Unbought Delicacies: Friday morning......

Friday 11 January 2008

Friday morning......

.........and non-stop rain here - big muddy puddles and fed up livestock. OH arrived home with alrge pile of poles and netting, should we need to enclose the birds; I'm hoping we don't, because they like their jaunts in the fields, and the ducks like their pond. Gaots fed up with teh rain too, sitting in their house, looking out at it. Ah well, it's free water. I need to make some soap, so will have a go with rainwater to see what difference that makes - will check in my books first though and see what they say about it.
Waiting on books from Amazon - OH will not be please, but ho hum, econowife has to ahve something in her life:0) Off out tomorrow on a ncie trip to Yandles woodyard in Martock to get a piece for a shelf for the porch - a nice, uncut, natural barky bit. I need more blank cards for card making too, so a good excuse to have a snoop around their rather good craft shop!! Long enough trip to get a decent bit of knitting done too. Nothing else planned for the weekend, but I might get soem extra milk and cream for making cheese and at last trying out my butter churn. Simple pleasures all, but I really must sweep the floors too!

4 comments:

lilymarlene said...: I have to sneak my Amazon deliveries in somehow too! Can't resist buying though!!!; 11 January 2008 at 13:02
Mara said...: That shelf sounds lovely; I love wood which still has bark on it. :); 11 January 2008 at 20:11
MrsL said...: We have a lovely shelf in the kitchen , with its original barky wavy edge - looks like tree rather than wood, if you see what I mean; thought it would be nice out in the front porch too.

I can't live without Amazon, or books, I've decided. I don;t ask for much, and the majority of mny books are secondhand, so I reckon that's OK. Wish Amazon would sell bookshelves though, although I have nowhere to put them!! You really can't have too many books.; 11 January 2008 at 20:47
kathyann said...: I agree with the other comments,you can't beat natural wood!We love books and now get most of ours from charity shops ,there are good bargains to be had !Kathyann and the girls; 13 January 2008 at 08:51

I have found such joy

I have found such joy in simple things;
A plain, clean room, a nut-brown loaf of bread,
A cup of milk, a kettle as it sings,
The shelter of a roof above my head,
And in a leaf-laced square along the floor,
Where yellow sunlight glimmers through the door.
I have found such joy in things that fill
My quiet days: a curtain's blowing grace,
A potted plant upon my window sill,
A rose, fresh-cut and placed within a vase;
A table cleared, a lamp beside a chair,
And books I long have loved beside me there.
Oh, I have found such joys I wish I might
Tell every woman who goes seeking far
For some elusive, feverish delight,
That very close to home the great joys are:
The elemental things- old as the race,
Yet never, through the ages, commonplace.

~ Grace Noll Crowell

Ideas for handmade gifts

Small knitteds - gloves, scarves, hot water bottle covers, hats, tea cosies, phone covers, little toys,,cushion covers, bags. Some of these can be felted/fulled for extra interest.
Edibles - chutneys and jams, pickles, nice teas in a vintage/retro tin, sweeties, toffees, mustard, home made wine and liqueurs, home dried fruits, ketchups.
For the home - trimmed tea towels, handknitted dishcloths, quilted wallhangings, small samplers, restored picture frames, pot pourri, lavender bags, covered coathangers, little scented bags for hanging on handles, framed photos of family,etc you've taken yourself, pincushion,needle book, scissor keeper, book of promises (eg babysitting, 1 hour's housework, the ironing, etc)
Bathtime - homemade soap, bath oils, bath salts, knitted washcloths, herbal bags for the bath, hand sewn toilet bags, trimmed hand towels, homemade lotions and potions packed in pretty jars and bottles.
For the garden - home saved seed in handmade decorated packets; homemade handcream, exfoliating soap, wheat bag for those digger's aches and pains!

Handmade books, personalised printed notepaper and envelopes.
Hamper of bits and bobs from the above lists, packed in a pretty lined basket.

I'll add some more as and when I think of them; These can be used all year round and easily tailored to the recipient - everyone loves a homemade gift. :)

Inspiring thoughts.............

I saw a man, an old Cilician, who occupied an acre or two of land that no one wanted.
A patch not worth the ploughing, unrewarding for flocks, unfit for vineyards;
he, however, by planting here and there among the scrub cabbages or white lilies and verbena and flimsy poppies, fancied himself a king in wealth, and coming home late in the evening, loaded his board with unbought delicacies.
Virgil

I had no theories to prove. I merely wanted to try living by my own hands, independently as far as possible from a system of division of labour in which the participant loses most of the pleasure of making and growing things for himself. I wanted to bring in my own fuel and smell its sweet smell as it burned in the hearth I had made. I wanted to grow my own food, or forage after it. In short I wanted to do as much as I could for myself, because I had already realised from partial experience the inexpressible joy of doing so.

Harlan Hubbard, Shantyboat: A River Way of Life

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Friday 11 January 2008

Friday morning......

4 comments: