Just Doin' My Thing

A strange kind of surrealism has come over my life lately.  I wake each day filled with a feeling of happiness and contentment.  The fact that the sun is shining most days helps this feeling enormously and my children are healthy and happy, which means everything.  Life is simple; nothing really happens and yet at the same time it feels as if something major could happen at any second.  Could it just be that I'm finally fitting into my own skin and being me?

Yesterday was my morning out doing volunteer work.  I picked Mrs M up from her home and off we went for a walk by the sea and a wander into the woods.  The sun shone brightly and there was a faint stirring of breeze drifting in off the sea.  I am astonished at the amount of bluebell woods I keep finding around here.  There is a fabulous one within a twenty minute walk of our home and here I was, half an hour away and I find another.  The scent is intoxicating and leaves me feeling slightly light-headed.  We sat for a few minutes to catch our breath and enjoy this beautiful sight; it may not be here next time we come.  Someone had cut down some trees near the path and had had a bit of fun with the stumps...

My philosophy in life exactly!

After dragging Mrs M around the paths for a good hour or more, we had a cup of tea by the sea before I took her safely home and she gave me a hug goodbye.  I drove home full of gratitude that I am in a position to do this small thing for someone and make such a difference to her life.  Doing that makes such a difference to my life too and I can justify my existence a little and enjoy doing my thing.  My thing at the moment consists of worrying about my carbon footprint.  I will explain:  in my last post I mentioned that I have recently discovered a fabulous Country singer from South Georgia, called Luke Bryan.  Finding I could no longer live a happy and fulfilled life without purchasing at least one of his CDs, I proceeded to purchase three from overseas.  You see, as we don't really 'do' Country music in Britain, it was way, way cheaper for me to buy the CDs from abroad than at home.  Silly really but there you go.  I will have to wait a bit longer to get them but it will be worth it!   I really want to play his music in the car as I'm driving about the lanes but haven't had a stereo in my car for over a year and haven't really missed it, until now.  I found one I could just about afford, if I saved up, but then I'd have to find someone to fit it and pay them too.  A friend of mine bought one of my candles and I put the money in a jar towards my stereo.

As I drove home yesterday lunch time I heard an odd knocking sound coming from the front wheel of my car.  Oh here we go, I thought, time to panic.  I dug out a phone number for a man who fixes cars in his spare time and who happens to live just down the lane from me.  I got in touch and he asked me to drop round that evening.  Pea came with me and we had a good laugh for an hour and a half as he and his mate fiddled with my car and eventually found out what was wrong.  Fortunately it can wait a few months until the MOT is due.  I asked if he could get me a stereo and fit it for me.  He dug around in a cupboard and re-appeared with a brand new stereo still in it's box and unopened.  He said it cost £100 but I could have it for £50.  As it was much better than anything I could afford I agreed.  He fit it there and then and only charged me for the stereo and none of the other work he did.  I am extremely chuffed!  When my CDs finally arrive I will be able to play them straight away.  Yay!

But back to the carbon footprint thing;  to redress the balance a bit and ease my guilt I am conserving water like mad.  There is a jug by the kitchen sink to catch the water from the hot tap while we are waiting for hot water to come through and there is a rather bright red bucket in the bath to do the same with the water from the shower.  This can all be used to water the garden and polytunnel and also to fill the kettle for my copious cups of tea.  We use the washing up water too, providing it is relatively clean and there isn't too much washing up liquid in it.  I would otherwise be paying for all this water to go down the drain, so using it on the garden makes more sense.  Growing our own salads and veggies helps too as we won't be spending money buying them from abroad (just the CDs then!) and damaging the planet in the process.

The mouse in the polytunnel is on borrowed time as he has pushed his luck way too far now.  He has eaten all the courgette seeds and the sunflower seeds too.  I have found some more courgette seeds in the bottom of my fridge (I keep them there for years), so I can plant some more, but only after mouse eviction has taken place.  I have been patient, I have asked him to go next door and eat their seeds and I have even allowed him to eat the nuts from the bird feeder and he has done all this AND carried on invading my polytunnel.  Enough!  I'm afraid the only thing I can do now is to put some bait down and let it do it's deadly work.  I could set traps, but they only catch one mouse at a time and bait will make sure it gets rid of all the little critters who are dining out on my seeds.  And I am a coward; I don't want to go in one morning and find two bits of mouse spattered on the floor.  Yuk.  Once the deed has been done I can sow more seeds and hope they get chance to grow this time.  I think we may be planting out this weekend as the weather has been so mild and my salads have been hardening off for a short while.  I will probably plant a few in the garden and see how they go before I commit myself to doing them all - just in case!

The Spring is well underway now and the children are half way through their first week of the new term.  All is ticking along just as it should be, thankfully.  I have lots of Welsh homework to do and have done precisely none of it.  My classes begin again on Friday, so I should really get on with it, but I am lacking a serious dose of commitment to the cause at the moment.  I'd rather be gardening and listening to Luke Bryan (and if I'm honest, watching his music videos too!) than struggling with a Welsh language book and filling in gaps in sentences that I really don't care about.  I am a disgrace and I have no staying power.

But heck, it's Summer and I intend to live every moment of it!

What ever you do today, enjoy it and keep doin' your thing. xxx