Unbought Delicacies: Going with the flow............

Wednesday 1 June 2011

Going with the flow............

I always try to do this; the old 'things happen for a reason' is, yes, trite and cliched, but it is thus for a reason -because it always rings true.
Yesterday afternoon, I asked Bean to pop up to the post office to post a parcel for me; turns out the new community post-office is only open in the mornings. Now, that is absolutely no problem whatsoever to me; now I know, I can post accordingly. So, I went out this morning, did my banking there and posted said parcel. Along with the post office side, the shop is now a community shop, run mainly by volunteers; I had a cup of tea with the two girls in the shop, who I've known for years in the village, turns out they were short-staffed; I have now volunteered for Wednesday mornings and emergency/short notice cover whenever needed - as happened this afternoon! I didn't leave until after 4pm. There were a lot of surprised faces when I popped up behind the till, I can tell you, for lots of reasons lol
Anyhoo, it means I could be in the shop at any time at all as well as the Wednesday mornings. I've done a lot of shop work of various types in the past and know my way around a till, love talking to the customers, so am going to enjoy it immensely.
Result: came home with 4 pints of free goat milk on its sell by date, and taking delivery of two un-needed drakes from one of the girls. I will also get all the out of date/sellby dated stuff for the livestock, so that will help things a good deal.
On the way back, I saw the library van in the layby outside my house, so popped in and re-joined; had to pay £2 for a new card, but what a bargain - free to borrow books brought almost to the doorstep every fortnight, and free request books so I can try before I buy, ordering them in online. I also got a couple of jigsaws to do, which are foc.
All in all, a really good day, all for being able to just go with what was happening at the time.

Life should be like that, no?

1 comment:

Jacqui said...: So nice when life works out in that way. We have a library van too - the man is very helpful and will try to get any book for us. Great service.; 2 June 2011 at 08:08

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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Wednesday 1 June 2011

Going with the flow............

1 comment: