June 2025
Being back in Arillas in June is a joy. The sun is shining and the house is full of friends, and food and flowers. The monster bougainvillea is gleaming against the bright skies, the fig, banana tree and vines survived their inauspicious winter period. Sometimes there are moments of living in a magazine when we have dinner at the big blue table, that life is turning out how I imagined and other times I’ve hit high blood pressure & feeling dizzy with the pressure about how this will all work out.
Caroline was here when I got back from May in UK, enjoying walking with friends - Carrie does Corfu. Cecilia is here as my right hand woman and it feels like harmony in action. Jonathan, despite being promised a holiday where he didn’t have to work, put up mosquito nets, checked the shit tank and put the central panel in the big blue table so the gatherings could begin. Chris offered chi gong in the early morning light in the olive press & Laura Laura breezed in to a houseful and a leaking shower.
Sian and I limbered up for our first co-teaching, living and sharing the wheel of consent. It was so good to share what each love about it in our different ways - sian the structure and for me some of practicals of touch and creativity and creating greater variety, novelty and possibility about what we might feel like asking for.
And then the carousel revolved to Evolve. Led by Anne, it’s a fantastic process, building trust in our instincts in taking action towards our dreams. It’s already having a startling effect. On day 1, I chatted to a bit of withered Passion flower twig - on day 3 I made art about reclaiming what I miss, mourning the passing of my naivety that I was capable of everything everywhere all at once. The Madame in me, (who has been phenomenal), needs a holiday and a reduced job description, and the artist in me is taking over the residency, and the gardening passion project may begin.
Oh and we seem to have 2 cats. I never wanted this but they want us. Mr Friskas (formerly know as whiny Tim), and golden Angel cat, brought into being my the careful care of Suzie and Cecelia. It’s been amazing this month seeing everyone support each other and the house. Seeing the cooperation of intimate community in action, - laundry, cat feeding, breakfast-making, coffee, compost, sharing, solving dilemmas, & supporting me when I felt sub par. So much of what I hoped for - supportive healing, arty intentional co-living - already here.
And paradoxically finding alone time in company to keep writing and nurturing art and creativity is helped by Phillipe, Ayelet and Michael. Recognising that support for creativity is close by is heartening. On the 21st July, we finally pushed the button on Ali’s World with the close support of Paper Tara. The result of the prompt of “Write beauty in paragraphs” from the Evolve gods last year, playing chess, laughing, pushing me to peeping above the parapet.
AND so it’s time for a naps in the hammock, updating spreadsheets and window mosquito nets and iced coffee at the beach and the amazing time and light on the water before sunset. The Madame and the artist in harmony - lets see who shows up now.
