Reasons I haven't done much blogging lately

Finding the time to blog at the moment is a bit of a struggle.  You see, we went away for a few days, two weeks on the trot.  First visit was three days in Lincolnshire with our friends.  It was on the coast near Mablethorpe which we affectionately call Mab-le-thorpe.

For those who don't know the area, its a seaside town on the east coast of England, but it doesn't get much tourism investment and sadly has lost some of it's shine.  The beach however is absolutely beautiful with flat, damp sand that you can walk on for miles.  For me that's it's only redeeming quality so my friend and I like to make it sound posher than it actually is.  The surrounding seaside towns are also a bit run down so we verbally spruce them up by referring to them with French sounding names.  Sutton on Sea becomes Sutton sur la Mer, and my favourite is Chapel St Leonards turning in Chappelle san Leonard.  At these places all you can see for miles are caravans and trailers.  Pretty soulless eh?  But perhaps they afford cheap holidays for families who just like to play on the beach, although given the weather in the UK at times, holidays there won't work out THAT cheap.  For example, two options for when it's raining - sit inside the caravan and play games (good option and very cheap), or take bored kids to the arcades and have lunch in a greasy spoon cafe (not cheap).  Believe me, I know, we've done it when the kids were little.  We once totted up the cost of such a holiday and quite honestly, we could have gone abroad!

Despite what I said above, I have the greatest affection for these little seaside towns.  They struggle to keep going without the investment that the bigger resorts get, yet they still provide something for everyone.  Yes it's limited with arcades, cheapo shops selling tat, bingo halls and karaoke, but people still like this stuff.  My friend and I went into Mablethorpe to walk along the beach. It was a really hot day but we enjoyed the breeze coming off the water and the sand under our feet.  We put on our shoes and went up to the promenade to sit on a bench with an ice cream each.  Not just any old ice cream, but a blooming great '99' with twin flakes no less.  Our philosophy is if you're going to have one, have a big 'un!

photo courtesy of http://emsb-solutions.co.uk/99-good-enough/

 It was great smelling the fish and chips and candy floss, not to mention hearing the sounds of the funfair and children's laughter.  We walked back to the car by a different route that took us on a man made path on top of the dunes.  By that time it was scorching hot and we arrived at the car red in the face, looking very much like twin beetroots.  Not a good look!  Opening the car door was like opening an oven so we had to stand at let the heat out before we dare sit in to go back to the nearby village where we were staying.

Here's a jolly image of Mablethorpe.  It's a nice picture and shows off the beach to its best.

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The second slot of time away was the following week where we spent 3 days in Great Malvern, Worcestershire, helping our elder daughter decorate her yoga studio that she is renting right in the town centre.  It's a huge room which will take a class of ten comfortably, twelve at a push.  It was pretty hard going, decorating in 30 degree heat.  The paint was drying almost immediately, so it was dragging off the roller.  It slowed things up somewhat but we got it done and it looks magnificent.  All pure white, with red doors and a red carpet.  The carpet was already down but it's almost new so there was no reason to change it.  Red is an energising colour and Kat was happy to keep it.  She's put some lovely little touches around the place, like some wall art of a flock of butterflies, and of course there'll be other Yoga orientated stuff going on.

We so want her to succeed at this venture as a yoga teacher.  Although it's her side-job, it's her main interest and has been for years.  She works hard at it and deserves to do well.  She'll be setting up a new website soon called Great Malvern Yoga.  It's not live yet but I'll do a link to it as soon as it is.

This is her finding alternative uses for good old Morrison's carrier bags to cover the light fittings while painting the ceiling.

I'm still here, honestly!

As it's been over a week since I last posted I thought I'd best check in and let you know I'm still around.

So much has happened since I last put fingers to keyboard and my time has been swallowed up.  I'm normally good at making opportunities to blog, but this time was different.

So, from the top starting May 23rd.....

• The wedding.  Lovely but chaotic.  I was busy from 10am through to 9pm.  Photos in the hairdressers, getting the hair, make up and nails done.  The girls got back to the house just before me and were in their dresses before I'd got out of the car!  I missed the opportunity to photograph the dress hanging up, but did manage to extricate the bride from the chaos for all of 5 minutes to capture her alone for her best pictures.  On to the stables immediately after to collect her horse so she could ride it to the church.  Lots of traffic was held up as she made her way and she arrived like Lady Godiva.  It was a sight to behold I have to say and she looked wonderful.  I lost the plot for a few minutes and needed to lock myself in a lavatory (see, I knew that would happen!) but I regained my composure quickly and started again.  The relatives pissed me off as they wouldn't move back to give me room to take pictures properly outside the church.  Then someone decided to do their own personal photo shoot - right in front of me.  I have an image of a blurred Fascinator and a floral clad bum. There's so much more I could write on this, but I'll probably not post it, leaving it just a reflective note for my own eyes.

Here's one of my early edited photo's - 

• Exhaustion the day after.  I hurt everywhere and had to get up around 3am to take painkillers.  I stayed in bed until mid morning then slowly melted into my day.  It was early evening before I felt sociable.

• The editing began and is STILL on going!  I'm on intimate terms with with every crease and wrinkle of the bride, together with her sister, mum and mum in law.  I'm very conversant with blurring wrinkles in Photoshop now!

• Half term, so I was off work, doing stuff at home and going places (including nearby Calke Abbey ).  This was not one of Grumpy Trousers best days as he argued with Joanna the Sat Nav.  So called because it has Joanna Lumley's voice.  Now, here's the thing; he absolutely ADORES Ms Lumley, but it was entirely my fault because Joanna chose to chuck us off the M1 at Junction 27 instead of 23a. (Might do another post about that).

• Visiting elder daughter for the weekend in her beautiful town of Malvern, Worcestershire.  We had fabulous hugs and declarations of "oooh you smell nice!"  I took pictures of her doing yoga and some portraits for her new website.  I've not even looked at them yet, so I hope she's in focus.

• Trying to make the best of any fine weather by tidying the garden at home.  Oh, the weeds...the bloody weeds!  Anyway, most are dug up and gone now to make way for some lovely geraniums and begonias.

• Laundering everything in sight while the sun is out....curtains, duvets, cushions.  But I've STILL not washed my hard floors, so cat fur and dust lurks in all the corners.  

• I'm still editing wedding pictures

• I'm back at work

Coming back to work has been a revelation, let me tell you.  I'm now facing redundancy!  My official job title is Learning Centre Assistant, and this involves some library duties too but it's all going to change.  I absolutely love my job, I work with a really nice team of people and the majority of us are friends out of work too.  I enjoy the interaction with the teaching staff and get a lot of pleasure (and bit of grief!) in my dealings with the students.

Now we are facing a restructure and our jobs are changing radically.  Despite my age I really don't mind change, in fact I've often instigated it in the past but I don't see this working for the better.  I can't go into details, but think of future generations with even less social skills than now and you'll get the idea.  If I stay, I'll end up being a teacher on the cheap. I'll be taking on a role that I'm barely equipped for (yes, they'll train me but I have only one year before retirement, so realistically is it going to happen?) and they'll only pay me what I get now.  As a result not just a cheap teacher, but an EXTREMELY cheap teacher!  I don't want the hassle or the grief as I've had my fill of working.  I'd say taking redundancy is a no-brainer, wouldn't you?

I hope you had a great Sunday

Hello followers and lurkers

I hope you've had a great Sunday.  How did you spend it?

I've had a good day today mobility wise and have been hurtling about like there's nothing wrong with me.  I also helped husband clear out one of our spare rooms as it's going to be turned into an office soon.  I prepared some food around 6pm as younger daughter called round on her way to work.  Normally by 6pm I'm well and truly knackered, but hey - I still feel fine.  Last Thursday evening I went to my yoga class as usual and we did some different stretches and poses, and I've felt a bit better since then.  That's good isn't it?

Anyway, just for you and all my other crazy girlfriends (including Dorne at http://dorneawhale.wordpress.com).   This is JUST for you xxxxxxxxxx

TFI Friday!

Yay - weekend!  Hopefulness is in the air....weather is set to be fine and with any luck, warm;  it's Mother's Day on Sunday and the family is convening round at mine for lunch.  I expect I'll cook but I don't mind that much. It will just be wonderful for us all to be in the same room again.  It seems like ages since that happened.

All of that is giving me something to look forward to because I've had a rough couple of days with discomfort and stiffness.  My hip has been bordering on painful and on the scale of 1-10, I'd say it's been hovering around the 7 mark.  My foot which I thought had settled down temporarily has resumed its 'bastard!' status with a vengeance.  As a result, the penguin waddle has been more pronounced than ever.

