PATRICIA O'NEILL

MONDAY MUSINGS: THE MERRY MONTH OF MAY!

Hi Guys,

When I lived in Paris many years ago, I remember what a significant day May 1st was. It heralded the end of Winter and the promise of Summer to come. We all dropped what we were doing, dressed up in our Summer’s best, packed a picnic, and headed for the magnificent verdant Bois de Boulogne. Heavenly! When I lived in Ireland, the sight of the May bush on the country roads, and its golden abundance, was equally heartwarming. A sight for sore eyes, as we’d say. My mother believed it was unlucky to bring the May bush into your home before the 1st of May. Being very superstitious, we never did!

May 1st this year was very different, because of the ‘Great Pause’ we are currently experiencing. (I refrain from using the ‘C’ word as it hurts my ears). Still, on a very positive note, nature has never been more bountiful. The flowers and foliage all around here have never been more beautiful. Our Planet is hugely benefitting from this great pause. Skies are clearer. Everybody around me here has been marvelling at how you can see Mount Baker more clearly now than ever before. It’s a sign! On days when I tire of all this social isolating, I take enormous comfort from the notion that we are helping our little planet to recover from all the toxins accumulated over years of abuse. Mama nature needed this! And maybe, if we think and dig deep enough into our souls — we needed this too!

The first three weeks of May is Taurus Season. So, I’ve decided to relish everything that is Taurus. Taurus is an earthy, sensuous, pleasure-loving, nature-loving sign. Taureans love to cook, create, garden, listen to music, write and enjoy poetry. They get their strength from connecting with their senses, be it through art, aromatic scents, beauty, food, beautiful clothing, fabrics, home pleasures, gardening or poetry. Very much a nature-loving, sensual sign. They are grounded and reliable with an earthy and hilarious sense of humour. So yes, I’m going to follow suit and BE a Taurus until the Season ends around May 22nd.

Daily walks in nature have helped me to cope with the rigours of self-isolation. It connects me with my senses and fills me with joy. I hope you like these photos taken on my walk yesterday. Whatever it is that fills you heart with hope and joy — please do it!

Hugs Galore,

Patricia xxx

FRIDAY FEEL GOOD: DOING A HOME SPA!

 
Hi Guys,

A friend of mine swears by home spa days. In fact, she has religiously kept Thursday as her home spa day, and has been doing this for years now. Fluffy white towels, scented candles, and positive affirmations on her walls, make her bathroom one of her favourite rooms in the house. Nothing will keep her from this Thursday ritual. As far as she is concerned — it’s non-negotiable!

I was having a bla day on Wednesday. My gel nails have gone — never to return!! Enooo — they destroyed my birth nails! My roots were looking dull, my skin needed a perk-me-up, and yes, I had been downing far too much feast food. Nothing for it but to schedule a home Spa date with myself. It felt totally luxurious and afterwards, I was re-born. I told hubby I was at the Spa. He believed me! His response was “Oh, so they have opened up again!’ lol!

Allow yourself an hour or two to really luxuriate in the experience. My Spa kit contains lavender scented epsom salts, Watkins lavender body wash to add yummy bubbles to the bath, Crest whitestrips, Clairol root touch-up, bath and body works Happiness scented body cream, and finally Charlotte Tilbury Goddess skin clay mask, which really does make you feel like a Goddess!!

I add 2 cups of epsom salts to the bath, a couple of squirts of lavender bubble bath and soak for around 30 mins. During this time, the whitestrips are on the teeth doing their thing too. The face mask is also working hard! The root touch up only takes 10 minutes and I do it before the bath. Later, moisturize your body with a nice scented body cream. I love the Bath and Body Aromatherapy products. My two favourite ones being Happiness, which is a mixture of Bergamot and Mandarin essential oils. I also love Stress Relief, which is a mixture of Eucalyptus and Spearmint essential oils. Try them!

My nails were in really bad shape, so I started to really take them on hand — pardon the pun! TLC, and not having to see anybody, has really helped them return to their roots lol!! The products I love are Aveda Hand Relief moisturizing creme with calming shampure aroma (love it!), Cutex intense recovery, Cutex all-in-one strengthener, and Sally Hansen Vitamin E nail and cuticle oil. Great products! In addition, my daughter Claudia gifted me with a Fancii gel nail remover kit which she bought online. It’s fantastic to help get rid of the gels and also deal with the ridges and smooth and buff the nails.

Hope I have inspired you to spoil yourself! You’re worth it! Just think of all the money you are saving yourself not getting your nails and hair done! So you can afford to be generous with yourself.

Have a great weekend!

Hugs,

Patricia xx

MONDAY MUSINGS: LOVE SWEET LOVE!

Hi Guys,

There is something about adversity that brings out the best in others. I can recall the time we had an electricity cut in our neighbourhood. Everybody was in the dark for days, but smiles all around provided the light we needed. Then back in January we had a big snow dump. People were snowed-in, but help was all around. One guy joked about it on the radio saying he noticed when he was out walking, strangers were nodding, smiling, and stopping to chat. He found it amusing. I find it weird that sour circumstances make us sweet. It’s surely a dysfunction of nature? During the war years, ditto. People were all very kind and looked out for each other. Heroes were as prevalent as the poppies in Flanders fields. I guess you could say it is the silver lining we all need to get us through difficult times.

Walking around my COVID-19 world today, it’s the very same. I must admit I have moments of deep cynicism when I feel like we’re all robots living Stepford Lives. Strangers smile at me,  yet jump a mile for fear of catching the virus. I feel like a mosquito or a leper. Now I know how mosquitos feel. Peculiar, for want of a better word. That’s the world we currently live in. People are starving for hugs, connection, true and lasting affection, that will continue long after COVID-19. As one elderly man sadly said “If I don’t die of this virus, I will die from loneliness”.

I want people to stay sweet to each other, COVID-19 or not, Snow or not, Electricity or not, War or not. I have got used to the very pleasant sight of homes covered in Valentine hearts, proclaiming LOVE SWEET LOVE, nightly 7 p.m. saucepans and pots rattling, to thank the healthcare and essential workers, strangers smiling and loving on each other. I have been sucked in by the brotherhood of man proclamations “We’re all in this together” YES! Together, we can do this! Do what? Wear masks? Become germ-phobic for life? Maintain a distance? I really hope not. Opinions differ on the whole COVID-19 pandemic. Some fear the cure is worse than the disease, which realistically will never go away, but always linger, though not in a life-threatening way. Only time will tell.

If this really is an appetizer for The Age of Aquarius – the hearts, the hope, the smiles, the kindness, the Love Sweet Love and Brotherhood of Man song, I am very happy to keep singing it. FREEZE THAT PART!!

Your to-be part for the week ahead:

Happy, Joyful, Singing, Dancing, Masking, Isolating, Connecting. Stay Safe my friends, but of equal importance — Stay Sane!!

Hugs,

Patricia xxx