Project Gratitude - update 8#

4.11.14

Even when it's raining there's still lots to be done. Waiting for funds to come in this week so we can buy some wood treatment and paint...a few little creatures have nibbled the wooden beams in the main room over the years so we need to treat them and make them look pretty again.



The boys are bit tougher than me and are still persevering outside. Today they're extending the rain gutter from the back of the house to redirect the catchment close to the new pond area and away from the house walls and foundations.

My essentials - pen, paper and of course a mug of hot coffee!

I took time to start really designing the layout/plan today. First draft finished and ready to send off to my tutor to see how it looks permaculture principle wise.

The 'Plan' - oh wouldn't it be lovely!

Current area of concentration - it would be great if we could get an ariel view afterwards

  Now, even though I did the sketch, which did take quite a long time, I've still got some other element s to complete before I can submit my project. I've got the scribbles down for the zones and elements plans and lots of notes for the actual 'Project Plan' - what I need now is a little inspiration to get my bum firmly in the chair, a little difficult when it's sunny outside and there are lots of other things to do, like trying to raise some money through the fundraising or from pitching for work on Elance, not to mention the seed-saving, harvesting salad daily, baking gluten free daily on the stove-top (no oven), preparing dinner, general house work, laundry, decorating, planting and plant care (including daily chats!), daily replacement of the fat balls for the mirade of bluetits, robins and other lovely birds constantly in the garden, oh and making time to read either the Mother or Satprem daily, and some asanas. Hmmm...Not enough hours in the day, lol! I'm sooooo grateful!!!

Don't forget, you can really help by sharing and caring (aka DONATING :D)

http://www.gofundme.com/chezgratitude

Love & light
Louise (aka Mermie)

Project Gratitude - update 4#

27.10.14

A few pics to show what we've already been doing in just the last 5 months.

The gable end...needs attaching to the roof now

Managed tomatoes, carrots, radish, salad, courgettes, potatoes...not bad for a small space

Here were salad, carrots, beetroot, basil, corriander, parsley, gherkins and now many, many cape gooseberries are getting ready to be harvested!

  
There's not a single day passes when we don't do something productive...It's starting to get cold now though and it would be great if we could raise enough funds to finish off the roof so it actually meets the new gable end...covered in a huge plastic sheet now, but with the high winds we seem to be having a lot of there have been a few sharp intakes of breath I can tell you, wondering if it's going to fly off.

In fact since I posted this update just 17 days ago a small hole has already appeared in the cover on the top corner...grrr.

It's not just the house and garden that gets a make-over either. When there's enough extra cash available I splurge on the odd tin of paint...

Sri Aurobindo, the Mother and Satprem's work all snuggly stored in a nice clean and light cubbyhole - even a small space for 'Mermie's' creations ;)

What looked at first sight llike it needed burning is now a core storage space in the kitchen that has no 'cupboards

 Lots more before and after pics to create, it's just balancing the time between needs and fancies.

Don't forget to share our journey and dream of creating an EMF Free Retreat (it's already EMF Free..just not much of a retreat unless you've got a tent or a caravan - in which case you could still contact us if you really need to get away from the waves and ground yourself...Ps. no alcohol allowed and we're vegetarian too, lol).

http://www.gofundme.com/chezgratitude

Love & light until the next update.
Louise (aka Mermie)

Project Gratitude - update 3#

Sometimes I just need to be creative, this was one of those days :D

26.10.14

A day indoors today for me...and a bit of creativity. I made the house sign out of a piece of old wood. Feeling very grateful!

Starting with the bare basics...old wood, paint, pencil, sandpaper and the design sketch

Starting to take shape...had fun with my fingers for the background colour

A new sign is born...taking front and centre stage are the latest pumpkins from the garden

 The 'hand-writing' of 'gratitude' was inspired by the handwriting of the Mother, mine's nowhere near that neat. Mental note to practice writing better, lol.

