Here Now

 here now

and sinking in

the ground is soft underfoot and leaves float to the ground

the colours are softer, a whole new palette

But the smiles are the same and it's cosy when all zipped up

I see rain far away where I came from 

but at the end of this week

the picture here 

says snow!

where's your now here?

lighting our way

moving across the world

from lighter to darkening

Australia to Switzerland

from coming summer to coming winter.

Celebrations of light paved our way.

Feels like divine timing - but isn't it all ;)

We chucked out the old from our home and lit up a whole new one. . .

then left to

Diwali in India we cleaned out the old again and put on something new

lit up lanterns at the door to welcome good fortune in

set off firecrackers to drive evil spirits away.

and ate sweets too.

Halloween snuck itself in between

but I'll call it Samhain

harvest an end heading down in to winter

respect all your ancestors, light up the dark

burn a big bonfire

maybe dance about.

Then we arrived to the 'Raebelichtli umzug' in our new town

and marched through the night with all the school kids around

carrying their lanterns of carved purple turnips, through the dark streets

an old Swiss celebration of harvests end and lighting the way into winter

a nice way to meet our new beat.

The end of our beautiful Bondi harvest for now,

Lighting our way into Rueschlikon.

Here are the lamps we lit for Diwali

and the lanterns we made to light our way

to our new home

and into our new year . . .

how did you celebrate

the season change?

the full moon?

11.11.11 ???

xxx

 

a taste of india

or

or should I say drive-by-Bangaluru

We didn't stay long

thank you to Gaja who drove us around

busy streets that Belgian Kim loved to drive

 'like an always fun video game' in and out :)

Thanks to our hosts and old friends George and Smitha,

and Nishka and Goro for lots of fun

for having a car and a driver and beds,

 and time to indulge some of our fancies.

India for our first time

it's true all they say

a feast for the senses

the colour

the array

of everything under the sun and some more.

Min Mia an aboriginal teacher of mine

who teaches of miwis and stories and songlines

said in her travels she found the songline of humanity 

and it runs right through India

Humanity rich and delicious and dusty and true.

Stop and Smell the Flowers . . .

How busy it's been

Now I'm in another country

How busy it gets

When I just STOP

drop out of my head and into my body

breathe, feel the air, sense all around me, look up

use commas, full stops.

pause

what comes in is gratitude

and all the sparkles and smells and tingles

bring life back into me

if I just stop

When the kids get nutty I send them outside

I say take off your shoes and put your feet on the ground

it works

I need to do it for me too

They get to just be more than we let ourselves do

So here's a little big kids colouring to take time out to play and ponder

together or alone.

I might colour it autumn and you might make it spring

but together we make our lives come bright

when we let the gratitude in

Print it out

take some time for you . . .