Simplifying Life - Mark II

mary43

ceridwen - just had a look............beautiful voice and such confidence she must have. Just proves if you have the ability the age and appearance mean nothing -and nor should theybut sadly, in our zany world appearances seem to count for so much. No thought given to what might be inside the person. I hope she does well, she deserves to thats for sure.

ceridwen

Mary - I think the thing that is appealing to a lot of people about Susan Boyle is that she comes over as a nice person who is thoroughly enjoying herself doing this. I gather she has a slight disability and has had a lot of bullying over the years about it (I certainly "clicked" in thorough amusement to the way she'd got that Simon Powell's "number" sussed so well - she knew EXACTLY what he thought of her before she started singing!). The detractors are still there - a newspaper columnist yesterday couldnt resist throwing in comments about Susan being over the top emotionally in her response to her success (what a b***h). Me - I think Susan is well entitled to thoroughly enjoy herself - she's not had that much of a life to date by the look of it and has waited and dreamed of this for long enough - and probably never thought it would happen. So - I'll think instead of the comment from one of my blogger friends who I mentioned this to - PixieSue went off for a looksee and came back and has duly done a post about "not judging a book by its cover" and is describing her as a "goddess" - attagirl Sue!

So - as I said - her taste in music is very different to mine - I'm just appreciating the talent and her enjoyment of it - but for those who want more:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8r9lRJ6yHY

for her singing another song "Cry me a river".

(The tv appearance that has brought her to our notice is there under "Related videos" to the side).

mardatha

Where she comes from is dire , a mining community with a high level of poverty and problems, we lived near there for 2 years and my kids went to school there. it was a surprizingly good school though.

ceridwen

Well - a coupla things I've come across:

- Bartering - a subject dear to the heart of O.S.'ers. I gather theres now a delicatessen/tearoom (Halseys, Hitchin, Hertfordshire) that sells local/seasonal food and gets this produce by "buying" it from home gardeners/allotmenteers "paying" them in credit that can be used to "buy" the other foods they stock. The gardeners are "paid" 90% of the selling price that other customers pay when they buy the resultant produce from the shop. They say that up to 50 gardeners/allotmenteers are supplying them with produce. What a good idea - all the best ones are simple. If I were a nearby gardener to there I would certainly be producing all the "surplus" I possibly could to "earn" myself some "credits" for buying the delicatessen produce. Certainly an idea that could be used elsewhere in the country.

- Transition Town Movement: I've just come across a T.T. Forum that has recently started. So have promptly registered myself with that - 'twill be useful to swop ideas with T.T.'ers across the country. It's on:

http://transitiontowns.org/forum/

Reet - now off for a bit of freezer defrosting - I havent had to do that for YEARS. Think I've almost forgotten how to!:cool: When my old fridge/freezer "died a death" on me recently there WAS only one for me to choose from - the size I required and AA energy rating:mad: - so I had to take that one - figuring that I wont have to find time to slot in freezer defrosting many more times before retirement now (?think one is supposed to defrost them once a year? is that correct?). I've no longer got the plastic scraper thingie that came with the freezer before last - but I guess my wooden spatula will do - so just off to put another bowl of boiling water on a freezer shelf to hurry things along a bit (that has taken a while as well:cool: - as my super-duper superspeed electric kettle I got given back when gave up the ghost recently - so I'm back to the previous electric kettle retrieved from storage - I'd forgotten JUST how slow electric kettles used to be!).

EDIT: 1150 - whew! had forgotten how one has to stick with it whilst defrosting freezers - and how long they take - just finished it...

reet - I came back to add the bit I was going to put on 10 minutes later...hmm....that T.T. Forum has a thread on there specifically for anyone wanting to start up a group - "Starting a Transition Initiative" - so there ya goes..info on this (as well as the bit a few posts back about freeby start-up money - currently still only South West England - as its the Co-op in that area that is providing it).

ceridwen

Well...just starting to read my way through that T.T. Forum and someone has just added an article from today's Times - 'tis a very good article...and errrmm...I know Britain is very overpopulated - but I hadnt realised that we are actually more overpopulated than China even:eek:.

