Dusty's Frugal Fortnights Return!

Mrs_Salad_Dodger

Thank you for the poetry dustydigger 👏 very beautiful selections 😊

dustydigger

Mrs_Salad_Dodger said:

Thank you for the poetry dustydigger 👏 very beautiful selections 😊

Good to hear!

retiredinfrance

Loved the poems, Dusty. So restful and calming.
And Lorca- 
Romance de la Luna Luna.
Keep well and safe.

beanielou

Sleep well 

pollyanna_26

2nd attempt . My hands aren't behaving at the moment.

I have aways been a moon gazer and star watcher since childhood.

 I learned the supermoon names from the Maine Farmers Almanac. They used to name big moons according to what was seasonal on their farms,

My eldest dd lived for a number of years in a lovely part of Scotland near Lcch Lomand and lovely big waterfalls.She was in a quiet place with big skies and no light pollution. Long after she and youngest dd had gone to bed I'd be outside staring at those big skies , moon and endless stars.

Just one road led past her house which was for the forestry area.further up. I never felt afraid. Sometimes a car would come up the road  heading back to their accommadation at the foresty site. They would always slow down , dim their lights give me a smile and a wave and go on their way.

We were heartbroken when her company sent her to run the Dublin region but she did return to Scotland  a few times then found herself  in Yorkshire bought a cottage in a tiny village and renovated it back to it's grade 2 standard.

Some years later during the lockdowns she decided to change things completly and resigned from the company she'd worked for since shortly after graduating from Uni.She was tired of closing then reopening stores over and over again due to the pandemic .

I coudn't reason with her but she walked in to the chief executives office one day and resigned.

Wouldn't change her mind but left with a big cash payment and decided to become a gardener. She laways hated gardening and visiting garden centres.

She had also left with 50% discount on books  for life from the book company she worked for so borrowed some of mine and bought others .  Signed up for training at RHS Harlow Carr and has never looked back. She also has her own garden design business.

IWe seem to share some favourite poets.   As a child on hot humid nights with thunder rumbling in the distance I'd be lying in bed wishing for rain. There was  a favourite poem I'd be reciting to myself can't for the life of me remember the name of it or the writer but the last line was The Rain The Welcome Rain. Once the rain began hammering down I'd snuggle under the covers  and go to sleep.

I've had a lot of headspace during the pandemic to try to make sense of things in the past. Why did I marry a toxic man some years after my 1st husband died.

I was thinking about that yesterday.. I'd watched the Shirley Valentine  film years ago and the image of Shirley and her mother ignored until Saturdays when they were expected to go along to the local working mens club where their husbands drank and drank and sang stupid songs loudly. One evening Shirley's mum said there must be better songs to sing. That stuck in my head and so did the theme song for the film " The Girl Who Used To Be Me" sung by Patti Austin,

I've been unpicking things in my head gradually and realised I wasn't a pushover. and protected my children.worked with police and womens aid  until he was gone for good.

Sometimes the girl who used to me was in my head others Helen Reddy No ones ever gonna keep me down again.

Oddly I was looking on YouTube yesterday without any problems.

There are versions ofThe Girl Who Used To Be Me all sung by Patti Austin some are quite rambling. The version from the Shirley Valentine film is simpler and one person on YouTube had posted it among all the different versions. Blueskywatcher.

Every time I'm feeling a bit low I listen to that song and realise through all the ups and downs the girl who used to me was there then and is still here now.

pollyx

dustydigger

@pollyanna_26  music is such a powerful thing for unlocking memories - both good and bad,unfortunately!Think of some happy music to bring back more cheerful memories. I know,easier said than done. What about ''The Happy Wanderer''? You like walking so picture yourself in some glorious mountains,striding out,and lustily singing.

Oh dear,most people wont have a clue about what I am talking about.

Scotland is so beautiful,as is most of Britain in some way or other. We should be thankful for the rain. When I see all these fighters abroad,eg  Afghanistan and the like,I confess to wondering is the barren bleak landscape really worth fighting for!

Same with all those vast deserts.I'm happy to live in our green and pleasant land. A couple of months of drought was enough for me! As the world's climate inexorably deteriorates,things can only get worse. I will be long gone,but I worry about the lives of the little ''twigs'' on our family tree,what will life be like in 50 years time.

OK enough misery.,lets think of  something better.Longfellow being happy for long awaited rain!