Grumpy Trousers and I had a little trip out to Tesco in Chesterfield on my way to work this morning, and even though I'd taken 3 strong painkillers I still wobbled into displays of newspapers and flowers like a drunkard.  I'm aware people give me funny looks, and I can imagine they are wondering to themselves 'What is WRONG with that woman?!'  My balance is bad on days like today, yet another day it's not a problem.  I truly bamboozle myself.

Excuse me for a few minutes - there's a bit of excitement outside my window.  I happened to spot a fire crew with two engines and ladders rising up and down .  Must go and observe.  For health and safety purposes you understand.  Not gawping at all.  Or perving.

Well if it was the window cleaners I'd be saying "cue Diet Coke!", but as it was, the team of hunky firefighters  are all uniformed up while performing an exercise. No fire. Nothing to see.  I've lost interest now so here I am back to writing.  

And they did NOT look like this!

Where was I?  Oh yes wobbling into displays.  To help with the balance issue I've been attending a yoga class each Thursday after work, and I have to say in class I can balance pretty well.  If I close my eyes I wobble but apparently everyone does so I'm not unique with that.  I find it helps to hold on to the back of a chair while standing on one leg.  That way it prevents me from keeling right over.  At the start of the session I am pretty unbalanced, but the more I do the better it becomes.  Clearly I need to practice some yoga poses each morning before I let myself loose on the world.  I'd hate to see pensioners, children and small furry animals fleeing for cover!

I will be seeing the doctor on Monday about my hip problem.  A Sports Therapist friend has suggested that it might be a form of Bursitis which is  inflammation in a small sac near my hip joint.  It seems to have been hanging around a long time to be Bursitis, but I'm clinging to any suggestions and possibilities.  She told me if he actually confirmed it as this then she can help me with some physiotherapy.  I also may need to see the Acupuncturist again.  I will know these things better after Monday.

I recently did a post titled Menopause Crap in which I moaned about my night sweats and itchy skin etc.  Well, that seems to have abated due to stopping using some HRT cream that  I had to use  for, ahem - ladies personal stuff.   I only used it one or twice a week anyway but even such small doses can leach into the bloodstream causing symptoms like I was getting. I'm glad I got to the bottom of that as it was starting to worry the bloody socks off me.  I shall resume using the cream as and when I need it, and maybe not use the full dose.

A few more appointments in the offing as well.  MRI scan on my foot in a couple of weeks, then back to see the foot specialist for the results.  I do hope he can do something for me, whatever it may take.  If my foot is corrected, there will be less strain on my hip.  Result being I can walk a straight line and there will be no more trashed displays in shops, or freaked out people running for cover!

If you're in the UK, I hope you have a Happy Mother's Day.  Sorry if you're elsewhere, but your Mother's Day is different to ours.  But whoever, and wherever you are, kids or no kids here's a cute bouquet from me to let you know I'm thinking of you.

Stressed out yoga teacher

Hi all  Are you having a great Sunday?

I'm sharing this post from my daughter's blog - the one who's a yoga teacher, and who dispels all myths that yoga teachers are smiley and serene.  Actually she is a lot of the time, but she's only human and therefore stress affects her in the same way as the rest of us.

I can relate to a lot of what she's written, and I'll lay bets you can too.  Here's her post.....

We undoubtedly live in an era where most conversations with your friends being with, “Oh I’m so stressed!”  The 21^st century lifestyle means that everyone will have encountered stress somewhere along the line.  Unless of course you are one of those really annoying types who wears a coat made of Teflon, so the stress just slides right off you.6 signs you’re totally stressed out (funny)

Stressed out Mary

All of the following are completely true.

1. You arrive at work, take off your coat, make a drink, turn on your computer, read some emails… then a colleague points out that your jumper is in fact inside out.  If you can get away with it, it’s best to pretend that it is supposed to be like that.  Otherwise you look like a complete flake.  You’re sh*t out of luck if said jumper has a huge washing instruction label on it though.

