Penny Mckay

Archive for December, 2009

Todays run was a pretty typical drenching which has been par for the course for a while now but is yesterdays trot out that most moved me to jot a few words about the jog.

Yesterday was a mixed bag for sure, with a sneaky little breeze that tickled my cheeks until they tingled and the soothing sun with still a hint of warmth egging me on. The combination of being dry up top contrasted with wet under foot was pure testament to only our incredible climate in the UK. My legs and breathing felt unified and as my run progressed I felt as though my senses were so bombarded that not only was I filling up but I was literally flooding over with the fullness of my connection with nature. My vision was razor sharp as I witnessed the sunlight filtering through the leaves on the trees and my eyes drank in the richness of the colours, the deep greens and rusty browns that still remain in this so-called barren season that is Winter. I breathed in the magnificence of  it all.  My hearing was led gleefully to the sound of the babbling, playful brooks that had formed in the ditches at the sides of the roads and to the sound of my feet as they slap, splash, slap, splash, splashed through the rushing rivulets of rain forming on the roads. I glimpsed a feathered friend utilising a temporary bird bath provided by the previous heavy rains,  though he swiftly disappeared in a fluttery feathery splish of wings. I was also happily halted by  the stunning sight of a young deer as he leapt in to the hedgerow to avoid a far less graceful fellow runner who was reluctantly heading home.

Everytime I run I am restored. I am rejuvenated and uplifted. I am continually brought back to my body, how it feels, what it witnesses, what it hears. I am brought in to the moment. Right here, right now. It is all that really matters.

I am reminded how good it feels to be alive!

Over the past few years my ideals and thoughts with regards to Christmas and all that it represents in this era, have changed alot. This year I have resisted the draw of the “stuff” in the shops and have been beavering away making gifts  for friends and family instead. With this I am at peace.

But what I am firmly not at peace with, is my Christmas tree decorations.  I am ashamed to admit I still possess tardy tinsel and brakish bauballs from a mindset that was of days gone by when I wasn’t so aware of how, longterm, all of these impact on the environment. So this has become my current mission. Originally my plan was to change one item of tawdriness with one of homemade origin, on a yearly basis! (I’m good with change, me) Then, I thought, what am I waiting for? Where was my commitment to the planet and the reversal of global warming ? Let alone the fact that if I wanted to recycle the old decs I’d have to get them to the charity shop pretty quick or I’d be stuck with them for another year.

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