Monthly Archives: April 2015

2,000 Years Shattered in 2 minutes…

 

Mam's memorialI keep remembering the shy smiling faces of children peeking out from behind their mother’s skirts as my group trekked through their villages on the way to Everest Base Camp in 2010.  Fragile timber dwellings pinned precariously to the side of the mountain.  I can’t stop my mind imagining what happened when the earthquake struck. Did these buildings collapse torn from their fragile moorings? or did entire villages actually slide off the face of the earth? and what has happened to the smiling children? Where are the OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAmonks? what happened to the colourful prayer wheels that I spun for luck and safety on my way through the mountains? What has happened to the monastery at Tengboche where I kneeled for hours, caught up in a heady mix of chanting and altitude, feeling moved by emotion I couldn’t quite understand. Back in Kathmandu where the rubble of 2,000 years is still trapping bodies in the chaos of seconds; where is the Kamari? The ‘Living Goddess’ the child confined to a silken palace until she comes of age or bleeds. Has the Goddess survived? My memories have become the stuff of nightmares and I feel so helpless and somehow guilty. Just like the hours of meditation that passed in a flash at the monastery in Tengboche, I feel moved by emotion I cannot quite understand.  The horror of what has happened to Nepal this week is too big to understand.

The UN is estimating that Continue reading

Second Spring on a Mountain…

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Love Heart Lake, Wicklow

I’m off on a new adventure and I don’t quite know the way. I’d grab a map, but I can’t seem to find a grid reference. Menopause is something all women experience ‘at a certain age’ and yet I can count on one hand the number of women who have ever mentioned it to me.  I’m now getting a taste of these life changes myself and I have a suspicion that I’ll be talking about it a lot! 

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Slievenamon sunset

No night sweats or massive mood swings as yet, but I’m definitely more scatty and forgetful than usual.  My cycle is shifting and I got hit with cramps and illness that sent me back to bed last Friday and robbed me of a trip into the hills with the girls. Very annoying.  

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JuJu Jay & friends, Mall Hill

Realising that my body is changing, I hesitated before posting about it on Facebook. I think I felt embarrassed, I felt perhaps I was getting old. The notion lasted all of ten minutes. A few hormones didn’t ruin my transition from chick to hen, and they’re not going to stop me getting my butterfly wings.  

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Vera Baker on Scarr

I am glad I decided to talk about it. Within the hour, my friends on Facebook had put me wise about nutrition, remedies like red clover and vitamin B, and I had been put in touch with a very uplifting website called www.mysecondspring.ie. A site dedicated to supporting and celebrating women entering menopause.  

I lost one day on the mountains, but that didn’t last long. I’ve had a wonderful few weeks; the 33k Walk The Line for Dublin Wickow Mountain Rescue, a beautiful full moon hike with MountainZone on Slievenamon, an 18k trek across the Wicklow Mountains with JuJu Jay and a lovely trot up Brown Mountain and Scarr with climbing buddy Vera Baker.  

IMG_2095.JPGThis beautiful sunny Easter weather has also served as a reminder of how wonderful Ireland is, and how beautiful our natural resources.  I can’t feel bad with all those green rolling hills calling to me.  Nothing like a brisk walk to reset a girl’s perspective. New shoes and a fresh new haircut didn’t hurt either! Control, Alt, Delete; that’s my reboot right there.  Come on second spring; let’s be having you.

I’ll let you know how I get on..

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