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I wonder if any of you will be there?  On the hygge front I am checking out the winter clothes the Marie Kondo way - that is gathering together all the items in one category. I didn't know I had this many sweaters. I can wear them two at a time if need be! Have a lovely weekend.
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..in a wondrously starry sky last night was jaw-droppingly beautiful. Don't you find that looking up at the star-filled sky puts everything in a diffenernt perspective? The deep silence of it too. Spellbinding. One of the principles of Blue Zone living is to try as far as possible to make the healthy option the eeasy option. I found this tip quite helpful. When you come home with the shopping, wash the fruit and veg, peel and chop and put into small containers in the fridge - on the middle shellf at the front so that when you feel peckish your healthy snack is instant. Make it easier to reach than the biscuit tin! You get the idea.. Moving naturally is another principle. I am rather lazy and not sporty and I hate the idea of the gym, but walking a bit before getting on the bus, taking the stairs, stacking logs, gardening most days - the more I move, the easier it is.  One of the recipes from the book - bananas oats apple and choc chips. Quite nice. I am also planning to have three or four plant based meals each week. Using a smaller plate, stopping eating when you are 80% full - lots of small changes which are easy to make. Every little helps hopefully. I will soon be tripping along like these two (Thank you Elizabeth!)  The two videos found under Blue Zone Lessons explain the concept. I'm setting up a challenge for myself for October. I used to be good at those 21 day or one month health challenges and found them fun, but I sometimes think the pandemic took away my willpower! I bought the book The Blue Zones Challenge when I was in York, and I've been looking thruogh it and watching the videos on the websitea and finding them inspirational. The videos are 20 mins and 16 mins long and I would love to know if any of you find them interessting..  ..are quince and brambles. Am thinking puddings.        You may remember we used to have ywo very tame robins here, and that last winter I ttried to tame a new one. I seemed to make no progress. The robin flew away whenever I moved and seemed extremelyy shy. Could this be the same one, now older and bolder? It flew past me on the porch and in the open door (the first day of autumn was warm and sunny) and investigated the study and the bathroom before settilng on the top of the door for a full five minutes! The more I am told winter is going to be miserable, the more determined I am to have a great winter (brings out the defiant streak in me!). I am going to be warm this winter. Stacking the wood has already warmed me once, and I will take a weekly walk in the forest and collect kindling from the forest floor.   I will enjoy all the subtle shades of the season in little collecyions of natural things, like a school nature table. All for free.
I think I will try to write a Superhygge post each week of autumn and winter - all your ideas most welcome! The sweet peas are still flowering, and there has been snow in Scotland! Really. In the Cairngorm mountains in the north.   The stems are very short indeed but the scent is still srong. ..stacking wood.  So anything that makes it a bit more fun..  Another load arrives torrorrow.
..for whom the bell tolls. On the mrning after the Queen's death, Great Peter, the largest bell of York Minster tolled every thirty seconds for the whole of the morning. I found it very moving in its simplicity. Do you have a favourite city? Mine is York (Venice is a close second). I taught in this wonderful building  and lived in this one. Yes, really! I can hardly believe it myself. Barry was resident custodian and we had a beautiful apartment furnished with antiques from the Noel Terry Collection.  This was my shop Quilters Patch with my great friend Maggie.  Every visit to York is a real nostalgia trip - so many wonderful memories . I count myself very lucky indeed to have lived there.
..I was in York was to look after Phoebe.  Thankfully soething mostof us rarely experience.
It was a long journey home from York. Three buses, two trains and a ferry and all connections worked out well until the last one. I had to wait an hour for the last bus. I don't eat much when travelling and all I had had was an egg and a biscuit, so I was truly hungry by the time I got home. I had eaten out in York at the wonderful Betty's and I had lovely meals made for me by friends, but I have to say that the quickly made Heinz baked beans on buttery toast with a cup of strong tea was the best tasting and most enjoyed meal I have had for ages! Every mouthful utterly utterly delicious! ..makes me so happy! So does coming home after a little trip. The silence and the beauty move me to tears of gratitude.     I haven't lit the little moon light since Barry died six and a half years ago. Maybe this winter... PS After I posted this I realised with a shock how badly the gable end needs painted! Another job before winter. Well, hopefully not the last rose of summer as we seem to be having a heatwave! I leave you with this while I take a blog break. May the weather be kind wherever you are.  ..is one of FlyLady's best ideas (It's a Wednesday). I kept buying healthy food and not eating it, then I feltt so terribly guilty for wasting food when some people have none, that I kept putting off clearing out the fridge! Eventually, one Wednesday, I just faced it. Some went in the compost, some in the bin, some glass jars went in the recycling, some leftovers in the freezer and some in the juicer.   Some went on a my plate for an interesting lunch. Then it was time to go shopping.  What will you do next anti-procrastination day? Do share! I feel most alive when I am learning. You? I am also thinking about when I feel most myself.. Meanwhile as the season turns I have bought a new pillowcase with just a hint of autumn about it. (Croft range from John Lewis.)  What's next for you? More of the same? Something new and different? Something better? In answering the question What's next for you? another useful question might be Where and when do I feel mosst alive?  A good question? You know I like a good question. As for the answer....it's something I will think about over the next few days. But for today it's back to Fly Lady for me. I know some of you are fans already of this system for putting your house (and your life) in order. The website is old-fashioned and a bit of a rabbit hole if you are not careful. I don't remember how or when I first came across it, but within a day or two I felt I was more in control of things and within a week I knew this was it, the method I had been looking for, and three months later I was better organised than I had ever been and had dealt - 15 minutes at a time - with every last corner of the house! I was flying (to use Flay Lady's metaphor). It ismy routine place to go for a to a reset to the 'get things done' attitude. Now and then I fotget it for a bit, but I always come back t it, just jumping in where I am at. If you would like to give it a try here is what I recommend. Go to FlyLady.net, click on Launch Pad, click on Flight Plan and just do what it says. That's it. Simple and easy. |
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March 2023
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