Unbought Delicacies

Monday, 13 May 2013

Saturday, 11 May 2013

Due to a variety of ccircumstances at present, I have decided to try out internet shopping for the weekly shopto see how it goes. Am not a fan of supermarkets, although I do admit they have their place; so I have gone with Abel & Cole. They have come a long way from supplying just veg boxes,and it's possible to do most of a weekly shop with them - organic/local/Fairtrade/ biodynamic, etc -right up my street, and the sort of things I was seeking out in the supermarkets and other shops.Deliveredto the door once a wek for 99p. I'm looking forward to seeing howit goes;I'll sale back the fruit/veg maybe as the garden eventually gets going, but nay continue the rest of the stuff for a while anyway. Nice to have something to look forward to - will report back next Wednesday, delivery day :)

http://www.abelandcole.co.uk/

ps -am still in hospital, but aiming for home on Monday - been 8 weeks now! Hope all are well, looking forward to blogging about home and garden again soon.Watch this space :)

Wednesday, 8 May 2013

Day 52.................

Awoke to the wind whistling around the 6th floor, and rainy wet outside;akes it a little more bearable to be inside here after yesterday's disappointment of not being discharged. Life is muh quieter and more pleasant in my single sideroom, down behind the store rooms and out of the way. I have two big windows to look out of, and can see plenty of skyand trees, over to the ountryside beyond. I've got a good deal of knitting done on my Fairisle pullover - the peace and quiet is good for conentration,and because the pattern is on a pdf, I can dip in and out of my Scrabble games too. I found a copy of 'Dinner at the Homesick Cafe' by Ann Tyler on the visitors' table,so I read that over the weekend. Whilst not very uplifting,it is a good book, made a change toread for a while, apart from my daily Guardian - this keeps me up to date with what's going on,and keeps my brain in order with the sudoku and crosswords. The food isn't to bad, and I've learnt which things theydo better than oters, and there's plenty of tea and coffee available.All in all, not too bad, but Ireally miss home and garden. No new date for possible discharge, so I just have to sit tight and try and keep my chin up. There is a TV in my room, but the only thing I've watched so far is The Beechgrove Garden,which I found by chance!

Sunday, 5 May 2013

Thought for a Sunday

Looking to next Tuesday for a discharge from the hospital, so normal blogging servie shoule be resumed very shortly :) In the meantime, I have ordered new summer sandals and some Himalayan blue poppies as a welcome home present for myself. A few other things may have fallen in my cyber basket too lol.
Sun is shining here again today, lovely freshair through the open window. 7 weeks is far too long to be cooped up inside! Hope all are well:)

Tuesday, 23 April 2013

St George's Day

This is the first in many years I've not been able to pick the first crop of dandelions for making wine, St George's Day being the traditional time to do so. There will still be plenty when I get back though, so full steam ahead with the brewing.
Good news from here is that the infection has been conquered and I've had my dripline removed. It's a really beautiful day here, sun is streaming in the windows,and there is a bit of a fresh breeze let in too. Although no indication of going home, I feel a big corner has been turned, and hopefully it won't be too much longer.
Hope you are all well and enjoying the sunshine :)

Sunday, 14 April 2013

Update :)

Thought it was dire time I gave an update for you all. I'm still in hospital - 4 weeks today, having contracted a very nasty virus.Have been pumped full of anti-biotics and things and am ona very slow mend. I have my knitting and laptop, but am really missing the fresh air and the wee bits of sunshine we've had.Spring may have passed me by, but heyho. I've got company on the ward,but am the youngest one here and the only one with my own teeth! lol
Days tend to all blur in together, though, in a round of mealtimes, dozing and cups of tea. Am happy enough as have vastly improved since I was admitted, but no idea how much longer I'll be here. Not much going on in the Unbought Delicacies department at the moment, but would like to think it won't be too long untilI get back to it all.

Wednesday, 27 March 2013

Beautiful little film

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olSyCLJU3O0

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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