The art of living ..... ( some people call it heavy breathing)

Have you ever read any books by Alexander McCall Smith?  I have enjoyed much of his writing and in particular the kindly view he has of people despite all their foibles and weaknesses.  I always want to think nicer thoughts after reading one of his books.

Anyway, this weekend I found myself in a situation along with 5 others where each one of us could have been one of the characters out of one of Smiths books. ( read - slightly odd)  There we were in the OUCA clubs and societies building for the whole weekend. We had given up one night and 2 days  to "master the art of breathing".  For those of you who are right now thinking we had come to learn to breathe heavily into a telephone let me put you straight .  This is serious self- improvement style breathing!!

  Saga from Christchurch had come to teach us.  The first thing she made us do, was promise to attend for the whole weekend. I think she could see each of us furiously planning unexpected deaths in the family or some other tragedy about to overtake us. Nodding in agreement wasn't enough.  The words had to pass through my lips. " I'll try to come tomorrow." A pen is thrown towards me. "Will you try to pick it up please?"  OK point taken " I will come back tomorrow".  And you know what?  I did come back for the next two days and all in all I can say  I'm really glad I did.

         taking time out of one's own life generally has good results, but learning to be conscious of your breath, your thoughts, your emotions also has positive spin offs. Gaining some distance and perspective allows you to see things a little more clearly or maybe to worry less about the concerns that are ever present. When you focus on breathing you certainly get to be present in the moment and that is much harder than it would seem.

 I also liked the way the course did not expect you to sign up for anything else, or necessarily to rush off and follow a particular  religion or adopt a dogmatic rigid lifestyle.  I could not bear to do that ever again. So yes - it was good. And where before I might have called the group slightly odd I would now say a group of really interesting people who I wouldn't mind saying hello to in the street if I ever met them again.


I can't show you Rosie's parcel this week. I decided you simply would not be interested in seeing packets of gluten free pasta, falafel mix, marshmallow easter eggs and a jar of homemade pickle. No that would be tedious. Instead take a look at some of the photos of the children's garden at our centre. Aren't these lovely? My philosophy has always been that if children are here all day then this is their world. Our job is to make it the best world we possibly can for them to  live and learn in.  

Here's to a week of many breaths.

Marg


  
        

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Jam packed with deliciousness ....

This week to amuse myself  I pretend I am a star of the Food in a Minute Show.  By the time you have finsihed reading this I will have whipped up this superb batch of  Meusli. First the finished product all good to go.

Now you see a selection of my ingredients left thoughtfully on hand by my kitchen assistant

- sunflower seeds
 -pumpkin seeds
- dried apricots
- almonds

other ingredients

- rolled oats ( main ingredient )
- coconut
- oil/water and 1 T honey melted together
- rice bran flakes or other wheat free alternative - oat bran , cornflakes , millet etc

Now mix all that lot together , bake in the oven till it's as crisp as you like it and serve with your favorite kind of milk, yoghurt and stewed fruit. Good for breakfast or for pudding.  The whole thing is fast and above all thrifty.  ( a perfect addition to Rosie's parcel this week)

Speaking of thrifty. Did you notice the flowery fabric under those cups? They are my $7 hospice shop curtains - thermal backed - which are soon to adorn my dining room windows. Now that the nights are drawing in the curtains need hung.  These are perfect - it was as  if someone had left them there just for me to find for my house.

Wishing everyone an equally thrifty week.

Cheers Marg

Project Lovely .....

 

If you recall, last week I set myself the challenge of finding lovely things in dull places over the next week. 

I had been so precoccupied with life I forgot about all the great sights. So this week here are some of my top lovely things. 

- Above - my garden vegetables in my very dull old kitchen sink.  Below - a handful of sweet peas on the window sill. Also Doug and Caths kitchen sink which I think is very lovely and if I were an envious person I would be suffering from sink envy. ( actually  there is no denying it I am)

 

 
 

  

Last week we also got an invitation to attend a hospice memorial service for Dad but instead we decided to have a get together of all who live close enough to attend. So these pictures are for you MaryAnna, Jen , Mama, George and Rosie.  Miri's tomatoes and cheese from the farmers market set the scene for what we do best - Eat  and talk - Ken and Mary brought the juice, coffee and chocolate, Doug the customary bacon and egg pie, Cath's brownie, Miri's homemade foccaccia and well I pretty much just provided the venue. Somehow the day meandered towards late afternoon and we all went to see the gravestone

Here they go - our grandmother, sister and father. I think the stonemason has made a great job of the headstone,   with plenty of room for one last inscription.

