Pink Apple Life

Back in the UK

2007-11-25T12:47:00.000-05:00

Hello everyone,
we are now home, we arrived yesterday brruuuurrrr its sooooooo cold, but I hear you say sooooo sunny, OK well yes its very beautiful and sunny but freezing cold. I am wearing a number of coats and gloves!

We had a great flight nice and smooth and we managed to sleep a little, we are just settling in to our little room at a friends house which we are using until we find a flat to live in. There are plenty on the market so it should not be too long before we can get all our stuff out of storage and get ready for a family Christmas.

I hope we shall see you all soon and thank you for the emails and support. We will be in contact but for now Pink Apple Life blog spot will go on hold for a bit. I will be busy now developing the Awakening with Horses programme which is gathering support which is showing me which direction to be going in next.

Peace and Love

Caro

Coming home

2007-11-16T09:43:00.000-05:00

Well, we are coming home maybe as early as early next week, Thank you everyone who has been sending kind thoughts and messages for a good outcome for all. I think it a good opportunity to look at how and what we manifest in our lives for our learning, I know that it has been quite a journey for Bernie and myself.

I look forward to seeing you all soon, this is probably the last blog entry for a few days until we arrive home.

Peace and Love
Caro xxx

Difficult situation

2007-11-14T17:14:00.000-05:00

As you know we have had problems with the water supply here, well we have also been experiencing all sorts of other problems with the noise around this area and the past couple of months have been extremely challenging in that aspect. We decided pretty early on that it was not going to be suitable to bring people down here. It has been a huge learning curve for us and one which I hope we have fully integrated. We are in the process of attempting to secure some sort of refund on the house and compensation. We plan to come back to the UK much earlier than we first thought, we hope to be home before Christmas now. We will keep you posted on progress. Meanwhile please send good thoughts for the best outcome for all concerned in this situation - thank you

Heart of Stone and Bernie's brush with a lorry

2007-11-12T15:28:00.000-05:00

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Heart of Stone
We went down to the beach this morning for our walk and a swim and I found this beautiful stone. It was just after I had mentioned to Bernie about a small palm tree growing on the beach, I said 'I haven't seen that tree before have you?' Bernie told me that it had always been there! It got me thinking about how we only see things when we are ready and how much just passes us by. As I was contemplating this, I looked down and the stone was right there mmmmm... I had to bring it home and photograph it for you.

Bernie's brush with a lorry
Unfortunately a lorry squiged the hire car Bernie was driving yesterday, going around a roundabout the lorry was in the wrong lane, its cost a lot of money even though we take insurance you have to pay the first $250 US it takes 6 weeks plus to get a police report which you pay for and then they let you know who was in the wrong, no witness statement was taken even though there was one which would have been good for Bernie, the police didn’t want to know about it… ta de dum.. It’s a good meditation to be here right now-!!

Must be past Karma catching up????

Love Caro and Bernie

Buddhist Day Retreat

2007-11-11T19:31:00.000-05:00

Today I have had the great pleasure to go on a Buddhist day retreat led by an incredible speaker, Kelsang Rigden, a Canadian Buddhist nun from the Tara Kadampa Centre in Barbados.

We were truly blessed by her grace, humility and humour, we spent all day in meditation, prayers and rest, it was very beautiful and such a welcome rest for me from what has become a difficult and challenging time here in the house, we have been experiencing a lot of noise from the road works and I am not sure if we will be able to stay here under these conditions much longer, we are trying to negotiate something with the agents and owners.

This is an excerpt from today:

A mind clouded with negativity and distraction brings confusion and pain. In our busy life it is hard to rid our mind of these clouds and easy to let negative minds overwhelm us and take control. Discover how to access the blissful clarity of your mind and banish distractions, improving mindfulness and inner balance.

Just what I need right now-!!

Love to all Caro xx

Update on Diet and Dancing Parrot

2007-11-09T12:28:00.000-05:00

Update On Diet.
Well.... mmmmm......things are OK but I am finding it difficult right now due to our water problem, not to use that as an excuse even though it is. I mentioned before that I was steaming a bit of starch as in rice or sweet potato, what I have found is that by doing that I have cut down on the amount of greens, that I know is not a very smart thing to do and by writing about it brings it into focus for me. Sharing this all helps with re - focusing. When I first came here I was going to do a juice feast, I decided that it was not going to happen early on in the stay due to working out. I found that the combination of the heat with my fitness and emotional levels was too much to tackle all at once, so I have broken it down into slices. I decided to tackle the fitness first and that is ongoing, I am much fitter in the legs due to the one and a half hours hill walking 4/5 times a week, I have built that up from 2 times per week in the beginning. Trying to get upper body fitness is proving hard as my shoulder plays up if I do much. Swimming is fun and I do that in the pool every day and on the beach when we get there. So my sense is that it is time for another step, I think it is time for more greens, juices and less starch. I don't seem to eat much fruit either as the sweetness is too much. Sunrider products of course for me stay up there as a daily priority.

