Easter chicks

Took this picture of our mummy chicken with her chicks that arrived last week.

Then I realised that today is Easter Monday so sent the picture to Sam and the rest of the family.

Dreams found

This morning I did a computer search and found my dream folder hidden in another folder – of a finance committee that I used to be in.  The least dream like place I have ever experienced.  I haven’t a clue how or why they ended up there.

It gives me great joy to know that now my future dreams can continue as part of the stream of dreams I have been looking at for a long time.

Dreams lost

After the Nia dance yesterday I had a very vivid dream, the first of this year. I wrote it up this morning and created the picture. The dream seemed to be telling me that the tree and house that I have within me will now grow in symbiosis.  

When I came to save this file I realised that somehow I have lost the whole of my 15 year dream archive.  I am SO upset and cannot understand how it has happened.  I will not be able to replicate that stream of dreams completely.  I suppose I will just have to let those dreams go.  Maybe because I don’t need them anymore?

Dancing with my heart

Last Nia dance with Phillippe and Sabine tonight until they return in December.

We danced with our hearts.

A lovely interlude

Rajan and I had a lovely interlude this morning when we visited Udavi school open day.  The picture of is of one of the students showing how the made electricity with lemon juice and some connectors.

Rajan is struggling to finish the accounts on time as it is the end of the financial year.  I feel that I am not on top of things.  That new jobs and difficult situations keep presenting themselves to me to be dealt with. I never feel I am up to date on all the work.

I am sure that the increasing heat and feeling tired after the season are not helping.  Although a new volunteer has turned up who is willing to work at weekends so I can have some time off.

Card for Roy

I was going to make a card with everyone’s photo on it.  I downloaded them from the website but I think in the process they got corrupted and blurry.  So I had to use my own photos and ended up with this instead.

I am very relieved indeed that I have now sorted everything for the funeral.  It wasn’t as I envisaged as just about everything I tried to do didn’t work out.  I did the best I could hopefully it will be OK.

Flowers for Roy

Have had a very frustrating and unsuccessful day trying to fix up flowers and the booklet for Roy’s funeral.  The website where I was making the booklet wouldn’t save the booklet so I couldn’t order it.  So far I have not been able to get through to the florist so I cannot order any flowers.  I wonder if this is Roy not wanting us to make any fuss!!!!  I went out and took some pictures of flowers in Buddha Garden instead with the vague idea that they could be used on a card.  The picture is of drumstick flowers.

I am so relieved that eventually I managed to contact the florist who is going to do a very brightly coloured spray of flowers for me.  All I have to do now is create a little card to go with it.  I will send by email and the florist will print it for me.

Birthday girl

Fortunately I spoke to Rachael yesterday and wished her ‘Happy birthday’ as I wouldn’t have had time to do it today.  Yesterday, I didn’t get done all the jobs I needed to do.  Today I felt that I was running and not being able to keep up. 

I had to give the last class for the Udavi school project and despite feeling under pressure of work, I really enjoyed it.  Rajan had a good idea for a textbook that we could write.

Pressurised Sunday

At the end of this Sunday I feel as if I have had a very pressured day.  Someone came this morning and we talked for a long time.  This was after I had spent the first two hours of the day doing domestic work. It was an interesting discussion even although I was bobbing up and down doing the watering.  I should have given myself more time.  As it was I had to work hard to get as many jobs done as possible – and several are still unfinished.

Of course it had to be on a day like this that I left the water filter on and it overflowed onto the floor. One more job to do, but as always at least there is the clean floor to admire.

Holding the sun

Had a wonderful dance class with Grace.  At one point after warming up we stayed in child pose for a few minutes.

Grace said that we should imagine we were holding the sun.  And I liked the image.

Flowers at my feet

This morning after a very busy work day I happened to look down at my feet and saw these five flowers.  The plumaria trees are flowering at the moment but this is the first time I have really looked at and appreciated them.

Transformation

Today we transformed what was the sweet potato area in the cashew orchard into the pumpkin area.

At the time I felt that it mirrored something in me, but now I am not so sure.  I don’t feel so transformed as I did.

Gently does it

Today we lifted the last of the sweet potatoes.  We had to treat the tubers gently so that we could lift them without breaking them.

That’s how I have to treat myself.

Grace

I got a beautiful letter from my ballet dance teacher suggesting how I might best move forward with my dancing.

Listen to your body from moment to moment, day by day and you will understand that our wishes, cannot always be honoured.

Make contact with your pelvic floor and train it softly and with respect. Do not compare it how fit it you think it should be, but rather how it can serve you best at present. Doing ballet with an older growing body is finding a new Grace in all of your movements, a new contact with your body intelligence.

You need not get confused with an 'old' image of how you were and wish to be, be yourself and question your new possibilities. Do not frustrate yourself but feel deeply how the cells consciousness and your pelvic floor carry their own wisdom and follow their own rhythm and timing.

Find harmony in all your movements, including the weakest part of your body and never force it…just imagine how to enlarge your stretching from within and hold a little back from outside, like that you can radiate suppleness and pelvic strength. Stabilize your pelvic floor by kneeling down and laying on you bed with knees pushed up against your stomach like a baby we call the wisdom pose or child's pose

A welcome pause

So much going on at so many different levels and in lots of different arenas.

