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By Kathleen DesMaisons, September 29, 2011 6:14 am

I am starting the first leg of my trip overseas today. Today I fly to New Your City. I will be there visiting my 83 year old Auntie who is the remaining matriarch of our family. She wants to correct the information I have on ancestry.com, so I figured it would be wonderful to go and hear the first person stories. :h5)
Irish history is very oral, so I need to capture what I do not know. Friday I will take the train into the city to do some work things. I was reflecting on the first time I went into NYC for *business* and I thought I would pass out because I didn’t know the *rules*. Fifteen years later :h3) I do. I went and replaced my BLACK shoes that David’s dog had chewed. I know how to walk from Penn Station to 43rd without blinking an eye and the shoes are comfortable enough for that :h2) :h2)

Then back to Long Island. My Auntie’s house is the place that has been *home* and unchanging for 50 years. It smells the same, its energy is the same. She has Persian carpets on the floor that look like they did when she bought them. No dogs helps that one, LOL. Her kitchen counter is stainless steel, a novel thing when the house was built, but it is not like what we would be getting now. It has a 50 year patina and whenever I am there and cooking, I think about all the history of so many Thanksgivings in that house. My grandmother’s Irish crystal is there, and her china. Still in the cabinet and still taken out for special occasions. The last time I visited, my Auntie was getting ready for a colonoscopy. She drank her horrible stuff from a Waterford crystal wine glass. It was so her. I always wanted to be like her when I was little, and in fact she has shaped me deeply.

We will go from Newark on Tuesday on the overnight red eye to London. We have learned to pay the money for business class and feel tolerably well when we arrive. A program dinner will be packed for carryon, and I have my turquoise blue blanket and pillow. And thankfully, I remembered to take my passport and money to switch at the airport.

We will be great by the man who has been driving us for several years. He is Australian and we have gotten to know his life in those rides..we thought that he might not be able to drive this year because he was going to have surgery on his back. But he bounced back and will be there at the gate on the other side of customs with a sign and a smile and an *executive car* that usually takes dignitaries and rock stars, :h11). The visit will make the cheery morning tolerable because our brains will be saying 3 AM and not 8 AM.

Then to the hotel, built in the 1200s to house the stone masons working on the cathedral in Salisbury. Google that cathedral if you want to see something mind boggling. No cranes, no lasers, no concrete. It is all cut and carved stone. The hotel has a vine that is 800 years old. It sings with joy when we return the way the dogs do when I come home.

I think they have replaced the pillows from the 50s that lay on the bed like sodden lamb fur. I have my adaptors for the computer and ipad. There is WIFI in the lobby which is really a cozy lounge with a fireplace and a medieval crimping machine used to crimp the collars of the choirboys at the cathedral. Tea is served on round trays with a teapot of dark, hot English tea and china cups. The sandwiches are served without the crust or in a crusty French roll. If the weather is nice, we will sit outside in the courtyard with the vine climbing the walls around us. Actually even if the weather isn’t nice, we will sit there, :h12). It is part of the ritual, that sitting with the smokers in the courtyard.

The radiant energy fills the place. It is not a big hotel and we pretty much take a lot of the rooms. So you can imagine a bright lot. Brits, folks from Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Belgium, and even someone from Australia this year. I am excited about what I will present, although most of the preparation talk has been about the food and the stationery store, :h6) no surprise on that.

I will keep you posted.

kathleen

Comments (5)

By Kathleen DesMaisons, October 23, 2010 8:59 pm

Cool today so I felt like cooking. I made a quiche and spaghetti sauce. The house smelled wonderful tonight. The farmer’s market is now mostly roots and squashes. BeBE the clown was there painting the children’s faces. I watched for a long time. I think I will have a party and have BeBe come and paint.
All day I have felt so connected to what is going on in the community. There seems to be this incredible energy happening. People are feeling focused and energized. I like it.
I spent a couple of hours works on my geneological things. I am piecing together information about my Irish great grand parents. Until today, I just had bits and pieces, a few old photos, some census data, a few other treasures. I started to weave it into a story…what happened during the Great Hunger, why my grandfather came to the US when he did, how their early history shaped them. I digitized the pictures and started to build a story and their lives started to come alive. It took my breath away.

Comments (2)

By Kathleen DesMaisons, October 20, 2010 11:04 am

I got back from Euroranch on 10/6 and it has taken me 2 weeks to recuperate. Some of that was jet lag, some from the incredible experience of it, and some from hanging out with the stones at Avebury. I am thinking I will do different posts for each. First, Euroranch. We went back to the Red Lion Inn which was built in the 1200s and actually housed the stone masons who were working on Salisbury Cathedral. That is a lot of history! The food was excellent, and we no longer had pillows from the 50s. There is a vine that is 500 years old there. I am always happy to see it.

How to describe a group of radiant people who love learning things, enjoy being together and just have a blast? Hard to explain I think.  I presented the content we did here in NM in May, but during the presentation of the Addiction Amoeba, something happened….we started talking about a *solution* to all those little things that crop up…whew, that was powerful! I just love ranch.

Comments (1)

By Kathleen DesMaisons, September 15, 2010 6:51 pm

The desk over on the side of my office has been piled with *stuff* for a while. Every time I looked at it, I felt slightly ill. This evening, I just started. I spent about an hour and made huge progress. Nano steps. I think that is what we say all the time on all the lists… I am excited.

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By Kathleen DesMaisons, September 13, 2010 7:32 pm

I found this picture somewhere on the internet and I saved it. I really touched me. This is what dogs give us. Innocence, a smile, a pink nose and devotion.

