Passport Photos, Purple Dreads and Healing Coffee

Hola… it’s been a while… again… but somehow this morning’s escapades inspired me to get tapping on my laptop and bring Namaste This back to life.  There’s just too much gold in the ridiculous fuck ups, not to share and hopefully bring a smile to your hearts… so you can say “Thank God, it wasn’t me.”

It was a bleary eyed ‘black’o’clock’ start this Monday morning.  We had to prise Sir Maxelot out of his bed, bribe him with an early breakfast and ensure he did his morning ‘business’ so we could drive up to Granada for 9am without worrying about him being left crossed legged for the remainder of the morning or however long our mission would take us. 

Today had been marked at the very last minute on Friday, as the day for that all important appointment at the Government Offices for Foreigners, up in Granada, to get our new TIE cards.

Sir Maxelot… regal in is refusal when he wishes.

 

For your entertainment, I have posted a video below, of the reality and power of stubbornness, as beautifully demonstrated by Sir Maxelot… on a rainy, winter night when there was no chance of him going out and getting his princely feet wet. 🤪

So with copies of copies, and documents to support the documents… application forms and passports and residency cards and photos… all neatly organised in plastic envelopes we picked up Emma, our friend, official translator and Spanish bureaucracy ‘smoother-outer’ in Lanjaron, and headed slowly down the windy mountain roads to the motorway to Granada.

Oh boy, rush hour on on the outskirts of Granada… we’d forgotten what it was like to head into civilisation.  So many cars!  Our beloved, noisy campo Kangoo, with it’s permanent layer of stony dust certainly betrayed us a the rural visitors but it fitted nicely into an underground parking space, so we didn’t have to cringe too much as we headed off into the land of modern city bureaucracy.

 

 

There’s something about a government building with security guards in black body armour and batons at their side, that totally disconnects my brain from calm, common sense…  and turns me into a gibbering wreck.  I find myself unable to think clearly, I get flustered, then stare fixedly at the screen waiting for my number to appear  (just in case I miss it and get into trouble)… fiddle with papers, reorder them, check them and double check them again and yet can’t focus on anything… I fumble with my reading glasses but don’t have enough hands for phone and glasses and papers… and worst of all, I can’t remember a word of Spanish, let alone understand it spoken from behind a frikking mask.  Chilled out, grounded, confident and rebellious Sally, certainly didn’t enter the building with me this morning.

Due to ‘Brexshite,’  UK citizens have to move over to a new residency card, and the insider ‘goss’ on the block is that it’s better to do it sooner rather than later… because nobody knows if the parameters will stay the same or change to be more restrictive and difficult further on down the line.  

So my hunky handsome hero of a husband, had the first appointment at 9am.  His little print out (just like you get at the supermarket deli counter) said H-1 and all of a sudden his number appears and is called out over the tannoy…. and off he shoots.  His Spanish is self admittedly, abysmal, but he sailed through his appointment and walked cooly and dare I say it smugly,  back past the security guards to sit back down next to me, to await my turn and scroll aimlessly through Facebook while I continued to stare fixedly at the information screen and it’s changing instructions. 

 

 

I, on the other hand, didn’t sail through my appointment. 

Our friend, ‘translator, organiser, reassurer and nerve calmer downer,’ hadn’t been able to come into the building with us because of…. yup… you guessed it…. the Rona Restrictions.  She was left to shiver alone out on the street in the very cold morning air, hoping for the best, along with other ‘non appointment morale boosters and organisers’  So it was just me in my fluent Portuguese (masquerading as Spanish) with my heart pounding and a now damp, sweaty ticket, numbered H-2, heading across the hallway to whatever awaited me at Desk Number 4.

I smiled through my eyes, offered up a happy ‘Hola, Buenos Dias’ and everything seemed to be going OK till Mr Desk Number 4 started firing rapid Spanish at me and pointing at my actual passport’s photo.  It was the same as the photo that I’d offered up as the one to go on my new TIE.  After several attempts where I heard nothing comprehensible, he eventually got up came round his desk and past the perspex separation screen to rather impatiently tell me that the photo in my passport was over 3 years old and so that same photo wouldn’t be accepted for the TIE. 

Jeez.

Didn’t see that one coming.

Fuck.

Then there were gesticulations and rapid fire directions for me to go out of the building and along to the right where apparently there were conveniently placed photo shops (for emergencies like me) where I could have a new photo taken, that would look like me now and not the me of 3 years go… and I could then return back to his desk. 

Lesson number one. 

Don’t take an old ‘normal’ photo of yourself,  when you presently have one kilos worth of purple wool dreads on your head… especially when you go into a government building to apply for legal photo ID document.

 

This is me… all newly ‘dreaded up’ and feeling fab.

 

My waving arms and panicked face wasn’t what Emma was expecting as I emerged through the big entrance and front line of security guards onto the street… but it was reassuring to hear that this had never happened to any of her many clients before… but then again, if there’s a bureaucratic loophole, pothole or frikking pit, my ‘hunky handsome hero of a husband’ and I always seem to find it, and fall into it.

We lead the way in discovering new depths of creative Spanish bureaucracy…
and fuck ups.

So off we trotted to the corner shop for a suitable new photo… with my bag half hanging off my shoulder, reading glasses in one hand and plastic envelope of left over documents half in half out,  in the other hand.

Lesson number two. 

Remember to take your frikking mask off when you’re having a passport photo taken.  Numpty.

Lesson number three.

Remember to look in the mirror before having your passport photo taken. 

Euch.  Too late.  Done.

Back we all go to the large security entrance with growing queues of all nationalities looking to confirm Spain as their home.  I’m wished good luck… take a deep breath… and the security guards let me straight back into the building.  They were actually super helpful and understanding, albeit initially daunting… and I walked around the metal detector and headed back to Desk Number 4.

New photo accepted. But not with a smile…. his mask couldn’t hide the expression in his eyes.   Which made me try even harder to be nicer and happier and more grateful.

But now it was time for finger prints. 

Could I put my frikking index finger down at the correct angle for it to roll across the bright green, laser lit glass to be scanned? 

Apparently not. 
Because a huge sigh was heard through Mr Desk Number 4’s mask and my finger was pushed numerous times into ‘place’ while he then tried to operate his computer one handed.

I felt for him. 
It wasn’t even 9.30am.

I really did feel such a complete and utter numpty.  And that insecurity made me smile even more…. and be even more friendly and  ‘happy go lucky’ while my stomach was tied into a knot as my inner child and people pleaser went into complete over drive…. which I felt just annoyed Mr Desk Number 4, all the more.

We did eventually get there though and I managed to remember how to write my name and scribbled out a couple of signatures and was finally set free to return to the street, jubilant with my mission accomplished.  I felt like I should have skipped out the building with fists high in the air clutching my all important receipt… but I resisted the temptation…. and just came out like a quivering wreck, gagging for a tostada and coffee.

I could see Emma breathe a sigh of relief and my hunky handsome hero of a husband gave me a strong congratulatory shoulder hug and understated “Well done gurl.”

As luck would have it (very shrewd businessman actually)… there was a cafe on the corner next to the emergency photo shop and we grabbed a table, away from the trees and pooping pigeons, to breathe more sighs of relief and top up on  stodgy white bread carbs with melted cheese and wonderfully strong Spanish caffeine.

There was a sense of euphoria as we shared our stories of how we all ended up in this magical part of the world…. and as we calmed down… it was time to head home to the rural bliss and quiet of the surrounding mountains.

 

 

Life in the Spanish Alpujarras could never be described as dull… although there are days when we yearn for a bit of predictable, logical, and understandable normality… but then again… this would become a very boring blog indeed.

Welcome back to Namaste This my lovelies, I know I’ve been absent for many months, but there’s still plenty of real life stories to share. 

And in the meantime, just wish us luck in 45 days, when we have to return to Granada to pick up our brand new residency cards. 

And breathe.  And breathe some more. 

Love,

The joys and challenges of owning a rescue greyhound… 

Namaste This goes LIVE!

Here’s something a little bit different for you all today!

This morning we woke up to hear the water unexpectedly gushing in full force along the acequia channel on the terrace below our wee hoose and as we didn’t get any water last week at our allotted time, we… REALLY, REALLY REALLY wanted that water to fill up our deposit.  When you know there’s not going to be any water over the summer months, you kind of get twitchy at the thought of running out and every drop counts. 

So we sent off a furtive WhatsApp through Google translate to the water manager for our area and we were delighted with a superquick replay saying “Cojela.”  What?  We were expecting a simple “Sí or No” back.  We were a bit thrown.  Thankfully Google translate, our much appreciated Spanish best friend, said it meant “Catch her!” “Take it!” or something along those lines.  We didn’t need to be told twice.

We were a go!

This morning was absolutely gorgeous… the grey clouds had lifted and there was a clear blue sky and sun was already super bright by 8.30am.  Being outside in nature was calling so I decided to go help My Gorgeous Man… and by help, I actually mean accompany… as he the one that opens the gates, clears the debris and muck from the channels as the water flows… and I basically cheer on from the sidelines and oversee.  Again, oversee is an exaggeration of my importance in the process.  

But then I had a better idea. 

Let’s livestream it!

Last month I was invited to join an online Feminine Business Mastermind Group of six amazing women who all run their own businesses to varying degrees of awesomeness in their own corner of the world.  It’s a way for us self employed, heart based entrepreneurs, to not go loopyloo trying to do it all on our own.  It means we all have support, inspiration, accountability and get a gentle kick up the butt or huge virtual hug when we need it.  So when I was talking about writing the Namaste This book, on the last call,  Katie had said that she would love to know more about our life and actually see what off grid looked like in real terms. 

Some of the most basic things that My Gorgeous Man and I have got used to and take for granted, are actually not normal at all.  So the seed was sown and I was inspired to get Namaste This Blog on Instagram and Facebook into the world of livestreaming and bring a slightly nervous, livestream-shy MGM with me.  Because let’s face it… he’s the REAL star of the show as he’s the one that makes this whole off grid thing work!  I couldn’t do it without him.  Nope.  Truth Bomb.  Mic Drop.

So this morning turned into our first LIVESTREAM appearance!  

We trudged the half mile or so up to where we divert the water down our channel and then hit the blue button to GO LIVE… and that was that!

 

We may still be in lockdown but our doors are now open and if you want to catch our lives then come on over and ‘Like’ our Facebook page and hit that all important ‘Notifcations On’ button.  We would really appreciate that!  It turns out that having a solid social media platform is really beneficial to getting a book deal.   I know, I mentioned the book again.

THANK YOU for  Liking our page and following us on Instagram where I post daily!

Elsewhere in the world of Namaste This, there’s been a whole lot of ‘wood chopping’ and stacking of the olive tree branches that were pruned in December during our first olive harvest… but I’ll save those stories and photos for next time.  There’s a lot more to it than you’d think!

Wishing you all a fabulous day and until next time… it’s Hasta Luego from us at Namaste This!

Love,

 

 

 

 

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Truth, Tears, Dodgy Knees and Gratitude!

