spanish

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.

Listening to Catalan in the early hours

~ Kate Wilson ~ 2 Comments

I was up early this morning to take out Bonnie and Blue before the shoppers start to walk down the street and it gets embarassing for me to be out there in my badly hidden nightie. Also Blue has developed the habit of peeing as soon as we get out the front door – or sometimes worse!  And thirdly our Resident Adolescent was out at a disco last night and expected home around 6.30am which I knew would wake the dogs up and perhaps lead to puddles in the living room.
So….after wandering around the square for a while with two sleepy dogs I came back and made a cup of tea and opened the computer to pass the time while waiting for two teenagers to get home.
Where do you go when you want to look at something on the internet but aren’t sure what?
Youtube perhaps?  I’ve just been watching some videos by a man who makes films of himself speaking Catalan and Spanish…. and English sometimes which is the language he is learning. He’s called Oscar and he sits in his home talking to the camera in a really informal and informative way. I like these videos because he speaks very clearly and he just chats about interesting things like language learning or problems faced by people learning a new language. It’s all very relaxed and a great way to practise listening skills. Sometimes he goes out for a walk with his dog in the Catalan hills and chats to his iphone as he goes. There’s something very appealing about him and if you are learning Catalan or Spanish I’d really recommend finding him on YouTube and subscribing to his channel.  Then you’ll automatically get sent his new video.
This is not the most interesting one he has made but I put it here as an introduction to Oscar and it’s short and topical! He speaks English, Catalan and Spanish in a brief Christmas greeting.  Click here to watch.
Hope you enjoy him!