A waffle from me!
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Phew! where does the time go? It’s been a crazy week, so I thought I’d post up some news to let you know I’m still alive……….
Lemme see; this is where my mind goes blank and I realise I have been doing a whole load of nothing, but feeling very busy and looking very important for the past few days!
Well, I had a wonderful, special and a I’m-really-honoured-to-have-you-as-a-guest-in-my-home visit from none other than Almost Mrs Average!
We spent a couple of hours putting the worlds to rights, feeding my bokashi bin, talking about toilet rolls and discussing the Welsh accent while our kidlets played with lego and Little Miss Green fiercely defended her fairies from ‘boys touching them’.
It was FABULOUS to meet her – what a genuinely nice person. Gosh, that sounds perfectly horrible, but you know what I mean when you meet someone who is just so, well nice? I wish I could be more like her – she is so non-judgemental, non-critical, yet with passion, optimism and enthusiasm for her cause.
Her hubby is gorgeous too; lovely smiley face and a kinda ‘happy to be alive’ sort of guy. You can’t help but like them all as a family.
Almost Mrs Average also has a great sense of humour – something which I frequently forget to air. Infact, on my facebook profile, someone anonymously wrote that I was too serious. Blah………..
So, just to prove I’m not at all serious, I roared my way through Shrek this week. How did I miss that when it came out? Oh my, I nearly peed myself with laughter and I highly recommend it for anyone who needs a pick up and a giggle. The donkey is totally amazing (and scarily like Little Miss Green).
Talking of pick ups, we helped a lady this morning who just fell over, right infront of me. She was carrying too much stuff and was in a hurry. bless her. She felt so embarrassed and my heart went out to her. I hope she’s ok, she really went down with a bang. I was reflecting on that and was trying to get inside her head a little.
You know how it is when you’ve got so much on in your life that you bring these minor incidents towards you? It might that you burn yourself on a saucepan, cut yourself with paper or on a knife, stub your toe on a piece of furniture that’s been in the exact same place for the past 20 years or walk into the door frame (that’s been there for the past 20 years) – you know those kind of owies?
What is that all about?
Well I did that exact thing myself this week. I was totally stressed about things that I shouldn’t bother getting stressed about and I dropped a wooden box onto my foot. I actually cried! I think, looking back, I actually needed an EXCUSE to release some tension. hey Universe – thanks for that.
For 24 hours I thought I had broken my foot, but after a couple of hours of reiki (how’s that for slowing yourself down?) and lots of arnica and kindness to myself it is pretty much healing up now. I guess I needed to slow down and put my feet up and wasn’t listening to the subtle messages.
Maybe the lady who fell today needed to do the same. My guess was that she was moving a load of stuff with those boxes, maybe even moving house and was probably stressed to the max trying to organise everything. I just had this feeling that she had no one to help her; no one to rely on or ask how she was. I don’t know why I felt that. Tonight I’ll light a candle for her and send her some good thoughts.
We helped a baby blackbird get back to its mother yesterday. He got lost in our woodshed and when Mr Green approached him, he just called and opened up his little beak to be fed! It was so beautiful to see his trust in us. I wondered if something had happened to his Mum as there were a few feathers around our front door, but we carried him outside and his calling alerted his parents.
They came flying down with their ‘danger’ call and we put him down and went inside to let them sort it out. Unfortunately I don’t think they could get him back to his nest, so nature will take its course. They are coming down to feed him, but whether the local cats will spare him is anyone’s guess. Time will tell; he seemed hardy enough.
I’ve had a bit of an ethical dilemma on my hands. We’ve windows in this house that are rotting and bring in a heavy draft. The front door lets in water and swells up so much that on two occasions I haven’t been able to open it! This week, we had two double glazing quotes and I’m just not sure what to do.
We can’t afford the hardwood frames from sustainably managed forests, bespoke option so this will be your bog standard UPVC replacement windows. UPVC is non renewable, non sustainable, made from oil, and requires highly toxic chemicals in its manufacturer – there are a whole load of dioxins released in the process. Plus where are all my old windows and doors going to end up? The installers will take away my old and dump them in the landfill no doubt.
On the flip side, it is reckoned that you get up to 60% energy efficiency from double glazing. Neighbours on both sides tell us that their homes are ‘too hot’. They run the entire winter on one teeny weeny wood burner and one night storage heater. We’re belting out a 12kw wood burner with over 6 tonnes of wood each year and it’s never about 18 degrees.
Sometimes a little knowledge can really tug at the heart strings.
