Letters from Wetville

So I left 19C Cornwall for a week, and participated in 21C Wetville a little more.  League has finished for the year and the freedom we had in the weekend because of that was beautiful.    We went to Shantytown and hung out in the rain, and the next day we went to the swimming pool.  We bought a new toy which prompted some housework. What toy does that , you ask? The old vaccum cleaner had lost its suck.  I'd kept it going for an extra two years beyond when I first thought it needed replacing by lots of cleaning of the brushes and making do (and, it could easily be argued, by not using it very often).  I thought I'd shift from my Dyson, but when I researched my options, Dyson came out on top by a million miles. So the house is quite a bit cleaner than usual which is lovely.  Long may the interest in using the new toy last. I'm making quite good progress with my Miette cardigan.  I'm knitting the pattern as per the size 42" instructio...

Slippery elm, as a little googling will tell you, is a herb made of the inner bark of a tree (a particular one, but I don't remember what it is called) which makes a mucilage with water which is soothing ones innards.  Laksmi recommended it for Fionn a couple of months ago.  Since then, we've added it to the porridge Monday - Friday.  A couple of times in the last month I have seen the early signs of an imminent asthma attack, particular kind of sensitive, tearful, dark under the eyes and tired than would reasonably be expected which is a typical precursor to an asthma attack for Fionn.  But asthma hasn't resulted.  The slippery elm is the only different thing we have been doing.  So I'm inclined to carry on with it. Brighid, who has endless sore tummies, and myself, who is the grumpiest person this side of Arthurs Pass who also has a sore chest from/causing coughing, do not like porridge.  So I set out to find a way to get slippery elm into us....

 Despite consistent neglect, my globe artichokes are survivors.  A local friend had to pull hers out as they were too prolific and crowded everything else out of her vege garden.   Every year I photograph and post my first iris.  This year is no exception.  Calendulas.  Letting them go to seed last year was a great move.  We'll pretend it was deliberate rather than the result of neglect.  Benign and loving neglect, clearly.    Thyme in flower.  The chook grave garden.  Daffodils and jonquils.  Same beautiful flowers, different angles.  I can see these from the kitchen, which cheers me up several times a day. Pansy amongst the miners lettuce.  I took these photos today, and did some weeding, before the rain returned.  I love my garden, salve to anything which bugs me. I believe I wrote about budgeting last week.  I don't feel qualified to write...

What would it look like if I wiped $1000 worth of expenditure from our household per fortnight?  It might not smell or sound much different, but I'd wager it would taste different. I'm very fortunate in that I'm making a choice to embark on this project.  It must seem extremely privileged to people who have been laid off or made redundant.  'Redundancy' implies some kind of financial compensation for the loss of employment, but it is also a horrible word in its implication that a person is merely a unit of labour, of no persisting value. When I was at home with young babies, particularly the second time round when we also had a mortgage to service, I spent a lot of time both saving money and reading about ways to save money.  I'm okay at it rather than exceptionally good. The short answer to saving money is not to spend it.  Almost as short is 'don't get unlucky'.  Don't lose your job, or get sick.  Don't buy a dud car or a house with u...