I've not been posting in a while, I had my hands full with other writings. I may not write here again, but I'm not sure yet. If you want to see what I'm up to then read any of these blogs that I will be updating as much as I can...
Grove of Quotes- My philosophical musings, always with a relevant quote attached.
Lothlorien Nemeton- Updates about what's happening with our OBOD seedgroup(Lothlorien Nemeton), the Earth Sanctuary and the land, and some deeper musings.
Wyrd World Chronicles- Soemthing fun, featuring Mika's artistic talents (and some of mine) and my imaginative writings to create a world of characters that is truly Wyrd!

Blessings to you all,
Adam

It has been quite a few months since my last blog and I’ve tried to remember as much as I can. So here goes...

Recently my dad came to visit me at the Earth Sanctuary. One of the first things we did was to take him and his girlfriend, Jenny on a tour through the Prades mountains. One place we took them was a place called Siurana. Here there’s a lake made by a dam. A very nice valley but the water’s very much lower than it used to be, so low that buildings and old trees appeared from the time before the valley was flooded. Not enough water flowing in and too much of it being used I suppose. A few months before, me and Mika spent a bit of time going round the lakes on kayaks. Never been before but I enjoyed it.

Another day we went to an old abandoned village called La Mussara, which is in the Prades mountains. The building are all very old and long occupied by plants and trees. There’s even an old church with elder growing inside.

One night we had quite an exciting time, behind our house we heard wild boar. So there was me, Mika, Dad and Jenny all standing out the back trying to see if we could see them. We didn’t, but at least we heard them. I’d spent all year waiting to see one,, and it was ages until one day, in broad daylight, we saw one looking right at us. It’s family were invisible in the undergrowth. A few night we also saw them as they come often round the back of our house and we shine a torch to see where they are.

One morning I took my dad and Jenny to my cairn and on the way we saw three eagles flying high above, a beautiful sight.

All this week was finished off by a lovely meal at a restaurant that me and Mika had done some work at clearing away palm tree leaves outside.

We all did art on the first Sunday which I’ve put a picture of above (my dad’s). I’ve been pretty productive with my art, making atc’s, paintings. In fact I may be getting a little money. Not for the artwork itself but through a website called CafePress. We’ll be able to upload our photo’s and art and then CafePress then takes them and puts tem on whatever items we want to sell them on. A great way to get a little money. Our shop is here; http://www.cafepress.com/gaians

Our chicken are fertile! We have one chick from them now. It was so small but now looks almost as big as the smallest, although it’s still yellowish and still has that baby chick cheep. We have a bit of a zoo with 5 dogs around (Chispa, Luna, Kaila, Lur and Hopi but not all ours lol) , 3 rabbits (Monty, Jones and Ostara), 6 chicken (Bramble, Ivy, Hazel, Willow, Twig and Pumpkin) and two cats (Mozart and Chica).

We’re also developing a new website. Well, that is I’m writing for it, others are doing the developing. Hopefully it will be up and running in Spanish by Christmas and in English by Easter. Still, I’d written an article about Ecopsychology for it, a concept first coined by Theodore Roszak who’s written a book called Voices of the Earth and also compiled various writings on it in Ecopsychology; Restoring the Earth, Healing the Mind. It is a synthesis of ecology and psychology. Ecology is given a depth by psychology because our present ecological challenges are deeper rooted than just saving trees and stopping pollution, it requires a healing in the human psyche to create longer lasting changes. Also psychology is given a greater bredth by ecology as the human psyche, naturally, has ecological dimensions within it or an “ecological unconscious,” as it grew and of and is still sustained by the Earth’s ecosystems.

Birthdays, Turf and Gaia

A couple of weeks ago my mum turned 50, but don’t tell her that I told you ;) But age doesn’t make her boring or stuffy, hooray! She had quite a birthday party, preferring to dance than stand around with the sensible (read boring) adults that talked and ate (zzzzzz). I wasn’t able to make it but after such a wild party she needed a rest lol. So me and Mika got her a ticket to come to Spain and stay with us for almost a week and have a rest at our Sanctuary. When you come to Spain you think of dry and almost desert landscapes. Not so here, there’s lots of trees, which impressed my mum.

So we gave her a bit of a tour around our part of Spain, stopping off in Cambrils to eat some tapas. We gave her a view of the Prades mountains where we live. Also on the Sunday she was here we held the art encounter as usual and she joined in, which I think she thoroughly enjoyed having created a collage of things that represent me, Mika and our relationship, thanks mum J It really was good to see her again and to be able to show her my new life at this Sanctuary.

Work on the land doesn’t stop. We’ve been busy with our veg patch, planting things and watering them everyday. When we clean the rabbits out we take the bedding and put it on our veg patch so that it helps retain water in the soil and also gives it some nutrients. We’ve even planted seeds in trays and set them afloat on the swimming pool so they’re automatically watered. Talking of which, me and Mika have been trying to clear the bottom of the pool. A few times we’ve swum around with a “gravity propelled” pipe to vacuum the rubbish out of it.

Recently we’ve become “builders,” one of the rooms has walls that don’t look great so we covered it up with a lime-cement-sand mix, each time we try it it looks better and better. That and putting a sort of gravel “paint” over it makes it look almost natural.

I’ve been busy with various other blogs, my Grove of Quotes http://www.grovequotes.blogspot.com and also The Lothlorien Nemeton http://lothlorienemeton.blogspot.com/ which I help contribute to.

Here’s a sample of a small one blog I wrote about Sacred Spaces;

There’s a cairn growing in Spain’s Prades mountains, each stone imbued with intent and meaning giving focus to a place that in the human heart, my human heart, has a feeling of sacredness, of significance.

Now, I do not know what the tradtional significance of ancient cairns were but one thing I do know is what it means to me, my own personal significance.

My cairn is a place of focus, an anchor point for the human mind, to stop and think, and express a sacred feeling.

Here, Nature isn’t just one anonymous environment amongst other anonymous environments. Here, the human mind sees or creates something special to focus the mind in Nature, where it recognises that it comes from Nature, that it is a part of Nature and that Nature is sacred.

A cairn by the way is a scottish word for a stone pile that’s used sometimes as a sacred space or perhaps as a way-marker for travellers. Stone by stone I create this cairn each time I visit it. Sometimes it’s nice to take my OBOD gwers (Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids lessons) there and contemplate what it says. This area was an old apple orchard, but they’re all dead and it’s just a dry meadow with other trees growing in it. I’d like in the future to plant a few trees there and make a grove of them around my cairn but for now I’m just going to leave it and enjoy it the way it is.

I’ve been busy with work outside aswell. One in particular that myself and Mika found independantly instead of from our friend that usually gives us work. Here we cut a hedge, we’ve tidied up some of the beds, we’ve even put our first grass turfs so it looks like it as a proper lawn. We did recently find that the dog had used it for a toilet and increased the acidity which killed two patches of grass, so we’ve been working hard to make barriers to stop this.

Here’s four things I’ve been into recently;
Bobby McFerrin, best known, perhaps, for his song Don’t Worry. I sure you know it, it goes “hmmm mm mm mm mm-mm mm mm-mm mm-mm mm-mm, don’t worry, hmm mm-mm mm-mm mm-mmmm, be happy, hmm mm-mm mm-mmmm, don’t worry, be happy” Recognise it? This man is a magician, no not a stage magician in the usual sense. No he’s got a really magical voice, it’s range, alteration, sound effects without instruments are astonishing. I’d recommend him I would!

Also Harry Potter; I’ve seen the movies but they’re nothing to the books. The books ave so much of a mystery element to them. All the elements in the story line have a common source and destiny, but how they’re all connected is to be revealed in the last book, which I am awaiting with eager anticipation. I have a theory about Harry’s connection with Voldemort but I won’t divulge here, you’ve got to read the bok for youself :p

HAGGIS! Yes those dangerous beasts that roam the wilds of scotland, a small brown hairless bag-like creature without arms or legs lol. We went to the British Market and found there tins of haggis. I love it and Mika has developed a taste for it, just don’t think about what it might contain ;)

Gaia Hypothesis. James Lovelock brings us important information about the earth and how it’s interconnected and that it’s a unconscious self-regulating living system, a bit like our bodies functions which we don’t have to think about often. I was reading his Healing Gaia and was inspired to write a poem.

The Mind of Gaia

Gaia could see,
She could hear,
And smell, taste and touch
The creation of Herself.

Gaia created and created,
But none of Her creation She knew,
For She had no mind
With which to know Herself
Or the creation of Herself.

But then Gaia awoke,
As from sleep.
Her mind was born,
One like a shining mirror
For Her to reflect on Herself
And know Herself.

This mind wondered at the mystery it saw.
It created arts to express it wonder,
Sciences to explain its wonder
And religions to experience its wonder.

This mind called itself humanity,
For we humans are the infant mind of Gaia,
Still developing and evolving,
Still learning what it is
To be the mind of Gaia,
Still struggling to find a balance
With the power of this gift.

Great Gaia,
Through my mind know yourself,
Your wonder and mystery,
As it unfolds.
And also teach me to live with you
Not merely in you,
To know and respect
That I am a part of you
So that we may evolve together,
In harmony.

