Catherine

This week the Christmas markets opened and suddenly, our spirits are lifted. During the same week, I presented with others on a Woman's Alliance meeting about finding joy at this time of the year. So many are on their own due to jobs, tricky family dynamics and for other readers and we were looking to find ways of feeling part of life. This weekend were lucky to sing with a group of friends whilst other friends looked on as part of the audience, and we had dinner with another group of friends. We realized it is beginning to feel

We arrived in our French town this day last year and closed doors to one life, a career for my husband, a different country, and opened doors to new friends, another language, culture and way of living. I thought of this as we were having interior glass doors installed this week to provide an improved sense of light and space.  My next post will be an update on doors! As Alexander Graham Bell said,"when one door closes, another opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one

A storm rolled towards the beach today as a Spanish green glass sea with shimmers of petrol blue dashed across the rocks. It is majestic to watch as we move away from summer's aqua and turquoise and head towards forests and snow. We should be like squirrels, stuff our cheeks with nuts, find a warm, safe space and stay underground until the earth warms again and our breath no longer freezes. But we are humans and we set off in November with kilos of clothes determined to manage the darker hours. On that sombre note, let's talk about the

Wishing people Happy Halloween seems strange, when it is derived from All Saints and All Souls Day for blessing those who have died. Paula Curan, an author of gothic novels, said,"the farther we've gotten from the magic and mystery of our past, the more we've come to need Halloween". In a scientific and technological age there is something to be said for imagining in the dark. Whilst Hallmark has morphed it in to a night of darkness, orange, pumpkins and candy, I prefer the magic of candles and light honouring the dead and those who believe they saw a

'There is a shade of red for every woman", said Audrey Hepburn. Not for me. I wore a red t-shirt once and for half-an-hour I felt I could take on the world. After another 30 minutes, I felt I was going to take on the world! It is a colour of energy and as a fast talker and walker, cooler, calmer colours are best for my yin/yang balance. A bit of water douses out the flame. That being said, we are on the cusp of Christmas and red is turning up in the stores as we run towards the

Joseph Campbell stated that, "if the path before you is clear, you are probably on someone else's". It felt like that this week as we stumbled through strange journeys and new beginnings. Any new experience is a mix of arriving and leaving with different states and balances that leave a historical imprint. We caught a train to Nice, got off at a strange station due to a wrong ticket and paid for a stranded older Swedish couple caught arriving, being unable to move on. Continuing our journey, we landed in a huge anti-covid health pass demonstration which had its

We finally fixed the internal living room stone wall. It was messy, dusty and one of those ideas that you regret until a week has gone by. It was repointed with some new stones, cleaned up and plastered. Now that the dust has settled, the natural stonework shines through. When thinking of walls, images both positive and negative appear. I recall many years ago we had moved into a new house, a new job had been offered and the Friday before I was to start, there was a re-organisation and my new role was gone. Taking the phone call,