Going blue

Another start

 Heel done, ready for the gusset 

Couple of good reads 

I have done very little almost no crafting, and not too much reading, anything which requires thinking is packed away.  

This week my darling husband went for a procedure in our local hospital and had a heart attack, he was rushed to Southampton General, and has had heart surgery yesterday, needless to say I'm in free fall worried sick and scared. The hospital has a great record in the cardiac department, and their care is wonderful. I just wish we had a switch to turn off thoughts for short periods.

Verity

Verity was standing watch over the sea at Ilfracome, as with everyone there you will have an opinion of her, love her or hate her, she does make you think.
Made by Damien Hurst, and on loan to this small sea side town, he is a local lad. She is truth and justice, and towers over everything else at the mouth of the harbour.
The top photos are the first you see of her, sadly from the car park below, she looks serine, in full bloom, when you walk to the edge of the water along a harbour wall, you get to see her other side, which for me was the more beautiful and interesting. I would have loved to see her in a different location, and tried in all my photo's to miss the car park.
We were not aware she was here, and not seen from our hotel, I loved her, she dominates the skyline.

This week

I have... 

• Walked in the rain and got wet feet
• Worn long trousers for four days in a row
• Snuggled down and read loads
• Drunk loads of hot drinks
• Spend lovely time with hubbies family
• Slept well each night
• Sat and watched the rain and wind - more like Autumnal weather
• Caught up with recorded TV  
• Harvest salad and fruit

I have not...

• Worked in my garden or watered once
• Seen much of Will, but he did visit on Friday for a couple of hours with mummy
• Done any crafting
• Drunk many iced teas and coffees
• Reached my daily step target
• Spent much money

I should have...

• Started some sewing
• Finished knitting my sock
• Tried to work out how my sisters sewing machine works
• Housework, but it does look clean and tidy here
• I'm sure this list should be much longer

Why...

Our weather has broken and we are having wet and windy days, a couple of days have been heavy rain, I'm not complaining, the temperature is much lower, and it's stay inside days, with much cooler nights. The south coast of England is a dry part of the UK, so we are always happy for any rain we can get, it just feels like a normal summer now.  

Overshoot day

Really interesting reading

Have you heard of overshoot day, I have been reading here, once you go past our country (world) overshoot day, we are using more than our Earth can give us and last year as previous years almost every country on our Earth did.

A lot of people will shrug their shoulders and say nothing we can do, but I believe we all can do things, people power does make a difference, lots of small acts mount up. Look how quickly we have changed to reusable bags to carry our shopping home, that was led by government, but plastic straws are becoming less used as is coffee chain throw away cups, which is people led. 

All we have to do is think about what we care for, and how we can make small changes towards ensuring our world is here after we have gone.

When I was growing up, I loved Star Trek, I thought we would be living in a clean, equal world, where the powers who ruled our Earth would stop wars, famine and everyone would live a good life, well I was young and hopeful. 

So with small steps I believe we can turn things around, I hope the children on this world, are taught to learn from mistakes made and are shown how to ensure their world is better than ours. 

I will continue with my saving and add other small changes, here are a few we like to do already.

• Twice a week we eat meat free - it takes more resources to produce meat.
• We purchase from local supplies where possible, helping local producers.
• We do not upgrade, unless the item is broken, this was harder, but we are getting there. 
• We have cut back on buying clothes, we have loads to use up before we buy more. 
• Books are now purchased secondhand, if we are not able to get them from our local library.
• We try and not bring into the house one use plastics, this is much harder, and can be more expensive, but we are always on the look out for greener packaging.
• Any plastic in the house and garden will be used until it wears out and replaced with a greener item, if we can. 
• I carry my own shopping bags, plus reuse plastic and paper bags so I don't need more wrapping paper. 
• We do not pop to town each week, having less to purchase, means our trips are not worthwhile, saving fuel on unnecessary trips. If we need to go out, we plan so we get all journeys done on the same trip. 
• We are looking at ways to save and store water, and reuse as much as we can. 

My list is just some of what we do, every one does different things, but us small people can make a difference, that's if we want to. 

My week.

