Slow but mobile?

After a year in the UK, I'm now back in Brussels for a brief stint. It feels really good to be back! 

I don't know if it's the time of year or something about Brussels, but here I am, reviving the blog and seeking some slowness again. I think you feel you can have a slow life in Brussels, while London doesn't allow for that possibility. Here, there are more parks. You can walk to work. There are farmers' markets in every square. The main thing though is the size - it no longer takes forever to get from A to B, and you can genuinely ring up some friends on Saturday evening to propose a dinner party and be sitting down together within the hour.

There are some aspects of this life I can dive straight back into. Seasonal cooking! I've been squashing (see what I did there) as many different variants of pumpkin into my recipes as I can, and discovering new types along the way. (Spaghetti pumpkin - so easy, so yummy, so versatile...)

But many other aspects are harder to embrace when you find yourself changing jobs, home and even country every 6 to 12 months, which is the situation I am currently in. I absolutely love my job, both what I am doing now and the future prospects it offers, but the scheme I am on gives me no control over where I go and no ability to plan ahead. I get rotated every six months, and I am told 6-8 weeks beforehand where I will go next.

 

This means that things involving long time-periods (like brewing fruit wine), or space for storage (like homemade jam) or equipment (like a sewing machine) or bulky ingredients (like soap-making) are pretty much out. It does not make sense logistically, financially or for my sanity to lug large quantities of oil and lye around.

The one thing I have brought with me is my knitting. Needles do not take up much space, and I no longer have a stash of wool. 

 

But all the oh so many things I really want to do - and which I could very feasibly do in terms of time if I were living here longer - just don't make sense. A fruit tree in a pot - what do I do with it when I leave? Build a small worm-compost box - ditto.

How do you manage this compromise? Any ideas for more mobile simplicity?

Slow Living - July/August 2014

This post is part of a series started by Christine at Slow Living Essentials - although from this month it is now hosted by Linda at Greenhaven. I haven't actually done one of these since April!

{NOURISH} We've been enjoying warmer summer evenings to sit outside and linger over our food. More yoghurt has been made, and our first attempt at brewing beer, inspired by all the fantastic craft beer we've been drinking. There has been much yummy homemade pizza as well!

{PREPARE} The jam-making bug bit hard one weekend, and I'm hoping it will bite again soon as we are entering the last moment we can make jam for the year.

{REDUCE} Can I put my decluttering here? Much progress made. Still nowhere near enough but much. I'm also making progress on my first attempt at a patchwork quilt, which I'm making from old bits of worn out clothes. I also cut up my old jeans (found in a box in the basement) for cleaning rags and they are working much better than the synthetic fabric rags I was using before. Old jeans also became a pair of soft, comfy slippers.

{GREEN} Still making homemade cleaners - but being a bit more disciplined about routines so getting better results. I think I can probably count my egg-wash here as well - my latest attempt at no-poo is working well, currently alternating egg-wash and water only.

{GROW} I am finally growing something easily edible - lettuce leaves - and it feels great to toss them in with dinner. (Although not yet enough to supply our own salads - a goal for next year will to try to be able to avoid the salad bags in the supermarket and just eat homegrown.) Fresh basil goes on the pizza, and there are radishes about ready for eating.

{CREATE} Quite a lot of overlap here, as the patchwork quilt and even the beer brewing probably fall into this category. I've also made a pair of slippers from old jeans and cardboard. I've made some more progress on my embroidered table cloth but it's very slow-going.

And you? how has your month been?

Slow Living 2014 - March/April

This post is part of a series started by Christine at Slow Living Essentials.

{NOURISH} More yoghurt, and my first sourdough loaves (second one better than the first but it's not quite there yet...) I can definitely smell - and taste - as the wild yeast culture evolves and matures.

{PREPARE} Pickled beetroot. Can't wait to start eating it in a few weeks time after the vinegar-y tang has mellowed. This time I added cinnamon and cloves as well as black pepper to the red wine vinegar - it smelled very Christmas-y.