How beautiful is the rain! by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

After the dust and heat,
In the broad and fiery street,
In the narrow lane,
How beautiful is the rain! 
How it clatters along the roofs,
Like the tramp of hoofs
How it gushes and struggles out
From the throat of the overflowing spout! 
Across the window-pane
It pours and pours;
And swift and wide,
With a muddy tide,
Like a river down the gutter roars
The rain, the welcome rain!

It was very appropriate this last few weeks.

dustydigger

Yesterday was a mixed bag. I had it all planned,I would leave home 2.30,and go to asd@  and the book shelves in the mini mall,rest,then walk the 7-8 mins to the surgery and afterwards go to the P.O. and Her*ns.

So of course Mr D wanted me to do things on his phone etc,and I wasnt ready to leave till  after 3pm. I knew there wouldnt be time for everything,so I had to rearranged things,abandoning the bottom half of the shopping area entirely,(asd@ and books),. So I left home 3.30 ,getting a bus full to the brim with schoolkids,of course by that time,after a 15 min wait in a brisk wind. There were 8 of us there,since the bus was so late,and there were more to get on at every stop. However the schoolkids were getting off each stop,so no-one got left behind.

I just had time to go to the P.O.,handed in parcel,and got my £75 council gift with no hassle. YAY! That £75 is probably going to buy a paraffin heater to keep in case of power outages. But where would I keep it? Aarrgghh!!Dont think about it now,remember  ''sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof''

It was pleasant and sunny,the wind was dying down,and I spent 10 minutes in the sheltered garden by the surgery,very nice. Went in at 4.15,appointment 4.20. Expected  a wait,they are never on time.,but at 5.05 I asked the receptionist what was going on. She was rather rude,saying I was next,and after all I had come very early for my appointment! Whaaa? She was adamant my appointment was 5.00pm. I took great pleasure in showing her the text they had sent me,yup,4.20pm. Finally got in at 5.15,and was in approximately 2 mins! The nurse was very pleasant and apologetic for my delay. The receptionist never even apologised.

Anyhoo,I went over to Her*ns and was so happy to find they are selling the particular curry that Mr Dusty likes,AND my fave sweetener,so  I was happy about that. Sure enough I had 3 curries,2 blocks of pastry and 3 packs of sweetener to carry,quite a full bag as usual.. So I was pretty shattered when I finally got home,after (again) another 15 min wait for a bus and humping the bag the last 150 yards. My body felt OK at the time,the leg held up well ,but slowly the pains surfaced,especially my rotten knee,and after wakening up at 4 am I couldnt sleep for ages. But I used the time to complete my yearly Halloween reread of Roger Zelazny's fabulous ''A Night in the Lonesome October'',so thats a bonus!.

Today I am very achey,knee is bad,but limped around as ever,getting ready for asd@ delivery. Kept the cost below £60 - £59 .65 but didnt order any Xmas stuff,Mr Dusty was very vocal and demanding attention when I was making the order,and I couldnt concentrate on thinking about Xmas.

I think I will not be doing a Xmas dinner yet again this year,which will disappoint my tribe,but its a lot of work,and expense. The last two years DS1 has brought us plates . He cooks the Sunday and Xmas dinner for his family,and doesnt mind popping up with some for us. I can probably manage putting on a tea with sandwiches etc.

Plenty of time to think about that. I do ramble,dont I?

pollyanna_26

That's the poem Dusty that would send me to sleep on hot thundery nights. I'd close my eyes and go to sleepas I heard the rain belting down.

I found The girl who used to be me song comforting. There was a long time I didn't feel like myself worn down by the soon to be ex, Hearing the song for the first time I thought ok I'm going to find the girl who used to be me she's in there somewhere.

My mum used to listen to the radio as she did her housework and the Happy Wanderer was one of the songs she'd be singing along to.

I do think we blame the weather too easily.I remember when Iwas just a short time away from youngests birth turning the tv on and watching the famine report from Africa . Mothers and babies dying before my eyes . The tears were rolling down my cheeks and I had my hand over the soon to be born baby. All the clothes dd2 had worn the pram and cot bedding were waiting for my little one  and wondered why she had a lousy father but I knew I'd protect her.

I was staring at a scene of dire poverty and when the Feed The World charity single was released it seemed to be playing in every shop I went in and brought back the scene I'd stared at in horror, It did raise a lot of money and the Live Aid Concert much more . I watched my beloved Freddie Mercury and many others singing their hearts out for Africa and wondered why the United Nations hadn't done more.

