Thoughts in the Supermarket

Sometimes, when I am in the supermarket, I see some older gentleman there doing his shopping. He's on his own, with a basket in his hand, placing his needed items there. 

One by one. Carefully. Slowly. Deliberately.

I may see him in one aisle, and no more. Or I may keep meeting him aisle after aisle. As he goes about his business, all kinds of thoughts rush through my head.

None of them are happy thoughts.

"He must be on his own. He's widowed."

"I wonder if his wife passed away a long time ago. Or was it just recently?"

"Is he thinking of his late wife with every item he sees on the shelves? Does he remember when he used to buy flour because she baked? And Raspberry jam because that was her favourite."

"Does his heart sorrow every time he puts half-a-dozen eggs in his basket, because he and his wife used to buy a dozen?"

"Does he have family? I wonder if they live near him. Maybe they're all living off the island, and he has nobody close by."

"I wonder if he's a Christian. Does his heart rejoice because one day soon, he will be with his wife, and they will look on the face of their Beloved together - not as husband and wife, but as members of this amazing family of God?"

I may see him going through the checkout. He may fumble in his wallet. He may be slow packing his bag. 

These scenes actually bring tears to my eyes. I don't want this man to be alone. I want him to be happy. I want his wife to be still alive, and their children and grandchildren to be all around them.

And then I realise that it is eminently possible that his wife is sitting in the car waiting, and he is on his own simply because he's a gentleman who offered to nip in to Tesco so she could wait in the warm car.

That cheers me up, and I hang onto that thought because I don't want to have a red nose and watery eyes when I have to go through the checkout.

Is this normal? Do any of you folks think like this? Or do I clearly have too vivid an imagination? 

Trawling through the Past Week's Facebook

For those of you who don't follow me on Facebook, here are some of my recent statuses.

Friday 11th

Here's the Builder arriving home after cycling home from work.

He was working in town.... yep, after a week's work, he cycles the 25 miles home.

He's trying to keep up to my level of fitness.

   ~  ~  ~   

Saturday 12th

I believe Mother's Day is coming up soon if you live on 'the other side', but for us in the UK, Mother's Day is in March.

On Mother's Day of 1995, our first daughter was born. 

On Mother's Day of 1997, our second daughter was born. No kidding! 

Two daughters. Both on Mother's Day. 

Best. gifts. ever.

~   ~   ~

Wednesday 9th

-1C windchill out there. 50mph North-easterly wind. Brrrrr!

I'm very thankful to be in my warm home tonight and not outside.

~   ~   ~

Tuesday 9th

Stroll on! Trying to arrange a holiday for two irate teenagers aint easy.

Where's Frank Egglehoffer when you need him?

~   ~   ~

Monday 8th

Builder + Weathered Tan = *Very* nice 

.... Just sayin' ;)

(and of course, this is simply my personal opinion)

~   ~   ~

Saturday, 6th

Wow... that moon is *really* bright tonight :)

(This was the night our moon was closer to the Earth than normal and so appeared a good bit larger. It really was beautiful when I went out to take the photo.)

Just Life Here at Home

The Wee Guy is on his break. He has finished his Maths and headed out the door, shouting as he went: "Can't you see the fear in the eyes of the British Redcoats?".


"Oi!", I call, "You are British!".


"But today, I am fighting for freedom!".


You know what? I reckon that boy is learning right enough.

 I'm just not sure our guys have quite made up their minds as to where their hearts are.

...British?

...or across the Pond??

* * *          * * *          * * * 

For lunch today, we're having Courgette soup, made last summer when our courgettes were coming thick and fast. All the veg that were made into soups in late summer and in the autumn are now being appreciated by all.... (well, by me in particular, because I am enjoying them without having to make them). Soups in the freezer are the best thing ever.


When we go from this...

to this ...

and then to soup on our plates... Yep, it makes the work worthwhile

* * *         * * *         * * *

This morning, we read this in Jeremiah:


"Seekest thou great things for thyself? Seek them not." Jer 45:5


... I thought they were striking words.

* * *         * * *         * * * 

Food. I May be Becoming Obsessed

Maybe this has been common knowledge throughout the rest of the Western world, and if it has been, I don't know why nobody ever told me. Thank you to a lady from our village who told me just a couple of weeks ago that she always chopped up her carrots, leeks and turnip, bagged them and froze them.  No par-boiling; no blanching. Nothing. Just straight from the plot to the freezer. 


Today, I added another four bags of chopped turnip to the half-dozen already in the freezer. This is so handy for when I'll be making Scotch Broth with little time.


No, not with a little Thyme, but with little time.

Bags of chopped turnip, ready to throw into a pan of Scotch Broth at a later date.

And seeing as I'm talking of my vegetables (I know, you've missed hearing of them), here are some of my peeled and chopped veggies from Saturday.

All from The Plot.... yes, I did say it (and not just once): 

'It's so amazing. Ah-ma-zing!'

Well, it is!

Now, y'all will be thinking I'm obsessed with food, but I have to show you this...

Dawn's carrot cake. 

These are not the days on which to be making New Year resolutions. Unless the resolution is to eat as much cake as possible.

