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Simply Seeing..or not....

31/5/2015

18 Comments

 

Now you see it, now you don't

It's a disconcerting condition AMD (Age-related Macular Degeneration).

It crept up on me slowly.

In a softly lit restaurant I picked up the menu and it was blank. Blank? I turned it over. Blank. I turned it back over and blinked once or twice, then I tried looking away and looking back again. Nothing. I tried harder (this has almost always worked in my life!). Nope.

By now my heart was thumping a bit. What was happening? I said 'I can't read this' to my husband and went to the loo (I could see the stairs) to take a few moments to compose myself and supress the panic that was rising.

When I went back upstairs Barry had moved to another table with a light directly above it and I picked up the menu and could read it! Touched by his thoughtfulness and relieved that I could see it again, my eyes welled up with tears and made it all blurry!!

I did get a meal eventually.

It was delicious. (Kember and Jones in Byres Road Glasgow)


(There is a short piece here about eye health and diet.)
18 Comments

Simply..joy....

30/5/2015

4 Comments

 

I am enjoying a new book Happiness by Matthieu Ricard found in a charity shop when I had to wait 20 minutes for a bus. The book was waiting for me I like to think..

Joy is my word for this year and Ricard quotes various people on the difference between joy and happiness.

For me joy is happiness with an extra spark.  'We jump for joy, not for happiness.' Christope Andre.

Corneille says joy is 'a blossoming of the heart' A beautiful idea.

Paul Ekman points out the variety of feelings associated with the word joy - amusement, contentment, excitement, relief, wonder, ecstasy, exultation, radiant pride, elevation, gratitude and more (including schadenfreud - relishing someone else's suffering as in revenge).

All this from this fascinating book which I have hardly put down since buying it on Wednesday.

May your heart blossom...


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4 Comments

Simply..the flower theory....

29/5/2015

8 Comments

 

There is still very little to pick in the garden here, so I bought a lovely bunch of stocks and tested my new theory that more people speak to you when you are carrying flowers... Two shop assistants, the man selling Big Issue, and best of all an elderly Italian lady who came over to me as I was having coffee and asked did I mind telling her where I got the flowers? We talked about which flowers we love and I offered her them to smell. Ecstasy! (These are the strongest smelling stocks I have ever had.) She asked would I mind if she just took them over for her friends and family at the table behind me to smell - one of them said 'I can smell them from here!' They passed them around with much laughing and sniffing and exclamation and she brought them back to me with effusive thanks.

It made me so happy! I smiled about it every time I thought of it for the rest of the day.

I like to think they did too!

And....
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Don't tell Barry
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I posted photos
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of his piggy bank! OK?
8 Comments

Simply..Kondo Friday again....

28/5/2015

11 Comments

 

How quickly it comes round!

How slowly I progress! But I do progress..

In the Komono (miscellaneous) section Marie Kondo also mentions small change. (I am using her book The Life Changing Magic of Tidying to declutter once and for all!)

I am saving for something special and thought it might be useful to just go around the house collecting the small change  - we had an astonishing £109. A tin with something jokey on it about becoming a millionaire yielded £40 in £1 coins. There was £22 in euros from the last European trip.  Bags of coins which the children raised on various occasions for charity still sat in drawers and cupboards because when it came to donating it we simply sent a cheque for the requisite amount. Barry raided his piggy bank(!) The change for the plant money jar, a search of pockets and bags....we were richer than we knew!

What surprised us and annoyed us was that the banks didn't want it! None of the banks in town would take it, even bagged up and counted. It is incredibly heavy by the way.  'New rules on money laundering' they said. Tesco have a machine that will count it and take it, but they also take 9.5% of it. After a little persuasion our own bank took it. 

Have you found money you didn't know you had?

And are you still progressing?
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Nothing in the teapot..
11 Comments

Simply..move....

27/5/2015

8 Comments

 

As some of you already know I am not into exercise! My attitude has changed a little bit since I wrote this post in 2010...but I've never managed to make it a habit.

But....when I start again, I remember how lovely it is to move, to feel lighter, more supple, to feel the physical pleasure of it.

I was chastened when walking in Benmore Botanic Garden yesterday. Two older women walking with difficulty and with the aid of sticks said to us 'We're envying you women who can still walk'. Gosh. How I take it for granted.

I've recently begun to use this lovely video in the evening and I feel the benefit (and the ache in my tummy muscles) all the next day.

I found myself dancing around the sitting room this morning to some waltz on the radio.

Me!

Why would I not continue with something that makes me feel this good?

Do you have the exercise habit?


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Late last night..
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they remind Barry of the fireflies and gloworms of his African childhood.
8 Comments

Simply..quiet pleasures....

26/5/2015

10 Comments

 

I'm enjoying being home in the quiet garden. I love it at this in-between time of year full of freshness and promise of colour to come. I took a walk around with the camera this evening...
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I sold lots of plants this weekend!
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Birds and bees..
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A few tulips still
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A rather wispy wisteria
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Red squirrels and jays use these nice feeders but are very camera shy...
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Clematis 'Freda' has more flowers than ever
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Cornus controversa variegata - your eye keeps going back to its elegant form
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Electric blue camassias
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The new seat becomes integrated - honeysuckle behind, rose to the right
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Delicious deep relaxation in the moist cool evening
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Simply.. a geologist's dream destination

25/5/2015

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The beaches are the best thing about Lewis (did you notice there are five people in Saturday's photograph? Gives an idea of the scale!)

But the words most often used to describe the islands are wild, bleak, harsh, unforgiving. There is nothing pretty about Lewis - the only pretty things I saw were some diminutive wind-dwarfed primroses and the new lambs. It's not that kind of place. They don't call it On The Edge for nothing, 

We were in the district of Uig which is very beautiful, but I found the road from Callanish to the northernmost point - the Butt of Lewis - rather depressing.  More derelict houses than you'd see in any inner city sink estate! There are the ruins of the blackhouses and beside them the ruins of the whitehouses, and beside those ruins are the ubiquitous bungalows. The latest houses are eco friendly wooden Scandinavian style which I think suit the landscape, but as and when these replace the bungalows will the bungalows too just fall into dereliction? Very bleak. Not redeemed by being turned away from Cafe Sonas at lunchtime at Port Ness because we only wanted coffee and cakes! We offered to sit outside which was empty, but no....and it was the only place to eat

We were grateful for a warmer welcome at Morven Gallery where my friends bought a beautiful print of one of David Wilson's photographs of Luskentyre Beach on Harris.

David Wilson does not shy away from the dereliction in his photographs  in Peter May's book Hebrides and I can see that it has visual interest and is redolent of the tragic history of poverty and the clearances, but I still find the evidence of man's hand in this fabulous place distressing!

This great rocky windy isle with it's scant covering of soil and windburned trees and peat bogs has wonderful wildlife and scenery, must be a geologist's dream destination, is popular with super-fit cyclists and campervans - basic but well cared for and spectacularly positioned sites - not many pubs or places to eat and the culture of the present day is not really visible to the tourist. Community run shops and museums are good.

I still have two Outer Hebridean ambitions - one is to see the machair in flower (see the banner photograph on this site) and I would LOVE to swim in one of these shallow sandy bays on a hot sunny day!
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There are so few nesting places for birds that they try to nest in the postboxes, so they are all fitted with flaps to keep the birds out! I don't know if only Hebridean cuckoos do this, but one near the cottage called cu-ckoo-ckoo all the time....

Have you been to this part of the world?

What were your impressions?
11 Comments

Simply..no words....

24/5/2015

10 Comments

 
Please click on first photo to see them all enlarged....
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Simply..not a good start....

23/5/2015

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Travelling overnight to Lewis had seemed a good idea, quite romantic even - a starry or perhaps moonlit night, through Glencoe and over the bridge to Skye then crossing the Little Minch at dawn. Breakfast on the ship....

