200th post-progress slowly

This is the 200th post on my blog! I remember DD showing me how to set it up years ago, and how excited I was to get started. It has become a wonderful tool to record my progress towards a simpler life, and I have met many wonderful internet friends as a result.

This week we have been doing all sorts of things -some leading us closer to simplicity, and some look like they are taking us away!

On the positive side, the Myer lemon crop is being slowly processed. I love my Myer lemons, but they are a crop that arrives all at once, rather than in dribs and drabs throughout the year. For that reason, we have a new Eureka lemon in the front garden, because it tends to crop over a wider time frame.

I have juiced a batch of lemons, and frozen the juice in ice cube trays. These become a wonderful resource for cooking, for hot lemon drinks in winter, and for flavouring iced drinks without making the drink more diluted.

I have zested and frozen about a dozen lemon skins.

I have also sliced and frozen slices of lemon.

But there is as many lemons on the tree left as I have processed till now! 

 Our new gas heater has been partially installed. The new heater was a necessity as our old one will be obsolete when the State Government changes the gas supply. We took the opportunity to have a gas heater installed which looks like a log fire, and yet has a 4 star energy rating.
For purely decorative purposes, we have also built a fake chimney and are having a mantle installed.  This is the picture about half way through the process - we hope the installers will come back this week and finish the job.

 I have been using one of my most useful acquisitions -a set of jewellery pliers- to fix a couple of Op Shop necklaces. One of them needed re-stringing, and one of them needed to have some beads removed. I enjoy having a variety of accessories to dress up basic outfits, and I find that having the basic skills to fix something from the Op Shop, or to change it in some way, really is very useful.

On the (slightly) negative side, I have started a second job before my first part time job was finished. This means that for the next 10 or so weeks I have a more than full time job. Obviously this is not really a Simple lifestyle. Fortunately they are both quite complementary positions, and my DD and DH are stepping up to take over some parts of the household work, so that we can get through this time. I anticipate my good old slow cooker will be getting work out over the next few weeks. There is nothing quite so encouraging as coming in after a hard day at work, and finding the wonderful smell of a slow cooked casserole to greet you, with dinner all done.

I find I am already missing my 'quilting day' but I have spent this afternoon sewing, so it is all good so far.

Thanks to all those who have subscribed to my blog and left comments over the years. I do appreciate your encouragement.

The Peace of the Done

 "Out of the strain of the doing, into the peace of the done." (Julia Louise Woodruff, 1910.)


Yes, the quilt for my first grand child -due early May -is now finished. What a lovely feeling!  I added a purple and yellow and green binding, which picks up the colours found elsewhere in the fabric.

I enjoyed the quilting, which was a combination of straight and free motion. I do think my skills are improving each time I do this and I am happy with what I achieved.

This is a picture of the finished front.

The prospective new parents are getting very excited about the way the date for the birth is getting closer and closer, and we prospective new grand parents have booked flights and accommodation -not long to go now!

I really like the way the quilting adds so much texture and how it shows up the design so well. 


Now, what shall I start next?

Easter celebrations at New Norcia and our place

Easter at New Norcia, the Benedictine town which is situated about 120 km north of Perth in Western Australia, was as lovely as ever.

DH and I have been lucky enough to share in Easter celebrations there for the last 3 years. We went up on Thursday, and stayed in the Monastery guest house. The centre picture of the collage is the view of the courtyard garden at the guest house. Other views are of the town and its surroundings. 

We were invited to sing in the choir for the Maundy Thursday and Dawn Easter services. The music was lovely- augemented by our very talented organist/pianist, a cellist and a trumpeter.

Between services and choir rehearsals, we read books. I have a biography of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the Lutheran pastor who was an ecumenist and a theologian in the 1930s and 40s in Germany -a man of great intellect and courage. We also bought a Richard Rohr book "A Lever and a Place to Stand" which was very inspirational. The two books go together very well and enabled us to do a lot of reflecting on life and faith.