2. Having visited your local purveyor of fine produce and olives in little tubs, you carefully place your very expensive purchases in the boot of your car, ensuring that the olives remain upright, lest they spill their olivey goodness all over the boot (that’s trunk if you’re an American).  Your posh eggs from very happy chickens are reverently placed on the front seat so you can keep an eye on them.  You return your trolley to the bay and leave your handbag, containing your brand new phone and your wallet in the trolley.  Luckily I got it back.  And everything was still inside my wallet.  Honest people do exist… at least they do where I live.

3. You wake up in the morning only to find that during the nightyou’ve been digging the nails of your left hand into the palm of your right.  The resulting marks take all day to fade.  There is not a lot you can do about this apart from not waving at people across the office because then they’ll realise you’ve been maiming yourself in your sleep (again).  If this becomes a regular occurrence you need to keep your nails short and consider wearing gloves in bed.  Seriously.

4. You forget that you’ve promised to go to Hot Yoga with your Yoga BFF, and now you feel mortified and embarrassed and daren’t phone her because you are a total stressed out mess.  This comes from not really knowing what day it is.  A solution would be to try to keep a paper diary with your appointments in your handbag (providing it has not been left in a supermarket trolley), and then actually LOOK AT IT so you can see where you are supposed to be.

5. Going to bed seems like the best course of action, even though it’s only 3.30pm.  Cuddling up with a good book and the cat at 3.30pm in the afternoon seems like a good idea.  Where do you think I am while writing this?  However, if it happens too often you might need to have a think about why you are in bed.

6. Knocking over a cup of tea results in an apoplectic-raging-beast-screaming-crying-fit that causes you to nearly pass out in anger when you realise that was the last of the milk too.  Birds in trees get scared and take flight.  The cat runs out of the room at top speed, leaving a cloud of fur behind that then floats nonchalantly into the big tea puddle on the floor.  Each and every tiny, simple task just causes you more stress and inconvenience.  And so you sit sobbing in the middle of the kitchen floor, hot tea soaking into your eco-friendly yoga leggings until your poor long-suffering husband/partner/boyfriend concedes that he will go fetch some more milk from the shop.  Anything to get away from the noise!

Now for the serious bit.  If you have symptoms of stress, if you feel out of control, anxious, depressed and/or unable to cope, you need to get some help.  Talking to loved ones, doing something fun, getting a massage and attending a regular yoga class are all things that can help relieve some of the burden you feel you are carrying.  Don’t suffer in silence.  Try a little smile right now… go on, you can do it!

Making lists

Let me introduce you to my daughter Katherine at Malvern Wells Yoga.  She's a young yoga teacher with several classes a week, holds down a full time job and is married to the love of her life, Chris.

Kat's a very busy girl, making her way in life and hoping to make yoga her career.  She never ceases to inspire and amaze me with her positivity, and I'd like to share with you her latest blog posting.  I was feeling a bit off colour today but when I read her lovely list it put me in a much better frame of mind.  I hope it helps you too.

OK I'm biased!

Things I like

February 15, 2014 by MWYogaKat | Leave a comment

When I was a kid I used to write lists of things I liked.  Even though I’m an adult, I still think writing lists of stuff (as opposed to your work tasks or what you need from the supermarket) can be very cathartic.  A list like this can remind you to practice a little gratitude and it can conjure up happy memories of people or places.  When you’ve got the grumps, you can whip out your list and smile… so why not try it?  Make yourself a cup of tea, maybe get some chocolate, find a nice notebook and a pencil (no, the back of an envelope will not suffice) and write your list of things you like.  I have a few rules though:

1)  Don’t include individual people on your list.  So don’t name all 17 of your cats!

2) Don’t put music tracks you like.  This is a whole separate list!  Same goes for films.

3) Do put things you like doing, places you like, situations you like, foods you like, stuff you like reading about…

Here’s mine (in no particular order) and I’ve added in some helpful links!

