Making a Chain

Absurd post title, given this is about links I want to keep for myself and thought I'd share. I blame Bill, his sideways thinking has rubbed off on me. Not a fan of 'linky love' and the like. In the past I've added blogs to my bloglist but never found the specific posts I liked so much again. 

So trying a different approach. 

Six Ways to a Slow Summer

Edible Landscaping

Forgiveness

My New Year Starts Anytime I Want

Visiting London Soon

Every post deserves a picture

Food Goals

One of my favourite blogs currently is written by Rhonda Hetzel, called Down to Earth. She lives in Australia and writes about how she and her husband, Hanno, live 'simply'. She's even written a book called The Simple Life, available from Amazon and all sorts of other places.  I don't think I would call their life simple in that it requires a fair amount of work to grow as much food as they do, raise chickens, bake breads, make their own soap and household cleaners, etc.  I suppose it is simple in that they have stepped away from the usual consumer lifestyle and are as self-sufficient as they are able to be. 

Somehow the concept of 'simple' in modern (post-modern?) society is fairly complex! I tend to think of it as 'minimalist' but they are not minimalists.  I also think of 'simple' as meaning 'easy' (as in automated, I suppose), but they don't do that either.  They are however frugal and they obviously enjoy what they do. I like to occasionally try some of their ideas (like homemade laundry soap, which seems to have worked out fine). If any of these ideas interest you, you should definitely check out her blog and possibly her book (more on the way).  I have neither the land space nor the climate that they enjoy - I especially envy them the latter, so even with the best will I couldn't replicate their lifestyle. (Besides I suspect I'm far too lazy).

Rhonda recently mentioned about Food Goals, a topic that came up on the Simple Living Forum.  I've joined the forum but not figured out how to comment, etc. I thought this was an interesting topic and people have quite a wide variety of goals.

Mine are
1) spend less than £100 per month on average for our food keeping but also serve a variety of healthy, nutritional foods, especially vegetables and fruit. Not sure how realistic this is, but it's what I aim for.
 - Average of £94 a month spent for food so far this year.  

2) grow some fruit and veg in the back garden (my goal is extremely modest, ie anything is better than nothing)
- I've got the soil all turned and ready, but only strawberries (moved) and broad beans have gone in; on the other hand I've had 2 full crops of carrot greens just from my carrot tops-sitting-in-water in the kitchen; this amuses me no end.

3) use up my stockpiled foods, especially those odd items that will just sit forever if I don't make an effort.
- This is largely what has made £94 monthly average possible. There are still odd things to use up so I'm far from finished with this. It is a balance between presenting Bill with new surprises (which is generally likes) and feeding him tinned and frozen foods (which he'll only tolerate so much of).  

More long-range ideas I've had a long time are to be more competent at making pastry for pies and American style biscuits from scratch (as opposed to British style biscuits which I call cookies).  

Other people have listed such things as

reduce/remove sugar from their diet (because they are diabetic)
grow enough food to preserve
learn to make more things from scratch, ie yoghurt, sourdough bread 
increase the diversity of their diets
move more towards a vegetarian / vegan lifestyle
plan more meals, packed lunches
re-build the stockpile
waste less food


This all sounds really good to me. In fact I can't imagine not having a food goal of some kind.  

How about you? Do you have any food goals?

Swanning About

I was finishing my coffee and reading an entry about Diana Vreeland on Little Augury when a link took me to an article that says only the Queen can own swans in Britain.  

 

This is the first I've heard about that, not that I'm an expert on these things, mind.

So I did a bit of reading about this, including why we don't eat swans (well, it would be impressive to present to dinner guests, wouldn't it?).   I've always been quite drawn to photographing swans, they are so striking, not to mention graceful.  And big!

 

The article in the Daily Mail is more about Charlotte Townshend than swans, really, and it's not exactly a paper I would call a 'reference'.  

 

So, I went to the Royal Website:

Today, the Crown retains the right to ownership of all unmarked mute swans in open water, but The Queen only exercises her ownership on certain stretches of the Thames and its surrounding tributaries.

