Rainy fairs and car boot sales

Hi everyone,

Yesterday was the first annual Transition Towns Kinsale Tidy Towns spring fair. While the second spring fair for TTK (www.transitiontownkinsale.org/) it was the first time Tidy Towns had joined in. This year's fair was also a substantial increase over last year's event for TTK in complexity and scope and a group of upwards of thirty people worked on the organization from the first weeks in January until now.

Alas on the day the weather did not look good - and then the sun came out as did all the people, then it rained again. At the end of the day it was completely satisfactory if not brilliant. The car boot sale (garage sale or flea market to my US readers) netted €200+ for Tidy Towns - the first donations of this kind for a few years. Also the Tidy Town-ers (http://www.tidytowns.ie/) sat at a booth and chatted with bypassers about our various renovation projects. This year we hope to renovate the trees along Pearce St., a good project since at the moment the rest of the town is torn up by the crews changing out the water mains.

By 7:30 we were ready to join the crowd at the Further Education College www.kinsalefurthered.ie/ at their sustainably built stage. Listening to local acts in candlelight with wood burning to keep the outdoor environment warm, we listened to great local acts of music and comedy. Alas the 50+ year olders that we are we left early, but with smiles on our faces. A great day all around.

Hope to hear about your local events as well,
Alana

AM Web WalkAbouts

Hi everyone,

Mornings these days has me doing web walkabouts. I give myself two hours (roughly 7am - 9am) to follow my heart and head through the web.

These days Twitter http://twitter.com/home has some of that attention - just like in a village (albeit a global village) I find myself catching up on the news and daily doings of the minutia of life from my friends.

I also get to know people I have met through their web presence better. Case in point is Nancy White http://www.fullcirc.com whose website is a constant model to me of what it looks like to have a large enough digital footprint so people can get to know you. If I met her at a party I would be interested to talk with her (like having her blog bookmarked), following her on Twitter is like asking her over for coffee. Its the minutia that make connection, at least for me and finally the web has given me a tool that does this.

On another front, my creative life is helped through a series of sites for what is called hybrid scrapbooking. For all of you who have followed my scrapbooks for years, digital scrapbooking takes less time and many of the papers, etc can be gotten for free with the right memberships. I have found https://www.scrapwow.com/ to be the best place to house my scrapbooks. You can find mine at http://www.scrapwow.com/scrapbook/mysite.asp?ukey=39102ZR5Z3910S29XX3910. I have also found that RAKSCRAPS (now owned by the same group as scrapwow) have great freebie offers. Within the month both of these subscriptions have paid off in enough free digital scrapbooking supplies that I am set. Now before folks run out to get started the software of choice for this work is Adobe (not as easy to learn as some) either Photoshop (my choice but expensive) or elements. The good news is that there are wonderful tutorials - in fact after years of working with Photoshop I have sharpened many skills because of the tutorials. Last but not least, is a fun set called ScrapGirls, their latest newsletter has tons of fun pages! http://www.scrapgirls.com/NL/RoundUp_080325_Tues_See.htm

Please comment by clicking the link below if you find any of the ideas I collected in today's web walk about fun for you as well.

Love to all,
Alana

YouTube Video of Harriet and Stefan at the beach

Hi everyone,

I hope you go see and comment on my first attempt at video on the web @ youtube.com. The URL is http://www.youtube.com/v/wB4xQHC7k90 and if all is well you can spend three + quality minutes with Margie and I on Easter. Please comment either here or there on what you think.

Love to you all,
Alana

More Puppy scrapbook pages

Hi everyone,

No faster way to reinvent the daily quality of your life than to adopt a puppy! One week later all is well and we celebrate bringing Harriet into our lives. You can find the album at http://www.scrapwow.com/scrapbook/index.asp?album=3910DA3HA4DK98ZQ9OX7U6WZ check back in frequently because I add a page or two each week!

Tomorrow we will use her as an excuse to learn YouTube - hopefully look for a link here in the near future.