So…. here’s a summary of my journey over the last 5 weeks… or so.. because really I haven’t got a clue what day it is… and now I’m not sure that I even want to know… take it with a pinch of salt, a good few grains of truth and a dose of dark humour… because sometimes we just have to laugh our way through these exciting, crazy, challenging and transformational times on earth…

Spain locks down… and they mean it… initial selfish horror at not being allowed to go out… what about my coffee and donuts… what about my sanity saving yoga classes… what about my summer fun at the Orgiva Tea Gardens… what about getting to the laundrette because we don’t have a washing machine… what am I going to do all day?… I’m going to go mad… I hate being told what to do… I hate being limited… nobody can tell me what to do… I won’t be locked up (says the drama queen living like a hermit on the side of a mountain)… online local and international fabulous community kicks in… we’ve got this… we’re in this together… we’ve got the internet… we’ve got each other… we’ve got zoom and Whatsapp… we got the miracles and evils of Facebook…. calm returns… acceptance comes in…. Netflix is turned on… pizza is eaten…. and el cheapo cava is drunk…  inspired action flies in… art… writing… artycrafty things… amazing kids’ projects (I don’t have kids but wow… some of these parents are superbly creatively and inventively awesome)….  we’ve deffo got this!… what a gift this home time is…. we can breathe… we can just be… we don’t have to DO… Oh My God… I can slow down…. I don’t have to run around doing… wow… this is great… I love my fluffy daytime pjs… I feel amazing powerful positive energy… we are healing the world… we are holding our high vibe lane… I know it’s challenging but this is the catalyst for a new world!…  being out on the mountain and breathing in freedom and feeling the world shift through love and connection… all is well…. all is more than well…. I’m loving this…. OMG…. I am absolutely loving this…. Oh Shit… people are unsubscribing… shit… I’m losing work… shit…. I’m losing what little income we have… My Gorgeous Man has lost potential work… what are we going to live off… the fear spiral begins…. thank goodness el cheap cava is only €2 a bottle…. get a grip… calm down… you’re ok Sally… breathe…. drum…. drum harder… drum some more… you can’t control this… you’ll be ok…. Ashtanga yoga on Youtube… I imagine myself looking like that gorgeous slim bendy body as I pull back the rugs to lay out my fluorescent yellow mat….  I happily tie myself in knots and dream of my heels touching the down dog floor…. in front of the cooker….  while Sir Maxelot and My Gorgeous Man look on in fascinated disbelief… we live in one room so there’s no escape… it feels good… it calms… it opens and balances my body… is it wrong to be so content to be in your pjs the whole day?…the grey clouds cover the mountain tops and the rain comes in… being outside in nature isn’t much of a comfortable option anymore…. but the snow capped mountains are admittedly stunning… so… more falsely comforting el cheapo cava… more Netflix… home baked scones become a fascination… and challenge… MGM makes rock cakes… and we eat them… just because…. third time lucky with baking powder… yum… I’m getting fat… let’s make more scones…. oooooh… there’s a rave dance party on Facebook… headphones in… sports bra on… wild dancing… hopping… waving… jigging… reliving my younger rave years… music… oh my god I love music…. blasting out my headphones… Armin Ban Burren is da man!…. blissful in the beats and a dancing nutter to all outsiders…. uplifted… exhausted… and in need of more cava… but mostly bed… wake up next morning and my menopausal joints are f*cked… can hardly walk… ooops…. shit…. move less… calm the F down… more drumming on the mountains… creating drumming video clips… inspired healings… new energy and light language flows…. the energy is shifting and deepening… but oh shit… more work lost… panic… terror… despondency… and big black rabbit holes…. what’s the point… how are we going to survive… tears…. lots of tears… more tears…. self pity… drama… oh poor me… I can’t do this anymore… more el cheapo cava and soothing Netflix crime drama…. desperate messages to friends who pick me up and kick my ever increasingly wobbly ass… find gratitude… focus on the positive… get a grip… feel what you feel but don’t attach… come on… it’s not that bad… el cheapo is only €2… eat more crisps…. make more scones… follow your flow… don’t force… don’t push… don’t panic… inspired action… follow your heart…. I offer special discounted offers on my offerings and oh how wonderful… some subscriptions come in… breathe…. gratitude… gratitude… gratitude… oh my God… thank you…. think about juicing to reduce the rapidly increasing middle aged spread… supermarket runs looking like a highway man… doing the distance trolley dance while searching for self raising flour…. incredible, cloudy atmospheric sunsets… oh how I love these mountains… yoga impossible… walking allowed… knees… still pretty fucked… sneaky illegal but socially distant and compliant visit to my beloved naturopath… tissue salts… homeopathic magic… understanding… compassion… and ‘stop pissing about Sally and look after your body’…. ok… I hear you…. more thoughts about juicing and alkalising… but when it’s rainy and cold I just want pizza… and crisps… salt’n’vinegar crisps… and bags full of veggies for juicing for just me… means extra costs…. so more self denial and sabotage… but it’s ok because I’ll juice before lockdown ends… I know I will… I definitely will… I’ll emerge like a slender toned butterfly… no one will ever know the inner torture of my spare tyres… except if they read this… and realise that I’m only human and we’re all in the same boat… acceptance…. let go… surrender… allow…. energy picks up… healings shared…. channellings empowered…. the Star Beings ramp it up… and my little membership group feels the energy shift… we’re a go again… tears of joy… tears of love… tears of gratitude… yay!… more el cheapo cava…. seeing the good… stepping back from social media… it’s too busy… too pressured… too much forced trying… too much forced positivity… too much conditioned fear and social programming…. too much disempowering drama… too many conspiracy theories… just too much all round…. but I still read…. I learn… I feel…. and I follow what is right for me…. nope… don’t want to play there just now… peace… stillness.. quiet…. breathe with Mother Earth… my power comes from presence, not participating and following the crowd… bucks fizz for breakfast… naps in the afternoon…. listen to the birds…. the bee eaters and swallows have returned for the summer… bird song fills the air… when the rain stops… seriously grateful for the rain… even though wood for our wood burner stove is costing a weekly fortune… but comfort is our priority… I want to write…. yes… I want to write… it’s time for the book to be born… Namaste This… our story…. our adventures… our leaps of faith and WTF truths… mornings on the roof (when it’s dry) with the laptop… words come… I write…. words don’t come… I go for a gentle wander… nature… Mother Earth is my friend… my sister… my mother… my soul mate… part of me… I look to the heavens and say ‘WTF’…. and then notice an ant on the track just getting on with life… get out of your head Sally and back into your heart… and breathe…. write… channel… drum…. follow your joy… follow the good stuff…. listen to your intuition… listen your body…. yes… juicing definitely starts tomorrow… do what’s right for you… just one more glass of el cheapo cava then…. and maybe another batch of scones this afternoon 💜

We’ve got this… 

Love,

 

 

 

 

Reviewing Life from the ‘Lockdown Love In’

It’s been 151 days since my last confession – erhem – blog.   And you may well be asking (or not) “Just what on earth has been going on up in those Spanish mountains to warrant such a gap in our entertainment?”   Well, I always said I’d bear it all here… so the truth is that it’s been a bit of a rocky road… there’s been some soft and squishy marshmallow bits but more of life’s hard crunchy bits.

There was however, a super duper major high point around Christmas when we were gifted the funds to be able to buy a new fridge.  Yup… a really tall, shiny silver fridge with… get this… freezer drawers! 

WHOOOHOOO!
I can’t tell you how this has transformed our experience of living off grid! 

First of all, huge amounts of research was done into which fridge would be the most compatible with solar power… then there was the size thing too… because at the end of the day our kitchen, is our living room, is our bedroom and we sure as hell didn’t want to be kept awake at night with the ‘hummmmmming’… of a ‘spaceship’  just a couple of meters away from our bed.

You all know by now, that My Gorgeous Man is THE absolute ace at online research, with tech details,  price and delivery comparisons… and we eventually bought one down at our local shop Expert in Órgiva… mainly because they had a great offer and could deliver it down our rather awkward track.  We also really wanted to support our local community rather than a faceless conglomerate and run the gaunlet of a grumpy courier scraping their van around the tight rocky corners.

 And I tell you what.  After living for over a year with a small ancient gas bottle fridge, where the shelves kept falling out and it either froze everything or the door just wouldn’t stay shut and everything was ruined… we felt like frikking millionaires as the silver ‘UFO of a fridge’ was gently eased down the steps and into our wee home.

Our life was complete.

And there was even more to celebrate.

To make space for our fridge (because essentially we’re a one room studio flat on the side of a mountain) something had to go.  And that ‘something’ was the old sofa bed that we had inherited with the property… aka… Sir Maxelot’s sofa.  This initially caused us a lot of humming and hawing… and guilt, but we reassured ourselves that because over the last few months, he hadn’t been able to get up on his sofa, and had spent 90% of his time on his gigantic memory foam, furry throne of a bed on the floor…  with the remaining 10% trying to take over our sofa… we guessed that he might not actually notice. 

We hoped. 
And we were right. 

As you can see, he was hugely non plussed with all the gleeful moving around of bits, bobs, fridges and sofas.

 

So hey presto… we moved the old sofa up onto the roof and suddenly we had an outdoor living room with the best view in the whole wide world!  Our stunning view obviously needed to be immediately christened with el cheapo cava sundowners at less than €2 a bottle… and we were truly blessed with an interlude of wonderful warm weather to make the most of it.

 

Of course… it’s now under a tarpaulin waiting for the return of the Spanish spring sun… laden and held down with bricks on the top because of the crazy winds that roar up our little ‘burranco’ … valley.  But we know it’s there… just waiting for us.  Not long now.

And I don’t want to labour on about how much of a morale boost, having a wonderful modern fridge is… but it really was… and it really, really continues to be so!  

 

 

And it’s just as well we had that boost, because…. and here’s where I’m going to be radically honest….  I spent the majority of December and January in a bit of  a dark hole… mostly brought on by just being well and truly exhausted from trying to make ends meet, being online so much and becoming a bit disheartened with myself… and add in the mega dose of menopausal hormonal shite… and I really wasn’t that much fun to be around.

The roof became the safe zone.

But I’m never one to stay down for long… and the upshot of it was that the black clouds did in lift in February… with help from my fellow healer wuwu witchy friend and a whole new range of tissue salts and homeopathic remedies.  It turns out these major delves into the depths of despair are a common experience for women of my era… except nobody talks about it enough and you think you’re the only one going loopyloo and down the plughole, never to resurface again.  Seriously… you’ve no idea till you’ve been there!

The Universe got everything aligned and I came back to ‘me’ just in time to head off on my Irish tour,  to share my long planned, in person Channelling Love Healing Circles, Universal Reflexology workshop and Rising Visionary day in Belfast and Galway.

And what a trip that was!  It was ah-mah-zing! 

The Healing Circles sold out, the reflexology weekend was transformational and the Rising Visionary day co-hosted with Jo Beth Young was incredible.  

Being in Ireland was medicine for my spirit and soul…. and staying with Jo, also opened the door to new creative wild wuwu ventures… but more about that another time. 

If you have a mo… delve into the montage below of my  time in Ireland… to feel the love… share the magic… and reassure you that even if you’re having a tough time… there are good times around the corner.  I promise you.

 

The magic of Ireland…

 

It wasn’t long after getting back from Ireland that the global shit really hit the fan with COVID 19 and Lockdown came into force in Spain.  I have never, ever been so grateful for living where we live… already isolated with nothing around us but nature.  I’m going to write about our first month in lockdown next week… because yes… I’m committing to a weekly blog as well as getting the Namaste This book all sorted, published and made into a Hollywood blockbuster by the time we’re set free at the end of April 2020. 

I do love a bit of positive thinking, envisioning and manifesting.

And to help me on my way to ‘authordom’  today is the first day of  #The100dayproject that I signed up to.  It’s a free event and it’s a way of keeping yourself accountable to spending time on your project every day for the next 100 days… and we tag and post an image on instagram to show how we’re doing every day. 

The100dayproject

My special tag is #100daysofwritingthenamastethisbook  so no surprise that my project is the Namaste This book.  What else would it be?  And I even pulled the Self Mastery card from Cher Lyn’s Mystic Medicine Art deck this morning… so I think I’m all set mentally, emotionally and energetically for mastering myself through this process and making this book dream, come true.

Until next week then my lovelies… Hasta Luego!

Love,

 

 

 

 

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More Bureaucratic Shenanigans and the Obligatory Miracle…

Soooo… it’s been a while!  But we’re still here…still standing… still loving the crazy ride of Spanish Alpujarra life.  I’ve been super focused on the flow with my wuwu world of Channelling Love… but there was a significant breakthrough for our life here recently that was a whole lot of bureaucratic shenanigans, graced with the miracle at the end. 

You might have heard of something called Brexit, which means that becoming a Spanish resident was paramount for us Brits.  Even for a rebel like me, the thought of living life looking over my shoulder and potentially not being able to come and go freely was not going to be an option.

I went through the residency process in February and last week it was My Gorgeous Man’s turn.  Passports, NIE numbers, certificates, translations, my self employment papers and everything else we could possibly think of.  Copied, copied again… double checked… looked at blankly over and over… and giving in to the ‘what will be will be’ mantra.  And so on a cloudy morning and with butterflies fluttering we climbed into the Landy and headed down to Motril on the coast, where the Comisaria de Polícia offices are.

Comisaria

 

We had a lovely coffee sitting in the sun, reminding ourselves that this is why we are flowing with the beaurocratic needs… and then walked down the hill to the office. 

 

Greeted by police officers on the other side of the metal detector that no-one pays any attention to, My Gorgeous Man’s name was ticked off the list and we turned left into the large open office, filled not only with foreigners waiting for their own little miracle, but for Spanish people getting their passports.

The woman on the ‘Foreigners’ desk called MGM forward and we were A Go.

There was a lot of paper shuffling, rapid fire Spanish, and my aim was to connect and crack a smile from her.  Then it was my turn to offer up my papers… and first of all I didn’t have enough copies (even though we’d initially been told they wouldn’t ask for copies of all my stuff)… and then came some Spanish that I really had to get my head around.

Er…

She was asking for updated papers to prove my self employment status which is called ‘autonomo’ here.  Mmm…. and I showed her again the 036 that I had been reassured would be enough.  But apparently it wasn’t… because it was dated February and it didn’t prove that I was still  contributing into the system and paying tax.    My heart was pumping and my brain became super focused on trying to catch any word I could latch onto to make sense of the incomprehensible jumble coming out of her mouth.

I really wished I’d stuck to my DuoLingo… or more to the point signed up for those bliddy Spanish classes.

The long and short of it was that I had to source whatever documents from the Social Security department to show I was still paying into the system.  And apparently there was a building behind where we could get that done.

We took a deep breath… walked the walk of ‘not resident’ shame out of the offices and headed round the corner to get more copies and… take a deep breath for whatever awaited.  We found reception… found the receptionist who didn’t really give a damn that I couldn’t fully catch what she was saying… and basically said
“No… not here.” 
And after a good few attempts… I was like a little Scottish terrier who wouldn’t give up until she vaguely understood.  It turned out that there was another reception further round the corner.

Off we trotted.

In we went… this time to be met with a well guarded metal detector and a security guard who thought I was was speaking anything but my version of Spanish.

Eventually we were let through… the metal arch beeped… pockets were emptied and belts taken off and papers shuffled some more… and we were pointed through to another office and reception desk.  The man behind that desk looked at me as if to say… “Oooooh boy….”  and then he also proceeded to say

“No.” 
But he almost saved the day by adding… “but you can make an appointment for tomorrow.”

Shit.  tomorrow’s not today.

And he wasn’t budging.  So we took the appointment, not even sure we were in the right place doing the right thing… and walked another walk of shame back to the Comisaria de Polícia.

By now, we’d phoned the lawyers office that had been helping us get ready for MGM’s residency and they were trying to get an appointment with the local Social  Security office in Órgiva.. our local town.  Because we figured that we would have just enough time to speed back… get documents… and speed back down before the 2pm siesta deadline when everything shuts down.  But it turned out that the computer also said “No,” to their efforts… and we were left to fend for ourselves.

There was nothing left, but for us to admit we couldn’t get the documents and pray and beg that we wouldn’t have to wait another 3 months to get a residency appointment.  At that point we had less than a week before the UK was potentially leaving the EU.

On our down trodden return, our woman softened on seeing our stress and she said to come back tomorrow morning with the papers as she would add us onto the official “Just let them in’ list… and that she would call us forward.  She said everything was in order and it wouldn’t be a problem.

OoooooKaaaaaaaay then.

On the way back, I had the super sparkly idea to go into the office in Orgiva where I had first gone ‘autonomo’… the women there is fantastic.  I can hardly understand a word she says, but she does the do and with a smile.  So when I turned up unexpectedly in front of her desk… my face and energy and Spanish saying….

“I need help!”…. and she replied ‘Help is here’… and I could have hugged her there and then.  I explained the situation and she started tapping away on the computer… printing things up… looking concerned at the screen… saying stuff and smiling… printing up more stuff and then handed it all over.  She’d printed up everything she could think of to prove what needed to be proven… and wished me luck. 

What an angel!

MGM had been left with the task of finding an elusive parking spot and meeting me in the square to then go up to the lawyers office, where we then tried to cancel the next day’s Social Security appointment down in Motril… with no luck because the computer said… you guessed it… ‘No’.. because we didn’t have a code…. but then add on to that, that I also had to cancel my own totally separate Social Security appointment in Órgiva that had been planned a while back, for the next morning, in order to pick up my health card… but I now couldn’t go to that appointment because we were having to go back to Motril to get MGM’s residency. 

To this cancellation, the computer said Yes.  Hallelujah. 

So that was our first attempt at MGM’s Spanish residency. 

Bureaucracy 1  MGM 0

Grumpy, faces... Bureaucracy 1 MGM0

Day 2

Here we go. 

Our first mistake was to try and multi-task.  First stop was to turn left and head to Lanjarón council offices for me to get yet more legalised copies of my passport and residency … this time for my driving license that has now been lost in the Spanish system for almost 5 months… yup… I’m still driving illegally.  We had felt confident that this would be the easy part of the day… and yet… we came up against the first ‘No’… because the right people weren’t there to stamp and sign. 

Oooookaaaaay… Breathe.  And pray this wasn’t a sign of things to come.

So we decided that seeing as we had to drive through Orgiva to get to the police station in Motril… I would jump out at the traffic lights… leap into the council offices there and try and get the elusive signatures and stamps… which had to be taken to the lawyers office today because he would be going up to Traffico in Granada the next day to work driving license miracles.

Orgiva main street looking down towards the local town council offices.

It was a good idea… but it didn’t work, because the head honcho had popped out for half an hour. 

And breathe.

I legged it up into the plaza to see MGM waiting on one of the iron benches again… and there was nothing for it but to head down to Motril and see what awaited us there.  Hopefully MGM’s residency.

More deep breaths.

We walk straight into the Comisaria de Policia, round the side of the metal detector… and into the office… to see loads of people and an empty desk.

I could feel MGM’s energy shift from anxiety to frustration, resignation and “I f’ing knew it wouldn’t be that easy’.  And I went into super calm and silent mode as is my way. 

There was however a young man at the ‘Foreigners’ desk and he was under siege from everything and everyone trying to get his attention and grab the chair in front of him as soon as it was vacated.  It was an ‘effing’ free for all… and as I felt MGM seething beside me… I knew I didn’t have the courage to go and barge in. 

After quite a while, where another Brit walked away smiling with her prized green card… an interpreter with 5 Chinese teenagers came and went with different papers each time… a middle eastern woman made it to the desk and left the desk… looking totally lost and was then be saved by another woman who managed to translate a bit for her…. and another man secured the prized seat and got his answers…. MGM suddenly jumped up and forward as the man left… and we finally got an acknowledgement from the harassed officer behind the desk. 

We were told to wait. 
Fair enough. 
We didn’t have an appointment and he didn’t know our story from yesterday.

One step closer.

And then, not long after, from round the corner, appeared our angel.  Yup… she’d been on a break and appeared from round the back, still chewing… and boy… did our hearts lift.  By now we were sat in the front row with great big signs on our foreheads saying “SEE US!!!”   We were beaten into her chairs by a speedy gonzales and I could feel MGM’s frustration and blood pressure rise even more… but also there was huge relief at the same time because hopefully she would remember who we were from yesterday.  There’s an advantage to having 1k of purple dreads in your hair… you don’t tend to blend into the background.

When you come from a country that is obsessed with queues and everything being done in order and in a ‘proper’ manner… the randomness and apparent chaos of official procedures can be a huge challenge.  Having lived in Brazil, this office was a piece of piss for me… and having the ‘it’ll all work out in the end’ approach… makes it a whole lot less stressful… but, admittedly,  I do lack the ‘ooomph’ to push to the front of queues, all the same.  I could have ended up sitting there for hours if MGM hadn’t done the initial deed for us.

But we didn’t need to push forward in the end… because out of the blue MGM’s name was called… and we leapt into action and sat our glad assess down in those prized positions opposite the ‘angel of Spanish residency.’  I handed all my new pieces of paper over with pride and a prayer.  They were shuffled, examined and looked over with an eagle eye and there was a glimmer of approval and a slight nod, which flooded me with relief. 

And then, it happened. 
Just like that. 
MGM was handed over that precious small green card.

I have to admit that I wanted to jump up and cheer and make a fuss… but I didn’t.  We did lots of Cheshire cat grins and ‘Gracias-es’  and we both felt it really important to show how delighted we were to be living and now both fully resident here in Spain. 

This is our home…. and we LOVE it!

I also resisted skipping out the office and we settled for the obligatory “Now resident” photo shoot in front of the police station.

 

YES!  Residency achieved and the green card to prove it!

 

 Instead of going somewhere to celebrate, we very sensibly and locially decided to run the gauntlet back to Orgiva to try and get the legalised copies of the documents I needed to reapply, redirect, and just frisking send me my Spanish driving license…  puleeeeeeeeez!  

And we were treated the stunning views as we headed back up into the mountains… and reminded yet again of why we had chosen to live here!

The view approaching Órgiva from the coast.
Órgiva from the other side of the mountain!

 

Having failed earlier in the day, I was determined this was going to be second time lucky… and I went into the Orgiva town office, armed with a smile and google translate and the determination to just get it done.  Again… MGM was tasked with parking the impossible and I jumped out at the traffic lights to go into the council offices and try my luck.

And hey presto…. “the man he say YES!!”

And that meant a swift happy walk up the main street to find MGM on a bench again in the plaza and then heading into the lawyers office to get my driving license changeover form, submitted… again.  I have to admit that I’m having a bit of a sense of humour failure about having handed over my UK driving license in good faith… and not getting the Spanish one in return.  Surely, this would be 4th time lucky.…

It remains to be seen.

Once in the office… we had a bit of a wait while another British couple were going through the process of getting their driving licenses sorted.  I resisted the temptation of saying anything along the lines of an ironic ‘Gooooood Luuuuuck’ as they filled in their paperwork.  Meanwhile, at the other desk, I was able to cancel the Social Security appointment for my health card, that had been remade for me, without telling me… but on a day that I would be working. 

And after that… there was nothing for it, but to head straight to our favourite restaurant, Venta Maria,  for some great food and atmosphere and… celebratory vino blanco y cerveza.

YUM... best authentic hand made Italian pasta and food in the Alpujarras!
No better place for lunch!

And right now… MGM is plucking up the courage to send off his driving license… because he’s now illegal… as a Spanish resident driving on a UK license in a Spanish car.  My social security appointment is set for next week… and while I’ve since received a document to allow me to drive without the Spanish license card… we’re holding our breath in anticipation of the real thing miraculously appearing within the next 3 weeks.

And it will. 
Because we all know that miracles ARE the new reality.  

Celebrations filled with relief and happy smiles!
Happy bunnies!

 

Hasta luego my lovelies… until the next time!

Love,

 

 

 

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Dust Trails… Time Warps… and Shaky Spiders

The last 3 days… of typical Alpujarran flow…

Monday morning starts with Sir Maxelot huffing and puffing by My Gorgeous Man’s side of the bed, in order to be let out into the cool morning air…  We drag ourselves awake… run the gauntlet of the giant shaky spiders gathering to greet us on the door mesh and outside walls… more about them another time…. and I sit on out on the terrace with him for a bit, as he’s no longer allowed there unsupervised since he threw himself off the 5ft terrace to chase after a neighbour’s dog a couple of weeks ago… nuff said… and breathe… that’s a heart stopping story for another day too. 

Apologies if you don’t care for spiders…
Just chillin’…

I couldn’t hang around for too long though, as we were looking after a friend’s dog while she was away and it was my turn to pop in and make doggie breakfast and keep her company.  So hauling myself into the Landy I drive the track that’s morphing into a dust trail as the summer sun dries out the grasses and land.  Once there, I have a bit of a ‘moment’ trying to unlock the padlocked gate before driving through the arch of giant bamboo up to the house.  I start calling ‘Good Morning’ out to the resident cat and dog and talk about what a lovely breakfast their going to have… then start desperately scrabbling in my bag for the door key.  But nope.  It’s not there.  Looking at the time, there isn’t time to drive all the way home to come all the way back and feed the pooch and encourage her to go out… and still get to yoga in time.  And I am super determined to make it to yoga after a month off, due to my grinding hip joints during this delightful stage of menopausal upgrade and hormonal imbalance… which I’m trying valiantly to send love and light to. 

My Gorgeous Man had already left home to go and do his care taking stint at the massive property down the track that he’s looking after while the official caretaker is away… but phone him I must.  Being the hero that he is, he managed not to say anything about the forgotten key, and said he would drive over when he was finished… in about an hours time.  So I apologised through the door to the cat and dog waiting inside, and said that my Hunky Handsome Hero would come and save them very soon.

I make it to yoga with time to spare… and took a seat on an iron bench under the plaza shades and orange trees and sent catch up voice messages and then was on the receiving end of my friend’s yucky weird hilarity of a being sent a dick pic…. eeeuuuuchhh.. but why… seriously?… and I, even more weirdly, I inappropriately laughed even more.  

Moving swiftly on….I make it through 90 minutes of Vinyasa flow… and love it… but my hips, not so much… so I go have a coffee to recover… so wrong and yet so right… and chill… and breathe some more… then head home in a rush because all of a sudden time has warped… and it’s now late lunch time… and precious minutes are beginning to run out… and I forget to breathe…. trailing hot billowing dust behind me up the track, I speed home to the caravan office/Goddess cave and renovation project extraordinaire and get to work…. it’s the week ahead livestream reading for my private online group, Channelling Love’s Healing Collective… and I’m still in my yoga gear and high on coffee… it’s a reading that lifts my heart and I’m loving the feel of the week already…

Live Reading for the week ahead for my online group – Channelling Love’s Healing Collective

I do an energy healing for us all to embody the highest outcome for the week… and then I have half an hour to really remember to breathe before a channelling client comes on line… and in come the high Channelling Love vibes and I’m flying without wings or local coffee… oh the sheer bliss… pure healing…and as we say our wuwu world… all in the flow of love.  But it’s not over yet as afterwards, I still have to do the personal readings for my members… and this time it’s the healing vibes that fly through the cards and have me gushing the most inappropriately unspiritual readings that make it all the more fun and real … and dare I say it… on point.  So now I’ve made it through to late afternoon… and it’s a hop, skip and a jump back into the Landy and we head up the mountain to Bayacas to our mechanic. There’s bulbs to be fitted to reignite the dashboard at night… ever so handy to see which state of automatic gear you’re in and basically everything that’s going on in the car… and I’m also having a makeover consult with said mechanics wife… you’ll get more on that inside scoop soon… but Ssshhhhh… it’s a secret for now.  

After a couple of hours… during which her mischievous young horse learnt to go up their outside steps and ended up walking around the driveway… while I sidled behind another Land Rover, remembering the time a pony practically bit me in half as a child… it was definitely time to go.

Meet Pirate and Becci

Once home… I honestly can’t remember what I did… but it must have involved a massive amount of food… and oh yes… I had to edit and upload the replay from Sunday’s Healing event in Zoom with Seanin… and then bed… almost… as I still had facebook posting to do and I’m sure I did some website stuff too… I think… maybe… or was that last night… who cares now anyway… I got it done.  

Tuesday morning was another early start thanks to Sir Maxelot… who had again… dragged My Gorgeous Man around the terraces at about 3am… much to his glee… and not MGMs… as we knew that Tuesday was going to be a ‘super special stress loaded’ morning that needed full alertness and calm… lots of calm… as we had to take the Landy for its ITV… aka, annual road worthiness test.  It’s actually a great set up… you wait for your number plate to flash up on the giant screen on a pole and then drive round the corner with your heart in your mouth… and face the tunnel of tests… emissions, indicators on, indicators off… brake… stop!… brake again… handbrake… seatbelts… wipers, washers. windscreens, doors, steering, hazards… weird crazy rollers to test brakes and suspension or something underneath… and all with you there in the car, having instructions thrown at you in Spanish on what to do.  The ‘testers’ are obviously used to non-Spanish speakers… which made us feel even more numpytish… because their pigeon English got us through the tunnel to the cliffhanger wait to get our results at the end.  And lo and behold, after much standing and foot shuffling and talking rubbish… we got our prized little windscreen sticker making us legal for another year!  

Ya F’ing Beautaaaaay! 
We passed… and it felt frikking fantastic! 

No photos though to prove the tunnel ever happened because when I tried that last time, I was unceremoniously told off and made to delete all photos in front of them.  I can’t tell you how much I wanted to sneak another photo in… just because I’d been told I couldn’t.

Jimmy our Kangoo had taken 3 attempts to pass the ITV in April… three… and taken our blood pressure and bank balance to the point of blind trust… so to celebrate this major breakthrough and miracle… we stopped off in Top Camping for a quickie breakfast and naughty treat.  Yup… coffee and ooooohhhh… tostada with tomato and melted cheese… which I love to drizzle olive oil over… my conscience says it’s to balance out the naughtiness of white bread… but the reality is it just tastes tooooo good not to. I order another coffee… but can’t drink it… just why did I think I wanted more?.. and once again a time warp wraps us up and eats half an hour… and it’s a mad dash home… more dust billowing out behind us on the track… as I have a channelling client online to meet, greet, share with, heal with and love some more.  

Naughtiness….

So coming out of the healing zone, we’re after midday and I’m feeling a bit pooped so I have a power nap… in between more facebook, more catching up… more creating… more “not quite sure what I really did but it felt busy”… but I do know that I had another client later in the afternoon and it was an absolute humdinger of a healing…. because I came back up to the house and starting stuffing rice cakes with crunchy peanut butter into my face as quickly as I could. 

Carb and sugar fix in a oner.  Damn it was good. 

I think there was a residual few handfuls of crips that also mysteriously disappeared.  Sometimes after a very strong healing, I am ravenous beyond ravenous… and it’s not from lack of food… it’s the need to replenish energetically and reground on planet earth.  Poor MGM has learnt that after a healing, I’m generally no use to anyone or anything until I fully land back… and engage brain… although some might say I’ve already lost a few marbles along the way… but that’s ok… I don’t want to be normal and all logical… life is for living wildly and freely from the heart!   

Wild and free… after dancing on the roof!

And what went down on Tuesday night?  Well, I watched the last episode of Billions… my way of manifesting spondoolies… did more of the website upgrading and rebranding for my monthly subscription that I hadn’t managed to do last month… watched some Dragon’s Den… my way of manifesting amazing opportunities… and fell into a very, very deep sleep… to be woken at 6.30am by Sir Maxelot huffing and puffing again… at the side of the bed… asking to go out again… even though my extremely distressed and grumpy MGM had taken him out at 3am… again… and 5am…. again.  Sir Maxelot now has us totally trained to let him sleep all day while hardly moving a muscle… and to go out at least twice during the night.  It’s been a couple of months now… and it’s wearing thin. Well truth be told, it’s wearing thin on MGM because he wakes up and I mostly sleep through it all… that’s the side effect of years of instant deep sleep training as air crew, sleeping in the jumbo jet bunks and knowing that if you don’t grab these minutes while you can… you’re zombified for eternity… or until the jet lag wears off… which it never really does when you’re long haul crew.   

So Wednesday morning started off with me taking Sir Maxelot around the terraces at dawn in my pjs and wellies… that’s the beauty of living out in the wilds on your own… no overlooking neighbours… and then I sat on the terrace, admiring the morning’s full moon, albeit rather bleary eyed while doing the old social media thing…

MGM had headed straight out to the massive property again to do his hunky mature pool boy, land irrigation and gorgeous gardener duties.  I had another channelling in the morning… this time a livestream out in nature for my private group… and I got all set up on a higher terrace to share the views behind me… and somewhere within the live healing, my ‘real Sally’ awareness wished I’d put the chair further along the terrace… because the sun came out from behind the tree, quicker than I anticipated and basically… I got baked alive, live, on facebook.  It’s hard to move my body when I’m channelling so I couldn’t just pick up the chair and move at that point… but as soon as it was over, I shuffled my chair, bags and laptop into the shade to do some automatic writing to share with the group… while detachedly marvelling at the song of the colourful bee eater birds.  

The beginning of the livestream ‘baking’…

It was just magical… sitting in the shade, hearing the birds… still immersed in the energy and feeling in a state of complete contentment and bliss… albeit with a rather hot face.  I have always loved having a tan, and after living in Rio De Janeiro for 8 years, there’s not much I don’t know about tanning on Copacabana beach… but honestly, nobody wants a red nose or forehead… and seeing as I was heading more or less straight out to work at the Orgiva Tea Gardens, I really didn’t want to be looking like an emergency beacon… so I just slapped on a thick layer of organic coconut oil and slid into the Landy and did the billowing dusty drive down to Órgiva and on towards Tijola… about half an hour away.  

José Vilchez

I LOVE working at the Tea Gardens… Jose Vilchez was playing classical guitar… the owners Kay and Bernie are delightful… and my co worker in crime Elaine is an absolute gem.  Even if I was to win the lottery and could shop like a Kardashian… not that I would because how many pairs of shoes do you ever really need… you’ll still find me there on Wednesday afternoons… although hopefully I won’t cock up the orders and spill 3 lots of coffee from the cafetieres,  like I did that afternoon… it was a genuine numpty day. 

Personally… I blame it on the Star Beings 😉

As the afternoon began to cool… I climbed back into the Landy… when I’m tired, there are moments when I would be ever so grateful for a little step up, but mostly I’m too proud to admit that I’m a short arse… and headed home… via Birgit… my naturopathic healer friend who’s helping me ride the waves of menopausal shifting hips, joints, rages, tears and expanding waist lines… I haven’t had the sweats yet… and maybe I won’t… but I’ve definitely got enough to keep me going for now.  All I can say, is that she’s amazing, and thank God for the miracle of tissue salts and homeopathy.  

Me and Birgit Morayma Harp!
Me and Birgit Morayma Harp!

When I make it back home… MGM and I discover that we are practically out of drinking water… Arrrrgggghhhh!!! 

That means we have to make a trip to the local Lanjarón spring and we might as well get some supplies while we’re at it… and more creosote for the newly rebuilt pergola that MGM has been valiantly repurposing and rebuilding at my caravan office… so it’s less like a Native American sweat lodge over the increasing heat of the summer.

Soooooo…. back in the Landy we go for more dust billowing drives down the bumpy track, this time turning left to Lanjarón rather than right to Órgiva.  

Dusty!

The hardware store was closed… and there were giant fairground stands and rides  being built on the sides of the road…  and at the water spring there was a queue of people filling up giant gallon water containers, so we headed to the supermarket and loaded up on alkalising melons for breakfast…. and then stopped at one of our fav bars… the Nottingham for a beer for the boy and water for the girl….yup water.  Truth be told.. I was more than a bit frazzled… so I’m not sure why I  started working again when we got home… writing posts… catching up with my group… and… oh… then a message came through asking for a reflexology treatment first thing in the morning… and seeing as the writing flow was flowing… this blog was being written and I was loving it… and it was past 1am when I stopped… and Sir Maxelot had already woken up and taken MGM for his first outing of the night.  They both came back in a bit of a grump and it was definitely time for us all to go to sleep.

And it’s a very busy few days ahead too!

On Friday, there’s a talk on Brexit by the British Consulate from Malaga at the Tea Gardens, which I’ll be working at… which I feel will be more of a creative comedy sketch than factually driven… because let’s face it… nobody knows what the heck is going to happen on that front

and 

On Saturday morning I’m hosting the ‘Say YES to the Alpujarra and Mother Earth’ worldwide healing event with Birgit in Orgiva and online… 

Click the image for the Free Healing Event information!

And 

the San Juan Fiesta will be in full flow in Lanjarón, so that’s the afternoon disappearing into a blurry haze…

And…

there’s a big all day refugee charity event at the Tea Gardens on Sunday that I’m also working at…

And…

That takes us back to Monday and back into my online healing and reflexology worlds again.

