Category:

Living in a fairly remote place with a very small population has been a great advantage of late, and I can still get out and about albeit in a more restricted range (see out and about - the shore, here).

The garden is not large but bounded by the forest on one side and the shore on the other there is lots of scope for walks, with lots of variety, and mown paths within the garden mean I can go for walks here too. (I am looking forward to bare foot frosty walks again!)

I've never taken it for granted, and I've never appreciated it more.

Are you able to get out and about, to some degree, where you are?

8 Comments

Simply..keeping it simple....

11/10/2020

...which is sometimes to say not a lot is happening here,

though I did get inordinately excited about the first cornflower seed which sprouted today!

Tiny symbol of hope for 2021..

6 Comments

Simply..what my house needs now....

4/10/2020

..is people in it!

I am deliberately not just putting things back where they were before the rooms were painted. I can't quite explain the need for this - it has something to do with a shift in energy and the feeling I have had that I was getting way too comfortable in my comfort zone. I am missing the vitality that frequent visitors to the house seemed to bring, I have to create it some other way for now.

Here is what Andrew Marr said on a recent broadcast -

Humans need crowds, the wisdom of crowds, and the foolishness of crowds, and gatherings and hubub and parties and jostling and hugs.

I would have said I was someone who did not like crowds, but then I thought of the crush in the foyer of a concert hall before a performance - I love that, and the sense of communal anticipation. Or the buzz on the opening night of a new exhibition, the hum of conversation in my favourite restaurant, or our Christmas Tree parties with more than twenty of us crowded into our small house...

In preparation for the people I love being in my home again - let it not be too long a wait - I will fill the freezer with home cooked food. New recipes perhaps. A project. I do like a project!

Do you? Do you have one to help you through the autumn? And would you agree with Andrew Marr?

8 Comments

Simply..feels so good....

2/10/2020

15 Comments

..so clean, so fresh. It has given me such a lift to have the house decorated. If you are thinking about it, I would urge you to just do it!

It is bringing out the minimalist in me and I like it empty and am reluctant to put things back....

I will do it slowly, enjoy the process, and be very particular..

Like a few things in my house, the CD player worked sometimes, then stopped working all together. I spent some time today trying out all possible permutations of the controls, to no avail. I walked away then on an impulse turned back and lifted it up, turned it upside down and shook it a bit - telling myself 'This is silly Freda, it won't work'. Well, you've guessed it, it did work and the sparse notes of Alvo Part's Fur Anna Maria at full volume floated through the house, reflecting it's new spaciousness and simplicity. Magic!

The sound quality is wonderful. I can create my own concerts this season.

15 Comments

Simply..a little pause....

27/9/2020

12 Comments

..while the decorator paints my rooms.

My comfort zone -aka my home - is turned upside down.

It will be fine.

I am sure.

Although right now I wish I'd never started it!

:-)

12 Comments

Simply..guilty as charged m'lud....

20/9/2020

Advice, guidelines, rules or laws - it's not clear what's what! Stay at home and don't mingle, or Eat Out To Help Out and support all the people trying to earn an honest living and get the economy going again? I am going to feel pangs of guilt whatever I do. Have there ever been such mixed messages?

Trying to be positive in the midst of this pandemic is proving to be challenging, isn' it?

I can only manage it by setting my own house in order. I do have some control here and opinions I can trust (mine!). Having made a good stab at Kondoing the whole house (nearly completed though I ran out of steam with the miscellaneous category) I am now having downstairs decorated.

I am shocked at how bad it is when I take down all the paintings and curtains and remove all the decorative things from the kitchen. sitting room and hall and stairs.

While it is all being painted I will be socially distanced upstairs or in the studio or garden finishing off the Kondo process I hope.

Expensive work requring scaffolding will be done on the chimney, and the hedges will be trimmed and the grass given its last cut before winter.

Such an upheaval! But I am focussing on how it will feel in a few weeks time - fresh and tidy, water and windproof, and I'll be ready to snuggle down for the duration if need be.