Turns out there is even a ceremony about it all.   Well, of course there would be...

Don't Read This Now!

Possibly the worst time in the world to discover a new time-consuming obsession is in the days with the longest to-do lists in the year, those leading up to Christmas.  So perhaps you'd best just note this for reading on Boxing Day.  I'm being silly here, I know.  It reminds me of a joke that was at Grandmother's house, a couple of wood blocks hinged together like a greeting card.  On the front it said 

Open in Case of Fire

When one, in curiosity, naturally opened it one found

Not Now, Dummy!  In Case of Fire!!!

I don't know how many times I opened the stupid thing and laughed.  My excuse for then was that I was a child.  That it still amuses me, well, there is no excuse, is there?

Anyhow, I've recently discovered three new blogs, the first, Little Augury, because of A Femme d'Un Certain Age.    Then two more, An Aesthete's Lament, and Frence Essence, via Little Augury.  Never mind the objects they hold up that one might think about buying (I don't even go there, it's just not my thing), these blogs are full of visual wealth, introductions to people from the (inter-war) period of my dreams - and others, sprinkled with words I almost know, but need to look up to learn more.  It will take me months to make my way through the back catalog of their posts and to peruse all the ideas they so lavishly present.

I suspect there are many more blogs on their respective lists equally as seductive, but I refuse to look until I've done some tidying up of my blog list, removing the ones that didn't prove that interesting to make room for new time-wasters sources of my fine arts education.

After Boxing Day... not before...

Grownup-in-Training

One of my daily visit blogs is RealDelia. I like her blog because she is a 'real' writer (ie she makes a living from it), because she is an American living in England (Though in London where most people seem to go, not to the 'real' England like me (ha!). You know fine well, the tourist spots are not real America, either.) and because from her blog I find many other things on the internet that educate and amuse me.

In her post today she lists all the reasons she loves blogging and I have to nod my head to each and every one of them: finding a voice, getting more discipline, discovering new friends, learning loads and, best of all, I think, becoming more mindful.

It was also from this post that I found the Neverbloomer quiz and my test result was totally spot on, well, in a metaphorical way and except for the bit about General Hospital, I don't do soaps.

You are a Grownup-in-Training.
You may not yet be a full-fledged grownup, but you sure know how to find one when you need one. Your Yellow Pages are well dog-eared, as you are constantly adding the phone numbers of competent GrownUp professionals to your personal directory.

You are very aware of your inner-child, but aspire to at least become her responsible adult guardian sometime soon. People lean on you for advice, but you're still looking to others to teach you how to bloom.

You watch General Hospital for clues, and have concluded that while Laura may play the part, Luke is the grownup you most want to be like.

So, do you feel like a grown-up or, like me, are you still trying to raise yourself?

Something for the Men

I think of my blog as being quite a 'girly' blog a lot of the time and when I look at the [gasp...401] blogs I have bookmarked, most of them are written by women about girly subjects. But I have been thinking about you guys and tucking away ideas here and there, mostly about gift ideas for next year, but also about blogs you might enjoy. I like them, too, mind.

Top of my list has to be James, Man of the 50s. His outlook and his topics seem really familiar to me, as though he writes the views of the men in my family. He's not writing about my childhood, but he makes me nostalgic for those days all the same.

If you like nostalgia, you might like Bleat. I've not figured this site out yet, but it seems to be full of astonishing links to things that were in the media when I was growing up. I absolutely must get the sound fixed on this PC so I can enjoy the episodes of Gunsmoke. Come to think of it, what I watched was pretty good even without.

If you are interested in clothing and a certain lifestyle, try Easy and Elegant Life. It's not an easy site to get around in, all links seem to lead to the most recent post which is quite annoying, but if you just go to the calendar list and dip in here and there, you might find some interesting stuff. [Hint: the 'pages' list is not useful and his tags are more interesting, if less accessible, than his categories].

