Live Simply Simply Live
  • Blog
  • Studio
  • Home
  • Cards
  • Coronation Wood

Simply..blog posts....

31/5/2021

2 Comments

 
..may become shorter and/or erratic as I try to tie up the loose ends of my ever busier life! Blgging, gardening and painting and seeing friends, not to mention the odd lazy hour in the hammock are my happy experiences as my world becomes ever more colourful...

Picture

Mainly green and yellow but with great explosions of colour to come.

May your days be rainbow coloured.

And happy.
2 Comments

Simply..happiness is....

30/5/2021

6 Comments

 

Hammock, hat, headphones and home baking, and just enough heat to relax right to the core....

Picture
6 Comments

Simply..the norning bright....

30/5/2021

9 Comments

 
Picture
9 Comments

Simply..freedom....

29/5/2021

4 Comments

 
Picture

Freedom makes me happy. Have we ever appreciated it more?

Have you given some thought to what make you happy?
4 Comments

Simply..refreshing....

26/5/2021

8 Comments

 
Picture
A white aquilegia appeared in the hedge
Picture
lily of the valley
Picture
whie campion
Picture
viburnum Maresii
Picture
geranium Celtic White
Picture
geranium sylvaticum (I think)
Picture
ranunculus aconitifolium
8 Comments

Simply..happily hydrated....

25/5/2021

2 Comments

 
Picture

I rarely feel thirsty. So I forget to drink water. How can I forget that when I do drink a few glasses of water a day I feel more alert, less sluggish and therefore happier?  Pouring a big jug of water in the morning and leaving it sitting out in the kitchen reminds me....

Such a simple thing!

2 Comments

Simply..happy at work....

24/5/2021

6 Comments

 
Picture

Work in progress. The start of 'Story Book Snow'.  It's wonderful to be back at work in the studio.
6 Comments

Simply..happy sleep....

23/5/2021

8 Comments

 

After a day of warm hugs with my lovely daughter I had the best ight's slleep I have had for weeks, if not months. Slept right through, no nightmares.

As part of my new Happinesss Project (see yesterday's post) I decided that sleeping better might restore my joie de vivre.

I can get to sleep ok, and I can waken at my preferred time of 7.00.  I use an alarm but often waken just before it goes off. But it's the wakening at 3 am that is the problem and for a number of weeks when I did get back to sleep I would have nightmares. Horrible nightmares. This was happening even on my lovely rrelaxing stay on Colonsay.

I had to fix this.

Going to bed earlier didn't help. I already had a nice bedtime routine, my bedroom is calm and lovely, I avoided watching the news before bed.  A friend suggested I try a herbal sleep tablet and I used it just three nights and I think I may have broken the pattern.....

But hugs are better!

What works for you?


Picture
I try to make the guest room peaceful and pretty and look forward to having guests again!
8 Comments

Simply..a treatment, perhaps a cure....

21/5/2021

9 Comments

 

..for my PPSD.

To treat what I figured is my most worrying synptom  - the loss of joie de vivre - I have decided to revisit Gretchen Rubin's The Happiness Project.

I  know I have lots to be happy about. There are lots of little sparks of joy, but it's as if they rarely burst into flame anymore.

As ever my inner critic asks Isn't it selfish to think about your own happiness when so many people are suffering? Gretchen Rubin also asks this question and reminds me that studies show that happy people are more altruistic, more forgiving, generous, helpful, charitable, have better self control and are more tolerant of frustration and are more able to make other people happy.  I have often thought that the only guaranteed way to increase the happiness in the world is to be happy myslef, so on that basis I will embark on a  new Happinesss Project.

Will you join me? What is there to lose after all?


When I first used this book I did it over a year, took what was useful to me from it and it was a big (and rewarrding) exercise.


This time round it will be a mini project. I am listening to the book on Audible and finding it amusing and entertaining. I am jotting down ideas that I think will be useful to me. The first ones are about  energy and vitality...
Picture
I think this angelica is having a Yay nonent!

PS Turns out I had a Yay moment myself today! The huge happiness boost of a hug from my younger daughter - the first in 15 months. Sending you virtual hugs and hoping you get real ones very soon.
9 Comments

Simply ..identify the problem....

