And I'm off again...

Off to London in a couple of hours for a day of meetings... mainly work, but in between I have the joy of meeting up with one of my OU pals for dinner, which I'm looking forward to immensely and then tomorrow afternoon I'm having a follow-up massage (that is follow-up from when I was down in February) with the lovely Dominic, masseur to the English National Ballet, which I'm really looking forward to. My neck is needing adjustment again and last time he was so wonderful that I felt like a new woman for a lot longer than I thought any massage could lead to, and hopefully it'll be the same this time.

Apart from that I also have a date for dinner with my mother. And whether we have a good time or not is very mood dependent... hers not mine I hasten to add. And so far it doesn't bode well as she broke her wrist a few weeks back and this has sent her into a full on bad one, and combined with the phone call I received last night where she told me how tired she was I think my patience might be sorely tried, but hopefully last week's retreat will have given me some resilience!

Just because I downloaded it, here's a picture of Holy Isle:

You see the speck that is the white farmhouse? Well that's where I was... and now London beckons. Talk about extremes!

Blogger meltdown

Hello... I'm back!

I tried to get on here this morning to tell you all about my days on Holy Isle and all I could get was a 'sorry but blogger.com is out of action'. Apparently they had something happen earlier in the week and the site was down for writing, but you good folks could look at all old messages, so just the writing site wasn't working. How interesting... I wondered if they were suffering from something similar to Sony, and they'd had an infiltrator who was so interested in garnering knowledge about people's blogs so that they could steal all the revealing information... mmmm didn't last long tho so maybe not that interesting after all?

Anyway, Holy Isle. Well the weather was awful, more like October than May. Apparently before we arrived they had wonderful sunshine, but the day we turned up it all went belly up. So the same as last time I was there, they had to send for the rib from Brodick to take us over. I actually love going on the rib as it's like being on a fair ground ride and adds a touch of drama to the whole thing.

The retreat itself went very well and the feedback was excellent with several participants asking if we were going to run it again next year as they want to come back. Can't really ask for more than that. It's very flattering that people thought the programme was really good as I put it together myself. Last year of course we had a strange weather event, where half of the retreat had to leave half way through, while the other half had to stay on an extra day, so it was rather like doing 2 separate retreats. But this year it went ahead as planned for the whole 5 days, so in effect was the first time I've done the whole thing as it was supposed to be.

And the wild Eriskay ponies had a foal in their midst and the Soay sheep had their lambs, who were all absolutely gorgeous. They might be wild, but they aren't at all worried about humans so I spent one early morning sitting among the lambs and watching them interact. It was special. One of our number actually saw an otter. I missed it, but hopefully will be getting a photo.

However, although a good time was had, it really is lovely to be home again, with no responsibilities for a couple of days as I recover from the experience and then it's off to London on Sunday for a business meeting early on Monday morning. I've just unpacked my bag and will have to think about packing it again! Of course retreat trousers and Qigong exercises will be firmly left at home and it'll be out with the glad rags and the make-up.

By the way, I didn't watch the Eat, Pray, Love. I've decided to save it for the train to London. I'm also going to download the King's Speech for the journey home so the train journey in both directions will be spent engrossed in my iPad. Can't wait!

Au revoir

So that's it for the week folks. I'm off to sit on my bum and gaze at my navel until the 12th.

Jenny, my co-facilitator, has come to stay in readiness for an early off to Ardrossan and from there to Brodick. Then from Brodick to Lamlash (which I've just discovered is, historically, the 'capital' of Arran), and finally the small ferry to Holy Isle.

We have one night to drink wine and generally let our hair down before sober times ahead along with 11 brave souls who've decided to take our course. It's pretty full on as we're 'on' from 7 am right up until 9 pm but I've been going over to Holy Isle for the last number of years and each time I go, although it's hard work, I've found it to be a pleasure to be there. It's something to do with being with animals who are free to roam - there are wild ponies, sheep and goats as well as lots of lovely bird life - and food that is mainly grown on the island and the cook manages to conjure up some lovely dishes, which is always a treat.

So wishing you all a good week and I'll let you know how it's been when I get back.

Getting ready

Do you ever get the feeling that you've just not done what you're supposed to? Well I certainly had that feeling yesterday, and realised that this weekend I'm off co-facilitating a retreat on Holy Isle.

Once again this year seems to be hell bent on catching me out and zipping along at such a rate that I often don't know what month it is, let alone what day of the week we're on. And so I spent yesterday trying to get all the paperwork done, all the print outs printed and get my basic 'kit' ready. Not quite finished, but feeling a whole lot better about it now.

I'm looking forward to a week away from computers and all the other things that I seem to spend my time on. The luxury of being away on an island with no distractions (apart from the ever present midges) is a luxury indeed. Well I might just take my iPad. Not to email you understand, or surf the world wide interweb, but no, I've learnt the art of downloading films I've rented onto it. And the one I'm taking with me on retreat? 'Eat, Pray, Love' of course. A treat to look forward to on the last night I think.

Work intrudes

Today I had to travel all the way to Dumfries for a meeting that lasted just over an hour. This meant I travelled for four and a half hours. I'm not sure this is a good use of my time especially as it was such a beautiful day, but when I got home my Beloved was heading off to Edinburgh for a date of climbing at Ratho with Pat the Police, which meant that the dog and I had a very pleasant stroll in the warm afternoon sun. What a lovely way to end a day.

I was a bit pissed off if truth be told as it looks like today was the one day this week that the sun was guaranteed to be shining and the rest of the week it's going to be increasingly cloudy. This is not good news as I'm on holiday. Well on holiday from my Edinburgh job. It seems like my grand master plan to cut back on working hasn't worked as yet. I'm hopeful that as the months unfold things will get a bit easier for me. I can but hope!

Sunny days

Isn't it wonderful to have so many consecutive sunny days? It's hard to believe that a mere seven weeks ago I was worrying about another burst of snow.

All of this sunny weather is however bringing out the revenge of the dandelions and I seem to spend all my spare moments scouring the lawn for signs of more of the intruders. I've already dug up two and a half buckets full of the blighters and still they come. I wouldn't mind if they'd keep themselves to the borders, as I like a burst of yellow, but somehow having them decide that they can make their home anywhere they choose is not on.

Meanwhile our other plant life are also doing well. The coffee plants are looking verdant, though I know if I post a pic you'll not notice much of a difference between now and a month ago, as they are so very slow. Our potatoes are also coming on a treat, and we have loads of delicious veggies sprouting to grace our salad plates all through the summer.

Let's hope this year it's going to be a good one for rather more than a few days of consecutive warmth.

Raising money

As some of you might know I'm raising money for WaterAid, which is a fantastic charity. Just in case you hadn't heard and wanted to donate, I've created a page on the JustGiving website, which seemed the easiest way to start the ball rolling.

If any of you want to donate money, please go to: http://www.justgiving.com/Vee-Freir

Thank you!