Maria has left for yoga and respite from the fiery Yorkshire tyke.
… more of Maria
Category: people we’ve met
Metallica, Bylakuppe Two
More from out visit to Bylakuppe
The monastery where Ani used to live, the workshops making ornate metal for the Temples and Tibetan incense sticks.
South West England
Leaving behind the cloudy dismal weather I’m now exploring English history and beautiful countryside.
All with friends who have visited Mysore Bed and Breakfast over the years.
Mama Maria
“Don’t forget your sun screen and water!”
Maria checks that I’m properly equipped for the day ahead.
Maria first visited Mysore five years ago, a few months after I lost MAnjula.
I’m on my annual trip to the U.K. but Maria had noticed I was coming and sent an invite for me to visit her in Italy
This wonder puts me up at her house, ferries me around, provides simple sophisticated food, takes me on day trips, guides me on walks, introduces me to her fab friends, provides happy insights into her own life and Italianeeeeez.
Maria is a good example of the lovely people that visit Mysore Bed and Breakfast but she’s even more special.
I’m trying to emphasise BK with Kaveri who can quickly tell me what it means: Be Kind.
Well Maria is overflowing with kindness.
Not just in hosting me…
That’s nothing by comparison with the total package …
…. she goes way beyond the stereotypical caring mama … to be a caring precious friend.
She has a social conscience reflected in the life she leads and her work in helping others to flourish through the organisations she sets up and the services they provide. She lives and breaths this throughout her living.
She’ll be revisiting Mysore again in August to undertake training as a yoga teacher and look forward to her becoming Kaveri’s Italian auntie.
I’m honoured to count Maria as an important person in my life, a cherished friend.
Footnote
She claims I photograph her as much as her dad (I think mine capture her essence as I’m certain her dad does) but she’s tolerant and I love that she’s my friend.
….
Thank you Maria for a happy time and the closeness we’ve established. I look forward to more to come.
Love from Stephen.
Dancing with the Bees
No bees were harmed. It was ‘citizen’ research on Greenham Common in south England.
Capturing Drones (male bees no sting) who are looking for queens to mate. We hope to track which hives they are from.
It’s one of many places where Drones congregate, as part of their life’s purpose, to find a queen to mate.
Most are unsuccessful and disappointed.
Of course the odds are stacked against them.
Footnote
Initiated by Stephen Fleming with the help of the Newbury and District Beekeepers’ Association on Greenham Common in South England.
Stephen and Richard, from our team, are editors of the leading U.K. magazine BeeCraft.
Follow the link for more info on beekeeping in the U.K.
What can be done?
Share it…..
and in my case, consult the problem solver.
It’s … Sowbaghya’s new role.
Meet a friend — Ina
Ina was already at our house as I returned from the U.K.
Ina was an early guest who returned to visit every year bar the coronavirus blot on our landscape. She quickly became a close friend of Manjula helping us celebrate our engagement in 2015. They would mostly hang out together and she’s the guest who’s stayed the most and longest.
We’ve also become good friends. She’s also lost her loving partner and been a great support to me.
Ina has seen Kaveri two years running and appreciates how she’s progressed.
Ina has a strong Scottish accent even though she’s lived in Australia for almost seventy years, having escaped Britain, on a ship, to settle there as a young girl with her family.
Ina, is most definitely one of Manjula’s kind. Thoughtfully helping, all around her, emanating a positive energy, appearing to be decades younger than she is but we don’t mention age.
Her initial visit was to meet a Tibetan monk, for the very first time, that she’d sponsored since he was a child.
She regales with stories of her family and her great times looking after her grand kids.
As she says herself
I couldn’t agree more. I’m still learning
Ina leaves at some ungodly hour for the flybus to Bangalore airport for a week in Singapore en route to home in Australia after our last meal together at Olive Garden
She’s supposed to have gone but I thought I heard her calling out downstairs. Now that’s worrying.
I look forward to her return next year
Back home in Mysore
What’sapp between Ani and I
Sowbaghya is in charge, looking after the house and menagerie while I’m away.
So here, from a few years ago, are the two beauties together
Next stop Bristol
Sally in Bristol.
Sally first visited us at Mysore Bed and Breakfast, years ago. She now leads textile tours of India.
Exploring the city, finding magic, public arts and engineering innovations.
Meeting Ruth
Ruth visited us at Mysore Bed and Breakfast over the years.
I’m visiting her again in Bath in England. Ruth is a poet and the last time she came to Mysore to collect material for her latest book
Last night I attended a reading of her poetry.
Me and MYCycle 