So whoever thinks that we live a life of leisurely luxury as if we’re on permanent holiday… you’re very much mistaken… I haven’t even had a chance to dip my big toe into our adult paddling pool yet… but I have saved countless flying insects who’ve dipped their toes in and got water logged… I’ve become the ‘all things floating with wings’ lifeguard… it’s my newest role that I’ve taken on with pride… and of course LOVE.

Hasta luego guapos and guapas! 

Love,

PS… Enjoy a bit of fun wuwu girl banter and insight into my healing work with Seanin Banrion on her Live Freedom Network show!

Insurance Calls… Pools and Goat Traffic Jams…

Recently in the Alpujarras…

The sun’s been shining and we’ve been feeling like millionaires… mainly because My Gorgeous Man’s mother gifted us some blessed spondoolies and we’ve treated ourselves to playing house… and as this is our first summer in our magical, miracle wee home… we really wanted to be able to enjoy the gorgeous weather and live the outside life… and really feel like we are actually living in Spain!

Our first gift was a hoover… still to be delivered… followed swiftly by two sails for right outside over our concrete plinth, aka the terrace…. as we desperately needed to create shade to be able to sit out there… and… then….wait for it…. a swimming pool! Yup… we’ve going full expat in Spain and got ourselves a pool.

Now we’re not talking infinity pools or even a dug out pool… it’s more like a put up, adult paddling pool, just big enough for us both to have a quick step into and splash around in and hopefully fit two funky inflatables with drink holders into too…. so we can float in the sun enjoying a sundowner beer. Living the dream, yup… living the dream. Corny, yet so much fun!

But Oh My God.
When we started filling it up from our acequia water that’s stored in our giant 114,000L storage tank…
it was….
EEEEEEUUUUUUUUUWWWWWWCH!!

 

Green, browny and ‘no way José’ were we getting into it.  So it was time for the chlorine.  Now, we know chlorine’s not healthy.  We know it’s not eco-friendly… but I can’t tell you how excited we are about having a pool… so no lectures please or advice on salt pools, eco pools and the like… because we already know! 

What I do know is that My Gorgeous Man almost had a brain explosion trying to put the pool together alone and as I was doing my multidimensional healing work, down in the caravan office and ensconced in a bubble of lurv…

I had no idea that the air was turning super blue up by the hoose.  I just came back to the finished product full of dirty water and a deeply distressed and sweaty remnant of a man… who was now even more my hunky handsome hero.

 

The water was so dirty that the chlorine tablets didn’t even touch it… even after a couple of days.  So it was decided that we would go down the ‘shock’ route.  As I was going to be in town I took a deep breath and bravely stepped into the local plumbers and had the guessing game of a conversation of  as I couldn’t make out a word the old man was saying… apart from ‘be careful… and burn’. 

Great.  Thanks. 

I nervously laughed as we started shocking the pool… MGM had done the calculations of cubic water and grams and all that… but it still took over 24 hours to clear… and that included added random ‘shock pouring’ into the pool… and crossed fingers.

The thing is, that when we tested to see the PH of the water, the chlorine was so strong that we couldn’t get in it, for fear that all our flesh would be burnt off our bones… but Oh, how we admired it and loved it and enjoyed watching the sun glint and sparkle off the clean, clear water! 

We are soooo going to appreciate it over the summer… when we can eventually get in it.

We also had ‘fun’ putting up the sails… grappling with the flapping corners and rope… and My Gorgeous Man climbing into the olive trees to secure our shade… getting scratched, stuck and miraculously somehow doing a ‘Fanstastic Four, rubber arm stretch’ reach to get to the stronger branches that had been ear marked as the securing points.  There was copious amounts of swearing again…. and then beads of satisfied sweat as the last knot was tied and a safe landing back down onto terra firma was secured. 

We then quickly  realised that our initial reservations of putting up a sail shade were very valid indeed.  Living in the wind tunnel would probably rip these sails quite quickly… but again…  if we didn’t try it, we’d never know… and it was just such a blessing to be able to sit outside in the shade!  It’s frikking amazing!

 

Now, if you saw my cryptic Facebook post a few days ago, you may well be curious as to what My Gorgeous Man and I are up to?!

 

Well… an opportunity arose for us to take on some online work as ‘life insurance sales calls checkers’.  Thanks to the humungous number of rules and regulations, there’s a need for people to check the sales calls for compliance.  It’s part time, in our own time and… paid! 

So we said yes!

Just like the man from DelMonte did!

The reality of what that actually meant, hit home on day one of training, when I realised I was totally out of my depth and dimension.  MGM says I live on a different planet anyway and the day was confirmation of how I really don’t fit into modern day life, with rules, acronyms, tests and office speak.  My brain was fried within an hour… but my MGM hero was reconnecting very well with his old corporate self… and every so often he leant over and said “Are you OK?” with a knowing twinkle in his eye… and the offer of a “You don’t have to do it” get out clause.

By the end of our first day of training,  I was seriously doubting my ability to do the work… my heart was shouting “focus on your wuwu magic ya numpty… it’s going so well now!!!” and my head was saying “but this should be so easy!”… and yet it soooo wasn’t, for me. 

But what I did love,  was that our training was further up in the mountains in the white village of Soportújar… which is famous for its witchy history… and the views were absolutely stunning!  We’re definitely going to explore that area more… under less pressured circumstances!

And what I loved even more, was that on the drive back home we had to go via our mechanic to pick up the Landy which had been having the bushes replaced to try and stop the vibration that shakes the car and our nerves when we pick up a bit of speed.  Lee and Joel are the local Landrover experts, enthusiasts and great mechanics… and there’s no language barrier! 

Phew!

Because there were reported roadworks back to the main road, we took the direct route down the mountain. Down the rugged track, that doesn’t look too bad until you actually drive it… but it takes you straight down to the small BP garage on the edge of Órgiva.  It was rough drive that rattled nerves and cars… but it was also sheer magic… the views, the sun, the mountains, the clouds of dust bellowing out from behind MGM as he drove our Landy down that crazy track… and I had such a rush of gratitude and LOVE of living here and of the life we’ve manifested and are creating together.

And to cherry on the icing on the cake… was getting stuck in a goat traffic jam.

I JUST LOVE THE GOAT TRAFFIC JAMS!

 

And what else have we been up to?

Well… Angel Aaron has been round to help My Gorgeous Man reconstruct the old pergola outside my caravan office so I can sit outside in the shade and write more blogs, rather than be steamed alive inside the caravan in the summer heat…  the broccoli and tomatoes are growing but nothing edible has appeared yet… we’ve had some gorgeous purple/blue irises (or perhaps they’re orchids, we don’t really know… she says shamefully) appear from nowhere… we’ve had more strangers walking through our land and along our acequia as the increasing tension over the water stopping for the summer escalates as every last drop counts… I’ve been letting loose and dancing on the roof… noticing hilarious sweary car number plates… MGM has wiped down the solar panels and realised how layered in dust they were…. we’ve eaten our own spring onions… enjoyed friends arriving in town at the cafe on horse back… the wild winds torn down our washing line along with the washing and the first sail we put up…. sigh… I’ve had my birthday taking me closer to mid-50’s which just doesn’t seem possible… I’ve had my first day of Sunday Sunbathing on the roof and burnt my butt… there’s an increased number of the seriously large shaky spiders… and there’s been the most incredible sunset… and the magic that is Sir Maxelot, has mostly slept through it all.  Mostly.

 

So in a nutshell… life is pretty damn good right now… and it finally feels like everything is coming into alignment and we’re finding our off-grid feet here in Spain. And the same can be said for my healing work too… watch my ‘rooftop’ revelation video sharing how having the courage to fly in the face of conformity and follow your heart… is the only way to go!

Life is for living!

Life is for Loving!

Love living your life!

Until the next time my lovelies… hasta luego! 😎

Love,

Retreats… Land Rovers… and Water Water Water!

Recently in the Alpujarras

“Oh my God she’s here!” 
“She’s finally here!

“Seanin!!!”
“OMGOMGOMG!!!”

Not how your average 52 year old behaves…  waving madly and jumping up and down in Malaga airport arrivals… but sod that… this was a life changing moment!

Yup… that was all my over excited brain could think of when this gorgeous young woman appeared through arrivals with one arm flung up in the air in greeting and the other dragging her bulging wheelie bag behind her.  Wow.  It was a mad, blissful moment meeting my co-creative, cosmic channelling, wild and free ‘sister’ Seanin Banrion for the first time… and kind of ironic that we were only actually meeting a couple of days before running our first Open Your Cosmic Heart retreat together.

But that’s kind of the way the Universal magic rolls… you know everything is in alignment when there is an ease and flow and FUN….we had met online through a mutual friend and the superglue had instantly set through the ether, through the internet and through our hearts. 

And I couldn’t wait to introduce Seanin to the Alpujarra mountains.  I had a feeling she would fall in love with them as much as I had the first time me and My Gorgeous Man came here in search of ‘home’ 2 years ago.

And I was right!

 

It was love at first sight… and from then on in… the magic just kept building.  And I was officially christened the Wuwu-GIJane…. something to do with the strength needed for off-grid life and little ole me driving our big old Land Rover around the rugged mountains… but also of being a bit of a titch when it comes to my height.  I almost need a step up to get in.  Can’t believe I’ve just admitted that.  Hey Ho.

So.. running retreats is my thing.  And it is one of the building blocks for our life here in Spain… but nothing prepared me for the life changing awesomeness of the week ahead with Seanin.

 

Open Your Cosmic Heart Retreat March 2019

 

Under the eves of Dragon Mountain, rays of sunlight focused on our guests as they processed, pondered, laughed, relaxed and set their hearts free while the river ran wild below… deep, deep healing… release and transformation… laughter… laughter… and oh my goodness I don’t think I’ve ever laughed so much… instant sisterhood with the amazing women that travelled from the USA and UK to be with us… purple flowers that matched my hair… dark rain clouds… vegan chocolate balls…. yup… those chocolate balls… sacred space in the yurt shared with wild vocal gecchos… ridiculous conversations… powerful conversations… secret words, emotions and visions shared with love and relief… sofas pulled round the wood burning stove at night as conversations burnt into the midnight oil… channellings that blew our minds and hearts wide open… heart wisdom that defied logic… insights, guidance & pure blissful presence… Oh no! Rain… no outdoor yoga… but more time for chocolate balls and heart chats… space… stillness… peace… love… light language songs… inter galactic conversations… miraculous… wondrous… WTF!…. magic happens when we allow and step aside… selfies into the sun… icy river water and wild winds… chefs creating culinary vegan miracles and joining in with the fun and wuwu… candles flickering in the night… sisterhood… no holds barred… all is welcome… all is loved… all is freed… all is healed… all is set free… the newly painted pink pool… views that defied our human eyes… inner transformations that set our ‘human’ free to be ALL that we are and more… laughter… support… deep peaceful sleep… gifts of oils, rings, crystals and more love… crown of flowers… our lives were changed forever… and the love remains…

 

It was hard to come back to ‘earth’ and real life after being cocooned in sacred retreat bliss… but come back we did… aided by a day of horizontal “Oh my God we did it rest’ followed by an utterly impromptu mad day out fuelled by celebratory bubbles on our roof… local wine and ‘patatas a los pobres’ in Pampaneira, beer and buñuelo donuts at our favourite local.  My Gorgeous Man got an insight into what sisterhood really means that day… and a gold medal for his infinite patience at our wild rebellious visionary conversations and wuwu worlds…  he bravely interjected sensible reminders that perhaps we’d had enough when clearly we had, but didn’t care a jot.  Tomorrow would take care of itself.  And that’s when we were very, very, very grateful for the healing chemical gift of Berocca. 

 

 

Life is for living… and Seanin and I are like etheric stardust twins… breathing, living and leading our lives from our hearts… it’s called true freedom… or in other words, just being yourself no matter what anyone else thinks!

So, back on planet earth, April was a month of grey skies and the gift of rain… it was also a month where our water supply from the acequia was flowing in non stop full force.  This meant that My Gorgeous Man got to be super creative with water management for the citrus trees right down at the bottom of our land… and we honed the art of taking our weekly 1hr supply in the black of 10pm.   We also learnt that our neighbours all start to go a bit water mad. 