Of every cake I have ever eaten, this is simply the best.

The Best.

If cakes were actors, this would be Colin Firth in that scene.

If cakes were cars, this would be the Land Rover Discovery (not that there are many apparent similarities, but they are both my favourite in their respective classes).

If cakes were holidays, this carrot cake would fly me to Vancouver, take me East across Canada, through the Rockies, over the Prairies, all the way to the fishing villages of Nova Scotia.

It would then drive me south into the USA, through the New England coast, and keep driving until we reached New Jersey. There, it would allow me to wallow in the luxury of 'our seaside home' (remember it?) for a while, before heading me into Virginia....ahhhh, Virginia, land of Mr Jackson (you remember him?), into North Carolina, across the Blue Ridge Mountains..... Ahhh from where we'd head West and drive into the sunset day after day after day. 

Into the Wild West....

Er... I seem to have got slightly carried away here. Food does that to me.

And this old favourite, PW's Chocolate Sheet cake, sat on the counter on Saturday, waiting to be remembered. Even cakes aren't keen on being usurped by bigger, better ones.

'Chocolate sheet cake, I can assure you, you will not be forgotten.' 

We shall not cease to bake you. Over and over and over. If you guys have never tried it, make it. You wont regret it.

Though your waistline may...

Ramblings.... (what I do best)

Just when I thought it couldn't get any better, my delightful little cowboy has now taken to tipping his hat, with a quiet, 'Ma'am' every time he passes me.


I don't know where he saw this gesture, but just when I thought he couldn't be a more perfect cowboy.... he discovers this.

Here's my Cowboy with his Cowgirl. Aren't they the cutest pair...

And here they are with Buzz Lightyear. So cute.

***   ***   ***

To add to my delight over Christmas, the Builder bought me perfume. Now, those of you who follow Homeschool on the Croft on Facebook already know this, but to the rest of you, this will be shocking news.


It isn't?


Well, it ought to be. Twenty years it took, but he finally bought me perfume. And I love it. 


I believe his shopping experience went something like this:


He walks into Chemist and finally reaches the front of the queue. To the shop assistant, he said, 'Ahhh, perfect. You're the very person to tell me what perfume my wife will love.'


Those in the queue behind him laughed, but the shop assistant asked a few questions and once she'd established what kind of person I was (tall, slim, cute, fashionable .... ) she recommended Hugo Boss. Pour femme. Naturally. And thankfully.

***   ***   ***

Now, to me, the joy of this whole time of year is of being surrounded by family and friends. On Saturday, my Mum and Dad came with us to see the kids opening their Christmas presents. I think I spoke recently about Grandparents and how we ought, if at all possible, to treasure them and to try and include them in our children's lives. I can tell you that a gift of a million pounds wouldn't mean as much to my folks as what they had on Saturday - the pleasure of being with the kids, seeing them open their gifts, and have them show everything off to them. I reckon if we're able to give grandparents anything, let it be the gift of our time and our company. I'm thinking most grandparents would choose this over any other gift.

 ...although here...

they seem more concerned with what is in their bag than with any of their grandchildren.

***   ***   ***

Today, we were expecting some visitors. These visitors are friends of our kids - friends DR made whilst in America last summer, and who have kept up the friendship via Skype. (Did I ever tell y'all I loved the internet?)

Well, these Englishers, these city-folks, are coming to stay. They were supposed to be here today, but our Gale Force 11 winds meant the ferry did not sail today. All being well, they will arrive tomorrow. Over the past months, while our kids made excited plans with these city-folks, the Builder and I planned on how to make their holiday as much of a culture shock as possible.

We thought we'd feed them...

yep, the Guga. Read about it here and you'll see why our citified friends will not come back again.

We thought we'd threaten to take them here...

to the peats.

Or to do this...

with the sheep.

But of course, it's the wrong time of year for these.

However, it seems the experience they're gonna have has been taken out of our hands.

Winds of up to 80 mph today meant their ferry didn't sail. They're stuck on the mainland, just across the Minch overnight. 

High winds tomorrow and a sea still raging in the aftermath of today's gale will give them a .... er, slightly choppy sail tomorrow.

Oh the joys of living on an island.

Our electricity has been flickering on and off in the high winds. Over the next week, there is every likelihood that they will experience a power cut. Life with no electricity: how will city folks cope?!

But the best is yet to come. Today, we lost our water supply. No kidding. We have no running water. The water company supplied us today with bottles of water... so we have water with which to cook, and we have water to drink. We don't, however, have the capacity to shower.

Seriously, we did not want to show our English friends this. We did not want to go this far back in time. 

Never mind the Londoners.... I can not cope without running water. 

Fridges and Cages

Okay, I've just finished cleaning out my fridge.


...


Er, what do you mean, 'So?'


Oh, yes....you're right, because of course it wasn't desperately needing cleaning, and none of the shelves has icky yucky sticky stuff on them, and there was no food in cups and bowls that had gone, er, icky and yucky.


Of course, y'all are right! I have no idea why I ever mentioned my lovely clean fridge to you. Because, after all, my fridge is always clean. 


Yep.