And finally; I left this post to take a walk around the field and to take some photos of the roses that are emerging in the garden. I got back in to a phone call from my ex. He told me that today he had a mini stroke.
Wow – I’m blown away by this news.
Life is precious, dear people. Live every minute to the full and tell those you love, that you love them. I really don’t know what to think or feel right now.
Hug a lot, dance a lot, dream a lot and love a lot. Look for the beauty in everything and live a life of gratitude.
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Talking about birds, I bought a Bokashi bin for meat, fat and bone waste (lamb chops). I threw out bacon rind one day and watched as the local rooks and crows stuffed their beaks and flew away within seconds. The bin is stll in use but I have to add vegetable matter to fill it now.
Are rooks localised to specific areas? Where I live there was an old castle and maybe the rooks have been in the area since that time.
Your blog is a great effort.
Regards,
John.
Hi John,
Ah, bacon rind – the birds love it, don’t they? Our feathered friends feasted on some today as well.
I don’t know about the habitat of rooks, but some rookeries are believed to be centuries old because they nest communally – they use the same nests year after year. I guess they know alot about the 3 R’s 😀
mrs G x
Hi Mrs Green,
Rooks are funny birds, with attitude. The way one of them grabbed several large scraps put me in mind of Emu of Rod Hull & Emu. The same over filled beak and sneer were displayed.
Regards,
John.
they sure do have attitude 😀
The magpies have a certain ‘character’ as well, especially when they clear out my gutter next to our bedroom window at around 6am. That’s some alarm system………..
Mrs G x
Hi Mrs Green,
Magpies are active everywhere in the garden. Seagulls are more recent refugees from the coast. Being so large, they must find a lot of food to sustain themselves. They have to compete with local birds for scraps and their longterm future must be in doubt.
John.
Hi again John,
You seem to know quite a bit about wildlife? Do you know anything about polar bears? Little Miss Green read something in a kids newspaper yesterday about the plight of polar bears. She asked me what their ‘role’ in the animal world was and what the consequences of their extinction would be on other animals and humans.
Do you know what I might tell her about that?
Why would the seagulls long term future be in doubt? I’m not very up on my animal issues I’m afraid.
mrs g x
Hi Mrs Green and Little Miss Green,
I am purely a backdoor bird watcher. One seagull in particular uses my chimney stack as a perch. A quick blast of fumes from my gasfire changes its mind. Gulls are large ungainly birds, so landing in small gardens must be awkward for them compared to rooks etc. Animals are not a passion for me either except as interesting neighbours.
Polar bears’ ‘habitat is shrinking with the loss of ice fields in the Arctic. They are the top predator in the Arctic ice. Similar to lions, crocodiles and sharks in their specific environments. Their loss would be the loss of a beautiful animal from the world forever. That would be very sad.
Regards,
John.
Oh goodness – we had a crows nest in our chimney once; you wouldn’t believe how long it took us to get it down (It came in complete with dead bird which landed in the fire place 🙁 )
Thanks for the polar bear info; I didn’t realise they were top predator – that would make a lot of difference then if they die out. I’ll do more research.
Thanks!
Mrs g x
Hi Mrs Green,
I chase the gulls to prevent nest building.
Polar bears are also swimmers and may come across killer whales but I do not know of any incidents. On the ice they are massive animals, a pack of wolves would be a possibility but the cold is severe.
You home educate Little Miss Green, do you find it a difficult thing to do?
Cheers,
John.
Hi John,
You ask about whether home education is a difficult thing. Well, we all know that a child never listens to his or her parents LOL!
But it’s fine. Fortunately she is a bookworm – she’ll read, through choice, for a good 3-4 hours a night. She’s self driven and motivated and we go through phases of her wanting to learn a lot and other times when she would rather play.
My take is that an hour a day of 1-2-1 attention is probably worth more than 6 hours spent in a classroom vying for attention from the teacher……
I do find it hard at times because I’m quite a solitary person, so getting ME time can be a challenge.
We check every month or so whether Little miss Green would rather be at school and so far we have a resounding No. This is her journey though and we’ll be guided by that.
Mrs G x
Hi Mrs Green,
I am unmarried and have no children, but am part of a large extended family. One nephew has problems with attention defecit and his schooling is troubled. He is however a very bright child and I am sure will be a success at something. It seems to be a widespread problem, with food additives the latest culprit.
Sorry to be a bit over serious.
Regards,
John.
Ack! Please don’t start me on the nutrition / ADD thing – I could be a long time writing. 😀
I hope things work out for your nephew and that he finds the support he needs to unlock his natural learning gifts.
Mrs G x