..are still looking fabulous.
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..is much underrated.  July has been about super healthy eating, and August is going to be about unclogging (decluttering). Out with the university flies and all the garden design plans, drawings, client notes and phtographs I made over a decade or so. It's called 'identity clutter' apparently and is even harder to deal with than shoes! Any tips most welcome.. Just to let you know I plan to post just twice a week or so during August (with apologies to those of you who read the blog as part of your daily routine). ..with an alarm clock. A simple old fashioned one with a pleasant sound, which I am rather fond of. I set it for seven in summer and eight in winter. I don't set ot on Sundays. I very often waken just before it goes off. All too oten I waken long before it goes off. What is it about three in the morning?!  It was quite by chance that I photgraphed my little clock at ten past ten, but it reminded me that I once read that clocks for sale are always set at this time because it looks happier than say twenty past eight. Hurrah or amalogue! What wakens you? Could it bee nicer? Sometimes crtises make you want to rethink things. My own and my family's health crises have recently put me in that frame of mind.
I think it was Tony Robbins who said that the biggest problem is that people think they shouldn't have problems! The notion that a crisis is also an opportunity seems a useful one and I want to explore that idea. Keeping it smple I thought about how I start my day. How do you waken up? Naturally, after a sound sleep and in good time for whatever you want to do? No, me neither! Or rarely... (Almost) no sugar and definitely no News and I feeI like a new person, or rather, as if I am coming back to myself. Is there anything you could give up that would make you feel better, both physically and mentally?  ..but I seem to have run out of words! So I send you this, with love.  I blithely called my bog Live Simply, Simply Live. The first part is aspirational, the second a resolution. It's a fact that life is not simple. I suppose what I am really doing is taking conscious steps to reduce the complexity of my own life to a level I can cope with. Finding that sweet spot where life is full of interest but not full of stress. It's a balancing act. Simply Live on the other hand is simple. I deternine to live every sngle day I am given. Really live it, mindfully, by choice. It would surely be churlish not to! Shameful even, since I have been given so much.  Sweet peas and the full moon (through the bathroom window).
Simply magical. It has finally dawned on me why I often leave things until the last minute. I have recently realised that I actually enjoy the pressure of having to do things quickly, in a rush, against the clock. I like the adrenalin rush! In my busy working life bringing up a family, working full time and studying, deadlines were frequent and I often rushed around madly meeting them. At times it got a bit much but on the whole I enjoyed the fast pace.  Going at a slow pace in order to think about a fast pace and why I someitmes like it..need it even. I feel as if 2022 has left me with more loose ends than a bowl of spaghetti! And as if the time is out of joint and I have not yet processed enough of its happenings to be quite ready to move on. The communal trauma of the pandemic is I think still playing out, with everyone at different stages in their recovery and all of us trying to be kind and sensitive, but walking on eggshells. Many people are still vulnerable. The world events - politics and war, strikes and royal rows - are far from resolved but on the persoanl front four of the people I love who have been in and out of hopitals since early December are all home - so that is wonderful! I an enjoying January's episode of As The Season Turns, beautiful flowers and the new winter bedlinen in the guest room. What are you enjoying this January? Are you full of optimism and new plans? I think I need another week or two to catch up..  My word(s) have found me!
I have enjoyed listening to Michell Obama reading her book The Light We Carry in which she articulates what this motto means to her and her family. It's a kind of shorthand for their values which she lists - Hang on to our integirty, always try harder, think more, tell the truth, do your best by others, keep perspective and stay strong. We invoke it any time we feel we are being tested as a reminder to steady ourselves... I envisage using it when feeling low or frustrated or, heaven forbid, cynical. (Have you ever known a happy cynic?) I imagine it giving me a little lift, even a centimetre higher could make a diference at times, don't you think? Has your word for 2023 found you yet? My word for 2022 served me well. It was lovingly. I found it particularly useful if I didn't really want to do something. Instead of doing a chore grudgingly, I found if I reminded myself I could do it lovingly it changed my attitude entirely and I could do it not only with good grace, but with pleasure. I'm considering using it again, or maybe I will go with minimal, or perhaps cherish. Still thinking. Are you? I know Lynn has settled on healing which is a wonderful choice.  Dawn this morning captured by The Blairmore in the next village along the shores of Loch Long. My visitors and I had a lovely lunch there today.
I woke very early the other morning and the deep silence and beautifuul light reminded me of a lady I once visited in a remote part of Sweden who led a truly simple life. Liselotte lived alone in a cabin in a meadow on the edge of the forest, by a lake in which she bathed and washed her clothes. She used only natural soap, careful not to pollute the water. Drinking water came from a well, and the house was lit by candlelight. She served us tea on the prettiest old fine china, and we saw a moose on the far edge of the meadow. I felt as though I was in a dream.    I think she lived here only during the summer months, but she seemed to be utterly content with her simple life.
