To buy or not to buy, that is the question......

Oh the shopping dilemmas I find myself in... Perhaps I need to explain the background first:

• Clothes shopping has never been that much fun for me.
• I want to wear ethical fashion.
• I like hippy/scruffy/chill out sort of clothing that won't look ridiculous on a 50year old.
  

You can see the hurdles I face and why I have procrastinated for so long. However, at some point the issue has to be addressed as clothes need replacing and preferences change...as does size (but that's a different matter!) So what do I do?

Well I have started with baby steps by emailing a few clothing retailers and asking about their ethical policies re workers rights, living wages and such. I have had replies which means that someone, at least has read my concerns.

I always try and remember to lift the label now to see where something has been made and if I end up emailing the retailer, having bought the garment, I try and say something positive first before I launch in with the questions!

I am beginning to read up more on the fashion industry, which retailers are starting to be more proactive. I found these articles today which I will attempt to read at some point. I have scan read them.

http://www.labourbehindthelabel.org/images/pdf/letscleanupfashion2009.pdf

http://fashioninganethicalindustry.org/context/aglobalindustry/

I even wondered about making more of my own clothes again, which I probably shall, but there is still the question of Fairtrade, cotton pickers working conditions, how stuff is dyed etc with both fabric and wool....

I don't want to become all legalistic and boring, but the justice drum beat, grows louder and is becoming much more the rhythm I want to live by now.

Just found this whilst looking for an image to download, interesting sounding companies! Perhaps all is not yet lost!

http://www.tooashop.com/

http://www.ascensiononline.com

Little Red Hen

My little red hen, I shall be sad to see her go, but she is going to a Preschool where she will help enhance the story to its full potential! Take care of her Lorraine and co, I couldn't resist the challenge when you asked! She sits in the palm of your hand, you can't really see the size from this photo.

Now do I start on the other knitted sock, or finish the knitted pin cushion or knit something for me..... Have you seen the NORO yarn....it is AMAZING.....sigh....

http://www.laughinghens.com/knitting-supplies.asp?name=Noro


Well here we have my 3rd attempt to get some homemade ginger beer started! I omitted the optional pinch of yeast for the first two attempts, but nothing happened, so I thought I'd give it one last try and it is looking promising after just 36 hours! It is actually beginning to ferment, those are small bubbles forming, I promise!




Here is the recipe:

GINGER BEER PLANT

In a glass bowl add:

1 dessertspoon of raw (or white) sugar. Raw sugar gives it a better colour

1 dessertspoon ground ginger - you can use 1 tablespoon of diced fresh ginger.

300mls tap water that has stood for 24 hours

A large pinch of dried yeast

Stir this together. During the day let this mixture sit on the kitchen worktop with the cover off. Cover it with a loosely woven cloth at night. After about 2 or 3 days, depending on the temperatures in your house, it will begin to bubble and ferment. That is good, fermentation is a healthy process.

Every day for 7 days, feed the plant 1 dessert spoon ginger and 1 dessert spoon of sugar, and stir.
TO MAKE THE GINGER BEER

After 7 days take a clean piece of loosely woven cotton cloth, place it over a bowl. Pour the ginger plant into the fabric and twist the top of the cloth to make it into a ball. Squeeze out as much of the liquid as you can in to the bowl.

Dissolve 3 cups of sugar in 20 cups of water. Add juice of 2 lemons and the ginger mix. Stir and bottle in plastic bottles leaving 2-3 inches at the top. Place the caps on the bottles but don't screw them on. Leave the ginger beer on the kitchen bench for a couple of days to ferment a little more, then tighten the caps and place the bottles in the fridge. Placing it in the fridge will slow the fermentation process to almost zero.
Don't throw the dregs of the culture out. Like other live cultures it can be used again to start up your next batch. Just add it to your jar and start feeding it as usual.
WARNING
Ginger beer can explode. It's wise to bottle in plastic and not glass until you know what you're doing.

A NON WARNING

Don't be afraid of making this delicious drink. You really can't tell how fizzy it will be because you'll have different wild yeasts in your home at different times of the year. Some will help the fermentation along, some won't.
If you notice the bottles puffing out, slowly release the lid to let the pressure off.
Serve your ginger beer when it's cold. It will be fizzy, gingery and very refreshing.


I will keep you informed of the developments!!!

Wash with Mother...