Bernie is working out every day at the gym and is looking well. He leaves me at the villa to get on with my work, taking the mini bus down town before heading up to Rodney Bay to the gym.

Dancing Parrot
Everyday I get people sending me various info, this I just had to share, I thought it was so funny and I know my son Ben will love it!

love for now

Caro and Bernie

Back again! Apologies, National Geographic, and Jet ski's.

2007-11-07T09:40:00.000-05:00

Apologies for not writing for a few days, we are still suffering with problems over water. WASCO have not connected us as yet despite many promises, we have been buying water instead from the local shop which is OK, well at least after I have remembered to go into my heart and be awesomely OK with it all. Local shops are somewhat different than the local corner shop in the UK, here the local shop is a little wooden shack, which sells a few tinned provisions, alcohol and thankfully bottled water.

National Geographic
We have a small TV and I have got interested in some of the programmes from NG they also have a really interesting website and on there I found a short film clip, if you are interested in horses or camels take a look!

http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/player/news/animals-news/australia-camels-apvin.html

Jet Ski's
One of the things that are funny here is the Christmas advert on TV when it’s so hot. It always seems so strange to me when I am here in the sun at Christmas rather than the cold and dark of the UK, with Father Christmas arriving on a jet ski rather than down the chimney-!! I am grateful though to be missing all the consumerism that goes on in the western world, no one here is speaking of Christmas yet except an odd advert here and there. I looked for a video for you and found this one, really cool I think, must remember to go play on a jet ski soon

Love for now Caro and Bernie

Life is short

2007-11-04T12:13:00.000-05:00

A friend sent this to me the other day;

Life is short, Break the rules, Forgive quickly,
Kiss slowly, Love Truly, Laugh uncontrollably,
And never regret anything that made you Smile.

Life may not be the party we hoped for, but while we're here we should Dance . . .

Warriors don't always have to fight. They may just need to stand up!

Thanks Diana x

No Water

2007-11-04T11:33:00.000-05:00

Well interesting how we take the wet stuff for granted in the UK here we are in St Lucia, the water has been off for 3 days due to two things;

1. the people who are building the road broke the pipe and took out the water meter with their JCB thingy a week ago, the water board WASCO have done nothing about it with water running down the gully at the side of the road DURR!!*** And they keep on TV ‘save water, we don’t have much’ etc.

2. The water pump which is the only way the water goes around the house is broken!

The tanks that we have, four of them, two for WASCO pumped water which are now empty and two for the rainwater collection off the roof. I have now discovered the delights of bathing and washing hair in rainwater, no need for conditioner, well it was great until the pump died. The rain clouds blow in straight off the Atlantic Ocean so I guess its pure-ish apart from loads of pollutants which I am sure someone will tell me about. We drink it but I do filter it and put it in prill beads and cosmic stones.

So for now we have no water apart from a big swimming pool and a couple of litres for drinking, not really dire I know but still makes me really grateful for what we have so easily in the UK.

Rain, RIP Mr Mouse, Books and food

2007-11-01T13:25:00.000-05:00

Rain

Well I will say no more about the monsoon weather we seem to be getting, I consider we have been lucky compared to the Bahamas with tropical storm Noel which is now progressing up to hurricane level, possibly later today.

We are very lucky here and I have only once experienced a hurricane, it was in 1999, but to be honest I was in the gym when the worst of it passed through, It was only when I came out when walking home that I became aware that it was a hurricane! I had gone into the gym and there was high winds, a bit stormy, when I came out there was debris lying around, and everything looked like it had been dragged though the hedge backwards, the seas were really rough with waves which reached right through the beach front hotels dining and lobby area’s. Worst was for a couple of weeks we couldn’t swim in the sea because of all the rubbish and branches around.

Mice

A little mouse came in and died in the chair this week…. RIP

Books

With all of this bad weather I have got stuck in to finishing a children’s story which I am writing, I wrote it a couple of years ago and have meant to do something with it, finally I am getting it finished and it will be ready for launch in a few weeks as an e-book download.

