A friend recently turned 37 and blogged the 37 lessons she'd learned in those years - some of them very wise. I am sure she won't mind me repeating them here:
1 Remember that you start as a child, but although you will always have a child inside you, you will never have anyone to nurture it once you’ve grown up.
2 Do your best, but don’t excel if it is not needed. It will only raise people’s expectations beyond what you can, or are willing to, give.
3 Honour your body, treat it and respect it like you would your best friend, and never ever let anyone be harsh to it in any way.
4 Let people into your soul, but always assume they will want to go out again. If they let you into theirs, step inside but always know they will one day ask you to leave.
5 Keep your promises. Even the ones you made to the people who have broken theirs.
6 Always forgive. Yourself, and others.
7 Do not expect unconditional forgiveness from anyone.
8 Accept your imperfections. They are a sign of your humanity.
9 Look at your children with love, respect and gratitude. Always. Unconditionally.
10 All things that live, breathe, grow are to be treated with respect, no matter how big or small they are.
11 Money doesn’t bring happiness. It doesn’t even make happiness easier to find.
12 Don’t give your heart easily. It might seem like a good safe secure gift at the time, but mostly it ends in breakages.
13 Never pretend you do something for someone else, when really you are just doing it for yourself.
14 Don’t give anyone the right to stand between you and your beliefs and goals.
15 Don’t let anyone convince you they know better than you, if you have reason to think that they don’t.
16 Learn to make the differences between somebody else’s guesswork and their knowledge.
17 Never regret an act of kindness, even if it backfired. It was still kindness, and kindness is always good.
18 Give yourself time and permission to hurt and grieve. Being without emotions is not a quality.
19 If you’re afraid to speak your mind, change company.
20 If someone you love keeps testing you, take distance. Loved ones should accept you as you are, not keep appraising your value.
21 Do not put your loved ones to the test either. Love is a gift, not a prize to be won over and over again.
22 If someone knocks you down harder than they hold you up, let go.
23 If you feel so angry you are going to hurt what you hold dear, walk away until the anger subsides.
24 Make time each day to look at the sky, appreciate its vastness and its beauty in all weathers.
25 Don’t replace one addiction with another.
26 Never believe men are better than women in any way.
27 Never believe you are better than someone else. There are things about others you might not know, that might make your judgment mistaken.
28 Never think you know all there is to know about anyone. Everyone has their secrets.
29 Admit your mistakes and be able to make fun of yourself. It will help others deal with their own mistakes better.
30 Never, ever, let anyone tell you that you won’t be able to do something. They don’t know.
31 Never let anyone judge your past or predict your future. Don’t judge or predict others’ either.
32 Trust your instincts above your reason.
33 Never believe eternal promises.
34 Always, with no exceptions ever, treat others as you would have them treat you.
35 Give high value to honesty, but don’t place it above gentleness and kindness.
36 If you are the kind to hurt others regularly, make sure you learn how to heal them.
37 Be yourself. After all, it’s yourself you are sure to have to face in the mirror each day for the rest of your life, and there is no running away from what and who you are.
... that feeling of satisfaction when I've stripped and re-made the beds, with the winter duvets on now that it's cold.
There's a big pot of home made chicken soup bubbling away on the cooker - the carcass from one of the meat birds from Jude.
The house smells divine and I shall rest tonight in a warm bed with a lovely feather and down duvet on top.
Just one moment of smugness.....
I just love walking out with the dog - Phil and I took her for a walk out at North Newington, a village barely a mile from the house, but with the most beautiful scenery. We only walked for about a mile, but it was so quiet and refreshing.
The monsetr is clean in this photo, but not for long... she managed (yet again) to find a fox poo to roll in before i spotted what she was doing - cold bath for her under the outside tap when we got back!
I love the contrast here between the red earth we have locally (coloured by iron ore) and the fresh green shoots of the winter wheat.
She's still for just a moment...
Plenty of these hills - it's very dingly-dell here
*grins*
He's just the best hot water bottle ever!
Biscuit usually sleeps at my feet or between my ankles, but on cold nights I wake up to find him up in my arms, with his little nose snuggled into my neck.
.... he loves his mummy. The snuggle monster is currently sprawled across my bed, taking up most of the room and snoring with his nose tucked into an old t shirt of mine.
I just love this track - a friend sent me the link, apparently it's the theme to a TV series or something like that. She knew I'd love it... enjoy....
My enormous eucalyptus tree needs trimming every few years and this is one of those years, so I called round to get some quotes as my previous tree surgeon had immigrated.
I plumped for Neil Wilson - a buddhist tree surgeon nonetheless; a lovely, enthusiastic young chap who understood how I wanted it pruned. He turned up on Saturday, in lovely weather after the rain we'd had in the night. His missus (they are newly weds) to help him, and shinned up the tree. Now as someone who gets dizzy just wearing thick socks, I never cease to be amazed at how these people shin up trees like monkeys.
He got all kitted out - the climbing kit can cost over £1k and climbed right to the top to secure his anchor rope, which he could revolve around while he worked. Made me feel sick just to watch.
Can you spot him?
They logged up the bigger branches so that I can dry them out on the woodpile before using - Eucalyptus wood is very dense, so it burns slowly and smells divine.
It's this swinging around lark that gets me - it looks lovely, but I couldn't even think about doing it myself
That was the plan for our four day trip to the Algarve, and I'm pleased to say that we did precisely that... well Phil and I did - Rosie spent all her time in the pool and playing water polo.
