Awareness

"Awareness is like the sun.

When it shines on things

They are transformed."

 Thich Nhat Hanh

Buddhist teacher and Zen master, Thich Nhat Hanh left this life very recently.

He was 95 years old.

His teachings held so much wisdom and I have several of his books, like the one above.

There are so many beautiful quotations in his books:

" Because of your smile, you make life more beautiful."

On the table, you can see my Tingsha bells, or cymbals. 

I have had them for many years and love their sound.

Just listening to them gives me a feeling of peace.

If you would like to hear these bells you can do so on this link:

Tingsha Bells

My bells are the 3-inch ones with a slightly deeper sound.

I am not Buddhist, but their teachings resonate with me.

When we set a pretty table for breakfast, we eat more slowly and consciously

and appreciate each mouthful.

This morning I made an apple muffin made with almond flour.

Being in nature and literally becoming part of it through my shadow!

The Witch Hazel is a welcome sight while the spring flowers are still shy of blooming

after a return to colder temperatures. 

As I was walking back from the shops yesterday, I looked up to see this lovely

cloud formation, momentarily hiding the sun, but we can see some discreet

sunrays slightly above and below the cloud.

I am taking part in a private self-portrait group and this week,

our challenge was to take silhouettes. 

When I was walking in front of my glass-fronted bookcase, I noticed

my silhouette against the window.

I bet you didn't know that I lived in a bookcase in my spare time!

Another bookcase photo, with my focus on the frame and the contents, but less on my silhouette,

making it look more dreamy and contemplative as if I were looking out of the window.

I found it interesting to note that the shadow of my head highlighted the gold writing

of a book entitled 'A New Earth' by teacher and author Eckhart Tolle.

Space, lightness and simplicity.

Have you noticed, that when there's too much going on,

we just need to create some space around us. let in the light and return to simplicity.

Finding my centre

Space, lightness, simplicity

Show be how to be.

I hope that you are finding lightness and laughter in your own life,

remembering that our smile makes life more beautiful, both for others and for how we feel inside.

Bringing Colour into the New Year!

I thought a swirl of luminous colours might do us all good today!

Now the days are getting longer, one minute at a time.

You would never guess that this abstract was created

from a crocheted piece in warm colours and yellow Christmas lights!

Here are the same lights with my red candle

I do love candles and lights to brighten my home at this time of the year.

This was a pretty sunrise from my balcony one morning

and later on that same day we had blue skies and dappled clouds.

Snug afternoons at home with a cup of tea and a new book to read.

The two lovely packets of tea were given to me by my grandson for Chrisltmas.

A mug of soup 

in a new mug from my daughter,

I'm trying out different recipes from the accompanying recipe book.

I love eating on my Christmas tablecloth too!

I promised myself to do daily walks, whatever the weather.

These tiny cyclamen growing under a big oak tree were a delight to discover.

I rather like early evening walks

and loved these fairy lights along the railings.

Even if the day has been grey, the evenings seem to develop into a lovely

shade of blue if you catch them just at the right moment

after sunset in what is known as the Blue Hour.

These pine branches were particularly lovely.

Back home again to enjoy some candlelight.

This pretty jam-jar lantern was made by my grandson when he was little.

We always used to do crafting together and had pressed some leaves

in my flower press to use them with coloured tissue paper. 

The photo of my grandson was in my nearby park when he was a baby.

I have left my scintillating Christmas cloth on the small table because it makes me happy!

On January 1st, I baked some Florentine biscuits with flaked almonds

brushed with chocolate and flavoured with grated orange rind.

I also opened a bottle of Clairette de Die

which is made from Muscat grapes and very bubbly, like champagne.

 My second Amaryllis plant came into bloom.

There were five huge blooms which lasted over a week.

I protected my plants on the balcony with pine branches

and this tiny yellow viola popped out through a little space one morning.

We did have a light snowfall in the night leading up to the first day of January.

So I took my little gnome and red mug for a walk to add some colour.

I rather liked this snowman which some children had built.

He's sitting on the very same table where we had our Christmas Eve

get-together to exchange Christmas gifts.

See us HERE

The snow started to melt quite quickly, but it looked perfect on the branches

with red berries.

One week ago, I bought some red tulips

and today I took a photo of them looking very beautiful still.

So despite the rather grey days we've been having

and cold temperatures too, around 1-2C  (33.8 Fahrenheit),

I've been enjoying lots of colour in my home.

One last swirl of colour, this time in blue.

Colour is so therapeutic, don't you agree?

One Day at a Time

I wanted to greet you with something happy and colourful today!

This is my new front door decoration:

A rainbow wreath with a happy sunshine 

and a heart  to bring joy to anyone passing my front door,

but also to thank all those people continuing to work for us

 to deliver food and all the medical staff

working so hard to help us during this Covid-19 virus

which has been raging across the world for several months now.

Reading time on my balcony after lunch in the sunshine.

For almost three weeks, I stayed in solitary confinement within my home

as was told to us by the Swiss Confederation.

The big phrase everywhere was, and still is,

"STAY AT HOME"

first of all to keep ourselves safe,

but also to avoid spreading the virus, which is very contagious,

and therefore not adding to the already heavy load of work asd doctors and medical staff

work long, tiring hours to help very sick people in intensive care.