{REDUCE} Well there has been quite a lot of decluttering - clothes, books, household goods. My skirt made from an old pair of trousers and old shirt of my boyfriend's is progressing. I've also started another round of Project 333 in my wardrobe, and am attempting something similar with my library of books. I've also been using leftover breat crusts to make croutons which are a handy addition to a soup or stew, or a nummy snack.

{GREEN} Another batch of homemade handcream - this stuff is the bee's knees. We've also been engaging in a slow, gradual repair of a leak in the toilet tank by using vinegar and baking soda to erode the build-up of calcium and the red metal deposit we get from the water here. (I'm not too sure what it is.)

{GROW} This week I will harvest my first radish. Radishes are going strong and the beetroots will gladly use the space they leave behind them. However, I haven't planted anywhere near as much as I wanted because I haven't found the tubs/containers and have so far refused to spend major money on plastic ones from the gardening centre. I have realised that a lack of planning is definitely delaying/inhibiting my growing here.

{CREATE} Oh so much knitting.

{DISCOVER} A growing appreciation for craft beer, and a common interest in attempting homebrewing with my boyfriend. We're currently researching the necessary ingredients and kit, and I hope we'll have a go at this in a few weeks.

{ENHANCE} Spending time with friends, with my boyfriend and also by myself. I'm rediscovering the pleasures of reading a single book continuously instead of constantly jumping from book to book.

{ENJOY} Life is good. Still some issues around balance at work, but in general, life is good, and I get a warm feeling every time we sit down to share a pot of fresh-brewed coffee and a slice of homemade cake, everytime we sit outside on our balcony with a locally brewed beer and admire the laundry blowing in the breeze and the radishes spreading their leaves. Simple pleasures.

How about you? How has your month been?

Slow Living 2014 - February

This year I am again joining Christine over at Slow Living Essentials in her monthly stocktaking. February has been a bit of a rollercoaster, as you may be able to tell - I'm loving the gradual building up of the slower, simpler life - the way I can encorporate new skills and new routines into my life - but am finding the conflict with my job frustratingly difficult to manage. 

{NOURISH} Yoghurt! This month I experimented with making my own yoghurt and found it so easy and so fun that it's fitting in very easily and naturally with my routines. I have taken your advice to make two or three jars at a time - they last a week or two just fine in the fridge, and it means I only need to make yoghurt once a fortnight or so. Plus it's so much cheaper! Homemade yoghurt is around €1.28 per litre, while the shop-bought was costing me around €3.36 per litre. Big difference - if I eat around half a litre of yoghurt a week, making my own yoghurt for a year would save me about €50. Not bad...

{PREPARE} Not much here, I'm afraid... What can I preserve this time of year?

{REDUCE} Making my own yoghurt has meant reusing glass jars, so one less glass jar and plastic lid in the recycling/landfill every week. I've also kept the various things I dropped and broke this winter - a pie dish, a plate, an oven dish - to use in the base of pots when I plant things up later this spring.

{GREEN} Not much progress here either - I still use mostly homemade cleaners and beauty products, our heating has only been turned on three times this winter (all occassions purely for the benefit of guests) and our electricity usage is less than half the average for comparable households (young couple, no kids, in appartment), at least according to our energy supplier. I'm not really sure what I could do from here - any suggestions?

{GROW} I BOUGHT SEEDS!!!! Hahahaha... Progress on this, finally! I'm so excited. I still need to get the actual pots and the potting compost, but I should be able to plant something in March. I decided to order online from a UK supplier, largely because I know the Award of Garden Merit from the Royal Horticultural Society (who have a fabulously useful website) is a good bet for beginners. It's awarded to plants that grow reliably without being too fussy about growing conditions or being prone to particular problems. I hope to be self-sufficient in radishes by the end of April. (Mine is a small dream.)

{CREATE} Much going on here, as always! Finished the blue cardigan, now already stuck into a scarf for a colleague, with birthday makes lined up.