HOPE

 PRIDE

ENJOY

READ

The above perfectly sums my week

HOPE, dark clouds above, looks like rain, Oh we live in one of the driest parts of England, clouds just to cool us down, no rain, keep hoping. Thunder storms forecast over the next two days, but not very near to us.  

PRIDE, England feels good again, football (which I normally would not watch) was good, the team and manager did us proud. 

ENJOY, I love tennis, and I am enjoying the matches from Wimbledon, two 5 set matches in the men's contest, top seeds falling along the way.

READ, I am losing myself in books, I loved The Sister by Louise Jensen. The Lie is another good book, I'm half way through.

No photo, but love should be in the mix, my wonderful hubby and daughter, who everyday ensure I'm good. Lovely grandsons, who all are beautiful and growing up so very quickly. 

Saving

Water, this heatwave is set to last for most of July

Plastic lids, these can't be put in our recycling bins

Coffee and tea bags

Vegetable peeling

I can't save the planet by myself, I'm just one person, living a good life and wanting to pass on a better world to our children and grandchildren.

 BUT

I can do my bit, and as we become more aware of the consequence of our modern life, we are striving to live as clean as we can.

Our ongoing heatwave has me worried about water, my garden is small, but already my water butts are running low on water, so I am saving as much water as I can and reusing it in the garden, the toilet through out the day is only flushed when I need too,  small steps, but as they say every little helps.
We are reducing the amount of one use plastics coming into our home, we avoid purchasing plastic where we can, and reuse what we already have, we save these plastic tops, which our local council tell us we can't recycle, we pass them on to a local charity who save them towards the cost of children's electric wheelchairs, again by myself I could not save enough, but together we can make the difference.
Food waste is huge here in the UK, we have been striving to reduce ours, we do not waste any meat and very little dairy, coffee and tea bags are used on my garden, the coffee filters are used in the bottom of plant pots, saves the soil being washed away. All our veg waste is going to our worms, they are thriving and later I will have lovely compost and liquid plant food.
We also stopped shopping, Saturday no longer is spent in shops, we spend time together, lots of time together at home. I am trying this year not to buy new clothes, I was weak in February and did get a few items in the sale, so my year will be March 18 to end of February 19, I feel really confident I can do this, like most of us, I have far too many clothes and shoes.
We are also looking at our car, we walk everywhere around the village, and if we have the need to go to town, we take the bus, hubby has his bus pass, so I only have to pay the fare, it is cheaper than parking, and the bus is always running, saving a trip in our car.
Each of the things we are doing is small, but with so many of us thinking the same way, we can make a difference, we can improve the environment for our wildlife and generations to come. It is easy to say it's too late, but I believe it's not too late, some aspects of our world is in peril, but lets pull together and start a good revolution.

What are you saving

Staying green.

Our wish for our house and garden to be as green as possible goes on, our waste is on every level is much lower and we are both feeling good.
Our food waste is almost nothing, all vegetable waste, peeling, egg shells go to my wormery, which already is giving us fertilizer, and soon lovely fine compost.  Plus it's a magnet for any children coming into the garden. We are very good an do not waste meat, fish or dairy.
My ground coffee is scatted on my garden, the filters are dried and then used as pot liners, the used teabags I am popping into pots as I plant them up, nothing is thrown away.

Every time I go shopping I take a few of my home made bags, our local fruit and veg stall now hands out paper bags, which I always keep in my shed drawer. They now have gone back to using proper plastic bowls for their pre-weighed items, which they use time and time again, they switched very quickly. Plastic still comes into our home, but much less than before, and if we are able to avoid it we often do. If I go to the plant stand at the market on a Wednesday, I always carry a couple of previous used thin plastic carrier bags, and reuse them, I'm sure I can make them last the rest of this year.

My dish covers are always in use in the kitchen, we still on occasions use stretch and seal, but the roll we have again will last much longer, and our hope is by the time it's all gone, we will have minimized the need for it. Because we are not wanted to waste so much food, we are better at our portion sizes and do not have leftover food very often, before we freeze anything we ensure the portion sizes are right for us, which often means we get extra portions from our purchases.

