Has the summer left?

Last day of July and it's like autumn outside. The peak of summer is left behind and a change of season is in the air. Time to start looking for the perfect pair of boots that will be on duty from September to March, buy new stationery to provide inspiration, go through the holiday photos to find out if there is anything that is suitable for framing. And while at it, why not stock up on fresh tea in new flavours and candles for dark evenings. Actually, autumn isn't so bad.

Hit the right bar

This is the set up: Semi-trendy bar, two tables with two groups of friends, possibly having their get-togethers back in town after the summer hols.

Group 1: Girl running in and out of the bar, chatting away on her mobile. Not the 'we are here, come and join us' kind of conversation, but real virtual socialising and chitchatting.
Group 2: Guy seemingly oblivious of all the friends around him as his full attention is on whatever apps he happens to have up on his iPhone.

The mobile phone is a huge set back in human interaction. I mean real interaction. What's the point of going out? How about virtual bars where you bring your own drink to anywhere you like, log on to the apps 'iBar' and use your beloved mobile to make contact with old and new friends on a safe distance? I'm sure this is happening already, but clearly some people are struggling to find the 'iBar' as they continue to hit the old-style bars using the wrong communication channel.

(Note: While this is happening, I'm having a real interaction with Beautiful J at a neighbouring table. And my mobile? At home...)

Something to Remember

On the path

Two potential partners with two potential projects in two days. Time to start the set up of something new. Research to be done, presentations to be prepared, inland revenue to be consulted. Something is maturing, something is slowly taking shape but with somewhat diffuse edges.

Numbers and language

Holiday-book number three has come to an end. The fact that a physics grad student wrote a novel in the first place is quite curious and got my attention. Can a physicist write a novel? The stereotype of someone good at physics is in my simple mind someone who isn't as good with language. Oh so wrong. 'La solitudine dei numeri primi' or 'The solitude of prime numbers' - great book, highly recommended!

Flow

Many thanks to the bag in box wine. We didn't finish the box but we had a go at it. That's what happens when you start talking, when the summer evening is hot, when there are no worries about the next day and when there is flow. In more than one dimension.

Golf Mastermind

Is there any other sport than golf where the performance can vary as much? Not just between days and rounds, but also between holes and shots. Once overcome the beginner's traumas, including finding a swing and learning the knitty gritty rules, psychology is equally important as the technique. May be that's what makes it interesting. Mastering the mind for four hours running.

With my usual pattern, it takes about one and a half hour before I'm in the flow. If it's a stubborn mind that takes time to win over, or the warm up of the swing, is still unknown and so it has been for the last decade(s!).

Today's result? Same as my sister who played beautifully throughout the round without any of the fat and ugly shots which were part of my first nine holes.

CV transparency

An executive search consultant from years ago got in contact again. Would I be interested in a role as a Business Area Manager for one of the leading mail order houses in the fashion industry?

Don't know what in my professional profile that would be right for the role - my background as an auditor, trainer or HR manager? Concluded that it must be my personal pro-shopping preferences. Not sure how transparent they are in my CV but I guess they must be...

Now a tradition

For the second year running we took the longest sauna you can possibly manage. The setting was perfect; in the archipelago with the sea ten meters away and a view over a beautiful bay. With three chilled beers we entered the lovely little outdoor sauna heated by a proper wood burning stove. And there we were. Protected from any distractions. Completely and utterly focused on just us. A year had passed since last time. It's gone very quickly and we all wondered what really happened. But when we started talking it became more and more obvious that many things, good and bad but mostly good, have happened since last time we had our sauna seating.

After a quick swim in the sea we were refreshed and filled with a long-lasting heat and reconnection. A memory to bring up in February when work is busy, when last summer feels remote and the awaiting summer takes forever to give its first sign.

Benefits of procrastination

Procrastination leaves a feeling of restlessness and discomfort. Yet it's amazing what can happen when stuck in the procrastination trap. To overcome the discomfort all sorts of otherwise unattractive activities get more attention than they otherwise would. Like defrosting the freezer instead of studying for an exam. Ironing instead of preparing a presentation. Or going for a run to postpone the impending message waiting to be read, processed and archived.

Non-shopping

A full week without being to a single shop. Not even the grocery store. Don't know when this happened last, but it's a rather refreshing feeling. And I haven't been cheating with online shopping either.

Synchronicity

My summer reading continues and a book dedicated to synchronicity has reached the end. The question is whether there is something meaningful behind the number of coincidences that occur all the time. Is there something beyond time, space and material? Research indicates there is.

An American experiment used DNA from white blood cells from a test person and placed it in an instrument that could measure changes in the electromagnetic fields of the DNA. The test person was then exposed to a number of emotional stimuli, for example video clips of disturbing war scenes, at the same time as his emotional changes were being measured. The print out of the emotional curve was identical to the curve produced by the DNA being monitored in the instrument. The moment the test person had an emotional reaction, so did his DNA in a different room. The experiment was repeated a number of times with the same results. There was communication between the person and his DNA beyond time and space.

How can our limited mind ever grasp something that is unlimited by what we know? All that we know through the mind is limited and conditioned.

Oh so big.

Consciously conscious

A difference between humans and animals is that humans are conscious of their consciousness. Humans can look back at the past as well as plan for the future. And humans are aware of their mortality. Sometimes it would be easier to be an animal.