MARDATHA - Could be that some of us might just be heading northwards to Scotland - after your comment elsewhere the other day about Scotland being "empty" - not in some parts of the country (including mine:(:cry:) - where we DO feel the pressure from this personally on a daily basis. My mother makes comments only half jokingly about putting up signs saying "Full up" hereabouts:cool:

Anyways - that article is:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/food_and_drink/real_food/article6098277.ece

mary43

ceridwen - like the 'bartering' idea..................be good if it caught on elsewhere.

Well, having recovered (I think) from tummy bug I managed to walk round the local boot fair again this week. It ws bigger and very tiring but I did it. And I didn't fill up a bag with clutter...............lol Just a much needed set of place mats (if you saw ours you'd understand why!!) and a small pair of old fashioned football boots (ornamental) for my sons christmas shoe box.
Having got home with said place mats I looked our ''hot spot' of a kitchen table................umm........hardly room for a place mat so I've set to and cleared it !!:T Emptied out the fruit bowl -no fruit in it, just 'stuff' -and put that back in the cupboard. Now I've done that I'm starting to look at all the other places that seem to have become 'hot spots' since I was in hospital. Ummm............methinks something must be done,but a bit at a time.No sense going mad and then next day feeling incapable of anything.
Bathroom is one place on my ever growing list.......................lol

mardatha

Am thinking about sitting on top of Hadrians wall with a machine gun selling entry permits for a couple of hundred £££ each... Hmmm. A new career beckons !
I must be a real minimalist - I love those rooms in mags that are pure white and have nothing in them but a carpet & a single rose in a vase ... I don't have clutter. I throw it out. Even the husband is careful not to sit too long in one place...

ceridwen

Dont know that I could go quite that minimalist Mardatha:D - I guess theres a happy medium - a work in progress finding it though....after the comment many years ago that a male friend made about my house - to the effect "it feels like a church in here" - musta been all that white:D - after which point I thought perhaps I'd better have a bit of colour in the place and a few softening touches (like cushions) round the place - and you know I have quite a collection of books.

Part of the thing is what one feels comfortable with emotionally - you virtually have to "tie something down" in my mothers place to stop her throwing it out - she keeps throwing bits out (though there are still some "ornaments" there) - but then I find that, whilst I think my parents house itself has a lot of good points, it feels "cold" to me (probably partly the colours they like and the fact that there are VERY few books there). In my home theres only one room in the house that DOESNT have books in ever - the bathroom.

ceridwen

Societal simplification - and the Transition Town Movement again:D. We've had quite a weekend of it in the media (or should I call that Media - with a capital M?:cool:):

Here's the latest post from Rob Hopkins' blog about the coverage - giving links to articles:

http://transitionculture.org/2009/04/20/a-weekend-of-in-depth-transition-coverage/


Well...perhaps...we ought to adopt the song "I dreamed a dream" as our collective theme tune. Okays...I'll start....."you've woken up this morning in 2030 - what is your life going to be like today? and how did we get there from here?"

(Guess you can now see why I admire Susan Boyle - despite the different taste in music..)

mary43

mardatha - on dear............how you'd hate my humble home full of 'stuff'...........old bread boards on the wall, pine dresser full of stuff, books hanging on the wall................oh the list goes on....................lol

Bathroom now done..........kitchen table still tidy..............lol...........even had a minor blitz on our bedroom !
Felt much better this morning so walked into town........and back :j
Quick look in charity shops and got a few bits for christmas presents (no clutter for me !), got the thread I need to finish off MILs t-cup cross stitch, scrapbook paper for mums photo album and some more pills for any possible attack of 'trot' syndrome................lol
All in all, I felt very satisfied with my day. OH has gone back to work -he needs some kind of normality back in his life - so I'm in charge of cooking...........uuugghhh !!!!!:eek: