Langwell Designs

Staycation Hygge!  I have not done a staycation in awhile and boy am I lucky as February this year is gorgeous!  Light winds between 8-11 C°!  Lambs in the green fields, which in certain areas are still holding mini ponds of the past rainy weather.  Geese honking and seas calm.  I still see a ridge of snow on top of Hoy.

Magnificent eh!  So what will bring Hygge into this picture?  A warm delicious bath – outside!  Yes we got a hot tub!  We rented from Orkney Hot Tubs for 3 weeks!  It was delivered last night and we expect the water temperature to be perfect 41 degrees around lunchtime!  Additionally to this the Welshman has made a bone broth in the slow cooker for 24 hours for us to sip on outside.  So warm inside and out!  On a day like today this will be luxury at Langwell!

I love staycations and hygge concepts because its about self -care and family. I know I don’t do enough of the self care.  So this staycation will be about self-care.  My staycation began 2 days ago and of course I was focused on my personal to do list, that’s ok as long as I scheduled me time.   So creation of a staycation hygge checklist is what I created a week ago to make sure I had all I truly needed to create the space for rest and rejuvenation of my spirit, mind, and health.

Here is my Orkney staycation hygge checklist:

Spirit – daily meditation – M Word.  If you don’t know about the M Word you should.  MindValley.com has the course developed by Emily Fletcher.  She is not your typical meditation teacher – she is more relevant and brings meditation to a new level for me.  Every morning I start my day with the M Word.   Embedded in the M Word is daily gratification, which softens and warms my soul.

Mind – my books by my bedside and devouring at the moment – The 5am Club by Robin Sharma, The Enlightened Gardner by Sydney Banks and Becoming Michelle Obama by well yes Michelle Obama.  The 5 am Club is a twist on self help in its a story about a personal mastery methodology that Robin Sharma is on about.  He also wrote the book The Monk who Sold his Ferrari, if you have read this then you should know what you are in for.  This story is fantastical – Billionaire sweeps two beleaguered lost souls (in a private jet) to Mauritius and teaches them the 5 am daily philosophy on becoming legendary.  Sounds cool right!  The Enlighted Gardner  is a story about a group of 4 psychologists who learn from a soulful gardener while attending a psychology conference, somewhere in England.  And third, reading Becoming Michelle Obama has really created a new one-way connection with a woman I immensely admire.  Her story growing up in Chicago and her personal and career trajectory is fascinating.

Health – I have been on / off a programme called Naturally Slim.  I have a hard time funnily enough listening to the founder of Naturally Slim, an RN from Dallas.  Its more her tone then anything, but her theory of eating only when hungry really hungry and eating slowly (25 minutes!) makes sense to me.  I still have issues with wanting sugar, my cookies and dark chocolate cravings, so my weight loss has not been as extreme as I thought.  The Welshman has started water fasting, he has dropped 25 pounds in 12 days.  I know, I know sounds extreme and dangerous, but he has researched , has a coach, and seen a doctor.  He said first 2 days the most difficult but after that its a doddle.  Physically, I have scheduled daily walks with LouLou and classes at my community centre.  So far,  I did a spin class, Zumba, and today is yoga.  I love yoga but I have had issues with arthritis in my thumb joints and so any asanas with weight on my wrists is just painful.  I hope that my new wrist supports will help!

My staycation is 6 days and I am on day 3.  So far I am in bliss and feeling relaxed as if I was on a beach in Mauritius with a billionaire!  Even if its on my patio in a hot tub with the Welshman!  Love, Peace and Health from Living Well Always at Langwell!

My gorgeous Golden has had her first litter.  Five puppies born on January 31st with the first drop  at 10:40pm.  The Welshman and I stayed up till the early morning as we lovingly helped to clean up and get the puppies airways cleared.  All in all 2 girls and 3 boys.  Unfortunately, we lost wee Max the next night, poor boy had a cleft palate and he would have suffered.  Now we have 4 furry bundles 2 girls and 2 boys.  Lexi and Lola, Luther and Sully, in order of birth.  The first week was exhausting just watching making sure they were latching on and gaining weight, keeping a watchful eye on LouLou in case she suffered ‘postpartum depression’  It happens!  As grandpuppy parents we have settled into a routine, its just feeding and sleeping, that’s the Welshman, LouLou and me have busy days!

