I did a little happy dance when I saw the friendly bus go past my house yesterday for the first time since I came home from Venice.

There has been a service, much reduced and not coming as far as my house. It means such a lot to me (my eye condition means I can no longer drive). It's my independence and my link to the rest of the world and the sight of it was a symbol of the return to normal, to being able to go places!

So exciting!

(Recycling bins of course.)

I did appreciate all your suggestions, but after reading a story about someone who hoarded old shoes, I went through the house binning all the things which once sparked joy but were now sparking regret/anxiety/guilt/sadness/nostaliiia/uncertainty and indecision.

Out went the shoes the boots the sandshoes and the slippers. The dying plant. the old breadboard which goes black when I cut fruit on it, the dusty wreath, an old bag with an inkstain on it, the packaging from the new juicer (the old one blew up!), another pair of shoes which I never really liked, some old tired underwear (is there anything sadder than old tired underwear?) and everything in the fridge past its sell by date!!

No regrets.

Feels good.

Something else which feels really good is spending some fun time with Mary from Washinton DC - long time commentator on this blog. Mary blew into uk on storm Brendan and if the next storm allows and the ferries are still running we meet tomorrow for a Scottish cities trip!

Meantime here is my own little bit of cherry blossom. Prunus subhirtella 'autumnalis'. Photographed mid-December and hanging on through the recent gale force winds.

..to make the most of my winter.

Sixteen

Keep garedening. Pruning, tdying, weeding, raking, pottering - not leaving it all till spring.

Seventeen

Keep moving. The gardening eill help. It's all too easy for me to hibernate and barely move!

Eighteen

Make candles.

Nneteen

Travel (big plans afoot!)

Twenty

Think up a really good word for 2020.

..morning.

In the company of a robin.

The prunings from the clematis were way too pretty to put straight in the compost bin so I draped them all over the place...

They can go in the compost tomorrow when they've wilted, meanwhile they are sparking joy!

I'm taking a blog break and leaving you with some recent magical Autumn moments. We have had some lovely days....I hope you have too!

I've been enjoying some of the podcasts on On Being. This led me to birdnote.org and Daily Things To fall In Love With (what a brilliant title!) and......

When did you last have a fun day out?

I mean a whole day with nothing else to do but enjoy yourself...

We started with coffee on the roof terrace of Harvey Nicols in Edinburgh for the view overlooking St Andrew's Square.

On the way back down through the store we fantasised about glamorous gowns

..and crazy shoes!

We visited three galleries - The Scottish Gallery, Open Eye and the National Portrait Gallery ( where we also had lunch) and took a refreshing late afternoon stroll through the Botanic Gardens.

and finished with an hour's people watching while sipping healthy cocktails!

Where will you go for your fun day out?

I will be back to Edinburgh before The Festival ends... (26 Aug).

I have found

that when I wear these shoes

or carry a bunch of sunflowers.
people tend to strike up conversations with me!
'Ah, Van Gogh' one man said with a smile.

Nice.

If I sit on the edge of the bath with the window ajar I am on a level with the swallows' nest and I've been spending more time than I perhaps should watching the SIX baby birds...I think they may leave the nest tomorrow, and I might get some work done!

I also bought a fun scarf.

It's summer after all.

..at least three books at once! Do you do this?

I'm getting behind with Jordan Peterson's 12 Rules for Life which I said I'd read, and review, one chapter a month, Gretchen Rubin's Better Than Before about making and breaking habits has just come through the door and is tempting me away from Michelle Obama's Becoming which I am rushing through for book group which is tomorrow!

I ordered Becoming a bit late (do you find that if you don't pay for Amazon Prime deiiveries take a lot longer than they used to?) so to get a start on the content I started listening to interviews with her about her autobiography.

In this interview (25 mins 36 seconds in) with Oprah they both get very giggly about some major experiences they have had which they found themselves reacting to with an inner Mm,mm,mm!  I found it pretty funny and quite endearing and began to think of some things which have happened to me to which I can only respond Mm,mm,mm!

Can you think of any such moments?

The weather held for our midummer party! Huge macaroni cheese and salad in the garden, barbecue on the beach and back to the garden for cake and strawberries....everyone pitching in, so relaxing and easy...

Love it.

Now promise you won't laugh when you look at this link (okI know you will! I laughed too.).

No, I will not be sitting in the snow half naked any time soon, or anytime ever.

How I came across this I have no idea - things often just find me. Intrigued and super-sceptical I watched a few videos and Ted Talks and eventually thought I'd give the breathing a try. Deep breathing is good for you, right? I felt pretty good after just one round and began to do just one round most mornings. It only took a minute or two and I felt energetic and ready to go after it. This was around the same time I began to finish washing my hair with a cold rinse (which I mentioned a few weeks ago). That perked me up a bit further and seemed innocent enough.