I look forward to any comments you might want to make by clicking below on stories you might have on adopting young animals! (big grin)

Love to you all,
Alana

The easiest volunteer work

Hi everyone,

Promoting literacy is important work. When I was working with troubled youth and disadvantaged adults we saw that there really is only one "silver bullet" - literacy. If a person can't read they spend much of their lives covering up that fact, faking what comes easily for others. Therefore when our local bookstor' (Irish spelling) gave me the chance to do a bit of volunteer work and to help the cause of literacy I jumped at the chance.

As the picture to the right demonstrates, this volunteer effort was the easiest possible job. I became part of the team they organized to sit in the window of their shop for a half hour stint - adding interest to the cause which was helped out by the volunteers outside passing out information and asking for signatures. I showed up on the Saturday, sat in a comfy chair and got to take the time out to read. "A hard job but someone had to do it."

I would love to exchange volunteer stories from all of you. Please take the time to comment by clicking on the comment box below. Wouldn't it be fun to share a world of volunteerism?

Love to all,
Alana

Tea sandwiches

Hi everyone,

This is a laugh at ourselves post, but just goes to show the minute things that can cause us to feel uncomfortable when living and working in a culture different to the one we grew up in. In this picture Margie is holding a plate of tea sandwiches - you may know they ones, without crust, cut in wedges? The only time in my life that I had seen them prior to moving here was when my mother had ladies in to tea when i was a child.

We go out one Thursday afternoon a month to here a speaker and mingle with a somewhat golden oldies crowd - mostly folks who attend St. Multose church. Great people from many countries or with international backgrounds although English speaking and white, and as far as we can tell we are the youngest in the room by a few years at least and by lots of years in some cases.

Every month people bring munchies, a task that we have tried to have a hand in with small success. They didn't love our homemade chocolate chip cookies (can you IMAGINE?) so we decided to meet them on ground they were familiar with and make tea sandwiches. Margie and I doing this though is the blind leading the blind and hoping not to fall in the proverbial ditch.

There is a lot to tea sandwiches - and we have become adept. First of all quarters, not halves are the correct size of wedge (although one woman ventured into long strips which had there uses as they fit better with a cup and saucer). You want the bread soft - but too soft doesn't work with egg or salmon salad as they fall apart. It goes without saying that you cut off the crust - this leaves lots of bread with which you can make bread pudding (recipe follows) which has become a favorite breakfast treat in our lives. Also there seem to be a few things that we have to consider on the do and don't list: do make fish spread sandwiches (a hit), it's OK to make them on whole wheat bread (thank heavens as Margie was embarrassed carrying white bread from the store), and finally DON"T add anything green to them (such as lettuce). We are sure there are more rules but they remain still to be discovered.

Wishing you all the best with the tea sandwiches (things you don't know how to do) in your lives!
Alana

Bread Pudding (think quiche with bread scraps in it)

1) layer bread scraps in a baking dish or pan that will be used in the oven
2) in a bowl mix: 2-3 eggs, lots of milk, and anything you have handy (oinions, herbs, cheese, sausage, pesto, sundried tomatoes- all good)
3) cover bread with egg mixture - if it isn't sloppy or the bread isn't covered add more milk or yogurt if you have some.

Let it sit until bread dissolves to mush - overnight is fine, 20 minutes works too.

Bake in oven at 18- degree centigrade or 375 farenheit until it rises some and the top crusts with a lovely color of brown.

Eat wedges with jam and yogurt for breakfast, or with chicken wings for lunch. Makes a lovely midnight snack as well.

Reinventing Life Retreat Scrapbook

Hi everyone,
As most of you know, it is sometimes my privilege to work with John Scott and lead retreats. We have put together the following info scrapbook as a way of letting people know what to expect in these adventures. The next one is scheduled in the late May early June time frame in Colorado.

Please enjoy our video scrapbook by pushing play and then clicking on the middle arrow which will bring the pictures up close. You can advance the slides at your own pace by using the right hand arrow, there are 10 slides in all. If you know of people who may enjoy an experience like this please pass this on.

Love you all,
Alana

Make a slideshow - it's easy!

The puppy is coming, the puppy is coming!

