A good swap

Hello. I've had a super Saturday . Didn't go anywhere, just stayed around the village and found things to do at home. This morning me and Rocky had a walk to Janet's house to deliver the pet quilts. She is hopefully going to sell them tomorrow at a car boot sale that she goes to with Sue. The kettle was on so we sat in the posh room and had a natter over a cup of coffee. Then I picked up the Times newspapers from Irene who lives in the same street. 

My next door neighbour has had a lad in to weed the front borders around the lawn on the front. The trouble is that he has removed clumps of earth as well as the weeds, which has left deep furrows in it. They like to plant flowers in their borders, the lack of soil is going to make that difficult. Then I had an idea, I have plenty spare compost in my raised beds, which I don't need. Simple, fill up their holes with it. I got my wheel barrow out and loaded it up with plastic boxes of compost, and filled all the borders in. That's brought it up to the level of the lawn in the middle, and the pavement at the front. Job done. I see they have planted it up with wallflowers, it should be a good show. For my reward I got three fleecy sweatshirts, Jane was sorting her wardrobe out and they were surplus to requirements. I gratefully accepted them, and thought it was a good swap. 

This is Heidi's favourite spot when the sun is out. She always has been a climber, usually getting onto the roof of the summerhouse. I sit inside and she peeps through the window at me. 

Mayze in her usual spot sunning herself on the wooden shelves at the side of the garage.

 Lunch today was a portion of veg stew out of the freezer, couldn't be bothered to cook. I had an early dinner and made an omelette with mushrooms, chickpeas, and spinach. It was almost as big as the plate so I didn't need much to go with it. It was lovely, I put garlic powder and coriander in it, very tasty. I always finish it off under the grill so it stays in one piece, rather than trying to flip it over. I took this meal out into the summerhouse and ate it there, then sat and read the papers. It's been a lovely day again.

On the sewing front, I've finished another string of small felt hearts, and made two fabric bags. There is only a small piece of this material left now, I've got such a lot out of a £1 set of curtains from the charity shop.

Right, that's me done, chill out time now. I'll have a look what's on the free tele. Enjoy your Sunday.
Toodle pip

Childhood revisited

Good morning, Yesterday was a time for reflection and families. I was out of the house from 8am till 11pm, hence no blog post. It was all about going back to where I spent my childhood, visiting the village where I grew up, and the village where I went to school, but hey, it wasn't about me, it was about Stephen. 

Stephen was my brother, he was our brother. We were three, two sisters and a brother, now we are two. Stephen died four years ago in India. Although this is not the anniversary of his death, his widow feels now is the time to lay him to rest. And so it was that yesterday we made the same journey to the crematorium, as we did 32 years ago, to say goodbye to our mother. 

Very few words are needed for this post. Enjoy the Autumn pictures.

Afterwards we went to Stretton to see the house where we grew up, it looks so different now. Then we went to Rolleston, the school is no longer there, and we had lunch in the Spread Eagle Hotel.

Rolleston Church.

A pretty cottage nearby.

The brook runs alongside the hotel. 

Past this lovely old house which is now a hotel......

next to this little footbridge which goes over the stream where Stephen and Anna used to go fishing. This was his favourite place to play.

Later on, after a meal back home, our sister in law caught the train back to London, and I went to visit Uncle Stan and Auntie Pat, before I drove home.

Thank you for reading. Have a nice Sunday.

Sharing a bloggy link

Good morning. April Fools day today, and although I am a bit of a joker, I cannot think of a suitable mickey take, so I'm going in the opposite direction and posting about something which I think is deadly serious. A blog which I dip into from time to time, written by Leo Babauta, is called Zen Habits. I usually pop over there from the Lovely Grey Day blog, on my rounds through blogland as I drink my morning coffee. I have now installed a link to Leo's blog on my sidebar, as I definitely feel a connection with the writer.

Today's post has struck a chord, I could have written it myself, so instead of making a joke, I will share Leo's words with you. First of all, there is no copyright on his blog. Please excuse big writing, that's what happens with copy and paste.
Uncopyright

This entire blog, and all my ebooks, are uncopyrighted (since January 2008).That means I’ve put them in the public domain, and released my copyright on all these works.There is no need to email me for permission — use my content however you want! Email it, share it, reprint it with or without credit.

A Call for Compassion for the Defenseless

By Leo Babauta

We don’t like to think that our way of living is wrong, that our beliefs are untrue, that we participate in cruelty or injustice.

We want to think of ourselves as good people.

I know because I reacted with anger and defensiveness the first time I heard criticisms of the sweatshop clothing I owned, of the consumerism I participated in, of the sexism and homophobic culture I’d grown up in. I know because I ridiculed vegetarians and vegans when I first heard about their ridiculous abstaining from meat and animal products.

