A New Year Begins

A Happy New Year to you if you are reading this, and to everyone who has read my blog over the last year.

I find that the trouble with New Year's Day is that it follows New Year's Eve and subsequently, a late night, which makes it so much more likely that we will break our New Year's resolutions on the very first day of the year.

So, I am sitting here with a cup of rooibos chai, trying to stay awake long enough to write my first blog post of the year, as we stayed up until half past one this morning watching 'It's a Wonderful Life' on DVD. It's the first time I've ever seen the film and we all enjoyed it, hubby, daughter and me. As daughter had to work New Year's Eve she wasn't able to join her friends in Plymouth, so came out to dinner with us and then joined us for the evening playing charades and watching the aforementioned DVD.   We had a very pleasant New Year's Eve and toasted 2012 with the last of the bottles of bubbly we were given for our Silver Wedding a couple of years ago.

A wet start to the year

Today I ate an apple and a clementine for breakfast, as well as my cereal, did not eat between meals and managed to go for a walk in Winkworth Arboretum even though it had started raining by the time I was ready. So I can feel I have done something to make this a healthy year and to start to get fitter for 2012, although I have no Olympic ambitions, let me hasten to add.

After the walk we had a lunch mostly of Christmas leftovers but with a little smoked wild Alaskan salmon to mark the first day of this new year. Then we played scrabble after which, as we had started the day so late, it was time to start cooking the beef for our roast beef dinner with all the trimmings.  That was followed by the last of the Christmas pudding.

So, this year I am going to be healthier and fitter than last year.  I shall take more exercise and spend more time in the garden so that we manage to grow more of our own fruit and veg, and generally save the planet.  I could go on with the list of all I hope to achieve.  I would need to be Superwoman to have any chance of achieving it, and I am definitely not her.  What about you, what do you aspire to achieve this year?

Experience has taught me that life has a habit of showing just how human we are, but these days I don't tend to see that as a reason for guilt or despair. Being human means that we cannot be perfect.  We all have to settle for our best in any given moment. As Don Miguel Ruiz says,

 "Your best is going to change from moment to moment; it will be different when you are healthy as opposed to sick. Under any circumstance, simply do your best, and you will avoid self-judgement, self-abuse, and regret."

 If you do not achieve all that you hoped to achieve today you may need to modify your plans for tomorrow.  Another trait common to most people is to be over-ambitious and unrealistic about what we can achieve in the time available. Of course it's not a good idea to give up to easily, but we need to be realistic about what we are capable of so that we know when to try harder and when to realise we have done our best and need to readjust our expectations.

So let us not be discouraged this year when things don't go entirely according to plan or that we couldn't manage all that we wanted to do.  We may need to review our plans from time to time, make a reality check or work out strategies to help us do better.  Most of all we mustn't give up because of set backs along the way.  They are to be expected and will help us develop character and experience.

At this time of year we are subject to the effects of darkness on our bodies to which our ancestors responded by slowing down and only hunting or working during the daylight hours.  Now is not a good time to expect too much of ourselves, but rather a time to respect the natural rhythms of life remembering,  as this New Year begins, the seeds of hope and potential which lie dormant in the Winter darkness, waiting to come to life in the Spring.

As the petals of 2012 unfold may a happy, healthy and fulfilling year blossom for you.

As for me, right now, I'm off to bed to catch up with my beauty sleep. After all a good night's sleep helps us all to be healthier and to have more energy.

The Future is in Our Pockets

Photo from the Guardian

So, today a lot of public sector workers went on strike, and quite a few didn't. Public sector workers are doctors, nurses, firemen, policemen, teachers, library assistants, dustmen, civil servants, dinner ladies, school caretakers, social workers etc.  They are the people that provide so many services that we rely on. If we want reliable public servants they need to be paid a reasonable wage. After all, you get what you pay for.

Some of those public sector workers don't earn enough to be able to buy a house, some are quite comfortably off and others, the bosses, earn very high sums indeed. This is a reflection of the private sector. Some private sector workers are not paid enough to live on, some are OK and others earn more than I would know how to spend.

