Art explosion!

After I came home, I got going with promoting my prints and cards which I had just had printed. They look great - I need to paint more. I went to a local art exhibition in Litchborough and sold cards from the vestry of the old stone church - very peaceful atmosphere and friendly, though not that lucrative - I spent the profits on lunch!

Let me know if you would like any prints or cards via Comments. This is 'My Village from the Stile', copyright AJH 2009.

A Happy Easter in the Chilterns

I stayed with at my sister's over Easter. She and her husband live in the middle of the Chiltern Hills, where they run a luxurious but inexpensive B&B in a little barn, surrounded by fields, beechwoods and swooping red kites, who nest opposite. It's very peaceful, as it's on top of a hill down a 'no through road'.

We walked to a view out over the escarpment that ends the Chilterns - an Iron age fort called 'Pulpit Hill', to see out over the Vale of Aylesbury (no town, just patchwork fields and sky). Cowslips and violets were growing everywhere in the chalk, and the cherries were just out. It was great to be able to go out on a walk with Susan (and more practice at outings for me!).

I walk 3 miles!

This may not sound like climbing Everest, however I haven't done this for more than 20 years, as I've had ME, which prevented exercise. Yesterday, I walked to the nearest pub - a lovely spring walk across the fields. There were sheep, lambs galore, hedges coming into leaf, and ancient ridge and furrow fields; I could imagine being a medieval villein and having a strip of land to plough - bigger than an allotment, but not much. My friend Brian had given me his number and offered to pick me up at the pub if I found it too far to get back, which was great as I relaxed about that.

After an hour's lunch and lounge, I walked back. Into the wind, however a lot of little hills to shelter behind occasionally. Wonderfult to see where I'd come from and in the distance, the church and village buildings that were my destination - I have regained that power of being able to walk across a landscape. Staggered back to my village and jabbered away to Brian about the walk and anything else I could think of, out of relief and excitement.

And that's it! One of my longest goals since having 'ME mark 2' was to get to the pub - I never imagined being able to get back again on my first visit by foot! ME mark 2 involved being nearly housebound and slowly building up walking so I could get to the shop and back (468 steps!) which took me 2 years or so to do regularly, even with rests on the way. I walked with a seatstick, so I could sit down when talking to people (my ME quirk was to only be able to talk when sitting down!). I dreamt of walking over the hills like I used to, and studied maps many times to measure how far I'd need to walk. Then I did the Lightning Process, and got rid of the seatstick! I had to work at the talking bit, and doing more walking, but it was a lot easier. Now I can feel my body responding to being pushed in a healthy way - it gets tired, however it bounces back. Now for the other pub - 3 miles each way!

Current projects

I can see why people end up having several blogs. Like Doris Lessing's The Golden Notebook, there are many facets to everyone, which you could have in different compartments. My current preoccupation is painting. I am painting a snow scene from photos of 'that snow we had' and although it does depict what I want, I want more. I'm glad I tackled painting the Green and the people building snowmen and throwing snowballs (yes, it's next year's Christmas card!). And I want to do some wilder stuff next! The painting is now laying dormant for a couple of days so I can see it afresh later to finish it off.

I've also had some prints and cards made up of what I think is my best painting - can't wait to see the proofs. I 'do nerves' about making money out of this - and I'm sure I'll get used to it!
Some of my paintings are on my old website (see link on the right). Let me know if you are interested in prints/cards of the 'stile' painting.

Great weekend!

I have been starting to travel without the help of my healer, Seka Nikolic, whose treatments used to wipe out my ME symptoms for up to two weeks at a time. This weekend is the second time I've been away without that, just using the Lightning Process (self-coaching technique) to keep me on track ie symptom-free, and it worked really well. I travelled to London, did a follow-up course session for 3 hours in London, where I realised some more useful stuff, then went to Colchester to see my friends Angie (see left) and Lucinda, and spent a couple of hours catching up. The next day I was well, which given last year I couldn't talk for more than five or ten minutes at a time without triggering symptoms next day, is amazing!

I went for a walk round the Roman wall and the excellent city park, with Norman castle and a moatful of spring flowers, and parents and children filling the playground nearby. Then Angie took me to West Mersea, an island in the estuary. It was wonderful to hear the sea and walk on the little beach, picking up oyster shells. Families were catching crabs from the pontoon-like pier, and fishermen were around their boats. We ate scallops wrapped in bacon for supper, which felt like a celebration of our visit, and of my first ever outing with anyone where I stayed well all the way through!

Then despite feeling tired, I went back to London and went round the Tate Gallery, then home via tube, train, bus and lift, and was still well! I feel like my world is opening up - with work at using the Process, however I feel in charge of that - this is real, not someone doing it to me.

Humility

I went to a funeral today - personal landmark, as the last one I went to I triggered a big relapse in symptoms, whereas this one was OK - and the man who died was a neighbour of mine. He and his brother ran a workshop that superceded the blacksmith's. In the villages, the blacksmith's often turned into garages, and ours mends Formula 3 racing cars!

Anyway, the thing that struck me about both of the brothers was their helpfulness, practicality and humility. Humility may seem like a submissive trait, and it could sound condescending to describe someone like that, but I think it's a high quality to have. It means they take things lightly, don't mind themselves much and just get on with things and enjoy them. Perhaps it comes with a lack of materialism? A belief in God? - well, I know that's one of the aims of Christianity and other religions to submit to God, however people who don't believe also have it. I think people who've lived in the country all their lives may have it more often - the older generation, anyway. They aren't chasing more 'stuff', more experiences, just enjoying what they like doing.

Well hello!

I have been inspired by my friend Sarah to write something in this blog. I write notes all the time about my rehabilitation into the wide world - and maybe this will help someone else as well as be an indulgence for me as I love writing!

I am Jane, I am 54 and live in a village in England, and am getting back into doing things normally after 20 years of having 'ME' sometimes called 'Chronic Fatigue Syndrome'. I have had a more severe form of this for 10 years, however I have done things I wouldn't have done otherwise during this time, like write and publish a cookbook and learn painting and garden design. I have been based in my house and my village - like a huge change in my centre of gravity, as previously I was a consultant for telebusiness centres, travelling round Britain and sometimes abroad.

Then I did a training called the Lightning Process, which helped enormously, and since then have been working on different things to get back into socialising, physical activities, and eventually work. So, that's me!