Slow Living - Doing It Old Style!

leftatthetrafficlights

@Florafauna - it sounds like you had a lovely day yesterday 😁 try to get as many as you can before the house move and all the work that entails descends upon you!! 😳 I'd definitely build a wildlife pond in your new place - my big one has been there for almost two years and has loads of wildlife in it and visiting it (including a deer yesterday morning having a drink!) and my new little one already has insects and a few birds have also visited 😊 

@Cherryfudge - I'm glad you enjoyed your meal 😁 I've only found one place locally that sells purple sweet potatoes and they are eye-wateringly expensive but they were a treat to myself - I'll probably get one or two a month now that I've found them because they're so healthy. I feel your pain with the ground elder 🤦‍♀️ it's nightmare stuff and almost impossible to eradicate completely- all you can do is dig it up as and when you find it, just remember that it's like bindweed- leave a tiny bit of stem and it regrows! 😳 

@Valli - well done on sorting your insurance!! 🙌 I hope you have a fabulous time away with your friend!! 😁

@Moorviews - I would imagine you were not best impressed at having your tranquil bath interrupted!! 🙄 I suppose the grass looks better for being cut though 😉 well done on the hair treatment - I need to do one this week so I may try to sort it tomorrow 🤔 

Today I've been mega busy - as well as doing laundry (bedding and towels), I've emptied all my food cupboards, thoroughly cleaned them inside and out, cupboards rearranged and refilled; freezers emptied, cleaned and rearranged; fridge emptied, cleaned and rearranged; inventory completed of all food items in the house; kitchen recycling and general waste bins emptied and cleaned. Dinner made. I'm exhausted!! 😳😂 It was on my deep clean list so I'm glad I've got it done - I want to deep clean the whole house by the weekend!

This week is not going to be very 'slow living' during the day but my evenings will consist of reading, writing, leisurely hot showers and meditation before early nights - a perfect way to relax and unwind after a day's physical work 😊 

I've decided that I'm going to start a vegan storecupboard challenge again now that I've done a full inventory- I want to spend as little as possible on groceries over the next couple of months so I'm going to limit myself to £25 per week for fruit, veg and perishables, £20 a month for things that I may run out of that I genuinely need to make meals (I'm thinking of things like tinned tomatoes, tomato puree etc.) and £20 per month on laundry products, toiletries etc. That will mean roughly £140 per month for groceries - a challenge indeed!! 

Right, I'm off to get a shower, do a meditation in bed then put some relaxing music on and go to sleep 😴 Happy slow evening!! 😁 

Cherryfudge

leftatthetrafficlights said:

@Cherryfudge - I'm glad you enjoyed your meal 😁 I've only found one place locally that sells purple sweet potatoes and they are eye-wateringly expensive but they were a treat to myself - I'll probably get one or two a month now that I've found them because they're so healthy. I feel your pain with the ground elder 🤦‍♀️ it's nightmare stuff and almost impossible to eradicate completely- all you can do is dig it up as and when you find it, just remember that it's like bindweed- leave a tiny bit of stem and it regrows! 😳 

I have a feeling I'm in for a long battle with that ground elder! I did make pesto with it last year (one way of limiting its spread but I can't eat as much pesto as I could produce this year!)

If you buy the purple sweet potatoes again, it may be worth trying to grow one into a plant. I managed to get an ordinary sweet potato to grow and it made a nice vine, but I never potted it into a big enough pot to get tubers. It's not like growing ordinary potatoes and I don't remember the method offhand, but there are (of course) instructions on the internet.

leftatthetrafficlights

@Cherryfudge - I never knew you could use ground elder as an edible!! 🙌 I shall definitely give it a go this year 😁 thanks for the tip on growing purple sweet potatoes- I'll have a try - I've got room and nothing to lose! 😉 

Some of my pond plants arrived today along with a load of bark for the garden - I've got to wait until dh gets home to sort the plants - his arms are much longer than mine and some of them are going in the big pond which means I've got no chance!! 😂 it's been a quieter day today - I got the understair cupboard sorted yesterday along with the kitchen drawers so decided that I'd give my body a bit of a rest once I'd sorted half the bark. I've got my grandbaby at the moment (he's eating his dinner) so lots of playing this evening 😍 Early night for me though - I'm pretty tired from all the physical stuff I've been doing over the past couple of weeks!! 😳😂 

Have a lovely slow evening! 😁

Brie

Picked up a number of cherry tomato plants from a lovely woman on freegle.  I got a bay tree off her last year (that I immediately killed unfortunately).  Last year it was a case of "here's the address, it will be outside".  This time she had to get the seedlings from her greenhouse (which was lovely and very organised) while I tried to interest her ancient cat to talk to me.  (he wouldn't). 

