This is a shoe shop. A wee joke do you think?

My friend Eileen particularly liked the sign that said 'Ears pierced while you wait'....


Jane Brocket at www.yarnstorm.blogs.com/ has written a lively review of the Hockney exhibition which makes me want to jump on the train and go and look. (If it wasn't nearly 500 miles away, and then crowded when you do get there....)

When the electricity and phone were cut off earlier this month I wondered if I was being tested on 'living simply'. Today we have no water - it's getting ridiculous!

I'm still on about Edinburgh (we were only there for two days, but we packed a lot in!)

Our museums simply get better and better. The National Museum of Scotland has just had a major refurbishment and the results are excellent.

Why bother with Disneyland when you can have this? The place was full of happy children, and full of things for them to do. Theatrically lit, it got progressively more dramatic as the daylight faded.

(Click on photos to enlarge.)

The facilities are extensive and wonderfully family friendly.

And its free!

Brilliant.

Here are three of the small watercolour paintings I took to Roger Billcliffe Gallery in Glasgow yesterday, and the new banner is how the weather was looking as I was leaving home! It snowed some more throughout the day, and the moonlight  on the mountains as I came home was so beautiful - inspiring more paintings....

From left to right they are Here Comes The Snow, Moonlight on Cold Water, and The Big Freeze.  Price £185.

Please click on the images to enlarge.

The exhibition 'Postcards 2012' begins on Saturday 4th February, and you are invited to the private view from 11am - 2pm if you are anywhere near enough to come!

Enquiries and information : www.billcliffegallery.com

One 'legendary' Edinburgh establishment disappoints. It seems to me to be resting on its laurels and out of touch in the 21st century.

I'm an artist and a designer so I notice, and care, how a place looks. If I have the choice of eating good food in a dull and scruffy place or in attractive surroundings I'll choose the second any time. I'm not alone in this I'm sure (and you don't need to be a designer to care about it..I think most people would feel the same).

This wholefood bistro falls down in the decor. It has a touch of Indian  with dark red walls and chandeliers, Country  House  in the unmatched, elaborate, gilded frames on the three blackboards, a bit of fish and chip shop  style in the salt cellars, the bottle of salad dressing decidedly Italian, the tall drinks glasses with a Scandinavian look, quite elegant, which cannot be said of the sad, drab, unhygenic and very 60's  look (but not in a nice way) carpet tiles! Arty crafty cushions featuring unravelling fabrics, Moroccan  lanterns, without candles,  and clumsy folksy  lettering on the door to the loos add to the confusion.

Masses of clutter - extra chairs, brochures, collecting boxes, tatty posters for events long past, and vases of flowers which needed the water changing.

In short, a mess.

The food was good, but I won't be going back.

Rant over....but I get so annoyed when things are done so badly. Everywhere needs an overhaul after 50 years. You have to do better than this Hendersons!

About as far removed from the simplicity of Peter's Yard as you might get (see yesterday) is The Dome in George Street. First drawn through the door to wonder at the incredible over-the-top Christmas decorations, we decided to eat in The Club Room.

The Dome was built as bank in 1847. Opulent and ostentatious in the extreme, and designed to impress, it's a visual feast. The food was good too (a generous starter and a glass of wine made a nice light supper).

I plan to sit in their Garden Cafe in summer, and may skip lunch and do afternoon tea one day if I'm feeling a bit grand....

Simple it is not, and my first choice would always be Peter's Yard, but a bit of posh is fun once in a while, wouldn't you agree?









(And yes, the lighting really is this gaudy!)

Peter's Yard in the university area of Edinbirgh known as The Quarter Mile (close to The Meadows) was a lovely find recently.

A Swedish cafe, eco-friendly, fresh, clean, welcoming, delicious food and a swirl on your coffee to put a smile on your face.

See more here www.petersyard.com/gallery/

I will certainly go back, perhaps to try their 'no compromise' pizza.

We like to keep things simple so that we can do them well, they say, which just sums up all the things I like about Sweden and about trying to live more simply.