Is this a fail, I love to see a full fruit dish, but the limes which look good hardly ever get used, we do use lemons alot. So I purchased two plastic limes, they do look very real, and now I will only purchase limes if we need them, so in a strange way it's not a fail, but a win.

 We are even saving our lolly sticks, these make great plant labels, and they are short enough to be put in seed trays with the covers on.

Another small win, we are using citronella candles in the garden, far more than ever before, I got these at Asda, 3 small pots costing a pound each, they are pretty and the pots can be reused for my succulent seeds when they grow, on the down side they came packed in plastic.   

I have not purchased any clothes or shoes since February, and I have no plans to buy anything this year. Garden toys for Will are all second hand from charity shops or off local facebook selling pages, and once finished with they will be passed on. My garden spend has been high and where I have purchased plastic items, they are not one use items, and will last me for years.
I recycled some of my plastic plant pots, I had spare plants which I potted up and took to our local Save the Children shop, so profit for them and pots moved along.
I responded to a post on our local facebook page and I have been given two books to read, I have been promised more once the lady sorts them, once I have read them I will pass them along. I gave some fabric to our local primary school for costumes, using the same page.
So half way through this year, I feel we are making progress, just small things, but we both feel better making the changes, we can't change our past habits, but looking forward we will be greener.

Hop to a finish

Completed my 1st sock

 Toes was fiddly but neat

 Heal, has a couple thin spots but good

 It fits

 Feels good

 I had a quiet moment to do the toes on my socks, the designer suggested you find a time when you could concentrate on the cast off, which I loved, I suffer from tender toes, so it's important this section is right. The top of the sock I feel is a bit loose, but I do knit loose, along from the heal to the toes I have different tensions, as I used different types of needles as discussed in my last post. But by the time I reached the toe cast off I was knitting much tighter and the dropped stitches became less.
I am not planning to knit a matching sock, this one whilst finished has issues, mainly with the number of stitches dropped and picked up, they show in places so I would not be happy wearing it, plus I think it might be nice to keep my first attempt, hopefully to look back on and chuckle. I also really do not want to knit any more with the grey yarn, it's boring!
I did say I was going to use the two shades of pink next, but decided it make it easier for myself and chose shades of blue, still using 4 double ended needles, knitting slower and keeping a better tension. Not having a change of colour will keep it simple, and the yarn colour changes will give it interest.

 I do like Drops yarn, and this was on sale. 

I have 3 pending post on my garden which I did this week, but we are having issues with the woman next door again, and my garden is not the happy place it should be, it's almost impossible for us to spend any time outside, our local Councillor is working on our behalf to help join all the agencies together to get help. The police has stopped her reporting 'our drug use' simply by telling her they have investigated all her allegations and in each case they are unfounded, and therefore if she reports us again without relevant new evidence they will record her comment but take no actions. We were happy for a while, but now she has changed tactics against us and the lady who lives the other side of her house. 
We have endured her increasing issues for the last six years, each year getting worse than the last, this year she  has a new high, we are stuck here as our house (as is the house the other side) is approaching being unsaleable at a reasonable price to be able to afford to buy another.

Sorry but it's just how I feel at this moment. 

Is it me.....

These images are all taken from my Facebook pages, you either love it or hate it. 

I use Facebook to keep in touch with family, siblings, nieces and nephews and old friends, we are now spread around the globe. My facebook account is private so I'm not visible  unless we are friends, of which I only have 62. I do not click on quiz's and other items, I'm not interested on any of the frivolous stuff and adverts, in fact I would love to see them gone, but facebook has a cost to run.  

There is alot of rubbish on my feed,  I see it as a reflection of so our world today

 I follow a money saving group, which often has good offers shown, but I'm not one to rush to the shop for a good deal, often it's something I would not really want, but so often you see people buying to excess as shown in collage below. The flowers are a good deal, but how many bunches do you really need. Do you need three big packs of chocolate and how many lip sticks, even at 50p each.

 Things are so easy and cheap to buy, I often see offers like below, where items are being sold off cheap, purchased and then not used. So many people see a sale sign as a must have. 

I do like the local pages, I got this toy for Will, locally second hand and cheap, plus we often sell small items, or even give things away, I passed on my pot bound Christmas tree, which now is planted in a local garden. 

Often there are thought provocative images and video's.  

This morning my facebook feed was full of foolish people grabbing at bargains, and stocking up, but when is a bargain, a true bargain. Just because you save money on the purchase price, does not make the item a bargain, because if you are buying the item just to save money, that's wrong.
We don't often shop at Asda, but when we do I always check my receipt, just in case there are savings they are going to give back to us, we don't often have money back vouchers, and I don't mind, because if when we shop we are already picking up the items with the best prices, shows we are shopping smart.
In our small village we have 4 second hand (thrift) shops, which I love to pop into, I always take items to the Save the Children shop, and I try and purchase secondhand books, when I can't find books at our local library.
We now occasionally see garage sales, local homes with all the stuff from their garage out for sale, how many people use their garage for the vehicles.
Why do we need so much stuff, we decluttered when we moved here 9 years ago, and over the years got rid of loads, we have stopped buying so much, we are not interested in the latest trend or colour scheme, and we feel much better less time shopping makes more time relaxing together. Not having our house full of stuff (clutter), makes us relaxed, get the theme.
We have been checking our spending again, we have no issues on how much we spend, we worked hard to ensure we have enough income now we do not work. Just checking on what we buy, ensuring we do not fall back into old bad habits.

Reasons to be cheerful: Part 1

Family
I am blessed with a loving close family, as we grow older my siblings have all become closer, I am one of nine children, with 6 of us left. My youngest daughter is a pure joy. Kev's sons are also very loving. Our 6 grandsons complete our happiness, having Will once a week on a Monday is pure pleasure.
Hubby and I celebrate 32 years of marriage and 34 years together, for both of us, it's a second marriage, he makes me so happy, I am a truly lucky lady (he also makes me swear at him at times).

Cats
I have always had two cats, now I am home all day, it's fun to have them close, they follow me into the garden or where ever I go, I get lots of snuggles.

Garden
We have worked hard in our garden, made mistakes, but now it's our happy place, less hard work, just pottering around and enjoying the space, our sun loungers are ready to be brought out.

Hobbies
I have time now for sewing, cross stitch, knitting and other things, I have a couple of hobbies I want to try, plus I get plenty of time to read.

Camper van
The enjoyment of our van is huge, we have it summer ready, so all we need to add is clothes and food, we are away on a lovely site for a few days, sun shine makes everything feel so much better.

Myself
I have been feeling good for a while, I have lost half a stone and hit the target I made to myself for the end of the month, I am now my pre Christmas weight. I still have loads to lose, lots of my lovely clothes in the wardrobe are a bit tight, and I am NOT going up a dress size. My fitness levels are improving, still not up to the steps I set every day, but I am much more active. We have our bikes which we are now using, it's no fun to cycle in the rain.

Plus the sun is shining and it's warm.

Happiness and contentment are such a precious thing, often they are so close we can almost clasp them. After this long damp cold 'Spring' season, when I have at times felt so blue, it feels good to be so upbeat. 

I am lucky I am well, I do have health issues, mainly small things I can live with, leftover from my struggle with cancer in 2010, but as my mum used to say 'pull your socks up and get on with it'. 

Finishing work last year was the best thing for me, now I have time, all my life we were short of time,  having to fit in work, family, relationships,  it was a struggle for so long.

So tell me your reasons to be cheerful......

Green gardening

This one photo is so full of hope.

All gardening is green, right? 

But think about plastic in the garden, I have. 

As with other parts of our lives plastic is everywhere in the garden.