I have also been reading a book by Mark Silver ‘unveiling the heart of your business’
I really love this book because it explains in detail how money, marketing and sales can deepen your heart, heal the world, and still add to your bottom line. If you would like to read about him here is the link http://www.heartofbusiness.com/

Training and raw foods

Training is going well, I am much fitter than when I arrived on the Island, although I have not been able to weigh myself my clothes are looser so I must be losing the inches. My diet is so simple made up of a little fruit, coconut water and sometimes the meat inside. Every day my diet includes some of the following; Lettuce, tomatoes, spinach cucumbers, avocado’s, chard and about three times a week I have a little steamed rice or some root vegetable. Every day I use extra virgin olive oil, raw coconut oil, seeds and almonds, I also take some sunrider super foods, it feels easy to do and my body is very happy. I only drink water now or coconut juice, as juicing fruits was too strong for me. At the moment the liquidiser has broken so that also plays a part. I wouldn't mind some raw chocolate though!

Bernie is eating well and has joined a gym with no air con! Thats a hard one for him and he tries to go before it gets too hot.

Thats all for now folks,

Love Caro

New Game

2007-10-28T08:51:00.000-05:00

I think this is cool, and I have now learnt how to put films on the blog, enjoy!

Walk in nature

2007-10-27T16:33:00.000-05:00

This afternoon we went for an exploration to Marke beach. We had been told that you could get so far by road then we would need to walk. The road was a dirt and rock track about two miles off the good road i.e. beaten down stone, I was really looking forward to going as it seemed quite an adventure, it was!

Bumping around on the road was fun and there was nothing around, I mean no people, no rubbish not a sign that anyone was anywhere or ever had been, only farmed land, but no people on it that we could see! It was great to be so isolated, it felt as though we were the only people there as it was as silent as only nature can be. It felt so good just to be, lapping up the silence once we left the jeep.

After leaving the jeep when we got to the gates we then walked along the track. This was a 500-acre farm owned by one family and fronting eventually onto the beach, unfortunately we didn’t reach the beach because of the rains of late the way was barred by water. But we did enjoy the tranquillity of the walk, I took the photo’s and I particularity enjoyed taking the one of the butterfly. You see Bernie with his machete looking like my guardian angel, to me anyway.

Tonight now at 5-30 pm it is dark and the thunder is rolling around, the tree frogs are singing and there is a heavy feeling in the air, oh and there’s the lightning. Tomorrow is Juno Kweole or Creole Day, All sorts of traditional foods will be served up and a massive all island party will be on the go from breakfast to late night. We are going to drive down south and join in with Bernie’s Father James and his new wife Mutt for the celebrations.

Have a great weekend everyone,

Love Caro and Bernie

Sunscreen

2007-10-26T10:40:00.000-05:00

I have been wondering about sunbathing and sunscreen, my intuition has been to stop using sunscreen and to only sunbathe for an hour max a day and not between 12-3p.m.
I have been researching this and find some interesting information on the subject to lead me to believe that I am to follow the strong intuition about this. Now my brother has always sunbathed all his life without sunscreen all times of the day and he is now 55 and showing no ill affects what so ever.

My understanding is that we need vitamin D to stay healthy and to ward off cancer and sunscreen prevents that, also the chemicals in the sunscreen are often carcinogenic so I am left with; "follow what is right for me and stay as close to nature as possible".

I am as always seeking to eat a diet which includes all the produce which is high in antioxidants, Vitamins and minerals which gives a natural sunburn prevention, this I believe happens by eating living foods and staying away from toxic substances which we find in processed and non-organic foods.

Eco Organic Farm
Bernie and I have been developing our plans for our ECO organic farm here, its an exciting project and one which we hope to share with as many people as possible once the initial farm which is already there grows a bit more into the way we are seeing possible.

My feeling is that if we look after the planet the planet will look after us, it just takes a bit of love.

And the rain fell, again!

2007-10-26T10:21:00.000-05:00

I cant tell you about the rain as it was just to much, torrents would be a good word for it, so I give you a couple of pictures of the garden taken from the balcony yesterday. The first picture is of the front drive, note the plastic swan in the background! The second is behind the house falling away into the main river which runs eventually to the sea, the river is around 50 feet lower than the garden.

This morning we had a rest bite from it, we went out on exercise around 7a.m. and it was just cloudy and cool (approx 25C) We managed to get back before it started to rain again, I still went swimming in the pool which was fun actually, it was warm in there and I like to swim in the rain.

Now it is just raining quietly and I am waiting for Bernie to come back with a jeep, we are off shopping and I hope to the beach and sunbathe later. Its funny that it can rain cats and dogs here and be dry and sunny just a few miles away, and visa versa.

Thats all for now folks

love Caro xx

Louvet Beach

2007-10-25T11:20:00.000-05:00

I have found out the name of the beach we want to hike to, and in searching I found this website which has pictures of it. Now I am really getting keen to visit it as it looks so peaceful and obviously not many people go there, in all the years I have visited the island I have only just found out about it! The photo’s look great click here to see them

BBC news/ health article

2007-10-25T10:44:00.000-05:00

Diet choices 'written in genes'
Some food preferences may be down to DNA
Our genes and not just our upbringing may play a key role in our food likes and dislikes, UK researchers believe. Click here to read the complete article

Thunder and Lightning

2007-10-24T10:16:00.000-05:00

Last night we had the most amazing thunder and lightning storm ever, it was almost directly overhead and the rain fell like a solid blanket with no holes in between! When we went for our walk this morning we went a new way and along the road we crossed a concrete bridge. The water off the hills was still running fiercely even though the rain had stopped long before. You could see that in the night the river, which was now around six feet below the edge of the bridge, had risen up and over flowed, there were pieces of debris left on top of the road way.

The flash floods you can get here are sudden and dangerous if you are living below a hill, I just heard on the news last night of a family that lost their house like this. I know that many local type of plywood houses here have been lost before to floods, it’s a constant problem.

Nutmeg

2007-10-24T09:51:00.001-05:00

Just an interesting picture of nutmeg! I thought you might like to see it too, Bernie bought me some back to grate on the top of my nut milk shakes. I have never taken notice of the amazing structure of the seed and coat of the nut until this time of writing.

we hope everyone is enjoying the blog

love Caro and Bernie

We are so lucky

2007-10-22T16:49:00.000-05:00

How lucky are we to have this garden full of all its delights. it is sooo lovely to come back after our morning excersise and fall into the pool!

Thoughts on Diet

2007-10-22T16:40:00.000-05:00

I wanted to log down my raw food findings for this body / mind.

Last week I went 100% raw except that little blip with the bread. What I am finding is that when I do a lot of exercise my body is sending out signals that it wants starch. Yesterday I went down the beach first thing and ran and walked the one mile using a system of interval training http://sportsmedicine.about.com/od/tipsandtricks/a/Intervals.htm

Afterwards I swam with flippers around half a mile in the same way. Later again in the afternoon I did the same swim. My body replied to this workout with wanting starch and I felt a bit odd until I had a small portion of cooked rice, a small raw cabbage salad and a couple of small pieces of breadfruit and half a green fig (a kind of unripe banana which you cook) I am beginning to realise that I need to look at ways in which I can give myself these foods in a good way without destroying the enzymes by too much heat. Some foods just seem better to me steamed a bit to soften them. I still feel comforted by starch that way too.

My diet for that day consisted of
Before exercise
A sunrider sunbar

After exercise
Juice and meat of a coconut to keep me going whilst I made

A sunrider vitashake mixed with almond milk and the almond pulp of about 15 almonds

Later that a.m. 1 pint of green juice

After second exercise
2-30 pm the small starch meal

5pm
2 mangoes and the meat of one coconut made into ice cream (just frozen up nothing added)

After this I was not hungry and just drank more water. I drink around 2-3 litres a day of water

I can see that this is an unfolding journey and not a destination and I could be more in transition, which would be gentle on the body. For me its easy to get caught up in ‘getting it right or being goal orientated with being a raw food vegan. I am finally getting to be more in the moment and responding to my body in a way which is more supportive.

I am also spending a little time each day on the net researching the signals my body is sending to me to create a mental understanding of the nutrients in different foods.

All for now

love Caro xx

New raw food connection

2007-10-21T17:37:00.000-05:00

As you already know I have been enjoying all the lovely raw food here, well at the party I mention in the next post, (got the posts the wrong way around!) last night I met a guy called Andrew who told me that their hotel is implementing a raw food option! How cool is that. Anyway they have invited me up to meet the person responsible for the menus and nutritional advice. I hope to go up sometime next week. I will let you know how it goes, maybe I will get to sample some of the raw delights, I hope so!

Sunset

2007-10-21T17:36:00.000-05:00

Tonight I took a lovely sunset picture from Gros Islet where we partied last night.

Beaches and Party

2007-10-19T10:32:00.000-05:00

Today we went down to Reduit beach, one of the lads took this photo of us before we went off for a swim, the weather was pretty dark and there had been lightning storms the night before, which were fun to sit and watch from the beach in the semi- darkness. Lat night we went to a street party, the music was so loud it made my whole body vibrate hitting it in the chest with those sound waves man –cool and one radical way of changing your vibration!

By for now

Caro and Bernie

Day off today

2007-10-18T14:16:00.000-05:00

So today I have been chilling out, I have not done anything remotely energetic. I did though find, thanks to Angela Stokes:-) a really interesting website belonging to Storm and Jinjee on Raw foods. This website has some incredible pictures of them both and covers a whole host of supportive material on eating raw, body building, raising raw children, e-books and much more.

Dreary?

2007-10-18T14:12:00.000-05:00

I notice on our little weather map right at this moment describes today as dreary, I think that is so funny as I am sitting here in the 30C bright sunlight we have had all day! I now notice it has changed! Must have been the attention that did it!