Are you managing to find a positive? Do share - we all need all the positivity we can get!

It helps me so much to share my thoughts here.

I hope it helps you too.

8 Comments

Simply..keeping it simple....

4/9/2020

12 Comments

While clearing I began to move things around a little.

(I do it with paintings all the time.)

See if it sparks joy to select a favourite decorative item and put iit in a new place. And add a branch of something...

Am giddy with excitement as I am off on a holiday!

12 Comments

Simply..keeping it simple....

1/9/2020

I will just blog every few days for a while, and hope you will enjoy my photographs of simple things!

If the stove is not lit I like to burn an incense stick or light a candle.

Simple pleasure

.

4 Comments

Simply..no time to blog....

22/7/2020

10 Comments

..last night as I was too busy chasing a tiny mouse around the sitting room and kitchen! I managed to catch it and put it out into the garden, but an hour later it was back again.

What to do...

10 Comments

Simply..a shopping spree....

19/7/2020

An online shopping spree that is. To be honest it's because my free trial of Amazon Prime is ending tomorrow so I bought in advance of need woodstain for the shed, white exterior paint for the walls, concrete floor paint for the studio - a job I have already started. My kagoul which hangs by the studio door fell onto the bit I had just painted, so I also ordered a new kagoul.

I got some citronella candles which smell so awful I can't imagine using them, even outdoors, some nice paper to line the kitchen shelves, and a doormat which makes me smile.

Last of the big spenders me..

4 Comments

Simply..a mini makeover....

16/7/2020

Colour is key.

With white or neutral walls a makeover is as simple as changing the dominant colour..

I chose yellow for the kitchen, bringing out or leaving out everything that is yellow and putting in the cupboards everything that isn't!

No cost and no time at all.

You can do it with a whole room or with a shelf or a bedside table.

sparks a little joy for me.

6 Comments

Simply..some flowers die....

27/6/2020

0 Comments

..prettily!

0 Comments

Simply..working....

15/6/2020

10 Comments

..on adding to that list (see yesterday's post), and doing Fly Lady's Weekly Home Blessing Hour - makes such a difference!

Meanwhile the garden is at it's June best....

10 Comments

Simply..lethargy....

11/6/2020

12 Comments

..is creeping into my days.

Inertia, inactivity, inaction, slowness, torpor.

A pathological state of sleepiness, or deep unresponsiveness and inactivity.

Oh dear!

What to do?

12 Comments

Simply..comfort books....

5/6/2020

10 Comments

..along with comfort food are the order of the day as 40mph winds and rain give the garden, and me, a shock.

Thank you so much for your comments on yesterday's post (and for the phrase 'comfort books' PennyL!) I am enjoying investigating the book titles and have already ordered Wintering by Katherine May - thankyou Gwendoline.

I didn't want The Salt Path to end. It was a thoroughly good read. Raynor Winn's next book launch has been postponed sadly (see here) but will I am sure be worth waiting for.

Do share more book suggestions here - a friend has already consulted them and I am still enjoying exploring them with a view to ordering another one or two, and my book group are reading The Salt Path.

Or justt say a quick hello - there is comfort in knowing you are all okay :-)

There are often gales when the oriental poppies are out but so far they are still standing..

10 Comments

Simply..a visitor today....

3/6/2020

Simply..going nowhere....

30/5/2020

11 Comments

Having at one point been counting the days to easing of lockdown I find myself not in the least eager to go anywhere!

I have spent all my time in the garden and had all my meals there. It feels normal. I can forget the outside world. The garden is the same as it always was - it hasn't changed with coronavirus. I can relax in it. It feels natural. I feel grounded and centred.

Whereas if I go and do any of the very limited things I am now allowed to do here in rural Scotland, there will be awkwardness and it will feel most unnatural - how can I tell a much loved 10 year old not to come near me! How can I see family and friends and not give them a warm hug. There will be disinfectant, markings, masks, notices and warnings, anxiety and unease.

