Living richly; simply and debt-freely

greenbee

Yes, that was the waterfall Sadly it was a saturday so very, very busy. I'd recommend going mid-week, off season. Still amazing though.

GP - so pleased you posted your orchid pic - I have ONE of those in the garden, and you've confirmed that I was right in my identification.

I've been for a lovely run this evening, enjoying the wildlife, and stopping at the tops of the hills to take in the views and the sunshine. I've started to realise that I don't have to run continuously without resting, and by stopping and looking at where I'm running, being mindful about how I feel, I not only enjoy my runs more, but am finding it easier to run further.

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Evening :hello:

rtandon - YAY! for thinking ahead and emergency stores of UHT :j:D Sorry that I didn't think to translate I remember the confusion over me baps............. :rotfl:Yes, I think the sports has had the desired effect - plus me ignoring the grumpy pants behaviour...... Perhaps it's just as well I was not blessed with children :rotfl:

satchmo - ((hugs)) tomorrow is another day......


We've just been watching 'Countryfile' and shouting 'been there', and 'stood there' at the telly. Tell me y'all do that too????..........

Dinner this evening was a dish that - by the fact it is in my recipe index, kinda points to the fact that I have made it before..... but I can't remember having made it...... However, in trying to get a link to the recipe for y'all, I've discovered that it is a Silvena r owe recipe, from her book 'Feasts' (for some reason I'd not credited it - *slaps own wrist*). I think Silvena is brill. I don't know whether Firewalker drops in here anymore, but surely she would agree that Silvena is a great ambassador for Bulgaria, and for Bulgarian women's just do it spirit . If I won the lottery, I would love to go to Dubai and eat in Silvena's restaurant. She is a real advocate of fresh and local ingredients.

Anyway, the dish was White bean and barley salad with beetroot yoghurt dressing and it is relatively frugal, and certainly easy to prepare. I used a tin of white beans as we had been out and about, and I didn't want the bother of cooking them. They cost 60p from m&$ and you use 1 tin for the dish. The beetroot was from HB, 29p for a pack, yoghurt HM, and I used dates rather than sultanas (as Sivena suggests). The salad leaves were the 'regrowth' of a living salad tray that I got from mrL a couple of months ago. I think this is cut 3. It could do with some fertiliser if I try to go for cut 4, but definitely a good investment of my money



Today I am grateful for these 3 things;

that we got to complete our walk safely - others elsewhere have not been so lucky today

for NHS specialist units - may they work their magic on those that need them

for absolute peace and tranquillity - I discovered it again today

Thank you so very much for popping in, reading and joining in. I remain appreciative. Truly.

See y'all later.

Greying x

Edit: WHY THE H3LL is Silvena's surname !!!! out by the censor??? For goodness sake! It's R o w e - a perfectly innocuous British surname. HUMPF!

Greying_Pilgrim

greenbee wrote: »

Yes, that was the waterfall Sadly it was a saturday so very, very busy. I'd recommend going mid-week, off season. Still amazing though.

GP - so pleased you posted your orchid pic - I have ONE of those in the garden, and you've confirmed that I was right in my identification.

I've been for a lovely run this evening, enjoying the wildlife, and stopping at the tops of the hills to take in the views and the sunshine. I've started to realise that I don't have to run continuously without resting, and by stopping and looking at where I'm running, being mindful about how I feel, I not only enjoy my runs more, but am finding it easier to run further.

:T:T:T:T:T:T:T:T:T:T:T:T:T

Is all. To all of that

Greying x

mothernerd

Greying_Pilgrim wrote: »

Good Evening :hello:

We've just been watching 'Countryfile' and shouting 'been there', and 'stood there' at the telly. Tell me y'all do that too????..........

I worry that it's sad that I can distinguish between the Pickering to Grosmont and Embsay to Bolton Abbey steam train lines. Both in Yorkshire so featured quite often in Heartbeat and other series covering that era. We've ridden on one and stayed in a farmhouse overlooking the track (and repair yard) for the other. More recently I visited Bolton Abbey as part of a day trip.