Nothing like a bowl of soapy bubbles, a little handwashing and a perfect view from the window. In go the bathroom mats...wash dark colours separately the instructions say.



Oh my word! Serious colour escapage!! I have dead man's hands, no really they are blue, cyanosed looking really freaky, but I can't do them justice in a photo. Believe me I tried, but holding out one hand and taking the photo with the other just didn't work!



It's as if I just squirted liquid paint in there and stirred it around for good measure. I stand there mesmerized by the sight. Everything I touch turns blue, I have blue drips down cupboards, splashed onto worktops. Do you remember those blue ice lollies that were around in the 70's...if you were around in the 70's, made your tongue look disgusting, I expect, can't remember...neither can I think of the name, but even then it seemed SO wrong to eat blue stuff.



Shaken, not stirred....




Then out on the line with the other washing, blowing in the wind. I love to see this, never grow tired of watching it billowing out and around.



Went over to say hello to Hattie who wanted some attention. She isn't bad for an exbattery hen entering her 4th year!

From where I'm sat sitting...

Saturday night and I'm passed caring....tired in a pleasant sort of way, but a few jobs left to do, so why not spread the work across the duvet and then chuck it all on the floor and turn out the light.

So here I sit feeling frivolous with camera aimed around the room. I take photos, I delete photos, I almost take a photo of me taking a photo in my mirror, then realise I am sans vêtements and the words "totally inappropriate" spring to mind....you see how tired I am....



So,those of you a nosey as me will be wondering what the pile of books are....all books I am reading at the moment....

I will put you out of your misery....





The chicken knitting pattern is for Pre School. The story of the Little Red Hen needs a Little Red Hen to hold. Hmmm so off to a knitting pattern website and there I find the perfect hen, the perfect size...the wool drawer stash reveals the ideal DK red ball I need, so job done, now just need to knit it...

The asha leaflet, learning how to explain the work with clarity, practising keeping it simple. If people want to know more they will ask!

The bead boxes to sort and give away, that chapter has ended for me, but for someone else it is just beginning...it feels good.





The notes from the Leadership Training Day to read though and ponder on. The Bible for reference, so many challenges...so many great people to work through them together over the next ten months and beyond....




The sheep and the goats,the Egyptian wallhanging above our bed. Dick's best barter encounter EVER. Every time I look at it I remember the afternoon when we left the shop three times, only to be called back and the bartering continued!



And so to bed.....

I'm not Susanna Wesley, but I have an apron!

"Oh NOW what!", I hear you groan! Yep, not content with the knitted dishcloths, out comes the sewing machine, the challenge has been thrown out to make an apron! See link below!

http://downtoearth.yuku.com/topic/931

Well,as I had bought some fabric in "Help the Aged" for £1 (don't knock it, I always find stuff in there!) which would be perfect, I decided to rise to the challenge! I copied the pattern off "Manly Apron" navy with stripes, mine would be pink....I don't think anyone else in my family will be remotely interested in donning in (especially now Nick has outgrown his pink phase...)




I have seen a pattern for a frivolous layered one which I'm tempted to make for those "quiet evenings in alone!"Hahahahaha totally impractical but perhaps it's not about the food....I digress!!! Perhaps I need a gay ribbon in my hair and his slippers ready by the fire....I think not!




I've only needed to use half the fabric, not bad for 50p!




The cotton was bought for my bridesmaid's dresses, the ribbon, I have no idea but I found it in my ribbon tin.....yes... and I have a button tin and empty tins ready to put things into because a girl can never have enough tins....as long as they are pretty...don't want the rusty ones....(for goodness sake...)





Divided pocket in the making....what pressus thing will I put in my pocketsies? Probably an egg which will get smashed on cuddle contact....



Posed for, "Take 3!", yeah that will do!



My kitchen sink for what it's worth!




Time for a coffee! It's over !




Incidentally, the comment made by certain sons of mine after I've had a glass of wine....This was taken one Christmas....a present with a personal touch courtesy of Andy.

The day began early...again...seems to be a regular occurrence at the moment, so I decided to be productive and up I got, it was 05.10....In went the washing,on went the kettle, out came the small pile of "stuff I need to read before shredding/filing". It was dark, very dark still, but it was quiet and peaceful. I did the ironing then I wandered down the garden,let the chickens out, well, opened the doors, no one appeared..too early even for them! At 06.30 I was hanging out my washing, it all seemed a bit bizarre!