The reality was somewhat different. A deluge of rain in the pitch black night. Flooded roads, road closed and a long diversion, car struck by a deer - smashed headlight, grill broken, dented bodywork (deer damaged too sadly, though it ran off) and we missed the ferry!

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Failed photograph (though quite lifelike!) Through the windscreen. One in the morning.

But next day....

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WOW!
11 Comments

Simply..enjoying....

16/5/2015

7 Comments

 

....this little video about Patricia Atkinson who makes my favourite wine (see also here). 

What are you enjoying today?


Another blog break coming up as I take a short trip to the Outer Hebrides! (See here for some photos and a lovely short video of our last trip which was to Harris. This time we are going to Lewis, even further north.)

Good food, good wine and a holiday with good friends.

I'm one very lucky person.

7 Comments

Simply..signing up again....

15/5/2015

6 Comments

 
....to Itison (one of these sites here in UK which offers special deals on things in your area.)

I unsubscribed to a number of things recently in the name of simplicity - it is easy for me to feel overwhelmed by the amount of emails coming at me!

But last night we had one of the best meals we've ever had, at Rogano's in Glasgow, at a bargain price courtesy of Itison, and I intend keeping an eye out for a repeat offer as it's usually a bit out of our price range!

We had a four course taster menu, unhurried, in lovely original art deco surroundings with pleasant service from friendly staff. The food was excellent. My idea of a perfect evening out. (Apart from the fire alarm going off at the beginning, and having to leave earlier than we would have liked to catch the last ferry - 10.30pm midweek - at the end. Minor details!)

What is your idea of the perfect evening out? 




6 Comments

Simply..Kondoing on....

14/5/2015

9 Comments

 

Picking up pace again after the paper marathon!

CD's? done not so long ago.
 
DVD's? Pretty easy as I only have eight.

Skincare products and make up? Not used in a year - out.

The computer is also getting Kondoed (though the guy at the computer shop doesn't call it that I guess!), but normal service will resume.

Soon.

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Another happy volunteer on the greenhouse floor is this little herb Robert - geranium robertianum 'Celtic White'. Sown from seed many years ago it sprinkles daintily around the garden, never in the way or ousting anything else. I leave it to do its own thing. It likes gravel in particular and I think gives the garden a relaxed and informal look. Adorable. It is seen here under Fucshia genii which are destined for the black pots once the tulips are over. 
9 Comments

Simply..remembering our robin....

13/5/2015

16 Comments

 

Our little garden companion of many years has left a gap....I blogged about him quite often here, here and here, and in lots of other posts too.

We loved that little bird!
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But there are cats, there are sparrowhawks, and he was very old.
 
For a robin.

We're feeding the female, though she won't come to our hand the way he did. It can't be easy being a single Mum of quintuplets...
16 Comments

Simply..not the best of days!

11/5/2015

12 Comments

 

Our robin has disappeared and we are worried about him, and about the female and the five baby birds. Will they survive without him?

I had a wisdom tooth extracted today. Ouch!

The laptop might be going into the repair shop tomorrow.

Oh dear.

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A cheerful little volunteer on the greenhouse floor....
12 Comments

Simply..the subtle art of pruning....

10/5/2015

2 Comments

 

I enjoy pruning and shaping trees and shrubs, and I've found that on whe whole they look better if lifted from the ground - light and air get underneath, shadows create depth, and it can be done so that the work doesn't show (I hate to see plants, especially trees just chopped or butchered!)

This handsome viburnum Davidii had rather outgrown its space and to my eye looked a bit sprawling and floppy. Cutting from underneath I removed all the branches with leaves that touched the ground. Although the grass will take time to recover I do think it looks better for having its skirts lifted as this kind of pruning is sometimes called..
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At the other side I love the combination with hakonechloa macra aurea (these Latin names again, but does anyone know if this Japanese grass has a common name?).

The robin has a nest with five babies so is very busy just now....

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2 Comments

Simply..fagus sylvatica....

9/5/2015

10 Comments

 

I know it sounds like I'm showing off, but I like the latin names!

