 20 bin bags of rubbish were collected from the beach and the shore path today - exhausting but satisfying for the 15 or so volunteers, some from other villages, who came to help. As the first flowers come out in Coronation Wood (click top right for more photographs) we had another bonfire and a barbecue, and made a start on a natural sculpture inspired by the wonderful work of Andy Goldsworthy. Tired but happy tonight.... 2 Comments Continuing my review of my own blog...If Simply Beautiful was my favourite Category, Simply Bin It is one of the more useful! There are only four posts in Simply Bin It. You might like to check them out (see sidebar) if you think you may have stuff to bin.... Throw Ten Things was great, and I still do that every now and then, and I enjoyed reading Paul Graham's take on modern day problems with stuff. He says one of the difficulties is that the people whose job it is to sell you stuff are really, really good at it. Do you have a problem with stuff? I'm trying to be detached and analytical about the remaining clutter and calling in Rudyard Kipling's Six Honest Serving Men to help - What, Why, When, How, Where and Who. Take the aforementioned table for example (16 Jan 2012) : What is it? A table for use in the garden. I have six garden tables! Why did I buy it? It was a bargain, I couldn't afford anything else at the time and I enjoyed using it for a few years. Why am I keeping it? I got kind of fond of it....Hmm.. When did I buy it? About ten years ago before I got nicer and larger ones. How do I use it? I don't. Where is it? Hanging off the end of the garden shed, because it is rusty and unsightly. Who bought it in the first place? Me. So who should decide if it goes? Me. Are any of the above answers reasons to keep it? No. Get rid. What a relief! I have a Simply Bin It category, and a Simply Get Rid category - and have to think of the difference. Freecycle, as Liz says is a brilliant way to Get Rid to someone who can use the things. Look at www.paulgraham.com/stuff.html for a wider view of the modern day problems with stuff. Thanks Julia. I like his line Hardly anyone is so poor that they can't afford a front yard full of old cars....
You've got to laugh at the advertising people. I got two new books from Amazon (The Cello Suites by Eric Siblin and The Spirit of Silence by John Lane). Inside the wrapping were two leaflets - one headed 'Secret Sales' and one called 'Naked Wines'. Neither of which turned out to be either secret or naked! Secret Sales is 'exclusive' to anyone who cares to register, and in the small print on Naked Wines it says 'PS We don't expect you to drink your wines naked. We do think it's wise to always drink responsibly' !! Who thinks them up? Simply laugh and bin it....  Ethically, it goes without saying - recycle, compost, charity shop, gift it, whatever. 'Throw Ten Things' I read in a magazine. I started in the greenhouse. Five minutes and I'd thrown ten things which were rubbish or shouldn't have been in there anyway. Then I threw away ten things from the shed. Then I went to the back of the shed - ten more things - then the pot area, then the bench area. In twenty minutes I'd got rid of fifty bits of junk and I felt great! Now if I did this every day....? Then it was a coffee in the cosy greenhouse out of the cold north wind, with a new book I got for my birthday (Amazon wish list is such a good idea!). The book is 'Lazy Days and Beach Blankets - simple alfresco dining with family and friends' Inspiring - I plan to have more of this this year. Starting with the primrose picnic . 'Picnic When Possible' is on my Simply Eat manifesto (see 9th April). A hill up the Larach, a pass between Loch Long and Loch Eck, has huge swathes of primroses on it and for a couple of years now we have taken a simple picnic up there - if it gets warmer by the end of this week I shall be ready with some food and a flask, and the picnic quilt made by Laura (who also bought me the book). Simple pleasures and lazy days. I think I need to practice lazy.... | AuthorAn artist seeking a simpler life - (but not too simple!) ArchivesMay 2013 CategoriesAll |
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