Celebrating the simple things

On Monday evening, I went to a session on mindfulness led by the lovely Sarah Fereday from rainbowbutterflywings.com. One of the many simple ways she suggested bringing ourselves into the moment was literally to stop and smell the flowers. She gave the example of some beautiful yellow roses she had passed on her way to work that brightened her journey (and took her mind off an impending dull meeting).

With that in mind, today's Celebrate the Small Things is focused on the lovely flowers in my garden.

At the moment I have a supply of self-set sweetpeas that come back year after year. I don't get many blooms off them, but hey: they're free! We also have some glorious dahlias, bought on a whim from Wilkinsons. We didn't know what colours they were going to be, so I'm delighted that one of them is a vibrant purple/pink: my favourite.

And in an uncharacteristically creative moment, I've potted up a fuchsia and a trailing something in an old teacup!

I'm taking a couple of weeks off from tomorrow. Well, not a complete break, because I'm self-employed and therefore permanently anxious. However, my online presence might be reduced.

Have a lovely weekend folks, and I'll be back soon.

Lots of studying

'Sometimes I sits and thinks; sometimes I just sits,' demonstrated here by Jeremy Fisher at Tatton Park

I'm now on to week three of my FutureLearn course, and it's proving very interesting. It is aimed at complete beginners, so some of what we've covered is stuff I already knew, but it never hurts to be reminded.

We have looked at some useful ways to get started on a story - for instance, writing 'Emily said that', and then putting down two or three sentences. Take out 'Emily said that', and you have the beginnings of something. Another suggestion is to begin with 'I remember...' and simply see what comes to mind. Final exercise of last week was to put the radio on and take whatever I heard first as the starting point for a 500-word story. I got a snippet from The Archers: look out for a novel about pig-farming from me soon!

The other bit of studying I've done is a day at our local Buddhist centre, where I sat in on a couple of teachings on 'mindfulness for modern life' and took part in some guided meditations. Mindfulness is, of course, very trendy at the moment, but there's so much more to it than simply learning to live in the moment. Fascinating stuff - and lovely food!

Season's greetings

Epic fail in the healthy eating stakes this weekend, when Number Two Son spat out my lovingly prepared Leek, Wensleydale and Pear Quiche, dismissing it as ‘rank’ and reaching for the freezer door in search of pizza. Some you win…

Stretching out after a spot of digging

The leeks came from the allotment, where they had been successfully overwintered. At this time of year, the plot looks rather bleak. Most of it is covered with cardboard and old carpet where dormant beds lie waiting for spring sowing. The only stuff still being harvested, apart from the leeks, is Jerusalem artichokes. I have a theory that come the day when the world finally gives up on us, the cockroaches will have these tenacious vegetables to feast on. They are, like the bugs, indestructible. Note to self: four roots of Jerusalem artichokes is three too many.

An allotment is a great place to work on my mindfulness skills, because there is plenty to stimulate the senses. On my last trip, there was a particularly good challenge for my sense of smell, as the air was filled with the heady mix of cow muck and two-stroke, this latter from the trial bikes that hurtle up and down in an adjacent field.

Best treat for the sense of touch, though, is when I get home and clean my hands with warmed olive oil and sugar. Mmm.