Do you think you could live this simply? I'm not sure I could. Maybe for one summer... Simplifying my life was and is perhaps as much about what I don't have and do as much as what I do choose to have and do in my life. I'm not claiming anykind of high ground here, this is just what works for me. I don't have a microwave, a dishwasher, a tumble dryer, a coffee machine, a television, exercise equipment, or many gadgets, which it seems to me often just take up space and time to maintin them adds up too. And they can be very noisy. I dom't have a car either, but that is not from choice, it's because my eye condition (AMD) means I can no longer drive. I do miss my car! The only thing I want to be all-singing-all-dancing in my house is me. :-) There are also things I don't do. Twitter, facebook, Instagram - they all take up time I would rather spend on other things. I watch and listen to very little news. (I sometimes wonder who decreed that we should get so caught up in all the worst things that are happening all around our world on a daily, or even hourly basis?) We are all different! What works for you?  The last daffodil Pipit' is one of the most beautiful. It's ineresting to see that Miss Minimalist is still going strong - 300,000 books sold! And The Minimalists are also looking back over 12 years. What innovative career paths they have had. Blogs, YouTube, podcasts, Patreon, live events and tours. They have given so much of their work free - but it's fascinating that we still love books so much. Is my life simpler since starting the blog? Oh yes! I was already on that journey to a simpler life - I became self employed and moved to the country, I felt less stressed and loved making my own decisions. I became aware of people having to give up work they loved because they had reached a certain arbitrary age, whether they wanted to or not and determined that I would be the one to make that important decision! Have you made, or are you thinking about making big changes to simplify your life? It's not always easy, but I have no regrets about these two life changes. A word about categories here on the blog. Live Simply and Simply Live are my default categories. There is a lot of overlap. Simply Bin It and Simply Get Rid should really be one of course, and there are more inconsisitencies than there should be. There's probably a lot of repetition too, for which I apologise. I have thought, now and then, of correcting some of these faults, but life is short, and there is wisteria to enjoy...  We read to know we are not alone. (so says the chracter of C S Lewis in Shadowlands.) I write to know I am not alone. The blog is often where I think things through (see this early post where I think through what I mean by simple). It's a little focal point in my day. It keeps me alert to things that amuse me, delight me, inspire me, entertain me, educate me.. In the early days Karen frm Cornflower Books commented Thanks for being a bright spot in my day. That was it. I was committed. The very idea that I could be a bright spot in someone's day made me smile from ear to ear and filled me with delight. Thank you Karen. It's all about sharing, and throough the unfathomable complexities of the web (the irony is not lost on me!) like minded people have found Live Simply Simply Live and enrich it, and me, with their comments so that I know I am not alone.  Bluebells across the road are at eye level from the study window! A message to you, while I take a few days blog break. Thank you for reading.   ..but not as you knoow them.     Near the Cloch Lighthouse on the Firth of Clyde are some structures which have always intruiged me. On yesterday's walk I got the chance of a closer look. They are below the level of the main road and even from the pavement you might easily miss them tucked into the bank on the rocky shore. They are like shacks. Basic but very strong to withstand winter storms. They face west and the prevailing winds. There is nothing pretty about them. They are mostly black (tarred perhaps) and one seems to be a shipping continer. How did they get it down there? If they do have windows they were boarded over. They don't have signs or names or easy access - thugh one has a flag, another a chimney and I did see two solar panels. The only thing beautiful is the view across the Firth. I wonder if they began as fishermen's huts but I've not been able to find out much - yet.... ..and so beautiful.
I put on quilted coat, another scarf, woolly hat and gloves and stood out in the garden till my eyes adjusted a bit to the dark. The moon had a bright halo, and to the left of it Orion stood out first. As I watched more and more stars seemed to switch on until the sky was brilliant with them. It's awe inspiring, isn't it - a frosty starry night! Indoors again before my nose froze, to a glowing fire and a late supper of ripe pear, feta cheese and walnuts and a little glass of wine. The water is heating for a deep hot bath. Happy.. Publlc promises are not often demanded of us today. To love honour and obey, to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth, on my honour I promise that I will do my best..... Politicians make them publicly all the time, rather rashly it sems to me.. Promises kept engender trust but broken promises cause many a heartbreak and much shame, so it's important to think carefully about what promise I will make. I have in mind a small private promise to myself. One that will improve my life, or someone else's, one that will make the world even a tiny bit better, one that will make me happier or more content, and importantly, one that I know I can actually keep. Will you make a promise? I've been thinking this over for a couple of days and have decided what my promise will be (of more later...) Do you find that walking helps you think clearly? As it was a nice mild morning I walked to The Egg Shack up the glen....     They say be careful what you wish for. I wanted to live simply... Well I get up, eat, garden, sleep. Repeat. In many ways my life is more simple than it's ever been!  Cauliflower, asparagus, carrot, ginger, pear, apple and banana. Delicious.  The clematis from inside looking out.  Starting mowing paths in the grass. The complexities of the wider world are beyond me at the moment, so I will stick to the simpler things, the things I have some control over, and be grateful for them, as a way of coping. What's your strategy? |
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