Then one morning after my lovely warm shower I turned it to cold and timidly put my hands and feet under it for a few seconds. It took me about three weeks to stand fully under the cold water and ACTUALLY LIKE IT.

Yes, me.

The wimp.

I love it.


I joined the free mini class then unsubscribed easily and wasn't bombarded with unwanted  emails. I do it on my own in my own time now. A new habit.

I just have to try this one out!

Dr Michael Moseley suggests putting a chocolate in your mouth and keeping it there for a full 10 minutes, concentrating on the taste and savouring it, putting all other thoughts out of your head.

My friend says that is impossible as chocolate melts at body temperature so it would not last that long. In the interest of science I feel obliged to test it :-)

For more sensible and serious advice from Michael Moseley there are lots of videos of his BBC TV programmes and talks on YouTube

 Re yesterday's post How To Reduce Your Carbon Footprint When You Fly is a BBC video that encourages us all to make tiny changes...

which makes a day in the city and a lunchtime concert possible.

We have pretty good public transport.

We also have landslides, which disrupt it at times!

Be astonished at these photographs....

And I thought this was fun!

I hope you are having a great weekend.

I spent a lovely afternoon with Grace (regular commenter on the blog who lives in Paris).
We both grew up in Glasgow so especially enjoyed the exhibition Glasgow In Print at the Glasgow Print Studio.

A leisurely lunch at Rogano's (could be in New York said Grace) to catch up since we last met was delightful.  Grace is off to climb Ben Nevis! We will be rooting for you and you must let us know if you get to the top. No pressure then :-)

Meeting some of my blog friends has been one of the greatest pleasures of Live Simply Simply Live and I did need to get away from the big studio clean up for a bit...

Don't forget to arrange a change of scene, however brief, if things get a bit intense.

I was once tall in Venice too..

PS Don't miss Lucille's latest post.

I'm going over there now to view it again..

..for our midsummer barbecue on the beach.

Then back to the garden for some dangerous cake!

I found these birch branches already in this shape lying in a hedge! All they needed was lightly tied together, and a little addition for Easter..

Thank you all so much for your comments on yesterday's post. You made me laugh and lighten up, and you motivated me!

for a few hours this morning with blue skies and rolling mist on the loch..

However it soon clouded over and it was still pretty cold, so I went to  Edinburgh as I had planned to see the last day of the Elaine Pamphilon exhibition at the Open Eye Gallery.

I am still mulling over the interesting comments on yesterday's post - thank you so much.

What is your favourite destination?

I loved the fun headings in this book shop -

Made me smile..

Sunny though very cold. The restaurants had flowers on the tables outside (though everyone was inside) but it looked so jolly and so spring-like and reminded you what it is like to sit outside, and that it might not be too long before we do. Click to enlarge for a pop of colour.

In the station's Piano Garden someone had popped down the suitcase to stop and play something fabulous. I think it would be so thrilling to be able to do that! Do they have street pianos in your town? Whoever thought that up should get a medal.

And Carluccio's exhorted us to make the day Magnifico!

Another reason to be cheerful was that my eyes are 'stable'. Will keep juicing!

And sum up my health week at home when I have got my head round it.

I hope you are enjoying your weekend.

Nearly forgot! 9403 steps!

I learned something important (for me) yesterday. I don't mean deep learning in the Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning sense - I mean it as something imprinted not just in my mind but in my body, in every cell.

I'm not sure I can explain it well...in yesterday's photo taken by Scott I held that pose for maybe 7 or 8 seconds, laughing because it was early on a rainy Sunday morning, we'd only just got out of bed, I was feeling far from exuberant and energetic, and what on earth were we doing trying to copy a pose on a postcard? (When I showed the postcard to Scott and said 'Do you think we could take a photograph like that?' he replied in his polite way 'No thanks' but almost immediately changed his mind...and went to find his wellies.)

But that extravagant gesture brought with it a delightful surge of energy which stayed with me all day, and made me grin every time I thought of it. Just 7 or 8 seconds of physical movement had such a big, positive and lasting effect!

If you, like me, live too much in your head, won't you try it and see what happens to your energy levels and your mood? It helps of course to have a seven year old around, or a dog, or a friend who likes a laugh.

 I shouldn't really be surprised because I know (in my head of course) that this is why people run and jump and get into sport but I've never really liked sport, or exercise. And I am surprised and rather delighted to have discovered how this worked for me.  It's that 'act as if' thing. I look at the photograph and know that I haven't felt like that in so long...but acting as if I did had this magical effect.

Well this is a long-winded way of saying it made me feel SO HAPPY!

I am reminded of this all-time favourite cartoon - www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/173107179400186336/