And yet, we can be good people … and close our eyes to wrongdoing.

This is when those who see the wrongdoing have a duty: to speak up, and call for conscience, and call for change. And call for compassion.

Today I am calling for compassion for animals: defenseless, suffering, feeling animals.

Our Food System

I grew up in the modern world, with food brought to me already prepared, ready to eat. Microwave dinners, chicken nuggets, cans of chips, packs of beef jerky and candy: it was all the same to me. It was just Food.

I knew nothing of where that food came from. If I ever thought of animals, it was animals on peaceful farms, living happy lives. But mostly I just thought of the food, the delicious, nourishing, yummy food. It wasn’t living beings, just food.

Of course, if we really open our eyes, these are fellow sentient, feeling beings that we’re eating. And they’re not happy or peaceful: they’re suffering, in mass factories of hormone injections, daily beatings, lives of living hell, and murder.

We rightly feel compassion when humans are subjected to mass murder and genocide, under the Nazis and Pol Pot, of the Kurds, in Rwanda, and other incidences of horrible suffering and injustice. And yet, we participate in the mass torture and murder of other beings, simply for our pleasure.

And sure, I will concede that human and animal lives are not equal. But that doesn’t mean they are worthless or unworthy of our compassion. It doesn’t mean we can treat them like unfeeling objects.

If you wish to read the full post please click on the link to his blog. 

I'll be back later with the day's news. Toodle pip.  

Sharing bloggy links

Good morning.
Every morning when I wake up I hoist my body into an upright position, and prop myself up with pillows. I then close my eyes and ponder. What shall I do today? Is there anything I have to do? Be somewhere at a specific time? Or have I got a free day to do what I please? Organizing my day is important. I get the most pleasure out of it when I am productive, when I am useful, and when I can make a contribution to to the wider society that I live in. Looking after my mind is as important as looking after my body. So in the morning I lay in my bed, planning what I am going to do.

My friend is going on a ramble today, it is too far for him to take his dog, so I will go into his house at midday and get Lady out for a walk. I will sit in his conservatory for a while, reading a magazine which he leaves out for me to do the crossword, while the dog bimbles around the garden.

Today I am expecting a packet in the post. My nephew has sent me some seeds and I need to get on with  sowing them in pots. I hope it doesn't rain because I want to tidy up the bushes and hedges in the back garden while I have the electric trimmer. Then the job will be done and I can give it back to Barry.

Next job is to make up some of the veg I bought yesterday into stews and curries, and freeze portions in margarine tubs. I wont be able to eat it all in the next couple of days so freezing it will give me some cheap meals over the next few weeks.

I have a few crafting projects on the go, but these are not priority at the moment. I will be picking these up at odd times in between other jobs. Now the weather is getting better, I shall be outside a lot more. Litter picking needs to be done once a week, and I want to do one full day walk every week, so map reading and planning is priority now.

Blogging is always priority, so I spend a few minutes pondering about what to write about next. Sometimes an idea comes out of the blue, other times I still haven't come up with anything at nine o clock at night. That's when you get the drivel, ha ha. So, planning makes for a better post, hopefully. The idea for today's post has come from reader Gam Kau. She sent me a link to another blog, which I have checked out. This led me to another blog, and another, like you do. So my idea for today is to send you off to have a look at other useful and interesting blogs. It's good to share knowledge, life is a learning curve. Enjoy your reading, but be sure to come back to this one tomorrow. Thank you Gam Kau for getting me started on this.

Lois is a mother and grandmother who is into living in a small space, and making something old into something new and useful. Look at her Blogroll for lots more linky's.
Living Simply Free blog

Daniela is into frugal, obviously. she does DIY, painting, thrifty, and has an Etsy shop. There are adverts on this blog which I am not keen on, but the content is good if you can ignore the adds.
Frugal Aint Cheap blog

Buy Nothing is a project started by two friends. As it says, there are ideas for making things from what you already have. Anyone can start a local group, it's all about people getting together and sharing their knowledge. Random acts of kindness are encouraged.
Trash Backwards blog

Kathy writes about exploration of ideas, stories and information, that can lead to a more happier, simple, peaceful and compassionate world for everyone. No topic is off limits. A thought provoking blog.
Smart Living blog

Katherine is a very crafty lady. It's not all about pillows as the title suggests, but lots of fun and quirky ideas for small crafty projects. There are a lot of upcycling ideas as well.
Pillows a la Mode blog

There's five to be going on with, that will keep you busy for a while. Toodle pip, I must get started on my plan for today.