I had two plans for the day: pick blackberries and go to Stacey and Lydia's housewarming, armed with a few homemade goodies.

Plan 1 Armed with camera and Tupperware I ventured forth to find the hedgerow covered with blackberries, somewhere behind the field behind my house. I didn't find it.....but I did find the source of the "Can't you hear geese, I'm sure I heard honking, listen!" mystery, that Dick repeats most days... and I have remained unconvinced...until now...and I have photographic evidence and yes, he is right (he didn't say, I told you say, for which I am grateful...)




The man on his ride on mower didn't seem perturbed that I was walking on his land, (wondering if I was still on the public footpath)I fought the desire to ask him if he was thinking of selling up anytime as I had great plans for the farmhouse and land he owned...and that most mornings I stared out at it all whilst cleaning my teeth,from my bedroom window. Instead I ambled down his driveway secretly dreaming of community smallholding and found my way back out on to the road where blackberries were to be found.


Oh I forgot to mention that I met these friendly creatures too, before the geese encounter.






I ended up spending 2 1/2 hours walking the circuit that usually takes me 35 minutes on my weekly walk with Jane and Sue! I spotted Sloes, Rosehips and picked loads of Blackberries. I met an aquaintance who was taking her baby out for a walk, a baby who had only been a bump last time I met her in passing!



I dodged tractors and listened to farm machinery unseen behind hedges and houses. I got stung by nettles and eyeballed by cows and I had a wonderful morning!




This afternoon I have pureed blackberries and frozen them,awaiting inspiration. I have whole ones frozen too. Made up a blackberry yogurt and created a spicy blackberry drink with brandy, for the winter. I had just enough for one bottle, plus a little left over to taste.....then I accidently rinsed out the pan with the "tasting " leftovers...so now I'll have to wait to open the bottle....or pick and make some more...hmmmm!



Then it was off to the housewarming armed with a few bits and pieces to inspire Simple Living. We packed up eggs (of course..from the Hog hens!)1 Josterberry jelly, 1 Damson jam, cooking apples , eating apples, dried apple rings, homemade washing powder and instructions of how to make their own if they decide they like it and the necessary ingredients to do so if they wish! Oh and the knitted dishcloth which has become the must have housewarming present as far as I am concerned! It was great fun getting everything together and they seemed to enjoy receiving it!

Now it is dark again and my day has gone full circle, so I will retire to my bed, listen to the owl for whom the day is just beginning, and wonder whether it will be another 5am tomorrow....

The Important over the Urgent

If you were to write down 4-5 things that were most important to you in your life, I wonder what they would be. Yesterday, I wrote down my list of 4 and then I had to ask myself a question. "If I see these as being so important, then how much time am I actually investing in each of these 4 areas?" Then, because I'm a list person (!) took each area and looked at what "investing" could look like on a regular basis in terms of my time. It was an interesting exercise as it showed me that I needed to get my act together if I want there to be a richness and authenticity in those areas.

Someone has quoted these words; "If you always do what you've always done, you will always get what you always got."

I am a new creation, the old has gone, the new has come!

Have wanted to "do something" with this chair for ages! It was given to me by someone who no longer had need or use for it, a few years ago. It has been my ironing chair where I have pondered many a thought whilst ironing my tea towels....and yes, tea towels AND pillowcases HAVE to be ironed and anyway it's therapeutic....







I set to work with some hot air blower contraption that Dick had unearthed from the garage, and a scraper. Soon gave up on that idea, instead grabbed some sandpaper and set about sanding by hand. A slow process, I know, but it gives you time to think and mull and sand it bit more. I did this in stages over a few days, little by little.

The dilemma was, do I sand the old painted bits that no one can see or just leave them hidden? I had to sand them because I knew they were there even if they were hidden to everyone else....and I wanted the chair to be beautiful inside and out...



I was pleased with the remnant I found for sale outside a shop in Lyme Regis a few months ago. £2 bargain, and some left over!! I am learning that you have to buy these things when you see them.



The finished result! Everything I needed, apart from the fabric, I already had, I just needed to find it in my home! I love it when I can give something a new lease of life! I think the phrase is "repurposing" or "refashioning"...

A Weekend in London

Chris and Andy resigning themselves to their Mother pointing a camera in their faces!




Sometimes you come across the unexpected....