I've not figured this one out either (but I don't actually expect to understand man-stuff any more than I expect to be understood). Judging from his very general phrase about his blog:

"...observations on human nature, the decline of civility, and the ways men and women see the world differently"

I'd guess that if you are a grumpy old man (and that's not in the least derogatory, Bill fitting neatly into that category), you might enjoy To the Manner Born. Or perhaps Middle-Age Cranky would do for you.

If you are at a point in your life where you need some general pointers about man stuff, perhaps you would benefit from The Art of Manliness (and naturally there is a book with that title.) I have a vague idea that this might be aimed at, shall we say 'younger demographic' but not wishing to be ageist, I'll leave it to you to decide.

If you are interested in how French men view life or just want a little escape into thinking about "If you could buy anything, what would it be?" check out this post on A Femme d'un Certain Age.

Of course, you can browse other like-minded blogs using the blogrolls (still reminds me of TP) listed on most sites and waste while away days and weeks of your life on-line. However, just in case you were wondering, Bill's very favourite blog, aside from mine of course, is Dilbert.

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Update: Toad (of To the Manner Born) tells me he is an amiable grump and highly recommends Maxminimus. I had a look and I've obviously tread into water too deep. If you understand it and think it's inappropriate, please let me know. Judging from the pictures, the man likes clothes.

Where I Hang Out These Days

I need to update my Blogroll, but that will be very tedious and knowing me I won't get to it for some time. Until then, I wanted to introduce you to my new best friends, well, my new favourite blogs. They barely know I exist though I've stuck my nose in and commented all over the place. I met them through one blog, as one does. (I'm finally understanding what they mean when they say blogs are a social network).

That was the Frugal Scholar. I visit her most days to see what she's up to. On her blogroll are some very interesting characters, among which are Fabulously Broke, The Duchesse and Une Femme. From Une Femme I found A Femme and if all you read is the right hand column of her blog, you'll come away thinking you've been hanging out with your French women friends at a Paris cafe.

What I'm enjoying from them is that they like clothes, and most are (a) conscious of money well-spent instead of squandered; and/or (b) interested in French style and culture, which I find fun; and/or (c) of a 'certain' age, which is a nice change from all the 20 and 30-something crafty SAHM (stay at home mom) blogs I was mostly reading before and got sort of burned out on. Also, one or two admit to not being a size 8 and so their discussions on clothing selection are pertinent.

If any of this appeals to you, drop in and visit them. Au revoir.

Blogroll - at Last!

Here are the blogs I attempt to follow without giving over my entire life; somehow I think I fail on both counts. You know how one good blog just naturally leads to another 50?

Actually, when I think about what a time suck blogs are, I feel almost guilty introducing you to all these. I'll just assume you are a consenting adult and that you are already an experienced blog addict. Then again, you might not be interested in the same topics I am. I expect people who know me will find the fact that I read some of them wildly amusing (ie the ones about domesticity and uncluttering).

Be aware this is an equal opportunity list. I don't have to agree with everyone to enjoy what they share. Some of these blogs are strange, but sometimes that's what makes them fun.

