My brother Wilton and niece Louise were both up to help me but nephew Charlie was still sound asleep. Even stumbling over him on the floor was not enough to get him moving. (He prefers to be there as the drawer has got a little too tight...;)) he's over 6ft!
the weather was dry and not too much wind thank goodness.We even had a little sunshine! The fire-walk people had said if it's too windy we will do a glass walk instead! This was going to prove a new challenge as I had done a fire-walk before but not prepared myself for glass! Anyway, with that thought out of the way I could have a little fun and encourage people to get their faces painted by Jane from facetoface. So with Gary Trotman's Caribbean steel band blasting in my ears I got some flames leaping over my cheeks !
We had a number of visitors ( a small number) but the atmosphere was really lovely and everyone made an effort to make the place look festive and sparkling.
Few visitors meant fewer sales but most people were able to take something positive away from the experience.
Sometimes these events are more about who you meet......
We had a small drama during the day, just as a few visitors got interested in the tables laden with goodies there was a major power cut, pitching the whole place into semi darkness for over an hour.This was obviously the reason why I decided to buy loads of glow sticks a week or two ago, there are NO accidents!
Thankfully the music was unaffected and Gary (professional that he is) soldiered on keeping everyone's spirits in party mode.! The shout went out, 'Is there an electrician in the house?' we found one and then another arrived with tools ( much more effective!)
Anyway, while all this was going on I had to do the obligatory seminar before the fire walk. this is where you are shown the meaning of FEAR :-
False
Evidence
Appearing
Real
This is life affirming stuff! the speaker was very positive ( I can only remember Mark) was so tired by then everything was blending together in a blur! Then he demonstrated with a couple of volunteers, a few arrows, some planks of wood and a steel bar. How we can get past what we think of as an obstacle just by changing the way we perceive it. I think a few lives were changed right there. People were breaking arrows in the soft point of their neck by moving forward onto them, busting through planks of pine with one punch and two steel bars were bent using the same technique of the soft hollow in the neck and pushing toward each other( don't try this at home!) It was truly amazing.
so now the moment of truth had arrived would I be able to do this again? conditions were different , ( I definitely don't remember the embers looking that hot!) the grass was freezing cold and wet, my feet hurting so much from a ten minute wait on this, than the burning embers under my feet. It was so dark, the fire had died right down but still glowing, I tripped on the small rise in height from the protective layer of turf, nearly pitched headlong into the fire....! thankfully recovered, I don't think anyone noticed and then I was on... and off again!
It's all over so fast. I thought it would be longer, was certain that the other one was much longer but this one only 4 steps and you're done! Elated but so tired I can hardly take it all in now I can relax...
Not so, a little boy plainly distressed and no parents in sight said he was looking for his brother... a few minutes later re-united with Mum who was wondering why he didn't get back to the car with the rest of the family! He was convinced that his younger sibling was missing and convinced me too!
So anyway, I've waffled on quite enough and I know you have been waiting for my Ella, so without further ado...! :)
ELLA WEST>I hadn't seen Lucinda in a while, so the Fire Walk was a perfect excuse to go to the gallery. I met Lucinda's new Saturday girl Victoria, who is a very talented poster maker . Here she is with the poster we made for Lucinda before the fire walk.
I had a really great day at the Courtyard, I bought some Christmas presents for my family and finally met one of Lucinda's artists, Richard Ballantyne. I got the chance to take of photo of them together, with Lucinda in her lovely face paint
There were a lot more fire walkers then I expected for the event, and Lucinda was about the 7th to walk. There were a few stumbles where people felt the heat but Lucinda walked with grace over the embers. Here she is in action, it's hard to see her, but she's there!
this is me signing off from the blog, Ella x
No comments:
Post a Comment