Author: Kate Wilson

Keeping Promises

~ Kate Wilson ~ Leave a comment

As we approach the summer solstice I am reviewing some of the promises I made in January.
It’s interesting to see how many are still central to my daily life. I wonder if this is the first time I have ever managed to keep going with resolutions made at the New Year?
I did a review in February and so I’ll have a look at those first and add on the new ones.

Vegetarian
Yes this has been a very happy change. I feel happier with my diet now even though I allow myself the occasional ‘blip’.  If I want fish then I have it. And there was one day when I craved chicken in a stir fry so I had that too. No regrets. I am trusting my body.
The funny thing is that I have also changed Bonnie’s diet and she is having a mostly raw meat regime. This means that I now go scouring the butchers for animal parts which I then freeze in little manageable bags. Chicken heads and wings, livers and hearts, I am getting more used to dealing with it all!

Smoking
I have not smoked at all since October 2012 and never want to. I hope my lungs forgive me for not doing this earlier.

Coke and Tescos
Not one drop has passed my lips. Tescos will be a challenge only when I get back to Cornwall.

Catalan
Oooooooffff!  This one has been harder. I’ve been speaking mainly English at home and stopped going to my Catalan classes. I need a whole post to describe why I suddenly got resistant. I do speak it of course and can carry on conversations no problem. But I am keen to get back to studying Castellano and when I start that – I get confused and end up talking in a horrible  confused mixture.

Forgiveness and Sending Love
This has been a very helpful practice. I do it every day with the Resident Adolescent as the central pivot. I think it has improved our relationship hugely. I include other people according to which hurts and resentments are uppermost in my mind and at least it makes me feel I am doing something positive rather than turning myself into a bitter twisted old lady. There is still one person who I find it almost impossible to forgive which surprises me as I haven’t seen her for years and I never knew her well anyway. She’s my ‘bete noire’ and perhaps I should just accept it.

Kitchen Sink
This has been one of the best things I ever did. And it has grown into much more than just the sink. I am organising home with the help of the Fly Lady and it is wonderful. If you are a naturally ordered person perhaps you don’t need her but if like me things like cleaning pile up and never get done then this system is wonderful.

New Promises
These mainly come from the Fly Lady schedules so I won’t go into detail here. If you are interested in making order out of chaos take a look at her site and start with the Baby Steps.

At the moment I have started a daily routine of doing Salute to the Sun and some sit ups every morning. And I am wheat and caffeine free for a few weeks. I started at the beginning of June thinking to do a week but it’s feeling good so I have kept going.
I feel there is change in the air and somehow it is easier than ever to make decisions and stick to them.  And it seems the more little adjustments I make, the stronger is my resolve. I know I won’t give up wheat and coffee forever. It is just too much of a pleasure to go out here to a cafe and sit in the sun having a cafe amb llet and a donut. But it’s almost just as lovely to know I can stop for a while.
Lastly…. I have started drawing again. The ipad makes it so easy and opens up new possibilities.

Leave those kids alone!

~ Kate Wilson ~ 5 Comments

I went to a party today and met a new baby girl. 
She is less than a couple of months old, and really beautiful.
But as I was hovering over her pram I noticed her ears. They were pierced with little gold studs.

When I asked someone (not the mother of course) if this was normal they told me it is often done in the hospitals here. Am I strange to be shocked?  I try to imagine the arrival of a new baby and someone saying  ‘ooooh it’s a girl, quick lets get out the ear piercing machine’
Perhaps with boys it’s the same but that’s to snip off their foreskins.
Is there some idea that newborns don’t feel pain. Like puppies who have their tails docked?
Shouldn’t new little people have some choice in the matter?

Is it just me? I also found it odd to see a tiny baby with earrings. As if there wasn’t plenty of time for her to discover jewellery and adornment and femininity.

Now I have been looking for more information and I see that it is a common practice in Latin countries. Something so ‘normal’ that it doesn’t really get questioned. I also found a Facebook page called ‘Stop piercing your babys ears. She’s a baby not a baby doll’  
There is quite a lot of debate about it when you look.

I tried to remember the ears of all the little girls who came to summer school and I can’t remember them having earrings but perhaps I didn’t notice. Tomorrow I will go out and do some research on the streets.

What do you think?  Am I odd to feel disturbed?

What is going on with the weather Part Two

~ Kate Wilson ~ 2 Comments

This weekend has been strange again. After a few days of brilliant June sunshine last week, we returned to grey skies and rain with a nippy cold wind to go with it. On Saturday when we were trying to sell some things at a small street market, there was a massive thunderstorm and pelting rain.
Today, Sunday, was the annual sushi party that my friend Tiffany has in a lovely house with a garden and a swimming pool. But…..after a morning with blue sky, the afternoon went back to grey and although it didn’t rain, that little chilly wind was blowing straight through the terrace.  Even I had no intention of braving the swimming pool.

It is very familiar to me. The cautious planning of any outdoor activity is normal in Britain. It is automatic to include alternative plans if it rains. But here it really isn’t the usual weather pattern in June.  I wonder why everyone I see in the street, huddled under umbrellas or wrapped up warm in jackets, isn’t gazing questioningly up into the sky. But they seem to just bow down and get on with it. I am the one asking ‘Why?’

Experts are predicting a wet July as well. Mmmmm…..glad that I’ll be heading north all the way up to Scotland for the summer.

Potatoes in Catalunya

~ Kate Wilson ~ 4 Comments

Yes!  They are ready!
It was very exciting to go to the hort on Monday, armed with a new fork with red prongs, and start exploring around the now very bushy plants.
Suddenly there were potatoes – lots of them!  Both varieties did very well – Charlotte and Pentland. Of course I forgot to label which rows were which (is anyone that organised?) but I am pretty sure the Charlottes are on the left and the Pentlands on the right.

Is there anything more satisfying than digging up your own potatoes?
Yes there is – eating them!

Lightly boiled, slathered in salty butter and garnished with mint from the terrace.
We had salmon and broad beans and a bottle of wine to accompany them
In the sunshine on the terrace – bliss.

 And in case you are missing Bonnie here she is today – a seasoned traveller now on the trains. We went to Cardedeu for our Spanish conversation hour and she was please to find another dog further down the carriage – that’s why she looks so concentrated.

A Sunny Day

~ Kate Wilson ~ 5 Comments

Well after that little moan about the weather, the next day dawned sunny with blue skies. Alright there was also a bit of a chilly wind from the mountains but if you stood in the right place, it was HOT.

We went to the beach in the afternoon. To beautiful Sant Pol beach

Found the sandy part has been further eaten away by the sea and the beach itself is now a narrow strip with a sheer drop into the sea. But it was beautiful and peaceful as always

The cormorant was sunning herself on the rock and there was only one man up on the cliff top gazing down on the naked bodies.