Jane Alexander's Blog, page 13

What we didn't do in Morocco

We were going to do so much.  James fancied quad biking over the dunes.  I fancied galloping over the sands.  We both had our eyes on camels.  We were going to haggle for stuff in the souk (we’re the perfect tag team, me and my boy).  We were going to hike in the mountains, visit Berber villages (not in a nasty tacky touristy way of course – hmm), scramble up waterfalls, ride mules up precipitous tracks, eat strange and wonderful things, lie on our backs and stargaze. ...

The cafe at the end of the world...

So we drove for hours from the airport, through scrubby desert, past villages straggling either side of the heat-shimmered road. Watermelons. Goats in trees. ‘Are they for real?’ said Rachel.‘The goats? You know, I’m not entirely sure,’ I said. ‘Plastic?’‘Taxidermied more like,’ I said. ‘Superglued to the branches.’‘Oh God.’
The road became a track and the track became a dust devil. Every so often we lurched off to one side, narrowly avoiding a truck carrying watermelons. ‘Oh yum,’ said Rache...

How do you holiday?

‘Can we have a proper holiday this year, Mum?’ said James.‘Huh? A proper holiday?’‘Yeah, you know…one that isn’t some last minute panic.  A proper, thought-about, planned, booked holiday, where we don’t argue, where nobody’s stressed… Abroad. Somewhere hot but with air conditioning.’Ah.  Chilly Cornwall
We have a bit of a problem when it comes to holidays.  I love doing and seeing things that are a bit different, out of the norm, a little extreme even.  I dream of the Himal...

The yoga of nervous laughter

'The next session will be partner yoga,' said Tashi at Kaliyoga in France.  My heart sank.  We'd done this in Spain and, to be honest, I hadn't been wild about it then and my view hadn't changed with the benefit of hindsight.  I don't know why but it doesn't feel quite like yoga to me.  It's more of a party trick.
Above all, I get anxious.  I worry I won't do it right (if you're doing it wrong on your own that's fine, you're only letting yourself down...but with someon...

Come walk with me...

So you can't be here, in Dulverton, on beautiful Exmoor...  Never mind.  Come with me on my morning walk.  We'll take it slow (I'm not feeling so great today)...
The SP is bouncing like Tigger but he always waits for me to open the first gate...
...and then the second gate...
We walk through town as it starts to wake up...past the familiar shops, and the familiar cars and familiar people.
And then we cross the bridge and turn up into the woods.  It's steep and somehow steep on...

My sidekick

Kaliyoga France was very different from its Spanish sibling in many ways, for many reasons.  But the most important for me was that, for the first time in donkeys' years, I had a sidekick. 
I’m usually a loner.  Yes, I can be sociable.  Yes, I can join in with most groups, fit in quite easily if I make the effort, but I tend to be alone, to travel alone and that's fine because I like my own company.  That’s not saying I like me, per se, just that being alone is the norm. Y'know,...

Everything is not so bad

‘Everything is not so bad,’ said Daniel at Kaliyoga France.  Ostensibly he’s an osteopath and a reflexologist (whole body though, not just feet) but I suspect he’s a fair bit more than that – definitely a healer, maybe a bit of a shaman.  And, oh those eyes!  Those young/old wide open palest blue eyes.  He’d checked me over and found all the old kinks, even dug around in my abdomen and found the same gut quirk that had surfaced in Austria.  He adjusted a lit...

The writing on the boards...

Kaliyoga France.  Sun and space.  Mantras and meditation.  Yoga magic.  And words...every day different...but saying much the same...

Hmm...

True...  *smile*
Follow me?

Really?

Yeah... :-)

Anyhow...if you want to see more pictures, check out my Facebook page - I've posted a  bunch there.

The survivors...

So. Turns out I didn't burn quite all of my art therapy paintings after all.  Was hunting for something or other and found a few refugees.  Some of the little 'uns which were able to hide away. Want a laugh?  Here you go...
Cat creature.  Colours have come out all wrong on this...it looks almost  benign.  What the hell?  Not the foggiest... Cosmic egg and serpent? Dancing or chasing?  Moon daze... Boss-eyed demoness.  :-) Blue blue...actually the good bit...

In which Trisha totally creases me...

So, this morning I wandered down to the river, for kettlebells, my Sunday service.  And my heart sank. No little group loitering by the grass.  Had I got it wrong?  Was it cancelled?
Then Trisha popped out of her car, lean and tanned in tiny shorts and vest.  ‘Where is everyone?’ I asked.‘On holiday,’ she replied. ‘I think it might just be us.’And my heart soared.  I looked hopefully at her, fully expecting she’d say something like, ‘So how about we go get some breakfa...