Further up the mountain one of them had blocked off the flow illegally to fill his own deposit… another turned up with his dog in the middle of the night clapping his hands and suddenly appearing out of the black just below the house… then leaping up the terrace towards us with a torrent of incomprehensible Andalucian Spanish.  To this day we haven’t got a clue what he was saying… apart from it being about water.  Sigh. 

 

There was also a very memorable not so great morning of water flooding and gushing down the hill opposite us… right onto My Gorgeous Man’s newly dug and proudly planted vegetable patch.  Tomatoes, broccoli and peppers no less. 

 

 

Pretty rotten timing actually, mostly because MGM was suffering from a bout of food poisoning and not in the best space.  But, out onto the land we dragged ourselves none the less… still in PJs… and MGM tried to divert the wall of water away from the quickly drowning vegetable patch.  The situation wasn’t helped by the discovery that the flood was coming from the back of the neighbour’s overflowing natural water deposit (alberca) … this being the one who had illegally damned the acequia in the first place to take his own fill.  Add in the heavy stormy rains and it had all been too much for that naturally dug storage.

 

Breathe.

I chose to see it as an added bonus of free water into an area that doesn’t normally get water and just one of those things. It could have been a whole lot worse.  Poor MGM took it personally and rallied against the injustices of people just doing whatever they wanted and not caring about consequences.  It took a while for us to recover from that one.  Days, actually.  It was a subject that couldn’t be mentioned.  And as for the vegetable patch.  We think the broccoli has survived… the tomatoes are yet to prove themselves, but we haven’t given up hope yet.

We also had an impromptu visit from ‘King’ Santi,  the Big Man himself.  Remember… he was the neighbour from down the mountain that came and kidnapped MGM and then ordered us down to his house and got us wonderfully drunk?!  He turned up on our track, along with his wife, 4 dogs and a very big looking hoe, saying that he was coming for his water because it hadn’t arrived down in his area of the mountain.  I was secretly relieved that I was heading off and not going to be involved in any translation of potential ‘water wars’.  Turned out he charged up to the crest of the hill and just pulled down the ‘naughty neighbours’ illegal damn and went home very happy.  He also praised My Gorgeous Man for how great our land looks now.  That was a proud moment.  A moment of being accepted and acknowledged for not being another tourist, playing at living in Spain.

And at least he knew that we weren’t the ones f-ing up his water supply!

Phew.  Really wouldn’t want to get on the wrong side of King Santi.

We also now fully understand why Land Rover’s famous saying

“Land Rover… making mechanics out of owners for 70 years”
… is such a true statement.

Because the 21 year old Land Rover that we’d been able to invest in, thanks to MGM’s torturous working stint in Dubai over Christmas… was turning into a step by step mechanical rebuild.   We’d invested in the Land Rover because Jimmy, our 4×4 Kangoo, was basically falling apart. Every time it drove the 2.5km of our rough mountain track … it continued to need a whole lot of unexpected TLC and expensive sticking back together again.

So, in the 3 months that we’ve had the Landy (that’s what they’re called when you’re in the know, you know) she’s had new disks and brakes… fuel pump replaced… power steering alternator done… various coolant and oil leaks plugged … side view mirror that was knocked out by tough almond branches on our track, was gaffer taped back in and eventually officially secured… replacement rear lenses so we don’t get stopped by the local police… timing belt replaced… and yet… we still LOVE her! 

Yes, she’s a SHE and she’s been christened Khaleesi of Game of Thrones fame.  OMG… I love Khaleesi!  We are now total converts and part of the Land Rover ‘cult.’  She is THE business and I can’t believe the difference in driving our track in her… no more bone shaking, breath holding or praying to make it home in one piece.

And MGM no longer just drops Khaleesi off at Lee’s, the mechanic up in Bayacas.  There’s been some Landy ‘boy bonding’ going on as My Gorgeous Man stays and learns and get’s put to work to help the repair…  and together they build Land Rovers in their minds that I couldn’t even dream of.  Last time, MGM got home at 1.30am… I’m not sure if I should be worried.  If any Landy widows are out there… perhaps we could set up a support group?!

Meanwhile it took three attempts for Jimmy the Kangoo to pass his legal roadworthy test.. and we failed miserably to sell him on.  So he stayed. And remains part of this crazy family  and our back up for if,  but more likely when, Khaleesi needs off-road attention.

“But what about Sir Maxelot?”  I hear his worldwide fans asking! 

Well… this special soul has been through a bit of a dip but he’s doing well.  He spends most of his days asleep and he’s developed an unsociable habit of wanting to go out in the middle of the night around 3am.  He comes up to the side of the bed (luckily MGM’s side) and huffs and puffs until we get the message that it’s time we escorted him round a couple of terraces.  When you all live in one room… there’s no escaping each other!  So my hero man, has been going for mid night wanders, half asleep while Sir Maxelot gets increasingly excited by the smell of Mrs Fox being invisibly somewhere around. He’s one very special dog… the cruelty of his racing background is the reason for his emotional challenges, dips and grumps… and all we can do is give him more love and more importantly, lots of space and quiet…  and we’re here for him when he wants us!  What a boy… what a boy.  What a prince. 💜

 

 

So, as the summer sun begins to strengthen and I get back into the swing of regularly blogging our Namaste This adventures… I’ll leave you with the amazing lenticular clouds that form over the mountains when the windy conditions are in perfect alignment…

 

and the stunning rainbow that formed right in front of our wee house… just when we needed a reminder that everything was going to be ok… especially when the Khaleesi’s documents still hadn’t arrived back from ‘Traffico’ and my Spanish driving license seems to have fallen into the bottomless pit of thousands of expats racing for full residency status thanks to the farce, otherwise known as Brexit.

 

But the absolute frikking miracle of all miracles is…
that we now have…
wait for it…
unlimited internet!

 

YA BEAUUUUUTAY!! 

Yes… this little dish has changed our lives… it’s the only one that could just get enough of the signal from Lanjarón masts… so we can now surf, stream, download, upload, join online events and basically do all things internety without racking up hugely scary monthly data bills. 

Life changing.  Miraculous. 

Thank you Universe! 

And also thank you Sarah Griffiths, The Wheelie Momma for helping us manifest it!

 

So that’s it for now! 

Hasta Luego my lovely friends… see you all again soon!

Love

 

 

 

 

COME AND JOIN OUR NEXT
OPEN YOUR COSMIC HEART RETREAT
Friday 18th October – Monday 21st October 2019


Continue reading “Retreats… Land Rovers… and Water Water Water!”

Giant Toads, Microphones, LOVE and the Lost Blog

If you follow my Namaste This Blog Facebook page, you’ll know that there’s been a bit of a blog hiccup and mystery.  A complete and utter mystery that hasn’t been solved… resolved… understood… or even fully accepted.  It’s been a while since I posted a full blog, because somehow… the 2500 words that I’d been writing and editing for well over a week… simply disappeared.  In fact it’s worse than that.  I’d finished it at midnight with a satisfied sigh… thought about copying and pasting it into the webpage, ready to format in the morning… but I was so tired, I thought… “Nah… just stop now Sally and come back to it when you’re fresh.”  So I closed my laptop and quickly fell in a deep sleep.

In the morning… I had to do a quick reboot and the blog has never reappeared.  WTF?  I’d been in and out of that document so many times.  Yes, it had been titled and saved.  Nope, I don’t use the Cloud but now wish I did.  And My Gorgeous Man spent a whole day trying to find the impossible.

Namaste This being written on the roof with our stunning view...
Bragging on the Namaste This Blog Facebook page that I was about to publish…

It had quite simply… Vanished. It was Gone.  And it was Nowhere to be found.

But…. HOW????

I’ll admit that I was gutted… and it’s taken me a good week to build up the energy to start afresh.  I love writing these blogs… I really do… but I’ll openly admit that the effects of the menopause are totally dicking about with my energy levels and whereas I could go on the laptop and feel inspired and be creatively all fired up and sharing all day… and see reflexology clients… and be online for my Channelling Love clients… and live my life… I’m having to accept that I can’t do all of it, all the time, anymore.  My energy is more of a damp squib than a jet fuelled rocket.  It’s become a huge lesson of self acceptance and allowing.  I don’t actually mind about my age… to me, my age is just a number  that certainly doesn’t reflect how I feel inside… and it certainly doesn’t define me… but what my body is experiencing through this period of change… is real and tangible… and admittedly a bit of a shock.

Anyhoo… that frikking document still hasn’t been found.  So I’m letting it go… and starting anew.

So… what’s been going on in the Alpujarras recently?  Well, it’s been all about the Alpujarra!

My Gorgeous Man and I handed over our official complaints to the council against the proposed giant electricity highway and pylons through the Alpujarras,  just before the 7th March 2019 deadline… and it was like a weight was lifted off us.  If you’ve missed that story… head back to my blog ‘Say YES to the Alpujarra and No to Pylons’ as our local community discovered plans that meant that up to an 80m pylon could be built just 250m from our magical wee hoose… not on our land… but looming over us, all the same. 

There’s been an immense and still growing movement called ‘Dí No A Las Torres/ Say No to the Towers’ to protest against it in all ways that we can… and to be honest, the whole situation has been over ruling and over shadowing our life since we found out about it, a couple of months ago.

But there have been some amazing synchronicities to come out of it too… one of which, as you know, led me to creating the ‘Say YES to the Alpujarra and Mother Earth’ global healing event.  Just like our move to Spain, which spiralled through inexplicable miracles… so my local healing meditation to support the Alpujarra through love,  grew into a global healing… which took place on Saturday 2nd March 2019.

And what a build up there was to that! 

Me and Birgit Morayma Harp!
Me and Birgit Morayma Harp!

Birgit Morayma Harp, my dear friend, fellow healer and co-host of ‘Say YES,’ and I created the Facebook event… we shared it, shared it and shared it some more… we asked people who felt the call,  to also share it… I made flyers, printed them up and put them in our car and around town… which truth be told, I found hugely challenging to my unknown shy and hermit type nature.  It’s funny how I can livestream out to the world no problem… but to be seen putting up flyers in cafes and local noticeboards, really triggered my old patterns of not wanting to get in ‘trouble’ or create a scene.  This whole process has been such a personal learning curve and I’m so grateful for all the triggers, challenges and gifts that have come through it.

Share! Share! Share! And Say YES to the Alpujarra and Mother Earth!

There’ve also been some darkly amusing, and ‘non spiritual’ moments behind the scenes too.

Birgit and I had soon realised that we would need a microphone in case a whole load of people turned up.  So our next step was to find one.  “Aha!  What about Matt Blackie?  He’s an amazing sound technician, music creator, mixer, producer, techie understander and fixer and all round great guy… maybe he’ll lend us one?”

His answer was “Absolutely!”

My answer was “YAY!” 

The flow was flowing!

I was also delighted to be invited to appear on the amazing Martin McNicholl’s livestream show to talk about ‘Say YES’ and to share an impromptu healing for Gaia.  Martin has a huge worldwide following and it was great to spread awareness of what’s happening here, receive even more support for the actual healing event…. and share some fun and LOVE!

It was a couple of days later though when My ever practical Gorgeous Man burst my fragile little bubble a bit when he asked how we were going to power the microphone and amplifier.

Oh.

Bugger.

The irony of needing electricity to run the microphone when we were effectively protesting (through LOVE) against an electricity highway, wasn’t lost on us.  And just to clarify… this highway isn’t bringing any electricity into the Alpujarras… it’s taking the power from Morocco to France.  It’s a pure money making fest for the private Spanish electricity company REE. 

Take a deep breath Sally… 
Say no more. 
And breathe again. 
Share LOVE not anger!

So, even with a microphone and amplifier, we still had to get creative.  The area down by the Rio Guadelfeo river at the Seven Eye Bridge that we’d chosen, didn’t have any nearby houses or plug in possibilities because Birgit and I had wanted to be in nature as much as possible… and yet still be easily accessible to people coming from Órgiva.