I joined Amnesty International in the early 60s same I joined Greenpeace. Amnesty are campaigners but they also have boots on the ground in dire situations doing all they can. They are in Ukraine and other countries but I had never imagined the scale of that famine.

I didn't know you lived in Africa for a while. Your husbands mother had a lovely name.

I too worry about todays youngesters  They've had a lot of disruption in their education and suffered lots of bullying not only from fellow pupils but at times from their own parents.

Youngest has a friend who's little girl suffered brain damage during a long extended birth when she should really have been delivered in theatre.

. They live in Cumbria. Little Isla is unsteady on her feet but tries hard at her school. Dd sent here a copy of Peepo by the Ahlbergs and she developed a love of books that belonged just to her. She does struggle to read but she takes in every word her mum reads to her. She was badly disrupted by the pandemic . The special unit was attending which was beginning to help her in many ways was open then not rinse and repeat. DD suggested she read to her online so we could see how well she was doing and she is making progress.

We searched for all the books my children loved when small and a new one every nowand then helps her progress.

I hope you managed everything you hoped yesterday and the B12 will makes a difference.

pollyx ETA The Happy Wanderer was a bit too jolly for me at a time when music was changing and the Happy Wanderer was constantly on the kitchen radio.

I often imagined myself among mountains but I was Heidi up in the Alps with the goats  about to head back to Grandfathers house snuggle down in the hay and go to sleep..

Childhood books had a gteat influence for me.

Sometimes I'd be Jo March my favourite character in Little Women and the other books.

My mum liked myself and two younger sisters to have long hair mine was down to the back of my knees and she's be almost pulling my head off my shoulders as she plaited it other times she'd put in rags for ringlets.

We'd suffer  the metal nit comb  when our hair had been washed she never found anything daring enough to take up residence in our hair.

When I was 11 and about to start at grammar school I asked if I could have my hair cut the answer was no.

Dreading going to school with long plaits I emptied my postbox money box with the aid of a knife and went to find a hairdressers shop.

I felt very grown up and pro active telling myself my mum couldn't glue the hair back on.

I went in to the first hairdressers I came to nothing like the salons nowadays.

The woman looked at my hair and saud you have lovely hair do your parents know you're getting it cut?

Oh yes I lied I'll  be going to Grammar School in September and getting ready in the morning will be easier with short hair. She wasn't Vidal Sassoon just gathered my hair in one hand and chopped it off in one go.

I looked in the mirror horrified but paid her and she said don't forget to come back again.

I dawdled all the way home thinking maybe they wont notice a stupid thought.

I dawdled all the way home my mum burst in to tears when she saw  the hair. My dad always gentle and never raised his voice chased me through the house shouting Don't you ever again .

My favoutite auntie came to the rescue and cut and shaped my hair in to a bob. Very fashionable and looked like a proper hairstyle. It took my hair a while but she did say one day it  was easier than the very long hair and I could wash it myself.

She still used the nit comb on all three of us but never found a single  one which seemed to disappoint her.

My younger sisters suffered rags, ringlets and plaits until they were about to leave school and neither of them grew their hair long again.

X

dustydigger

Our paper wheelie bin,now 20 years old,has a very wonky lid,held on with twine. I went on the council website to see about repairing it,if its at all possible,the whole lid is cracked and broken. So I have arranged for them to come and look at it next week. What was odd was that there was no section in sight if you wanted to replace a bin. wouldnt be surprised that they have given up replacing bins.About 8 years ago they started recycling garden waste,and you could get a bin for £35 ,and pay £39 a year to have it carted away. I didnt do that,we have a section of the garden at the end with a hedge in front,where years ago my father had a a little shed where he bred canaries,but he knocked it down in the late 70s after someone vicious person came and strangled all his pretty little birds. I just dump all our grass etc there.

I dont even see them offering garden waste wheelie bins now. 12 years of govt whittling down council budgets has led to real cuts in services. They have cut to the bone,and now to cover for the terrible hash they made with the mini budget,there are supposed to be swingeing cuts in public services. I dont think the councils have anymore left to cut!

OK,the spuds are on,now I'll do the salmon. I hope to get back on here later,but for now sayonara.

tooldle

We have garden waste bags here. To be fair, I find these easier to use as the bag can come around the garden with me whilst I am pruning, weeding etc. Each household was initially provided 3 bags and extras, or replacements, can be purchased from our local library amongst other places. Our plastic goes into a bag with a weighted base. the only 'bin' we have is a food waste bin, which has the shape of a wheely bin, but is considerably smaller and with no wheels