Day Two - Mti Mkubwa to Shira Camp

Day Two

I didn't really sleep last night as it was so noisy with chatter and the guides tent was right next to my tent and one of them was snoring like a big snoring thing all night and then from 5am it was noisier than Piccadilly Circus at lunchtime as all the porters start packing up and preparing breakfast.

We set off just after 815am and took us about 5 hours to get to Shira Camp.  We arrived and had lunch and then got a wee kip before we had to do our afternoon acclimatisation walk, I am sleeping better in the afternoon than at night. On our way to Shira Camp we got to see the mountain clearly for the first time - its HUGE!

Here is a video of us just after we set off on Day 2.  You will need to cut and paste the link below into your browser - too big for blogger.com to upload apparently! 

https://vimeo.com/202444425?utm_source=email&utm_medium=vimeo-cliptranscode-201504&utm_campaign=28749

And its a long way to Tipperary!!

This pic was taken on our acclimatisation walk.

The World Tallest Freestanding Mountain!

Back from our acclimatisation walk for dinner and bed, head is exhausted but body feels ok even though I had an almighty trip where my foot got stuck in a rock so I fell forward but managed to get my hands out in front and the other leg so I sort of fell in crouch position and then was able to remove my foot from the rock!  Lindsay came running over and asked if I was ok and righted my hat in a motherly type of way and then sent me on my way. Was very funny and I needed a pee so couldn't laugh too much!

The moon is amazing tonight and the sky is clear but it will probably be really cold and didn't sleep last night because I was cold so I am now in my thermals with my jacket on and my hat on and we all filled our water bottles with hot water so we have a wee bit of heat for now.

Day two was amazing and at times hard and as we reached over 3000m I could feel the altitude pushing on my head and the lactic acid burn in my legs took longer to go away.  Tomorrow we walk the plateau so we can see our end point but it's at 4200m so we have to take our time and walk pole pole.

Today was 23500 steps, 15.6km and the equivalent of 74 flights of stairs which seems so much less than yesterday but we seemed to go much higher up today! Not sure how the app calculates the floors.

suzxxx

Diamox Dilemma

I travelled from Makoa Farm with my friends George and Lindsay – George unfortunately wasn’t given the ok for his doctor to climb because of a recent operation, so he was going to spend his time at the farm enjoying the company of all the animals while we climbed The Worlds Tallest Freestanding Mountain.

We arrived but Ash hadn’t arrived yet but she was on her way.

Our Guide Gaston started to brief us on the next day and weighing our bags etc but Lindsay and I were more interested in what we were going to be fed up the mountain, Lindsay is Vegan and I am nearly as I am dairy free vegetarian but didn’t want to eat eggs having discovered that Germany (who are now cage free) have now sold all their cages to Africa and Africa is going to be the new super power in battery eggs (apparently).

I think Gaston felt slightly under attack when he kept talking about me getting sausage for breakfast and both me and Lindsay were trying to get him to understand there would be no sausage and there would be no porridge either, hate the stuff! But fortunately he started talking about fresh fruit and toast and jam so now we were talking.  In the end Coleman our chef did an incredible job of feeding a Vegan, a difficult vegetarian and a meat eater who doesn’t like vegetables!

Anyway pushing on with the Diamox story – once Ash arrived Gaston asked the three of us if we were taking Diamox, Lindsay and Ash said yes and I said no, explaining instead that I plan to keep my body going with Beetroot, Turmeric and Ginger shots and garlic tablets and of course my trusty Olive Leaf Extract.  At that point I was very happy with my decision – I had afterall climbed a mountain to 5700 metres before and not needed it although I did have 3 weeks of acclimatization. 

All briefed and with the task of making our duffle bags weight 15kg and our rucksacks weight no more than 7kg by the morning our guide headed off – I will always wonder what was going through Gaston’s head that afternoon – had he picked the most difficult group of women ever or was he going to have the time of his life?! 

While we were in reception there was an American woman and her son – they had just got back after climbing Kili together.  She told us she didn’t make it – she was only 500m from the summit when she had severe Altitude Sickness symptoms.  She wanted to push on but her guide was telling her she was sick and she needed to go back – it took her son in the end to tell her she was going to die unless she turned and went back and she said at that point she turned and went back down.  The rest of her famility summited.  The reason for telling this story is that I had never even considered that I wouldn’t make it to the summit, is that arrogance/ego/stupidity?  I don’t know but I really hadn’t let that throught process in.  The woman had started taking Diamox but at the onset of the altitude sickness symptoms when it is generally too late.