This is a wider reflection of our society in general, which is not a fair society, in fact the inequalities are growing more than in most developed countries.  Some people are paid much more than they are worth and some people's work is not given it's proper value.  I'm not suggesting that we should all be paid the same, but we need to start to realise as a society that it is not good for anyone when some people get paid obscene amounts while others aren't even given a living wage.

Photo from the Telegraph

The unfairness continues when we retire, and the main reason for the strike was that the government is asking public sector workers to pay more towards their pension, which for many earning around the national average means about £100 a month extra.  At the same time as paying more towards their pension it seems the pensions will be smaller and people will have to work longer before they are entitled to them.

It does not seem that the extra money these people will pay for their pensions will go into a pension fund to secure the future of their pensions, but directly into government coffers, which could make it seem like a tax on people who work as public servants, historically at least, at a lower wage than they could expect in the private sector because helping others was more important to them than earning high sums.

Once, it seemed like a good idea for government to be an example of best practice when it came to valuing their workers, ensuring them a decent pension and treating them fairly.  Instead of leading the way, this government seems to be trying to make it easier for businesses to treat their employees unfairly and without respect.


We are in a recession, it is true, but the language used about public sector workers has at times made them sound like they are sponging off 'hard-working tax-payers' rather than being 'hard-working tax-payers' themselves in most cases, many of who are willing to go the extra mile because they care about their patients, pupils or the others they serve in the course of a day's work.

Yes, I do work in the public sector myself, but only part-time, and I didn't work while my children were young, so I can't expect much of a work pension.  I work because I enjoy helping people and because it's nice to have some money I can call my own.

 

The other side of all this is how we spend our money.  Do we try to buy as much as possible with our hard-earned cash, or do we try to balance our needs with the amount of good we can do with that cash?  Do we try to support the local economy, organic farmers or buy Fairtrade?  Do we think about the impact our purchases have on the environment and on those who helped to produce what we buy?  Do we think carefully about the impact our purchases have on us and our loved ones?

Are we more concerned with our entitlement than with others' needs?  If we have enough, can we give something to help those less well off than ourselves?

Photo from BBC

 I heard Sir Alan Sugar tried to return his Winter fuel allowance because he does not need it.  It seems this was not possible, but he and anyone else wealthy enough not to worry about paying their heating bills could give the money to Age UK or Shelter or similar charities.




We may have a government which doesn't seem to care about struggling individuals, fairness or the environment, but we can use each pound in our pocket to vote for a better world.  Money has a voice of its own, which seems to be the only one the Tories understand, indeed it is the voice governments of all persuasions seem to listen to most.  It is no use saying we want a fairer society and a more sustainable way of doing things if we don't act and spend our money in a way that bears that out.  Governments are led by what we do, not what we say, as are businesses: if we buy it, they will continue to make it.  Let us use the money we have, wisely, it is more powerful than we may realise.

Advent Preparations

Today is the first day of Advent, which is the beginning of the Church year and traditionally a time of preparation for Christmas.

Originally I think it was about spiritual preparation, not unlike Lent.  It was a time of prayer and fasting, reflecting on the state of one's morals, doing penance and resolving to do better.

More recently it had become a time for many housewives to clean their houses; a Winter clean rather than a Spring clean. Now many people consider that it is a time to write cards, buy presents and plan the Christmas feasting.

I like to write cards, often accompanied by a letter, to keep in touch with people and wish them well for the coming year.  Older people and people living on their own particularly seem to appreciate this.  I'm thinking I might make a few of my own cards this year and the rest I have bought from charities.

I shall also buy some presents and food otherwise my family will be disappointed, but I hope I shall have some time to reflect, now the evenings are drawing in. However with an elderly relative in hospital who needs visiting and a regular visit to my elderly parents planned I might not have all that much time to do so this week.