20/5/2021

2 Comments

 

The cause of the condition I am calling  Post Pandemic Stress Dusorder or  PPSD is of course Covid 19. (See yesterday's post for symptoms). A highly contagious virus  has swept the world with frightening speed.  I think part of me is still in shock! It has changed our lives in ways we never could have imagined, and never would have wanted.

How have you reacted?

Someome said  they went into 'neutral' which is probably a very useful strategy for coping, but a year is a long time to be in neutral. Another said she lived in her own head.  It's possible to have too much time to think.  I dampened my feelings a lot and that might be why I am feeling that I have lost my joie de vivre somewhat.

Books will be written about the subject. But not by me! Adam Grant's post in the New York Times describes 'Languishing' - a very apt word for how many are feeling. (Thank you Angela for that.)

Is there a treatment? A cure? That's what I am thinking about now....I am so eager to move on.

Tomorrow - my new project.




2 Comments

Simply..PPSD....

20/5/2021

9 Comments

 
I am suffering from PPSD. Post Paandemic Stress Disorder (I just made that up!).

Are you?

The symptoms are a kind of malaise, feeling not depressed, just a bit low.  A lack of energy or enthusiasm as in not getting your hopes up too much. In case you get disappointed. Again. A friend cancelled an outing, the weather forecast said warm and sunny and it was cold and wet, I was planning a long awaited trip to the city and they reinstaated restrictions......and so on. Nothing too serious but  a kind of weary resignation was my response.

A loss of joie de vivre might sum it up.

Those are my symptoms, yours may well be different if you think you have this condition that is.


I write from an area with three cases and zero deaths and can begin to think 'post-pandemic'....




Picture
The wisteria has lots of buds this year.
9 Comments

Simply..in the greenhouse....

19/5/2021

0 Comments

 
Picture
Picture
Picture

As the hardier seedlings gradually go out into the garden, I am beginning to thnk about prettying it up for summer.  I like to use earthenware pots as much as possible. I love the proportions of the 'long toms' in the second photograph. I bought them in the supermarket, and the fuchsias  I am growing in them. I am missing visiting garden centres but Morrison's  have served me very well!

I had lunch in there today with a glass of wine and a coffee. Nice.
0 Comments

Simply..beyond the red gate....

18/5/2021

6 Comments

 
..there are bluebells too. I am so lucky to live in this spot.

Picture
6 Comments

Simply..the photographs....

17/5/2021

6 Comments

 
Picture
Picture
6 Comments

Simply..beyond the yellow gate....

17/5/2021

0 Comments

 
..is a bluebell wood!

Tonight I will post photographs of it.

Promise.

This morning there is a problem with that, but the sun is shining, it is warm out there and the garden is calling me so loudly that I have to obey......
0 Comments

Simply..two breakfasts....

15/5/2021

4 Comments

 
Sometimes, if I waken early and the sun is out, I will have two breakfasts. Some coffee and toast, savouring the deep early morning  silence. A few birds sing and the cuckoo calls further up the glen. Later I will cook something more substantial.. I love a slow start to my day.
Picture
My bithday flowers have lasted three weeks! I added the camassias from the garden.
Picture
Have a happy Sunday!
4 Comments

Simply..reclaiming the space....

15/5/2021

5 Comments

 

As I reclaim the studio space I also have the feeling of reclaiming my life!

Do you feel like this too? It feels like a big moment. Perhaps it is space in your head you need to reclaim. Byron Katie might ask 'Whose business are you in? What are you about right now? Is it time for a new start, a new beginning? As we wait for the government to tell us who we can hug and when (!!)  is it time for a reset?

If you could change pne thing about your life, what would it be?

Now could be the time.

It's exciting to remember  that we can choose to make a fresh start now if we wish.....

We still have that freedom. We just need to claim it.
5 Comments

Simply..my arty blog....

14/5/2021

4 Comments

 

Some of you will know my other blog which I wrote more or less weekly, between 2010 and 2013- fredawaldapfel.squarespace.com/


In it I write about being an artist, and there is also a piece called Why Invest In Art.
I hope you will find it interesting!

I am currently reclaiming the studio by removing the plant propagator, the recycling, and everything else that has accumulated in there that has nothing to do with work!

Focussing.


Picture
Picture
4 Comments

Simply..to be an artist....

10/5/2021

2 Comments

 

To be an artist,  said Raoul Dufy, you should first get the mundane things of your life in order. I thought, somewhat cynically, when I read this that he meant get a wife (which he did).

However I have been very busy getting my house in order during this strange year. Repairs to the chimney, the porch, the soffits, downstairs inside the house painted and all of the outside of the house painted, replaced old cast iron downpipes, guttering cleaned and drains cleared, steps and paths power hosed, hedges cut, paths cut, fences painted - and the red gate and the yellow gate....and now the shed is being rmended.

SO....

Picture
Picture
2 Comments

Simply..wellie sticks....

10/5/2021

6 Comments

 
Picture
 
There was an 'incident' with the  incoming tide at the causeway which joins Oronasy to Colonsay....thankfully we survived to tell the tale!

6 Comments

Simply..freedom....

10/5/2021

4 Comments

 
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture

Apart rom on the ferry and in the one shop on Colonsay, there was no need for masks or social distancing and we were relishing the freedom....
4 Comments

Simply..holiday....

9/5/2021

4 Comments

 

 I mistakenly typed joliday - but in fact that was quite accurate. We had a wonderful week.

There is quite a variety of habitats on the small island of Colonsay (population 135). Sandy beaches and rocky shores, mountain and moorland, forest and woodland, machair and salt marsh, and on the estate of Colonsay House formal gardens, so there is a corresponding variety of wildlife and flora.

The island also hosts a remarkable number of small festivals. See  here.

Picture
Beaches to ourselves. Beautiful Kiloran Bay
Picture
Claytonia, or purslane flowers in deep shade
Picture
exotics in Colonsay House Gardens
Picture
Lots of sunshine.
Picture
A couple of meals out! The Hotel is currently for sale if anyone is up for a new adventure...
4 Comments

Simply..living simply....

5/5/2021

2 Comments

 
Picture
..but with all mod cons.
2 Comments

Simply..live simply?

4/5/2021

2 Comments

 
Picture
Picture
2 Comments

Simply..island life....

2/5/2021

17 Comments

 
I am on the lovely island of Colonsay! A holiday cancelled from last year, but after two Covid tests, a lot of planning, a drive through heavy rain to sunny busy Oban and a beautiful early evening two and a half hour sail on MV Hebridean Isle we finally got here.

However broadband is slow/intermittant/non-existant, so posts and photographs may have to wait until I get back home..... have on our first day had warm sunshine and heard corncrake and cuckoo, and seen violets on the sand dunes and bluebells in the woods, and marvelled at the skeleton of a fin whale which was washed up on the shore in 2017 when we were last here.

A storm is forecast for today, but then more sun. It's exciting and beautiful to be here.

Have a good week wherever you are.


17 Comments

    Categories

    All
    Live Simply
    Live Simply
    Simple
    Simply Beautiful
    Simply Bin It
    Simply Chill
    Simply Christmas
    Simply Christmas
    Simply Do A Good Deed
    Simply Draw
    Simply Draw
    Simply Eat
    Simply Fitter
    Simply Fun
    Simply Get Rid
    Simply Grow
    Simply Headspace
    Simply Holiday
    Simply Home
    Simply Home
    Simply Inspirational
    Simply Laugh
    Simply Learn
    Simply Listen
    Simply Live
    Simply Low Maintenance
    Simply Money
    Simply Move
    Simply Move
    Simply Organise
    Simply Paint
    Simply Routine
    Simply Seeing.. Or Not
    Simply Stylish
    Simply Venice
    Simply Write


    Author

    An artist seeking a simpler life - (but not too simple!)

    All words and images copyright Freda Waldapfel 2010 - 2020

    Archives

    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    October 2010
    September 2010
    August 2010
    July 2010
    June 2010
    May 2010
    April 2010
    March 2010

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.