{DISCOVER} It might sound naff, but I feel that the growing daylight hours feel a bit like a discovery. It's so cool and I'm not sure I have ever been so acutely aware of the extra minutes of light, the extra mood boost from a few minutes of sun. It's been drawing me outdoors more, to rediscover the city I live in.

{ENHANCE} Really enjoyed my father's visit at the end of February - it's so rewarding to spend time together just chatting, and we had a good laugh and a long walk in the sunshine, both things I desperately needed after a tough week at work.

{ENJOY} Barring the last week of the month - always a tough one at work - I am, you know. I really am enjoying all of it. Even the ironing and the washing up. Life is good when you let yourself live it. (Note: must remind self of this in last week of month.)

If this month had a motto, it was 'turn your face to the sun' - seek the joy and the warmth and the welcome.

Slower means faster (knitting)

I keep getting so much done! I don't know quite how it works, that I feel much more relaxed and less rushed, and yet I get so much more done on my days at home. (Note: this doesn't apply to workdays.) I meet friends and do laundry and bake bread and do ironing and still have time to sit with a cup of tea and knit.

Today I sewed together the panels of the cardigan I am knitting. I've been super excited about this, and waiting for a weekend when I can get the sewing machine out without feeling rushed. I actually finished all but one of the pieces in February but then had to wait for more yarn to arrive from the UK as I'd run out (and had to do quite a bit of research to match the yarn, as I bought this years ago and most places no longer stock it.)

It's actually beginning to look like a cardigan now! Super exciting! Now I'm picking up the stitches around the neck to knit the neckband in, and then just the button and buttonhole bands to go! This will soon be finished and and I can't wait to wear this - the first full garment (rather than scarves/gloves kind of thing) that I've knitted and I'm so surprised by how quickly it knitted up, and how much I've enjoyed the very visible, tangible progress of watching the knitting grow.

I'm really beginning to feel the impact of slowing down, consciously trying to be present in what I'm doing rather than having something on 'in the background', and giving each task my full attention. I finish sooner, do a better job, and feel motivated to move on to another task. I still have a long way to go yet before I feel fully on top of all aspects of managing my home and, well, my life, but I am really enjoying the journey.

And you? Any Saturday craftiness to share?

Slow Living 2014 - January

Better late than never... This year I am again joining Christine over at Slow Living Essentials for her Slow Living Month by Month series. I've found it a useful way to reflect on how much I have really achieved in a month - slow progress can be easily overlooked - while highlighting the areas I really would like to do more. This year she's changed the name slightly - Slow Living Monthly 9 - but it's the same principle, a look back at what I have or haven't done in a few key areas.

{NOURISH} Oh so much fruit salad! So much fruit salad for breakfast with organic yoghurt and homemade toasted muesli, such a yummy start to the day. And I have been taking in more lunches from home, which had rather tailed off towards the end of last year. Soups, leftovers from dinner, and freshly prepared salads - with some variety and some new discoveries such as yellow beetroot. I've also been baking more - bread and cookies.

{PREPARE} Erm not so much. I did mean to pickle some beetroot but I missed the season and there's very little left in the market. 

{REDUCE} Project 333 paving the way for epic clothes donation. I'm also making a skirt from a mpair of my boyfriend's old trousers - and absolutely loving the fact that this is totally free, so I don't feel any pressure to get it right. It's an experiment.

{GREEN} Not sure if it counts but I've started sweeping the kitchen floor regularly, meaning less frequent hoovering needed of this area.

{GROW} Still nothing... I really ought to order some seeds soon...

{CREATE} I finished the curtains in January, finished the buttonholes on a charity shop shirt, made a tablecloth and knitted most of a cardigan from my stash.

{DISCOVER} Can I put Project 333 twice? This really seems to have transformed my wardrobe, my morning routine and my whole attitude to clothes. It's making me think totally differently, and now I feel well on the way towards a pared down, simple wardrobe made of well-fitting, versatile and largely handmade items using natural materials and traditional techniques.

I've also discovered a nature reserve about twenty minutes away by bus - thanks to some friends who suggested going for a walk there. Unfortunately I didn't take my camera but it was glorious. And they have working horses (oh my god those guys are HUGE) and sheep and a little tea room and craft workshops and it's really really cool.

{ENHANCE} Besides the odd trip down to the local market, I think most of my energies in this have been put into blogging more regularly and discovering yet more simple living inspiration in the blogs of others.

{ENJOY} Lots of it! I'm having a lot of fun with all this. And we've had friends over for rugby afternoons - the pub wouldn't let us book a table, so we decided it would be easier, cheaper and more fun to have our friends here. And it was.

There's so much time

When I first came to the concepts of simple living, slowing down and doing it yourself, I thought it would take a lot of time. Baking your own bread takes longer than buying it from the bakery, no? And so on across the board - we are exchanging our time for better quality, more ethical or more personalised products - food, clothes, household, leisure etc. 

This weekend has been very slow and simple - and yet I can't believe how much time I have. I keep looking at the clock incredulous that it is so early, that I can still do so many other things with my day.

Yesterday we had friends over to watch the rugby, so pretty much the whole afternoon was absorbed with drinking, eating, cheering and chatting. The morning was taken up with the weekly food shop. Yet somehow I had time to do a load of laundry, the week's ironing, some crochet, and make a pot of soup from leftover veggies from last week - with enough for me to take some into work next week.

Today, even after a lie-in and clearing up after yesterday, I have found time to make a batch of breakfast cereal, bake bread and prepare a pot of fruit salad for the week, in addition to tackling some paperwork. My boyfriend and I wandered around the local market (I picked up some yellow beetroot - a new discovery!) for a while, and later played a board game with a pot of tea. I've still had time to sit and read a book, to watch the skies turn orange, and to drink several cups of tea.

And now, I have plenty of time to sit down and work on this... A mystery? Ahah! All shall be revealed.

Where did all this time come from? What did I used to do before that took up so much time, and has since been dropped? I haven't been aiming to do anything, pushing myself to do more - just taking it slowly and savouring each activity. Where did the time come from?

Slow Living 2013 - December

I'm once again joining the Slow Living Month by Month series - follow the link for more info. Please join!

[NOURISH] Well, plenty of this going on. I wondered what our first Christmas as hosts would focus on, and unsurprisingly it has focused on food, or rather on preparing and eating fabulous food with friends and family.

[PREPARE] The homemade cranberry, port and cinnamon 'sauce' (really more of a jam) was such a hit that we've now made three batches and have several jars in the cupboard. We found that it really developed flavour over the few days we were able to stand not eating it, and so we're looking forward to opening in later months.

[REDUCE] Does using up the last bits of turkey for chelsea buns count? No? How about reusing packaging from deliveries received to send gifts by post?

[GREEN] Not much change here, still using lots of homemade cleaners and toiletries.

[GROW] Much planning here, of which more anon!

[CREATE] Presents! Knitted wristwarmers, covered and decorated notebooks, earrings... Lots of craftiness!

[DISCOVER] Turning my hands to new crafts - papercrafts and jewellery-making - first for a while, actually. I have been reading up on container gardening, as well as rediscovering an old favourite, Lorna Doone, on my ever-less-cluttered bookshelves.

[ENHANCE] As is most appropriate for the time of year, this month has been full of visits to and from friends and family, gifts and cards sent and received, and much reconnecting. I'm also, rather unexpectedly, finding that something as simple as unfriending people on Facebook who aren't really my friends is leaving me more emotional energy to reach out and connect with people I really care about. I hadn't realised how much it was draining that.

Also, this month, I have finally introduced myself to a neighbour I have passed in the street almost every day for well over a year. I used to pass him in the nearby park walking his dog last year, and now it seems we've moved onto his street so I pass him daily, as his evening dogwalks overlap my walk home from work. It felt good to reach out and say hello.

[ENJOY] Every minute of the festive season! More friends coming over tonight. I have discovered two joys this month. I never before realised how much fun preparing food together can be - rather than splitting the cooking, we have been sharing it and I like it. The second is just how much I love welcoming people to our home - having a home to welcome people to, I think, is at the heart of it, and making that a place of warmth and welcome and comfort.

Slow Living 2013 - November

Once again I'm joining the Slow Living Month by Month series - please find more details here over at Slow Living Essentials.

This month has been a tale of two halves - the first half I was able to really get into the slowing down, try my hand at new things and do some serious crafting. Then the last ten days or so of the month got busy. One of my colleagues has left on maternity leave so the workload has dramatically increased and leaving at half past seven feels early. I'm trying to find more of a balance now, working at improving time management and efficiency. My goal for the coming months is to manage this workload and be able to leave at a more sensible time.

[NOURISH] I have made a marvellous discovery. Fruit salad. It takes so little time to prepare, but a bowlful of fruit salad - on its own or with yoghurt or cereal - really makes a difference to my concentration levels in the mornings. So energised! My fruit salad is a celebration of seasonal fruit - apples, pears, grapes and pomegranate seeds.

I've also had a go at drinks for the first time - lemon barley water. Easy and yummy, and one to be repeated.

[PREPARE] Not much happening on this front...

[REDUCE] Saved something from the bin and gained free seeds in the process! I dried and shelled the pumpkin seeds from our epic pumpkin eating in the last month, and used them in some homemade bread.

[GREEN] More green cleaning. I've been working on decluttering and building my routines.

[CREATE] Crochet! My friends and their little boy were delighted with their gift.

[DISCOVER] Decluttering my books has given me renewed energy to read some of the tomes cluttering my shelves. My biggest discoveries this month have been: how hard decluttering is, and how light it makes me feel; and how much difference a real lunch break makes.

[ENHANCE] Lots and lots of social times, with friends and family.

[ENJOY] This month I treated myself to a copy of The Simple Things magazine. (I actually ordered it in October but it took a month to get here.) Lots of cups of tea and relaxation.

Slow Living 2013 - October

This post is another in the Slow Living Month by Month series. It's a useful opportunity to bring together what I have been doing on this in the last month, and to remind myself of the progress I have made. After a rather un-slow September, I feel like I have been back on track this month - and am feeling much more positive as a result! I have to say that the major story this month is the realisation of just how much of a hoarder I am - and I have begun decluttering just one item a day to try to address this.

[NOURISH] I have reverted to live yoghurt for breakfast - it makes such a difference to my energy levels and (apparently!) to my breath. I smell better when I eat yoghurt. Who knew? More baking of bread, more meal-planning and home cooking (by my lovely boyfriend).

[PREPARE] My first attempt at mincemeat! I have no idea how this is going to turn out but I'm already looking forward to my first batch of mince pies. I've put two jars in the fridge and two in the cupboard, so I can see how the keeping times differ. My boyfriend and I also made fig jam. (Well, I saw 'we' - it was more him. I assisted.)

[REDUCE] I have rescued two pairs of shoes which had holes in the bottom, and have had them resoled. Several torn, worn and stained clothes have been unpicked, washed and pressed ready to be cut up for paper piecing. I do have to further add that as I have been decluttering more systematically, quite a few items have ended up in the bin (eg five-year-old make-up... euch!)

[GREEN] Still using green cleaners. I'm revisiting my cleaning routines to try to build 'a little and often' into my daily routines, making the best use of natural cleaners. I have also been experimenting with a natural dandruff remedy which is working a treat!

[GROW] No progress here this month... but I'm planning some planting for November/December! I have promised myself that when all the curtains are finished, I'll plant some bulbs. I'm having lots of fun looking into where I am going to start.

[CREATE] No shortage of items here! Another pair of curtains finished - that has to be the big one - plus I am working on a crochet blanket for a young birthday coming up soon. I've also had my first foray into candle-making, and have another pair of socks on the go.

[DISCOVER] I've been doing rather more reading this month, and have finished and enjoyed The English Village: History and Traditions by Martin Wainwright. A delightful and not-too-technical wander through the history of villages and their institutions, from church to pub.