Now, because our wee hoose is off-grid and we have solar power… that also means we have a back up generator… and it’s portable… so we knew we could use that.  But the thing is, it makes a hell of a noise.  Just think of fairground rides and all those motors running in the background.  That’s what it sounds like.  So it wasn’t really supportive of a peaceful, meditative, healing event…. all the love vibes, and sounds of nature would be drowned out and nerves would most definitely be set a jangling by the rough engine noise, probably also accompanied by fumes of its fuelling petrol wafting on by.

So… what about extension cables?  How much would we need to not hear the generator?  A LOT.  We only have short domestic ones… Birgit had a 20m one and a 10m one… but who would have longer extension cables?  Why… Bernard our dear friend at The Orgiva Tea Gardens, of course!  We reached out to him and hey presto, he lent us two 50m cable drums with plugs!  YAY!

This is one of the really wonderful things we LOVE about living here.  There is a real sense of community… people help each other out!

But would 100 meters be enough?  Well, the only way was to experiment.  Once we got the cables home, we plugged them into our generator by the hoose and we started unrolling them.  Unrolling them.  And unrolling them.  Up along our track.  And up round the big corner towards what we call our giant whispering pine tree… and I finally felt the pull of it coming to its end. 

Then things just got plain weird.

I plugged my hairdryer in.  

It was the only way to test the strength of power, against the only appliance that still trips our whole solar power system.  If the generator could support running my hairdryer, then it could support the microphone that we couldn’t pick up till the day before the event.  And as MGM likes to have everything planned, aligned and sorted, it was my hairdryer that got put to work.

It was a bizarre moment when the generator was powered up… and my hairdryer roared into action, outside and half way up the mountain.  But it was also a moment of relief… because not only did it keep on blowing, but the noise of the generator was obviously somewhat dulled by going round the corner and it wasn’t too bad at all.  MGM and I confirmed the fairly positive results through WhatsApp as we couldn’t see each other round the corner and standing next to the generator he couldn’t hear a thing anyway.  We heaved another joint sigh of relief and then packed up our successful little trial.

Being the super duper tech manager and hero that My Gorgeous Man is…  more planning was still needed.  MGM wanted to see where Birgit and I had chosen to hold the healing meditation and see where he could actually park up the car with the generator… and if the 100m extension would be enough distance to not hear it in those surroundings.  So the afternoon before the event, we drove down to the river and tried out… and paced out… and did a lot of “What about this… and what about that… and what if this… and what if that…”  We eventually decided that using the actual bridge wall as a buffer would be pretty damn perfect… and so that turned into our Plan A. 

Job done.

The magical spot for Say YES to the Alpujarra and Mother Earth!
The magical spot for Say YES to the Alpujarra and Mother Earth!

It was while we were still standing on the little river island which Birgit and I had chosen as our spot for the gathering, that My Gorgeous Man started spluttering in excitement saying “Look!  Look!  LOOOOOK!!!!”  waving and pointing and gesticulating across to the other side of the river.  And as I turned round… 

The Universe sent us a sign!

Four wild boar were running along the river bank with their tails straight up in the air!  We couldn’t believe our eyes!  The only boar I’ve seen here was in the black of night when it gave me a heart attack running across the road in front of me as I drove back from dropping MGM off at Malaga airport.  You never see wild boar during the day… and as far as I know… to see four at once was even more rare.

It felt like a miracle!

When we got home, I went straight in to google the spiritual symbology of the wild boar… and I was amazed…  its primary meaning is COURAGE. 

And it couldn’t have been more apt!

I felt like the Universe was saying… “Stay strong!  Stand Strong!  Be Brave!  Keep Going!  Hold your Power Against the Pylons”… and… “You’re doing the right thing holding ‘Say YES to the Alpujarras and Mother Earth’ despite your nerves.”  I had nerves because I had been on the receiving end of some critical comments, that I’d let get under my skin the week before. 

But in that moment, I felt hugged and reassured. 

THANK YOU UNIVERSE!

So, Saturday 2nd March,  finally dawned for ‘Say YES!’  which you may have noticed that I’ve now shortened to make my typing, and your reading, easier.  I had massive butterflies… wavering between excitement and terror which I found rather strange because I have happily channelled live and in person for an audience of over 100 people before… so why was I nervous this time?  Don’t know… so, I had to just let it be and let it go.

MGM and I went down to the river early, to make sure there were no last minute panics.  Which is just as well, because… you guessed it, there were!

First point being that an old boy had set himself up just where we were going to park the car and generator.  Plan A was binned before we even started.  So a new position in the opposite direction had to be experimented on… which meant I lost time in my energy preparation and composure building.  Then, in the laying out of the cables and stretching them over the tiny stream inlet to get to the perfect island spot that we had chosen… the cables somehow got completely and utterly tangled up.  This too is a mystery as to how that happened.  I could sense and feel the pressure rising in MGM’s veins.  And the more he tried to untangle the mess… the more tangled it got.  I had to walk away and ‘go Zen.’  Unfortunately, ‘Going Zen,’ in that moment didn’t help because I missed the cable drum slipping down the little slope and into the water.  And yes… the plugs in the drum got wet.  Panicked shouting filtered through the calming music in my headphones and I was brought into slow motion action trying to pull the drum out of the water without drowning and filling my favourite fleecy boots.  Now steam was most definitely coming out of MGM’s ears. 

“It won’t work now!!!!”  Cue rapid shaking, more shaking, hitting, rubbing it over the grass and laying the drum out with its plugs facing up to the sun to dry.  

My only response was to completely try and disengage from the whole drama and say “Well, if it doesn’t work it doesn’t work.  There’s nothing we can do about it.” … while inside I my stress levels were being majorly triggered.

I sent a silent, and very unspiritual prayer up to the Universe to get it sorted. 
As in NOW.

As I sent up my fervent prayer…  Birgit arrived… and we hugged and set about focusing on setting up our space and getting into the zone.

We set up my phone for the livestream… an altar for people to place their stones, flowers and objects from their homes and land… and basically handed over to the Universe.  Did we know how many people would turn up?  Not a clue!  Did we know how it would actually unfold?  No!  Did we know that following the Universal prompts to share this healing for the Alpujarras through LOVE was absolutely the right thing to do?  YES!!

And did the full length of cables work?  YES!!!  Of course they did!  And we couldn’t even hear the generator from the new, perfect spot that the Universe had pushed us into using.

You see!  The Universe always knows best! Trust!

MGM had quickly regained his composure and peace reigned… he was standing up by the small road, waiting for our signal to turn the generator on, which he would run along to further down the road, so we could turn the microphone on and start… but we were slightly delayed by a friend driving by who stopped by MGM, wound the window down for what felt like some lengthy man chats… so MGM couldn’t actually see us waving at him!  But this did create more time for more people to arrive… so everything was in complete Divine order… again!

Beautiful souls, gathering in LOVE!

Birgit made the introductions in Spanish and English and then I shared the healing in English.  We had received some criticism that I wasn’t sharing in Spanish too.  I get it, I totally get it… but while I do speak Spanish (and am fluent in Portuguese and I trained to interpreter level many years ago in French and Italian… yup, my ego just had to share that!) … I am not yet confident enough to lead a healing, without my Spanish becoming a distraction rather than enhancement.  

My heartfelt intent was that the healing, working through the energy of LOVE, would unite us and take us beyond words… and also on a more practical level, Órgiva and the Alpujarras are home to such an international community, English is already widely used. I have taken the criticism onboard and private lessons have been arranged.

I’ll let the video of ‘Say YES’ speak for itself…

We were delighted that around 35 lovely souls joined us… and through the livestream we had many more joining from their corners of the world.  The healing to raise the vibration of the Alpujarras and protect it from the lower, heavier energy around the pylons, had grown into a web of light, anchoring more love into all those different countries.  We had participants in New Zealand, Australia, USA, Canada, UK, Ireland, Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Belguim, Fiji, Hong Kong, Spain, France and more!

The power of LOVE is magnified through unity… LOVE is the energy force that heals, clears, dissolves, unblocks, enlightens, awakens, transforms, shifts and ‘all things positive’…. and this is how we can heal, protect and help our beautiful Mother Earth against the many challenges she is facing just now.

I got some lovely messages afterwards to say how much they felt the energy and healing… and for this, we were truly touched.  What had surprised me though, was that the galactic collective that works through me, hadn’t stayed as long as normal, and I hadn’t felt them as strongly as I normally feel them.   But funnily enough, only about 10 minutes after we’d finished, a family and kids arrived to play by the river… it’s a very popular spot… rapidly followed by the local shepherd along with his flock of sheep and pack of dogs!  If this had happened during the healing, then it would have all have become very ‘interesting’ indeed!

Sheep!

We did nonetheless enjoy the unexpected spectacle of the wandering flock, and laughed at the randomness and unpredictable flow of life in the Alpujarra… and we gave loads of love to the giant mastiff dogs!

As a healer who works a lot with animals Birgit’s energy always calls them in!

So again… everything had been in Divine Order even if my mind had doubted! 

MGM was a whizz at tidying up while Birgit and I chatted to those that had joined us, and before we knew it, we’d packed up and driven up to what’s called ‘Bottom Camping’ and were knocking back a naughty glass of coke.  Well, I drank the coke, Birgit drank a tonic… and MGM did 2 bottles of coke… and we all dove into a ‘come down’ carb fest of a lunch, before heading our separate ways home.

WOW.  We’d done it!  

Once home, I promptly fell asleep.

The next day I was ‘duvet day’ bound… I felt wiped… and literally lounged around and indulgently watched the fifth series of Homeland.  Sir Maxelot kept me company from his bed and we justified our laziness through each other.  It was interspecies bonding at its best.

Duvet Day!
Duvet Day!

Now, our wee hoose could be described as a studio flat with a bathroom on the side… so while lying in bed, we had left the back door open, because it is literally at the bottom of the bed… and I was able to enjoy the fresh air and sun streaming in throughout the day, without even stepping outside.

But it was later that night that I got the fright of my life.  I was walking all of 2 steps to the bathroom when I saw something move out the corner of my eye… and I could hardly believe it!  It was my turn to splutter, “Look!  Look!  LOOOOOK!’   

And there in the broken bottom drawer where I keep my less used clothes, was the infamous and still, very humungous, Mr Toad.

Mr Toad!

Yup… Mr Toad must have sauntered in at some point during the day, and Sir Maxelot and I had been completely oblivious.  Mr Toad had made himself very comfortable up next to my fleecy leopard print PJs that had been on special offer in Asda before we left the UK.  They are incredibly comfy and warm and all things cozy… but I was a bit perturbed that Mr Toad had helped himself to them, I have to say.

Well, of course, we had to lovingly remove Mr Toad, without freaking him out… and do it without Sir Maxelot noticing and coming over to take an interest.  Toads can be poisonous so our hearts did beat a little bit faster during the relocation manoeuvres.   We took him, still in the broken drawer, still clinging to my PJs down to the acequia water channel which wasn’t running, but where we have seen him before… and we had to really encourage him to let go.  I actually felt for him… he’d found a pretty amazing warm spot and now he was being forced out into the cold black of night.  But… it had to be done. Such is life in the campo.

Time to Remove Mr Toad!
Time to remove Mr Toad!

Toads aside, life weirdly felt a bit ‘empty after ‘Say YES’ was over… but the truth is… it’s anything but over!  Birgit and I will continue to hold monthly healings for the Alpujarra and Mother Earth!  As far as we’re concerned, the healing has only just begun and every event we share will amplify, strengthen and anchor even more high vibrational healing, light and love into the Alpujarra and Mother Earth.  And we will continue to livestream them aswell so everyone can join us to receive healing… and participate in a global healing through LOVE.  And we’ll keep learning through it all too!  Each event will be unique and as the summer heat sets in, we’ll be moving into the shade!

Both of us feel VERY strongly that this healing must be maintained and continued.  Just because the legal deadline for written protests has passed… doesn’t mean that it’s over.  If anything, we have to energetically magnify the positive outcome even more and keep this high vibration and focus strong and clear! 

The message of COURAGE from the wild boar continues to ring through our hearts!

So we invite you to join us on Saturday 30th March 2019
12pm Spanish time
for the next

‘Say YES to the Alpujarra and Mother Earth’ healing event!

