small moments in an unsettled world

 

I am very grateful (and extremely lucky) that I work in an environment (pun fully intended) which is healing. There are instants which make me gently hold my breath as I watch or see or notice a small precious moment. This week was no different but I thought that I would share just a few of these gems with you. Like going back to pick up my chilly mug (Jayne) and discover I had plonked it down just moments before in a nest of Erigeron Karvensis (Mexican fleabane) daisies and seeing the combination made my heart sing.

Spotting a very dark ladybird pupae on a richly purple dahlia leaf in the cutting garden, hopefully it will emerge before the frosts so that it will be able to overwinter as an adult. If not, we will carefully put the cut off foliage in one of the sheds so the pupae (there were dozens) can mature in safety.

Sharing my lemon shortbread biscuit with a Robin whilst working in one of the private gardens I maintain.

Ravelling 400gm balls of wool blend into 100gm yarn cakes before starting my next project - my sense of smell is rather random at the moment but I could catch a delicious scent of lanolin when I buried my nose deep into the huge and squishy balls of wool 

This idiot. 

Who drives me both crazy and fills my heart with equal measure - she has not been coming to work regularly recently as she 'looks after' who ever happens to be at home at the moment, so on the odd days that she puts on her 'work clothes', the dog harness, she is beyond excited. Her day is filled with rounding up wheelbarrows, collecting up sticks, herding volunteers and supervising our work - by the time we get home she is ready for her food and a well deserved nap!

And the princess. Pan. Still aloof and occasionally cranky but then who isn't? She has definitely mellowed and decided humans are not that dreadful. She has her favourites (makes that very obvious!) however, she is definitely the hairy heart of our home.

It is little moments like these which keep me grounded. I need to get myself ready for work, another private garden, a moorland wild meadow where Moss can come and play whilst I am there. She will be delighted......!

Thank you every one for your lovely and encouraging comments regarding my attempt at Kaketsugi mending - it is on hold at the moment as I am waiting for a packet of needle threaders to land in the post then I can get on with the final few threads - hardly any left to weave in. Then I will tidy away the remaining threads and hand it back to its owner😊

Enjoy the rest of your week, hope you too find small moments that fill your heart xxxx

Soothing the not so savage beast

Friday - hopefully my last day home from work, I should be - all things being equal - back on Monday but I am definitely going to being gentle on myself. 

I popped in on Wednesday for a meeting (I say 'popped in' - that makes it sound rather cheerful and bouncy, I should have written ... I shuffled in or I dragged myself in ... to a meeting) and after just over two hours I wobbled my way back to the car and drove home. I can't remember much after that, apart from appreciating the back of my eyelids beneath a duvet. 

Now today, Friday, although not fully fit - I feel alive, actually feel positive and even though I am not full of my normal bounce - I am getting there.

I spent most of Thursday knitting - it certainly made me feel as if I was mending. Then, reports regarding Queen Elizabeth's death hit the news and swamped every form of media from edge to edge. I found I was watching from that edge, an outsider, observing how the country was being engulfed. Knitting and observing.

Then a little later J from Winters End Rambler said this ...

1. Home alone and having just turned off the telly. Sad news, but on repeat was just making me feel awful. I think this could be the winter to get more reacquainted with my knitting needles and crochet hook. I used to wing many a knitting project...not sure I'm brave enough any more. x

   ReplyDelete

I thought carefully and replied with ....

1. kjsutcliffe9 September 2022 at 11:12

   knit - even if it is only one row - knit - it soothes an awful lot of things. Anxiety, lack of mojo, over active mojo, sadness, frustrations, knit and if it doesn't come out right, rip it back. The beauty of knitting is that you can remake it again and again and again. Knit xxx

1. 
   

I then realised that is exactly what I was doing - knitting for my wellbeing. The comfort, the feel of being 'busy' when in reality I was washed out and languishing beneath a duvet. Knitting to keep an increasingly busy brain and a want-to-be-entertained set of fingers satisfied. Having had fairly long separation from knitting made me appreciate it that whole much more.

And - if a little guilt was to slip in and say that the jumper I am knitting is one which I'd retrieved from the naughty bin. For the third time. I sheepishly dragged it out and unceremoniously flung it on the carpet to see how much more was to do ..... to find that all that was required was to complete the raglan decreases on the back and the neck shaping on the front ... then to stitch it together. The sleeves are done, finished and waiting..... ? why had I not completed it?? I don't honestly know.

