Sometimes life in my head is not easy.............muddled thoughts for today.

Sometimes, life in my head is not easy.
Yesterday I watched the Panorama documentary ‘’Disabled or faking it’’, the sad but true tale of how our present government are doing their very best to prevent legitimate claims for disability related benefits being awarded to genuinely sick and disabled people. Naturally I was enraged (and very sad), some of those cases were heartbreaking. Today, while shopping in my favourite discount store, I came across a local disabled lady using a mobility scooter who was complaining loudly to any one and every one in earshot, about the programme, the system, the government, the lack of empathy etc, etc, etc………..naturally I whole heartedly supported her.
My rage at the injustice of our system rose. And then, while complaining loudly, she said ‘’well if they do stop this I’ll just have to live on my £250 per week and I know I can’t manage on that’’. I thought that was a bit odd, I had assumed she could lose every thing because of the system, turns out she was going to lose part of her benefit and be left with £250 per week; and that’s more than I get to live on every week. Then my poor muddled mind felt very guilty, did a bit of a flip and thought maybe her needs were much greater than mine, maybe she has to pay  carers or something. So by this time I’m feeling angry with the government, sorry for the disabled lady and guilty for questioning the amount she receives. I thought I recognised myself falling into the ‘divide and rule’ trap the government set for us……………the ‘pit the poor against the poor’ strategy, it always works. So now I’m feeling stupid for falling for it as well as guilty for questioning her and again; she had my whole hearted support.
And then……………she committed the ultimate crime. She started saying how the government ‘let all these foreigners in’ and how these foreigners cost so much and how if they all went home and the government stopped any more coming in we (presumably she meant the indigenous British population) would all be so much better off.
Well that was it. She lost my sympathy vote and I left.  Off I went, losing all sympathy for this stupid bigoted lady and did what I had to do and then went home.
But…………..my restless mind doesn’t like letting go. So this evening I find myself revisiting this scene, I’m plagued with thoughts of;……..ummm yes well she IS  bigoted and stupid, but being bigoted and stupid isn’t exclusive to the able bodied and her moral judgments don’t actually have any baring on her right to benefits. So now I’m feeling guilty again, because I allowed myself to be distracted by the irrelevant. I’m also mad as hell with the government for putting so many people through this bloody awful, cruel, stressful and completely ‘not fit for purpose’ assessment for disability benefits. I feel sad for all the people who have suffered under this system and have every sympathy for those who stand to lose some or all of their benefits. I’m also angry with ignorant bigots (able bodied or disabled) who only add more pain and distress to an already bad situation.
Like I said…………..its not easy living in my head

Garden 2012 no 14

A brief look around the garden.
After my weekend away the first thing I did was to admire the garden. Every time I leave my house the first thing I do when I return is to check the pond. I’m not sure why I’ve developed this habit, or what I expect to see, but it’s always the first thing I do. This time I checked the pond and found far fewer tadpoles than I expected. Before I left for the weekend lots of them had legs, now I’m thinking a whole bunch of them grew more legs and felt brave enough to hop out of the pond and explore. Guess I won’t be seeing a lot of them until next year when they should return to spawn.
Having stood over the pond, I then took a good look around the garden. Suddenly every thing is in bloom. My garden has been blooming for a while, but not like this. Despite the weather, summer is now officially in residence in my garden. In fact the rain seems to have encouraged every thing to grow more. And that includes the food. My latest batch of radishes and lettuce are now ready to eat and there were more strawberries waiting for me.

Salmondsmuir Late July 2012

Pictures from my weekend house sitting. The mornings were great but by the afternoon the sky filled with dark clouds. It rained every afternoon but even the rain makes this place look good

Painting while away

I’ve just spent a wonderfully peaceful weekend house and dog sitting for my daughter in her country cottage. I was there, virtually in the middle of no where, on my own, from Friday afternoon until yesterday evening. I did wonder how I would feel being out there all on my own but it was great, I loved it, the mornings were warm and sunny and the afternoons were wild and wet with evening rainbows.
Every morning I would get up, put the dogs in the yard and set out my painting things on the patio table overlooking the fields. This was to be my ‘painting’ weekend and I’m quite pleased with the result. I finished two paintings and have almost finished another.
Once this last one is finished these  are destined for the second coffee shop to offer to hang and sell my work. 

Blue Skies, taken mid June.

A collection of photos I took some time mid June. We had a really nice couple of days and I took these outside my daughter’s house at about 4 in the afternoon.

