Just Humans Being...

We made a pact a few years ago that we would only leave Meadowcroft if we found somewhere really special to live. One of the most important things featured on both of our lists was to have stunning views, so when we found our French house - the view just blew us away! We are still waiting for the sale to go through and so far, it's been nine months since our offer was accepted... The notaire discovered a slight glitch in that the terrace was actually owned by a neighbour. It was then agreed that the present owner of the house was to purchase the terrace and shortly before the sale went through the neighbour unexpectedly died... His estate is now being transferred to his brother, who is more than happy to sell the terrace and we have been asked if we would like to continue to wait.  We are not in any rush and know that our little house will be worth waiting for...   Maybe the exchange rate will be more favourable by the time we go through the sale and in the mean

It's two months since we moved into our little home and despite the fact that it's rained every day since we arrived - we love it! We sleep with the curtains open and wake every morning seeing the sea, although some days the mist has meant we don't see anything for a while, but it's fascinating having such a vast view of the open sea and the coastline into Devon. We see the changes in the weather and the colour of the sea. The blustery and gale force winds bringing rough waves and then days of mill pond calmness. We see storms coming in, the dark clouds and glimpses of blue sky. From the kitchen we look down on Portmellon, which is very pretty and at night is like a Mediterranean hillside village with twinkling lights, next to a glistening sea. We are living in this small space and it is wonderful. Life feels simpler, we have definitely slowed down and just enjoy being cosy and snug with the kitties... We all seem to sleep more too, whic

We recently watched a wonderful film about Jhamtse Gatsal - The Garden Of Love And Compassion and the Buddhist Monk, Lobsang Phuntsok who decided to build a safe and educational haven for many underprivileged children living in poverty in the Bhutan/Tibet area. Photo taken from here This man is such an inspiration, the way in which he genuinely cares for the children and is dedicating his life to making a massive difference to so many. Please do read all about it here... Tashi And The Monk  and watch the  Film Here  for free...  Perhaps it will inspire you to think more about ways to give and help others and to understand the positive impact giving makes on not only those you wish to help, but your life too! And there's more... Becoming Minimalist - 9 Ways Generous People See The World Differently. It really does get quite addictive - but in a very nice way!!! ♥

EE Cumings quote taken from here. You only have to do a quick search on the internet to see that laughter is becoming big business.  There are clubs, online courses and therapists dishing out ideas to bring laughter into your life...  How bizarre is that?  People need to be taught how to laugh and of the health benefits it brings, which incidentally are huge - but what has happened? Why don't folks know how to laugh? It is such a basic instinct and yet, we're not doing it... Well we do , but lots of you don't.  We know how our mental health influences our physical health, so no wonder laughter is now seen as an important ingredient for  healing illness.  There is so much fun to be had if you spend time with people who make you laugh, so if you're not getting enough - seek out others who share the same sense of humour, who can help you change and before you know it...  You'll be enjoying a good belly laugh every day, crying with laughter a

You took every opportunity that came your way? What would life look like if you said YES to everything? We decided at the end of last year to start taking each opportunity presenting itself... We have always been pretty good at doing this, but somehow got caught up in our comfort zone and found ourselves becoming indecisive,  dithering about and constantly flipping back and forth - weighing everything up and making excuses for why we couldn't do things... We realised that in order to move on - we really needed to stop doing this, so w e made a decision to change. We have embraced this way of thinking and so far, our lives are taking some very interesting twists and turns. We wake up every morning full of excitement and realise we no longer feel any fear for new challenges, instead we are filled with determination to make the most out of every situation.  So what are you waiting for? If you want to make changes in your life - you really do have to step out of your comf