So - today between gently pottering around the house tidying it after 12 days of neglect - I am knitting. 

So knit, even if it is only one row - knit - it soothes an awful lot of things.

And it feels rather empowering. 

Accountability

 

For the next seven days - EvErY SiNgLe PiEcE Of PlAsTiC PaCkAgInG coming into our house and normally throw away (either in the bin or recycling) will be logging on to The Big Plastic Count website as part as a nationwide data collection as to how much plastic is actually in 'circulation' in just one week.

We personally have tried reducing our plastic usage, switching to reusables where possible and in our style of shopping and at home with what we have and what we use. However there are some things we just can't get around. Availability being one and the simple truth of cost being another.

For example - we buy cereal. 

Usually oats and muesli type for ourselves, except when the boys and their lovely girls come home, then we keep their favourites on the shelf too. Where possible, we purchase a paper bagged variety from our usual supermarket or from our own lovely village shop with a refill station - it is small (and perfectly formed!) so does not have the capacity to keep a big selection of cereals apart from oats.

Commercial cereal cardboard boxes are recyclable but the plastic food grade bag inside is not. So once we have finished the contents, the box goes into the paper skip and the bag is pulled fully open, cleaned and then stored to be used as a sandwich or cheese wrap.  I make sure that this 'wrap' is then used many times before it then is disposed of - removing some of its 'single use plastic' moniker but it still is not biodegradable. 

Bread bags.

We used to purchase a rather delicious bloomer style loaf when the boys were still home as each slice was thick and chunky and filled hollow teenager legs. These loaves came in paper bags which were not 'lined' on the inside by a thin layer of plastic so once eaten, the loaf bags went happily into the paper skip. Now it is just Himself and I, we have 'downgraded' to a simpler thinner sliced bread with 'bits' in it - partly due to cost again and partly as we found the previous doorstop type sandwiches were actually quite a 'chore' to munch through in a short lunch break slot. These loaves are sold in plastic bags..... so they are kept and used to store foodstuffs in the freezer, reducing their single use status again, but still needing to ultimately be disposed of. 

Mushrooms/tomatoes/fruit punnets

These are all kept, used either in the greenhouse, as food holders in the fridge, seed packet storage, thread/yarn bits/fabric trimming holders or crumb 'catchers' when we wipe down surfaces then given to the birds or the chickens.

However, ultimately - they are all eventually thrown away (the punnets are either the 'wrong' plastic to recycle or the type that are non-recyclable) but only after they have had to work for that 'privilege' .

Eldest's girlfriend has been working on a 'single use sculpture' with her geography pupils and we were saving plastic lids as part of it....... There was that oxymoron moment when I was pleased to be able to hand over a 'goodly' selection of lids to her yet it brought home how many our 'simple' life style produced.... things have got to change.

Not just us, but everyone including the producers. Either plastic has to be 100% recyclable or replaced with something that is.  

Food for thought (sic).

If you are interested (and you should be) 

https://thebigplasticcount.com

https://www.citytosea.org.uk/plastic-free-living

https://www.everydayplastic.org

https://www.greenpeace.org.uk/

A Monday of many colours (not just blue!)

Today is supposed to be 'Blue Monday' - which was created by a travel company to boost sales during a rather dull January ... there is - apparently - nothing medically or scientifically proven yet it is still touted as an actual 'thing' and looking out the window now, I wouldn't mind a bit of a BLUE sky to admire as it is rather dreary and grey out there. Any hoo.

I have been wandering around inside my head deliberating a theme for today's post. There are a number of stories that are rumbling around and I've been rerunning them to evaluate their 'story-ness' worth.

I have toyed with the one where the postmistress and I laughed conspiratorially together behind the curtain of the photobooth, where the rather boring and essential task of having an image taken for a driver's license turned into a moment of shared silliness with a stranger. However, when I tried to write it - it was not as funny and the act of typing it lost the spontaneity and immediacy of the situation.

So I wondered about our most enjoyable walk - the  one we did yesterday with Youngest and his lovely GF. However, as beautiful the views were or how gently mild the weather - it was just a walk. Nothing outstanding. Nothing earthshattering. Just a gentle good humoured trundle around the hills, along the coastline and through a nature reserve with lovely people. One that leaves you with a happy heart but not necessarily a story.

On the baking front - I've tried something new, which I will share, just not right now.

The blanket is almost done, the border is the final push and then the last few ends to weave in.
So.
Lots goes on, life rolls forward, days lengthen and clouds fill the sky. 