Urban Angel in Hanover Street do a pretty coffee too, and a very good almond croissant....

It's Making Winter Week for January and here is my design for a Bedtime Treasure Quilt, the idea being that part of baby's bedtime routine is wiping  noses, reading the book, and tucking in Teddy (all in the pockets among the moon and stars).

I've lost count now of how many of these I've made!

 I have a number of hand made quilts, knitted and faux fur throws which only come out in winter, and only get used in the really cold weather, but tucking up on the sofa with one on a wild or frosty night is one of winter's simple pleasures, don't you think?

Hop over to www.silverpebble-jewellery.blogspot.com to see what others are doing to Make Winter cosier, or tastier, more creative or just more fun....

FIVE.. In his lecture The Beauty Of Life, given in 1880, William Morris said

Believe me....we must  clear our houses of troublesome superfluities that are forever in our way..

If you want a golden rule that will fit everybody, this is it. Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful .

He continued: ..and if we apply that rule strictly....we shall surely have more money to pay for decent houses. (I like that last point, and I had not heard this part of the quotation before.)

So, is it useful? Is it beautiful?

If yes, keep it, if no, let it go. After all, why would you want to keep things which are useless and ugly!

In the same lecture Morris stated 'If I were to say what is at once the most important production of art and the thing most longed for, I should answer, a beautiful house.'

Hear, hear!


..tomorrow Making Winter again....

FOUR..Pick each item up, one at a time and ask -

Does it fill you with joy when you look at it?

Does it give you energy or drain your energy when you look at it and/or use it?

Pause a moment. You will  know!

Decide accordingly.


..tomorrow....ask the classic William Morris question..

THREE.. Ask yourself : would you keep it in your dream home? If the answer is no, consider getting rid of it.

'You can't afford the house of your dreams. That is why it is the house of your dreams. If you had everything you ever wanted you wouldn't have a reason to get up in the morning. Be satisfied with dissatisfaction.'

So says Paul Arden. His small book It's Not How Good You Are, It's How Good You Want To Be (The World's Best-selling Book By Paul Arden) is original and amusing.


..tomorrow..Does it fill you with joy?....


PS  After 17 days we are reconnected to phone and internet - Hurrah!

TWO..it's stuff remember, not people, so try to keep your emotions out of it. Especially fear. But what if there is a disaster and I've thrown away those extra blankets?....But what if there isn't, and you have carried them from house to house, cleaned them, insured them, agonised over the decision to keep them or not, and had your cupboards stuffed with them for all those years? Disasters do happen, but thankfully are very rare and besides, where do you stop with this kind of thinking - do you keep everything in case there is a disaster, or in case your children's children might like them, or in case your dead relatives who gave you that chair are watching to see that you keep it forever? (I really don't think they worry about that kind of thing in Heaven)....it gets ridiculous.
 
Take a chance, live dangerously - get rid of it!


..tomorrow....your dream home..

The title of a new book on finance and investment caught my eye. It is by Carl Richards and is called The Behaviour Gap. Simple Ways To Stop Doing Dumb Things With Money.  I think I will take on board some of his critical thinking for Simple Ways To Stop Doing Dumb Things With STUFF!

As far as I can see from a brief look, he talks about emotion, and how inappropriate it can be to make decisions about money based on emotions, especially fear. He has inspired me to come up with - wait for it -

Five Simple Ways To Stop Doing Dumb Things With Stuff.

ONE :  The most effective of all. Don't buy it in the first place. Look at the item you have just taken from the shelf in the shop. Is it conceivable that in a few hour's/day's/week's time you will not be as thrilled by it as you are now? Be honest, and if in doubt, put it back. (If it helps earmark the money you would have spent for something which will thrill you..but seems beyond your means. You may be surprised how quickly you can  save this way for something you really want. I have the 'visit Japan' fund growing. Slowly, but growing....)

..tomorrow ....it's only 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....

