Just to cheer myself up after another Duna attack on Bonnie – this time in the street when I was on my own – and even more so as people melted away when they realised I could do with some help – just to give myself a laugh, I have added the little wolf on the right hand side.
I’ll take it away after 24 hours so try it out now! It will follow your mouse around the picture and if you click on the Moon……………well, try it and see.
Author: Kate Wilson
Hands On
I wrote a post a few weeks ago titled Hands-free. It was about the accidents that happened to both my hands and how I was dealing with life when so many things were hard to do. Since then I have noticed that one of the most popular posts on my blog is that one. Since I can’t imagine that hundreds of people are really so concerned about my hands, I wondered what it was about.
Aha!
Of course all those people were searching for hands-free mobile phones and were being directed to me!
I don’t suppose many stayed more than the nano second required to take in the content of my blog.
At the time of the accidents I found some very interesting blogs which helped me to accept what had happened and reminded me to take care of myself, to slow down, to listen to my own rhythms, meditate, and to tune in to the messages that life sends. Messages which need translating before they can be understood.
One of these blogs is LifeUnity which is doing a project to help develop mindfulness. Each week she suggests a different practice of tuning in. Just after I dislocated my little finger the practice was to be mindful of our hands. It made a huge difference to me to make this a meditation practice as I actually had no choice but to be mindful of my hands – if I did something without thinking it would hurt!
Now it is 7 weeks later. Both hands while not fully recovered, are much better and yesterday I did a massage noticing that my little finger is now able to fully participate without any pain.
And this week yet again LifeUnity is alongside me. The practice is Loving Hands, Loving Touch.
I am enjoying feeling my hands exploring the world again with confidence but now also with mindfulness. When they were vulnerable and painful I was forever banging them and catching them on things like the door handle, or my coat pocket, or the edge of the table. One finger, just a few milimetres out of its normal place and it became accident prone. I would be careful for 59 minutes out of every hour and then slip into automatic pilot and BAM – another jolt of pain. It was an interesting wake up call.
So now I am able to wash my face again but now with awareness of the sensation. I can massage my hair with shampoo and be aware of how good this feels. Or massage someone’s feet or back and feel the skill and love and experience in my hands. I can run my fingers through Bonnie’s thick golden coat and really feel the sensation of warmth and softness. I can turn the steering wheel in the car and feel the strength in my hands and the flexibility of the fingers and the connection between my touch and the car’s response.
I realise how in the past I rushed so many movements and missed all these sensations and pleasures.
My hands are tingling now as I think about them and at last I can feel glad that I had this experience.
I searched the internet for information after my accidents so want to add here that if you dislocate your finger it is normal for it to be swollen and painful for at least 7 weeks. Don’t worry – it will slowly get better! And perhaps you will learn some interesting things in those weeks.
A weather change
It’s been hot and sunny for months. I can’t remember the last time it rained. Of course it’s lovely but also strangely disturbing. Everyone says it is unusual for this time of year. The Panta de Sau is a huge water reservoir which was created in 1962 by flooding an abandoned village. Apparently at the moment you can see the church and houses as the water is so low.
Now they say the weather will change. Rain is expected. They have been saying this for days and I have started to look out anxiously for clouds. I start each day hoping for a grey sky. I am sniffing the air for rain. It’s not like Cornwall where you feel the rain in the air and soon after it comes – and sometimes doesn’t go away for weeks.
Here, we wait. ‘Tomorrow it will come’, but tomorrow comes and goes and still it is dry. Yesterday there were a few drops. today the wind changed to the East and it was very cold. I saw someone chatting on the street with an umbrella up. Gusts of wind on the terrace send the plastic pots scurrying across the tiles.
Now they say again that ‘tomorrow it will rain and there will be thunder and lightning’
Inconvenient as I had arranged to meet Oreneta for a lovely mountain dog walk.
But I want the rain to come and water the plants and trees, to clean the streets and especially the pavement outside where Blue pees every day, and to fill up the Pantana de Sau so it is full of water we need for the summer.
Two Dogs
Two dogs – Border Collies
lived all their lives in Cornwall
until they moved to Catalunya
when they were 15
and 9
they swam in the Mediterranean
slept in the sunshine
scoured the rocks for discarded sandwiches
with a new companion who shared this interest
One overcame her fear of strangers
and fell in love all over again
And the other found her legs could walk further and further
taking her to places – she’d never been before
(as I typed that she jumped onto the sofa without a worry)
Wild Camping
A night away in the van to test how it copes with two people and three dogs
It went well and we even managed to visit both mountains and sea
We ate supper on the seafront at Blanes which was good for sea sounds and dog walking but best not to look behind to the highrise apartments and hotels. Then we found a lovely cove called Sant Francesc and slept nearby beside another white VW camper with two dogs. That made me more relaxed and the night passed quietly – unlike the first time we were road camping in the Costa Brava and in the early hours some passing youth noticed the UK plates and started to rock the van and shout at us.
Today all was peaceful and it was lovely to wander down to the sea early in the morning and before the Sunday lunch parties arrived
There were already groups of men breakfasting on wine, sausages and pa amb tomaquet!
At lunch time we moved on to the beautiful nudist beach over the hill
Here is the sea – mesmerising and soothing to us all although it was too rough for swimming
The weather forecast predicts rain from tomorrow so we were lucky to have such a sunny weekend.
Pictures of dogs in the next post.