Nothing really worth waffling on about.

And in the interest of 'eye candy' I took the blanket in the van yesterday as we drove up to the South Lakes and with the 'assistance' 😆(I use that word hesitantly!!) of Youngest - I took a photo of said blanket draped on a wall. 

So if you'll excuse me I have a date with a crochet hook, a mug of tea and a blanket on the settee - speak to you soon xx

Good bye ... Hello

Days of driech weather have abounded, low cloud and wind tossed trees. Puddles and reflections, mud and slush. It has been, so far, a damp and  rather mild winter with the briefest of moments of snowy winter wonder. 

In the past I have been pulled down with the gloom and retreated into myself, revelling in mawkish self pity while I yearned for summer and sunlight and sunshine.

This year, as we slipped from summer to autumn I began to feel that looming dread, that sharp unreadiness for winter and the cold and damp. 

Today, while out walking with Moss and Himself, I had a rather gentle realisation that the usual seasonal melancholy which had been prevalent during autumn, had stayed in autumn and did not come with me into winter .... now, on the last day of 2021, after days and days of dreary weather where rain and wind plagued our every move ... I seemed to have survived - unscathed and - if I am perfectly honest - feeling quietly contented and happy. 

I hope that this is indicative for 2022

I hope that things can only get better. 

I wish you love and joy, 

peace and health 

and a kinder 

and more gentle New Year xxxxx

💜💙💚💚💚💙💜

Good bye 2021

Hello 2022 

See you 'on the other side!!' 💜💙💚💚💚💙💜

Blogtober day 22 - summat's fishy

For my Northern readers of my blog, you will know what 'summat' means, for those who don't summat literally translates to 'something'. I have noticed over the years that my accent has slid more and more 'southern' with a slight (bordering on New Zealandish) twang despite me being born in Africa and living in the north of a soggy island.

It is only when I listen to recordings of my voice I can hear my own accent - which I don't normally notice day to day - it is then I realise how I sound.

There are some accents I can mimic with a modicum of success however the minute I attempt a Northern accent - it comes out wrong... so very wrong (and not necessarily in a humorous way - more in a 'what on earth is she saying' sort of way!)

So now when I use a northern term I go to great pains to say it either in a  'VERRRRY' northerly way or excessively southernly fashion - almost to accentuate the fact it is not a word that naturally comes from me.

An example of this is the northern delicacy - the chip butty. Which again for those who don't know - it is a large white bread roll or bun with slightly rancid butter slapped on it and filled with greasy chips. This delicacy is usually raised to culinary delights by adding salt and vinegar. Don't get me wrong - I am not dissing this particular 'dish' for it is absolutely delicious and I for one am salivating at the thought of it.... I am using it as an example of how Himself and I differ in describing it.

In my terms a chip butty is as I described it above, a bread roll, butter and chips. Himself (and thousands and thousands of other northerners) would say it is pronounced - a chip buh-tey or boeteh, which is a white bap with chips. If - should you wish - want to have a bright green (some would say an artificially green) side of 'mushy peas' you would need to ask for 'moosh-ay peas'.

This little dish of bright green goop is made up of marrow fat peas cooked to a sloppy pulp and kept green by adding bicarb (or food colouring....) and is in my opinion as disgusting as it sounds!

The fish photographs were going to be the theme of todays waffle but I was carried away by the idea of chips - hey ho - welcome to my world of random tangent and often incomprehensible thoughts.

#Blogtober2021

Snap-shots

 Random moments typed whilst listening to rain hammering down on the window.

A cranky cat, one who has just recently learnt that we humans are not as awful as she once thought. It has taken over seven long years for her to come to this point.  Her once sparse and wispy purr has grown into a deep fast rumble and it seems she has found her voice too - it has been a long wait and we still all delight in her sea-change.

The bumble bees seem to be working over time as the season rolls over - they hurtle from one late summer flowering plant to another with a sense of urgency. Last week I counted over 20 bumbles on a sedum while they slowly woke up as the early morning sunlight warmed them up. 

The cutting garden at work did us proud last week - we had an 'end of harvest' garden party with crafts and teas and we sold honey, vegetables, crafts and flowers - all from the kitchen garden. It was amazingly successful with everything selling out. There is a hunger out there for good honest produce at decent prices - something the charity I work for strives to achieve. 

The mesmerising Fibonacci arrangement of sunflower seeds never ceases to delight - the spiralling patterns can contain between 800 to 2000 seeds per head - mind blown! 

