CAT and Ancestors

Today I had a lovely lunch ( wheat, dariry and caffeine free) and catch up with a dear friend who has been ill.

Although I'm home in Devon part of me is still back in the treetops in Wales....

One afternoon we visited the CAT centre - Centre for Alternative Technology - near Machynlleth which has been going for more than 40 years - practising and and informing us of  all things sustainable, re-newable, environmental and organic - long before the current drive to save our planet.

This is what the site - an historic slate quarry - looked like in1973 when my brother was one of the volunteers helping to build it... they were staying in caravans and working in very basic, muddy conditions when I went with my parents to visit him. It was like the story of the Eden Project  - someone- in this case Gerard Morgan-Grenville -  with a vision for an alternative, friendly, inclusive sustainable  way of living.....inspiring other people to make it happen.

This part of Wales has more than one connection for our family. It's also the home of my father's mother's ancestors .....some of her relatives are buried in the churchyard in Machynlleth. And tomorrow my sister and I will drive up to Stroud to visit my father's cousin - the last remaining member of that generation. She reminds me of my grandmother and it's always good to talk to someone who knew my parents when they were young....when sustainable and environmentally friendly and renewable energy were unknown concepts in their world. 

 

I'm sometimes at a loss what to write on this blog...and often it's late at night....a habit I've tried to change without an iota of success. So I leave you with this  quote from the wonderful  Rumi ... some wisdom I could apply to changing my late night blog habit.

Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world.

Today I am wise so I am changing myself.