A Creative Spirit
If we were having coffee, I'd tell you I had a great week. I keep telling myself to learn to live in the moment and not stress about things that are out of my control. Enjoy the precious moment of here and now. Learning to live in the moment is certainly easier when the rain... Continue Reading →
If we were having coffee, I'd tell you that I am on a short fuse thanks to a pain that resembles a chronic toothache just below my left shoulder blade and the group of muscles between the ribs. Have you noticed how pain does that? I mean, shortens your patience fuse? Makes you irritable to... Continue Reading →
Last Sunday I cooked a traditional English roast dinner. Roast Beef, roast potatoes, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower cheese, gravy AND Yorkshire pudding. What is Yorkshire Pudding?For those unfamiliar with the quirky accompaniment, No, it is not a dessert, as the name suggests, it is a British savoury pudding made from an equal weight of eggs, milk,... Continue Reading →
I confess I'm not a 'Domestic Goddess' in any shape or form, but despite this, I have decided it's time to bite the bullet and reorganise my larder. It's not only a mess, but thanks to the disorganised chaos, I often miss expiry dates on products and well ... just can't find what I'm looking... Continue Reading →
If we were having coffee, I'd confide that last week was a challenge. Poor Mr Piglet caught a bug. Not a straight cold, cough or upset stomach. Nope, it was a combination of ALL three. He tried to soldier on, but it wiped him out for several days. Now, under normal circumstances, it wouldn't matter... Continue Reading →
Let's talk about food! One of my favourite go-to hearty winter meals to cook is Shepherd's Pie, or at least that's what my mum called it. But apparently I've reached the ripe old age of 71, believing this... that was until I was out to coffee with friends, discussing what we were making for dinner... Continue Reading →
Or should I say weeks! Yep, since my last post, "How Was Your Week? A Lot Better Than Last Week! the last couple of weeks, my feet have hardly touched the ground! It's amazing how time flies. Line Dancing Lunch For those who have been following my blog for a while, will be aware that I... Continue Reading →
... or indeed any seafood. I eat a lot of salmon and other oily fish because it's supposed to be healthy, providing us with omega-3, but after reading this article (also available in audio), "How fish farming threatens human health by breeding disease, parasites, and antibiotic resistance" from Food Facts, I now wonder how safe... Continue Reading →
If we were having coffee, I'd tell you my week matured like good wine. Physio: The nagging ache in my right side, which at times resulted in excruciating pain and an emergency visit to the hospital for tests, was resolved by my humble physio. The woman is a miracle! It turns out that the pain... Continue Reading →
If we were having coffee, I'd tell you this should have been a routine week: Line Dancing, Portuguese lessons and Physio. Except it wasn't. I'd been experiencing a nagging pain under my ribs on my right side for nigh on a week. I hoped it would go away. It didn't. By Thursday evening, Mr Piglet... Continue Reading →
I can only thank God that so far (dare I say) our corner of the Algarve has been spared the horrendous weather extremes experienced in some parts of Portugal this week. First came STORM KRISTIN, then LEONARDO and as I write this, STORM MARTA. The heavy rain, flooding, gale-force winds, snow (in some areas) and... Continue Reading →
As January drew to a close and my karma hit an all-time low, if we were having coffee, I'd tell you I decided I needed some retail therapy. AKA Plant therapy. Losing myself with plants is the best medicine for banishing the winter blues. I had a vague idea of what I wanted. More succulents... Continue Reading →
If we were having coffee, I'd tell you that while it's been 'one of THOSE weeks' where despite the constant rain, doom, gloom, and political shenanigans where you thought 'things' couldn't get any worse until DT insulted Nato troops and for once Kier Starmer grew a pair and stood up to the orange peril, I... Continue Reading →
If we were having coffee, I'd tell you that at times I think life is like the weather. One minute we have cornflower-blue skies and sunshine, then clouds, rain, and strong winds the next. The day starts sunny, so feeling upbeat, you think I'll have a BBQ. One solitary cloud floats across the sun and... Continue Reading →
Always desperate to improve my gut health and lose weight, I am often sucked in by so-called experts on YouTube. You must have seen these guys pulling faces and probably making spurious claims. But they're the experts, RIGHT? Until this week, I have taken their advice at face value. Who am I to dispute that... Continue Reading →
If we were having coffee, I'd tell you it's been a week of taking stock of my physical and mental health. Are they linked? Yes, I believe so. I've decided this year not to set strict goals or resolutions that will probably set me up to fail, but rather learn to live in the moment... Continue Reading →
When I read this MEME on the FB page 'Positive Energy,' I thought, " Okay, it needs a tweak, but what a brilliant idea!" I've been feeling rather low for some time, so before the black dog depression spiralled any further, I found an old container and wrote my first couple of positive energy notes.... Continue Reading →
At the end of the year, or should I say the beginning of the new one, I only made one resolution: Learn to live and enjoy the moment. Today, the sun was shining, and the birds were singing. I inhaled the moment and decided that, rather than exercising in front of my computer with 'Get... Continue Reading →
If we were having coffee, I'd tell you that this week has had its highs and lows. One of our friends unexpectedly passed away on the 27th. This was the guy whose passion for cacti and succulents inspired me, and with whom, over the years, we exchanged many cuttings and unusual plants, and enjoyed many... Continue Reading →
If we were having coffee, I'd ask if you had a good Christmas or holiday. I'd tell you the morning after we returned from the UK, we hit the ground running on a mammoth food shopping expedition. Successful? Yes, sort of, except despite visiting four, yes...FOUR supermarkets, there was not a Brussels sprout in sight.... Continue Reading →
Piglet in Portugal 