Life, get one!
A wordcloud based on my 750 words from today, hence the blog title!
I was inspired to dig up my old 750words.com account this morning after reading what my friend @lloyddavis wrote recently here about 'morning pages' practice.
I had to find my account again (thank goodness for gmail archives) and get a new login and then, after a bit of faffing about, I bashed out 790 words. Normally I won't share them as it's an inhibition to letting it all out, but in celebration of having a go and with a little tidy up here's a copy and paste of my first new one for ages.
Hello again. back on the attempt to get some words down and get into a blogging frame of mind again. Lloyd says that he does this on pen and paper an I wonder if that is the best way as apparently you can see changes in writing style as different voices come through,... I don't know if I am ready for that. I should give it a go one day. after all its all about experimenting isn't it?
There, see I did one tenth of what I should do already.. not too hard is it :-)
There has been a lot of changes since I last dumped this volume of thoughts onto paper/screen. I was in a job - it seems like I only manged to get 2 days done before abandoning the effort. Maybe I was inhibited by doing it at work. Anyway I signed up at 750words.com in 2010 and shortly after that, well a couple of years, they introduced a fee for being a member as a way of managing server costs. However, as an early joiner I managed to get 'grandfathered' across as a lifetime free member. See, I knew signing up early for stuff was a good idea! Not only do you claim for preferred identity name but you might reap benefits!
So, now that I don't have a regular job anymore I can indulge a little in creativity and so I have started doing a few more things around the local community. Volunteering in outdoors activities, like rhododendron clearing, tree planting, balsam bashing, etc.
Learning to dry-stone wall. Helping in local politics and doing more around the house (painting, decorating, etc).
We have a busy life and never seem to find enough hours in the day to fit in all we would like too. That's a good thing - right? Or is it a magpie mind? How can you spot the difference between hopping about too much and keeping focus when you need to?
This is now about half way through and I'm starting to be worried about getting to the end in an effortless flow, (like i hoped it would be :-) ). There is so much that could be put down, but my mind us playing tricks now like: "save that one for tomorrow", " don't go there, yet", "who is going to read this and what will they think" (Answer: I shouldn't care).
This week I have made marmalade. I like making marmalade and have made a batch every new year for the past three or four years. I like ot give a jar or two away to family and neighbours. The recipe is different every time, I like experimenting. The main problem I seem to get is that it always takes a lot longer to set than the recipe books say. Sometimes I have boiled it for over an hour to get the setting point (cold saucer method), and I use a thermometer. I thing there is a lot of variability in the fruit from year to year. This year the batch seemed less juicy and more pith. I use one kilo at a time and that makes about 6 jars. As the Seville oranges are only in the shops during Jan/Feb I tend to buy a couple more kilos and stick them in the spare freezer in the shed. They preserve well frozen and doesn't seem to spoil the fruit, just makes them a bit softer to start with.
Cooking is something I do enjoy doing and spend more time doing than maybe I should. I'm always looking for new ways of preparing delicious, mainly vegetarian, food and I like using a range of spices and flavours from around the world. This means my spice drawer is always overflowing and being restocked. Well, its a good thing to be doing isn't it? Mass produced food is generally terrible for the body, bad for the planet, and don't get me started on animal welfare.
Oh well, go on then... You see I grew up on a farm. Not a massive one, one of those ones perched on the edge of the moors that looks like it's build not to blow away! So I know a thing or two about livestock rearing and although my father had to try and keep the turnover as large as he could to make any money, we just didn't have the land to go that intensive that it became a factory. He knew all the cows names and history. Sheep ran around outdoors most of the year as they were designed to; but on the other hand we had spells of caged battery hens, pigs kept in cages, etc.
More another day maybe. Times up.