Major Website Update

I've been spending a long time lately rewriting the website so that the front pages show the current state of my original projects, and links to the schools workshops which I hope will take off in the next academic year. Today, finally, I finished the update, putting the last few pages together, and checking the links and things. Please feel free to repost and share the URL - and if you have an involvement with a school or youth club, and would like to arrange a workshop session, please feel free to get in touch with me for further details. To view the site, click the following link:

Cedarfiction: A Key to Infinite Possibilities

Two More Sleeps

From The Book of Awakening: Having the Life You Want by Being Present to the Life You Have.

I would do anything for you.
Would you be yourself?

Of course, there is nothing inherently wrong with change or variety or newness or with improving our condition.

I feel more myself now that I have in a long time… able to just chill out and be. Of course there are still things that push my buttons and send me running for the hills, but at least these days I'm mostly able to grab myself by the back of the shirt and stop myself before I get too very far away from 'true north.'

And I think… I hope there have been improvements… a return to the closeness and truth and openness that we had in our relationship before I shut down, before… whatever it was happened; whatever defensiveness latched in to take me, like Ariel, away from myself.

This summer I'm looking forward to an 'oldness' not a newness – new experiences to share, sure… and a definite improvement on things we've been struggling with, but, this summer I'm looking forward to being able to be myself again – like I always was.

Right now, I have to stay I'm intrigued by this 'surprise' Mir has got together. A surprise we can share while still being able to read together… a surprise that is made up of several parts… that she's been gathering. It's all very intriguing, very exciting. It's like… is it Friday yet?

Rat Sadness

Toward the end of last week, Samantha started getting sick... she was very cold - and being a naked rat it was noticeable, but she warmed up some, and seemed to rally. Then she took another nosedive on Monday night, and on Tuesday Mir took her to the vet. Samantha has pneumonia.

Yesterday we were also worrying because of cross infection with the others. Samantha had been playing with them all, her siblings and cousins, and we worried that she might have got them sick too. The one that we were most worried about was Vala, who was definitely snuffling, and a little cold. So we did what Doctor Smith had said to do with Samantha - isolated her, (though she was already keeping herself to herself), and actually put her in with Samantha who has the hot water bottle to help keep her warm... and gave her medicine. She wasn't as bad off as Samantha, but we thought to catch it early it would be easier to make her better.

Just at Mir's lunch time I got a text message to call her right away. I called, expecting to hear bad news about Samantha... or perhaps even Sheppard who is old and has been struggling for some time with declining health. No, that was not the case.

It's with a deep sadness that I have to share that Vala has died.

Mir came home at lunch time and found her in the cage. Whatever took her away, whether it was pneumonia, or whether it was something else that we missed (and we will never really know which), it happened very fast, and was unexpected. I'll miss seeing her when I get there... and am sad I wasn't there with her.