If you want to support charities when you buy your Christmas cards either order them direct from the charity or look out for Cards for Good Causes they may well have a shop near you, often in a church or an empty shop in or near your high street.  According to this article, this is the way to make sure the charity benefits the most.  If they are printed on recycled card all the better.

While we write our cards we may resolve to keep in touch more with certain individuals next year, or give regularly to a particular charity.

Developing an Attitude of Peace

"If we ourselves remain angry and then sing world peace, it has little meaning. First our individual self must learn peace. This we can practise. Then we can teach the rest of the world" - His Holiness the Dalai Lama

"True peace is always possible, yet it requires strength and practice, particularly in times of great difficulty. To some peace and non-violence are synonymous with passivity and weakness. In truth, practising peace and non-violence is far from passive. To practise peace, to make peace alive in us, is to actively cultivate understanding, love and compassion, even in the face of misperception and conflict. Practising peace, especially in times of war, requires courage.

All of us can practise non-violence.  We begin by recognising that, in our depths of consciousness, we have both the seeds of compassion and the seeds of violence.  We become aware that our mind is like a garden that contains all kinds of seeds: seeds of understanding, seeds of forgiveness, seeds of mindfulness and also seeds of ignorance, fear and hatred.  We realise that, at any given moment, we can behave with either violence or compassion, depending on the strength of these seeds within us.

When the seeds of anger, violence and fear are watered in us several times a day they will grow stronger.  Then we are unable to be happy, unable to accept ourselves; we suffer and we make those around us suffer.  Yet when we know how to cultivate the seeds of love, compassion and understanding in us every day, those sees will become stronger and the seeds of violence and hatred will become weaker and weaker."   - Thich Nhat Hanh, Creating True Peace

Remembrance

Remembering the war dead of the last 100 years; soldiers and civilians.

So many families torn apart, such a waste of human potential.

Hoping we'll find a better way of settling our differences the 21st century.

“'Blessed are the peacemakers.”

What an injustice!

"Oh Lord, what an injustice!" - the last words of Dic Penderyn, unjustly hung in 1831

I'm saddened that these words are so applicable today.

My condolences to Troy Davis' family.

"20 years after being put on death row in Georgia, USA, Troy Davis was injected with lethal injection in the early hours of this morning – needlessly, outrageously, unjustifiably."

This man was executed although he was not guilty beyond all reasonable doubt.  He insisted he was innocent and many believed him to be so.  The evidence of his guilt was very shaky.

More about Troy Davis here

Generous Britain

A fund set up for mugged Malaysian student has raised £22,314.00 by the time it closed. Donations came from the people of Britain who wanted to make amends for the looters' actions as well as people from other parts of the world who wanted to show that human kindness still exists.

This is the other side of the story, which we must not forget.  Some people have gone on a wanton spree of destruction and theft, but even some of them are feeling shame and remorse.  Some other people are reaching out to help the victims and helping to rebuild the damaged communities.  The overall picture is not so bad. While we also need to remember that some lives were lost, some families are feeling shock and grief, and some people have sustained injuries or have had some very frightening experiences, which may take them some time to recover from, the majority of British people are not looters and do not condone the looting.  Many people want to help those who suffered at the hands of the looters.

Other funds have been set up to help some of the other victims of the senseless destruction.

There is one for 89 year-old barber, Aaron Biber

Another for convenience shop-keeper Siva Kandiah

A Pledge Bank page has also been set up for the Reeves' family-run furniture store

People are being asked to bring some items to Tottenham Leisure Centre if they are in the area.

A number of people have been getting stuck in with clearing up the mess via riotcleanup.  It sounds like there is still plenty of work to be done.

The largest distribution centre for the great independent record labels in the UK was decimated by fire.  A fund has been set up to help with the distribution.

Perhaps you know of others, especially outside the London area.  I'll update this page if necessary.

The Three R's in Response to the Riots

This frightening picture of a Polish woman jumping
from a burning building in Croydon during
recent rioting was in many newspapers.

If you live in the UK you have probably heard about the riots.  If you live outside the UK you may have done so, too.  It's pretty scary and all the more so because there is no real reason for them.  However, the reality is that the looting has not been all that widespread, so far.  A lot of fear has been spread by rumours of looting and possibly by some parts of the media exaggerating what is actually happening.  The unexplained nature of the looting and the fact that it hasn't all happened in the obvious inner city areas makes the rumours more plausible.

Commentators have come up with a mixture reasons for the looting and the cause is far from clear. For some while we have been told that Britain is broken. Attempts at diagnosing the problem and finding a solution seem to have failed so far. If British society really is broken then I think it is high time we had a national debate about how to mend our society, so I would like to suggest that rather than tinkering with superficial things we need to go back to the fundamentals, and I don't mean insisting that single mothers should be frowned upon or that corporal punishment should be re-introduced in schools.

My suggestion is that we need to put much more emphasis on the three R's: Respect, Relationship and Responsibility.

Respect is a two way process and has to be earned. We cannot insist that younger people respect us if we show them no respect. We cannot insist that people should respect us because of the relationship we wear or the position we hold if we treat them with contempt or act in ways that don't earn respect.

Self-respect is important, too. People with self-respect are much less likely to go looting or behave in other anti-social ways. People with self-respect are much more likely to respect other people. Therefore it would greatly benefit our society if we learn to foster each other's self-respect and to avoid damaging it.

Working for a living wage and being able to support yourself and your family helps restore self-respect. While I believe in the importance of the welfare state and supporting those who have the misfortune of being unemployed and unable to support themselves, perhaps we do need to consider ways to help those people for whom the world of work is unfamiliar.

Single mothers need moral as well as financial support and should not be given a bad name, but rather helped to gain self-respect. In fact we need to find ways to help young women develop enough self-respect to say 'no' to sex when they don't really want it and not to feel so dependent on men for their sense of self-worth.

At the same time some men need help to find ways of feeling good about themselves that don't involve exerting power over women or anyone else.

Relationship is the basis for society. We cannot respect people we don't know. We don't feel responsible for strangers and we feel little compassion for people who seem remote from us. It is fundamental for parents to have a good relationship with their children, but it is also important for employers to have good relationships with their employees, the police to have a good working relationship with the local community and neighbours to foster good relationships with each other.

Responsibility is the other side of rights. All rights have corresponding responsibilities.

Employees have certain rights but they also have the responsibility to work to the best of their ability.

Employers have to accept responsibility for poor family relations if they don't pay a living wage or expect their employees to work long hours. People who are worn out by working long hours to make a living wage or who are hardly home long enough to see their children won't make good parents. I suggest that parents who choose to work long hours when they can be comfortably off working less hours are not showing proper responsibility for their duty of care to their children, but I appreciate such parents are the minority. Many people have no choice of job if they want to keep their family well looked after. People who are treated badly and paid poorly by employers will not feel valued and their self-respect will be lowered as a result.

The unemployed, while being entitled to benefits have a responsibility to look for work and to take any employment they are offered if they are capable of doing it and it is legal. I understand that the process of looking for work can be demoralising, I was unemployed for six months myself, once, and I have spoken with many long-term unemployed people in the past. I think government schemes to encourage people back into employment should offer practical help and not too many reprisals. However, it appears some people are so used to living on benefits that they lack the motivation to find work, but I would have thought they are very much the majority.  Perhaps benefits should be earned by work in and for the local community doing things that wouldn't be done otherwise, in a way that increases unemployed people's self-worth and sense of purpose.

Parents have responsibilities towards their children.  While I agree it is a good thing that women are now treated on a more equal footing in the workplace, this means that parents need to decide how the children will be properly cared for, which one of them will stay at home in their early years and who will be there at the school gate, not too exhausted to listen to them and give guidance and discipline when it's needed.

Equally we need to get across the message that it is the responsibility of young men and women to avoid unwanted pregnancies and the spread of disease if they decide to have sex.  Sex education in school is not entirely successful, so we need to explore other ways to get the message across and helping people take more responsibility in this area of their lives.

There has been much talk recently of the British police force policing with consent, but we have also heard of recent incidents of a heavy handed approach by some individual police officers. Policemen and women have to take responsibility for their actions. Consistently treating certain groups of people with a lack of respect and exercising undue force will mean that relationships between you and that group of people will deteriorate and it won't just be you, but also your colleagues who will be seen as behaving in this way. Just as some police officers may see all black youths as possible criminals, some black youths may well see all police personnel as heaving handed and therefore consider them “the enemy”. It is important that people in authority are not judgmental and learn to reduce rather than increase conflict and violence by the ways they act and speak.

Politicians and the media also have to take responsibility for the way they talk about certain groups in society. Calling anyone “scum” shows a definite lack of respect. Whipping up hatred, anger, fear and resentment shows a great deal of irresponsibility and suggests a certain amount of immaturity.

Our government has to remember its responsibilities at home rather than rushing out to get involved in other people's wars.  I'm not advocating that either we or our government ignore the starving and the destitute in other part's of the world, but getting involved in other people's wars rarely, if ever, has a positive outcome for us or the other people and it's so easy to back the wrong people who turn out to be worse than the last regime.

What can we do, as individual members of our society, to get the message across to our government that we want better job prospects for all, better education, policing and healthcare rather than bombs being dropped and bullets being fired in our name?

Advertisers also need to be more responsible and stop making outlandish claims for their products that cause suggestible people to believe that their self-worth lies not in themselves but in a pair of designer trainers or the latest technology.

Rebuilding Britain one piece at a time!

We can't rely on politicians to make the necessary changes, it has to come from each of us.  You and I must take responsibility for starting the process; to improve relationships in our families, in our neighbourhoods, in our towns,  in our country and, where necessary, change ourselves.  We must each of us learn to be more compassionate, more respectful, more responsible and to improve our relationships by getting to know the people around us better and being more considerate of their needs (always balanced by our own needs, of course).

Can we make Britain a responsible and respectful nation built on compassion and good relationships? What do you think? Is this the way forward? If so, how can we spread the word? Do you have a better suggestion?

Norway's tragedy, a tragedy for us all

I've only recently come back from holiday, but the bomb and shootings in Norway and the reaction to them seem to require some comment.

It seems that the headline 'Al-Qaeda' Massacre: Norway's 9/11 appeared in yesterday's Sun newspaper referring to the tragedy.  On Facebook Billy Bragg suggested that this was a good reason not to buy the Sun.  It certainly strikes me as irresponsible reporting.

The dreadful tragedy could perhaps be compared with 9/11 as it was so unexpected and so unimaginably horrific, but only in that respect.  I can see absolutely no reason to justify calling it an 'Al-Qaeda' massacre as it had nothing to do with this group.

The massacre was carried out by a lone 'Christian' fundamentalist with extreme right wing political views.

I presume, and certainly hope, that others who hold his religious and political views would not see any justification for killing so many people.  However, extremists have a tendency to use extreme language and extreme language can cause susceptible people to commit acts others only imagine and talk about.

'Christian' fundamentalists and people with extreme political views can use violent language and talk as if some people are less than human, not deserving their respect and perhaps begrudging them the soil they stand on and the air that they breath.  Religious extremists can believe that God is so displeased with some people he will punish them severely.  When such religious and political views mix they can result in a very dangerous cocktail of ideas.

This is why we all need to think carefully of the messages we are sending, of our attitudes to other people and the words that we use.  Christians talk of sin and Buddhists talk of the seeds of violence and other undesirable traits that lie within us.

Perhaps now is a good time to reflect on the seeds of hate and violence within us and consider what might cause them and at the same time to water the seeds of love, compassion and peace within us and the people around us.

Logo designed by Elena Jacobs, University of Alberta student.
The world is superimposed on an apple, the traditional 
symbol of education, where seeds of peace are cultivated
and hopefully come to fruition.

We cannot be held responsible for the deaths in Norway, but it is the attitudes in society in general that can lead to such acts.  Religious fundamentalist and those with extreme views of any sort need to think very carefully about how their words and attitudes could be construed by others.

This tragic incident also shows us that it isn't only Islamic fundamentalists who can carry out such horrific acts.  It also gives us reason to consider, if all Muslims are potential terrorists, does that make all Christians potential mass murders?  If not, could it be that we need to realise that among the Muslims of the world there are many decent people just like us who would never dream of carrying out such an atrocious act.

Never Again!

I find this man's words inspiring

Update on Ugandan Anti-gay Bill

This has not been passed in the current session of parliament. 

The Guardian reports that

"Uganda's reviled anti-gay bill, which mandates the death penalty in some cases, remains in limbo after parliament adjourned without a debate."

Go here for the full article.

How Shall I Vote?

The only issue in this local election is whether to change the voting system from one where someone can be elected to represent us even though they had less than 50% of the vote, to a system where our votes will still count even if our first choice candidate doesn't make it, so that the winner will have the approval of at least 50% of those who bothered to vote, even if he or she wasn't their first choice.

So, how should I vote?  I believe in fairness and I would like my vote to count even though I don't share the majority view.  Chances are that our incumbent attracts a good 50% of the vote, but there may be times when he doesn't and then my vote would really make a difference.

Besides there are plenty of people in less safe seats who would be able to know that their vote actually counts if AV is voted in.

There has been a lot of disinformation by those who are worried AV could scupper their chances of winning if they need 50% of the vote.

We won't need to keep going back to the polling station.  All we shall have to do is put a number next to each candidate to say who our first choice is, who our second choice is and so on.  What could be simpler? We shan't need to choose them all if we don't want to, but it would be sensible to choose more than one in case our first choice isn't popular with our neighbours.

Changing to an AV system won't incur any extra costs.  We can still use a pencil to list our preferences rather than just put a cross on our ballot paper.  I suppose the extra writing means a few more pencils will be used, but that shouldn't break the bank.   Counting the votes by hand will still be possible.

Extremist parties won't benefit unless 50% of the constituents share their views.  On the other hand with first the past the post system the BNP have managed to scrape wins in local elections with less than a third of the vote.

The AV system is used in Australia and Marian Van Eyk McCain was very pleased with it during the 35 years she lived there.

For more information correcting the scare stories put out by the anti-av suppoters go here.

A Tale of Two Wedding Dresses

Royal weddings full of pomp and splendour are all very well for the royal family; it is what is expected of them and presumably they can afford it, but should the rest of us aspire to anything like these weddings?  Is a wedding about the bride being a princess for a day, or is that a myth that helps to sell expensive wedding dresses and the accompanying paraphernalia?

A wedding is an important day, but it is the start of something even more important, which is married life.  Married life will have a better start if the married couple are not in debt and a simple wedding with less to worry about will be more enjoyable than one where the bride and her mother, and quite possibly everyone else, are worn to a frazzle worrying that every last extravagant detail is perfect.

To my mind planning a wedding you will both enjoy but that is realistic and affordable is the best recipe for a happy wedding day and quite possibly for the start to a good marriage, too.  My husband and I had a church wedding and then had our reception in the village hall.  We didn't have too many guests, either, as it was too far for half my family to come and several of hubby's cousins couldn't make it.  Yet we both remember it as a happy occasion.

My mum made my dress, too, and I was very happy with it and even now I wouldn't have changed it.  I may not have been a princess, but I was happy being me and felt special enough.

Is it Time to Redefine our Royal Family?

My feelings towards the newly wed Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are somewhat ambivalent.  I wish them well as I would any other young couple setting out on the great adventure of married life.  However, there were aspects of the ceremony I was uncomfortable with, such as the military uniforms worn by the groom and others.  Do these have any place in a church, where we are supposed to be worshipping the Prince of Peace?

Why was it necessary to have bombers, machines of death, flying over the happy couple as they stood on the balcony? Is this how the royal family define themselves, as members of the military, aka killers, albeit in the defence of the realm?

Isn't it time we moved forward as a nation, away from glorifying war, just or otherwise?  Surely all war is destructive and should be avoided wherever possible.  I think in the 21st century an enlightened royal family should redefine itself as peacemakers and bridge builders, not as supporters of death and destruction, even if only in name.

The bombers flying over the bride reminded me of this song by Sydney Carter.

                          

Crow on the Cradle by Sidney Carter

The sheep`s in the meadow
The cow`s in the corn
Now is the time for a child to be born
He`ll laugh at the moon
And cry for the sun
And if it`s a boy he`ll carry a gun
Sang the crow on the cradle

And if it should be that this baby`s a girl
Never you mind if her hair doesn`t curl
With rings on her fingers
And bells on her toes
And a bomber above her wherever she goes
Sang the crow on the cradle

The crow on the cradle
The black and the white
Somebody`s baby is born for a fight
The crow on the cradle
The white and the black
Somebody`s baby is not coming back
Sang the crow on the cradle

Your mother and father will sweat and they`ll slave
To build you a coffin and dig you a grave
Hush-a-bye little one, never you weep
For we`ve got a toy that can put you to sleep
Sang the crow on the cradle

Bring me my gun, and I`ll shoot that bird dead
That`s what your mother and father once said
The crow on the cradle, what can we do
Ah, this is a thing that I`ll leave up to you
Sang the crow on the cradle
Sang the crow on the cradle

Switzerland

Lake Geneva

I've just had a lovely few days away visiting my husband in Lausanne, which is on Lake Geneva, in the French-speaking part of Switzerland.  We were surrounded by some lovely scenery and the weather was wonderfully warm and summer-like.

The old town of Gruyeres

There were some wonderful market stalls selling all manner of edible leaves and toadstools as well as more normal produce.

Vegetable stall selling dandelion and wild garlic leaves as well as normal salads leaves and other vegetables.

Stall selling a wide variety of edible funghi

Save Another Mother's Life on Mothers' Day

As Mothers' Day approaches Save the Children are campaigning for more mid-wives and health workers in poor countries.

Apparently the UK government has promised to make sure babies are born safely and to save the lives of 50,000 mums and 250,000 babies by 2015 as part of Every Woman, Every Child, the global maternal and child health strategy,

1,000 women and 2,000 babies die every day in the world’s poorest countries from birth complications which could be easily prevented because the women give birth alone, or without a midwife.

Midwives save lives but there aren't enough.

Around the world, many more children's lives could be saved if there were more midwives, doctors and nurses to treat simple diseases like pneumonia and diarrhoea, and help these children grow up healthy and well.

Read more here

As part of their No Child Born To Die campaign Save the Children are calling for world leaders to help recruit and train 3.5 million vital midwives and healthworkers and they are asking each of us to call on International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell to support the campaign to ensure that no woman gives birth alone.

All you have to do is go here,  fill in your details and press send.

Grow Your Own Veg etc

Apart from thinking about faith and spirituality and reading a couple of books recently I have been spending some time in the garden.  I love getting out into the garden in the Spring sunshine.  If you've been meaning to grow a bit of your own veg or a few flowers to attract bees and butterflies now is a really good time to start.  You don't even need much of a garden, you can grow quite a few things in pots, although you don't want to put too much in any one pot.   Clay pots are best for plants that don't like being waterlogged and plastic is better for plants that aren't happy drying out.  Most plants benefit from a bit of drainage at the bottom, though.  Very few plants enjoy being waterlogged.   On the other hand it's not a great idea to grow really thirsty plants in pots as you will probably have trouble watering them enough.

I've grown quite a few veg in pots and bags from onions and potatoes to lettuce and tomatoes.  Last year I grew a courgette in a grow bag, which was reasonably successful but not as good as previous courgette plants I've grown in the ground.



This year I'm growing a few first early potatoes in bags as we don't have a massive vegetable garden.

Spiritual Reflections and Explorations

I've decided this is probably not the place for my reflections on spirituality and my faith, but I am feeling a greater need to explore my beliefs so I have decided to set up a new blog, which I'm calling Spirituality and Sustainability.  Please visit if you are interested in such matters.