Had a great weekend in London, spending time with C and A in their natural surroundings! They wanted to show us the "nice bits of London" as they reckon the East End where we both lived and worked hadn't shown the capital off to the best advantage. They are right, I find myself wondering why I used to travel everywhere by tube which meant that I never understood where certain areas or sites were in relation to each other! Perhaps now I will enjoy discovering what London has to offer! It still good to get to Stonehenge and feel I'm coming home though!

The boys were amused at my excitement over the Oyster card...I have been out of the city for too long!

We managed to capture some sights throughout the w/e, and having found an ideal little hotel in the Docklands, now know we can pop up when we fancy touching base with the boys!

Tower Bridge at 10pm





Andy working near London Bridge at a smart Restaurant just opened. I recommend the hot chocolate....oh and the waiter service!



This is the main reason for the visit, to see Chris performing at The Scoop ampitheatre next to Tower Bridge. Here is a taster of one of the shows "Jason and the Argonauts" a comedy in which Chris plays Narcissus, an Argonaut who thinks he is God's gift to women! This show was aimed at a pre teen audience, but had appeal right across the board. The second performance was Medea which as a Greek tragedy had a far more serious feel. The same actors played in both performances with a 45 minute break in the middle.

http://www.morelondon.co.uk/events_details.asp?ID=58

“Nature's great masterpiece, an elephant - the only harmless great thing.” John Donne quotes (English poet, 1572-1631

You have to climb the steps and then step on to your elephant from here!



I'm not really gripping on for dear life as it looks here!








I never really thought about what it would be like to ride on an elephant... I felt as if I had entered the pages of one of my favourite books "The Far Pavillions" by M.M.Kaye who spent most of her childhood in India. As we swayed gently whilst the elephant plodded up the hill to The Amber Fort in Jaipur, it's frothy saliva occasionally spraying my clothing....nice...I imagined I was entering a romantic idyll,the fragrance of heady flowers, pungent spices, brightly coloured saris and dashing Ashton Pelham-Martin to carry me off on his mighty steed!

Instead we bartered for a wall hanging/bed cover....It didn't take more than for me to point at the item hanging over the wall, just in passing to Dick whilst sitting aloft, for the boy to register my interest and quick as a flash had whipped it off the wall and was running in front of the elephant trying to sell it to us! "3500 rupees?" No Way far too much! So began the art of the barter, with him running backwards, negotiating and us shaking our heads whilst still appearing mildly interested....the emphasis being on the word mildly...musn't appear too interested.it's all part of the game. The cloth was passed up to the elephant handler to hand to us to touch and admire. It was passed down again and so the process continued! Eventually we agreed on 2200 and a deal was struck, wallets retrieved from pockets and money passed down all whilst the elephant continue on his/her weary way, ears flapping and spit flying....


Here is the man with the cloth waiting for a closer encounter!



Some of the beautiful designs within the Fort/Palace











I will add a photo of the wall hanging when I get one!

Victoriana Climbing Peas

There is simply nothing like it, podding your peas and munching as you go!

"A HANDBAG?!!!!" "Yes, Lady Bracknell...."

I have gone from one extreme to the other! The new purple bag was purchased at Innsbruck airport (not handed over in the cloakroom at Victoria station!). Having gone from no handbag as a student (pockets will do!) to small handbag with various compartments, I now find myself with a fashion item (shock horror!) into which I have emptied the contents of my previous one. This has filled about 12% of the space....The 4 pockets within the bag are each almost the size of the previous bag alone! So within these generous openings I have placed...Pocket 1 house keys, Pocket 2 (placed behind) car keys, Pocket 3, phone and Pocket 4 purse. Smaller zipped up section contains "pharmacy" loosely termed! The main section of the bag...EMPTY apart from the notebook and pen (nib retracted..of course!)! So I am walking around with a stylish making a statement in purple, bag which will no doubt become filled with "useful" things like empty egg boxes and double up as a shopping basket. My shoulder will begin to ache under the pressure and I shall never find anything in it unless I allow myself a "rummage window" in my day. My dear friend, Stuart has already placed a number of small rocks in it....and I was still finding them days later....But, I love my new bag...and maybe one day I shall have a netbook inside it and then there will be no stopping me blogging! I forgot to mention that this is the whole point of the need for an increase in size!




Typhoid alert! Pre India preparation! Dick's practice nurse jabbed the needle in and presented me with this! Thanks Vicky, the aching arm is beginning.....!
You will need to click on the photo to see it properly!