Author: Kate Wilson

Lost and Found

~ Kate Wilson ~ 3 Comments

I wasn’t meaning to tempt fate yesterday by describing how much better I am feeling!
But somehow somewhere that same day I lost my keys – again!
That feeling when you have lost something is so particular.
The search
over and over again checking bags and pockets
The review
mentally and sometimes physically retracing the last hours
The prayers
to Saint Anthony of course and usually he helps, but sometimes he can’t
Repetitive searching
because you still can’t believe that the thing is gone
Worry
 especially about keys. Did I leave them in the front door and the ‘wrong’ person walked past, took them and is waiting to break in and rob and murder us?
More desperate searching
that involves silly places like bathroom cupboards and dustbins and under the dog food
Fantasy
as you remember times when you found the lost thing, perhaps even in one of those weird places

Oh well, eventually there comes acceptance and I now have a newly cut key around my neck tied with a ribbon. When I open the door I have to bend down to reach the lock and if Bonnie tried to push quickly through the door I am liable to be strangled. But at least I can’t leave this one in the lock unless I also leave my head outside!

From yesterday
Here is a scene from Granollers main street, lovely music as I walked back from the gym (could I have dropped the keys into his hat??)

Making Promises to Myself

~ Kate Wilson ~ 1 Comment

I’ve been full of energy since the New Year began.
There are things I want to write about but I haven’t quite got them straight in my head yet.
But it’s bubbling around.  Perhaps I’ll try.

Looking back over the last year – I see how many hard things there were to deal with and how the dealing with them brought me closer and closer to finding my centre, to feeling anchored.

What won’t kill you will make you strong!

  • Trying to cope with the three dogs here in our town house
  • Increasingly ferocious attacks by Duna on Bonnie.
  • Injuring first my left hand in the van door and then my right hand when I dislocated a finger
  • Preparing my new treatment room only to spend two or three months unable to use my hands
  • Constant and exhausting problems with the Resident Adolescent
  • Changing our home life when the above came to stay permanently after his mother left.
  • Blue’s death
  • Battling with Catalan at the same time as needing to speak English – just for comfort!
  • The death of my brother

I’m not going to list all the wonderful things from the last year but obviously there were also lots of those to keep me sane and at times very happy.

However the deep lows led me directly to a path which I am still walking.
I started to meditate. I began to go to the gym and get running. I read blogs which inspired me like The Wild Elephant Project. I listened to Caroline Myss and began to explore her ideas around Sacred Contracts.  Slowly and little by little I began to feel my energy changing. I started the year  creeping down the streets of Granollers, leaking energy like an old hose pipe and cringing whenever someone gave me a disdainful stare.  Today I noticed how bouncy were my steps along that same road. The stares still happen but somehow I don’t get knocked sideways by them.

Two things help me a lot

  • When I don’t know how to react to something or someone – I send out Love.
  • When I still don’t know what to do – I try to be Present in the moment.

There have been some amazing changes just from remembering to do these two things.

Pacts and Promises and Vows
I have made some promises to myself and am amazed how powerful it is to build this trust with yourself.  I started with the decision to stop drinking CocaCola.  I also stopped shopping in Tescos. Three months ago it seemed fairly easy to give up smoking and this time it feels like forever.
At the beginning of 2013 I stopped eating meat again and renewed my promise to support animals and be vegetarian.  Today I made a pact with myself to eat no wheat for 24 hours – it is a hard one for me so I find it better to take it one day at a time!
I think that the more I gain my own trust, the easier it gets to keep to my promises.

Lastly, but definitely not leastly,  I have started the Kitchen Sink Challenge.  My dear friend Tiffany put me onto this (and many other wonderful and motivational things)  For one month you promise to keep your kitchen sink clean. You are creating a new habit that you want to stick to.  That’s all – just clean the sink and watch your life change. I know it sounds crazy but somehow it brings order into chaos and sows a seed of change.

That’s it for now.  I haven’t even got onto telling you about Swing – that must keep for next time!

Kings Arrival in Barcelona

~ Kate Wilson ~ 1 Comment

I’ve been up to Barcelona several times this past week which augurs well for 2013 I think!
We brought in the New Year with friends in Nou Barris – eating 12 grapes not just once but twice. Once for Catalan midnight and once for the UK one.
I have to admit cheating a couple of times and stuffing in two at once. Perhaps this means there will be some months in the coming year that get muddled up together!
Then I went back on Saturday 5th to see the arrival of the Kings – Els Reis.
We stood at the corner of Sant Antoni, knowing that the crowds of people were stretching all the way from the port to Montjuic.
It all began well, with the police on horses leading the way

There were lots of very colourful and spectacular floats


Notice the Xmas lights above this one!

The next one to pass got totally caught up in the wire. Lots of shouting from the crowd – Nooooooo!
Eventually the driver stopped.

They got free but the lights had now descended a few metres and the broken ones were dangling quite low.
Each float that now passed was greeted with sharp intakes of breath and relieved Ohhhhhhhs when they managed to get by. The performers often had to duck!
Eventually a council cherrypicker arrived and removed the middle section

Then the biggest King could continue on his route!

The arrival of the Kings means that children will get presents the next morning so the last floats are meant to encourage sleep and going to bed without a fuss. I thought he looked quite sinister though.


I don’t know what the giraffe and the elephant were about but they were massive and magnificant


Someone said they once had a real elephant for the parade.
Thank God those days are past!
In case, like me you are a lover of elephants here is a wonderful place in Thailand which rescues street elephants and gives them a home back in nature, for ever. Supporters raised money at the beginning of January to rescue a 70 year old female who had been begging on the streets for years. In 30 hours we collected enough to get her and treat her wounds. Wonderful the internet!

And the third time I went to town?  Next post 🙂

I can’t imagine a more inhospitable place for an elephant to walk than through Barcelona on the night when the Kings arrive.

Starting the New Year!

~ Kate Wilson ~ 5 Comments

I am adrift with the blog – not from lack of ideas or energy but somehow I feel I’ve lost direction.
Sin rumbo!
‘What’s it all about, Alfie? ‘
So here are some photos from my week with just a few words….

Reading too many books
But enjoying them all!

‘How to speak so your children listen and how to listen so they speak’ is wonderful!’
My hairdresser recommended it  one day when he noticed how sad and tired I was. Nice man!
Ken Follett. No words can describe how much I enjoyed this book. Finished it this morning.

In the Garlic is written by two women who live in Spain/Catalunya. Written in dictionary form it is funny and informative. E.g. about the endless bureaucracy here, there is the law of Falta Uno. This means whatever papers you bring there is always one missing!
On the Kindle I am reading Caroline Myss – Sacred Contracts. Fantastic!

I really enjoyed the first essay in Matthew Trees book about how to explain this country to foreigners. He is dedicated to spreading the word about Catalunya and writes very well. I find it good to read Catalan written by a British writer. He thinks in a familiar way which makes it easier for me.
I’ve had this Derek Jarman diary for years and never picked it up. Now I am dipping in every day and loving it. The sort of person it would be great to know. The diary is a mix of gardening and poetry, poems, landscape and practicalities.
How does he know so much about plants and herbs and history in those days before the internet?
I’ve known people like that and envied them. He was alone in Prospect Cottage, writing and gardening and looking out over his life.  At times he seems to be grieving, at others, deeply content and at peace.

Looking out over life!!!
I am making roses from the ribbon reels that fill the shelves in the backroom. It’s easy and very satisfying but I have no idea what to do with them!

Catching water in Santa Fe – No! No! that is a reverse translation from Catalan – Going to get water from the fountain in the woods. Now we have a full cellar.

Starting my new vegetarian life – just like the old one that I strayed from 10 or so years ago but in a more challenging environment and with more flexibility when necessary. One of my goals is to be visible in restaurants and not just eat the bits I can, timidly accepting the meaty menus that dominate in Catalunya. In a typically traditional Catalan country restaurant I ordered the side dishes and it made a lovely lunch. Chips, white beans and samfaina!

The Kings are coming!  Tomorrow I am going to see them in Barcelona when they arrive by boat.

And all through the week and the weeks before – my lovely dog – Bonnie. What a friend!

Guapissimaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!

~ Kate Wilson ~ 2 Comments

I don’t like to be always comparing things here with how they are in the UK but I sort of can’t help it!
Out on the street when I see people leaning over prams or greeting small children I can predict what they are saying even when I can’t hear it – and usually most of the street can hear it!
‘Guapo!!!!  Ei que Guapo ets!  Ets molt molt guapo!!!!’
I think Guapo or Guapa must be almost the first words babies learn. Guapo actually isn’t a Catalan word but it is used by Catalan people. The correct word is ‘Maco’

I’ve surely said this before but I still notice it and think how wonderful to be a child who is told on a daily/hourly basis how beautiful, how handsome, how pretty they are.

And on Facebook I also see how often my Catalan/Spanish friends post photos of themselves, usually beaming huge toothy grins, and they receive the most warm loving affirmative replies….
‘Ke guapa!!!!!!!’
‘Guapa guapa guapa guapa!!!!!’
‘Estas hermosa!!!!!!!!’
Exclamation marks rarely come alone – they are sociable things like the people here.

Then there is the expressive spelling…..
‘Te Quieroooooooooooo!!!’
‘Preciosssssssssa!!!’
‘Guapaaaaaaaaa!!!!!’
‘Que lindaaaaaaaaaa!!!!’

For research purposes I had a look at some UK friends pages. It took me a while to find self posted photos. What does this mean? Shyer?  More self conscious? Less happy about our teeth? (I include myself in all those catagories)  But they are there and there are responses…..
‘Great to see you looking so happy’
‘Looking good’
‘Great picture!’

Isn’t this great?  I love the difference and the way I can hear the voices as I read the words. I have noticed myself starting to use exclamation marks more, casually casting to the winds all school lessons in composition.  And when I recently, and very unusually, posted a photo on FB of me and Pep I was very happy to get exuberant replies and every exclamation mark gave me huge pleasure, like a little girl being warmly admired in her pram!
One of the reasons I came to live here was the expressiveness of the language.
And the warmth of the hugs and kisses.
When I am writing in Catalan or Castellano I end my messages with ‘besossssssss!!!!’ or ‘petonets’ as is normal here. But I wonder what my British friends think when I send ‘lots of kisses and hugs’ in English?  Does it hit a strange note I wonder?  I have stepped far enough away from the norms that I no longer know.  It isn’t customary here to use xxxx for kisses but sometimes I do that too.

Sorry for the mixture of Catalan and Castellano here. I am feeling a bit schizoid about it as I enter my first two week Catalan intensive of the year.

As this is my first post of 2013 I would like to wish you all a very Happy New Year!

 Guap@s!!!!!!!!!!  Us estiiiiiiiiiiiimo! Amorrrrrrr i Pau!!!!   Besossssssssss y Abrazossssss!!!!!!!