My first proper blog was entitled Living Faith, but I have moved on since then.  Doing a google search I found there is a Catholic website with that name and I didn't want my new blog to be mistaken for that.  I also came across a website called Spirituality for Life, which was my second idea for a title.  It looks like it could be interesting and the author may think a bit like me, but I haven't checked it out properly yet.

As my faith or spirituality or whatever I have these days has encouraged me to try to live more sustainably and that seems to be an important way that I can express what I believe, Spirituality and Sustainability seemed appropriate, if slightly clunky.  Hope you don't find it too much of a mouthful.

I look forward to walking with you on the journey.

Making Marmalade

Hubby and I made marmalade with Seville oranges on Sunday.

You may think that Seville oranges are out of season now, and you would be right, but realising I wouldn't have time when they were in season and having ordered a batch including a couple of lemons from Riverford I decided to freeze the fruit until I had the time.


I used the recipe from Riverford  for quantities, but used a recipe from school days for the method.

Not having a pressure cooker we cut the fruit in quarters and simmered in the water for half an hour instead of 10 minutes. Hubby carefully extracted most of the pips. However, once the fruit was cooked we separated the pulp and remaining few pips from the rind and cut the rind into fine slices. Hubby’s were a bit shorter and chunkier than mine.

Then it was time to go and see mother-in-law and do some shopping. After that we did a spot of gardening. Then (after washing our hands well) we put all the pips and pulp in a large muslin cloth, which I'd bought a while back, and tied the ends to make a bag, simmered the contents for a half an hour in the fluid left over from the morning. We then removed the muslin bag and squeezed as much juice as we could out of the bag. Hubby later found somewhere to hang it up and let more juice drip out.

Next we added the sliced peel and sugar so that our saucepan was very full. You don’t want a saucepan full of sugar solution to boil, so we ladled some into another large saucepan so that both were half full and could bubble away happily without too much spillage.

I used Waitrose Fairtrade sugar, which came in paper bags.

When I thought the marmalade was nearly done hubby tipped the marmalade back into one saucepan and mixed it together well.

From school days I knew to have a saucer or two in the fridge, so that I could put a few drops of marmalade on one when I thought it might be ready. At that stage you pop the saucer back in the fridge for just a few minutes, then touch it to see if it has set and wrinkles when you push it.

We added a knob of butter at the end to disperse the froth. Then we poured it into clean jars we’d sterilised in the oven and sealed each jar with a wax disc before covering with a plastic film lid. I'd been saving the jars for a couple of years, but had to buy the jam pot coverings on Sunday as I couldn't find any where I expected them to be.

It tasted good on the spoon and the next morning we could see it had set. So, it seems it's all right to leave it half way through.  The crucial bit is cooking it for just the right time.  We just need to finish our last jar of bought marmalade and then we can try it.

Experiences of Pollack and Nursing Homes

Where does the time go?  I don't seem to have much for blogging lately.  I've been reading books instead, I guess.  Yesterday I went to see my parents and took my mum to look around a couple of nursing homes that take people with dementia who shout.  My aunt has been keeping her fellow residents awake at night and has to move homes.  She did not have a confirmed diagnosis of dementia when she moved in and she was a lot less noisy.  It is a sad situation, but we were relieved that the first home we looked at was very calm when we looked around and the residents appeared well cared for.  The second home was a different story and we hope she won't end up there.   There are places in the first home, so we just have to wait for the assessment to take place to learn if they will take her.

I'm hoping to take advantage of this sunny day and more energy than I've had of late to get a few things done in the garden, so I shan't say much more.

However, I realise I have not reported on our experiences with pollack.  I bought some a couple of weeks ago to make a fish curry and it was a firm white fish with a pinkish tinge that tasted absolutely fine in the curry.  Friday night we had it again, this time just coated in flour and fried and it was as good as cod and possibly slightly moister.

Not my photo, but it looks very much as our pollack looked