Another day of busy pottering. N has been in and out of the Pavillion (aka the garden shed) making shelves for the hall cupboard. He's using the slats from the old wooden single bedframe for the shelving, and suddenly realised today that he could use the remaining wood to make a framework for a covered bed in the garden. Nothing going to waste there, and a solution to a problem we had been mulling over for a while.
I've finished lining one of the curtains, and the other is well on the way. It's taking me longer than I thought it would - curtain lining always does, it seems - but I keep reminding myself that there isn't a pressing deadline to be met. It will get done when it gets done. It's also a case of being flexible and being prepared to change plans when needed; yesterday, for example, we had not one unexpected visit but two, both very welcome indeed, and it was a pleasure to abandon what we we doing to spend some time with our visitors. For me, that is a valuable lesson. Go with the flow. Things can wait.
I've had to spend a fair bit of time yesterday and today, transferring photos and documents to the hard-drive. This old laptop is struggling to cope and I think it is prudent to take steps before it crashes completely. Sorting through the photos has been at the back of my mind for quite some time, and as I was copying files last night - a necessary but boring task - I gave some thought to how I would like to have them set up to be more accessible and useful. I've jotted a few ideas down to return to at a later date; at present it's enough to have the photos safely stored.
Another petrol-free day today. We walked into town, more for exercise than anything else, and would perhaps have been better off going an hour later when it stopped drizzling! Never mind, it was a welcome breath of fresh air after working indoors.
N's appointment yesterday with the doctor about his knee resulted in a referral for physio, a flu jab (oh joy!) and a follow-up appointment for his blood-pressure which was higher than it should have been. Not sure why, other than he's been annoyed about his knee and doesn't like going to the surgery! It will be monitored.
Apparently, there are plans to try refloating the cargo ship tomorrow so we shall pop along to Cowes in the morning to see what's occurring. N is hoping for some heavy lifting machinery. There will be more photos, I have no doubt. I don't know, all this excitement on our doorstep!
Tuesday, 6 January 2015
Monday, 5 January 2015
In the news
The Island doesn't often make national news but this weekend it has. We saw a report on-line yesterday morning and decided to drive through to Cowes to see what the fuss was about.
This is what the fuss is about.
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| The chimneys of Fawley oil refinery on the mainland to the left |
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| The Red Funnel car ferry that runs betweeen Southampton and Cowes has a close-up view of the Huegh Osaka |
The ship, the Huegh Osaka, a car transporter, left Southampton dock Saturday evening bound for Germany. Less than an hour later it ended up on Bramble bank, a large sandbank in the Solent, listing very badly. Thankfully no one was injured, all the crew are safe. No oil spillages either. But the ship is going nowhere for a while. There is a team looking into how to salvage the ship and it's cargo of 1400 cars. I think we may be visiting Cowes again in the next few days.
We certainly weren't the only interested spectators along the esplanade. It was almost as busy as Cowes Week, just a lot colder. Half the Island, it seemed, was keen to see the sights and get some photos. There was a good deal of speculation as to the cause and how it ended up somewhere it really shouldn't have been - ships have to negotiate Bramble Bank and keep to the dredged shipping channel that skirts around it - but now we know that the ship was deliberated grounded on the bank to keep it clear of other shipping, it's position makes a little more sense. Why it began to list so dangerously is still not clear.
On the same day, however, in stormy seas off of the Orkneys in northern Scotland, another cargo ship suffered a far worse fate, and it very sadly appears that the crew have been lost with their ship. A somber reminder of the power of nature.
We certainly weren't the only interested spectators along the esplanade. It was almost as busy as Cowes Week, just a lot colder. Half the Island, it seemed, was keen to see the sights and get some photos. There was a good deal of speculation as to the cause and how it ended up somewhere it really shouldn't have been - ships have to negotiate Bramble Bank and keep to the dredged shipping channel that skirts around it - but now we know that the ship was deliberated grounded on the bank to keep it clear of other shipping, it's position makes a little more sense. Why it began to list so dangerously is still not clear.
On the same day, however, in stormy seas off of the Orkneys in northern Scotland, another cargo ship suffered a far worse fate, and it very sadly appears that the crew have been lost with their ship. A somber reminder of the power of nature.
