The editor writes to enquire about the lack of blogging, musing on whether the settled life has turned into Groundhog Day... prompting a report on progress as the mind wrestles with the consequences of property ownership ... the mundane details of furnishing from scratch, the slightly more interesting designing of the necessary upgrades ... the insight gleaned from managing a never extinguished coal fire to maintain the cosiness, which is an experience to be learned from though not necessarily every winter ... bearing in mind that winter in Stanhope is longer than in the Algarve (the focus of occasional thoughts for the New Year) ...
On a philosophical level it is noted that the concept of property ownership has made little impression, since "mine" infers a "me", an entity fundamentally non-existent, as described in several previous posts and a great liberation as the concept is embodied in daily life ...
The metaphors employed to tell the story to interested friends and neighbours include anchor holding "me" in place, versus base for exploration ... anchor in boat terminology is, of course, a temporary feature anyway ... and having a base to return to, whilst limiting the freedom experienced in the past three years, need not be a constraint to more wandering ... the cottage is being set up anyway with two bedrooms for guests (via AirBnB or whatever) and a micro bedroom for returning explorers ... all managed by a friend in the village, who is also taking care of the renovations ... symptoms of vitamin D3 deficiency have been noted and sunshine is prescribed, along with walking and talking with pilgrims ... Seville to Santiago over six weeks sounds appealing...
Meanwhile, regular readers may have noted the big idea for a Retreat House in Stanhope has fallen away ... though the house is still for sale and the vision lurking in the field of possibility, the collective energy has not yet gathered ... let's see ... anyway, the cottage may be a mini-retreat ... the library is growing ...
Daily life, not yet Groundhog Day, passes peacefully, with occasional driving with Wheels to Meals, lots of walking the fells, plenty of reading (mostly Daniel Borstin's wonderful "The Discoverers, A History of Man's Search to Know His World and Himself"... man, his and himself, of course, clumsily including the other gender, although women are thin on the ground, whether through bias or a feature of roles throughout these ages territory dodged by this blogger, conditioned by feminist views in relationships professional and domestic ...) ... the mid-winter light festival approaches, celebrated here with a paradoxical partnership of Christian mythology and Mammon indulgence ... all observed wryly ... the solstice and the return to longer days more important for me, whoever that is ...
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