Unbought Delicacies: 02/03/2014

Saturday, 8 March 2014

Saturday

A beautiful sunny spring day here in the Vale - was enjoying sitting out in the garden until next door came out with his drill................. never mind, will soon be away from it! Have done washing and hung it out, another load in; got supper prepared and into the oven - hake steaks with white wine and wild garlic, with roasted vegetables

Yesterday's trip to recycle the milk bottles and paper proved fruitful, yielding a few wee things for packing away to take with me' a very beautiful ceramic pan (not sure I'll risk it on the heat), a pretty blue cup and three saucers, two sets of gingham patterned cutlery and two little painted metal holders for tealights, destined for the garden.

Beautiful British tulips bought yesterday, such pretty colours :)

Fist of the wild garlic on the chopping board

My cream wool has arrived for my crochet blanket, so will be able to get on and start edging the squares in a minute, with a cup of tea.

Friday, 7 March 2014

Friday....................

................ a good day for taking it easy with a bit of crochet, some FB Scrabble and a big mug of coffee; sunshine here this morning, it's a lovely spring day. Have a lovely weekend everyone :)

Thursday, 6 March 2014

I am an anarchist

Wednesday, 5 March 2014

Woolly doings

Finished some socks for me today - first for me for a long time! Nice pink and stripey

Crochet blankets continue unabated in readiness for my new house. One is being made from granny squares in solid colours, the other is using up the leftovers from that in a single random big granny blanket - got to use it all up.

Tuesday, 4 March 2014

Pancake Day breakfast

Best breakfast of the year!

Old documentary on witchcraft

This is fascinating for many reasons, well worth a watch

http://dangerousminds.net/comments/the_power_of_the_witch_super_rare_british_witchcraft_documentary_from_1971

Monday, 3 March 2014

Thought for a sunny spring Monday

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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