Saturday, 3 January 2015
Signs of Spring (?) and getting organised
I could hardly believe it myself but today I saw a group of narcissi in full bloom. I wish I'd had the camera with me (perhaps tomorrow). And yesterday we noticed an ornamental cherry, or something very similar, with a distinct pink tinge. It's seems too early for such floral signs of Spring but I suppose we really haven't had a particularly cold winter to date. Whatever, it was a lovely and unexpected surprise to see the splash of gold on what was a dreary, grey, damp day, such a change from yesterday.
We took the Christmas decorations down this morning although the tree is still up, just a bit bare. Having a real tree was such a treat for us, the pine smell was wonderful and it just made it a bit more Christmassy that usual. It hasn't shed anywhere near as many needles as we feared so it has had a reprieve for a few more days.
I've spent quite a bit of time today in organising mode - checking my personal end-of-year finances, getting the notebooks ready for this year's figures, drawing up a month-by-month wall planner (January is already looking a bit busy and we don't want to forget anything). And making lists, of course. I accept that not everything on the list will get done on that day, and that in itself is a step forward, accepting that some things take longer than I think and that there are only so many hours in a day, but it does help me stay focussed. I confess that I like order and routine in my life. For some reason I found myself remembering a topic I studied for my OU degree (Social Sciences/Sociology) a few years ago which had resonated strongly with me then. It was the concept of ontological security - the sense of order and continuity that provides a framework of stability to an individual's life experience. Chaos and uncertainty tend to have the opposite effect! There's a lot more to it than that, obviously, but I found it an interesting point of discussion. I know that I feel far more in control of my life if I have some order and organisation; I am calmer and get more achieved. That's probably why I have the need to tidy up at work - I just can't operate effectively in a disorganised or chaotic environment. However, as is so often the case, the theory is one thing, putting it into practice is quite another. Hence the lists.
Another 7000 steps today (town and back for a few groceries). I may try to record these figures, together with spend/no spend and petrol/no petrol days, on a weekly or monthly basis. Just out of curiosity, really, and I don't know if it will fizzle out after a few weeks (or days, let's be honest) Not a resolution at all, just interest.
Tomorrow I must cut out the curtain lining. And perhaps take some photos.
We took the Christmas decorations down this morning although the tree is still up, just a bit bare. Having a real tree was such a treat for us, the pine smell was wonderful and it just made it a bit more Christmassy that usual. It hasn't shed anywhere near as many needles as we feared so it has had a reprieve for a few more days.
I've spent quite a bit of time today in organising mode - checking my personal end-of-year finances, getting the notebooks ready for this year's figures, drawing up a month-by-month wall planner (January is already looking a bit busy and we don't want to forget anything). And making lists, of course. I accept that not everything on the list will get done on that day, and that in itself is a step forward, accepting that some things take longer than I think and that there are only so many hours in a day, but it does help me stay focussed. I confess that I like order and routine in my life. For some reason I found myself remembering a topic I studied for my OU degree (Social Sciences/Sociology) a few years ago which had resonated strongly with me then. It was the concept of ontological security - the sense of order and continuity that provides a framework of stability to an individual's life experience. Chaos and uncertainty tend to have the opposite effect! There's a lot more to it than that, obviously, but I found it an interesting point of discussion. I know that I feel far more in control of my life if I have some order and organisation; I am calmer and get more achieved. That's probably why I have the need to tidy up at work - I just can't operate effectively in a disorganised or chaotic environment. However, as is so often the case, the theory is one thing, putting it into practice is quite another. Hence the lists.
Another 7000 steps today (town and back for a few groceries). I may try to record these figures, together with spend/no spend and petrol/no petrol days, on a weekly or monthly basis. Just out of curiosity, really, and I don't know if it will fizzle out after a few weeks (or days, let's be honest) Not a resolution at all, just interest.
Tomorrow I must cut out the curtain lining. And perhaps take some photos.
Stepping out and making the most of the weather
After trying to publish this post for a good half hour last night, I finally gave in to the message that the laptop would not connect to the internet. Strangely the iPad and the MacAir were quite happy to connect. Funny old world.
After a rather wet and windy night, this morning (ie Friday) dawned beautifully bright and clear. Never one to miss a treat, I got two loads of washing through the machine, plus a few items washed by hand, all on the line by 11 o'clock. By early afternoon the whole lot was dry; by this evening it had been ironed and put away. Being able to take advantage of good drying weather in the middle of winter is such a bonus and I am going to make the most of it. This is such a simple pleasure, laundry drying outside, and it certainly beats having it festooned around the house.