“Through us, Gaia has seen herself from space, and begins to know her place in the universe.” James Lovelock

I hope you enjoyed this long awaited blog! :)

We had the art encounter, which though tiring was fun and productive. I painted my mask. I put a light green paint with darker green Ivy leaves, a flame on the forehead and a druidic Awen symbol from the forehead to the nose. Also I did a few ATC’s or Altered Trading Cards. Started by a Swiss artist in Canada who was bored of other dull looking trading cards and introduced to me to Swiss artists in Spain lol. The basic idea is that you have a theme, and then you take 6 cards and then alter them by drawing, painting, collage, or anything else and send them to a host who collects lotsof other’s cards and sends them back out to different people. I’ve done a magic swap, emotion swap and am hosting a freedom swap. Mika and her mum run an ATC group for europe and I’ve signed up for it. I’ve been more of a poem man, expressing my art through words but for the first time in a long time I’m expressing it through images. I quickly finding my way through it and thoroughly enjoying it.

It’s been raining quite alot where we are in contrast with Britain which I hear as been having very hot weather. Since the art encounter it’s been raining nearly everyday but we’ve managed to do some things on the land. We’ve planted more vegetables in a patch with egg plant, tomatoes, courgettes and some more. All of the vegetable patches are looking very happy and healthy now.

I had my birthday, which was actually quite quiet mainly because everyone had come down with the flu. BUT I did have a birthday week or as Mika called it BOTHday week, because her birthday’s coming up soon and we both celebrated it by going to Ordesa which is a lovely country park in a valley in the Pyrenees.

Ordesa was such a lovely experience with huge trees and mountains surrounding us. We saw plenty of wildlife too, we saw eagles, ravens, lizards and others. When we got near to the top near what are called the Horse Tail waterfalls, we saw a few mountain goat and Mika said she’d never seen them so close before. Well that wasn’t the end of it, we went on and saw some more, but even closer! Of course that wasn’t the end of it either. I heard a squealing noise but just thought it was a bird of prey, that is until I looked on the ground and saw two marmots playfighting. Well we stopped for a while to watch them and then more and more appeared. At one point we saw up to a dozen. These things Mika has only seen as they disappear from sight. Later we were told by a shop owner in the village we were staying in that their appearance marks the first sign of spring. So, hello Spring!

It has been a long time since writing, but I’m getting myself organised now and I should be more regular, with blogs that is. We’ve also been doing another blog called Lothlorien Nemeton Daily News. We’ve tried to make it daily which doesn’t always work but it is more about daily life rather than daily reports lol. It can be found here ; http://lothlorienemeton.blogspot.com/

So much goes on in the land. Recently we’ve had a few days rain and a lot of things are growing, including our vegetable patches with tomatoes, lettuce and others that look quite happy with the weather. Once the sun comes out there will be no stopping them!

We’ve been busy with new animals to look after. Some while ago we got some new chicken to add to the ones we have. That’s been an interesting adventure as we had three escape. Watching out for feral chickens has been quite interesting. We have one of them back and though I thought she might have gone too feral to stay she’s settled in very well. Also we have some rabbits! Me and Mika have never had rabbits in our lives before so it’s been an interesting experience. But we’re soon learning and every day they’re fed and also given a bit of excercise around our little patio.

I’ve been investigating the land a bit, there’s a fair bit of woodland which makes living here even better. It can be difficult to get around some parts of the land but with a bit of determination I manage to move around. Some of the things I find are quite interesting, there’s plenty of evidence of boars where they dig. On one adventure with Mika we found a HUGE rock about the size of my mum’s house in england, which I’d like to clear a bit of a path to. Recently we also had a bee keeper put some hives on the land and on one of my walks I was suprised to see about 30 hives instead of just a handful. Quite a suprise but I am looking forward to the honey.

This week we’ve had an art encounter week like the one done in the new year. It’s been successful for me in two ways. One, my art is coming in leaps and bounds and I’m finding my way around the paints, pencils and collage pretty well now. Also since the people coming are Spanish I can now practice Spanish a bit more intensely. In fact I managed to put together two sentences (after a little thought) which was “Este una pagína por fin para ti” (that’s a page finished for you) then “y entonces una más.” (and then one more).
The “page” was a picture I painted with a dragon theme which was for someone to put in their altered book. I’ve got my own altered book theme “The Wild Forest” and I’m looking forward to seeing what other people create for it. It’s great, they do it and I keep it!

Birthdays Two...

Happy Birthday! Twice!! Yes we had some birthdays this January, one for Mika’s mum. That day we went to Barcelonay and had a look through a mall. We also had Japanese for lunch, I have a taste for Sushi. This I must say is the third Japanese I´ve been to, more than any Spanish restaurant. Having said that one of them is a bit of a mix and does have some Spanish food, not that I could tell though...

There was also my sister’s birthday. She came over for a week so we spent some time with her. We picked her up on a Monday from Barcelona airport and gave her a tour. The next few days we spent going to a shopping mall, visiting ancient Roman buildings like a gladiator arena and circus, visiting the seaside, taking a drive round the mountains, visiting a dam, taking pictures of the scenery and we even saw an eagle.

