A Few Weeks in Lamorna

March 25, 2011December 30, 2014 ~ Kate Wilson ~ 1 Comment

It’s not all been vets and impossible lists of things to do.
There have been many happy days in Lamorna.
So many sunny days too – living in a place where you can’t rely on the weather it feels like a gift every day when you wake to blue sky and sunshine and birdsong.

A line of collies in the field.

Waiting for the ball

Building an inipi for a sweat lodge that we did on the night of the Spring equinox. From outside it looks small but when covered with rugs and blankets (and dog towels as we ran out of stuff to use) it transformed into a magical cave with plenty of room inside for up to 8 people. But in the end there were the two of us.

The bonfire that heated up the stones to put inside the inipi.

A daytime bonfire.
Clearing an alleyway of light through the trees I planted over ten years ago. It’s so therapeutic to burn a big mountain of brambles and twigs. The bigger branches were cut up and stored for firewood.

In the midst of so many unanswered questions it has been wonderful to be outside, cutting and chopping the wood and brambles and after a few hours of work – seeing a result.
It really begins to look and feel like a wood.

The First Day of Spring

March 22, 2011November 19, 2014 ~ Kate Wilson ~ 5 Comments

Lamorna is famous for daffodils. Early ones, late ones, yellow and creamy ones. Small meadows are full of them and a lovely path edged with them, winds back from the coast taking you past the granite quarries and down to the stream. There are always places to buy a bunch with an honest box for money. Friends from Barcelona were amazed that here in Cornwall you are trusted to leave your money in a tin by the side of the road. I suppose sometimes people steal it but it’s not common and I like that feeling of being presumed to be honest, unlike in some shops in Granollers where you must leave your bag at the door in case you get a sudden desire to shoplifter.

What luck to be here in Spring, with time to think about future plans and to let go of the stresses and strains of the past months. I still don’t have a clear idea of how I will resolve the split I feel between two homes but I feel more trusting that the answer will come by itself. We will find the right path.

The end of my time here is fast approaching and I am dreading the day of goodbyes with my dogs while trying to savour every moment that remains. Tomorrow I go to two different vets with two different pets. Both Blue my black collie and Mazey my black cat need to have teeth extracted urgently so it will be an anxious day of waiting and worrying. Then hopefully a happy and painfree homecoming

Sant Josep

March 19, 2011December 30, 2014 ~ Kate Wilson ~ 1 Comment

If your name is Joseph or Josep or Josephine or Joe then today is your Saints Day. As I am not a Catholic this is something that I only found out about recently. I wrote about it rather wearily at Christmas in relation to Sant Esteve or Saint Stephen whose day is on Boxing Day. However March 19th is the special day of my partner who doesn’t want presents and isn’t interested in the Catholic significance of the day but is nevertheless happy to celebrate all things Josep and to enjoy the connection with all the others who share his name.
It’s a bit like a birthday – you can have special things on your saints day and people who know you send messages to wish you Felicitats (Happiness)
The Catalan tradition has been for many generations to name the first born son after his paternal grandfather and the second after his maternal grandfather. So if you are a Josep it is highly likely you will have a grandparent who was also Josep and for years perhaps you celebrated your saints days together with a family meal. If he in his turn was named after his grandfather and so on then you can see how the long line of namesakes brings a special energy to the name. Perhaps it links you in other ways too – personality traits or physical attributes. Naming is such a mysterious thing.

Joseph of course is the father of Jesus so this saint is special for fatherhood, and for carpenters, and perhaps for men whose wife has been chosen by God? Some people believe that if you put a statue of St Joseph in a house it will help you sell it – could be something useful in these times.
In Valencia there is an important celebration on Sant Josep called The Falles with processions, music and lots of fireworks.
It is traditional in Catalunya to eat Crema Catalana on Sant Josep which is what we are going to do tonight. For supper we had fish and chips in Penzance and as it was such a glorious day we celebrated by taking the dogs for a walk with some friends along the cliffs at Porthgwarra.

Collies Can Do It Too!

March 10, 2011December 7, 2014 ~ Kate Wilson ~ Leave a comment

Bonnie waiting outside a cottage for me today proved that it’s not only Springer Spaniels that can wait patiently tied to a gate or a tree.
Mind you there were no children around to test her growling/biting possibilities!