what we need to live out here; especially when living on the pinnacle of a hill with the wind and the rain lashing our poor house at every turn. (It has been a wet winter, so we have a very mouldy house!)

I also have a strong picture of Rich and I being in a better position by the end of the year, I don’t know why but it really is so strong that I am going to go with it.

For me there have been a few omens:

The New Year literally blew in and blew the other one right out  But the tarp on the roof held firm and despite a small leak over Christmas (it is what it is!) there were no leaks no matter how hard the wind blew.

I took the puppies for a walk in the hooley because I love the way the wind seems to blow all of the cobwebs from your brain, and I looked around at all the shoots and the beautiful green hills, and I thought let it blow, just let it blow because it is all part of nature and I love being surrounded by it at every turn.

I noticed that Spring is  on it’s way, the fields are already green and there are shoots appearing on my clematis, even though I planned to cut them back hard in January; I still need to do that!  There are catkins are on the trees,  and the little fluffy boots on my willow tree are starting to come through. Another reminder that things continue on whether we want them to or not, and we just have to go with the flow.

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But it has also reminded me that life is passing so quickly, we are five days into the year now! And I need to stop pontificating and just do it, make some slight changes to my book and send it to some more publishers.

In addition I picked up a couple of other blogs that are about the same topic as my book, it was as if they were sent to me to help me realise that I really do need to get my book out there. My heart goes out to the people who are struggling as I was.

And then, today, a weird thing happened: long ago I signed up to a dictionary site and they had sent me the meaning of my name! It was the word of the day. How weird is that?

Now I always thought that my name, Moira,  was a Celtic name, because my dad was Irish, and I believed that it came from Maire, which means Mary, and also drop of the sea.

But today I learnt that it actually derives from Greece and is, in fact, another name for ‘The Fates’, the white robed figures in Greek mythology that represent Destiny. Most people who read my blog will know that I do believe in fate, that someone else is doing the driving where life is concerned (The mini bus of life) and that Serendipity is my favourite word (Oh Serendipity! My beloved friend.) So to find out that I am actually named after ‘The Fates’, for me is a really strong message, that this year my fate will change – in a positive way. That the New Year is bringing with it  a message – ‘Change your fate girl, and believe in yourself, because that person who is doing the driving is trying to tell you something!’ If I am named after Fate then surely I can now change my own!

So I sit here now, starting a days writing with my blog because it always gets the juices flowing. I am surrounded by  furry writing companions, both of who I am blessed to have with me, Molly Kitten being eighteen this year, and Harley who as you know from my blog almost died in December but who is here with me today; what wonderful companions to have!

I am writing this post because if we had not chosen to have this adventure, to jump of that cliff! And if I still lived my life in England, I would be going to a job I hated today, I would have my heating on even if it was not cold, I would be caught up on the Hamster wheel and probably be stopping at a shop to buy something that I didn’t need on the way home to make myself feel better. I would go home to my beautiful house (surrounded by houses and people) and I would get stressed on the drive home. I would not try to write my book because, although not happy with my life, I would tell myself I was content because I was warm, and had regular income, and forget that I was not free to be me.

Instead I have time to look things up, do research, do my writing, look out at my window at this….

 

I have my big socks and slippers on and I don’t have the fire alight yet because instead I am wearing my fleece. I don’t have secure income but I do have security in my belief that if I let it go what I need will come my way, and it has not been wrong yet. We only have two months of the winter left and we have survived so far without putting up with crap from people that we should be putting up with crap from. Yes I have mould on my walls, which I wash off!! It doesn’t kill me, but my old life was!

And now I am in a position where my book is written, I know that I have to believe because changing my life and going on this adventure has proved to me that if you believe you CAN make it work. No, it won’t be the same as it was in my old life, but I don’t want it to be; otherwise what would be the point of an adventure?!!

Hope that this year holds good things for you all too, but they may not be what you think they are going to be…..

If you like my blog please share it, I was thrilled to get nearly three hundred views on my last post – wonderful and thank you all….

 

Moisy

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