We’ve been busy working, we had a friends hedge to cut, planted fruit trees and pruned some olive trees. We also recently purchased a hedgecutter which makes things a lot easier. There’ll be no stopping us in gardening work.

Also on the Earth Sanctuary we’ve been doing various things, like our Goddes Garden. There’s a gargoyle head on a water pipe and this usually has water coming from it so we can have a nice stream running alongside the wall down to a pond lower down. We dug the dich a bit more so a good flow can get through but unfortunately the pipes a bit blocked so we’re not getting the flow we’d like. But with a bit of hard work and care this garden will look very nice.

Happy New Year

So it´s the New Year and 2007 is going to be VERY different. Me and Mika spent a quiet time in our house, watching a couple of DVD´s with a bottle of bubbly. In fact we toasted an hour later for Britains New Year, so I was there with you all aswell ;)

Now´we had a busy few days as we had some guests coming to do art workshops. These Art Encounters were very interesting. It was spent making soul cards, these are collages on fairly large cards which represent something of the ´soul´ made from cut up bits of magazine pictures. Though the meaning is as deep or shallow as you want Perhaps one day I can show you some pictures on the blog of what I´ve done.
I also made use of the drawing set Mika´d given me for Christmas. Even though I hadn´t used coloured pencils since childhood, it´s was good to play around with that again and loved getting arty with pictures after such a long time lol.

The people in this Art Encounter had known Mika and her family for quite a while and they´re all Spanish. That was good for me, listening intensely to Spanish I managed to pick up on a few words. I may no speak it but can sometimes undersand it. Also I´ve taken to looking through the dictionary for word of the day just to help me a bit. I´ve had mes (month), barco (ship), compaño/a (partner), cacerola (saucepan) and cadera (hip).

On the 6th, the last day we all went to a posh restaurant, the waiters were almost looking like penguins, specially for Los Reyes Magos; http://www.secret-tenerife.com/2006/01/los-reyes-magos-epiphany-jan-6th.shtml
If I´d known I´d have gone a bit smarter than racksuit bottoms, oh well lol, I looked around and the other customers were mostly just as casual. I had three very big courses , the starter seemed like the main course! But still I managed to scoff it all down, YUM. Mika said she was Stuffed to which I replied "Hello Stuffed, I´m Adam." Sorry, I know it´s an old joke but it still works well...

I´ve also been to the cinema a couple of times, watching english films in spanish! Saw Deja Vu, Densel Washington spoke it very fluently. Mika translated some of the main points so I didn´t get confused with the time-travel or anything. We also saw Eragon. This time I insisted that Mika didn´t translate anything, its amazing what you can pick up in a movie. I reckon I could have understood it without any voices at all, it seemed to have quite archetypal movie ideas that could be easily recognised. But Eragon´s a good film really. It seemed a cross between, Star Wars(there´s rebels v kingdom), Lord of the Rings and Anne Mccaffrey´s Dragonriders of Pern series but even the best sci-fi and fantasy stories are influenced by others. I´m now reading the book the film diverged making it simpler.

Now here´s something funny, Mika talks in her sleep. Usually it´s in french or spanish so I don´t have a clue to what she´s saying. But for once I heard her speak english;
*whisper, whisper, whisper*
"What?" Said Adam.
*whisper, whisper, whisper*
"What?"
"There´s that thing..."
"What thing?"
She whispers "The mask."
Then says "Do you understand?"
"Of course." Because by now I´ve realised.
"What a stupid horrible woman... do you know what I´m talking about, it´s so hard to explain in english."
The mask being a reference to images from the Art Encounter. I told Mika about this and she suggested that it should be blogged lol, maybe watch this space... And although Mika´s very fluent in english sometimes it can be quite an effort, especially as she used to speak spanish or french allday everyday, with me she has to use english. Roll on the days when I get a headache thinking about what spanish or french lol.

We´ve also been carrying on with the gardening, even planted some things like strawberries. We cleared an area called the Goddess Garden. In the past it´s been dug up by wild boar. What we´re doing now is making a fence to stop then from doing that again, then we can start planting some stuff. Sometime in the future I´d like to put pictures on the blog so that you can see what we´re doing, and see the wonderful landscape I´m now living in.

One day we were doing the fence and Mika spotted a bat flying around! Broad daylight, a bat?! We didn´t know why but there it was for quite a while dipping into the pool for drink and flying round for insects. Then I gave Mika something to laugh about. She told me the spanish for bat, murciélago (rattle the R, lisp the C, emphasize the E and soften the G, almost breathing it out). After several attempts I still sound like I´m drunk, so went back to saying bat. The more I learn about other languages the more I´m certain the subject is stupid. There´s no such thing as simple, practical or logical and that maybe humans should either all speak the same language or revert to grunts and growls, so much easier lol.