I started thinking about the cost of gardening 6 or 7 years ago, and decided I would replace things with the best I could afford, at the time I was thinking after I finish work, I would not have so much disposable cash. So I started at the end of each season, purchasing good quality items at sale price, Wilkinson's and local garden centers were my best shops in late summer.
I also recycled my few large plastic pots for pottery, this was done because I thought pottery ones looked colourful and had better water level qualities for the plants inside.
I got my large greenhouse so I could grow my own plants, replacing the plastic ones I had for glass, which last much longer and can be recycled.
All the above means I can cut down on how much plastic I bring into my garden, if I buy plants in pots (almost only if they are on sale and I can revive them), I take the pots back to a local garden center (saving them until I am next in the area) where they are sent for recycle. My aim this year is not to buy bedding plants, I will grow all my own.
I have a lovely wooden plant pot maker using newspaper, and I save toilet roll centers for growing seedlings on.
In my shed I have loads of plastic covered metal plant stays, in many different shape and sizes, I have loads of heavy duty seed trays and covers. These will last me for years, in fact I don't feel I should need to replace much of my gardening tools.
I do buy compost, probably 8-10 bags a year,  I have no where in my tiny garden to have a composter, there was one behind the garage, but we moved it and put the shed in the space. I do keep the bags when empty, I almost always find a second use for them. All my garden waste is collected each fortnight by the council for use in compost.
My aim for the garden is to try and reduce to almost nothing the purchase of one use plastic, I see most places now have product in cardboard boxes as well as of plastic, and I will now always choose cardboard.
Our local plant stand in the local market is now having bareroot plants in newspaper, as my parent  got their plants. So ditching the plastic is already growing at nursery level.
I don't need to purchase much this year, but I will look for the green option.
Most of the decisions and changes I have made in the last few years were made for financial reasons, I love gardening and wanted to ensure I would have the equipment to allow me to enjoy our outside space. Now I can see the decisions will keep me away from the over use of flimsy plastics.
In my gardeners world magazine Monty has stated he is going as plastic free as he can, it will be interesting to see what he brings to my decision making, he made a start in last nights Gardeners World on TV.

Words or pictures

I recently read this book and then watch the TV adaptation 

Firstly the book, the story being set in the future after humans have almost destroyed our earth, I enjoyed the style of the writing, the main character was believable, the setting against an restrictive life full of rules, fear and her role now within society.  Her memories of her previous life and family, trying to recall and not forget, plus the fear of general life, everyone watching everyone.

The TV adaptation, I found the 10 episodes very good viewing, the story line was very good, a different view of our possible future, they covered all the story plot, adding to the original plot, to ensure the story was told and understood. The last 3 episodes were added to the story, which sat well and gave a view of the larger story, away from the handmaids home.

For me the book won out, at just over 300 pages, it was never going to take 10 hours on film. A couple of main points were left out or twisted for TV, and TV spent far more time on her past life. 

One good point is the ending, it kept within the scope of the book and TV did not change it.

Little things

Here is my list of little things which have made me smile this week.

Eating mixed berries from our garden each day 

Feeding our wormery

Hedgehog sleeping in overturned pots in the garden.

Roses in bloom

Hubby buying a plant, without me present

Sunshine everyday

Simple BBQ with family

A day at the beach

Strong black coffee

1st cucumber harvested

Clean cotton sheets after a shower

Dawn chorus, bird song 

I don't think any one is better than another, they are all small things, but they bring smiles to my lips and joy in my heart. Summer time is wonderful, I hope you are enjoying this beautiful weather. I could add loads, a good book to read, laughter, a walk in the cooler evening. Life is good.

Good things....

.....happen to good people, 

my mum told me this all through out my growing up years, 

I am lucky our family have had loads to celebrate and enjoy over the years, with our perfect grandsons, including our latest Will. All our boys are wonderful, we don't see the older boys so much, through distance and them creating a busy life doing things they enjoy, but having the knowledge they are thriving and happy, catching up with them when we can. 

Life has not always been good, as with all families we have bad times, things we can't control, people do and say unexpected things, I have done things when I look back I do wish I could change. Money has been tight often as our children grew up.

Hubby and I have been looking at our life in many different ways, the biggest being I am still working whilst hubby is retired, we have been reevaluating every part of our lives for many years, building to what we think will be a better life in retirement, because once we get there we will have little or no chance to make many changes. 

When the government changed the pension age for woman to match men's at 65 (now 66), they really hurt many ladies. Our generation as many before us did as we were asked we saved, brought homes, we paid into pensions, most of all we paid taxes, lots of taxes. I can see our world has changed, and I understand as a country we are not as wealthy as before. BUT it still feels so very unfair!

