My previous entry, nearly a year old now, looked at the stories of my childhood and the way they interwove with the various places I found myself. The story has seen a few chapters added since then- a two month trip to India, learning mud building at the Earth Institute in Auroville, collecting hippy pee to water the permaculture patch at Sadhana ( Read more... )

Living with Rebecca and Matilda has dredged up some literary memories. Her prolific production of jam (her blog is indeed named in honour of the stuff) jogged to mind the wonderful illustrations of Margaret Mahy's Jam, a book about the Castle family whose brainy scientist of a mum goes out to work, leaving a highly domesticated Mr Castle to make ( Read more... )

Spring making a tentative entry in the form of ever-burgeoning blossoms gracing the blossom tree in Rebecca's garden. From sweating in my Muck Boots to clutching my hottie for dear life, it seems climatological minds are yet to be made up. A stupendous start to my first WOOFing experience- sharing days filled with designing and creating Rebecca's ( Read more... )

During my trip to London-Belfast-Kinsale-London, I had a revealing encounter with someone who both inspired and unsettled me. Walking through the flecking snow through the less-than-inviting landscape of Tower Bridge, I asked an elderly gentleman for directions to the Design Museum, having lost way through side streets that reminded me of meanders ( Read more... )

I realise that in the poor upkeep of this blog over the past two years I have neglected to record some of the threads that have been weaving together my experiences and worldviews, which topple and turve during the "interesting" times in which we live, but beneath which the search for deep undercurrents of the recurrent, the unified, the 'true', ( Read more... )

Waiting in the queue to receive my honorary ("fake") M.A. from Robinson College last summer, one senior tutor overheard me chatting to another student about my current plans. "Did I hear you say you're retraining as an architect?", he asked me excitedly later on over drinks. I explained that I was rather focussing on natural building and energy use ( Read more... )

Following neatly from my above ramble about the healing power of soundwaves maaaan, I should like to give a perspective on the festivals that have punctuated and frothed my summers in recent years. I have just bought my ticket to Boom in Portugal and eyeing up Burning Man for future years (we shall leave out here the finances necessary for such ( Read more... )

People as plants: the sounds that make us grow ( Read more... )

An awful lot has happened since my last musing blog post- the lovely Gloria is about to leave the capital for Leeds to start her masters, and I have also fled the big smoke, having spent the past few weeks trotting round festivals and finally stewing for an August of Haresgreen relaxation, rhythm and pondering pathways. I decided not to take up my ( Read more... )

So, my mind and life is in a state of flux- yes, this has always been, but I'm facing the end of a current phase with multiple choices and paths ahead. I'm finding a way to link my concerns for social justice, poverty, equality, with sustainable architecture and the problematic of expense and intellectualism. Following a conversation with the ( Read more... )