August 2021

We have taken time off work and are dedicating our time to our rather huge extended family who are coming down to stay in the barn in different combinations.  Alongside this, we are taking time to potter around and do all kinds of practical jobs in our own timing.  This place we are blessed to live in requires a huge amount of upkeep and dedication which we rarely have the time to devote to it.  As I write, Colin has just finished sanding the floor in the group room, the rotten windows have just been replaced by our dear friend Robert, and the scaffolding is still up, waiting for me to tidy up Colin’s varnishing job!  I have been cleaning windows and attempting to make small inroads in the profusion of bindweed, nettles and brambles in the garden (although you wouldn’t notice much difference), and - most exciting - planning a mosaic table for outside the barn.  This really gets me going!

We recently came off retreat with our teacher Adam, once again re-inspired and humbled by the process; keenly aware of what it takes to keep waking up to that in ourselves which we haven’t been ready to see and relate with.  The relief of it when we can.  And the absolute necessity (and wonder!) of appreciating and landing in that which is timeless and eternal; I would say it is only this which allows us to navigate the complexity and difficulty of life in these times with any degree of sanity and ground beneath our feet.  That which is always, already ok in the midst of any not-okay-ness which we inevitably meet.  I have a sense of things escalating, speeding up, and breaking down - in our world and in the people around me. And this just strengthens my (and our) passion and commitment to keep doing the work we do, inviting ourselves and each of you into the endless, ineffable, palpable and yet invisible support of Presence in whatever way we can.

Fanny