AND… as I write this… I’m very excited to say that we have invested in a portable microphone and amplifier kit… that runs from batteries… so no more cables or generators!  MGM… you’re off that tech hook!

In the meantime, this past week has still been a bit of whirlwind… while I’ve been reeling from the loss of the last blog, and moving through my menopausal meltdowns (now rebranded ‘upgrades’ to shift the struggle into empowerment!) MGM has been very busy pruning the olive trees in preparation for a good harvest in a couple of years… there’s been lots of wood chopping and stacking of our wood for burning next winter… there’s been more baked potatoes in the bonfires made out of the excess olive branches and leaves… there’s been the digging of the new trial vegetable patch… we’ve successfully filled our water deposit from the acequia water channels without the assistance of our trusted Angel Aaron… although a there was a bit of neighbourly interference with a flying plastic bottle seemingly thrown through the black of night, which shook our nerves, more than a bit… and the small 1000L water storage cube has been wrapped in black plastic to keep the back up stored water fresh and algae free.

And next week, Friday 22nd March sees the start of my Open Your Cosmic Heart Retreat with the amazingly, awesomely beautiful presence of Seanin Banrion, here in the Alpujarra.  We have women coming from the USA and the UK to join us for a long weekend of inner transformation through channelled love, light language, intuitive wisdom, great food, gorgeous surrounds and a whole lot of ‘sisterhood’.  Again… the power of LOVE heals, transforms and awakens.  Watch out for the photos… and dates for our next retreat this autumn!

Open Your Cosmic Heart Retreat with myself and Seanin Banrion

Oh and I’ve also been juicing!  Thank you to the Juice Master himself, Jason Vale for his recipes… he’s my ‘go-to’ for a healthy detox and to drop the weight from indulging in too many croissants with melted cheese at Galindo’s on the high street… and the infamous donuts at Buñuelos. The pure nutritional boost always helps bring me back into physical strength…. and now more than ever, my body needs the support through the hormonal roller coaster of slowly arriving into my ‘wise old crone’ years.  Only three days juicing works miracles… it really does!

If you’ve read this far… congratulations!  And THANK YOU!

And for now… I’m going to leave you with a great big hug and I look forward to seeing you next time round.

Hasta Luego my lovely friends!

Love,

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Brexit, Bureaucracy & YES to the Alpujarras…

Over the last couple of days in the Alpujarra… it’s been a cyclone of ‘stuff’… a flow that turned into a familiar torrent of tangents… as is the way that life tends to be up here in these energy infused mountains.

So to start off… let’s say that B word.  Brexit.  Oh Dear God.  Who to believe.  What to believe.  What to do and when to do it.  Thankfully I now have my residency (and yes… I’ve still to share that story!!)… but the latest mad rush is to now get our UK driving licenses exchanged to a Spanish ones… because if UK isn’t part of the EU next month then we may well have to take the Spanish driving test.  Seriously… who knows what the heck is going to happen but I’m not taking that risk… so I started the process.  And it turns out you need a medical, another document of this and that and copies and photos and certificate and then it all has to be taken to the equivalent of the DVLA in Granada… which by all accounts is a test of faith, patience and perseverance… and a need for verbal fluency.

So I opted for the safe option and Alpujarra Conect are sorting it out once I’ve got all my bits, bobs and ducks in a row.  The medical check up was interesting though.  And with google translate on hand I managed to press the right button to show I had safe co-ordination and acceptable spacial awareness… from both the left and the right… and I managed to read the first few letters of the bottom line of the eye sight test before being interrupted and boxes being ticked and tapped into the computer.  Then while I was waiting for the  ‘I’m medically safe to drive’ document to come through at the reception desk, which was meant to be only 10 minutes and yet 45 minutes later I’m still standing there with rather tired legs and a jaded accepting smile on my face, I met a couple who where doing the exact same thing… .although they’ve been resident here for a much longer time.. .and they have rescue donkeys… which I’ve already fallen in love with, without even meeting them.

I’ve also had to go into Lanjarón town council to register there as a resident… because before, I’ve been registered in Orgiva, because that’s where we were registered as renting for our first year, but that apparently doesn’t cut it anymore.  That was fun.  I’ve no idea how I managed to understand what on earth she was saying as we handed over the copy of our escritura (deeds) and she went through them with a micro-microscope… at one point asking me where my name was and giving me a heart attack.  But we got there in the end and I was promised it would be ready by the next day… which is good… because I needed that document to proceed with exchanging to a Spanish driving license.

The last few days have also seen me step up and take on the role of leading a global healing event,  in Órgiva to support our fight against the proposed pylons through the area.  I don’t want every post that I share here to now be about the pylons… because our life goes on around this… but nevertheless… it’s what we’re all moving through now… and facing.  So, I’ve put out the call for people to come together in love to raise the vibration around the situation… and anchor more light into Mother Earth to help support the defeat of the electricity conglomerate. 


The ‘Say YES to the Alpujarras and Mother Earth’ event is on Saturday 2nd March at 12pm… click HERE to find out more!

In fact, last night we were in Lanjaron at a meeting that was held underneath the Municipal Market in a great meeting space with red cinema-like comfy chairs and stage.  We saw our friends from further down the mountain who are also directly affected… and there was a good sense of community and of everyone submitting the personal complaint to register their objection and ‘Di No A Las Torres!’  What was great, was that we saw our direct neighbour, who we haven’t seen since before Christmas.  He is a real old character… a smaller, possibly unhinged (if local gossip is to be believed) version of Santa Claus, with a bright twinkle in his eye… holes in his jumper and his permanent woolly hat.  Despite the language barrier, we have a great ‘non speaking relationship’… but he has such a thick Andalucian accent so I haven’t a hope of understanding a word of what he says.  But, he is welcoming and friendly… and he has been helpful… and we now feel quite protective of him! 

Luckily, last night, Lucy was there.  Lucy’s Lanjarón’s official bi-lingual bridge between the ex-pat community and the council, so she very kindly stepped in to help translate so we could have a conversation with Cristoba.  Things like… are we going to use the shared chain, padlock and keys across the track entrance which had disappeared over night a couple of months ago… and then he was telling us about some dodgy peeps not to trust… and that he’s delighted to have us there as neighbours to his land… even though he doesn’t live on the land… and the natural water storage area behind the wall that got totally flooded and ruined years ago… and… he said he really liked what we were doing with the land!   Thank goodness for Lucy… there was a lot clarified that had been hanging over us… and we felt great for having seen him again.

After the meeting we headed straight to the nearest bar with our friends from further down the mountain and we all numbed our ‘pyloned’ nerves… and can you believe it… we met another couple from Edinburgh who live here!  It’s a very, very small world indeed.  Despite the circumstances of us meeting… it was a great end to an evening that started off infused with the lower vibes of worry.

This morning I put the laptop down and went and helped My Gorgeous Man… Build Fire and Burn!

All the lovingly pruned trees and preparing them for abundant olive production next year, means that huge piles of branches have been building up that needed to be set free through fire.  You can’t leave cut olive branches lying around as there’s an insect or bug that I don’t know the name of that can cause havoc with your trees… so we’re making sure that doesn’t happen here in our magical kingdom.

So after a satisfying morning of dragging branches, fire building, dragging more branches, fire monitoring, tidying up and dropping our potatoes into the ashes to bake… I headed back into Lanjarón to pick up the ‘Empadronamiento’ document… parking conveniently just outside the supermarket and diving in to check if any of Sir Maxelot’s favourite chicken pate was back in stock… but it wasn’t… and I ended up buying other options to make sure his Lordship didn’t have to go without… and by the time I made it into the council offices with all possible lines in Spanish, perfectly lined up in my head… I was told that the document wasn’t ready because her colleague was off sick, with sick kids and she was holding the fort but didn’t have enough arms and legs to cover all bases.  In her defence, she had phoned me to say not to come in… but I don’t like answering my Spanish phone incase I don’t understand what’s coming down ‘the line’… so… I hadn’t picked up.  Friday’s the day apparently.  I really must be more courageous in answering my phone!

But I still had to go back in the other direction and on to Órgiva, as the documentation for our new car insurance was to be completed and paid for.  Again, I had the conversation all lined up in my head… but again, the insurance wasn’t done… because there was a signature missing on each page… the pages they’d seen yesterday and given the thumbs up to… but they’d only taken a copy of the front page and that wasn’t valid enough for head office… which needed the back page where my signature was clearly there.  

Deep breath.  Ooooooookaaaay.

So, more copies taken… cash payment handed over and apparently Bob was my Uncle… and all the policy documents would be sent to Alpujarra Conect… but I was insured.  I think.  Probably.  Yes definitely.  Ok then.  But My Gorgeous Man wasn’t.  Because he needed his NIE number, and his appointment isn’t till later in March which had been arranged while he was in Dubai…. under the panic stress of Brexit.   But now that My Hero is back, and because there’s such a rush to get ‘legal’… there aren’t any closer appointments… unless you pay through the nose for them. 

So after much wasted emotion rallying against what was… we gave up the fight, got our BFF the credit card out and paid.  Thank you credit card.  Because My Gorgeous Man needs to be on the insurance and be able to drive.  The last insurance company weirdly weren’t bothered… but this one is… and there’s a list of reasons that we’ve changed insurers that are way too boring to share here.  But the main thing is that MGM will have his NIE number on Friday!  Yay!  We must celebrate at the beach bar that I went to when my residency went through!  

After the insurance and town council escapades, and having achieved very little of what was supposed to be an afternoon of completion… I went to the nearest bar and ordered… a coffee.  I was wiped. 

Healing coffee for all the bureaucracy....
So many documents…

And I had an hour to fill before doing an in person Oracle card reading.  The coffee helped, but what I really wanted was a power nap… so I drove down to the river by the Seven Eye Bridge… briefly getting caught in a sheep and goat traffic jam…and as soon as I pulled up by the river I basically fell asleep under the eaves of the stunning Sierra Lujar mountain.  Well… of course I overslept… very, very unusual for me… and I woke up when I was supposed to be arriving at the house for the reading.  Luckily… it was only a 10 minute drive away… and I was ooooooh so grateful for ‘Spanish time keeping’ making me look as if I was bang on the minute.

The reading was such an honour… and I spent way longer than I planned with her… but when the energy is flowing and the healing and insight is there… for me, this is what my work is all about.   

By the time I got home… the sun was beginning to set and I was treated to spectacular views, with the golden light and clouds over the mountain tops… and I met My Gorgeous Man being taken for a wander along our track by Sir Maxelot.  What a handsome pair they were. 

Burnt home, fire baked potatoes…

My heart swelled with love and gratitude as I saw them so happy and content together.  Back in the house My Hero Man had remembered our baked potatoes…. 7 hours after planting them in the fire… and he proudly offered me his burnt out gifts wrapped in foil.  But after a long day we both needed more than some burnt skins so he set to making one of his special curry experiments.  And I headed up to the roof to relax, breathe, let the day go… and revel in the setting sun.

My Gorgeous Man & Sir Maxelot...
My boys…

What a stunning sunset it was… Mother Earth and nature are my healers… time stopped as I dropped into the bliss of simply being in gratitude, awe and appreciation of what was around me.

It’s these moments that are so precious in life.  It’s these moments that offer us glimpses of Oneness… with a love that comes from nowhere filling us from top to toe… and which needs no explanation or description.  It’s simply love.

And through that love, I received an invitation to join Martin McNicholl on his daily livestream “New Earth Mystery School Empowerment Hour” show on Friday 22nd February at 4.44 GMT to talk about the  pylons and our movement to heal the world through LOVE.

Basking in the glow of the sunset...
Basking in the glow of the sunset…

This is the power of the flow… and of living from your heart.  Doors open, help comes in… and miracles can become your reality.

Hasta Luego my lovelies, 

Love,

You can sign the petition against the pylons HERE and help us save the the stunning Alpujarras! We only have till the 7th March 2019 to register our protest!

You can help us by sending in your own ‘allegation’ even if you aren’t resident here. Every complaint has to be addressed and personally answered, and not only will it show the extent the Alpujarra protest, it will overload the council system and give the lawyers and working platforms more time!

Come and join me on the Steemit platform!