Met this Cat King this morning. Never met a Cat King before. He was pretty extraordinary, had these piercing pink ears that pierced.
Having a cat seizure
Very productive day. Got a fair bit of translation homework done first thing. Then it was on to wedding planning: found a beautiful converted barn for myself and *Twinkle*, and then when they arrive *Twinkle’s* parents and sister to stay. It’ll be nice for the two of us to have a few days in a guest house alone in the week leading up to the wedding. Good location too – one field away from my parent’s place (you can see the roof of the barn from mum and dad’s bedroom window). And, the price has just been reduced by £75, making it highly affordable. I love staying in guest houses / hotels. It’s such a treat, especially when one is with one’s loving partner.
Then it was time for a Japanese grammar lesson – mum and dad are learning the basics in preparation for meeting *Twinkle’s* family. They’ll be using the excellent BBC Talk Japanese book and CDs, the same course I used 8 years ago. They know how to say “Good Morning” now, and understand basic sentence structure. What clever pensioners they are.
Next, it was off to the church where we’ll be having our blessing, to check out how many people it can hold. Lovely place.
Following that I paid a visit to the home of the church warden. She was great, very helpful. Interested in international weddings too – my good friend and ex-steiner pupil Lorien and his Russian wife were married there not long ago, “Most beautiful wedding I’ve ever seen! She was so beautiful, I could hardly believe it!”
I’ve since booked the bar, confirmed the village hall, and found a good friend to help co-ordinate food. Oh, also visited a fantastic B&B (The Lawns) down the road where other guests can stay. Lovely lady. And, they have a glass-topped well in their house, floodlit inside so you can see the water flowing in 50 foot below – what a bonus! The final stop was a neighbour’s house to check out their field which we hope to use for friends / family who’d like to camp.
This evening I attended an informal meditation session at the church. There were quite a few people there that I knew – including my parents. It was lovely. The church was dark except for a couple of candles and a light in the alter bit (that’s the technical term). The vicar (who I’ll be seeing tomorrow about the wedding) read a little story, and then played some relaxing music. It was not in the slightest bit ‘religious’ as such, rather, it reminded me of my CD by Andrew Weil (he of the World’s Best Beard!
I’m not too well practised when it comes to meditation. Find it difficult to clear my mind. I tried tonight, but after 10 minutes I gave up, the image of *Twinkle* in her wedding dress was just too persistent in its knocking at the door to my mind. So, instead I spent the next twenty minutes reflecting on all that I had to be thankful for. A little risky in a church full of people that is absolutely silent (you could clearly hear when someone swallowed, and should someone have dropped a pin, I’m sure we would all have jumped out of our skins!). Thus, it’s dangerous for me to think thoughts of thankfulness, as they tend to make me smile and laugh rather a lot.
Tomorrow will also be a good day. In addition to wedding planning, I’ll be going to visit a dear friend who was my boss when I was aged 13 to 19. In a way she was a mother figure to me, and with her husband taught me a lot. He sadly passed away recently, and I was sorry to have not been able to see him to thank him for all that he had given me. I hope tomorrow to be able to express just how much she, and her late husband, mean to me.