Back to my plot, which is where I know best at this time of year.


After Monday's gorgeous Independence Day weather, normal service was resumed yesterday.


The wind blew.

 Even inside the cages, the broccoli was getting a bit of a battering.

 My babies. I do hope you're gonna be okay.

 The new potatoes... having a bit of a rough time too.

Here's this year's plot (minus the potatoes)

 Cage 1...

...and Cage 2. The Romanesco at the bottom of the photo is where I took Saturday's photos from.

Miscellany Monday

This is stolen from Patrice at Everyday Ruralty, but linked to lowercase letters. As its theme is random musings, I thought it fitted in with my life beautifully.

Random Musing #1

Apparently, today is Europe Day. I have to write the words out in full, so you will know what I'm talking about, but from now on, it will be known as E* Day.

I can assure you, that's about as polite as I could muster.

In honour of E* Day, I'm flying MY flag.

 Well, I'd be flying it if Teddy hadn't decided to sit on it.

But just in case any of you are under any illusions...

THIS is my flag. It's red, white and blue. It's the flag of the United Kingdom. And it's mine.

You got it? Good.

Random Musing #2

This is my washing line the other day...

There is something about this line that really, really bugs me.

 

See the pegs? They're multi-coloured.

Yep, that's what bugs me. I can't stand using different coloured pegs on the one item of clothing. If - if - I have to use different colours, then I like to have the colours in symmetry.

So, I may put a blue at each outer edge with a red in the middle. (Notice the colour choices. Yes, it's significant - is this not normal?)

But sometimes, my lines are so full, and my peg basket is so empty that I have to mix and match my peg colours. When this is the case, I sit at the window, waiting for the moment the washing is dry so I can take it off the line and I can relax again.

Not quite. But almost.

So there are my random musings for today. You do know that the purpose of my blogging is to make all you out there in cyberspace feel fabulous about yourselves? 

Because no matter how odd you may be, you now know you are perfectly normal compared with others.... like me.

An Award, pour moi, and Random Facts

Kirsteen, at Life in a Household of Boys passed this award onto me.

Stylish.

Me.

Let's put them together: Stylish. Me. 

I'm trying....really, I'm trying to find the connection between these two words. I'm failing. But, Kirsteen, I really appreciate the award.

I am to find some random facts to go with the award, but, as I am kind of random in general, I am able to give you one of my normal posts.

1. Sometimes I get asked why I homeschool. Of course there are many deep and meaningful reasons, but yesterday when the Wee Guy was doing his subtractions, he looked up from the page, and simply said, 'Mum, I love you'. He then carried on with his Maths as though this was the most normal thing in the world to do whilst doing Maths.

Do I only homeschool to have that sweet little mouth say these things to me out of the blue? No.

Do they make every second of it worthwhile? You better believe it.

 

wild flowers he picked yesterday afternoon for me

2. Does this fella...

 

...look well to you?

This little  baby has been so unwell this week. I mean seriously unwell. He spent two days in Intensive Care at the vet's (They don't really call it Intensive Care, but it was intensive, and it was care).

He had a serious bacterial infection. I don't want to be gross here, but it was eating away at the lining of his gut. He was keeping no foods nor fluids in his stomach, and as well as his food and drink, a lot of blood was coming out both ends too. By the time we got him to the vet, he was seriously dehydrated, as well as seriously ill. He spent two days on a drip, is still on antibiotics, and on a special diet, but has improved hugely.

Oh boy, it is not pleasant watching your puppy suffering. Not pleasant at all. 'Mammy's heart was sore, wasn't it, Jackson, and there was nothing she could do for you.'

3. We had almost two weeks of sunshine. We had some rain yesterday and today, but this evening is beautifully sunny again. I can assure you that this weather fact is worth mentioning.

4. The Builder and co were getting a couple of strainers into the ground today, ready to fence off our vegetable plot. 

 

The hole for the strainer is deep...

 

...and the strainer is huge

 

...much huger than what we see above ground...

I had no idea there was so much underground. Then again, I don't have much idea about anything on the croft. C'est la vie.

 

Er, I don't think they're straight, mate.

 

Are they...

 

Oh, maybe they are. I think it's me that was not quite right.

5. I couldn't post without mentioning my veggies.

 

I took a note today of the specific varieties of brasiccas I'd planted, because some - like the brocolli in this photo - did really well. Every seed I planted sprouted....

 

...whilst others - like this variety of cauliflower - had a very poor success rate. I have other cauliflower seedlings, so it's okay, but I wanted to take note of the name and make of seed, so I wouldn't go for them again. 

 

Here is the tray of Romanesco. They had a high success rate too. Let's hope they're just as successful when they actually get into the ground.

Well, there are my five random bits of news.

But you didn't really think you were gonna get off without a sunset, did you?

 Two nights ago, with my washing line in the foreground.

Nice touch, I thought.

(I didn't really.)

This was from two nights ago. As I write this - at 8.30pm - it's broad daylight outside. It feels like only a couple of weeks ago when the sun was setting mid-afternoon. And here we are with daylight almost until we go to bed. 

"While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease." Genesis 8:22