Sunday 13 November 2016

Making good use of my time

My weekend
They say you're a long time dead, so with that in mind and given that much of what is going on in the world is beyond my control, this weekend I have been doing things that make me feel good.

On Friday evening, I ventured out for a walk in the dark around East Carlton Country Park, as part of the 'Our Woods' project that is going on in Corby at the moment. We were guided around by artist Carry Akroyd, observing the shape of the trees, the moonlight and its effects, the sounds, the smells, pausing every now and then for contemplation and discussion.

Then it was back to a hut for tea and cake and the chance to be creative. Well, I did my best at drawing, but in the end my writerly instincts took over and I crammed down as many words as I could think of inspired by what we had just experienced. I shall, I hope, turn them into something in due course. It was great fun and there was absolutely no pressure to do anything especially arty. It was an exercise in simply finding joy in creativity.

There were a few chores on Saturday, but I spent the afternoon doing some yoga with lovely teachers Jenny and Atim, focusing on boosting the immune system and nurturing ourselves in preparation for winter. There was flapjack and hot spiced apple tea, and a lovely supportive atmosphere. The hoop in the picture is made from newspaper and was employed in various balancing exercises!

Then it was a quick turnaround before dashing out to the Rolling In The Aisles comedy night, where headliner John Gordillo had us - you know - rolling in the aisles.

Today, I'm taking it easy. I've had a lovely walk and a good session with the Sunday papers - and I'm not planning on doing much else with the rest of the day.

Sometimes I sits and thinks, and sometimes I just sits.

4 comments:

  1. I absolutely love the idea of walking in woods after dark... as long as I'm not on my own!

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    1. One of the things we were asked to consider, Wendy, was how we would feel if we were alone in the wood and saw someone approaching with a torch - and how different it would be if we couldn't see them but could hear them. Shivers!

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  2. What a perfect sounding weekend, Julia. My 4 year old granddaughter had a fabulous time walking back through the edge of the woods from the fireworks display at a country house a couple of weeks ago - first time to use her torch and it felt like an adventure. Love the idea of your creative evening.

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    1. Yes, Rosemary, it was lovely. I've felt buoyant all day. :-)

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