Our hearts are hurting, are they not?

This doesn't mean I don't accept the reality or I won't handle it. We do. We adapt and we cope. I am full of admiration for the way people are coping with harsher realities than mine and truly terrible situations.
I know I am one of the very lucky ones and I may just stay in my garden sanctuary for another few days...no rush.

How are you feeling about things where you are?

I woke at four o'clock this morning!

11 Comments

Simply..more sun, more colour....

29/5/2020

Simply..shelter....

25/5/2020

Home as sanctuary, or a prison depending on yur circumstances.

I am so fortunate to have space to call my own, filled with things I love and cherish which in turn nourish me. Although confined to it at present (though thankfully I have a garden too) I am liking thinking of it as a cocoon, protecting me, helping me gtow, and making me stronger (my word for the year) for when I can emerge, blinking, into the 'new normality'.

My grandaughter visited a few months ago and sat herself down on the floor with a smile on her face. What are you thinking? I asked her. Happy memories she replied.

I want to have happy memories associated with home in this period too, so I have given it some extra care and loving attention. Outer order, inner calm. Flowers, music, books, candles, a little extra cleaning here and there, a few minor repairs....it's a bit shabby and perhaps a bit spartan, but I do love it.

Have you been sheltering in place? Has it changed the way you feel about your home?

4 Comments

Simply..permeable....

24/5/2020

2 Comments

The architecture of my front garden has very permeable walls.

I've considered the floors here and the roof here. Walls in a house serve the purpose of protection and privacy (as well as holding up the roof!), and in the garden they could be said to servie a similar purpose. They protect from the wind to a degree, create some privacy, and have openings for access and for views.

We renewed the original picket fence around the perimeter. It is now held up mainly by the honeysuckle which growns on it! In a way the fence is a declaration of ownership. It keeps strangers out and pets and children in. See here. Over time and by growing plants on it it has become merged with the surrounding landscape - the 'borrowed landscape in designer-speak - making it feel much bigger than it is.

Clearly defined entrance from the drive and the fence between gardens is covered in plants. Trees in every direction.

Privacy too from the neighbours on the other side and a magnificent forest backfrop.

The yellow gate (purely decorative) faces the yellow fron door and the view of the bluebels in the forest is lovely at this time of year. There is a road between the fence and the forest but you are not aware of it until the occasional car passes by.

Openings give views to the forest and to the field (far left) which seem to extend the garden into the countryside around. The borrowed landscape.

Prospect and refuge are both provided for. A view to se who is approaching and enough sense of enclosure to make you feel safe. Ancient traditions which still apply.

The house meanwhile does not have permeable walls and has thankfully kept out the wind and the rain these last few days and feels rather like a cocoon...

2 Comments

Simply..a little calm....

23/5/2020

Simply..an owl at breakfast....

21/4/2020

I always breakfast outside when the weather allows.

I was enjoying a pot of fresh coffee and eating some awful little scones I found while rummaging in the depths of the freezer. I was also looking to see if A C Grayling had written anything illuminating about guilt - specifically survivors' guilt. I didn't find anything, but as always found lots to engage me.....and the sun was just beginning to warm me nicely when from the forest I heard the unmistakeable hoot of an owl!

Did he know I was seeking wisdom?

Just for a moment I was out of my own head and in the trees with an owl who was heading home.

What kind of a night had he had?

8 Comments

Simply..spring into summer....

19/4/2020

9 Comments

The warm summery weather here seems at odds with what is happening in the wider world, and it's hard to know what to write about....a disturbing disconnect.

There are butterflies around, I have strung up the bunting and had an afternoon nap in the hammock, but an air of unreality hangs around, and wonderful though social media is in these circumstances I long for the real contact with friends and family.

This article which starts with the news that half a million people have recovered from coronavirus has a lot of interesting facts and figures...

9 Comments

Simply..busy!

17/4/2020