My cardigan update

I'm getting there!

Here is where I'm up to at the moment with my cardigan.

I've sewn up all the panels, and then started work on the yolk. It is my first piece of fair isle knitting, and what fun it is!

The pattern section is quite addictive, and its lovely to see the design slowly emerging.

So I've run out of grey wool, so I'm at the wheel this morning having a quick spin - I really want to get this done!

Bye for now!

Collecting cicada shells

Yesterday afternoon we went collecting cicada shells from the big oak trees near our home...

We ran down the field to the trees...

Through the shade listening for where the cicadas were loudest...

I think they prefer oaks in the sun...

There they are!

Holding tight to the tree bark where the cicada crawled as a nymph for the last time were their empty shells.

There's one up there!

And three up there!

Oak trees are one of my favorite trees.

This one had a hole near the roots that made it look like a little doorway...

We collected lots, and took them home to the nature table.

I like this time of year. Lots of baby spiders are finding new homes, and the grass is shrouded with their tiny transport web strands.

Healing and cleansing

For a while I have been feeling a bit stressed out. We're moving soon, and there is so much involved.

Also we had a friend stay for a week in the middle of all this, and he is single, and works, and spends most  of his free time drinking alcohol, and computing/texting etc.

It was really eye opening to see a different way of life so close up. He was really easy to live with, and the children love him, so we were all very happy for that week. But it took its toll.

As a family we normally wait until Edward gets home, then we have dinner together. So we all sat round and ate together as normal, with the one addition of red wine. I wanted to join in. I would also have a small glass with my meal, and at the start that was a great novelty. Our friend would finish the bottle as the evening progressed.

I started to feel quite stressed as the week wore on. I craved foods like sweets, chocolate, tea and coffee.

I gave in to those cravings as the week progressed, and I began to feel unwell.

I became very sensitive to pain, and emotional stressors.

Towards the end of the week I actually started to feel poisoned - very tired and ill, and strung out.

How glad I was when the week was over!

I know that what we eat affects us. I really do know that, but still I went along with this diet of not so healthy stuff for a week!!

Anyhow. I realized why I felt the way I did eventually, so decided to sort myself out.

Stopping the alcohol was easy - but I missed it after just one week!

Next I decided to remove caffeine from my diet.

I stopped having tea, and coffee. The first day was fine, although the whole world looked grey, not colored.

The next day I got the anticipated headache. Horrible, all day. And fatigue.

Next day I got the headache, and hypersensitivity to light, sound and pain. Crashing fatigue.

The next day was easier. Colour started to return to my world!

Now the world I live in is just the same as it was when I was on coffee and tea! I feel great, and I don't need a caffeine kick to feel that way!

I'm not tired either.

Next I've tried to removed sugar, or refined carbs from my diet.

For breakfast I have oatmeal with a banana, walnuts, and cinnamon on top and milk. The cinnamon really makes you feel you're eating something much sweeter than it is. And I drink water, or a herb tea.

Lunch could be anything, maybe eggs from our happy hens - but I like toast with that, so not completely refined carb free.

Or quinoa with garlic and tomato and oil and goat feta. I love that one. Supposedly quinoa is actually quite high in sugar. Not so good.

Really don't know what to do about lunch.

Anyway, dinner is easier, as we all eat good food together. Lots of veg, maybe some fish, or once a week we have nice meat, maybe a quiche. With potatoes from the garden usually.

So after a week of the above change I feel back to normal.

I think this is why I couldn't smoke. I'd be so addicted. I feel quite easily addicted to foods and drinks, so smoking no way!!

I even exercised on Friday, and I felt good!

I must continue now.

Its so nice to read other bloggers food journeys, or healing stories and know I'm not alone on this one. We get so caught up in daily life and don't stop to properly evaluate how our bodies are behaving on the diet we follow.

It only takes a minute to properly look at ourselves, and our behavior, and change those not so healthy things. Why didn't I do it before?

Silly!

Chia

A few years ago we made a fairy garden in a big flat pot using chia seeds, and shells, and marbles and things. We really loved that activity.

The chia grew and grew into a forest eventually, and it flowered so beautifully.

The seeds from that flowering are still out there. This year we had chia in the drive and all over the place. I like that.

I also remember how the chia seeds felt when we added the water to germinate them - a bit like tiny frog spawn. A lovely sensation, and the children really enjoyed that bit too.

Here are some seeds I'm sprouting in the kitchen. I made that bowl, and I really like it mmm. At first I was really cross that the glaze didn't come out of the kiln perfectly in places. But now I really like those parts.

I must try to do some more potting.

Anyhow, the reason I'm trying to sprout them is that I decided they'd be more nutritious that way. I know they are super seeds and all that, but aren't most seeds more nutritious after a few days of sprouting?

Does it apply to chia?

I don't know. I just wanted to see if these ones that have been in the cupboard for ages would still sprout. Some seem to be splitting a bit.

Having a break from La Valse d'Amelie, which is driving me nuts at the moment. I have run the metronome down three times now trying to get the timing right on one section. Rather frustrating.

My girl and me

I've been trying to get a family portrait for days now, and it is just impossible it would seem.

The boys are always silly, or rude, so the only decent not ridiculously blurry pic is of me and my girl.

We were thinking of strawberries here. When we say 'cheese' we all look like we're in excruciating pain. 

What do you say when you have a picture taken?

I'm just going to keep trying with the family photo, maybe after dinner in the sunset.

Maybe.

Joy....

Exploding bread dough...

A new loaf tin. 

Most of the kitchen stuff I own is rubbish I bought when we first moved here. Cheap and nasty from the supermarket or somewhere, but yesterday I bought a proper loaf tin. It was quite expensive, but luckily there was a quarter off the price yesterday.

I'm just waiting for the loaf and some bread rolls to come out of the oven...Smells nice.....

I used shampoo today. First time in ages, and now I'm cross as my hair is all fuzzy. He wanted a picture of the back of his head too. So soft...

In the garden we found a pumpkin..

It would appear that most of the chicks will be cockerels. The white one is "Charlotte", and is the first to cock-a-doodle-doo. There were tears.

I liked the light streaming through this pumpkin leaf, and the pumpkin growing under it.

Buns are done, and that loaf tin is really good. 

Around the garden

I wanted to write a bit about the garden today, and what is growing really well, for future reference and memories in the winter....

The silver beet is growing strongly now..

Here is our sweetcorn..

Berlotto fire tongue beans. I'll wait for the pods to dry before harvesting them to save for soups  etc.

And here are some cannellini beans, slightly more prolific, again I'm going to dry them...

Dulce Espana peppers, just starting to grow after months of poor weather...

Peppers on the bushes...

And I had high hopes for this pumpkin patch. I put a great deal of time into preparing the soil etc, but the cold weather, and lots of wind seem to have taken their toll..

Just out of interest, here is our landlord's GM maize. Just look at the size of it, thats a tree on the left!!! Mental.

Marigolds lovingly planted by the children a long time ago now....

Lavender and a bee!

Basil looks happy...

Curious Tomas!

And here are the chicks, I think they are teenagers now. I still can't tell which are hens. The black one behind the mother hen has a slight comb, so I think it may be male, but we'll have to see which crow to be sure!!

 I had to put them back into the run, as I trod on one poo too many. Yuk.

And that's it really. Very hot, the sparrows are chirruping, and the cicadas are calling from the high trees.

Hope you enjoyed the short tour!