My sons just sigh, especially as I have been known to say that I have changed DS1's (he's 30 now) nappy on the grass outside the building used as the 'Royal'. It's the small triangle of grass with the whale tusk archway at one end of the path in Whitby.

Saw a notice for the traction engine rally we have been to before (it's changed location) and had a wistful moment as I have no-one to take to it - thought of recommending it to someone I know but they have girls and seem content to live in a Dismay universe.

Today I am grateful once again for the fact that I only had sons - I am much happier with lego and trains, I just don't do pink, princesses and glitter.

rtandon27

:hello:Hello GP - hope you are doing well! It's been quiet from your end this week.:)

Greying_Pilgrim

rtandon27 wrote: »

:hello:Hello GP - hope you are doing well! It's been quiet from your end this week.:)

Ay up lovely :wave: Mmmm, haven't really had much to report, it's been a bit quiet on the old :money: front

Have had a run in with that bl00dy terribly telecommunications company..... the cheeky barstewards only upped my d/d by 1/3rd for absolutely no reason what.so.ever, and didn't tell me! Put me into overdraft and I lost umpteen hours of my life - which I can't get back - talking to numpty operatives that didn't seem to think that UK banks charge if you go overdrawn! As it happens, by the purest of lucky strokes, my going overdrawn has not incurred charges, but it could have been very different. I have had the illegally taken money returned and my d/d restored to what it was, but frankly !!!!!! is that company on? If I was the CEO I would be embarrassed, embarrassed at the performance of the organisation and individuals amongst it. I really would. Sod earning thousands of pounds a month, where's your integrity? What's the point of signing up to the d/d guarantee scheme and then driving a coach and horses through it at any given opportunity. Gee it makes me seethe!

Thanks to inspiration gained from Cheery, I used a new to me recipe to make mung bean falafel for Thursday night's meal. It helped to use up some of my store of mung beans that I had got rtc in mrT's back in 2014. They are still in date, but I tend to use other beans in preference to them, so I though my TTTT's was a good opportunity to try something a bit different. The recipe is nice - definitely a keeper. You watch, I won't be able to afford mung beans in the future to make some more :rotfl: The bags (I got 2) were £1.49 for 2kg of indus brand beans - I don't know why they were in our mrt's that day, they don't normally stock them, and our world food aisle is very small - getting increasingly smaller although they seem to have gone into American food in a big way............

Naturally, whilst I was aiming for the wraps I made with the falafel to look just like the ones in the blog pics ^, I failed miserably, and they looked well pants I have since realised the error of my ways though - I should have used strategically inserted toothpicks too! tsk! :rotfl:

mcculloch - you were mentioning GP the other day, and I've a query for you. What is the difference between taking GP as is, and utilising turmeric in your cooking? I realise that western diets don't routinely use turmeric, but given the way that we have globalised our 'plates' as it were, I think that turmeric is actually a spice that is in more kitchen cupboards (worldwide) than it has been at any other moment in time. I'm just ponderous as to whether using turmeric routinely in food prep would afford benefits? My saucepans certainly have the 'yellow glow' of a regular curry maker/turmeric user :) I did wonder whether perhaps it was as much about the conscious stirring as the turmeric itself - as in biodynamics..........

I need to get on with a craft project, but my mojo is missing for - of all things - colour selection. The colours that I have put together just aren't doing it for me, so I've had to pack them away and return to it another day. I'm going to have to hurry up though, as I have fond memories of sewing a gift for a certain rainbow striped MSE'r several years ago whilst listening to the evening sessions of the ashes cricket matches. We're already on Day 4 of Test 1 ( :wave: Hail the Principality and well done Sophia Gardens, all the radio commentators are saying how well you've done as hosts for the first test ) and I've potentially got other projects waiting in the wings..............

