Tuning in ...

Yesterday's early departure enabled late lunch arrival at the Phoenix Cafe in the Park, via a brief nostalgic wander in Aberfeldy, last seen in 1968 when a few winter months were spent working as a waiter at the Breadalbane Arms Hotel, before the exciting adventure hitch-hiking around Spain, France and Morocco. .. this in lieu of academic pursuits and much more educational ...

Anyway, the Hotel is showing its age, though the town looks good, even claiming the title of Britain's first Fair Trade Town ... a brief excursion up the Birks alongside the rushing stream evokes memories ... before the return to the A9 north to Aviemore, then across to Forres ...

The Phoenix Shop provides a couple of books for the library as well as preparing the mind for weirdness ... Robert Ogilvie Crombie's tales of encounters with Pan and others from beyond the veil, and Dorothy MacLean's stories of the devas taking care of the plants ... all perfectly plausible and reminiscent of the relationship with an elf from Switzerland discovered at Findhorn a few years ago ... before that, during Experience Week 9 years  ago, Brian Nobbs, a Findhorn pioneer and potter, described his own meeting with Pan ... seemed perfectly plausible at the time ...

After the long drive yesterday a 10 mile round trip to Forres stretches the legs and offers the sight of geese in fluctuating formations, preparing to head south ... hmmm, why not?

Afternoon walk across the dunes and along the beach offers wild cloudscapes and extra exercise for the body before the 4 day Game begins tomorrow ... no idea how many or who are playing or much about it ... someone in the Park who has attended just said "intense" .... let's see!

September Fruit

September abundance is blackberries and daily forays ensure freezer has supplies until Christmas ... mushrooms less abundant this year, though woods provide a couple of meals of tasty Blewitts ... occasional driving duties with the elders provide helpful boost for illusion of being of some use in the world ... annual agricultural Shows enable further community contact as well as visit from daughters, both thriving in their different ways ... house feels quite like home, especially with alcove bookshelves and new carpet, though legs and feet ask about another long walk ... maybe an Autumn return to the Primitivo?

Before that, in order to avoid contentment slipping into complacency, a trip to Findhorn is planned ... 9 years after Experience Week a 4 day Transformation Game is booked to round off the month ... stand by for reports, it starts Saturday, with minimal research so that expectations are minimised, a couple of extra days are booked at the Park and the recently rather underused car is looking forward to a decent run ...

Politics, domestic and international, continues to raise questions about our credulity. .. the unlikely President of the BSA is joined by another clown representing the best the DUK can offer ... whilst the teenage terror of the adult establishment, Greta the Great, continues to gain access to gatherings of the powerful in order to berate them ... credulity stretched by her trip by wind powered boat across the Atlantic (details of return yet to be announced) ... well, Shakespeare did tell us that "All the World's a Stage" and perspective suggests that he was right ... the scripts become less and less plausible, though perhaps anything is plausible to the gullible ... the game seems to be to evoke emotional reactions in the audience ... and thus make us susceptible to the hypnotic techniques which enslave us ...

On the other hand, of course, it's all real, and your correspondent has literally lost the plot ... never mind, either way equanimity prevails, there is no pain in the brain and life continues to intrigue and amuse ... perhaps transformation awaits as the dice is rolled in the weird and wonderful Findhorn Foundation at Cluny on Saturday ...