Borlotti beans come out of the pod in a luscious pink with a few sparse purply stripes then over the course of a few hours darken and the stripes increase.  

We were sitting in the park a week or so ago - myself, staff and volunteers - for our lunch when we could hear a bird sound that I could not identify. We listened for a while and various suggestions ranged from ... it is a child to .... may be a whining dog .... and could it be a car alarm? Not content with those ideas I went, with head tipped back, up to a tree where I traced the source - A juvenile crow quietly peeping to itself. I've not heard that sound emanating from them before so I wondered if this was it's first foray into the big wild scary world when it noticed me and gave the biggest most raucous caw which seemed to surprise itself as much as it did me. 

It is still raining although not as hard. I am very grateful that I am not working outdoors today - after several busy weeks and weekends - a quiet day pootling around at home, mug of tea in hand,  doing things that need doing sounds rather good!

Hope your Monday is being the day you want it to be 😊 

A how-to in 9 easy paws - for cats only😸

Dear fellow humom-owners of the blogisfur - 

Pepper here, paw to keypawd, here to advise you how to have purrfect domination over your slaves. Iz pawed this 'specially fur you all! I shall continue my quest for total domination wen Iz be in charge...... I share wiv you now my most recent thoughts.

How to take a shower with your .... Humom

The step by step manual 

(or should that be paw by paw CATual...?)

Paw 1😼

Watch fur your humom head upstairs to the sleepin' room then the water room.

Paw 2😼

Follow at several cat's tails distance (alternative method - be bold and fur-riendly an' mislead them wiv your charms an' purrs).

Paw 3😼

Observe befur making your move, confurm that your humom iz goin' to stand under that water sprinkler in the bath. The obvious claws is gettin' towels an' a dressing gown.

Paw 4😼

Slip in as your humom steps into the water room. If you'z caught, don't fuss, just accept your fate - play in to their simple nature to believe you, then as they turn, slip back in an' hide SUPA-QUICKS, they will have fallen fur your fur superior intelligence an' invisibility skills.

Paw 5😼

Remain hidden til too late fur your humom to shut you out - this is wen your humom has shed her pelt and is stepping into the shower. (extra points if you can jump into the shower at the same time to enhance the element of surprise...!)

Paw 6😼

Note triumphantly when your humom sighs an' gets on with the shower. Now is the time to get to watch the water splash and bounce.  More points here if you attempt to catch some of the bouncin' water - this is fur level 6 ninja-kitty.

Paw 7😼

Avoid gettin' too wet, not nice bein' a soggy moggy but do leave foot prints on the bath edge, basin, window ledge and kitty-litter seat lid. Fur additional effect - shake any wet stuff off your fur and sprinkle it it everywhere.

Paw 8😼

Hide quicks under the chair by the heater wen humom grumbles an' gets out from the wet and rubs down wiv a towel (she does that to me when Iz been in the rain - then she gives me a treat, not enough to be worth the indignity, Iz just let her think it is)

Paw 9😼

Now iz the time to jumps back into the bath and lick up any of the warm and wet water in the bottom - this is the reward for all that stealth n stuff.  This is why we ninja-kitties do this sorta thing!

If..... if I ever have a shower without that cat - it would be a miracle. 

This is the cat who thinks all water in cat water bowls is beneath her and can only drink out of a running tap or she will expire!! So the two bowls in the kitchen, the one in the back yard, the two in the garden and the one in the bathroom are not suitable..... however post shower water puddles in the bath and the garden pond are the only things that she can drink from ......  what goes on in that fuzzy little despot's head, I will never know.

The last few days, as I alluded to in my last post, have been filled with walking. I'll shall go through the photos and find something interesting to share 😊🚶🏽‍♂️🚶🏼‍♀️🐾 have a lovely start to your week xx

What goes around comes around

Ok, firstly - thank you for all your wonderful comments about my last post - and to answer a few queries...

Yes - he is definitely a he...he 'is all there' with the appropriate boy bits (chortle)

No - I am not expecting a sudden influx of squirelly folk moving into the garden as the male has very little to do with upbringing of the kits apart from the initial one night stand while the female then leaves and finds a new home to set up the dray for the kits.

Latest update - the little fellow has been practising being all 'growed up' and has taken to burying supplies - like little pieces of bark in the wood shavings pile - like I say - practising hahah! 

