Maggie Baker writing about … being Glad … about …

Day 17

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Writing again

Lydia and I were out earliesh this morning, as the sun was still rising.

It was the second day for her wearing her new collar, and she did very well.

Back home, after setting Lydi up with her breakfast ball, I set to on deep cleaning the kitchen, eating my own breakfast as I worked.

After a few hours it was time to set off to meet my friend Susie. We had a lovely walk round a lake before heading for a café to have some lunch.

Susie first introduced me to meditation around 30 years ago. I wrote a poem about our friendship a while back:

Friendship

The light of your heart

Turns forever night

into a sensation of morning

as you reach out

to illuminate the darkness and depth

of my despair

 

Almost beyond hope

I find the firm hold

of your belief in me

and then I can see

that somewhere in the future

lies a present, what will it be?

 

All I do know is that now I can say

thank you for the day

and for your friendship

that helped to show the way

2013, dedicated to my friend Susie

Back home to Lydia and, after she’d had her tea and I’d had a bit of a rest, I went out to the Buddhist group meeting.

The theme for tonight’s meeting – the first of a group of three – was ‘love’, with the emphasis on affectionate love, cherishing love and wishing love. Wishing love is about wishing for others to be happy; not just those we are close to or who we particularly care about, but all others; all living beings.

Day 16

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Writing again

Lydi did very well with her new collar for the first time. It’s a Halti collar, designed to stop pulling. It will take a while for her to get fully used to it, but it did seem to make a difference.

I’m early with writing and posting Christmas cards this year, which is just as well as it leaves me clear to make a start on deep cleaning the kitchen and doing a few things to it that will hopefully help things along when we come to sell the house.

Day 15

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Writing again

Mental health Mondays do seem to come round very quickly.

Up at around 8.30 this morning, I read a few pages from ‘How to Transform Your Life’ by Venerable Geshe Keksang Gyatso, Rinpoche, before starting a meditation.

During the meditation Lydia started barking at the back door and, while I decided to continue meditating for a while, I realised that she might need to go to the toilet, and not just for a ‘peepie’, so I got us ready to go out for our ‘walkies’. Sure enough, she did her first ‘poopie’ early on in the walk and another one later. She was pulling again, picking up a scent, and I’ll be glad when her new collar arrives later today, so that I can try her with it and see if it makes a difference.

Dropped a few of my pots off at my friend’s house as her daughter – who designs interiors – may buy some. Then I headed for the jet wash as I haven’t cleaned my car for ages.

With a bit of time to spare before yoga, I filled the car with petrol then popped into Tesco’s to buy some Christmas chocolates – three for presents for people and a box of Bendicks  mints for the house. I always like to buy a box of Bendicks mints for Christmas. I don’t have many Christmas traditions but this is one of them.

Day 14

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Writing again

Just back from a late lunch – a friend of a friend’s birthday.

Back home I’ve given Lydia her tea and she is now crunching on a raw lamb rib – a chunky one.

We had an earliesh walk this morning. It was our woodland walk only we didn’t go into the wood in the end as she was pulling too much – we walked up and down the outside instead, and despite changing directions numerous times as the training has taught me to do, and reinforcing the “heel” command, it made no difference. She had picked up a scent and wanted to follow it.

Even so, we were out for about 45 minutes in the end and when I came home I ordered an anti-pull collar for her. We’ll see how that goes.

I may give the woodland walk a miss tomorrow and try it again once the new collar has arrived.

 

Day 13

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 Writing again

 

Had a really good catch up with a friend today.

Lydia and I had a bit of a wet walk in the morning, although she was reluctant to let me give her a ‘rub a dub dub’ with a dry towel when we got home.

My friend treated me to a green smoothie- full of nutrients and very flavoursome – and then I had a decaffeinated coffee.

It was busy in the retail park where we met – hard to believe it’s not yet December as Christmas shopping seemed to be in full flow.

I did a bit of shopping after I’d said goodbye to my friend, using a gift card I’d been given to buy a really nice bottle of wine.9

I’m drinking the wine now and it is good. Trying to keep a craving for chocolate at bay – and winning. I did have some cheese puffs earlier so the craving for something sweet will have to wait.