I caught the last bit of Andy's match. I really thought that he was going all the way to the final again this year. He's playing so well. So great to have him to cheer on - so I hope he continues on in the same vein into the American open - is he playing Davis Cup this year? And I'll also have my fingers crossed for Jamie this afternoon- so ace that he's a leader in his own field too.

We've no adventurising planned in the foreseeable future Might have to try to rectify that. Although if I'm honest, there is more than sufficient to keep us occupied at Greying Towers, but I just don't like doing it, is all :rotfl:

I've had a number of NSD's this week, which doesn't usually happen. But we've not run short. I did go shopping this morning, but used a voucher in mrT to get £3 off a £20, got the washing powder on *offer* in mrM (a balony of an 'offer', it's at the price it should be - who pays £9.50 for a box of washing powder?), anyway, the car was going in the direction of the supermercados and so I've loaded it up with all the heavy stuff and then meandered back with a couple of bits & bobs of perishables. MrL has a very good offer on their mature cheddar at the moment (only for a week - Thursday to Wednesday?), £3.95 for a 1kg block. It's good for sangers, or for cooking, I use it on our pizzas and sandwiches.

Well, I'd better shuffle orf and do something. Curry and rice for dinner tonight. Not too sure what will be in the curry, it is supposed to be a selection of veg, but we're a bit light in that department..........

Thanks for popping by and reading. Mucho, mucho appreciated.

See y'all later.

Greying x

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Morning :hello:

Still pondering whether I have anything of substance to say with regard to :money: I'm in that dilemma where in trying to follow a 'simple' life, we've cut out many of the 'norms' of society ie eating out, visiting the cinema, going shopping as a 'leisure' activity (as opposed to going shopping to purchase needed items on a list and with a budget...) Erm, so that does make our life quite...... boring??? to report on The daft thing is, is that the 'cut outs' aren't actually so much about the money, as they are about lack of 'giving joy'. I don't enjoy watching a film with a host of other people, it's too distracting. We don't have a plethora of good value, good tucker places locally where we can eat out - our fault for being vegetarian..... Shops are too full of 'stuff', there's too much to look at, too much information overload - even if you've a vague idea of what you need.

We caught up with the (last I think?) episode of Kevin McCloud's 'wilderness' series last night. It was the one with the South Wales couple who've upped sticks to live in Sweden, a hop, skip and a jump from the artic circle. I love how they have completely transformed their lives to live there. I think that you'd have a hard time distinguishing them from native born Swedes, they 'knew' so much about their locale and how to make the best of the environment and how to live a rich life. Yet their monthly outgoings were in the order of £200. It seemed that they paid no rent - living where they did in return for looking after the land, so that was a big reduction in costs in comparison with living in a more populated area. However, I think that the biggest 'win' that they had, was that there were actually, no 'neighbours' (in the loosest sense of the word) to 'keep up with'. It didn't matter that they didn't have the latest car - it wouldn't have been an asset where they were - a dog sled was of more value. They didn't need the latest handbag - no one who saw it would be impressed by it. Their food was determined by what they could hunt/gather/barter themselves or purchase locally, and by their own admission, particularly in winter, was bland and monotonous with vegetables being consumed from tins. But when the nearest shop was over 2hrs away by snowmobile, you can see how survival and practicality trump 'multiple choice' any day of the week.

I could never get DP to move to isolated Sweden - he feels the cold in Blighty! But how I wish that the 'simplicity' that the couple had - by their own admission - found and which had made them so happy in their life, could be so easily achieved in places of slightly higher population density. 'Keeping up with XXX' and societal 'norms' really can rail to crush the spirit of non-consumerists.

