Just Humans Being...

Tuesday was beautiful, but the easterly winds were freezing... We spent 30 minutes in the garden at work, but struggled with the wind. We managed to finish with an hour to spare before picking Bebe up, so we decided to drive up to Caerhays, where we had a walk around the churchyard & a much needed warm inside the little church. It's difficult to see just how strong the wind was... Our activity was to think/write about things we have learned & unlearned since starting the challenge. We have learned how if we put our minds to it - we can make time available to do the things we really want to do & what we want to do is be outside in nature, have time to take off & enjoy ourselves... Cooking outside, camping... Just simple pleasures. We are unlearning putting others before ourselves & working long hours... Which isn't good for our health & wellbeing. We have worked hard the last couple of weeks & finally got on top of e...

Yesterday's activity was to think about the human population. How many people live in our area?  Our hamlet has 31 permanent residents now & during the holiday season (April to October) there can be up to 1050 more... As there is a campsite at the top of the lane, a youth hostel across from us, 2 holiday lets & a B&B. We are all pretty well spread out along the lane, but for us - the hostel is near & the campsite stretches to the back of our garden, so it is pretty intrusive, we knew this before we moved here & are just happy to be in a beautiful place... Our house is on the left & that's the hostel on the right. Lupe outside the hostel...  Looking up the lane - Meadowcroft is on the left. We did our rewilding in the garden at work yesterday, so we didn't see anyone else... We picnicked, lay in the grass & looked down at the sea for an hour... And forgot the camera! We love the warmer months, but we don't enjo...

We didn't get a chance to do yesterday's activity, as it was to go forest bathing... Our nearest forest is over 20 miles away & we already had plans for Hugo's other family to come over,which was lovely. We did venture outside last night & it was very cold, but the sky was beautiful... Just a shame the photo didn't come out! :-) But we do have an accidental video of all us around the table... Oh dear, we're still tired & it's back to work today for us & day care for Bebe, so another full week ahead for us all... Kay, Sime & Bebe xxx

We managed a stroll again with Bebe today - just to what we call the first gate. Neither of us felt like venturing out too far, after such a busy week...  Bebe wasn't happy about it though, she always gets restless at weekends & just wants to go out in the car... But in reality, as soon as we go out - she wants to come home, so we can never win! Apart from spending 30 minutes outside, today's activity was about ancestors & creating a ritual to think about them & thank them... This kind of thing isn't really our bag, but we do like candles & incense... We burn Nag Champa incense pretty much all the time & patchouli in our little oil burner.  We don't need a reason to light candles... Nice being at home today. Kay & Sime xx

We have been using carob powder (also known as carob flour) since the 80s, when Sime developed an intolerance to caffeine. He had overdosed on coffee & his body couldn't take any more.  We discovered carob powder in our local health store & have used it ever since as an alternative to cocoa...  We enjoy it warmed in a pan of plant milk & drink it like hot chocolate, but mostly I use it in baking. Carob doesn't have the kick that cocoa can give you, but it is higher in fibre, has a lower fat content & is naturally sweet - so it's possible to use less or no sugar at all in recipes. It is also rich in calcium & contains a long list of minerals, as well as Omega 6 fatty acids.   We love it! You can substitute carob for cocoa in any recipe, but I would recommend adding an extra half of carob to the required amount of cocoa, so if a recipe says 2 tbsp cocoa - I would add 3 tbsp carob & then deduct 1 tbsp of sugar from the recipe... Ot...

What a crazy day today has been... We started out incredibly organised & Bebe was in a fairly ok mood. To top it all - the weather has been wonderful... We got the washing on the line early this morning & enjoyed the warm sun on our backs, the birds were singing & bees humming - a lovely start to our day! Work was straight forward, until guests turned up early, which caused a bit of chaos... Our friends, Lou & Vanessa  are a fantastic help & we couldn't do it without them, especially today, so we are very grateful & feel very lucky to have such lovely friends! :-) We've been looking after another holiday let today too, which some other friends own.  Unfortunately there was a power failure after some work had been carried out on electric cables in the area... So we ended up spending a couple of extra hours trying to get it sorted out. Poor Bebe had to come with us, but although it was a warm evening - she refused to get out of the car ...

We are preparing a house in Portmellon for the owners, who will be arriving next week & we never tire of the views, so we enjoyed our rewilding break just soaking up the scenery...   The property has been closed up for a few months & amongst the usual dead flies was this small tortoiseshell butterfly, also dead... Today's activity is to research ecovillages because they can be a much more sustainable way to live...  We were interested for many years in joining an intentional community & have visited a few too.  One of the major downsides for us is that we very much like our own space & we're not always very sociable - we like hibernating & doing our own thing. Even the thought of getting together with  the same folks every week is just too much on a regular basis & would be worse if there are communal chores to be done! We work hard, but only because we have rent & bills to pay, otherwise we'd rather be lazy.....