[ENHANCE] This month I have invested in my more distant friends, with a number of letters and packages making their way to people with whom somehow I never manage to connect using more modern technology. The joy of surprise parcels and handwritten letters - both sending and receiving - is making its way back into my life.

[ENJOY] I have been really enjoying my 'slower' lunches at work the last week or so, taking the time to get out into the park and enjoy some fresh air.

Mincemeat and impatience

Yesterday evening I rushed home via the supermarket to make mincemeat and oh my god this stuff smelled AMAZING! Really Christmassy. I'm not sure I can really count it as preserving but it's certainly preparing, and now I can make entirely homemade mince pies all through December.

I also managed to salvage the candied citrus peel I made last year, which contains too much sugar and is pretty much inedible. I soaked it in hot water to dissolve some of the sugar and restore a more jelly-like consistency. Not sure how well this will work...

Having never made this before, I have no idea how long it will last, how it will taste, or how much I will use. Another first for me! It's strangely satisfying to see the jars and think of how hot mince pies will smell in the oven, and the warm crumbly taste...

However, I do wonder if my impatience to get started on this - rather than taking a slower, more tempered approach - might backfire. I feel like I ought to have spent a little more time searching online recipes, investigating how long mincemeat lasts, and sourcing a wider range of dried fruit. I did buy three kinds of raisins (in the absence of currants) but in the end two turned out to be the same kind, and I realised part-way through that we had run out of dried cranberries. Mixing this up while my boyfriend cooked and served supper also meant a rather interrupted process, extremely limited space in our small kitchen for both of us, and a larger than normal pile of washing up at the end of the evening. On reflection, this kind of task would make a better Sunday afternoon project, when I can relax into it more.

But this is all part of the experiment, no? I'm not sure how this recipe works, how the types of dried fruit interact, how switching brandy for whisky will work, how well it will keep, if the citrus peel will blend or still be a bit crunchy. For which reason I think next year I might try making two smaller but different batches so I can try out variations - dried fruit, citrus, booze, spices, potentially adding nuts? Ooh the possibilities!

Do you make mincemeat? Any tips or favourite variations?

Slow Living 2013 - September

This has been a very rushed month. This weekend - and particularly today - is a most welcome change in pace - much slower, more meditative, more leisurely and more satisfying generally. I feel like I've made a few small steps towards being on top of things, being in control of life generally and choosing which direction to go in, rather than simply reacting. This month has been an insane month at work, with very long hours leaving me very little in the way of time for family, friends and crafty pursuits. This is something that needs to change, although quite how I'm going to do that, I do not know.

So September hasn't been slow. I hope October will be slower. As a reminder, this is part of the Slow Living Month by Month series started by Slow Living Essentials, and this month in particular it is a reminder of how much less I achieve than when I'm focusing on savouring life, to help me focus more in October.

{NOURISH} Lots and lots and LOTS of porridge this month. Lots of 'eeeeew'-s from my boyfriend. I think even I am porridged-out at this point so will have to hunt up my cereal recipe. More homemade bread. I wonder what the next step on this area might be? Almost everything we eat is prepared from scratch

{PREPARE} More reducing than adding to our pile of homemade preserves - munching through jars of jam and marmalade.

{REDUCE} Not sure there's anything here, apart from the usual mending of clothes. Does making my own oil diffuser using an old yoghurt jar count? It's working brilliantly to make the bathroom smell lovelier.

{GREEN} I have switched to using plain shea butter on my face - much better than the oils I was using but not quite where I want it. I'm currently exploring possible combinations. I've also switched to using white vinegar instead of lemon juice to mop the floors, with Eucalyptus oil to mask the smell - much better finish, much shinier and noticeably less sticky

{GROW} Still nothing!

{CREATE} I finished my first ever pair of socks and boy do they feel good! I'm noticing that my feet feel much better after wearing homemade socks - much more cushioned, much warmer. Although I did use synthetic yarn and I think this that real wool might be better at controlling *ahem* odour.