It was bread-making day today, and the warmth from the sun speeded-up the proving. I have to follow the sun around the house, so I set the yeast to activate in the conservatory (late morning sun) and the bread proved on the guest bedroom window-sill, taking in the early afternoon sun. I think I have finally cracked the bread-making; I can knock up two pretty acceptable wholemeal loaves without needing to check the recipe, and I've learned to be fairly flexible with the amounts. These two loaves will last us a week and the taste is so superior to anything that comes sliced in a plastic bag. We resort to shop-bought occasionally but the real thing is is so much better.
We took a walk into town this afternoon, not to buy anything but just to stretch our legs. There's so much sitting around over Christmas what with eating/snacking, drinking, watching television, doing puzzles and reading, but not so much moving about. I think we should have made a bit more of an effort to get out and about but we didn't. Consequently we are both feeling the effects. Well, a walk there and back notched up 7100 steps on the old pedometer and while it's not calibrated to 100% accuracy, it was probably about 3 1/2 miles in total. That's fine. We heard, and then spotted high up in a tree, a robin singing his heart out and it was so lovely we stopped and just listened for a while. We took it easy on the way home as N's knee is still not right but a little gentle exercise probably won't do any harm. He has an appointment on Monday at the surgery.
I picked some more of our spinach for dinner tonight - lovely. The slugs don't seem to have attacked it which is always a bonus. N and I have been discussing the planting for this season; he is keen to have a go at squashes now we have the space, which should be interesting. The carrots in the old water tank should have been thinned out a long time ago but it always seems to go against the grain, pulling half the seedlings out. Of course, if we had done what we should have done we might have had home-grown carrots for Christmas. Lesson learned. In future, the carrots will be thinned.
The decs are coming down tomorrow, tine to get the house back to some kind of normality. And we both agreed that we need to start decluttering yet again. Although we were pretty ruthless when we moved last year we have been surprised just how much stuff we still have. We sorted through a couple of drawers today and found bits we'd forgotten about and plenty of things either in the wrong place or not needed at all. We realised that when we moved, quite a lot of stuff simply got put in the nearest cupboard or drawer without being properly 'assessed'. i think that will be an on-going project this year. Black bin bags to the ready!
After a rather wet and windy night, this morning (ie Friday) dawned beautifully bright and clear. Never one to miss a treat, I got two loads of washing through the machine, plus a few items washed by hand, all on the line by 11 o'clock. By early afternoon the whole lot was dry; by this evening it had been ironed and put away. Being able to take advantage of good drying weather in the middle of winter is such a bonus and I am going to make the most of it. This is such a simple pleasure, laundry drying outside, and it certainly beats having it festooned around the house.
It was bread-making day today, and the warmth from the sun speeded-up the proving. I have to follow the sun around the house, so I set the yeast to activate in the conservatory (late morning sun) and the bread proved on the guest bedroom window-sill, taking in the early afternoon sun. I think I have finally cracked the bread-making; I can knock up two pretty acceptable wholemeal loaves without needing to check the recipe, and I've learned to be fairly flexible with the amounts. These two loaves will last us a week and the taste is so superior to anything that comes sliced in a plastic bag. We resort to shop-bought occasionally but the real thing is is so much better.
We took a walk into town this afternoon, not to buy anything but just to stretch our legs. There's so much sitting around over Christmas what with eating/snacking, drinking, watching television, doing puzzles and reading, but not so much moving about. I think we should have made a bit more of an effort to get out and about but we didn't. Consequently we are both feeling the effects. Well, a walk there and back notched up 7100 steps on the old pedometer and while it's not calibrated to 100% accuracy, it was probably about 3 1/2 miles in total. That's fine. We heard, and then spotted high up in a tree, a robin singing his heart out and it was so lovely we stopped and just listened for a while. We took it easy on the way home as N's knee is still not right but a little gentle exercise probably won't do any harm. He has an appointment on Monday at the surgery.
I picked some more of our spinach for dinner tonight - lovely. The slugs don't seem to have attacked it which is always a bonus. N and I have been discussing the planting for this season; he is keen to have a go at squashes now we have the space, which should be interesting. The carrots in the old water tank should have been thinned out a long time ago but it always seems to go against the grain, pulling half the seedlings out. Of course, if we had done what we should have done we might have had home-grown carrots for Christmas. Lesson learned. In future, the carrots will be thinned.