Make do and mend seems to belong to another generation. I don't do it much, but as a hangover from my childhood, I keep the means to do it, and have a bad conscience about not  doing it. But neither did I ever feel really comfortable about disposable goods, and inbuilt obsolescence always seemed wrong....

It's all very complicated - that is my thinking  is all very complicated. Consciously and subconsciously I am giving myself a very hard time every single time I throw something away.

I'm caught in a kind of discomfort zone between the make-do-and-mend generation and the throw-away generation. And now that the throw-away generation are thinking twice about the wisdom of their ways it complicates decision making about 'stuff' even further.

The responsibility to save the planet weighs heavily!

For a clever, crude and very funny look at 'stuff' watch George Carlin here  www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvgN5gCuLac  (or Google You Tube George Carlin Stuff)

I try to keep the top of this cupboard clear of everything else except the bowl....and I keep the bowl empty. Very zen..

First - phone report. On the 11th on the way into town to use the internet I passed a man from BT standing at the bottom of the telegraph pole looking up. Today, 5 days later, there was an engineer at the top of the pole, with cable in his hand. Progress?


I am genuinely puzzled that I am still clutter clearing almost two years since I started the blog (Simply Get Rid/Simply Bin It, Mar). When I think about it, the current clearing is  from the attic and the shed, so I guess that is progress. I didn't think of myself as a real hoarder, or a particularly keen shopper.

So I thought I'd look at exactly what went to the recycling depot yesterday. An old garden table which I had intended to repaint. If I had needed somewhere to put my cup of coffee I would have painted it, but I clearly didn't need another table. So why did I keep it....

A great big bag of plant trays and plant pots. Served me well in the past (they've been used and reused many times) but I don't grow and sell on the scale that I used to, and everyone has trouble getting rid of them - so if I ever need more....A box of shabby old files and folders. With the advent of the internet I'm not quite paperless, but I've discarded all the contents, so why keep the files?

A huge bag of offcuts of bubble wrap that had got soaked - I've no idea how. And where could I spread it out to dry at this time of year and am I really going to save it till a sunny windless day and spread it all around the garden? A broken box I kept my seeds in. Kind of cute, and it could have been fixed....with patience and wood glue, but we don't tend to fix things these days, do we. But in the meantime I keep it, just in case one day I get the urge to fix it! some incense sticks I've never liked the smell of. I've kept them for about three years!

A big bag of assorted coat hangers, because I replaced them with new ones and straight away got rid of the old - Ah! there's a clue, and a key. It's that old something in, something out  rule, which I always think is such a sensible idea, but don't actually follow.

It might just make the difference if I did....

I liked the idea in a recent post from www.becomingminimalist.com of trying out a more minimalist look at home without committing totally to it. For example, clearing all the surfaces in the kitchen, so that everything you don't often use gets put away somewhere and everything you use regularly gets put in a handy drawer or cupboard.

Great idea. You can probably tell after as little as a week whether or not you really like it, whether it functions well for you, both practically and aesthetically.

The downside, I find, is that when I remove all the distracting items, I then see that the worktops themselves are marked and shabby! I can either choose to view this as wabi sabi  - a kind of respected used look (smacks a bit of that previously worn look in clothes that I don't like!) or I could do the work necessary to repair and refurbish them....

Or I could just carry on as I am.

I like thinking about these things more than doing them sometimes!

Hey ho. And still no phone....they are trying to set up temporary connections for the hundred or so people in the village still without....

A good time to try out simple living ideas.

This seat facing the bedroom window is my quiet corner. Do you have a quiet place? A place where you go when you just need to have a think, uninterrupted? A place with few distractions and no to-do lists? One of the reasons I sit with my back to the room is so that I'm not thinking I need to repaint that wall, iron those clothes, or whatever. Also upstairs here I can't see the gardening that need done, only the forest beyond which thankfully is not my responsibility (especially as a lot of trees are down in the recent storms).

In summer the window is filled with the leaves of a lovely rowan tree. At Christmas I love to have these lights at the window. They cast a very gentle glow.

On the wall beside the chair is a beautiful pencil drawing by Joan Harrison.

