Just Humans Being...

The natural rhythm of life for humans and many other creatures we share this planet with - is to be busy during daylight hours and to sleep at night. We think of sleep as recharging our batteries and it is when the nutrients in our body have a chance to replenish and our nerve cells regenerate. If we don’t get enough sleep, then we will gradually become deficient and then sick as our body struggles to recuperate.   By living simply and following nature’s lead – we should be waking at dawn, winding down again at twilight and going to sleep as soon as darkness falls, but instead most of us resist our natural rhythm and fill our evenings and nights with much stimulation...bright artificial lights, TVs, internet, gaming, music, processed food, alcohol and drugs. We often hear people saying they don’t need much sleep, but are they a picture of health? What about the folks who struggle to sleep? Or wake in the night for long periods? Has our dependence on electricity caused us

We believe that many of you dear readers may recall our quirky illumination device that we repurposed and installed at our old home, Meadowcroft – a 300 year old former farmhouse. It was a great place to live and we stayed for 12 years, but it had its faults and one was that it was very often dark inside – even on a summer’s day. The dining room was particularly gloomy. We can laugh about it now, but at the time; we injured ourselves on serrated knives, razor wire, drawing pins, chainsaw blades, stinging nettles and wood splinters almost on a daily basis. One dark evening, I tripped and fell heavily against the back of a solid farmhouse chair, not only breaking some ribs in the process, but I also dropped a full plate of hot food and catapulted a glass of red wine at the ceiling. My ribs, though painful took a few weeks to heal, but the red wine stain remained for years until we finally redecorated. We needed light and quickly and once the problem was solved, we saved a fortune on

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

This is our new friend Tiky, we agreed to become his guardians when we took on the cabin, but as usual with us...his name has morphed and over the weeks he has become known as Tickety Boo! This beautiful chap is such a sweet natured kitty, who has calmly put up with the upheavel of his family leaving, spent 2 weeks more or less living in the workshop and to top it all – these strangers move in and with another cat!!! We are so happy that he has accepted us all...he and Floober (our old boy, Flea) growled a couple of times at each other while eating and now are happy to be close and can even be left together in the cabin for many hours. It’s funny really, we had both decided a while ago that we would not be taking any more cats in...but we agreed to having Tiky without hesitation. Our unexpected bonus. How lucky we are to be sharing our lives with yet another gentle soul.   ♥♥♥

  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

We are in the middle of moving house. Our move is fairly simple as we gave away most of our big furniture when we left Meadowcroft...nearly 4 years ago! We don't need a van or a company to help pack. We are just getting on and doing it gradually...no rush, just a slow move. As always, we make time to sit still, take in the views, breathe and remain eternally calm. Life can be this simple. So why do many people make it complicated? Try to enjoy some quiet time each day, it's such a lovely thing to do. Love Kay and Sime xx

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