Sunday 30 June 2013

You must learn to be still in the midst of activity and to be vibrantly alive in repose. (I. Gandhi)



 
 

Saturday 22 June 2013

 
Jo Katsuno is doing a children's workshop

Mandala painting  at her house in Petts Wood on
 
 
Saturday 29th June from 12 -4pm.

The cost for the day is £
15 per person if you bring your own lunch or £20 per person
if you would like to have a hot vegetarian based meal provided.

The price includes all art materials and your 30x30cm painted canvas to take home with you.  If you are interested let her know and she will send the full address.
Her email is
jo.kenji@hotmail.co.uk 

The workshop is aimed at children aged 7 upwards and there is limited space.
 
Children and adults paint together.
 
 
 

Tuesday 11 June 2013


La dolce vita – Italian gastronomy tour in Italy- Bergamo 25th -27th October 2013

 

A wonderful weekend with a mixture of learning, sampling, and exploring the regional cuisine of Lombardy, sightseeing and relaxing.

Local cuisine demonstrations, cookery classes, eating and sharing; learning the Italian language through talking about food, wine, music, art, maybe football, ignoring politics: the true Italian way!

Meet the experts and the foodies; learn in a fun and casual style. Stay in a beautiful country B&B. Walk around the old upper City of Bergamo, home of Donizetti and Harlequin.

 

You will have to book your own flights and pay for B&B  separately;
 my fees are extra for the tours and classes, with plenty of time leftover for other activities.
I will organize B&B and transport to and from airport and help organize extra outings -  theatre, music concerts, museums, or you are free to do as you please; no need to stay with ‘the group' all the time.

Fees: 110 euros per person  for cooking classes and tours. No extra fees. You pay for theatre and museum entry and for meals out which are not the meals of the cookery classes. Please note, for more info, details and prices contact



 
 

Sunday 2 June 2013

Mandala painting workshop

 Jo Katsuno

is doing a children's workshop

Mandala painting 

 at her house in Petts Wood

on Saturday 8th June

from 12 -4pm.

The cost for the day is £15 per person if you bring your own lunch

or £20 per person if you would like to have a hot vegetarian based meal provided.


The price includes all art materials and your 30x30cm painted canvas to take home with you.

 If you are interested let her know and she will send the full address.

 Her email is jo.kenji@hotmail.co.uk 

The workshop is aimed at children aged 7 upwards and there is limited space.


Morgana and I are going, as we enjoy painting at Jo's house! So come along and join us!






http://uk.images.search.yahoo.com/search/images?_adv_prop=image&fr=mcsaoffblock&va=mandala+jo+painting


Saturday 1 June 2013

Kindness and gratitude

Yesterday, a lovely lady helped me so much I am so thankful. I left my rucksack on the bus and was going with two little children to run my outdoor session in Oxleas Woods, then, when I realized what was happening, I dealt with it straight away, luckily, I had my phone and bus card, an keys in my pocket; I phoned lost property and after a few phone calls after about an hour or so I knew they found my bag. Meanwhile we had a nice session and the children played very well. I have a poorly foot these last few days, with a swollen and inflamed part that is making walking difficult and painful at times...

Well, a few people came forward and said they would help by going to the bus garage for me or take me there in their car...
This lady who I know, not particularly well, grandmother of a lovely little boy, said she would go in her car to get my rucksack for me and return to the woods to give it to me. She did as a random act of kindness, so rare to see this quality in a person. She refused offers of drinks, tea, money...( I said not to pay the session and keep the money towards the petrol used) ...She said it was nothing, only a few minutes away, even if it took about half hour, she did it and that was so kind...

The thing I understood about myself, and this must be true for other people too, is that is so hard to accept any kindness and to say thank you. I said thank you and was so grateful, but felt guilty, helplessly and strangely awkward, perhaps slightly odd...It is embarrassing to feel like that...I still think, actually made up my mind to go and get a gift for this lady, and a thank you card. This is a gesture. My gesture to show my gratitude. I feel gratitude, I am thankful and I expressed thanks by holding her hand and hugging her, still I don't think is enough. It is beyond my understanding: why was that not enough!?
We live in a culture where a random act of kindness is so rare we feel embarrassed when it happens to us!

This culture of fast modern life, where the hours and minutes count and any extra time is extra, and therefore charged. These boundaries, the giving and receiving treated  mainly as a money business, yes, time and money. Our efforts appreciated within the limits of what we want to give and are willing to receive, and what we are willing to do for how much we will receive in return.
It's a fair word, it is true. It is hard to imagine somebody likes to give for nothing!

Then I spoke to a friend about this and she told me she was hardly surprised about what happened.
I have apparently a giving nature and I am always giving...I asked what and she said - my love, my time, my passion for things...and she went on and on, about how I always cook her wonderful meals when she comes and how I am so generous...Well I never realized ....really!

So now, I am going to put my feet up and have a cup of tea and a square of dark chocolate. After all, I have done my paper work, sent all my emails, dealt with my banking, fed the cat, done the online shopping, done the washing, been hanging the washing, sorting the clothes, made the bed, done the washing up, the cooking for tea, and it is only the middle of the day! I still feel guilty about it and still feel like I haven't done much, but this is what is like to be a woman!

This is my 'homework' for later: read
http://www.dharmadrum.org/content/about/about2.aspx?sn=46

Susannah





Bluebells in the woods