Had a panicky moment when I was getting in to the car as the cat had wandered off and under my vehicle and I couldn't see him anywhere.  Was considering getting down on my hands and knees to check he wasn't underneath when I saw him wander back up the path and through the cat flap.  Flattening a cat is NOT the way to say thanks for free plants!! 

Floss

Brie said:

Picked up a number of cherry tomato plants from a lovely woman on freegle.  I got a bay tree off her last year (that I immediately killed unfortunately).

I've got a bay seedling that I was gifted that I can post to you if you like?

Brie

Floss said:

Brie said:

Picked up a number of cherry tomato plants from a lovely woman on freegle.  I got a bay tree off her last year (that I immediately killed unfortunately).

I've got a bay seedling that I was gifted that I can post to you if you like?

Thanks Floss but I'll stick with what I've got for now.  Part of the issue is it looks like we may have honey fungus in the garden and I need to sort that out before i start planting anything woody near that area.  

Slowdown

Hi
I have been reading along but haven’t posted for ages so I hope no one minds me popping back again. 

It’s so lovely reading about all the slow living. The swimming, walking, cooking and listening to birds are a delight. 🥰

I have slowed down further as I have given up my library job in order to focus on my stained glass windows. This hand building method can’t be done quickly so perfect for a slower life.

Lots of walking, reading, hurkle-durkling and a bit of gardening have helped too. Not to mention the many tea and cake outings with friends. Had a hilarious game of table tennis on an outdoor table in the wind yesterday. The pace of the ball definitely wasn’t slow in the gusts but my chasing after it definitely was! 🤣

Having a lie in this morning before a my lovely yoga class at the golf club and then tea and cake in a converted hangar cafe at the local airfield with a friend. Slow all the way 😊

Have a delightfully slow day everyone. 

Florafauna

@slowdown that sounds like a perfect day. I've been very busy at work as a colleague is off sick so I'm doing double work. Had a lovely swim tonight and I was thrilled yesterday as I swam front crawl for the first time ever. My lessons are really paying off, I'm am swimming much more efficiently and no longer look like a labrador in the water. Nearly finished fancy scarf Mark Two.

Have a good evening everyone 

leftatthetrafficlights

@Brie - free tomato plants are always a bonus!! I agree that flattening a cat is not the best way to win friends and influence people!! 😂😂😂 

@Slowdown - lovely to 'see' you again! You're always welcome 😁 Your stained glass is wonderful so I'm pleased that you've decided to give more of your time to it! 🙌 Your table tennis sounds interesting!! 😳😂😂 

@Florafauna - brilliant work on the swimming!! 🥳😁 I had to laugh at the labrador image though!! 🤣 Well done on the fancy scarf mark 2 progress - I look forward to seeing a piccie of the finished article 😁 

I acquired some free food from a friend today which was a bonus - upf stuff but things I haven't tried before so I'll be using them up over the next couple of days. It will also use some storecupboard stuff up too so works well with my challenge 😁 Other than that, I've had a quiet day - mainly just reading and relaxing.

I've got quite a bit to do tomorrow morning and the remainder of my pond plants are being delivered at some point, so tomorrow afternoon will hopefully be spent in the garden sorting those and getting some potting on done. We need to get a move on with the veg sowing/planting stuff - the last few weekends have been spent doing more groundwork than anything else so although we've got quite a bit of veg growing, the pace definitely needs picking up if we're going to get the most out of the veg beds! It's also a very lovely and relaxing way to spend time - the joy I get from sowing a tiny seed and watching it grow into something wonderful and tasty is immeasurable 😁 

Anyway, it's time for me to have a sleepy tea then I'm having a shower, doing a 10-15 minute meditation then going to bed - have a lovely slow evening! 😁

Valli

Well Liverpool was wonderful, well worth a visit.  The ‘breeze’ was challenging on Monday though.  Basically we look at where we can get to by train without changing trains.  A combination of Senior Railcards and split ticketing makes it a cheaper trip.  Of course two days away means everything else that should be done needs cramming in, so, right now, my life doesn’t feel particularly slow.

Today was forecast to be fine, but now we are expecting rain from lunchtime, so I might get the strimmer out after breakfast and deal with the lawn edge on the front, and strim the weeds from the block paving.  I had planned that as an afternoon job, originally. My next door neighbour cuts my front lawn when he cuts his, so i don’t need to worry about that.  Trouble is we have couch grass, front and back, so that is a constant battle.  I also need to go to work for a couple of hours at some point.