Summer eve

Knock knock

The inbox is quiet, so is the mobile. Not even a trace from a random sales call. This week seems to be all time high in terms of holiday. No-one is working. First book finished, a number of family dinners cooked, a garden in full bloom and a house full of family. With the possibility to hide in a quiet corner if need be, I'm at the perfect holiday resort.

In this relaxed mood a number of questions put on hold before holiday are now knocking on the door. Time to let them out and air them properly. Big topics that no doubt will need a lot of tossing and turning before they take shape and provide a new direction. The door is ajar.

Surrounded by fields of linseed

Is gardening a sign of age?

Pottering in the mud, moving around plants, removing weeds and finally planting a new rose bush. Far away from my normal occupation. Can't help thinking that gardening is a sign of age. Similar to learning to drink coffee when you are fifteen to finally get used to it at the age of eighteen, gardening becomes appealing close to the age of old maid. Scary thought.

Competition

The day of the yearly family cup. For the ninth year running we are playing the prestigious but still quite relaxed family golf tournament. The core team of six eager golfers faced a hot, sunny day on the golf course. The final results are still unknown until the big announcement at our next get-together. A couple of members have joined and left throughout the years, but the core team stays the same. Luckily no-one has left with the trophy.

A new language

Urdhva dhanurasana. Or Upward bow. One of the twelve asanas that Sweetest M and I spent today learning by heart. It's a bit like learning the capitals of the countries in Africa. Names that at first don't mean anything, but the more you say them the better they sound. Our conversational skills in this new languague will be limited to dogs, upwards, downwards, hands and big toes. Well well.

The pace of summer

Parked at the House of Angels with a long summer holiday ahead. It's easy to get used to the slow pace of life where afternoon coffee is the natural meeting point for anyone who happens to be here on any particular afternoon. Days full of reading, yoga, swimming, walking and talking, surrounded by easygoing company where everybody does what comes to mind. So right now Sweetest M is preparing dinner. I'm so lucky.

Heathrow, Wagamama and last minute shopping

The total relaxation of being in transit. No demands, no musts. Just the pure pleasure of people watching and reflection at my favourite airport. And of course the nice food and the prospects of a final shopping spree.

Can't believe she is thirteen...

And what does that make me? A very proud god mother.

Fancy a snog?

Second best after the real thing: a snog in the shape of a huge frozen yogurt served with fresh fruit. A new addition to 'my london' and a given favourite.

ifancyasnog.com

Cooling off after hot shopping

London!

Feels so right. Always.

On the balcony a warm July evening

A philosophical evening with Sweetest M. We didn't even need wine to get us going. Sushi, jasmine tea, raspberries and chocolate. A few gleanings from our balcony conversation:

• Where does the energy go when you die? It leaves the body, that's for sure, but where does it disappear to?
• If enough people focus on one thing, surely the impact of the energy fields lead to a change in the desired direction?
• How can you learn to trust intuition?
  

May be intuition is just another word for energy reading. To make a decision based on gut feeling is perhaps a very scientific decision where the body picks up on the surrounding energy fields to calculate the correct answer.

Questions that no doubt have been asked by many people before us.

Fab four

Hooray for my youngest god daughter who is turning four today!

Humble holiday frustrations

The swell expression 'it's all about the journey, not the goal' seems to sum up my day. Four hours of painting resulted in two ugly nonsence pictures. We are not allowed to bin anything in the art studio, otherwise I would have ripped them into pieces.

Leaving the frustration of painting for a blissful yoga session where my three attempts to do a headstand resulted in just as many flat falls on the back. A combination of too much back weight and not enough abdominals.

The journey would have been more pleasant had I paused it before the picture was done and the fall was a fact.

Slipper friend evening

Cheese doodles + wine + slipper friend = successful evening

Playing with colours and shapes

Every brush stroke is a decision to be made. You don't know what it will look like until you've done it. The result is immediate. The feedback is unforgiving. No wonder painting can be exhausting.

I'm spending my days in an art studio in the bohemian part of town, encouraged by an art teacher and accompanied by a friend and a group of ladies who could have about twenty years more life experience than us. A great start to a five week holiday period.

The city is full of colours and shapes providing an excellent inspiration source. It's amazing how the focus can shift and how the eyes open up to new impressions as you start using a different part of the brain.

Coached by a three year old

Beautiful J's three year old: 'Look at me, it's nice. Come here. You can do it.'

She is already practicing her coaching skills by role modelling, directing and encouraging. Not bad. The objective was to get an adult in the water. And she succeeded of course.

Getting ready for an aftornoon on the jetty

27 degrees outside, 22 degrees in the lake, friends and children on their way from the city. The Sörmlandish paradise!

Learning from the Africans

Someone told me a most compelling story describing the treadwheel we are in, where moments of reflection and patience are few and far between. We are driven by deadlines, decisions and a constant desire to improve. Perform, drive, strive, fight, win, learn, develop and on it goes. The last ten days have been life on an autobahn. This little story couldn't have come at a better time...

There was an explorer who was sent to Africa by his company to find a certain tribe in Africa. He was on a very tight time line, so he hired a handful of local Africans to help him carry his equipment. He and his team hurried through the jungle. They raced onward for three days.

At the end of the third day, the Africans on his team sat down and would not move. The explorer urged them to get up, telling them of the pressure he was under to reach his designation before a certain date. They refused to move. He could not understand this; after much persuasion, they still refused to move.

Finally, he got one of them to admit the reason. This native said, “We have moved too quickly to reach here; now we need to wait here to give our spirits a chance to catch up with us”.

Author Unknown