The decs are coming down tomorrow, tine to get the house back to some kind of normality. And we both agreed that we need to start decluttering yet again. Although we were pretty ruthless when we moved last year we have been surprised just how much stuff we still have. We sorted through a couple of drawers today and found bits we'd forgotten about and plenty of things either in the wrong place or not needed at all. We realised that when we moved, quite a lot of stuff simply got put in the nearest cupboard or drawer without being properly 'assessed'. i think that will be an on-going project this year. Black bin bags to the ready!
Thursday, 1 January 2015
Productive pottering
Happy New Year!
Half a bottle of prosecco last night resulted in a smidgen of a headache this morning - why do I not learn?! Didn't actually make it through to midnight but that's nothing new.
A day of pottering around, seemingly not doing much but when I sat down to give the day some thought I realised that it's been very productive. Turkey bones (put in the freezer after Christmas) have been boiled up and the meat picked off, so that's 3 tubs of stock and enough meat for a pie for the two of us. Home-made quiche for dinner using whatever was in the fridge. Load of washing done, using home-made laundry liquid, and on the line - it was very windy even though there was some dampness in the air, so it did come in drier than it went out. Meters all read (having a water meter in the pavement tends to attract curtain-twitchers!) and figures noted. I'm using home-made dishcloths now and we have both noticed how much more effective they are at cleaning than bought cloths.
Knowing how N likes to solve problems, I asked him if he could come up with a solution to a problem I've encountered in the sewing room. I have some lovely long, fine pins which I use for quilting but over the past few weeks many of them have lost their heads, so to speak; the little flower bits on the ends have come off. I presented all these disembodied pins to N this morning, and explained my problem. Superglue-ing the flowers back on wasn't the answer - we've tried that before - but after a couple of other ideas were batted around, the solution presented itself in the shape of some beads I had saved from a previous project. Half an hour waiting for the glue to dry and the pins are good as new. I am so pleased, and how resourceful are we?!!
Today has been a spend-free, petrol-free day. I went for a walk this afternoon to blow the remains of my headache away (again, learn this lesson!) and clocked up 5300 steps without any effort. It was grey and windy but I spotted a pair of pied wagtails, admired a specimen viburnum in flower and got a few ideas for the garden.
It was a good start to the year.
Half a bottle of prosecco last night resulted in a smidgen of a headache this morning - why do I not learn?! Didn't actually make it through to midnight but that's nothing new.
A day of pottering around, seemingly not doing much but when I sat down to give the day some thought I realised that it's been very productive. Turkey bones (put in the freezer after Christmas) have been boiled up and the meat picked off, so that's 3 tubs of stock and enough meat for a pie for the two of us. Home-made quiche for dinner using whatever was in the fridge. Load of washing done, using home-made laundry liquid, and on the line - it was very windy even though there was some dampness in the air, so it did come in drier than it went out. Meters all read (having a water meter in the pavement tends to attract curtain-twitchers!) and figures noted. I'm using home-made dishcloths now and we have both noticed how much more effective they are at cleaning than bought cloths.
Knowing how N likes to solve problems, I asked him if he could come up with a solution to a problem I've encountered in the sewing room. I have some lovely long, fine pins which I use for quilting but over the past few weeks many of them have lost their heads, so to speak; the little flower bits on the ends have come off. I presented all these disembodied pins to N this morning, and explained my problem. Superglue-ing the flowers back on wasn't the answer - we've tried that before - but after a couple of other ideas were batted around, the solution presented itself in the shape of some beads I had saved from a previous project. Half an hour waiting for the glue to dry and the pins are good as new. I am so pleased, and how resourceful are we?!!
Today has been a spend-free, petrol-free day. I went for a walk this afternoon to blow the remains of my headache away (again, learn this lesson!) and clocked up 5300 steps without any effort. It was grey and windy but I spotted a pair of pied wagtails, admired a specimen viburnum in flower and got a few ideas for the garden.
It was a good start to the year.
Wednesday, 31 December 2014
Backwards and forwards
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| This morning I picked some baby spinach leaves and weeded between the lines |
With the anticipation of a brand new year tomorrow I have been busy trying to re-organise the house (and myself) after Christmas. It's a bit like at the start of a new school term, and being issued with new exercise books - I'm always full of good intentions. Back to achievable lists, menu plans and keeping papers filed. I've sorted through receipts, reckoned up the cost of petrol for the car this year (and was pleasantly surprised), checked through the utilities paperwork and sent quite a bit into the shredding bin and tidied up the sewing room.