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By Kathleen DesMaisons, September 13, 2010 5:44 pm

The conversations about the amygdala  in Wed chats have really gotten me interested in new research. So I am back to the drawing board learning about emotional healing and its impact on the brain. My dogs think it is very funny that the bed is now covered with citations and books and yellow magic markers and yellow pads. They hop up and try to find a place to lay their pretty little heads. But they do seem to know what when I am in *working* mode, not to interfere.

I am always amazed that they know just before I am done meditating. They get up and move to my face before the chime rings and wag their tales. Morning, mom! We have a ritual and they love the predictability of it. And I have been learning how meditation changes the amygdala.

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By Kathleen DesMaisons, September 12, 2010 3:46 pm

I went to the state fair. First stop was to get some grilled roasted corn that I ate as I walked down the food channel. Turkey legs, frozen lemonade, corn dogs, ice cream, and on and on..I think for a lot of people, the fair is about the food.

I went into the Hispanic arts building. The art is always breathtaking. ALWAYS.

Then I went into the Main building for all the selling things…the men and women with microphones on their heads telling of the wonders of Mr. Sticky, gel insoles, jewelry washing, trips to Hawaii, foam beds, dog stuff. I stood and listened to the hawker talk about the shamwow clothes that soak up anything..I thought that would be a good thing for a house with many dogs. Not only did I get a cloth, but another one, and then a special mop.

I passed the orthopedic insole place and agreed to have my feet measured and displayed in 3 D. Then she put together a custom set of insets and put them in my shoes. They hurt my feet so I declined. She was shocked since I was carrying the mop and she KNEW I was a buyer. Then down to the Quick Brite lady. I knew I was going to get some. I always do. It is the only stuff that gets grease stains out of my T-shirts. Man, these people work hard. She was demonstrating how this product can even get water stains off of windows. I paid for my products and left the mop and clothes there and went to see rabbits and chickens and goats.

They had HUGE rabbits. I looked at the cage for the category. It said MEAT. I gave a shudder and went to look at chickens. They had two ducks that were spectacular.  Cayuga Ducks…iridescent green.

Then I went out to the goats and the mother pig with 12 babies. I went back in for my mop and Quick Brite, and walked along the main walkway. Here is all of Albuquerque, regualr life. Families, old people, babies, teens with rings in their noses, many people with tatooes. Guys who go on the bungee jump that rises 180 feet above us.

I am not sure why I love the fair so much, but I do. It just seems like the essence of Albuquerque.

Comments (2)

By Kathleen DesMaisons, September 3, 2010 7:55 pm

Today I am thinking about crock pot meals. I will go to the farmer’s market at 7 AM tomorrow and see what great things are happening. Josie (my 12 year old dog) scooted out of the car and ran to the garden and chomped down 3 tomatoes before I realized what naughtiness she was up to. How did she know and how did she know to seize the moment. But I love summer time tomatoes, so off to the market for homegrowns and homemade goat cheese and fresh, fresh corn. Hm, sounds like tomorrow’s dinner will be hamburgers on the grill, gluten free buns, tomatoes, corn and sweet potato fries.

The peacock baby is as big as a chicken and hangs with mom. The hawk was out looking today while the baby bunny hid under the lilacs. I think the bunny knows that the fence protects him. My friend said the hawk was a totem, a symbol for being visionary. I think the hawk was looking for little bunnies.

Tonight David and I went out for Sushi. David is a *regular* at the Sushi place so the Sushi chef loves to honor the mother and sends over wonderful specialities. Tonight we got some sort of spicy salmon over lobster. Tasty it was. it was a nice evening with nice conversation. The chefs wanted to hear about my trip to Maine. They were pleased at the idea of my resting, resting, although one of them said, I bet you were WRITING and he was laughing, laughing. He said, *like an alcoholic*…this was cracking me up…he does know that I write..and perhaps that I love to write…a lot. But I didn’t write on my vacation. I sat and watched the tide.  But I know I could have.LOL.

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By Kathleen DesMaisons, September 1, 2010 1:10 pm

September first has always been an incredible time for me. Maybe the time of new shoes and pencil boxes, the heart’s delight for every sugar sensitive child. I used to wear my new shoes to bed because I couldn’t bear to take them off.

Sept 65. Getting ready for my wedding.

Sept 70 Moving to NH for graduate school

Sept 78 Moving to RI to start a new job

Sept 85 Moving to CA to start a new life

Sept 90 Falling in love

Sept 96 My mother dying, and getting a PhD

Sept 97 Contract for PnP

Now the changes are internal….2010 a deep, deep shift. The chaos and rumbling of the last year and settling and quieting into a deep knowing…Nothing is formed and everything is formed. What a strange place. My task is to focus on the food. Do the food, nano steps, and life works. That simple.

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By Kathleen DesMaisons, August 31, 2010 4:27 am

Whew, I was floored to see that my last post was from May. I think Ranch started an internal change for me that was very, very deep. It just caught me off guard. And it was so big that I couldn’t even be talking about it. There seems to be something going on in the universe, something very big, but without words. I know that many people are talking about some great *shift* thingie, but this is different for me.

This week I was the National Geographic special called Trouble the Water. It is in commemoration of the 5th anniversary of Katrina. It was so powerful that I couldn’t speak about it for a couple of days. How could this have happened? How can it still be happening? How do those of us who are so affected by this respond..I don’t have answers yet. But I will.

I know that doing the program is somehow tied into this. We have been asking about the meaning of step 7 – how do we shift from steady into awakening and then empowerment. How do we move from awakening into action.