Just Humans Being...

Here are some photos of the barn we are moving into at the weekend. We will be sharing the main barn with folks on working holidays. The view from the barn across the land. The barn is made from straw bales. The end of the main barn and the smaller attached barn used for holiday lets/retreats. The outdoor solar shower. The compost loos. One end of the main barn with our bedroom on the right. The other end of the barn -  with kitchen, dining and living space... And this wonderful large stove which is perfect for us. We are very excited to be on the moving on to a new adventure and closing the door to the little house by the sea. Love Kay and Sime xx

We always make large amounts of food and enjoy using the leftovers. We like colourful meals, as we've mentioned before on the blog. Cooking healthy vegan food really doesn't need to be complicated and each of these dishes were on the table within an hour... Which is quick for those of us who love to cook!  The sauce from this brown lentil cottage pie started out as a spicy miso gravy and before that it was a bean chilli. The lentil mixture was topped with potatoes mashed with leeks, which were slow fried in soy sauce. Served with steamed carrots and kale and red cabbage, braised with seasame seeds, soy sauce and freshly squeezed orange. The previous day's brown lentil mix and red cabbage reheated and served up with dry roasted cauliflower and potato wedges, steamed kale and pureed carrots, swede and turmeric. The next day, we put all the leftover vegetables into the food processor, along with some scrambled tofu, mushrooms and garlic left over from

Making that journey along an unfamiliar road is scary, leaping into the unknown and choosing to do something new and different. Saying YES to everything can really be exhausting, though once you get into the flow - it gets quite addictive. Consequently, we have ended up working more than we imagined and have given away more money to charities, moved house and are moving again. Life takes so many exciting twists and turns and we have stopped worrying whether we are doing the right thing. Over time, saying yes has got easier and now it's second nature. On the odd occasion we look at each other and wonder what the hell we are doing, but mostly we just laugh hysterically and go for it! Here's Shonda Rhimes giving an interesting and inspirational talk about her year of saying Yes.  My Year Of Saying Yes To Everything  We have both noticed a real shift in the way we see and deal with situations. No longer fearful of the worst case scenario, we find it easy to com

What an incredible year we have had... We downsized to spend 12 months in a sweet little house with the most stunning views of the sea. We were treated to an amazing holiday in Canada, thanks to our kind and beautiful friend Richard... It was fantastic to spend time with Richard and his fabulous family...  We adore them all very much and will always be grateful to him for his incredible generosity! We had lots of new work opportunities come our way, which have kept us extremely busy and have enabled us to continue living here - The price for a bit of luxury! We now work in more stunning properties and we also spent the summer season at the youth hostel with a lovely team... All the kidlets are happy living their alternative lives...  2 of them own a caravan, 2 of them live in that caravan, 2 of them gave up their flat to do a long term house sit and all of them have exciting plans ahead. We have come to realise that for us, our

Wishing you all well and for those of you who partake in the seasonal festivities, we hope you are having a happy and fun time! We had our annual family get-together early this year and enjoyed a weekend in a snowy Somerset. We stayed in a beautiful former church with all the kidlets, where we exchanged our usual Secret Santa gifts, ate, drank, played games and music, laughed and chatted pretty much non-stop! As the snow fell, we said our goodbyes and we travelled through a blizzard up to Stoke-on-Trent, where we sampled the delights of retirement village living with Granddad Gerry and Nana Stip-Pep! We then went on to Snowdonia, just the two of us and stayed in a little Welsh stone cottage, just outside Betws-y-Coed. There we experienced a big thaw with lots of flooding and then it snowed again! We returned home to lots of work and were busy up until Christmas Eve, but have now chilled out for a few days. It's just us and the kitties at home in this little ho

I love the summer. It's my favourite time of year. This year has been particularly bountiful with regards to long periods of uninterrupted sunshine and I have needed no encouragement whatsoever to step outside and sensibly and gradually expose my body to the rays. Over a period of many weeks I have gradually bronzed in a way that has been beyond my grasp for many years due to the whims and vagaries of the British summer. Finally, after careful immersion I have achieved a level of poise and confidence not unlike say mild smugness. Now don't get me wrong, it is by no means a deep tan, a swarthy layer of earthen masculinity but it is most definitely noticeable to those who may have whispered the words "pasty" or "wan git", It has been not just a surprise but a crushing blow then to discover that my new found glow has not only been completely ignored, but my lovely wife (who too possesses a not unenviable tan herself has been the centre of attention be

We were travelling home from Falmouth last night and followed this spectacular storm. When we got home it was still raging and probably lasted a couple of hours - this is the view we had from our bedroom window at 1am this morning looking towards Plymouth, which is some 40 miles distant. It was an incredible show, with a constant succession of flashes. Kay and Sime xx