I also like that I know the latin names so I guess I am showing off.
 
A bit. (See this post.)
 
You have to admit It just sounds better than beech. Grander, more elegant, more special. (Fagus Latin for beech, sylvatica of wood or forest.)

I've been watching these few trees for the last weeks as they unfurl their delicious looking lime green leaves - they create a bright patch in the forest even on the dullest day.

Are there any fagus sylvatica near you? Or betula, salix, quercus, or trochodiospermum arachiasumoides subra? (Birch, willow, oak, and I just made that up :-)

There is a point at which if you pick a branch of beech in bud, the double leaves will open along it like green butterflies...I only managed this effect once, but it was magical.

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10 Comments

Simply..flower power....

8/5/2015

10 Comments

 
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Twice recently I found myself walking in the city carrying a bunch of flowers in my arms. On both occasions i was pleasantly surprised at the number of people who spoke to me. The girl working the street for Save The Children shouted Nice Flowers! as I passed. I got them for my birthday  I said over my shoulder. Happy Birthday! she shouted after me.  Passers-by, sales assistants, waitresses, an elderly man at the bus stop, a woman beside me as we waited to cross the road.... 

Nice flowers.
 
Love the flowers! 

Gorgeous!

They're my favourites.

The first bunch were a birthday gift, the second I bought for myself (in the name of research you understand) to test if it was true that people spoke to me more if I was carrying flowers! 

They do.
 
It made the city feel a friendlier place and cheered me almost as much as the flowers did, if not more.

Why not try it out? (and report back!)
10 Comments

Simply..live it for real....

7/5/2015

6 Comments

 

I've loved reading about all your wonderful real experiences. Thank you for sharing! Don't miss Simply Happy Mom's beautiful 'Simple Life Lessons From a Three Year Old' Here, and here.

There are a few real experiences I enjoy but  don't have to travel for. Real coffee, vanilla pods instead of vanilla 'flavouring', real flowers instead of artificial (no matter how clever there is always that flicker of disappointment when you realise they are not real),  Natural fibers, a sun tan from the sun, real food, face to face meetings with family and friends when we can manage it.

Experiencing things before I take the photograph!

Life is short.

Lets live it for real!


Real progress on the Kondo front. Got through the papers!! Never again will I have to go through heaps of them making decisions about each and every one which I could have made years ago and saved myself some trouble. I will think more carefully now about which I store.

How will I celebrate?

i'll take a few days off Kondoing!

How will you celebrate?
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Did you notice the blue gate? I sowed marigolds today to grow in front of it..
6 Comments

Simply..more of the real thing....

6/5/2015

12 Comments

 

I always think there is nothing like the real thing.

As we stood in front of the original Leonardo da Vinci cartoon of The Virgin and Child with St Anne and St John the Baptist in the National Gallery  I read that in 1501 crowds gathered in Florence to view it. The knowledge that today crowds gather in London to look at it thrills me -  and that in relation to this drawing i am standing where Leonardo stood.

Other originals, other thrills - the Matisse collages in Tate Modern, Daniel Barenboim playing there on the stage in front of me in the Usher Hall in Edinburgh, chinese artist Fu Wua creating a brush painting with such energy and panache as I stood beside him, discovering a neolithic axe head on an archaeological dig in Cyprus...

Facsimiles are disturbing. The intention of the maker is very different from the intention of the original creator of the David in Florence or the Four Horses of the Apocalypse in St Mark's Square in Venice. I believe the quality of the intention of the maker becomes the spirit of the artwork. (My theory is that that is why we are drawn to children's art - their intention is so pure.)

Holograms are disappointing. The culmination of the Yorvik exhibition in York was supposed to be the Viking helmet found on the site. In it's place was a hologram. I can still remember my dismay.

Of course experiencing the real thing is not just about famous or cultural things....


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12 Comments

Simply..the real thing....