• 4 Reluctant Entertainers
• A Dress A Day
• A Spoonful of Sugar
• Advanced Style
• AfricanKelli
• all buttoned up.
• allsorts
• Apron Thrift Girl
• Behind The Seams
• Blissfully Domestic
• block-a-day
• Blue Yonder
• calicodaisy
• clementine's shoes
• Couture Allure Vintage Fashion
• Craft Chi
• CRAFT Magazine
• Craft Tutorials Galore at Crafter-holic!
• Craftapalooza
• crazy mom quilts
• creative little daisy
• darling petunia
• diaryofasewingfanatic
• Dilbert.com Blog
• dooce® main feed
• Edey's Vintage and Current Needlework
• FABULON
• FiberArts Afloat, a misnomer
• Flint Knits
• Freakonomics
• Friday Playdate
• Frugal Hacks
• Frugal Luxuries by the Seasons
• Granny-Along
• How to Live Online
• Hungry Zombie Couture
• In My Kitchen Garden
• Kathys Cottage
• knitspot
• lamplight designs
• large
• Like Merchant Ships
• makingitfun
• mama urchin
• Mason-Dixon Knitting
• Mayfly
• Mighty Girl
• Miss Celie's Pants
• Mrs. Micah: Finance for a Freelance Life
• My 50's Year
• My Chihuahua Bites!
• My Crafty Life
• My Money Blog
• Nesting Place
• not martha
• Notes from A Cottage Industry
• Pins and Needles
• Pleasant View Schoolhouse
• Politics for Moms
• ProBlogger Blog Tips
• Rachael Rabbit
• Random Acts of Vintage
• Resurrection Fern
• Rick & Joanne's Excellent Adventure
• Ric-Rac
• Rocks In My Dryer
• Rosemary's Sampler
• Sarah London
• SavingAdvice.com Blog
• Scribbit | A Blog About Motherhood in Alaska
• Sew Shy
• Six In The Country
• stardustshoes
• Stretch Mark Mama
• Suburban Kamikaze
• SundryBuzz | advice you didn't ask for
• Terri's Notebook
• The Coffee Lady
• The Grocery Cart Challenge
• The Happiness Project
• The Inspired Room
• The purl bee
• The real food revolution
• The Secret Pocket
• The Sewing Divas
• The Simple Dollar
• The Thoughtful Dresser
• The Vintage Traveler
• This Vintage Chica
• Tie one on
• Tip Diva
• Tree Fall
• Unclutterer
• Vintage Pleasure
• Wardrobe Refashion
• Whip up
• Zen Habits

Check These Out

Because of my interest in frugality and, well, let’s call it a vicarious curiosity about domesticity, I've ended up reading and linking to blogs written by SAHM (stay-at-home-moms) who are home schooling their numerous children and who put Bible quotes in the title of their weblogs. They talk about wearing only dresses to be more feminine and to remind them who wears the pants (meaning of course, trousers, not underwear) in the family. I find what they write fascinating, but I did begin to wonder if I could ever go home to the US again.

However, through a series of links I can’t remember, I did find a weblog with swear words in it and felt a lot better. In fact, I wish I had the nerve to put some swear words in this, but I figure I’ll err on the side of decency for the time being. Some of my family from Oklahoma might visit this and they barely speak to me as it is. With that by way of intro, let me tell you about a few of the funny, irreverent (that means with swear words) blogs I’ve found:

I don't know what Hashai means, but it's a look at the life of a young Louisiana woman married to Chairman Chao -- what she calls her husband; I take it he's of Chinese ethnicity -- and living (for a while) in Texas. She doesn’t write her much any more (last entry May 2007) but the archives are fun. Read with a Southern Drawl: "Just somebody come over here and kill me" … "I swear on a stack of dead daddies" … "How is it already January 6, people? I haven’t even had time to make the resolutions I plan to break, yet" ….

From Hashai I found Dooce. Apparently, if you write in your weblog about work and then get sacked for it, you've been 'dooced', and this is what happened to Heather, but it turns out to have been a really good thing after all. Anyhow, she was raised Morman and is rebelling against that big style, though she now lives in Salt Lake City, where I lived for a while and plan to return one day. She’s now winning national / international? awards and is supporting her family on the income from her blog. Read her 12 March entry about how she’s having the last laugh.

I don’t know what’s more hilarious: the entries, the comments or the adverts. I think this isn’t just about Stuff White People Like, so much as describing what I refer to here in the UK as Desperately Middle Class. I’ve not read all the entries on this one yet but so far I have to admit to about 20% of the first 53 (does this mean I’m only 20% white or 20% middle class? Actually, I think it means I’m 80% frugal…).

At this point, I think what I’ve worked is that if I want to make money off a weblog, I'll need to get some dogs/cats/children to photograph and adore/parody, and then I'll have decide on a Bible verse or get to swearing.