What would I do if I was told I had to turn around 500m from the summit having come that far – although now having done it 500m is still so far from the summit as its nearly vertical!  I was worried that I would over rule my guide as I can be so pigheaded in wanting my own way and would I actually kill myself on the side of the mountain?  And what about Lindsay and Ashley?  How would they feel if I was told to turn around and I refused to do it – the worry for them would have been horrible – just as it would be for me if it was the other way around.

Why didn’t I want to take Diamox?  Well I don’t ever take drugs into my body unless I really have to – I am asthmatic so I have inhalers that I have to take but other than that I am drug free.  I never take paracetamol or neurofen unless its an emergency, I never have injections, I wasn’t taking malaria tablets or any other of the chemicals they try to pour into you so you can go to a different country.  Instead I keep my immune system healthy with vitimans, minerals and Olive Leaf Extract. 

What does Diamox do?  Acetazolamide is its proper name and according to Wikipedia, it decreases the amount of hydrogen ions in the body  It forces the kidneys to excrete bicarbonate which makes the blood more acidic and apparently the body equates acidity of the bood it is co2 concentration, so artificuslly acidifying the blood fools the body into thinking it has an excess of co2 by causing you to breath faster which in turn brings more oxygen into the blood, clever or what?!  It is a diuretic too but I didn’t notice I pee’d more than usual and other side effects and numbness, ringing in the ears, loss of appetite, vomiting and sleepiness.  I didn’t get any of those side effects just the tingling in the fingers and toes.  I would have taken the sleepiness as you don’t sleep a bit on the side of the mountain!  It isn’t a cure for acute mountain sickness but helps to speed up the acclimatization process which relieves the symptoms.

But this seemed a much bigger decision than just what I wanted.  When I shared my worries with the girls, Ash had offered some of her spare Diamox and the American lady had also offered spare Diamox if anyone needed it.  I soul searched and ran everything through and it seemed that the decision wasn’t all about me and my wish as always to be drug free this was about the 3 of us making it to the top together and without regret or worry.  If I didn’t make it and didn’t take Diamox I would always regret that whereas if I didn’t make it and was taking Diamox then I had done everything I could to make it.  The girls wouldn’t have to worry about me every step of the way, if I got a headache or was a bit further behind them or any of the other things that could happen whilst on Diamox or not.

So I decided to take up Ash’s amazing offer of her spare drugs – I did ask the side effects first though and thought I could cope with them – in the end it was just tingling fingers and toes.  I started to take it that night and took it until we started our descent.

Do I think I could have made it without Diamox?  Probably.  The first time we had our oxygen levels taken at Moir Camp which is just under 4000m my oxygen was 97% which is normal.  The girls were in the high 80’s somewhere I believe.  I was so happy for my sturdy little body that had worked so hard with me to get fit for this climb!  I am 47 years old and I am holding my own with the youngsters!  The next time my oxygen was taken was at base camp (I think) and at 4600m it was 92% which was still higher than Ash and Lindsay's. My pulse was also only 75bpm which is normal for me as I have lowish blood pressure so my body was coping really well with what it was being put through.  The Diamox probably helped to make it a really enjoyable experience, I had such a great time right up to Summit night.  I did love Summit night too but that was when it was really really hard.  I didn't get have any altitude sickness symptoms at all and it wasn't until we were at approx 4600m on our descent that I got a headache but that was probably dehydration and lack of sleep as I hadn't really slept properly in 26 hours!

Do I regret taking Diamox?  No.

I am really glad I did, for myself, for my friends, and  for the charities who will benefit from the amazing amount of sponsorship I have had from friends.

And because I don’t have any pictures from this first day in Arusha, here are some cute pics of me with some monkeys I fell in love with!!!

suzxxx

Kilimanjaro? Yes you can!!!

"You are climbing Kilimanjaro?!, Ash, I have to come with you?!"  Not sure if those were my exact words as we were out for lunch on a Saturday afternoon in Glasgow and our lunches usually have more liquid in them than food.  Lindsay then joined us and her words were may be the same, I suspect she only has a vague memory of this afternoon too.