Last week we made a huge discussion, and I informed my employer I intend to retire from work on 28th July 2017, this is two years earlier than planned, 4 years before I get any state pension, but in my mind (as loads will agree) 2 years later than expected. 

I really can't wait for 28th July to come.

Comfort point

We all have our own little world where we feel safe and comfortable.
To most of us it's simply home, after the daily attendance at your place of work, we come home to a warm and cosy place of our making.
The level of comfort often is dictated by how much money we have and our age, which often dictates the level we have reached. Young and starting out is often a lower level, empty nester's often are in a great place, and then some slip when in retirement income is reduced.
How we spend our income also plays a huge part, consumerism keeps our economy running, our government would struggle if every one stopped shopping.
Our pace of living is fast, on the go all the time, we are bombarded with all the latest must have stuff, the rental business of storage space is huge, 30 years ago it was unheard of and not required. Rather than throw something out or pass it along, so many hide it in rows of lockups and pay rental.

Do I own a car to get me to work so I can earn money, 

or did I buy the car because I earn money.

I read a good post here, where Phil talks about a cashless society and how easy it is to wave plastic and spend without realizing just how much loads of small amounts add up in a week. In the past couple of years I take a cash sum each week, in the beginning it was just enough to get me by, now every week I have cash left over, which I save and when I have enough I have a bigger treat. Could be lunch with daughter's, something for my craft stash. I have never increased the amount I take, I just stopped spending on frivolous stuff.
It has been hard work persuading my hubby this was a better way of life, bit by bit he has listened to my mad schemes to simplify and enhance our world.
We have changed our way of thinking, how we spend money and on what, we buy what we need, ignoring all the sales, discounts and hype. Everyone's lifestyle is their own, we now enjoy a much better way of life.
We enjoy lovely weekends at home, we do not go into town each weekend to shop, our weekends are now lazy enjoyable time at home together. The main thing we have noticed how much more time we have together, take away the rushing about and our time slows down to an enjoyable level.
This week was a success in our house, our internet/TV/phone rental was £62 per month, hubby wanted to cancel the TV to save money, I suggested he call another provider and get costings, which was £11 less for a very similar package, he was all for changing supplier. I suggested he call back our supplier and tell them we could go else where and save money, he got them to match the other cost, plus we also keep a 5% discount which made it cheaper. So a brilliant saving without have to change anything. Hubby is really pleased with himself.
I get an email from Martin Lewis, Money saving expert,  each month and use his site often, he has loads of tips on how to play the big corporate's  at their own game.
We are not as savvy and loads of bloggers I follow with your clever way of saving money, I would love to be self sufficient, but that's my dream not hubbies.
How have you made a good saving recently, as they say every little helps.

This and that

I have shown this before,

it's a real shock to compare to what we really do eat.

Ali over at Less equals more has done her post on the subject. 

Like so many others we have been looking at our relationship with food, what we eat, where we get it from and of course how much we eat. One of the main things I have done is to use a smaller plate, my mum would call this a breakfast plate, as you can see it's a bit smaller than our normal plates.  I try and keep my portions to the center of the plate.

  I enjoyed all three books, Cake Shop in the Garden being the best one here. 

Still doing very little sewing, I have another project forming.

We have followed loads of sport from Rio, the cycling being both our favorites, followed by the diving and gymnastics, it's a proud time to see so many medals being won. I have watched TV most evenings in the past couple of weeks, we were really late to bed last night, watching the last cycle race, with it's 3rd start, then a quick switch over to see the last dives. 

Last week we booked our holiday, just over four weeks now, and I'm on a mission to lose a few pounds of flab, so we have cut carbs to a minimum, it is hard when every day there are cakes, biscuits in the office, I sit very close to our tuck shop, and at 11.30 each day the sandwich lady comes in with lovely cakes. I still walk each lunch time, but will all the sport on TV, we don't do enough after our evening meal. That will change once the Olympics are over, hubby has serviced my bike, so we can start local riding, we have a few lovely places to visit along our water edge. 
I have started using weights to help my upper body strength, now I no longer have to take the cancer drugs, I feel I want to try and gain strength. 
I don't get the exercise in our garden, every thing is looking good and does not require any hard work, it's time now to enjoy all the previous hard work.