Until the next update don't forget to share and donate if you haven't already done so...just 1 Euro = 1 brick!

http://www.gofundme.com/chezgratitude

Love & light
Louise (aka Mermie)

The Hour of Dawn

I was very priviledged to have a close friend share this original, never before published piece of writing. It had been submitted to be published in the Auroville News & Notes, unfortunately they don't accept anonymous work...anyway I can vouch for the authencitiy of this incredible channeling and hope it inspires those who understand the deeper meanings and messages conveyed through this source, by the Mother.

The Hour of Dawn       

The following is a message received from the Mother by one of her children a few days after she left her body (document dated November 23, 1973). The person who shares this precious message with you prefers to remain anonymous.

Now there is emptiness in your hearts, a sense of having lost something very, very precious, lost irretrievably.

It is wrong to feel like this because nothing has been lost and more has been given to us than the world has ever possessed before. On August 15, 1973* the miracle happened, Mother has finally given us Dawn, Dawn the beginning. With a stroke of her arm She has removed all that was against those who strive for change, those who are the builders of the future, the builders of the City of Dawn anywhere and everywhere.

So you see, there is no need for sadness, no need for tears. Tears are only for those who see the past dwindling away, who see security and all they have hidden behind torn away. They are frightened to stand there naked, forced to move forward, ahead into the unknown, or to vanish.

We who move forward have nothing to fear. We are gently pushed ahead as fast as we can move without stumbling too often and without too much pain, too many wounds. We are gently pushed by Mother who is, or wants to become ‘us’, all of us and no longer something separate or an object of adoration where everything stops, where everyone, instead of moving ahead stops, staring in awe and expecting Her alone to do the work, to change the world, to change her body, and finally to open the gate and let us all in or only those who have stood by objecting, pulling back, destroying those who wanted to help and become the objects of awe and adoration of the whole world.

Since Dawn had broken, Mother had no longer need for this little frail body; She did no longer need to study the body that was one cell in the body of the Universe. She had finished with her experiences and observations and now She is starting to change all the cells, all the cells that are willing to be changed towards, or even further, than what the one cell has already accomplished.

The pace will seem slow for those who are willing to move, willing to change; and like a cyclone for those who are solidly anchored and believed that nothing could move them, nothing could shake them out of their foundation.

Since the beginning of time, fractions of truth about the changing of the cells and how to obtain physical immortality have been revealed, but as usual those to whom it had been revealed have always been silenced or ridiculed by those who opposed and whose numbers and powers appeared so immense that the ones who should move forward started to believe it to be impossible to achieve victory, victory that looked so near, so obvious, so sure. Or, they finally, under the pressure of the opposing and unbelieving masses of ignorance and darkness, joined hands with them, and so the opportunity was lost again.

Now we live in the hour of God, in the hour of Dawn, and we are given the chance to make it the most brilliant Dawn in the history of mankind; or else to sit in meditation and contemplation, delighted and in full wonder of the glorious spectacle it revealed to us. Or, we can roll up our sleeves and be determined not to let this glorious Dawn turn into a scorching, all-destroying furnace, and finally into a lifeless comfortable coolness of evening, ending in the most impenetrable darkness of night. Or else we can decide that never again will we be satisfied with anything less splendid than what is in front of our eyes and that the only thing all our strength and energy is used for is to create an even more splendid and beautiful Dawn.

But where to start, what to do, how to act - are the questions that search through our dazed fogged minds. We ask because we are used to asking and if we get an answer we can decide with our small brains if this is the answer we wanted and move ahead. Even if it is the answer we wanted, today we are too tired to start moving, and tomorrow there is always something else, something else for so long that we finally forget. We ask again, we ask other questions, we get the same answer; but again we cannot decide to move, decide to leave Mother’s comfortable lap and throw ourselves like brave warriors into the abyss of the unknown, or into light changed into an abyss of impenetrable darkness by our fears, hesitations and indecision.

These are the choices we have, the result will be the result of what we have chosen, and it is up to us, to each one alone to make the right decision, a decision that is unchangeable and final.

* Mother’s last darshan.

Note: I took the picture from the internet and share it with love