We also walked around the town and its surroundings. Everywhere the country is waiting for the new life to begin, which can only start when the rains arrive. Nevertheless the olive trees continue to grow, and the pink and grey galahs swoop and soar. There is a beautiful display in the education centre of six panels representing the seasons as they are identified by local indigenous people of the Nyoongar nation. The picture in the top right hand corner is of the current season -which is called Makuru, if I have identified it correctly.

There were some very interesting people who gathered at New Norcia for the celebrations. We met some old friends and made some new ones.

We gave ourselves the luxury of not rushing away after the Easter dawn service-which starts at 4.30 am and goes for three hours...we have learned that it really does help to slow down, have an afternoon nap and go home the next day.

When we got home, we shared with our DD a lovely Easter cake made by my talented niece, who is setting up a cake decorating business called Jakes Cakes. It was a very delicious chocolate mud cake and the Easter Bunny, basket of eggs and flowers were all wonderfully done.

 All in all we have had a restful, inspirational and delightful weekend, thanks to the many people who shared their talents to make it so.

I hope you had a wonderful Easter too, and that the joy of Easter can go with you.

How to have more space

This is our lounge room which will have a new heater soon - we think!

There are a number of TV programs which show us fabulous homes -either being built new or renovated. One theme in most of them is SPACE. I am amazed at how big they are! Some of them would take the small Not for Profit agency I work for several times over.

Space is buildings is very costly. Part of the reason so many young Australians are saddled with huge debts is that the houses we build and buy are so much bigger than the ones our parents grew up in. Yet even these big houses, with their games rooms and media rooms and alfresco eating areas are still not enough for some people, whose accumulation of STUFF has grown so big they rent storage containers and put their extra stuff in there!

There is a 15 page research paper on the Australia Institute Website which looks at clutter and why it worries us.

Here is the link:
www.tai.org.au/documents/downloads/WP112.pdf

"Four in ten Australians say they feel anxious, guilty or depressed about the clutter in
their homes. Women are much more concerned about clutter than men: almost half of
the women surveyed said they were anxious, depressed or worried about the clutter in
their home, while a third said they were embarrassed by it. Indeed, fully 59 per cent of
women said there was a room in the house that they don’t like visitors to see because
of the clutter."

Our research shows that many people – 84 per cent of survey respondents – are in the

strange situation of having bought things in order to deal with the excessive amount of

things they have bought. Around a quarter had even bought vacuum storage bags –

which suggests that the stored items will not be in use for some time. One in five

respondents had built a shed or garage to keep or store things, while one in eight had

even moved house to accommodate their superfluous ‘stuff".

Thanks to our Lenten habit of "Giving It Away for Lent" I am feeling a tremendous sense of space in my house at the moment.

The kitchen cupboard where I keep my pots and pans now has a space for everything I use, since I gave away the large slow cooker I never used. It is now blessing a young person who has been setting up home for the first time, and who wanted to make Rogan Josh like mum! I used freecycle to find it a new home. There will be one near you...search for the word in your search engine.

I have also given away some large platters from the cupboard where I store party crockery. I can make do with smaller ones. The big platters went to my local op shop which supports the Salvos.


My wardrobe is more roomy now I have taken a couple of large bags full of clothes I don't wear any more. The ones I have left are all in use, and are ones I like to wear. They hang better on the rack because I have the space. 

We are undertaking a renovation of our heater in the lounge room, which means that we won't be able to have all of the book cases we had on the same wall. This means giving away some books -which I admit is never an easy task. 

One of the "Simple Living" mantras is to 'Live within your means" -that is, do not spend more than you earn. This is so important for peace of mind! See this article for  more on this

The corollary of that is to "Live within the space you have" which means, with only as much stuff as you can reasonably use and reasonably store. The benefit of this approach is that you don't have clutter to worry you, and you don't need to spend money on a bigger house or storage facility! 

You can't organise clutter, you can only get rid of it!

So how to help manage and restrain stuff?