Art Sunday; Blue Skies

Art Sunday; Blue Skies

Today I’ve chosen a couple of paintings roughly linked by the theme ‘Blue Skies. These paintings ‘fit’ with the way I feel right now, happy, tired after a long day in the sun and with a head full of blue skies, fluffy white clouds and birds singing in the trees. A perfect summers day. These paintings have a happy whimsical feel to them.

The Wedding by Chagall


The Blue Window by Matisse.


Ladders Cross the Blue Sky in a Wheel of fire by Miro


Black Magic by Magritte


Blue Star by Miro


Blue Sky by Kandinsky

Blue Skies; music for the weekend.

Today the rain has gone and we have blue skies. I’ve spent the whole day in the garden. I’d like to say I’ve been working away all day; truth is I spent long periods just sitting listening to the birds and enjoying the sunshine. I did do quite a lot of work, but its only a small garden and I was out there for hours, Which gave me plenty of time to just sit. I enjoy just sitting in the garden watching the world go by.

Bob Marley-I can see clearly now. (HQ)



Allman Brothers Band - Blue Sky







ELO - Mr.Blue Sky (Original Promo)

Rain, Rain, Rain, etc etc etc.................................

OK so now I'm behaving true to sterio-type and (yet again) talking about the weather. We have just had two days of glorious sunshine where I managed to do most things that needed doing in the garden. By yesterday evening the ground had dried to the point where the new plants needed a water and a feed and I almost emptied the water butt doing this. Today; it is raining, its not just persistent rain, its heavy rain, I can't believe so much rain has fallen in my garden in such a short time. I've been out twice today in this rain to empty my assorted buckets into my rapidly filling water butt. Those new plants, lovingly planted, watered and fed yesterday almost floated away today. While I was out there I checked on my pond. My poor tadpoles were being washed over the side, I took three whole buckets of water from the pond to make it safe for the tadpoles and as the rain shows no sigh in stopping any time soon, I'm off to check again. This is the most bizarre weather pattern I've ever know in any summer.

Garden 2012 no 13

Garden 2012 no 13

This is what my garden looks like from the street. I can’t imagine why my daughters tell me it’s a mess……….I quite like it looking a little wild. The only bad thing in the garden today was the ant infestation in the compost bin, but that was sorted and I think its going to be OK.

A quick update, I’m tired and heading for bed soon. I’ve been out digging and playing in the garden all day and its worn me out. I’m sure you remember me saying I was planning on digging up the wild area behind the pond once all the bluebells had finished.

(before the big dig)

Well, they finished a while ago, and today was warm, dry, sunny and an ideal gardening day, so off I went. It took me all day but I did it. I dug up a bucket full of bluebell bulbs which have all been replanted. I also dug up a whole heap of periwinkle which is trimmed, cleaned and sitting in the bag waiting for my daughter to collect. Digging up established periwinkle is no easy task, I’m so glad it was only a small area, not sure I would have managed any thing bigger. I’ll need to give it another dig over and then dig in some of the chicken pellet manure before I can plant there, but I feel it was a day well spent.

(After the big big)

More fruit was ready today. I’m getting enough strawberries to have a couple either on my cereal or with ice cream most days.

The white currant bush was heavy with fruit and I noticed some of the currents had already been eaten by the birds. I knew I had to get them  in today because, I know from experience,  once the birds start eating currents, they don’t stop until they are all gone. I think I’ve got enough to mix with some apple and make white jam.

Art Sunday; Cake Art

Been a bit bust this weekend, had family staying, been out for a birthday meal and now I'm left with one grandchild who is staying for the rest of the week. School holidays must be a nightmare for parents, I didn't realise how much child care actually costs but to send two children to 'holiday club' while the parent works costs a minimum of £15.00 per child per day. That ads up to a huge chunk of wages, which is why I've ended up with one child for the week. This way at least my daughter only has to pay for one child to go to holiday club.

I've not even thought about Art Sunday until now, and all I can think of is 'cake'. But that's OK because these days cake making is quite an art form. This is the lady who makes the cakes for me. I used to work with her until her 'hobby' grew into a demanding business and she didn't have the time to go to work any more. She resigned and now spends her days creating cakes for special occasions.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Cakes-by-Momo-x/223012644431795

these are just a few of the cakes she has made but there are literally hundreds more on her FB site.