So we all woke up on the Sunday with hangovers and a realisation that in 18 months time we would be climbing the Worlds Tallest Freestanding Mountain!  Oh Fuck!  What had we agreed to?!

Me being me, went online and immediately paid my deposit so I wasn't backing out of it and then told anyone that would listen that I was doing it, again so that I couldn't back out of it.  "Feel The Fear And Do It Anyway" was what I kept and keep quoting.

We had talked, whilst drunk, about how we would train together and do a Munro every month for 18 months and by then Mt Kili would seem like a wee mole hill!  Eh well those 18 months have passed and we are just over a week away from the climb and we failed to climb a munro together in the whole 18 months - shit or what?  To be fair we have all walked a couple of munro's separately and done a few wee walks together but we were much better and far more organised at turning up for the Kili Crew Drinks and Dinners.  If only drinking and eating were the main goal of this Mountain!  We would definitely SMASH it.

Having climbed Mount Kailash (5,700 metres) 5 years ago I have a vague idea of the torture we are about to put ourselves through so in the last 3 months I have trained quite hard with the help of Vince, my amazing Personal Trainer!

I hate the gym and particularly hate cardio but he made tossing tyres and carrying a 32kg kettle bell in each hand from one end of the gym to the other seem fun!  Vince then got me dead lifting and that is where I became fully engaged in my fitness.  It was me versus a bar and various weights and how many reps I could do before the bar beat me - I don't take being beaten well so I pushed myself beyond what I thought my body was capable of doing to the point where I deadlifted 92.5kg - 1.5 times my own body weight!  Who knew I was that strong?!  and I actually enjoyed it!  or did I enjoy that I got to have 5 minutes rest in between reps and although it is a total cardio work out it didn't really feel like it because I didn't really move?!!! Anyway Vince has started something that I will continue.  We did move on to rack lifting in our last session where I lifted 150kgs - afterwards I had black bruising from the top of my knee to the top of my thigh as I dragged the bar all the way up my body - it was a tough lift but I definitely felt I had more to give with the rack lifting!!

Who knew that my love of Geoff Capes and the Worlds Strongest Man in my youth would lead me to weight lifting in my forties!!!  LOVE IT!!!  Wonder what Mr Capes is up to these days - is he still alive?  Off to Goggle..... PHEW it appears he is still alive https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoff_Capes

So here I am able to lift a f'ing mountain but can I climb it?!  We will know in a couple of weeks!!

I will do my best to blog every day, there will be times when I don't have internet or signal so there may be a few blogs get up loaded at the same time but please keep checking back for up dates.

You can sponsor my climb - helping two amazing animals charities, even a couple of pounds makes a huge difference to the doggies and horses.  THANK YOU! https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/suzanne-reid-1

suzxxx

This was early on in my Deadlifting training - think this was 70kg

This was the night I reached my PB of 92.5kg!  This pic shows me doing 80kg I think.

my 150kg rack lift! what a maniac! do you think the girls watching in the background are jealous
 or just waiting for me to fail?!!

Positive Things Happen to Positive People...

Have any of you read The Secret?  Its funny, I read it and as I read it I felt I already new everything that was in the book.  Now we can know it all but putting it into practice is so much harder!

I had a very spiritual experience around the words "Positive Things Happen to Positive People"!  Now those who know me know I have LOTS of ghost stories to tell - I have had lots of 'experiences' with the other side - but this story isn't really about ghosts - or may be it is but I think of it more of my Guardian Angels and Spirit Guides agreeing with me and letting me know that they agreed!

So to the story....

3 years ago - the anniversary is only a couple of weeks away - I was producing a short film called Saved which was a Creative Scotland and BBC Scotland funded short film.  We only had a budget of £11k so a tiny amount of money to achieve our script.  Prep went well and we had 2 12 year old kids chosen as our stars who are great wee actors.  On day one we had 22 young children as background extras in the school bus - and as many of you will remember the 1st November 3 years ago was when we headed into one of the worst winters to hit Scotland for 15 years and of course it started snowing.  Day one was not too bad and we got through it as the snow was not too heavy but by day 2 Cumbernauld our shooting location was getting deeper under snow and everyone was looking to me as the producer to make the decision to call it a day or to keep going - as all my wonderful crew realised that day is that I do not give up on anything easily and I dragged them willing or not through the whole of the shoot!  I am sorry its just a bit of snow!!! We dug ourselves into our locations and we dug ourselves out of locations.  We lost locations because we couldn't even get 4 wheel drives into them so I went off and found new locations - some of them I never was able to get permission from because they were not home, SORRY, but I did try!  There were crew who couldn't get through the weather and I filled in for them but there were so many crew who did make it and picked up a shovel and started either digging us in or digging us out.  We had trouble from the locals and while the security guard hid behind the camera truck, I talked the youths out of throwing ice bombs at my crew as they packed up the camera kit.  This wee short film was a true test of my resilience, grit and determination.

It was on Day 4 of a 5 day shoot with some of the worst weather - the M8 was closed because of ice on the motorway - that my location manager called me in hysterics saying we couldn't get into cumbernauld because of a jack-knifed lorry.  I ask if there were other roads open into Cumbernauld and in the locations managers panic she started telling me that we weren't going to get in and we should all be allowed to go home - it was at this point I tried to calm her down and tell her that everything would be fine and there is more than one road into Cumbernauld and I did understand it was difficult on the roads because of the weather BUT it wasn't impossible.  I said to her "Come on positive things happen to positive people"!  She didn't believe me and after we said goodbye on the phone I repeated my Mantra "POSITIVE THINGS HAPPEN TO POSITIVE PEOPLE".  At that point my radio starting turning up and was turned to full pelt - Kylie Minogue, I should be so lucky! - I didn't have a car with one of those fancy steering wheel radio controls and as I looked at the radio surprised that it had suddenly started blasting out as it was on quiet as I was on my handsfree, I moved my hand towards the  radio control but something stopped my hand from turning down the music - it was weird - it was like a forcefield between my hand and the radio making me acknowledge my statement and 'I Should Be So Lucky'.

Something stopped me from switching Kylie down and by doing that it made me acknowledge what I had just said - Positive Things Happen To Positive People.

Its true - I dragged my crew, some willing, some not so, through our wee short film and it has done very well on the festival circuit winning some awards - for those interested here is a clip http://vimeo.com/channels/420075/22835788

That moment of being physically stopped by some amazing spiritual/angel guide from turning my radio down has stayed with me and 3 years later I have a great belief that being positive is the only way to make things happen in your life.

I have realised more and more in the last few years that I am surrounded by people who just don't have it in them to thing positively and I have noticed that lots of not so good things happen to them - they seem to manifest bad things with their gloom on life.  I want to shake these people and make them realise that actually by turning your thoughts by just 1 degree to being positive you can make a tiny bit of difference to your own life and those of others.

I have lived part of my life being one of those negative people - when you can only see that shit is coming and why would anything good happen but I have turned this around and feel so blessed to have what I have and I say THANKYOU a lot to the Universe - it has never failed to deliver if it is something that is right for me.

If you REALLY want something then go and get it - don't be scared or don't think you are good enough just go and get it.  Manifest it, imagine yourself doing it and that is what will happen.  If you really want it then as the Universe to help - the Universe LOVES it when you ask for help - especially when it is for something that you really really want.

NEVER doubt and always believe in what you want, its the ONLY way forward!

Good luck!

suzxxx

Always push yourself out of your comfort zone....

Have I spent my whole life pushing myself out of my comfort zone?  No I haven't.  But have I more than occasionally pushed outside of my comfort zone?  ABSOLUTELY!  As I get older I keep pushing and pushing and pushing or may be its because I am in search of answers to my many questions that makes my keep pushing and pushing and pushing.

I think by pushing out of my nice safe place within my body and mind I am becoming a better person (some of you may disagree!!) - I have become more patient, more tolerant, more willing to listen, more willing to learn and more willing to allow myself to breathe.

There is a book called 'Feel The Fear and Do It Anyway' by Susan Jeffers http://www.susanjeffers.com/home/detailtemplate.cfm?catID=2234 (cut and paste the link if it doesn't work).

The book is available second hand on Amazon for 49p so no excuse not to have read it for those of you on a journey of self development!

It is a brilliant book where she states there are no right and wrong answers just the opportunity to grow.

By pushing our own boundaries we open ourselves up to so much the World and Universe has to offer.