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| Our new Year's Eve meal, made by N - salmon en croute (the spinach from the garden was inside the parcels) and home-made chips, served on charity shop plates! It was delicious. |
I have jotted down some ideas for 2015, not resolutions as such but things I would like to do or sort out. There are things for me personally (that's the 'being good to myself' bit and includes yoga), sewing projects that will be completed (but obviously that is an on-going list ;-)) ), challenges I'd like to have a go at, as well as the garden to tackle and quite a bit of 'snagging' in the house. I hope that 2015 will be the year I finally make my own soap!
This morning I came across this post from Frugal in Suffolk, a blog I've recently started to read, and related totally to the sentiments being expressed so eloquently. Being frugal and debt-free is indeed liberating. Knowing there is money to cover the unexpected is very reassuring but just because we have funds does not mean we spend recklessly. We are very happy with the way we have chosen to live our lives and it brings us contentment. Boredom doesn't cross our threshold and a productive garden puts a smile on our faces. We can always find things to do because we don't rely on others to do them for us. We try to use our time and resources mindfully. Slowing down has been a lesson well learned. Simplifying our lives has been a revelation.
2014 was a busy year for us with a house move (not without it's share of problems) and a wedding as highlights. We've become volunteers, re-established contact with old friends, walked half the Wight (dare I tackle the full walk next year?), enjoyed some lovely holidays away, and were surprised at what we managed to do ourselves in the house renovation. We've learned new skills and improved old ones.
Next year, like that brand new school book, is waiting to be filled. Whilst I may have plans in mind I have no doubt that there'll be a few surprises along the way - that's life - but I have every intention of getting as much out of life in the new year as I can. I have my lists - I'm ready to go!
2015 - just some of the things I want to do:
try yoga
update/improve the layout of the blog
make soap
tackle some of the Island Trails (walking)
finish the bow-tie quilt
transform the garden
Tuesday, 30 December 2014
Slow and quiet
Our Christmas guest (DD) left us today to spend some time with other family members. It was very white and sparkly when I drove her to the ferry - for the second day running, a really sharp overnight frost had touched every surface white. The trees were picked out in a white dusting and it did look so pretty (no photos sadly as I was driving!) - it may be the closest we get to snow. By late morning the temperature had risen sufficiently to thaw the frost although the water in the buckets remained frozen throughout the day.
So now it is just the two of us again, and we're slowly sorting ourselves out. We moved the dining-table back into the lounge (we have the dismantling and reassembling down to a fine art now) and the 'middle' room is once again our cosy snug. It's interesting how the house is constantly evolving to meet our changing needs, and every time we have to move furniture around we see rooms working in different ways for us. It's quite fun to have a number of options.
We took ourselves for a walk into town this afternoon, and although it was still a bit chilly, it was gloriously bright and sunny, and yet again we were reminded just how good it is to wrap up warm and get moving outside. No post-Christmas sales shopping for us, though. To be honest, by the time we ventured anywhere near the shops, there were a lot of empty shelves so I guess the bargains have been grabbed. I'm always surprised that people still have money left to spend after Christmas, having been urged to part company with their cash on so many occasions on the run-up to the holidays. There's no more spending for me now until 2015!
I'm pottering around, gathering bits of paper together, jotting down ideas, and yes, compiling lists. There are some things I would like to do/tackle/try in the coming year, and I have found that writing things down helps me stayed focussed. Hopefully by tomorrow evening the ideas will be a little more organised and committed to paper.
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| The frost yesterday |
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| Ice on the outside of the conservatory door |
So now it is just the two of us again, and we're slowly sorting ourselves out. We moved the dining-table back into the lounge (we have the dismantling and reassembling down to a fine art now) and the 'middle' room is once again our cosy snug. It's interesting how the house is constantly evolving to meet our changing needs, and every time we have to move furniture around we see rooms working in different ways for us. It's quite fun to have a number of options.
We took ourselves for a walk into town this afternoon, and although it was still a bit chilly, it was gloriously bright and sunny, and yet again we were reminded just how good it is to wrap up warm and get moving outside. No post-Christmas sales shopping for us, though. To be honest, by the time we ventured anywhere near the shops, there were a lot of empty shelves so I guess the bargains have been grabbed. I'm always surprised that people still have money left to spend after Christmas, having been urged to part company with their cash on so many occasions on the run-up to the holidays. There's no more spending for me now until 2015!
I'm pottering around, gathering bits of paper together, jotting down ideas, and yes, compiling lists. There are some things I would like to do/tackle/try in the coming year, and I have found that writing things down helps me stayed focussed. Hopefully by tomorrow evening the ideas will be a little more organised and committed to paper.
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