Did you know that in 2010 Rosie has taken up collecting souvenir teaspoons? She doesn't know it yet but is about to find out when her parcel arrives to her new address in Wellington this week. I think she will love both of these. One is a Port Chlamers teaspoon - so that will be very sentimental for her and the other is a shilling or something like it beaten into a spoon shape. A bargain at a dollar each at Weirs. 

Lastly here is a strange tale of curious connections.  At our work we have a teacher who comes from Zambia.

There is a masters student at the university who is about to go to zambia for a reasearch project that is set in the same town our teacher comes from. Coincidentally I have some freinds in the geography department at the university who mentioned to me that they had  this student and who needed accomodation and contacts in this same town.

 I was able to put the student in touch with our teacher who has organised the student to stay with her family. 

Now for the curious bit. Today Rosie sent me a text saying that one of her friends and a friend of his had helped her shift into her new flat recently. The friend was a masters student at Otago about to go to Zambia for a research project. She mentioned she had accomodation sorted out with the family of a zambian woman who happens to be a teacher in Dunedin. It is the same person and the teacher is the teacher from our centre. I know it's a small world but I find it strange that Rosie just happended to meet this very same person.

 Bye for now 

Marg

Every Hood has a silver lining....

 

I made this hoodie for Annarose to take back to Wellington. She chose the fabric which included a piece of silver ever so stretchy lycra for the linings.  I may be on a sewing roll because now Tom wants one too, and so another project will soon be gaining momentum. He and I are planning a shopping trip to get a pattern and fabric but I'm going to have put my foot down on sewing with silver lycra - stunning it may be but to sew it is an absolute nightmare.  It slipped and stretched all over the place and in the end I had to sew it with tissue paper under the pressure foot. It got me thinking about that saying " every cloud has a silver lining".  It would seem to me that any benefits won by hardship are indeed well earned but does everything have to be so hard! There must be an easier way to sew lycra!!

 

It wouldseem the effort was worth it. Annarose said she had lots of comments on the silver lining when she wore it to University today. 

 

One of the reasons why I had my own back garden paradise constructed was because  this is the view from my kitchen window. Not very appealing you might think. You would be right and is probably one of the reasons why I won't live in this house forever. However yesterday when I was cooking dinner in the kitchen I happened to look up and noticed those sunflowers in the second garden over. It's not the best photo but there they were looking bright and cheerful and amazing over there! I couldn't believe that all summer I hadn't noticed them ! I wonder what I've been doing when I look out the window which I do all the time?  How unobservant is that? This week Im going to consciously look for lovely things in dull surroundings.

When Rosie came home for the summer I wondered if I would find anything of interest to write about as blog entries and I was surprised how there was always any number of possible posts. Now that I am back to sending parcels I wonder if any readers of this blog are still interested in seeing what goes in a parcel ?

I shall leave you to ponder the answer. Have a happy week. Marg

Gardening - a cautionary tale .......

 

Last year when my garden was getting off the ground , I just planted plenty of whatever took my fancy  and then proceeded to feel very virtuous about all the rapid growth. The garden looked good and no one could argue that those plants weren't super busy growing. 

But of course these 2 photos will by now have alerted you to a very serious problem in the vegetable patch.

There is just way too much going on in there - so much so that nothing is happening - green foliage everywhere and the plants all stomping over each other - pushing and shoving for room and sunshine, and hardly any results . When Miri was down last weekend she gave me valuable advice. Pull out anything that is not going to be productive and create some space to give those things that will produce something some time to grow.  So this weekend the tomatoes are coming out, also the broad beans, probably the peas and the last of the pumpkin vine that has gone crazy and is completely out of control.

Ive been thinking that in some ways, that garden you see, is what happens when I get way too busy in my own life. I try to pack too much in, and from a distance one might think  there's a lot going on. However ,what I have found by experience, is that there is often  not enough of what matters most to me going on. Since last year  I have been consciously working to eliminate things that don't add value to my life - even if on the outside it might look like a great or glamorous opportunity.  It's kind of a shame I am such a slow learner but I think I'm getting the hang of it.  Slowly that is.