It is of the laundry at Beningborough Hall in Yorkshire where I used to work and exhibit, and Jane was hanging her exhibition as I was taking mine down. I bought this as she hung it on the hook!

I love its simple beauty, and the skill with which she has shown, not just the fabric, but even the very weight of the fabric. I know from her accurately observed drawing that this is linen, not cotton. And the composition is exquisite.


What have you put, or would you put in your quiet corner?




This has been a good spot to sit when I get stressed about still having no phone, internet or mobile after NINE days.....Keep calm and carry on!

Do you remember American haiku? (See 29 Dec 2011.) It is the name sometimes given to efforts to write a story in just 6 words, the best known (and most heartbreaking) example of which is Hemingway's :

                                                                 For sale. Baby shoes. Never worn.

Last year I tried to put into 6 words what the year 2010 had meant to me (There's more to simple than imagined. )

My 2011?

                                                                 Becoming me, and making life simpler.


(Here is another word for the one word for 2012 challenge - new-start-art.  Any more? Hyphenated or not!)

Two new (to me) websites I like are www.cornflowerbooks.co.uk an online book group with interesting and frequent posts and a sister site on wider subjects, and www.londonwritersclub.com where they are doing 'Keep Warm And Write' daily throughout January with tips from writers, publishers and editors. Nice idea, a bit like 'Making Winter' from www.silverpebble-jewellery.bogspot.co.uk which I've enjoyed being part of. Their next week starts 23 January.

My own sister site, my arty blog, has become a spider web site (collecting cobwebs), bit I am about to dust them off, spring clean it and revive it. I usually post weekly there and write about painting, creativity and investing in art. Click on www.fredawaldapfel.squarespace.com for a look....


Still not connected, but this morning on the way in to town I saw a British Telecom engineer standing at the bottom of the pole where the phone line is lying on the ground, looking at it....maybe today will be the day?

Why don't they simply reduce the price on fairground rides to get them full of people? It must cost the same (or near enough) to run the thing full as empty or with two people, who are just getting on here, and it would create an atmosphere of people having fun, which would in turn make others want to join in....don't you think?

This was the Edinburgh Wheel. It costs£4. I estimate it holds at least 100 people. In all the time we sat in Valvona and Crolla (lovely coffee) in Jenners we didn't see it with more than 6 people on it at one time. £24. For £1 each they could have had 100 people. £100. Seems to me a no brainer, but what do I know about running fairgrounds!

I find these city centre mini fairground with only one lonely child on a ride kind of sad....it's not what it's meant to be like, is it?

They could experiment with a very low price like a 'happy hour' and see if my theory works.

My husband's Why Don't They? 'Why don't they clean up the Scott Monument?' (that blackened pile to the left of the wheel) in Edinburgh's Princes Street.

What is your 'Why Don't They....?'  We all have at least  one. Some of us have dozens.

Ah, if only the world was run our way.


Still not connected, but I have a friend who is! 

8 Jan catch up

We still have no phone, therefore no internet, so here I am back in Season's Cafe, and the sun is shining and the wind has dropped.  Hurrah!

I tried to get a photograph of the roof with a hole in it through which someone had pushed an umbrella and opened it up, but by the time I got there, it had blown away....the umbrella, not the roof (though some have been blown away - frightening....)

I've been teased about causing the 90 hour power cut here by choosing LIGHTER as my word for 2012 - it wasn't my fault, honestly!

So, there is still time to choose your one word to represent your hopes and wishes for 2012. We have EXPERIENCES, ENDEAVOUR, NOT-STRUGGLING (hyphen again Lynne!) and REAL, FEEL  and AWARENESS.

Any more? Do share..

The new banner is to remind me I should be painting.....promised five watercolours to Roger Billcliffe Gallery ...

7 Jan catch up.

Talking of feeling invigorated..Have you noticed a new attitude in articles about diet and fitness lately? I call it the Olympics effect.