•  The flylady mantra is "you can't organise clutter, you can only get rid of it!" Beyond a sensible, normal point, there is no point spending good money on storage solutions for stuff which is in excess to your requirements!
• Don't go shopping without a list -shopping is not entertainment.
• Put a sign on your mailbox which says "addressed mail only". Advertising catalogues are designed to make you bring more stuff in your house..often stuff you didn't know you needed or wanted before you saw them in the catalogue. Since we stopped this junk mail, we have had so much more money! All the little bits of discretionary spending all add up.
• If you buy something -the bag you brought it home in has to be filled up with stuff you don't need any more and given away. The "one in, one out" rule means that you do not accumulate too much stuff. As flylady says "Clutter walked in your house one bag at a time, and that is the way it will leave!"
•  Establish a regular routine of decluttering so that you are always evaluating what you have. "Do I still love this? Do I still use this? Could it find a better home with someone else?"

I once visited a shanty town in Namibia, where I saw people living in one room. It is part of my mental geography, if you like! I am constantly asking myself about how my life would look to the people in that house...how much do I really need to live on and with? Could I live with less and also give more to aid and development programs which are supporting sustainable growth in other places?

How would the rest of the world see our junk?

The baby quilt flimsy

The granddaughter baby quilt is now a flimsy!

Here is the front.

And this above is the back.

Feeling very happy about how this is turning out. I plan to pin it all together tomorrow, whilst we have a power blackout so that the electricity company can fix something.

Baby things

You know you are serious about your quilting hobby, when you can't imagine taking your beloved Bernina to the repair shop so her fantabulous button holer can be recalibrated because ....it would mean that you had no sewing machine in the house!

So you talk to your DD who is a partner in crime in all things -thank you darling! She listens to you tell her about the second hand sewing machines in the repair shop, and how you have been wondering if you should get one....."Of course, and then I could use it!"

You check it out with your DH who of course, says yes without really knowing what is about to happen....thank you darling!

And you come home with this!

Here she is! Meet Bernette, sister to Bernina! She is a lovely machine, well behaved and easy to use with no confusing buttons like her big sister, just a couple of dials. Come on DD -there are no excuses now!



So I now have TWO sewing machines....oh dear! Three if you count my treadle... which I would love to get to work. I bought a belt for it whilst I was at the repair shop, so we must give it a go and see what happens... I am afraid a collection is coming on!

However I do love to sew, so here is a SNEAK PIC at the next project... for our first grand daughter due in May...


I was asked to incorporate purple, so I am making these sweet four patch blocks...


And I was asked for elephants...so here are a few of them....


More later!

Giving it away during Lent

This week marks the beginning of Lent, a time in the Church year in which Christians make extra efforts to examine their lives and meditate on the message of the Gospel, in order to prepare for Easter.

Many people will know the routine question "What are you giving up for Lent?" It harks back to an important spiritual discipline of fasting prior to a feast day. Many people give up wine, or chocolate or coffee and it certainly makes them think frequently of their discipline and their faith.

For a couple of years now my DH and I have made it our practice not to give things up, but give them away, during Lent. The idea is to develop our 'generosity muscles" and bless others with our surplus.

It starts with extra donations to our favourite charities : St Bartholemew's house, a local homeless persons shelter; UNICEF the United Nations charity supporting children of the world, and Caritas an overseas aid and development organisation.

Then we move on to our possessions - Lent is a great time for clearing things out, deciding what we don't need, and giving it to those who do.

We got an early start this week by giving away a set of outdoor tables and chairs to a local Youth Group project. We still have the lovely bench pictured above - and the new table and chairs in my last post, so we were happy to give the surplus to such a good cause.

I will be going through my clothes to donate to local op shops.

I am thinking of removing some of the many casserole dishes from my kitchen - I have favourite ones, and ones which rarely get used. The same with cake pans. Why not bless someone else with the surplus?

There is also the quilting projects I intend to give away...I think it is time I started finding out which charities locally would like a quilt... I am thinking maybe a local women's refuge. This Lent I intend to find out who might like something I had made, and what suggestions they have for sizes and fabrics etc.

DH and I really enjoy the opportunity to focus on living simply, giving more and expecting less. What are you doing for Lent?