{DISCOVER} I've been doing more Coursera courses - specifically on public health policy, an area increasingly part of my future career plans. The best thing about Coursera is that they are free and have no credit value, so I can take as long as I need to complete them.

{ENHANCE} Much exploring and enjoying of the local market. My cousins came over for the car-free Sunday and we pottered around the big festival in the centre, full of craft beer and animals in front of the royal palace.

{ENJOY} I've had a fair bit of family time this month - via skype more than in person - but I am really reminded that short, frequent contact means you feel much more in touch with each other's lives than longer but more spaced out calls.

Slowing down should not be rushed

I'm feeling a little embarrassed about my tantrum yesterday - so petty to get so worked up about something so small. I'll leave it up, though, because it is honest. It's not that infrequent for me to get deeply annoyed because I've spent the whole day at work looking forward to some crafting activity, and then I am disappointed in this when I get home.

It's a reminder, I think, not to be in too much of a hurry about slowing down. Building a simple life doesn't happen overnight, it takes time, and the journey should be savoured as an end in itself, not just the means. I had forgotten this last night, but that story had a happy ending - I started with something I could do and sewed on the buttons. I felt calmer after this, remembered the pliers in the cupboard, liberated my seam ripper from its casing and was able to complete one buttonhole before I curled up with a mug of cocoa (inspired by Jane Brockett's Cherry cake and ginger beer)

It's actually by far the best buttonhole I've done yet! I'm using a slightly different stitch (see tutorial here) and it's coming out much more evenly. I think I might need to redo the bars along the bottom, they're sticking out a bit too much, but other than that, not bad for my first ever buttonhole on an actual garment! I'm feeling pretty chuffed.

Next time I'm feeling this frustration, I will take a look at the teeth marks (!) on my seam ripper and remember to slow down, rather than getting worked up.

Slow Living 2013 - July

I'm joining the Slow Living Month by Month project again - taking stock of progress and challenges in trying to slow down and live more mindfully. 

[NOURISH] I've continued eating breakfasts of natural yoghurt and fresh fruit and salad lunches. I've started eating breakfast at work to give myself time to (occasionally) go for a run in the mornings, as I'm just not getting round to doing sport later in the day. An unexpected bonus of the late breakfast is that I don't get hungry again until just before lunch, so no more snacking mid-morning. Tonight I cooked for the first time in aaaaages - almost-cooked falafel burgers (I never manage to time these right!)

[PREPARE] Erm... not much to report here.

[REDUCE] Just the usual jars kept back for the next round of preserving. More expected for this next month.

 

[GREEN] I experimented this month with two new green cleaning methods - baking soda and tin foil for cleaning silver, and using sunflower oil as wood polish (with lemon juice to help lift dirt.) Normally I see olive oil recommended, and I have used this before, but olive oil aint cheap, so I'm experimenting with replacing it with sunflower oil where possible.

[GROW] Still nothing. I REALLY need to start on this...

[CREATE] More (slow) progress on the homemade curtains. It's going to feel soooo amazing when they are finally finished, it's been six months so far. The first single curtain was finished this week, hopefully its pair will be done soon.

[DISCOVER] I have discovered A Girl Called Jack's awesome blog about living on the poverty line, with some intriguing budget recipes. I have also fallen in love with a second-hand bookshop, and am currently reading Vanity Fair (getting a fabulous return on my investment of €1).

[ENHANCE] Supporting local tradesmen and shops is revealing some pleasant surprises (see bookshop above).

 

[ENJOY] Leisurely evenings, afternoons and meals with friends. With the fine weather, we've been eating on the balcony a lot, which means less tv as we actually converse (I know, OMG) and casually judge all passing pedestrians. Lots of fun to be had making up stories about their lives and journeys. As you can see above, I've dug out Jane Brockett's Cherry cake and ginger beer, which is self-indulgent combination of revisiting my favourite childhood characters and worlds, and tantalising descriptions of food and recipes. Even though it's pushing thirty degrees outside, I'm suddenly in the mood for cocoa...