Hi everyone,

This is to announce the soon to be addition to our family - we are currently calling her Harriet (heaven only knows why) but are completely open to her telling us what her name is once she arrives. I have started a digital scrapbook which will journal her journey into our home, our lives and here growing up - more on that in later emails and blogs.

Meanwhile we met her two weeks ago, although I had been entranced with the sweetness of her Mum when I met her at the vets office two weeks before that. Our vet thinks that this adoption will be good for Stefan (wake up the old fart) but who knows what Samson will think! Well maybe we ALL know what Samson will think, which is why we purposefully chose the gentlest puppy in the liter.

We took three tennis balls out to the siblings yesterday. The alpha male quickly picked his up and from the expression on his face you absolutely knew he thought he was brilliant. Harriet and her sister soon followed suit (as you can see).

Lots of love for now - she comes home next Friday so we know there will be lots of pictures, and stories to follow,
Alana

Announcing New Blog Potential and Invitation to Join Me

HI everyone,

As you may have noticed the next two blogs are long - and more pertaining to my philosophical views on the wonders of life than on the newsy bits of what Margie and I are doing in Kinsale, life in Ireland etc. These newer blogs are interesting to perhaps a different audience. Therefore this announces one blog that will continue to go that direction - detailing and discussing philosophy, metaphysics, and the nuts and bolts of life reinvention. This current blog will continue to be a short recap of weekly events for those who love us or who find our journey into multicultural living in Ireland of interest.

For those who want to muse about inner and outer workings of life as human writ large, please join me at www.RLgroup.blogspot.com. You will notice that there is an invitation to all join as a writer in this new group blog - please consider doing so if interested.

Love you all,
Alana

A Journey into the Mysteries of Alchemy

Hi everyone,

As I mentioned in another blog, I recently was propelled through circumstance to investigate which archetypal pattern was currently playing in my life. The idea here is that we all are playing out a few roles that tie us to humanity through the ages - and the alchemist turned out to be me! In fact it fits my soul so perfectly that I find it thrilling to investigate – so investigate I did.

Before I forget it, you will find a few links at the bottom of this blog they are put there for fun and I highly recommend follow some of them. The first link I saved for the Lost Wonder Museum – and it truly is a wonder! I highly recommend it for anyone desiring to experience the buzz when your small human mind connects with the universe – FABULOUS. Also, wasn’t Nicholas Flamel a character in Harry Potter? Wasn’t he the man who had created the sorcerer’s stone? Evidently he also lived in our 3D world as I found drawings on the web from his notebooks! (See the 2^nd link).

I’ll use this space to highlight the basic learning from my search:

1. Most people think of alchemy as the search to turn iron to gold –or for the sorcerer’s stone and eternal life –evidently the life eternal that alchemists really seek is not the mundane but the enlightened idea of the blend of this life with the eternal oneness of the universe (a theme that runs throughout).
2. Alchemy was given a bad name by Freud, who commented that Leonardo Da Vinci (a known dabbler in the alchemical arts) was the equivalent of someone half crazy in the lingo of today, making Leonardo seem ridiculous.
3. Jung, on the other hand, developed the basic alchemical principal of the merging of opposites and the basic patterns of life force (air, water, earth and fire) into psychological principles (spirituality, physicality, emotionality and mentality).
4. Alchemy has seven steps – as you will see in the Museum of Lost Wonder.

The effect of my search on my creative mind has been enormous. The actions that follow include: a) using this as a teaching cycle for my other work (a retreat coming up by the way in Colorado in May or early June), b) I have started a small altered book “My book of Wonder” that uses the seven alchemical phases as a stepping off place, and c) I am adding the seven steps to my spiritual/psychological database of ideas to work out their correspondence with everything else that I have put together.

The bottom line for me is that a lot of energy came zooming into my life with one set of exploration – here’s hoping that whomever reads this finds the same zoom of wonder for themselves – It is really a lovely ride.

I’ll leave the discussion here for today so that my readers have time to play in the links below.

Love you lots,

Alana

www.lostwonder.org (tour the museum) This is really a can’t miss

http://www.alchemylab.com/flameldwgs.htm A whole page of Flamel links

http://altreligion.about.com/library/graphics/magick/alchemy4.jpg a single Flamel link