5/5/2015

13 Comments

 
I've been looking at the programme for the Edinburgh Festival, and in particular at the performances by ballerina Sylvia Guillem who is doing her final world tour. It reminded me of the thrill of seeing the real thing. Films, videos, recordings - they are marvellous - we listened to some wonderful music in the car on the way home from the city today. Christian Blackshaw playing Mozart (1h 33 mins in) on the Steinway at Wigmore Hall. Glorious!
 
But nothing gives quite the thrill of the real thing, the live performance, the original painting, the genuine article...it's one of the reasons why people travel I think.

Have you travelled in order to experience the real thing?
13 Comments

Simply grow....

4/5/2015

15 Comments

 
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My friend Liz gave me prunings from her twisted willow tree - they make great supports for the sweet peas on their painted cane wigwams. This one will have sweet pea Gwendoline - pale pink, strong scent - surrounded by ammi majus and gypsophila.
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Sweet pea Nearly Black is going to be grown on the blue canes (needing repainted really but I'll just think of it as shabby chic for this year!). Around will be poppy Dark Plum.
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Much nicer than string I think. I tried coloured string but it faded within two weeks.
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Meanwhile, a far cry from the delicacy and subtlety of the anticipated sweet peas, I'm  almost overwhelmed by the opulent and voluptuous tulips which kept opening in the warmth of the room until they were the size of teaplates!
15 Comments

Simply..rain on a May Bank Holiday....

3/5/2015

4 Comments

 
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It has a certain charm perhaps?
4 Comments

Simply..a rip off....

2/5/2015

17 Comments

 
Have you noticed this unfortunate new trend in the publishing world?

Trying to order a copy of Marie Kondo's book for a friend I noticed A Guide to The Life Changing Magic of Tidying. The words Guide to being written in small type above the title of the original book which in large type dominates the front cover. You could easily think you were buying the original book. But why would anyone want a guide to it anyway? It is a model of clarity and simplicity!

I was also looking for a copy of Thomas Picketty's Capital in the Twenty First Century and lo and behold the same author and publisher had a Critique of ... A bit unlikely I thought! Same format with the typeface. Also a best  seller. And as it happens this book is also a model of clarity, which is why I want it. (Well I really only want pages 1 to 37 and page 157 on, where the author so succinctly puts his reasons for writing the book and his conclusions).

So I checked the publisher out on Amazon and found that Brief Concise and to the Point Publishing have brought out guides or critiques or summaries of at least 13 best selling books from every genre. Avoid? I think so.

I also took issue with author Adam Nicolson. His book titled The Smell of Summer Grass is really a reprint of Perch Hill  (yes, he is married to Sarah Raven). I admire his nature writing and enjoyed reading Perch Hill the first time round, but was dismayed to find so little new writing in this new title. In the Acknowledgements it states that two thirds of it - I thought even more - was published under the title Perch Hill, but do you read the Acknowledgements before you buy a book?

OK.

Rant over.
 
Time to contemplate a tulip....
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17 Comments

Simply..getting bored with....

1/5/2015

8 Comments

 
..Kondoing my papers. I expect you are also bored with me Kondoing my papers, so I have vowed to have them finished with by my next Friday's post. It will be such a relief! And I certainly have not missed or even given a thought to the tons which have already left the house! Well, maybe not tons...but far more than I knew I had.

I have searched for more words of wisdom from Marie....how about her three categories for papers to keep - currently in use, needed for a limited period of time, and must be kept indefinitely.

Can I really throw away all the rest? She says her basic principle for sorting papers is to throw them all away.

She says it is fun.
 
Well doing the clothes was fun, doing the books was fun (tiring fun) but for me, doing the papers is not fun. It's exhausting. Decision making fatigue is setting in, though as she says they will, my decision making muscles are strengthening which is just as well because I have so many photographs! But I am getting ahead of myself. I have reduced the six box files from the loft to one and a half. I have a small shelf of eight ring binders to do then it's on to Komono (miscellaneous). but not before I've had a little celebration for clutter clearing the papers.
 
Hmm. Any suggestions?

 
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