• Yoga
• Birds of prey
• Pizza (gluten free of course) – I have these babies on repeat order!
• Cats (and all the cuddling opportunities therein!)
• Big cats
• Garden birds
• Sunsets
• Kissing in the rain
• Wearing my pyjamas all day
• Taking a bath
• Washing my hair
• Getting my nails done
• Beautiful shoes
• Beautiful views
• Great conversation
• Dinner with friends
• Cooking
• Cake (making and eating)
• Watching the entire BBC version of Pride & Prejudice in one go
• Reading yoga books
• Reading trashy novels
• Waking up late (not lounging around in bed, just waking up late)
• Real genuine belly laughs (mine or anyone else)
• Knitting
• Little boxes
• That smell when you walk into a hippy-type shop like Aquarius in Malvern, or Huckleberry Willow in Chesterfield (is that even still there?  Yup, apparently so!)
• Hugs
• Americano – black
• Peppermint tea (it’s an obsession)
• Flowers in my garden (the more colour, the better – honeysuckle, hydrangea and roses)
• Trees (big ones, small ones – it doesn’t matter)
• Midwinter Stonehenge Strawberry pottery (again, it’s an obsession)
• Baking bread
• Geocaching
• Feeling the warmth of the sun on my face
• Swimming in the sea
• Riding my mountain bike
• Walking on the Malvern Hills
• The Peak District
• The Lake District
• Lyon
• Playing in Newent Orchestra and feeling just a tiny part of that huge, powerful sound and almost being reduced to tears by it… thinking particularly of the time we played in Gloucester Cathedral
• The Bran Tub in Malvern.  It’s like Mecca.
• Coming home
• Cuddling up in bed when it’s absolutely freezing outside
• Proper traditional quilts
• Autumn leaves
• Beer
• Growing our own vegetables
• Bees
• Getting ready to go out
• Dancing like a demon
• Cranking up the music in my car… or house
• Speaking French
• Hats

Now I’ve started, I could go on for hours.  I guess it’s a way for my readers to get to know me a bit more… but at the same time I urge you to write a list like this.  It’s fun!  Feel free to share yours.

You can catch up with Kat on Twitter HERE 

Getting Unstuck: Work Through Fear and Change Your Life

Good day followers and lurkers! 

You know sometimes, when we feel ourselves stuck in that rut of repeated behaviour, it's easy to just keep doing the same old, same old, isn't it?  For example, eating the same breakfast every single day without giving consideration to its nutritional value, or whether your system might be so used to it so the food isn't providing you enough nourishment.  Not good, eh?

For the same reason, I truly believe the mind needs nourishment too. Instead of sitting comfortably in an unhealthy rut, we could try something a bit different such as reading a book that we wouldn't normally consider. Likewise, a new experience to challenge ourselves with, see new places.  Learn a new skill perhaps.  No matter what age you are, giving yourself a little push every so often works in your favour, and hey, it gives us something different to talk about and share.  It's investing in yourself.

I know not everyone has the confidence or inner resources to go and chuck themselves into something new. They may consider it to be a terrifying step and do nothing. Some others make take time to 'buy in' to a new idea.  Either way, perhaps it takes just one small grain of courage to grow into a tree of nourishment for your mind and body.

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To highlight my point, I thought I'd share this inspirational feature below from a website named Tiny Buddha .   The writer has a story behind the feature, a lot of which is quite sad due to her illness.  She's overcome such a lot though and I found this whole feature not only sensible and sound, but uplifting too.  Have a read and see if it inspires you too.


Getting Unstuck: Work Through Fear and Change Your Life

By Chantal Houde

“When you become comfortable with uncertainty, infinite possibilities open up in your life.” ~Eckhart Tolle

