Slow Living - Doing It Old Style!

ladyholly

We used to have a nearby owl but I haven't heard it for a long while. We do have a lot of foxes  the birds are mainly sparrows ,magpies, pigeons and seagulls. I did see a butterfly in the garden today, very surprised as I would have thought it was too cold. 

Floss

No owls near me but there are some in the woods beside the canal about quarter of a mile away, along with herons. I get sparrows, a variety of finches, a robin, 2 collared doves, wood pigeons & 3 magpies in my garden. The local foxes live in the scrubland just past my close & I rarely see them.

Brie

Been very quiet at our house but that's because, for a change, we have our windows closed so we don't get the full effect of nature!! 

But when I do wake in the night and open a window to look up at all the stars I do often hear the foxes and the owls.  We've had a number of owls in the neighbourhood and I think from the direction of the sound one sits on our roof and then others on a couple of nearby houses.  I did see one about 5 feet from the window once but it was too dark and to short a look to be able to identify it.  

The foxes are getting noisy again and I'm wondering if we'll have a repeat of last year when they dug a den under the shed and were using that and another den in the garden 2 doors down to raise 6 kits.  Great fun watching them rolling about the garden and even coming up to the lounge door to look in to see what we were doing just a few feet away.  Less fun having to clean up after them of course, with their deposits and debris and digging up the lawn.  Bizarrely them being there led me to meeting a neighbour because I found a slightly chewed leather wallet under a bush and it turned out to be the neighbour's son who thought he'd dropped it in their garden a couple of weeks earlier.  Unfortunately by the time I found it he had already paid to replace the driving license in it which is how I knew where to knock!

We did have hedgehogs a couple of years back but the foxes may have scared them off.  And when we had the bad drought 18 months ago we also saw some badgers making their way to and from the small river at the end of the road.

mrs_motivated

Evening all,

Well today has not really been slow until now, I’m about to watch Mr Bates v the Post Office and looking forward to it although I expect the injustice will make my blood boil.

ive had a lovely productive day, Christmas decs are down, house cleaned through, bedding all changed and then this afternoon I was batch cooking (I love cooking and find it quite therapeutic so will count this as ‘slow’.  I am going to stay with my DD1 and her hubby for a few days next week….and my gorgeous 5 week old baby granddaughter and wanted to take her some meals for the freezer for days when she is tired with looking after the baby.

zcrat41

Hello all. 

I’ve had a beautiful few slow days visiting my grandfather who is 94. We took him for a drive to the farm he grew up on overlooking the firth of forth. We loved listening to him - no electricity, leaving school at 14, taking his horse to school! My 10 year old was absolutely enthralled with the idea of no screen! 

And in that spirit we had a screen free family day yesterday and read books by the fire and played a game rather than mindlessly watching a screen. 

I’ve also noticed the birds are back - beautiful sound. I’m lucky enough to live on a farm and there is loads of wildlife. 

I can’t remember who was saying they struggle with doing housework all weekend - if they’re reading this then try the Organised Mum Method. It helps me not spend all my time cleaning 

Brie

zcrat41 said:

Hello all. 

I’ve had a beautiful few slow days visiting my grandfather who is 94. We took him for a drive to the farm he grew up on overlooking the firth of forth. We loved listening to him - no electricity, leaving school at 14, taking his horse to school! 

Sounds like my mom!!  Also currently 94 and also would ride the family farm horse part way to school - a mile or so and across a wide stream so she wouldn't be soaking wet when she arrived.  Once she was over the stream it was slap the horse on the seat which would set it trundling back to the farm to do it's real work for the day.  It didn't matter if she got wet going home as she could take her shoes and socks off once she got there!

Thevalueofless

Happy Sunday to all

Have just spent a lovely while peeling and chopping for a wintery vegetable stew. This type of prep always gives me pleasure, maybe it's all the colours or the methodical process or the thought of the meal to come but it's a task I closely guard. 

TVOL

Cherryfudge

My bit of slower living today was going on an afternoon walk with DH: we stayed on the road most of the way as it's still so muddy. At the place where, in the summer, we cut through along a bridle path to a village, we turned back rather than slither our way through, but there were deer slots as well as hoof prints and boot marks. I never manage to see the deer, but they took the same path we did.

On the way home we went past a dip in the road that had been under water recently. I was regaling DH with something I'd read about how these dips are edged with wide grass verges because when it was a stage coach road, they'd take the horses as much up onto the edge as possible rather than through the water, so the edges widened and stayed widened. That certainly fits with what I could see - and DH topped my story by telling me he's seen cars do just that the other week.

This evening we're watching the Pottery Throw down which is a lovely mental escape: it amazes me just what people manage to conjure up, and makes me want to take classes.

angela110660

My new slow down experience is that my hubby has booked me on a beginners calligraphy course starting shortly as a Christmas gift. This was a lovely thought from him and I am itching to get started.

leftatthetrafficlights

Welcome to all the newbies! 😁 I've been awol due to having no phone but will catch up properly over the next couple of days...

Life has been lovely and slow - I've spent quality time with dh and have rested a lot. Things will be slightly busier this week as I've got my grandbaby overnight twice but in all honesty, it's a 'busy slow' that I adore - spending time with him is one of my greatest pleasures in life! 😍 

We have lots of wildlife here, regular visits from deer, a mountain of birds (they're always noisy here - the main difference I notice in the winter is that they start singing later!) and a ridiculous amount of squirrels that bring me great joy - I installed patio doors when we did out kitchen refurbishment and I spend a lot of time sitting at the table and watching them 😁 It gets expensive feeding them all but to me it's worth every penny! 

Years ago when I had dogs I used to walk them early and if it was before sunrise I often had a barn owl who would fly parrallel to me at head height for a certain stretch of the walk - it always amazed me how slowly it could fly and how beautiful it was. We have quite a few owls around here along with several birds of prey - living rurally certainly gives me plenty of opportunities to observe and appreciate creatures! I must admit that I find urban environments really jarring - that's probably why I'm pretty much a recluse!! 😂 

Financially things are going well - did the first shopping of the year on Sunday/Monday and spent under £45 which I was impressed with as I had to buy laundry liquid and fabric conditioner which cost roughly £14! I've made the menu plan for the week too - I finally got around to making the moroccan lemon and potato casserole which we had as soup on Sunday and used the remaining potatoes yesterday with scarlett beans, mashed swede and braised cabbage. I still have some of the liquid left so will use that to cook grains in today. I've got a couple of home grown spaghetti squash in the greenhouse so I'm cooking them today too - there's a recipe in one of my cookbooks that uses them so I'm making that and serving with the lemon grains. 

The house is clean now - I've done little bits every day so that I can do it mindfully and enjoy the process - I need to make a list of more in depth jobs I want to do and make a start on them. 

Getting out on walks hasn't happened due to the weather - thankfully its not too bad here but there are certain patches of 'lake' around, including one about 100 yards from my house! Hopefully it will dry up a bit in the next day or two and I can get out there...

Anyway, I'm off to get a chamomile tea - happy slow living!! 😁