Blessing # 3 – C is for Challenges

I have a low boredom threshold! To keep doing the same things in the same way drives me nuts! It is why I have accumulated so many hobbies and activities and am having to reluctantly admit I can’t do them all. But still I need new challenges.

Sometimes the challenge is to learn a new skill or extend an old one. A month ago I found a book of knitting patterns in the library – Viking knits & Ancient Ornaments by Elsebeth Lavold. She describes a whole series of interlocking designs, gives patterns for the motifs and some very elegant garments with the motifs on them. I am a sucker for celtic knots so I borrowed the book. The yarns she suggests are not ones I can source locally and before I could go into the wool shop in Cardigan market and find an equivalent we were all told to stay home. But I was itching to see if I could cope with some new techniques and keep track of a complex sequence of cables so I picked one of the motifs and knitted a cushion cover using yarn I already had. I finished the knitting last night but have not had time yet to stitch it up. I was going to make buttonholes in the back to allow me to take it off for washing – the cats drop hairs all over my cushions so they need regular washing – but dedided to make some loops on the edge instead using a technique I adapted from the hair of the glove puppets I have been working on. read about them here if you missed them

Sometimes it is a bigger or longer one like working for the Diploma in Applied Permaculture Design. I have to write up and submit ten designs I have done. In my case these are all about designing my life so that I can live as well as possible into advanced old age. The designing is great fun but the writing it all up with detailed explanations of the choices I made is proving very tedious! Why am I doing it? It has no practical use to me since there is nothing I want to do which requires me to have it. I just wanted to prove to myself that I could, that my designing skills were good enough, my understanding of Permaculture was deep enough. And now I am too stubborn to give up! My amazing, wonderful daughter found this poster to sum it all up for me and it will form the cover of my portfolio.

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2020 Whether I am ready or not – I’m not!

A number of my friends in the blogosphere have been posting about their goals for 2020. It has set me thuinking about mine.

Well I said a while back that I want to redecorate the house. I did it shortly after my husband died as we had not got round to it as a joint project. But 9 years on it is looking shabby, not helped by two dogs and three cats trailing in mess and rubbing against the walls and furniture. I got one wall in the sitting room done and a small area of the kitchen turned into a blackboard before Christmas but that was all. So finishing the job could be my first goal. As usual I only remembered to take a photo of the change after I had started!

Orchid, the lurcher, believes the sofa is entirely for her benefit. She would like to take over the comfy chair as well but I have drawn the line at that. She finds it necessary to ‘nest’ before settling down and as the sofa is old she has shredded the covers on the seat cushions. I know I have the skill and equipment to make new covers so that can be goal 2.

If I am repainting the kitchen I need to move everything off the shelves and out of the cupboards so I might as well take the opportunity to put it all back in different places and make it more efficient. And in the process I will have a clear out of stuff I no longer use and maybe buy a couple of gadgets I have had my eye on. So that would be my third goal.

I planned to finish my Diploma in Applied Permaculture Design over the Christmas and New Year break with a view to it being marked and finished by the Spring. But I sent the first 5 designs for interim assessment at the beginning of November and apart from an acknowledgement that they arrived have heard nothing since. What better excuse could I have to put off the tedious job of writing up the last 5? However I guess I should really have it as goal 4.

Outside there are all the usual jobs; cut firwood, grow veggies, keep the place reasonably tidy…. But I would like to finish clearing along the top boundary where the willow we planted 20 odd years ago for coppicing as firewood grew and then died before we got round to cutting it. I will replace it with a shelter belt of trees which produce fruit or berries, not so much as food for me as food for wildlife. Where does that bring me? Oh yes goal 5.

Ages ago I had a building put up on an existing concrete slab with the intention of moving the utility room into it. It needs to have the walls and ceiling insulated, electricity supply put in, plumbing done, shelves put up.. I am hoping a builder is coming soon but I will have to supervise, buy a new freezer and transfer all my jars of preserves and little used kitchen equipment across.At present I use the old garage for laundry and as a food store but it is too big and attracts clutter. Once it has been cleared out I could turn it into two extra bedrooms for when family stay. So that would be Goal 6.

I also have the wood for a compost loo for the veg patch.It is in the car port and in the way. Errrr Goal 7.

My daughter and her husband are divorcing so she will be moving soon. As she works full time and is doing an Open University Degree in her spare time I have offered to do any decorating and to be there to let tradesmen and deliveries in. She lives about 4 hours drive away so that will take up some time. I am up to Goal 8

There are friends I have not seen for ages. My spinning wheel and wood turning lathe gather dust. The patchwork cushion covers are falling apart and need replacing. When did I last make myself some clothes instead of buying them? I keep thinking of walking some sections of the Coast Path. I haven’t been to the theatre, cinema or a concert for too long.

Who am I kidding? It would be lovely to do any, let alone all, these things. If I am not careful the pressure to get everything done will destroy my pleasure in them.

So my goal for 2020 is to get to the end of the year well and happy having achieved some progress on some of those things and to have had a lot of fun. Oh and to celebrate my 70th birthday in style!

I hope you will keep me company on the way and share the fun with me.