LouLou has been a wonderful momma and she practices ‘self care’ as in I am nursing them and getting out of the whelping box. (did you know a Rice University English professor and smartest man I ever met did not know this word!)  Anyhoo, LouLou knows when enough’s enough and lays down in living room until she hears their hungry squeaks.   The Welshman has spent the last couple of days rigging up a webcam so we can watch their movements.  I find this a bit over the top as I was not the kind of mom that had a camera on my daughters when they were little.  I had very acute hearing though!

The puppies are well loved by our youngest daughter who I find in mornings instead of on her ipad, in the whelping box holding and talking to the puppies.  She loves each one but favors Luther, which is probably a good sign as I think that is the one we will end up keeping.   But if I had my way I would keep them all! Our eldest is at university and so jealous she can’t be home to play with them.  She is making a special trip home so she can see them OR maybe that’s to see her boyfriend? hmmmm…

I started a private FaceBook group called LouLou’s puppies and invited friends and family to watch our live feeds, pictures and their growth charts.  They have all done very well.  The hardest,  hardest part will be giving the 3 up.  When we knew LouLou was preggers our friend sent out an announcement on her FB site and within hours we had  30 people interested.    That number has decreased to the very serious, and those who have been following the puppies are, I know, the ones we want her pups to go to forever homes.   I feel very blessed to have a home full of puppies right now.  Best Valentines Day Ever!

It must be the weather!  I have sheep on the brain.  It started with a memory of a pillow my mother had that sat on the back of the sofa in our den.  It had 7 sheep in a row embroidered on it.  I would make up stories about those sheep while watching TV with my parents.  Asking my mother 50 years later if she still had this pillow she sent me this picture!  

Henrietta her cat, provides the scale.  When I met the Welshman he took me to Wales to meet his family.  This was in 1997.  We landed at Gatwick, rented a Merc and drove in comfort to Pembrokeshire.  We both love Led Zepplin, so while listening to Houses of the Holy driving through the Elan Valley, sheep dotted all over the hills, it was tranquil and picturesque.  However, I could not help it, in my best sheep baaing voice…I said Niiiiiiigel, Niiiiiigeeel, weeeeelllcome hooom Niiiiiigeeel…hitting the comedic timing perfectly…the Welshman of course said something crass.  We stopped at tiny Welsh towns and I found three ceramic sheep from a local artist that I purchased to seal in this memory.  Now living in Orkney we of course see sheep everyday and March /April is lambing season.  I have bought more sheep art from local artists here in Orkney too…the picture below is of my wee sheep collection.

The Welshman and I spoke to a dear friend in Jackson Hole, Wyoming today.  She has been living there since 1996, where she has raised two lovely daughters.  I have admired Fi since we met and became fast friends while working out at sea, as doodlebuggers!  Our lives took different paths, but like two mismatched socks, we find our match when we get to see each other.  Fi also put us onto a piece of land in Alpine Wyoming.  We bought it in 2001 if I recall, to hold a small inheritance I received for my eldest daughter and her education.  I have always thought we would build on this land and retire in Wyoming!  I had ‘dream designed’ the look of the house and imagined our daughter visiting with friends.  The dream plays out after a day skiing, the Welshman would have a fire in my retro 60’s fireplace.  Check this Lancer Malm fireplace from Pintrest I just pinned.    

I love the shape and the wide wrap around effect of the heat.  I can see this in my head and heart.  We would be having wine and playing scrabble with these college kids, laughing and loving it! But wait we diverged!   I have a stove that radiates warmth, my teenager is not in Uni yet! But the dream house sits on some valuable land that we are now going to put on the market and help to finance the second phase of Langwell and yes I hope to have a Lancer in the new addition….but first Uni, then the build!  Thank you Fi for inspiring me to buy that land,  to dream of that home and fireplace even though it’s now in Scotland on a remote island and not in the beautiful mountains of Wyoming!  I took a picture as our call finished of the Langwell sunset…just for Fi!