Lydia is chewing on her horn. She showed a lot of restraint when I was eating the cheese puffs earlier, so I’ll take a page out of her book. She’s a good role model, that’s for sure.

Day 12

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Writing again

 

Lydia was disappointed at the dog field this morning. No cars passed by that she could chase. Even so, she had nearly an hour off lead and did a lot of sniffing on what was a mild morning that later turned into a bit of a wild day weather-wise.

Hailstones fell as my friend Maxine and I headed to Harewood House to see the Christmas installation that her daughter had designed. It was spectacular, beautiful and inspired.

Quite how it had all been imagined, planned and implemented I don’t know but it really was a work of art in so many ways. A feast for the eyes with vibrance, colour and light.

It isn’t yet December but it is beginning to feel a little bit like Christmas already.

Day 11

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Writing again

Photo by Yan Krukau on Pexels.com

I made one pot and started another at the pottery studio today.

I didn’t have a particular idea in mind when I arrived about what I wanted to do or what I wanted to make so I located a plaster press mould that I’ve used before, cut off a slab of clay, gathered a few tools and some canvas to work on, and made a start.

The pots are going to be candlesticks: a non-matching pair.

I used a construction technique that I haven’t used before, using the press mould to form a base and then alternating layers of rolled coils with rolled up, rounded lumps. 

When the coils sank in places I accepted this as part of the process so the pieces are a bit wobbly and lop-sided, which I like.

Day 10

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Writing again

 

We were talking about Christmas jumpers in the kitchen after the Buddhist group meeting tonight.

I don’t have a Christmas jumper as such any more, having sent the one I had to a charity shop a few years ago. I do have a festive jumper though. It is warm and soft with a kind of Nordic pattern on it and I may wear that to the meeting next week.

We meditated on the ‘Om Ah Hum’ mantra with much of the teaching devoted to deepening our understanding of that mantra, which represents the body, speech and mind of Buddha.

Home to lovely Lydia, I give her a few treats and she’s now lying down on the other side of the room, ready I think for her ‘sleepy time’.

I’m not quite ready for my ‘sleepy time’ yet this evening. I may just sit up for a while and reflect a bit more on the mantra.

Day 9

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Writing again

I’ve been reading more of the book, ‘How to Transform Your Life’ by the Venerable Geshe Kelsang Gyatso, Rinpoche.

Just being able to concentrate on reading again feels like a bit of a transformation, although that is not the type of transformation that the book is about. Or maybe it is, in that meditation and doing my best to put the teachings into practice have helped to start bringing my concentration levels back.

Lydia has done a lot of barking today, after a quiet walk this morning.  She’s now had her tea and is snuggled up to her blanket/quilt.  She’s looking at me and blinking her eyes and making a few gurgly noises with her throat, so I think she’s fairly relaxed.

There’s meatloaf left over from yesterday that Trev made so it’s an easy tea for us, with some boiled potatoes, steamed broccoli and gravy.

A bit more telly tonight, keeping things steady this week as I’ll be doing some intensive deep cleaning next week.  Trev’s away for a few days so I’ll set to with my steam cleaner. We’re getting ready to put the house on the market in the New Year, and it’s just about doing what needs to be done for that, before Christmas.

Day 8

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Writing again

There was no Qigong today so I’ve just been to yoga this afternoon.

Lydia reacted when she saw two other dogs this morning, despite the distance between us. After that she struggled to settle down for the rest of the walk, and I struggled a bit with yoga.

I know I’m tired at the moment and, though starting to sleep better, have still not had a deep sleep that will, I think, make a difference.

I’m keeping up with caffeine-free afternoons and concentrating on doing constructive things when I can, so I’m hoping that I will eventually fall into that elusive deep sleep.

Lydia has already settled down for the evening. She’s had her tea and is curled up in her armchair. She’s presented her tummy to me for tickling twice since I got back so I think its fair to say that she’s relaxed at home even if she isn’t always when we’re outside.

I’ve finally found something to binge-watch on the telly and I did a bit of reading this morning. So I’m starting to relax a bit too.