Our dinner last night was redolent with turmeric I made a curry, which I think was probably the very first curry that I ever made routinely, which involved not only coconut milk, but also a selection of spices (rather than 'just' curry powder). It's from a vegetarian cookbook that I bought secondhand (from a market stall, run by a couple who really were outliers and who really seemed to enjoy life - I wonder what happened to them, the market 'gentrified' and went from being a few £'s to hire a piece of bench to sell your wares on, to needing to rent a whole 'barrow' on a monthly/contract basis) and which I gave away in the 'cookbook cull' of '14 :rotfl:It was called Vegetarian Flavours of California (or something similar) by Marlena Spieler. And although I've not kept that many recipes from it, it was certainly more accessible to cook from than the only other veggie cookbook I owned at the time. I can't find the recipe online, but I know that it was 'supposed' to be a Burmese curry. I don't know why I don't make it more often. It really is quite straightforward and you can actually put any veg in you like - or meat if you wished. It's reasonably cheap to make, with the exception that it includes lemongrass - not something that I can get cheaply, and I did cheat this time and get the prepared jarred version - set me back £1.40 :eek: But should be good for at least 3 or 4 curries so marginally cheaper than buying the lemongrass stalks and significantly less pith :rotfl:

I cobbled together last night's version using frozen cauli (a bargain from heron foods - 65p for a bag, 907g??), frozen peas (not actually as grey as they look in the pic!), some tinned potatoes and some chickpeas cooked in the PC. Served with steamed basmati;



It doesn't look much, but it was a nice fragrant curry. As I say, I should make it more often.

Well, been up for ages, really ought to toddle orf and do summat constructive.

See y'all later.

Greying x

Greying_Pilgrim

Just had a good auld chuckle at my own stupidity

I was tidying up, and there were some boot bags that were in the way, gathering dust. We've stopped using them to put the walking boots in (but not stopped walking :j) as we now just put the boots in a tray in the car boot. It was my fault we've stopped using them, I used to get het up about putting dirty boots back into the bags, and so insisted they got put in carrier bags if dirty - DP and I had more than one argument in a car park about this! :rotfl: And yes, I know i'm being namby-pamby about dirty boots, but DP has an unerring tendency to manage to find the most squelchy 'unmentionable' to step in _pale_ Still, now that charging for plastic shopping bags is imminent for England, I've been reviewing how we use them, and basically, I would not wrap dirty walking boots in a bag if i'd had to pay 5p for it.

So, I went to ask DP if we should 'release' the boot bags. He applied a great deal of logic to the discussion, and we worked through why we'd bought them, how we used them, and why we'd stopped using them. We concluded that that would not change, so we were 'safe' to let them go.

I chuckled to myself, because as I mentioned to DP, we really should be having these sort of 'logical chats' prior to making any purchases :rotfl: Plus I could imagine my fellow MSE'rs shouting 'have those chats before you buy anything!' at their computer screens as I was stood there talking to DP :rotfl:

Ah well, best console myself with the fact that at least I'm not too old to change my ways nor learn new tricks

Greying x

rtandon27

at all of the above!

GP - I'm not sure I could speak for our other lovely ladies who frequent your thread, but I must say that your stories & ramblings bring me great joy! Reading about the processes involved in leading a simpler life are food for thought & very comforting to know we are not the only ones who find the 'normal' life more than a bit offputting.

Our biggest dilema of the week was a choice between walking up a hill through a somewhat neglected Victorian Garden or back the way we came looking at slightly dilapidated Victorian architecture...Garden won out and then we pootled back to the car and made our way home. Simple choices but we enjoyed ourselves. By the standards of almost everyone we know, we are DAFT! (in caps of course):rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

supersaver1000

Hi GP, just calling by to say hello. Love the Burmese curry and your chat about the simple life. It's been a packed time for me just lately, not particularly with social things, although there has been a bit of that, but more with finding the level at which I want to be - and where we as a family can be. I've had a huge Kondo time - I know others do it over time but for me it had to happen quite quickly as I think I needed to create a sense of space and that's led to a sense of peace and calm. I'm now ready to start that new job, carry on Kondoing and hopefully continue it all while being fulfilled in that simpler life. Thank you for a fab thread, it's wonderful to know that it's here, it's a great support. SS x

ps. And a great constant