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Showing posts with the label Life

10 Things To Avoid Before It's Too Late

  One thing we learn from spending time with older folks is how NOT to live! We are well aware that we are not like most people and our views on life are probably very different, but is it not weird that so many people happily follow the path of many others? All with similar jobs, houses, cars, clothes...all influenced by something they’ve seen on TV or read in a magazine. Groups of similar aged people all wanting the same; conforming to what they feel is expected of them without question. We can only imagine what it is like to feel the sort pressure that would make someone want what others have and slipping into a strange world where everyone is the same. We only catch glimpses of these lives and from where we are standing the results are not looking good. There are many lists out there for improving lives with recommendations for happy and healthy retirements; most of them are quite twee and superficial, so we thought people need to know what not to do!!! Without further ad

Return To Nature

We take much pleasure in this view...The gateway to our plot. Yesterday we had a lazy day, after a few days of being on hand 24 hours a day supporting a client. We have spent time looking at the garden and thinking about our plans for the little caravan, which was originally used (by the previous dwellers) as guest accommodation.  We would like to eventually wood-clad it and use as a potting shed, freeing up the workshop for other things and as the farm has a hostel and camping field, any folks wishing to stay have those options instead of this little caravan, but we would highly recommend a visit because it really is a lovely place to be. Have a little look at  Holifield Hostel   It was built by the community using reclaimed wood from Falmouth Docks and we believe it's going to become a very popular holiday destination, especially as it's already getting booked for the summer! If you are planning a trip to Cornwall - come and see us...you will of course not only be immersed in

Acceptance

Do you live in fear of growing old, of becoming ill and dying?  Or do you enjoy your life; living with purpose and seeing the beauty all around you? Our work has evolved in the last year and has taken us on a path which felt right...caring for others.  Going into the homes of older people who have needed help and human contact.  We started with 2 clients, people we have been supporting with housework and pet care for many years and as the months ticked by, they both asked if we would go into various friends too. We are now working pretty much full time, doing whatever is needed...housework, gardening, dog walking, food preparation, sometimes just sitting and chatting over a cuppa.  We feel we have calmed those who were fearful and helped them to see things more logically...there is little virus here in Cornwall and it is very doubtful anyone will catch it while sitting in their house. Those who had become frightened of the outside world, have now started going out again - seeing family

Cabin Life

We have been in the cabin for 4 months and it is wonderful to think that we are just a few weeks away from spring, not that we are wishing our lives away - because we absolutely love this cosy little place and as serial hibernators, we are very happy to be warm and snug. Choosing to live simply has exceeded our expectations and we have been on this journey since leaving Meadowcroft 4 years ago.  Our time at Cotna Eco Retreat  gave us a great grounding and enabled us to start preparing for this...outdoor facilities, mud and nature!  Simple rural living can be a challenge in the winter, but we are strong and more resilient than ever, which feels so good. We are doing exactly what we have dreamed of for many years... One of many lovely messages left behind by the previous cabin dwellers. Here we keep our recipe and natural health books...we are very passionate about food and nutrition, as you may know and seeing this message everyday has probably had quite an impact on us.  Like many peop

Intuition

Do you trust your own instinct or prefer to rely on opinions supposedly based on facts? Over the years we have been advised against doing what we have wanted to do, we have experienced so many sharp intakes of breath by the people trained in the various areas we have disagreed with, but we have always chosen to stick to our guns and do what we feel is right. The thing is, our decisions came from within – we were never been influenced by others or knew of other people doing what we we wanted to do, we just felt something...a knowing. When we first got together in 1986, we discovered that we both felt repulsed by certain meats and we began questioning why we continued to eat it when we felt so uncomfortable. One evening Sime came over to my flat and made spicy veggie burgers from soya mince which were delicious and I then found a recipe for walnut and broccoli lasagne and we carried on learning more and more. In 1987, we bought our first house together and it just so happened that

Let The Sunshine In

  As we ventured out yesterday, we were thinking how surreal the world has become when people are colour co-ordinating face masks with their clothes (no doubt this has been a thing for a while - just not in our little world!) - it’s quite bizarre, especially when they look so glum; almost zombie-like, pushing trolleys around shops along to the awful versions of festive music being churning out all day. We choose not to wear masks, we don’t use nasty soaps or wash our hands any more than usual, we hug our family and friends...even those visiting from other areas and guess what? We are all fine! We don’t personally know anyone who has caught the lurgy, but have heard of people who have had it and the deaths we have heard of have all been elderly with other health issues. We take full responsibility for our own health and if we do by chance get sick - then of course, we will happily isolate ourselves, but we believe we will remain well. I remember reading an interview with the Swedish

