Don’t come here looking for any arty farty top league cuisine, for me the best meal out there is also the simplest – Beans on toast.
My wife often comments that I’m a dream to cook for as I pretty much eat whatever is put in front of me. Gone are the days when a meal is considered to be a full blown meat and two veg, as it was for previous generations, for me especially, just keep it simple.
Want to jazz it up? Just add some grated cheese and you have beans on toast avec fromage 😂
Do lazy days make you feel rested or unproductive?
I have had to change my way of thinking regarding this prompt from WP. I have always been one of those that even on a day off feels like I have been wasteful if I have not done something productive.
However the other side of me has started to realise that I am not going to live forever, I am slowing down and already experiencing issues that are compounding my mobility, so due to these factors I have now decided that these precious and rare days should be used for what they were designated for. To rest.
There is no doubt that your body knows you the best, if it’s telling you to rest, you need to do just that. Though it is admirable to keep on being productive you have to realise that no one really cares what you are doing and you are not going to be remembered for just “Papering or painting” that one more wall.
Rest, do as your body tells you. If it gains you just another day on the planet, it’s a bonus.
We had a lovely lunch out yesterday, it rained as it always has of late, it was so damned wet that we didn’t get to look around the 38 gardens at Barnsdale created by Geoff Hamilton off of BBC Gardeners world.
As we were pretty miffed at this we made the spontaneous decision to bugger off to Devon a day early so we could benefit from an extra day on the coast.
We left the East Midlands about 16:00hrs and arrived at our destination at around 20:15, a good journey with the only real traffic experienced as we circumnavigated Birmingham’s rush hour.
My god, it’s dry!
It was obviously dark on arrival, very windy and you could hear the waves crashing on the sea walls, the hotel is comfortable and we have had a cracking nights sleep. Just had our first cuppa and the sun is rising, it looks gorgeous out and guess what….it is dry!
Haha I’m gonna cheat here. It starts today, we’re a little late here at Foxy towers with the spring clean thing. Whilst having our second cup of tea in bed this morning I raised the question of whether we need a new radiator in one of our rooms and it has flourished into a whole “let’s tart the house up,” so I have now inherited a challenge to redecorate top to bottom with the challenge of having the bottom bit done by Christmas, when the family are all coming for dinner.
And there I was in yesterday’s post saying I need to rest more!
I’m going to enjoy that though as I love a challenge.
My real priority everyday is to ensure I’m at my best and that my world is content, happy and feeling loved and protected. In other words my world is my wife. She is my number one priority everyday, always and forever. No questions.
Have a lovely Sunday all, I’m off shopping with the wife, I suspect it will involve paint and wall paper….and maybe a radiator…..or two!
In what ways does hard work make you feel fulfilled?
I’m of a generation that in general was a working generation where hard work was the norm if you wanted to get by. The computer only started to appear in its most basic form when I was in my last year of schooling, the mobile phone didn’t appear until a good few years later.
I think I’ve mentioned this before but I’m an individual who always has to be occupied with something, as I hate wasted time. My work involves a raft of different capabilities, I’m a classic “Jack of all trades and master of none” if that makes sense. My job is to get things moving on the rail network, that means calling in different skills and abilities to ensure the goal of getting things moving is achieved.
At home I’m always switched on and have to be doing something even if that’s a hobby activity to keep the mind busy. I have days off from work and the wife will openly tell you that if I don’t do something that I class it as a wasted day, I have to be busy.
However it’s become apparent over the last couple of years that this type of attitude can’t continue, if I’m tired the body is telling me something and I must rest. I had a little episode about 18 months back when I awoke one morning with horrendous double vision and then lost my sight for a few hours, now that was scary. It appears I had a type of mini stroke where a small bubble entered the fine blood vessels behind my eye causing the issue. That day my whole outlook changed and though I still like to keep busy, I have changed my ways somewhat and rest is now incorporated into my down time. Nothing is more important than your health.
So I’m still fulfilled by keeping busy, but now that has had to change to being fulfilled by keeping happy and healthy.
Too many people before me have worked themselves into an early grave. I don’t want to be another number in that statistic.