Going to take pictures of the tomato plants in Udavi school was a welcome relief.  After all the problems we had with the beans, which were decimated by a bug, it was nice to see the tomato plants look so healthy.

Confused moving

I am reading a book which has helped me get much more in tune with my pelvic floor and I am pleased about that. Although I have conflicting feelings about it being weaker than I would like.

I see how I need to be more careful of how I move my body and not put pressure on that part of my body.  But in the ballet class yesterday I felt very confused. I wanted to make expansive movements but I was fearful of how it might affect my body.

I don’t want this fear to impede my practice.  I want to protect my body and especially my pelvic floor.  I still want to dance expansively.

How to find the balance? 

Jobs done

I seem to have got very behind with all my writing work this week and today I managed to catch up with most of it.  I have spent a lot of time doing things and talking to people and haven’t had time to do all the writing that goes with it.

This poster is one of two posters that I made for the Udavi school project but I have also been writing reports and letters related to what I have been doing during the week.

Longing

My new way of being seems to have uncovered some deep longings.  For people and situations that aren’t available right now and may not even be right for me at this time.  

Pierre gave me these flowers from the spinach tree in his garden.  They look a bit like ladies slipper which is kind of orchid, the meaning of which is ‘honouring of the soul’s purpose’.

I am sure there is a meaning and message which might not necessarily be related to the meaning of the flower.  At the moment I cannot see what it is.  Maybe because my longing are getting in the way of my understanding?

Another way of being

This picture is of the work we do every day in Buddha Garden.  It happens to be digging up sweet potato but could easily be any one of the many hum drum jobs we do, day in day out, to grow food. 

It is in this context that I had a reading from Jo that showed the new cycle of being that is happening.  Perhaps the depth of the digging for sweet potatoes is mirroring the depth of the change that seems to be happening within me.  Amazing how things can be the same but different.

Sculptures

Was very impressed today with a construction made by volunteers for the beans to climb up.  I feel it looks more like a sculpture than a climbing frame.  I’m rather worried that it doesn’t have the necessary strength to hold up all the bean foliage.  But lets see.

The volunteers obviously enjoyed themselves doing this.

Done over Buddha Garden

Great excitement today when a film crew turned up to film us using a drone.  Which looked and sounded like an angry mosquito.

And no, it didn’t have a green halo around it.  I just drew around it on the picture so it was easier to see.  This is what it looked like on the ground.

Dawn sky

One of the volunteers pointed out the beautiful dawn sky we had this morning.

I am feeling very different these days and that I am on to a new cycle.  I feel this is what all these beautiful dawn skies are telling me…..

Rats!

Was very annoyed to wake up today to find that something had chewed off the ear plugs of my ear phones that I use on my computer.

I presume it was the resident rat which I hope is now suffering from very bad indigestion!

Out with Ashok

After having a lovely lunch at Rendevous last Sunday with Joseph I thought it would be nice to go there today with Ashok this evening.  Not a good idea! They are obviously wanting the young crowd there at that time of the day.  The music was too loud so we scuttled off to Satsanga instead.

It’s a much less slick place than Rendevous but at least we could hear each other. 

Lots of green tomatoes

We have lots of green tomatoes and I have no idea what to do with them.  Have requested ideas over AVNet and have a few which I am hoping volunteers will try out over the next few days.  Then I can put the recipes up on the website.

Yes I know I could google it and get loads of recipes from the internet, but the idea is to put up recipes that come from Auroville……

Dawn

I took this picture a few days ago at dawn.  I like it so much I have put it on my computer.

Nice memory

This is a picture of Joseph that I did today.  We had a lovely lunch together on Sunday and this is how I remember it.

Horrible experience

Went to a horrible meeting today where I felt I was sitting in a snake pit.  The worst thing was feeling that I couldn’t see above it.

Gorgeous

Very busy day with tour in the morning and Udavi school project in the afternoon.  This is a picture of Lakshita, Selvam’s daughter who he brings to work because he spends a lot of time looking after her.  I just loved the way she played with the water.  It didn’t bother her that all the beans had been destroyed by aphids.

Went to ballet class for the first time since I got my infected foot.  Unfortunately the class was cancelled.

Not what I expected

Went out to lunch with a friend today in the newly refurbished Rendezvous restaurant.  I enjoyed myself a lot.  I wanted to take a photo but my tablet camera very annoyingly refused to work.

I spent some of this morning working on the above poster. At 4M X 2M it’s the largest poster I have every done.  It was hard to get a sense of what it will look like when finished.  I worried that it might look too itty bitty or that the text would be too small or too large. I really struggled with it this morning.  Yet when I got back after lunch I finished it off and was quite surprised that it just seemed to flow and be OK. Maybe it was the beer!

Poster

Very pleased with myself that I managed to do the above poster for the Udavi school project.  All it needs is the Tamil translation.

Yet another busy day....

I don’t feel I have had much time to do my ‘real’ work (whatever that is!) today.  All morning was taken up with a presentation about farming.  Then I rushed off to Pondy to do some very necessary shopping that I can’t get in Auroville.

On the way back we were stuck in traffic for quite some time around some road works.  Arrived back feeling hot and rather tired. 

Despite all the rushing around, this afternoon I managed to finish the above poster for our cooking classes during March.