I was so happy to have planted three window boxes of colourful viola plants

just before Lockdown in Switzerland was announced on Monday 16 March

until March 19.

It has since been prolonged for another week until April 26.

The first tiny Campanula flower opened up yesterday in a big terracotta pot

next to the kitchen.

Looking to the right from my balcony, I can see a small park 

and was thrilled to see the Forsythia in bloom.

On the other end of my balcony, I could see some blossom in someone's garden.

I watched our postlady come every day to bring us our post.

She was wearing a mask and gloves.

I left her a message on the seat of her Vespa to thank her for delivering our mail every day.

I am thankful for the people delivering our food and I have a standing order

once a week for fresh farm produce.

Then I thought of the dustbin workers who come to collect our dustbins twice a week.

I taped this thank you message on the dustbin container this week.

It's good that they know how much we appreciate them during this time.

I heard from a friend that some doctors were recommending that we go out for 30 minutes exercise

every day, but to avoid being in contact with other people and practice social distancing

of keeping of two metres apart.

I decided that I would like to leave the confines of my apartment for a short period each day.

So I thought that going out very early between 5.30 and 6.30 am would be perfect.

I'm a very earlybird, so this is not a hardship for me.

The above picture was taken on my first outing when the sky was still very dark.

The tree is in my street.

Another morning took me a little higher up in my neighbourhood to capture the first sun

on the mountain tips.

The daffodils were out and only five minutes away from where I live!

Just to make sure that I wasn't taking any risks by going out every early morning,

I phoned the Coronavirus Hotline to ask advice.

I told them my age and that I was in good general health

and asked, to double-check, if they considered it alright for me

 to go out on my early morning outings.

I was happy to get a positive answer

and was reminded about the social distancing if I encountered other people

when I was out.

I am very careful and meet very few people indeed so early in the morning.

One morning, the sky was an amazing shade of lavender blue with hues of pink

near the horizon.

Then there was the full moon in a moody and dramatic sky

This is what it looked like when I left home before 6 am

Then like this as I returned home in a lightening sky.

The clouds soon disappeared and we've been enjoying very warm and sunny days.

I love to see the shadows of the bare trees on the path when I set out.

and hear the blackbird sing against the pale blue sky.

The morning chorus is glorious!

This morning, I did a second short walk just to capture blossom.

I knew exactly where to go to see this one!

This white cherry blossom is just at the top of my street and reminds me 

of the first verse of a poem:

"Loveliest of trees, the cherry now

Is hung with bloom along the bough,

And stands about the woodland ride

Wearing white for Eastertide."

A.E. Housman

Beautiful Magnolia growing nearby.

My pre-dawn walks have transformed my days.

Otherwise, I read and crochet, sometimes watch Netflix,

Keep my home in order and cook tasty meals.

I am never bored, but I do miss the contact and interaction with other human beings!

I consider myself fortunate in many ways

and however things evolve with this pandemic,

it's really good to just take one day at a time!

I hope you are feeling well

and finding a way to take what we are currently living with philosophy. 

Stay safe!

My daughter dropped by with the cutest Easter Bunny in my favourite dark chocolate!

The Colours of January

The illuminated Lausanne Cathedral

as the bells rang out to celebrate the New Year!

The crowds were dense, but we found a bench to sip our mulled wine

which I had made at home and put into thermos mugs!

The tower was bathed in a deep blue light afterwards

and the crowds dispersed to continue their celebration

or to go home

I'm not a night owl, so I did the latter!

A delicate sunrise taken from my balcony with the cock on the church steeple.

I enjoy my daily walks and loved these tiny oval red berries

hanging on the branches like Christmas lights.

The centre of a beautiful Amaryllis bloom which opened up on Christmas morning.

A late afternoon walk with sun-kissed branches and a waxing moon

rising higher in the sky.

I decided to crochet a Temperature Blanket for the very first time.

These are the colours that represent the temperatures in the first seven days of January.

Cool colours, which are my favourites.

The average daytime temperature has been around 6-7 Celsius.

The dominating colours so far are Wisteria and Sherbet.

The middle round of the small squares is the coolest temperature of the day 

and the second round is the warmest.

I'm using white to join all the squares.

I couldn't resist getting a small pot of sunshine in the shape of these yellow Primula.

My daughter and I went to see the new film version of the musical 'Cats'.

It was very good. The costumes and settings were wonderful!

We had already seen it in London some years ago on the stage.

The Magnolia buds look very promising against the Winter's sky.

A small perfect rosebud was still blooming in one of the neighbourhood gardens.

Tightly encased catkins still know that they have to wait a little longer

before stretching their limbs!

I have used this image for my January header.

It's a subtle reminder that Spring follows Winter.

More catkins in the park nearby against a gorgeous limpid blue sky.

Another beautiful sunrise in shades of pink, blue, lilac and purple.

This one inspired me to take out my coloured yarns to start a separate crochet project

Here are all the colours.

Seven squares already joined in a row.

I'm considering adding single coloured squares to frame the others.

I've chosen Bluebell to do this.

This month of January is full of new energy

and we're already gaining an extra minute every day.

We are getting some grey days but a generous amount of sunshine and clear blue skies as well.

January doesn't need to be dull

it can be whatever we want it to be!

We just need to seek out the colour and beauty around us

and if we can't see any ...

well, let's just create it!