Again today we’ve been going through a whole raft of photos and we’ve chosen this one to sit alongside Alfie’s ashes. It’s a lovely photo of him with his head on the first stair, looking up at us getting ready as we’d told him he was about to go “Walkies” it sums him up perfectly. Beautiful boy 🥰
Alfie’s ashes – new picture
The second one we received as an anniversary present from my sister in Lancashire. It’s a lovely hand drawn pencil picture by a talented young lady of all our three boys. Bottom Left is Muffin who we had at the start of our marriage 33 years ago, bottom right is Digger who was next, and on the top with his trademark cocked head is our little Alfie. This is the only picture my wife wants on the wall of the boys as it is the three of them together.
The three boys. Muffs, Digs and Alf
What memories we have, and thousands of pictures to look back on and smile. We were so privileged to be gifted these three wonderful little souls. We have been so fortunate and lucky.
Spread joy and happiness throughout the world? YAWN 🥱
There is so much we could do more of, personally it has always been a challenge for me to be a better version of what I am. My good lady challenges me regularly asking why I think this, and to be honest I just look back at my father and compare myself to him, he was a nasty horrible man.
She keeps telling me there is no comparison and I’m nothing like him, but to me I can see comparisons and that’s what I don’t like. That’s why I challenge myself to be better than him, and constantly try to do more of that.
He’s been dead getting on for twenty years now, and he haunts me to this day.
I could certainly do more of dropping the demons and getting on with what I have left. It’s a fight.
And it looks like that’s what I’m destined to do, more fighting.
This last week I have been away at a lovely location in Norfolk enjoying a few days away with the family.
There was an activity taking place that was an introduction to pottery, and here they were going to teach a technique that has been around for millenniums – Pinch pottery. I did pottery at school and was ok with it but I never made anything to write home about.
A simple pinch pot
To be totally honest I had no idea as to what I was going to do, but everything I’m doing lately seems to be in memory of our little dog who passed away in August of this year. Still very raw, I think of him a lot, and I’ve made this little pot for him. Yep it’s crap but it’s my crap, it’s a reminder of good times for me, a cartoon representation of him and on the rear of it I’ve signed it and stated where I made it.
It’s my first attempt in about 45 yrs and everyone has to start somewhere. I doubt I will take it up as a hobby at home but I enjoyed it, and for a small period of time I was productive, something I have been lacking in of late. It was most therapeutic.
My finished masterpiece…not
It’s now home, and in the next few weeks I will paint and seal it and hopefully have a nicely presented little keepsake. You can see the finished item here: Pinch Pottery Pt:2
I love trying new things, I loved doing this and who knows I may book a class and look at doing more in the future, just not at home. The missus would kill me 😂
Not sure what’s exactly meant by celebrating holidays but I’ll have a crack at it. Working the hours I do pretty much every day I get off is celebrated just like a holiday because those days are few and far between. They are very much days that are treasured and always spent with my wife and family.
If you mean public holidays such as “Bank Holidays” they are nothing special and to be honest I pretty much work every single one of them so no celebration there.
If you mean annual holidays then I still don’t quite get what is meant by celebrating them? Do you imagine that everyone is a crackpot dancing a jig and running around like a banshee just because they are on holiday.
I imagine just like me, most people celebrate in silence, just happy that they’ve made it to a holiday and to be in the company of those they love. And no more work for that period of time.
It probably sounds corny, and to be honest it is quite difficult to sideline a single word that is a favourite of all those that are used on a daily basis.
But for me it would be the word “Quiet”
It’s the one thing I like the most, it’s the one thing I seek the most and at the same time it’s the one thing that seems to be most difficult for me to find. It’s a strange all encompassing word.
My wife is a polar opposite, she loves hustle and bustle and finds “Quiet” difficult to handle but we do find a happy medium.
Yes, I’m the guy that would love that house in the middle of nowhere with no neighbours or main roads for miles.
Silence is golden they say, for me it’s an achievement to find it, keep it and treasure it.
It’s a lovely word “Quiet”
Peace to you all and please try to have a happy stress free day.
Foxes Den 
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