He has his breakfast from the nutfeeder round about 8ish am then he is off in to the little woodland that edges the bottom of our garden and runs along the cobbled lane. Occasionally through the day I will see him bouncing around the trees or in the garden then from about 4.30pm, the little guy scampers up his tree, has his last nibble on the feeder then goes to bed.... what a life!!

»»-------------¤-------------««

Oh and the title of today's post - What goes around comes around? Well....

Neighbour : I have a bag of plums in the freezer would you like them?

Me: Ooh yes please

Two bags of plums later and some frozen rhubarb already in my freezer = several jars of delicious jam.

Give neighbour a jar as a thank you 

»»-------------¤-------------««

Lovely Mad-cat Lady : I was shopping and found these...

Me: ooh thank you (as I open a bag to find a box of cat treats)

Lovely Mad-cat Lady: They were a good price and thought your girls would like them .... bye!

A bit later, pop over to her house with a jar of plum jam to say thank you only to be given a bag full of lovely empty jam jars to use for the next batch of jam!

»»-------------¤-------------««

 Me: Could I buy a dozen eggs off you?

Farmery type Neighbour: Yeah, but I don' want any money for them

Me: ooh thanks - can I bake you a cake?

Farmery type Neighbour : ah that will be good ta. I'll drop off the eggs later

One chocolate cake later - I'd 'paid' for my eggs.  The following Sunday .... another dozen eggs appeared at the back door ..... so another cake was baked and I 'paid' for those too.

Another week passed, then another 18 eggs quietly appeared, so I paid with a third cake. Now, a wordless transaction occurs every Sunday - eggs for cake. (Victoria Sponge has been the favourite so far)

»»-------------¤-------------««

Allotment friend : I have some excess tomato seedlings - would you like them?

Me: ooh thanks can I swap them for some sunflower seedlings? - they have all germinated

Allotment friend : Great! I can put them in my allotment

Last night two pots of tomato seedlings appeared at the back gate - bushy healthy little plants, tomorrow the sunflowers go up to the allotment - win win

»»-------------¤-------------««

Me : Would you like me to crochet you a rainbow for your window

Mature Artist friend : Yes please, that would be very kind

A few days later, knock on his door, drop off the rainbow, step back. He opens and swaps the rainbow for the most beautiful sculpture he has made for me - out of discarded items which another friend of mine discovered whilst dealing with a deceased relative's house and garden.

»»-------------¤-------------««

I have always been an advocate for financial-free transactions - a system of gentle barter and at the moment it is going well, I am still working on 'interdependance' and break away from 'independence' driven by capitalism, the old normal is edging closer and already I can see folk desperately trying to claw it back.  I realise that even if we all attempt 'The Good Life' we still have to rely on the greater world for a lot of our needs, however, by reducing and simplifying those needs - surely we reduce our carbon footprint and reduce our reliance of big business. We should be rather relying on friends, family and neighbours - making us all more self-reliant and 'interdependant'.

Just thoughts - which need to be actioned.  How are you all coping? Can you see a way forward that is better than the 'old normal'? Or do you hanker for the way things were?

PS the neighbour with the freezer full of plums? He has nearly finished his jar and has hinted that he has more plums in the freezer ..... would I like them.  Definitely!

Wool-gathering

That fuzzy glow. 

That spark from the sun giving bright highlights. 

The kink in the ear from the short horn.

The margin of chin hair shining brightly through a few random long whiskers.

That supercilious look down a rather handsome nose.

Wonder what goes on in that woolly brain?

Thoughts like .... 

...'oh, it's ewe. With that camera thing again, sigh, 

will you stop clicking your tongue to get my attention,

oh bugger - I fell for it again ....'

or,

'Ah, baaaa-ling, sOo good of ewe to stop by, I was just thinking 

how good I was looking today...'

or even....

'I wish the sun would come out, I can't feel my ruddy feet'

how about...

'Today's improv, I shall be doing my best tea-cosy impression ... Ta-Baa!'

probably something more akin to this.....

Wool-like tumbleweed drifting slowly across the sheep plains inside that small brain,

rolling gently along

whilst being accompanied by banal lift music.

Morning. Welcome to my world......

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

On Friday I will be doing a link up for a 'Five on Friday - Gratitude' and if you are wondering what to do, just have five things that have happened this week that you are grateful for, no need to waffle huge amounts unless you feel you need to, you can just simply list them. If you have a photo to add, that is fine but if not - that is fine too. If you want a hint how I did my last 'Five on Friday - Gratitude' have a look HERE  

Until tomorrow xxxx