Choosing Our Own Path

  As a child, I think I drove my folks mad by always questioning them, whenever I was told to do something a certain way – I would ask why? More often than not, the reply would be “because I say so” or “it just is” which meant I never got a satisfactory answer. Perhaps this is why I have gone through life always questioning and if the answers don’t make sense – I do my own thing, luckily I met someone who feels the same way and together we continue to follow our own path. Why couldn’t I wear bright red woolly socks with my navy blue school uniform? Or a T-shirt instead of the silly round collared blouse? What was wrong with yellow or blue nail varnish? It was quite ridiculous that I was pulled up daily from my third year in high school for not conforming...I was sent to see the head teacher, given detention, but I continued to wear my own versions and actually enjoyed finding ways to bend the rules. I was told that the uniform was to give us a sense of belonging, an identity...re

Connection

  At what point in history did we start putting our elderly relatives into care homes? As I write, I have no way of knowing...no internet to help research and Sime’s still snoozing, well it is only 6:30 and dark - most people are asleep, but I woke with this thought and no doubt I have written something along these lines before. Having cared for both my Grandmother (Nan) and Sime’s Mum (Bebe) and knowing how difficult it was especially with Bebe as her dementia progressed...I was thinking about how families managed before care homes. Certainly in the UK, we have become quite disconnected from our older generation and it seems that their opinions are no longer valued by younger generations. How differently we live today and yet Nan grew up surrounded by family, cousins in the same street or just around the corner. Neighbours were like extended family and everyone helped each other - taking care of the children and keeping an eye on aging grandparents. Lives were entwined. Young and

Gratitude

  We have been writing daily lists of gratitude for a few years and we both agree that it has transformed the way we live. We have noticed how much more observant we are of our surroundings; we see the beauty in each day and feel genuinely grateful for the love, warmth and support around us. We enjoy helping others and feel gratitude in our ability to do so. We are able to remain calm in difficult situations and try to find the good, even if it is just a tiny glimmer of hope. We are more forgiving and wish only love and happiness to people who can sometimes be challenging. At the end of our gratitude list we always add the names of 3 or more people who we feel need help – they may be going through a particularly tough time or are just plain rude...it doesn’t matter, anyone we think is in a bad place gets added to the list and we virtually send them our love and positivity. We take it in turns to write our list - some days we just do quick one liner entries and other days, we do

In The Flow

There is real joy to be found when life takes you on interesting paths and you suddenly realise you are now doing that very thing you dreamed about. When you think back to those first ideas many moons ago, you had no way of knowing how to get there, so you either gave up or worked hard to make it happen. As most of you know...we don’t work hard! Striving for something doesn’t always seem healthy, it can become an obsession and will eventually separate you from the now...from connecting with life in the present moment. We prefer a much more pleasant journey, exploring the little winding lanes which lead us in different directions and make life more interesting...the destination is set in our minds and we know that we’ll get there eventually! This is how we live and travel - we always end up having little adventures on the way...it’s what life should be all about. Our dreams take shape from ideas and then long discussions (we can easily talk for hours and hours). We both get

Where are We?

  It’s 3 weeks since we finally moved into the cabin. We are still upside down...well that’s not quite true, there is now some space and order to where our things live and we are gradually making the cabin our home. We are also getting closer to realising a dream we first had over 30 years ago - to live off-grid and have our own power supply. At the moment, we are reliant on mains electricity for our fridge, lighting, radio and a few kitchen appliances...blenders, grinders, etc, as well as charging devices. We don’t have internet and thought we’d see how we get on without it in the cabin and instead just continue to use a communal area on the farm to catch up with the outside world. We don’t have a phone signal in or outside the cabin either, which means we do feel a bit cut off, but pleasantly so. I’m pretty sure we have written before on the blog about our desire to live off-grid...we are planning to have solar panels and I’m pushing for a small wind turbine. The cabin is s

New Home

For some strange reason Blogger has decided to censor this lovely quote from James Allen... If anyone out there can tell us why, we would be very grateful.   Cherish your visions;  Cherish your ideals;  Cherish the music that stirs in your heart,  The beauty that forms in your mind,  The loveliness that drapes your purest thoughts,  For out of them will grow all delightful conditions,  All heavenly environment;  O f t hese, if you but remain true to them,  Your world will at last be built. ~ James Allen ~ We have written many posts about how we have always spent time together "scheming an' a dreaming". We still have the book we wrote our list of 101 goals from over 10 years ago and we are always pleasantly surprised when we dig it out that we can tick off a few more! Amongst the completed goals we have: Live by the sea  Own a house in France Live on a mountain Live in a wooden house Grow our own vegetables Recently, we thought again about living in a wood cabin...influen

Perception

Do you feel like an outsider looking in on the world? We do. We have stopped listening to the news, the radio and stayed away from most social media. We ditched TV many years ago and cancelled a streaming service we were sucked into earlier in the year. Taking a break from all this is quite empowering and instead we are concentrating on eating well and filling our spare time with nice things like reading, educating ourselves (at the moment we have somehow got into studying psychology) and meditating. In September 2001, we were on a camping trip in France with our kidlets, completely unaware of the 9/11 incident in New York. We had noticed lots of folks on the campsite sitting around their radios, but we assumed that it must be an important sporting event...something we have no interest in! Several days later our Dutch neighbours realised that we were the only campers enjoying ourselves and the wife must have drawn the short straw; coming over to announce "New Yo