Last year, shortly after being published - we bought 2 copies of   Book Of Joy .  One for us, which we constantly dip into and the other copy was to lend out to friends...  We ended up actually giving it to a friend who is suffering with his health. This book contains a 5 day long interview with the Dalai Lama and Desmond Tutu - it is incredibly inspirational...  Their outlook on life and the world, their friendship and sense of humour is just really wonderful! No dark fate determines the future - we do.  Each day and each moment, we are able to create and recreate our lives and the very quality of human life on our planet. DALAI LAMA & DESMOND TUTU Have a beautiful, fun-filled day!!! Kay and Sime xx

Thank you Richard for this great photo! :-) ♥

Foodie photies! Mostly taken at Meadowcroft, hence the rubbish light... Our usual small portions - hahaha! That brown thing is a stuffed mushroom with tons of veggies. This stuffing was made with some leftover chickpea houmous, walnuts, a few breadcrumbs, chopped onions & garlic. Then we have dry roasted spuds, swede & potato mash, roasted butternut squash, beetroot & parsnip, steamed carrots, cauli & cabbage. This was then swamped in Sime's lentil & miso gravy! The leftover steamed veg then got added to butternut squash, mushroom, butter bean & pea spaghetti - which were cooked with onions, garlic & liquid aminos. Red lentil, walnut and brown rice bake with onions, garlic, mushrooms, courgettes and breadcrumbs. Home made pizza topped with hummus, potato, sweetcorn, mushroom, tomato, courgette and fresh parsley. More pizza... Home made polenta base, topped with passata, red onion, potato, sweetcorn, mushroom, courgette,

The view from our garden this morning... Low cloud over the sea... Our neighbours new glamping pods... Bleached sky... Portmellon. Our decking...  Looking forward to sitting here in the warmer weather! We are having a cat flap fitted on Monday...  Can't believe we've been here for nearly 4 weeks now and our boys will be so happy to be venturing out! We think they are very much at home now, so we are hoping they won't travel too far...  Bedtime snuggles with Fleaby... And a rare bedtime snuggle with Lupes! Bye for now, Kay and Sime xx

Last week we spent a couple of hours in a book shop while the brakes on our car were being fixed. We were in Truro and it was bitterly cold - neither of us likes traipsing around shops, but we do enjoy books and since probably giving hundreds away, it was rather comforting to step into this little haven. After going off in separate directions for a while (Sime always heads to the music section, while I go straight to the travel books), we eventually found each other again and discovered an empty sofa. We then spent a blissful hour with Sime reading to me. We were occasionally aware of other people around us, some looked at us as if we were scum (we are used to this). Our appearance obviously gives people a certain impression of us... Sime's beard, my old fraying French army coat and our general scruffiness. Others seemed quite enchanted and kept looking over at us smiling. It made us wonder if people are not used to seeing adults read to each other, but it's som

               We saw this a while ago and think this guy is quite inspirational...       He sees opportunities come his way and takes them, without a doubt - he just does it!         Enjoy and hope your Sunday is a happy one! ♥ Kay and Sime xx

We are loving our new little place and are feeling very much at home... We gave away our juicer to a lovely friend, as our new kitchen is quite small. We do have a Nutribullet too, which is easier to clean and we start each day with a smoothie. These are pineapple, banana, kale, goji berry, pumpkin seeds, turmeric and spirulina. We add a mix of water and home made milk to the ingredients. Delicious! We have been reunited with our milk maker (which was buried in the jam room at Meadowcroft).  It's great making all sorts of milks again...  And the pulp goes into our porridge! This one is brown rice and almond. Porridge!!! Oats with hemp protein powder, chia seeds, ground flax seeds, rose hips, banana, apple, blueberries and water. Topped with milk, cinnamon, ginger and real Canadian maple syrup... Courtesy of our beautiful friend, Richard - who brings it over from Canada every year!!! ♥ An organic veggie feast - we are still gettin

This is 11 years worth of shells and pebbles collected from the beach. They were on every windowsill and shelf, in every room of Meadowcroft...  Over the weeks, we filled a waste paper basket with them and a few days ago - returned them to Hemmick Beach! ♥