Autumn reflections

  Leave the familiar for a while

Let your senses stretch out
Like a welcome season
Onto meadows shores and hills
Change rooms in your mind for a day
All the hemispheres in existence
Lie beside the equator of your heart
Greet Yourself
In your thousand other forms
As you mount the hidden tide
And travel
Back home
Into the great circle of the heart.

HAFIZ

"OUTSIDE YOUR WINDOW IS A BRILLIANCE OF LEAVES SWIVELLING AND DANCING ROUND AND ROUND. THE SKY IS THE COLOUR OF MAPLE SYRUP. THERE IS A HINT OF BURGUNDY ETCHED ON EACH GOLDEN LEAF  YOUR HEART HAS BECOME A SYMPHONY OF AUTUMN, RUSTLING ALONG BREEZY AND HAPPY AS A WAYWARD KITE. CHILDREN'S LAUGHTER IN YOUR EAR AND WINDBLOWN PATCH OF EARTH ARRIVE IN YOUR COLOURFUL PLAYGROUND, AND SUDDENLY YOU ARE YOUNG AGAIN. STANDING ON A HILL OF LEAVES YOU RAISE YOUR ARMS AND DROP THE LEAFLETS THEN WATCH THEM TUMBLING DOWN BRINGING SHADES OF COCOA BROWN, PUMPKIN ORANGE, GOLDEN GATE RED AND MELLOW YELLOW  PUMPKIN GRINS AND BLUSHING APPLES SITTING ON A LINEN TABLECLOTH OF WHITE AND RED. JACK O'LANTERNS WILL SOON BE LIT AND COSTUME DRESS WILL BE IN FULL SWING. DIVE INTO AUTUMN SECRETS AND TALK TO NATURE IN YOUR QUIET AND SURE VOICE. TELL THE BUDDING PINE CONES ABOUT YOUR LOVE OF FRESH OCTOBER CALLS. ETCHED ON A LEAF I SEE A WORD.  IT SPELLS P E A C E. (Mystic Rose) Acknowledge and give thanks to all that moves—in and out of your heart. Lokah Samastah Sukhino Bhavantu (May all beings everywhere be happy and free,  and may our thoughts, words, and actions  contribute in some way  to that happiness and freedom for all.) Autumn is a time to prepare for winter in that we need to really take care of ourselves. Autumn is definitely a self-care time of year, what we do now can really set us up for winter. Wearing oneself out in autumn can result in low immunity for flu season. Getting into a healthy, perhaps more structured routine with good sleep patterns is important. I mentioned being out in nature and not only is this visually gorgeous but it also helps our body tune in to the season. We want to mimic what is going on in nature – releasing and restoring. We start to naturally crave the foods that are in season. The key is to work with the season rather than against. When the temperature drops the body scrambles to protect itself from heat loss. Nourishing foods are essential. Adjusting to seasonal eating means we make a shift from the raw and cold foods like salads to warming, gently cooked ones like soups and dals. We can really simplify our diet and think of food as something that will nurture us. Root vegetables, carrots, beets along with pumpkins (they are not just for Halloween!), and butternut squash are all wonderful this time of year.

 

Forries Nursery School

Each day is filled with new experiences that cannot be found indoors

We will open the Forries Nursery School in our Blackheath setting, Eliot Pit wood, a little, hidden ‘green gem’ just off Blackheath. Each day is filled with new experiences that cannot be found indoors which range from building dens, climbing trees, treasure hunts, woodland craft, wildlife exploration to name but a few. Our children learn how to appreciate the wonder and beauty of nature, care for and respect their environment, learn new skills and have lots of fun in the process.

A typical day at Forries Nursery School

• We meet at our ‘drop-off’ place near Eliot Pit wood at 9.30am.
• We will spend the bulk of our time in the woods, at our base camp.
• We walk back to our ‘drop-off’ place in time for collection at 2.30.
• Children need a packed lunch. We provide water for drinking, snacks and fruit.

Reserve your space now as it will be very popular.

https://www.forrieseducation.co.uk/

 ‘To see the world in a grain of sand.

And heaven in a wild flower,

Hold infinity in the palm of your hand.

An eternity in an hour.’

~William Blake~

 

I Give You This One Thought

I give you this one thought to keep
I am with you still – I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow,
I am the diamond glints on snow,
I am the sunlight on ripened grain,
I am the gentle autumn rain.

When you awaken in the morning’s hush,
I am the swift, uplifting rush
of quiet birds in circled flight.
I am the soft stars that shine at night.

Do not think of me as gone –
I am with you still – in each new dawn.

 

Nature, your essence motherly,

I bear within the being of my will;

And my will’s fire-force,

It steels impulses of the spirit,

So they may bear a sense of self

To bear myself in me.

To penetrate my being’s depths:

A longing filled with boding stirs,

That I in self-beholding find myself

As sun-gift of the summer which as seed

In mood of autumn, warming lives

As driving forces of my soul.

 ‘The Calendar of the Soul’ were written by Rudolf Steiner 

 A farewell pizza supper at our friends...

My Morgana has been tutoring the boy for a while, she will continue from the northern coordinates via screen, we are so proud of this, both of us mums for our 'babies'!

These words are by Max Ehrmann 

‘Go placidly amid the noise and haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible without surrender be on good terms with all persons. 

Speak your truth quietly and clearly, and listen to others – even the dull and ignorant – they too have their story.

Avoid loud and aggressive persons, they are vexations to the spirit.

 If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain and bitter, for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself. Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.

Keep interested in your own career, however humble, it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.

 Exercise caution in your business affairs, for the world is full of trickery. But let this not blind you to what virtue there is, many persons strive for high ideals, and everywhere life is full of heroism.

By yourself. Especially, do not feign affection. Neither by cynical about love, for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment it is perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth. Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with imaginings.

 Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.

 Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself.

You are a child of the Universe, no less than the trees and the stars, you have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the Universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore, be at peace with your God, whatever you conceive Him to be, and whatever your labours and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace with your soul.

With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be careful. Strive to be happy.’