Instead of gentle exercise, and detoxes, and taking it all gently with a bit of pampering thrown in, the new approach is typified by Ruth Field, The Grit Doctor, and Gabby Logan in today's Times.

It's up and at it, and don't be a wimp (Och Wheesht and Get Oan Wae It - see 1 Jan - I was on trend for 2012 there on the very first day!).

I have to say the language is invigorating, and there is a sense of humour in the writing which is very refreshing.

Here is Ruth Field, Grit Doctor :

Stop wanting things to be easy....This is going to be hard. But you are going to like hard.

Stop telling yourself you look great when you do not.

Simply have a look in a mirror and have an honest conversation about where you are fitness-wise.

(Her book on running has the hideous and blatantly publicity seeking title Run Fat Bitch Run.  It's working though - she's getting lots of publicity..)

I'm not planning to take up running, call myself names, or buy the book, but I'm planning to adopt some of the gritty attitude!


We still don't have a telephone connection - they say a few days yet, so I may not be able to post every day. Its a 30 mile round trip to the nearest internet cafe (the excellent Seasons in Dunoon), but not so far to my friend Liz's so.....(thank you Liz!)  Meanwhile I hope you are warm and dry and connected.

6 Jan catch up

Something else switched on about the same time as the electricity.

I suddenly had to get Christmas packed up in boxes and put away in the loft.

Then I needed to clean. Funny how the desire to clean strikes out of the blue. It began when I climbed up to replace a broken curtain hook, and ended with scrubbing the curtain rail, washing the curtains, cleaning out the cupboard under the sink....

And I'm actually enjoying it!

Fresh starts always invigorate me.

And there goes Christmas 2011 - it was lovely :-

5 Jan 2012 catch up.

Reading by candlelight (yes, I know, if I had a Kindle....). But I'm finding that the enforced break from normal life has its nice side.

Firelight and candlelight are very conducive to relaxing.

Some good books, a glass or two of wine and some Isle of Mull cheese with rosemary and sea salt reganas went down very well. I do find myself being in the present moment  in these circumstances (ignoring the gale blowing and the rain battering the window, and relieved that it's not the sound of glass flying through the air that I'm listening to, and that it's only the greenhouse and not the house that is gone).

The evening is long and leisurely and I'm enjoying every minute of it.

Day four, and the power went on at 3am.

So, I ask myself, could I be happy living this simply?

Well I rather enjoyed the short break from my everyday life. The focus was on staying warm, eating and sleeping, and figuring out how to do the essentials without electricity, and totally ignoring all the inessentials.

And reading.

Lots or reading. And some writing. With the addition of enough interesting work, I think I could  be happy living this simply.

Back to basics, and very nice it was. For three days.

Then I got cabin fever....

4 Jan 2012 catchup.

We are now into our third day without electricity.

This morning finds us cleaning candlewax off things and wiping the blood from the doorhandles and walls.

Barry braved the gales and lashing rain to take out all the remaining glass from the greenhouse, and was out until it was too dark to see. I ran him a very hot bath (thankfully the woodburning stove heats the water!) and it wasn't till the morning light that we saw that he had cut his hand and that there was a trail of blood on everything he had touched as he got ready to get into the bath, including one long trickle of red the full length of the bathroom door where he had hung his clothes on the hook.

Very dramatic!

Trying to get candlewax off things (tip - don't blow them out, snuff them out) made me think how much work must have been involved in keeping the great houses like Waddeson Manor lit. Not just the lighting of the candles and the replacing of them. but trimming the wicks, cleaning the candleholders and silver, removing drips of wax from fine fabrics and valuable furniture, seeing that there was a regular supply and that they were placed where they would be needed. It might have been someone's full time job.

A sort of equivalent job is being done right now by three engineers, from a large contingent who have come over from Northern Ireland, and who are checking the poles as I write. They worked till 4 am and then got a couple of hours sleep and started again at 7 this morning. They say they should have the power back on by the end of today! Hurrah!

(Didn't happen.)

My computer tells me I have 12 minutes left on my battery..better use it wisely....