She's not the only one out there specializing in novelty cakes;
 
This is a  gardener cake from

http://www.om-nanya.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/pic-of-the-day.jpg

A Van Gogh cake from here

http://img.chan4chan.com/img/2011-01-26/1296058060964.jpg

A sewing machine cake from here

http://towse.com/wordpress/2007/04/28/amazing-cake-art/

A treasure chest cake from here

http://englishrussia.com/2007/04/19/cake-art/

And.........couldn't miss this, the famous 'cake car' advert

A birthday, grandchildren staying and some music.

Tonight I have three grandchildren staying, their mothers are out celebrating the youngest birthday. My youngest daughter is 29 tomorrow, oh how old that makes me feel. Her cake has a picture of Bertha her horse on it. Before they went out I made cheese pasta with lashings of cheese and fresh basil with a side dish of potato salad made from freshly dug potatoes  served with fresh mint and chives.
I've just bedded the younger two and I'm sat here watching my all time favourite movie, 'Avatar' with my eldest grandson, he's almost 11. I couldn't decide on my music choice tonight and on a whim, I asked him. This, apparently, is the music of choice for my almost 11 yr old grandson. It seems to fit the mood of the moment.

Garden 2012 no 12

Garden 2012 no 12

Yesterday I said I intended to spend the day in the garden. It didn’t quite work out that way. The weather wasn’t good and I still had a bit of clearing away to do after the decorating.
When I did eventually get out there, every thing looked so overgrown I didn’t know quite where to start, and so instead of getting stuck in weeding, digging, tidying etc………..I decided it was time to have a bit of a harvest.

I’ve emptied out all three potato barrels, harvested the potatoes, mixed the compost with chicken manure pellets and then refilled the potato barrels ready for the next seed potatoes. I now have three trays of new potatoes drying out on my windowsill over night ready to be packed in paper bags and stored.

I harvested as many broad beans as I could see, what I didn’t eat tonight are packed away in the freezer. I also took some salad and spinach for use over the next day or so.

There is still one rhubarb pie left in the fridge made from the rhubarb I harvested last week. Todays rhubarb was cleaned, cut and packed away in the freezer.

And this is what I will be harvesting tomorrow, white currants………delicious and it looks as if I have a bit of a bumper crop this year.

A Question;
Does any one know if I can use some of the very tiny potatoes that I dug up today as seed potatoes for next time??

Decorating; Another room finished

It’s finished, I’ve been working non stop and finally, late this evening, my new studio/ guest room was finished.  There are a couple of little things I need to get help with, the curtain pole needs screwing back onto the wall properly and the new ventilation grill above the door needs to be screwed into place. Apart from that…………..it’s complete.

Mr and Mrs Scarecrow stand on top of the shelf unit guarding the spider plants. They were a lucky find in the pound store, they cost just £1.00 each and are intended as garden ornaments, but I rather like them looking down on me.

Another lucky find were these curtains, they are heavy linen with tab tops and tie backs and bought from the Heart Foundation charity shop for just £10.00. The embroidered edge runs from top to bottom of the curtain.

It’s quite a big room which is why it can double up as a guest room and a studio for me to paint in.  The wallpaper, another find in the pound store, is beige with a hint of peach. It has a grain effect and a slight sheen which looks quite pretty once hung on the wall. For £1.00 per roll it’s not bad. I wanted a plain paper because I intend to hang some of my paintings on the wall and as you can see, there is plenty of empty wall for me to start filling.

I bought the patchwork quilt from a charity shop a while ago and thought it went well with the rest of the room. It a beautiful quilt, very large when not folded back and well worth the £15.00 I paid for it.

This big old built in cupboard used to have a door but I had the door taken off and bought this bead curtain to use instead. The cupboard tends to get very damp with lots of condensation especially in the winter and I thought taking the door off and letting the air circulate would help get rid of the damp problem.

And these are my aloe vera plants lined up in the window. I’m thinking of buying one very large pot and planting them all together, I thought it would be a bit of a centrepiece.

Moving round the room here is the linen covered shelf unit and behind that, my work table. I love those chairs. I rescued them from being thrown out. They are old fashioned school chairs used by the teacher in times gone by, they were destined for the tip before I intervened and bought them home.  The rather exotic orange animal print table covers are made from wipe clean material bought for £3.99 per metre. 1 ½ metres was enough for my work table and the low TV/ DVD table.

And some of the paintings I’m going to hang on the wall.

And that’s my decorating for a while. I’m going to spend a couple of days catching up in the garden and then my daughter is staying for the weekend because it’s her birthday. Once she leaves, I’ll take a few days, maybe a week to potter about in my garden, and then its onto the hallway……….but that will be a quick and easy piece of decorating compared to what I've just done.