Unbought Delicacies: 03/11/2013

Friday, 8 November 2013

Copyleft

I just came across this word this morning - copyleft. The exact and wonderful opposite to copyright. Wish more things were copyleft in this world, what a better place it would be.

Thursday, 7 November 2013

Pink......................

............ and lots of it. Having the house painted :)

Tuesday, 5 November 2013

(for more info/artworks, visit http://toinjoints.deviantart.com)

This hit a chord this morning, shared from the Wild and wise Women group on Facebook

he truth is ... I'm just like you
And I'm trying
Sometimes the trying is exhausting
But it is an every day thing
Yes I've heard "there is no try"...
Thank you Yoda
But in my humble opinion
He was wrong
Because there is trying
Every day

Every day I try
To meet each situation with kindness
To own what is mine - emotionally
And to walk in integrity
And honesty as well as faith and trust
That there is something bigger
That is guiding me
And I am trying
Because these are not all things that just happen on their own
Yet. They depend on me to try

I try to not let worry and stress
Grief and pain overtake me
and sometimes I am successful
And when I'm not ... there is a next time
For me to try again

I am trying - to be who I am called here to be
To be the mother my son will always be proud of
And to mother in a way that makes me proud
I try to not forget myself in all the care I give
To not pass over me because I am quiet and "fine"
And I try to remember what I need
In my relationships, my friendships, my love, and my life
While I am taking care of your needs
Yes, while I am taking care of your needs in our relationship, our friendship, our love and our life
Because your needs are my needs
In an abstract sort of way that I have had to rise above
Although they really matter to me too.

Just like you, every day I try
And there are days when trying feels like merely surviving
And that's ok.
Because there are other days
Days when it doesn't feel like trying at all
When I am in the flow and a part of the energy
That works around me and through me
Rather than the resistance I was trained to be
There are those days ~ those ARE those days
When I want to circle my arms around you and
Whisper "It can be like this"
Before we wake up in the morning and
Try again.

(c) 2013 Christa Thompson of W3

Not just the fault of one...............

http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/10781331.Dawn_raids_hit_New_Forest_fungi_crops/

It's not just the greedy and unscrupulous pickers at fault here; it's the shops, the restaurants, the media - and the customers who consume the mushrooms. As usual, demand driven. There will be very little of anything at all left soon. Sick to the heart. I feel that the media doesn't do enough to promote the ethics of foraging; yes there is the occasional general article about it , but usually only a sentence or two along the lines of 'don't pick too much'. As usual I don't know what the answer is, but everyone can play their part in this one.

This photo is of my fungus foray when I went on one led by John Wright, back in 2007. There is a world of beauty and fascination out there, would be wonderful if folks would just consider that others would like to share it too.

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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