Still all is not lost on either the home or vegetable front. I did get these out of the garden over the weekend and I did turn down an evening out last weekend in order to spend an evening with Rosie before she heads back to Wellington this  Saturday. 
Finally it was today last year that we had Dad's funeral.Today when I got home there was an invitation from the Hospice saying that on March 4 there will be an ecumenical Remembrance Service - where Dad's name will be readout with a list of others then afternoon tea served. So if those who are closeish by - Ken and Mary? Miri and Bill? feel like going I have the details.

Anyway here's to another week of well chosen priorities!

Marg

Another holiday , another time , another place....

For the last 7 days I have shrugged off adult responsibilities and worries about taking another holiday after I just had one at Christmas, and left them neatly packaged in my car at Bluff while the kids and I enjoyed our first holiday all together ( not counting attending funerals) in 3 years. 

We came to Stewart Island - the photo above is a  view from the crib we were staying in. It was the first time for Rosie. Tom came down here when he was 12 and again 13 and sailed around the Island on a boat called the Elwing

 and I came down here for work last year but that had been the first time back since I was a teenager.  

For me it was the perfect holiday - as much for the suspended reality as for the amazing scenery of the place. Every day we did a walk - no shortage of bush walks to choose from here. I think the childhood experiences of making the children go walking  are paying dividends. They willingly came with me !!

 

I read all my library books I brought with me and then some more  off the shelves while Tom and Rosie amused themselves with the jigsaw puzzles in the house. We caught up with Ken and Mary and baby Louis who also spent a weekend on the Island ( thanks for having us to lunch  - great to see you!).  We ate at the Kai Cart, the kids went out on a fishing boat and caught blue cod - I went the museum and we all joined in on a team at the  weekly Sunday night Quiz night which is held at  the pub.

 

Every night as a tribute to the puddings our Mother always made for my kids when we visited her, we made jelly with fruit. The photo above is the deluxe version we had on the last night. Jelly , fruit, cream and grated chocolate. So simple - so delicious! 

these are two of my favourite shots- Rosie and Tom - enjoying each other's company - brother and sister - carefree - nothing matters here - life begins again for all of us tomorrow. May the strength of this holiday sustain us all year long. 

Have a great week - Marg 

When losing your way is better than finding it ....

The day started with high hopes. We were off at the end of a long hot week on a day that started with mist and rain to go on an " art in the garden " tour.  Sounds like great fun. It is - especially when you get to the Taeiri plains with only a map of Christchurch to guide you. (Of course your failings win again -For me,  I am great with the overall concept and fall short on the details - like knowing where exactly we were supposed to  be going )    So it was a mystery tour through the back streets of Wingatui.  So much to see and do. First stop - the topiary hedge

 

Followed by the good luck of finding chicken manure for just $5 for a hefty sack - ( my compost sighs with relief- now we can get some heat cranked up in there) - then as luck would have it we stumbled across one of the gardens. This is my favourite image from that place. 

 

Not one of the art works - but far more evocative and meaningful at least to me of anything we saw. We slunk in and out of that garden and right there and then ditched the rest of the tour.  

I can tell you are wondering about the apricots  in the first picture?  What? you couldn't care less about them?  Let me show you a thing or two you can do with apricots. 

 

you can take a photo of them...

 

..or you can turn them into jam and chutney. The jam I am especially pleased with because you make it in the microwave.  To be truthful I do not really use my microwave for cooking ,but I was inspired to try this recipe because it promised - full flavour and no possibility of burning the jam. The recipe was as good as its word. The jam is great and so so easy. 

Here is the recipe. 

4cups of cooked apricots. ( put raw and stoned apricots in microwave and cook for20 mins) Then add 4 cups of sugar to apricot pulp. Cook 20 mins in microwave. Bottle in clean jars and cover when cool. The chutney recipe is another gem from the Stewart Island cook book. I was especially happy making it because this week we are going to Stewart Island for one week before Rosie goes back to Wellington. I am looking forward to it. After that it will be back to sending parcels. 

Yours in anticipation 

Marg