We’ve all been there. Feeling stuck is very distressing, and it can often make a situation feel even more difficult than it already appears to be.
Many of us may have felt trapped in job, a relationship, a place; any unfavourable situation, really, that we see little way out of can leave us feeling deeply discouraged.
The uncertainty of it all becomes overwhelming and, over time, paralyzing.
I have felt the frustration, the sadness, and the hopelessness that accompany this predicament many times.
In fact, I’ve lived most of my life feeling stuck in one thing or another—a volatile family situation, unhealthy relationships, various jobs. For a long time, I rarely made proactive decisions about anything.
I had a number of distractions I used to try to avoid thinking about it. I drank heavily, took drugs, took trips, took on other people’s problems, overworked, over-exercised, over-sexed, under-slept, worried constantly, and generally avoided thinking about the specifics of what I needed out of life, a job, or a relationship.
Opportunities and endings did flow through my life, as they inevitably will, but they were seldom based on what I wanted.
After a while, negativity and worry used up much of my energy. I was diagnosed with cancer at twenty-six, and started to have other major physical ailments, not to mention regular nightmares. I knew I had to make changes.
I started with my diet, something that I felt was within my control. I gained a lot of knowledge about food, health, and lifestyle very quickly and just soaked it all up.
I also learned a lot more about our inner emotional lives and about taking responsibility for my feelings, my actions, and my words.
I started practicing meditation and continued to deepen my yoga practice with a new awareness of my mental and emotional environment. I’m now able to observe my thoughts and am quick to see how my thought patterns change when I feel stuck.
Those negative, self-defeating, fearful thoughts come creeping back into my mind, whispering to me that I don’t have any other choice.
The depressed feelings and anxiousness come quickly too, and I often start to wonder, if I’d done something differently in the past, would I be here now? I tell myself that only if a certain event happens in the future will I be able to make a change.
Dwelling on the past and obsessing about the future is a surefire way to stay stuck.
I now know that I need to be careful not to qualify decisions based on imagined future events happening or not happening, and not to make decisions out of fear. Sometimes doing what is best for you means facing those fears head on.
When I was diagnosed with cancer, I told myself I’d only take time off work if I started to feel really physically ill. I was afraid I’d face financial difficulties if I took a leave. I didn’t give myself nearly enough space to process the emotional effects, and I didn’t give my physical body the time to rest that it was clearly telling me it needed.
I got very ill with a string of severe infections in the two years following my recovery because I never proactively made a decision to take care of myself.
When I start bargaining with myself, I know I’ve given away my power. I’m no longer listening to my intuition or connecting with what’s really best for my well-being.
I’ve realized that the only way to get unstuck is to detach from the outcome of our decisions and the fears about things not working out, and instead focus solely on what exactly we want and need. In this way, the uncertainty can lead to opportunity.
There are a few things I did make proactive decisions about over the last ten years—like pursuing a degree in Environmental Studies, moving to Australia, and committing to building a more healthy lifestyle—that have turned out better than I could’ve imagined.
It has become more and more clear that the decisions I make from now on need to be based on my true desires, not my fears.
I now recognize that I’ve kept myself in unhealthy situations mainly because I didn’t have the tools to help myself.
When I’m having trouble getting unstuck, I use some of these small actions that can be helpful in creating space to move through and out of the undesirable situation:

Take time.

One of the most difficult things about feeling stuck is that you want to fix it right away. This urge to control the situation really doesn’t help solve the problem.
If you’re having trouble moving out of a bad situation naturally, you’ll need time to process all the feelings that will come up as you move toward a new phase of your life. Let it happen and enjoy it as much as you can. The best approach you can take in this situation is to trust that things will improve over time.

Don’t wait for this-or-that to happen.

This is a big one. If you’re always waiting for something else to happen before you act, you won’t make proactive decisions in a way that’s in line with what you want. 

Stop thinking about it.

I like to practice meditation and yoga, read a good book, or take a nap. The trick is to not think about the issue actively, but just take some time to enjoy where you are now.
Obsessive thinking can do far more harm than good and never actually causes any change. Once you start feeling more present, you’ll take less joy in feeding the mental drama around the situation and naturally be less willing to put up with negativity it brings.

Get some perspective.

Taking a short (or longer) time away can break emotional ties in a big way and allow you to see things in a different way. You may also be motivated to make change as you recognize how much better you feel when you’re out of the environment where you feel stuck.

Get healthy.

Focus on yourself. Make your physical, mental, and emotional health your biggest priority. Once I started letting go of all the stress I’d been holding onto for so long, I was truly shocked by how great I could feel. I knew I wanted to pursue that amazing feeling.
The key here is really to figure out what works for you to help you get unstuck. That may be chatting with one of your friends, taking a weekend out of town, or walking by the water. Then do it as much as you need to until you feel better.
Don’t lose sight of what’s important to you. And if you’re not sure what’s important to you, make finding out a priority.
I am still stuck, as I write this, in an unsatisfactory situation. I’m far from being able to completely avoid feeling trapped by certain situations I’ve gotten myself into, but I am committed to the personal values I’ve uncovered within myself, and I’m working hard to build the life I want. I also don’t let depressive and self-defeating thoughts take over at these times.
Over time, you will learn to move past jobs, people, and places that don’t work for you more quickly and with ease.
In the meantime, it always helps to remind yourself that you’re doing the best you can, as fast as you can. When you’re finally able to let go of your fears and be proactive about your decisions, you will find that life is yours again, to be shaped and lived in any way you like.
Photo by Rob Lee