The flights both ends were uneventful, with a very smooth transit. The managing agent for Lorne's apartment met us there and handed over the keys, explaining how things worked and leaving us with a local map. He has three apartments and they are located on a gated complex just outside Vilamoura and Quarteira - fantastically safe and very peaceful.
Here's the view from the front door into the dining room and living room, as you can see, we just dumped our cases and went off to explore! You can just see Rosie on the balcony outside. One of the lovliest parts of the holiday was eating breakfast on the balcony in the sun of a morning.
Two photos of the kitchen, which was very well equipped - better than mine! There was a utility room off the kitchen, with a washing machine and tumble drier.
We got changed and went down to the pool right by the apartment, a medium sized rectangular pool which wasn't heated, although Rosie and Phil went in. Here's Rosie going in the pool.
The Boy had to relax with a beer.... of course!
Or two!
I read the whole of Dan Brown's latest novel while we were away - a really compulsive story.
We had a lovely sunset across the villa complex.
This spectacular villa over the road from the apartment had a pool, and when we researched some prices, we reckoned that it must have cost about £750k! Nothing over there is cheaper than the UK, in fact, most things were more expensive.
We spent the last day just relaxing and sleeping in the sun;
Phil took these lovely photos across the villa complex early in the morning.
The old cliches say that time heals and that we learn in time... not always.
To realise
The value of a sister/brother
Ask someone
Who doesn't have one.
To realise
The value of ten years:
Ask a newly
Divorced couple.
To realise
The value of four years:
Ask a graduate.
To realise
The value of one year:
Ask a student who
Has failed a final exam.
To realize
The value of nine months:
Ask a mother who gave birth to a stillborn.
To realise
The value of one month:
Ask a mother
Who has given birth to
A premature baby.
To realize
The value of one week:
Ask an editor of a weekly newspaper.
To realise
The value of one minute:
Ask a person
Who has missed the train, bus or plane.
To realise
The value of one-second:
Ask a person
Who has survived an accident.
Time waits for no one.
You will treasure it even more when
You can share it with someone special.
To realise the value of a friend or family member, you have first to lose one.
I hope you never do....
Raspberry and coconut slice (aka Paradise Slice)
Grease and line a rectangular slab pan/baking tin.
300g plain flour
110g caster sugar
90g unsalted butter
1 egg (2 if you have bantams)
Raspberry jam
Topping:
220g desiccated coconut
3 eggs (4 if they're small)
70 caster sugar
Pre-heat the oven.
Put the flour, caster sugar and butter in the food processor and process until it looks like fine breadcrumbs. Add the egg/s and process again until it forms a ball.
Press flat and firm into the bottom of the prepared pan and bake for 10 mins, or until it's just beginning to turn brown. Remove and set aside to cool. When the base has cooled, smear it with raspberry jam - I use the smoother one that's almost like a jelly - you don't need loads.
To make the topping, pop the coconut, eggs and sugar in a bowl and mix with a fork until it's well combined. Spoon over the jam and press it firmly to compact. Bake again until it's starting to go golden, then allow to cool in the pan before lifting out with the greaseproof paper and cutting into small squares.
Totally divine!
Man in the park...
Every year, around this time, I see an elderly man in the park collecting leaves. He arrives with a rake and black
bags, fills two and then goes, taking the bags with him; he only collects leaves from the oak and beech trees. I have been hoping to catch him and ask what he's up to. It's not like the park staff don't clear the leaves regularly, although they do seem to leave (sorry, unintentional pun!) these ones for him.
Yesterday in the park, he was there when I walked Ruby and he greeted her when she wandered up.... he's 62 (oldsters always tell you their age) and retired, living about 3/4 of a mile from the park, he collects the leaves to rot down in bags into leaf mould for his garden. That and reading books from charity shops seem to be his past-times. I got the impression that it had become a bit of an obssession as he was very detailed about the process, and how some bigger leaves need to be cut up by hand while listening to the wireless.
Amazing what you learn from strangers.... lovely old chap.
My folks came up for lunch on Saturday, they arrived early and we walked into town as they like to see the shops... no different really from what they have.
I cooked a chicken and bacon pie with puff pastry crust for lunch, roast potatoes, mixed veg (boiled to a much as they like them!!) and some field mushrooms in garlic. We had blackberry and apple crumble for dessert. Made enough for two pies and two crumbles :D
After they'd gone, we went for a walk with Ruby, Rosie wanted to stay at home and do her homework so we didn't go far, just to Overthorpe to walk through the fields. It's only about 3 miles away, but just over the border into Northants and I discovered that they are freer with their doggy poo bags there - I harvested some from the dispensers on the lampposts! Ruby was racing around the fields and I didn't notice her rolling in some prize, vintage fox poo *gags*. As Phil commented, she'd obviously been reading the Lurcher Manual as she applied it evenly to both sides, so I had to breathe through my mouth when she was near.. straight in the bath for that loony hound! God, what a stink!!!!!
I did a course at Jude's on Sunday, while Phil went home early to carry on with work. I came back with two meat birds - Jude was having a re-organise in the top paddock and clearing out some birds. I despatched them at the yard and brought them home to pluck and prep. Two 5lb birds at dressed wieght!
I saw this today and liked it....
The person who risks nothing, does nothing, has
nothing, is nothing, and becomes nothing. He may avoid suffering and
sorrow, but he simply cannot learn and feel and change and grow and
love and live.