If we go way back to when I was 17 years old, if I had stayed within my comfort zone I would have taken a full time job at the local supermarket that was offered and never dreamt of leaving my home town and jumping on the London Bus on my own  to go and find work in the city where the streets are paved in Gold (hmmm that bit is a myth!).  So taking a modern twist on this some 26 years later, if I had stayed within my comfort zone I would NEVER have gone to South America on my own.  Everyone I talk to about it is usually either shocked that I did this amazing trip as a lone female who wasn't able to speak Spanish or they are in total admiration with a tinge of jealousy as they would love to do something similar but would feel fearful to travel on their own because 'something might happen to them'.

Was I worried about my trip and what might happen to me - yes, occasionally in moments of doubt about my own mortality of course I worried about 'what might happen if...' but I have become a great believer in Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway.

My Ayahuasca Ceremony is probably proof that I pushed my comfort zone a bit too far - I still haven't written in my blog my full feelings on what happened during the 5 hours of the ceremony and the days, weeks and months after this but I am getting closer to being able to, you will all be pleased to hear!!  I really struggled to cope for the first half of this ceremony - having pushed my body, soul and conciousness beyond what they were ready to accept but fortunately they all caught up with me so I had 2 and a half hours of beautiful resolution.

When I tell others the tale of my Ayahuasca Ceremony I again see the disbelief that I did this on my own just with a Shaman in the middle of the Amazon jungle and again some people have total admiration at my madness.  People look agast and say to me "But you could have died!"  Yes that is true but if you are not fearful of death (my Buddhist beliefs take over here and that is definitely a different longer blog!) then why would that stop you from doing anything?

I see in some of these people that they would LOVE to do something like this - seeing my act as completely Courageous and that there was NO WAY they could do anything like that because they are not Courageous - I tell these people to FEEL THE FEAR AND DO IT ANYWAY!!  Its not about Courage, its about pushing your own boundaries which help to make yourself a better person who will then be able to deal with the life we feel we have been dealt in a better/different way.

Another book that has been instrumental in my self development is Who Moved My Cheese by Spencer Johnson http://www.spencerjohnson.com/Book-WhoMovedMyCheese.html (cut and paste if the link doesn't work).

I am 43 years old and there are many times in this Life (and many of my other lives - but thats going back to my Buddhist believes!) that my Cheese has been moved - sometimes by myself but usually by other people.  I like to think I have become a very adaptable person who, when change happens, goes with the flow, although there has definitely been a few FUCK YOU within my adaptations!  Definitely in the last 4 years since I started my "journey" I have been hugely adaptable when my Cheese has been moved.  Do I moan that yet again my Cheese has been moved - FUCK YEAH! But I have, over the years, spent less time moaning and more time adapting and getting on with it.

So my advice to you is Feel the Fear - the best bit of all of this is when you Feel the Fear but say Fuck It and do it anyway!  Oh that brings me to the Fuck It Guides - a brilliant trio of books - could not have got to where I am in life today without this trio of brilliant books by John Parkin - go to the website and do the Fuck It Test http://www.thefuckitlife.com (again cut and paste if the link doesn't work).  John is brilliant, amazing and so perceptive.  I aspire to making The Trainee Healer book as funny, as interesting and as huge a learning experience as John's books are.

suzxxx

Playing catch up and need some help from the Universe...

Okay huge apologies to my regular readers who have missed my blogging ramblings!!! Its been a busy time and also I have to have something happen for me to want to update my blog and I am not sure I have had anything interesting to say.

I wanted to share that I have asked the Universe for help in getting all the shite done that I need to do before December!  I have 3 Bach flower remedy human case studies which are done but i need to type up and send in but 2 of them are brain busters and need a lot of thought as I type them up so have been putting them off.

Along with that I have my EFT Case studies to do - one was on myself and my work on getting my confidence back with riding horses and anyone who has read my blog when I was travelling in South America knows that EFT certainly worked to help me but need to type that up and have 2 other case studies, one nearly ready to type up and the other I just had my first session with the client on Sunday so still a bit of work to do there.

My Animal Bach flower remedies course I need to type up 10 consultation meetings into some kind of coherent professional field study along with a personal assessment.

I now have 6 case studies and 5 assignments to finish in the next 5 months for my Equine Healing.

I will now have a huge amount of books to get through for my Equine Behaviour qualification which I am doing and also a huge field study that lasts 6 months.

I also have my colour therapy case studies which are sitting completely untouched as everything else has taken priority.

Wholly fuck when you write it down it is a lot of work to do and along with all my real work that pays the bills I am going to be more than busy for the next few months.

So I am asking the Universe to help me - I need focus, energy and some kind of spark to get me pushed on and get me finishing up everything - my flower remedy work is so important to me that that will come first then EFT and then Equine Healing and then my Equine Behaviour but it really is all a little over whelming.

Have I taken too much on - probably!!! Do I wish I hadn't done so many courses - NO!  I have learnt so much and grown so much as a person because each course has helped me on my own self development journey but its time to get the head down and get on with it all!

I attended an EFT mentoring group on Saturday in Edinburgh which was brilliant and has got me all excited about EFT again (Emotional Freedom Technique)  its so simple and it really works!  so pushing on with those case studies which have to be in by December otherwise I will have to do the whole course again.

Although in saying that my Bach Flower Remedies for humans is so over due and is due in at christmas too and if I don't get that in I have to sit the exam again - no F*cking way I want to have to do that again.

So as you can see I took too much on but with the help of the universe creating time and motivation for me i will get it all done and pass everything and get all my certificates before Christmas!

Watch this space.....

suzxxx

When Animals Heal Other Animals and then talk to humans....

If I hadn't witnessed this myself I would have thought it not possible for my cat Finnley to be lying next to a baby Thrush!  I had been pottering around at my pond and turned round to see Finnley sitting with this baby Thrush - Milli my killer cat was sitting there too at the beginning but as I approached she moved towards me as if to stop me going any further.  I sat down a couple of feet away and for more than 30 minutes I watch Finn give healing to this baby Thrush.  

I could see the baby thrush closing its eyes and taking the universal energy deep within itself.  This wee bird was loving every second of this healing and Finn, my big black buddha, was just so amazing.  I know when Finn is healing as he taps the end of his tail up and down - the way a cat does when it is annoyed but finnley does his whole tail when he is annoyed and only the tip when he is healing.

What an amazing healer he is - at one point he leant forward and touched his nose to the head of the thrush and the thrush just sat there looking up at him continuing to absorb the universal energy.

I began to worry that the Thrush had may be flown into the conservatory window and was stunned but it was quite far away from the window and was on its feet and at moments when there was movement around it would open its eyes and look around.

My friend FJ who had just arrived back from riding climbed over the fence to see what I was looking at and she took these amazing photos - it truly was like watching a miracle happen, we both felt it.

While sitting watching this happen I was thinking about the day before where I got a call on location to go and help a 'sparrow' that was trapped in the piano room at the house we were shooting in.  

I arrived with the Unit Manager and looked around and finally spotted a baby robin sitting on a stool under a desk.  I asked the unit manager to open a window and then to leave me with the bird - I planned on trying what my good friend and animal communicator does with spiders - she actually talks them into the plastic tub so she can put them outside!!  I witnessed her doing it so I thought I might be able to do this with the wee baby robin.  

After the unit manager left I started to heal and let the baby robin feel the energy which would allow us to communicate.  The birdy was a bit confused to start with and didn't really understand how it had got into the house or how it could get out so I talked to it gently and explained that the window was open and all it needed to do was to fly out of the window and it would be free to go and find its mother.  It took 15 mins before eventually the robin realised what it needed to do and it dropped to the floor from its position on top of the light and then flew up and out of the window.  

So as I watched this baby bird with my big cat I wonder what the message was - my shaman Adrian told me that my guardians would send me messages in the form of other beings so just like the millepede I wondered what the message was.  At this point Finn got up from his healing spot and came over to me so I thought the Thrush would then fly off but it turned towards me and looked me straight in the eye and said 'write the book'.  Where the fuck did that come from I asked and the wee birdy continued to look at me and said again 'write the book, we were all fledglings but eventually we have to fly'.  Thats the kind of message you get in those buddhist cards on Facebook! How amazing to get this message.  Yep I have been fannying around and not writing the book although I keep remembering stories that I must remember to include in The Trainee Healer book but never actually have sat down to even think about writing it.  I don't know where to start is part of the problem but I suppose starting at the beginning would be a good start and I think that was part of the message from the baby birds - start at the beginning just as they are!

After the Thrush delivered its message, it flew off into the trees fully energised from his big black buddha healing session.

I thanked the baby Thrush, Finnley and Milli for allowing me to be part of that whole experience and have new determination to sit down and start writing from the beginning - wish me luck!!! suzxxx