Looking After Oneself


 I met a couple new to the village last night. 
They were walking their dog up the lane and I was watering the sweet peas which had climbed nicely over the garden arch.
The wife said something that pleased me greatly
I always love your flowers” she said “The ones in your side window”
Ive said this before but Ive always had at least one bunch of flowers in the cottage at any one time. Ever since I bought my first home back in the 1980s flowers have always been my constant. Even when I was low on money, I would always have enough for a bunch of something bright to fill a vase or a gap on the window sill. 
Flowers make a home, homely. 
In that sense they are very much like a cat, for cats warm a house by nature of perching happily in the background. 
I’ve just heard that the ponies are returning to the field for a little while
This pleased me too, as their presence, for a few weeks, will bring a lot of happiness with it.
There is a great deal of satisfaction seeing them munching through the weeds, the Ivy and the overgrown grass.
The cottage is filled with the smell of garlic and onion
I’m making a colourful butternut squash Katsu curry


I’m coasting at work a little this week as I have a few more day shifts before my next holiday. 
I find I need a break from the hospice every two months or so….
The holiday, like a cat in the background, the ponies in the field and the flowers in the kitchen window will please and heal me 


44 comments:

  1. Bringing some happy and beautiful things into ones life is very important …. A bunch of daffs can bring a little ray of sunshine ….. doesn’t have to cost much but can make life so much sunnier….. keep looking after yourself John ….. it’s important to think of oneself now and again . XXXX

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    1. I like beautiful things jac
      Like that tea cup

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  2. Maybe next time you will ask the new couple if they would like to come in for a cup of tea or a coffee. Then you can have a natter. Shirley has always brightened our home with cut flowers - in summer they're mostly from our garden.

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    1. I would never invite someone in for tea without knowing them YP

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  3. Anonymous11:51 am

    Your sunflowers are great and I am pleased you would spend your last shilling on cut flowers rather than a Scotch egg. I don't think we have been without cut flowers at various homes for forty years, aside from premature floral death.

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    1. Yes flowers over scotch eggs anyday
      Bloody hell
      What am I saying x

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  4. i grew a lot of flowers this year with the exact purpose of cutting them and bringing them in and then i couldn't cut them. they looked so nice and happy outside that i just didn't have it in me.

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    1. I never have that guilt
      I love vases of flowers

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  5. . . . . here, flowers from the garden are rare right now with the searing heat and no rain during August, so bringing them home from a shop has become part of the weekly grocery shopping list! Tomorrow we should get a good rain as the tail end of horrendous Hurricane Ida clips North Carolina. Terrible damage in the Gulf states - I feel for the people there having gone through similar here. Nature is beautiful but often so cruel.

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    1. We in Britain can’t really appreciate the vagaries of your severe weather

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  6. Three days ago I spotted close to my back door near to a horseshoe a what I thought a twig attached strangely to a stem of mint-it was a darkest brown caterpillar with a nice face-I was worried the furry monsters would see it so placed it in the rosemary bush in the front garden-yesterday it was back crawling to it's previous position-or it was a friend I popped it into the honeysuckle-I do declare it's an elephant hawk moth caterpillar x

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    1. Arnt they quite rare flis?

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    2. When I googled it John they said they are often found at this time of year and are particularly fond of fuschias of which I have a small one 2 feet away from the spot x

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  7. It's the small things in life that can bring the greatest contentment!

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    1. You took the words out if my mouth, totally agree!

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    2. Yes Debra …a nice egg on toast, good coffee, a nice view, a sunny day

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  8. Self care can be so many different, small and wonderful things! I think it's important that we get our self care in the bank, so to speak, first - and fill it to the brim, for our days can drain our batteries. Flowers just give and give, don't they?

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    1. In my experience we often pay lip service with self care
      Sometimes we don’t know what nurtures us
      I’ve found late on in life about cooking,

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  9. Love flowers. Those sunflowers are fab, and having flowers at home is fantastic. They're always a pick me up IMHO.
    Funny how we're both talking about flowers today!

    XOXO

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  10. It sounds like everything is rosy in your world at the moment. True contentment. Long may it continue. xx

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  11. Barbara Anne2:29 pm

    Ah, you lovely sunflowers and words remind me of this quote:
    If of thy mortal goods thou art bereft,
    And of thy meager store,
    Two loaves alone to thee are left,
    Sell one, and with the dole
    Buy hyacinths to feed thy soul.
    — Saadi, Persian Sufi poet, in Gulistan (The Rose Garden), 1258

    Taking good care of yourself is essential. From the plans you make, the places you go, the friends you meet up with, and the occasional Scotch egg, it's clear you know what you need to make your life rich.

    Hugs!

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  12. Glad all is well with you, John!

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  13. Just checking in ... flowers are nice ... glad all is well.

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  14. You are in a very domestic mood! :)

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  15. Love the flowers - we have Sweet Peas from the garden here at the moment and I bought a big bunch of everlasting flowers at Malvern Fleamarket yesterday which are currently drying in the airing cupboard. A friend on the "antiques circuit" who I was talking to yesterday gave me that same advice - to look after myself, and make time for myself, as I was distressed by my husband's health issues ( 15 months on Prednisolone do your body no favours). So Simon, thank you. . .

    I hope a couple of weeks off restore you.

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    1. Steroids are invidious …18 months is a long horrid time to be on them

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  16. I always have flowers...my ex husband didn't agree, "waste of money".

    I wonder what a Katsu curry is? I don't think curries are very popular in the US. I for one dislike the overwhelming smell.

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    1. It’s a sweet Japanese currylizzy

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    2. I ll look up the recipe, thx

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  17. I love the thought of flowers and a cat in the background. It makes for a warm and peaceful home. I would also add a few books in the background. Take good care John.

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  18. A lovely peaceful vibe from you today! x

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  19. Who are you even ... ;)

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  20. When someone just passing by states they love your flowers, that's a very nice compliment. Flowers indoors and outside are very much enjoyed. Your curry sounds good.

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  21. I too love your flowers; it is rare I have any indoors though. I love curry too. Never tried a katsu though.

    Jo in Auckland

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  22. I’ve been taking informal cuttings from gardens on my city walks during lockdown and popping them into little jars for a mini display. Mock orange and honeysuckle do well even in tiny quantities. Student houses have very good overgrown mature gardens and nobody notices a missing honeysuckle twig.

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