Shape up to sheep

Got time on your hands? Take the Sheep Reaction Test

Mrs Trellis rides again

Lisbeth is back to working on the house after her weekend away and today has finished off the last two panels inside. While she was doing that, her man put up the fencing on one side of the garden. She says it looks pretty good.

Trees and People

Trees and people: they start little and grow bigger; get wider around the middle and show their age. Trees that lose their leaves just let them fall away so that they can renew themselves. If only it was as easy for people to do the same with possessions they no longer need and behaviours that no longer serve them well. The wind helps trees. What helps you?

Recipe for a good weekend

Ingredients:
1 small house, 3 or 4 creative people, variety of art objects, freshly cooked food, good wine, music (eclectic), car boot sale, google, games

Method:
Open up the house to reveal amazing art objects
Fill with creative people and mix together
Heat gently with a wood burner
Blend in the food, wine and music
Season to taste with google and games
Top off with a good car boot sale.

Serving suggestions:
Make last for two days

Grit & lick, every trip

Did I mention that my esteemed colleagues in Flintshire, Wales have taken a shine to the council's new grit mix containing sugar, starch and cereal? Not only are they quick off the mark after the gritting lorry has passed but, once on the road and in lick mode, they are reluctant to move over for traffic. I wonder if this new recipe has arrived in France? Full article

Mrs Trellis

Mrs Trellis, oh so blue,
Painting can't be fun for you.
I have an image: are you not
sitting by a big paint pot?

I'm sure you are, but it will pass.
You'll soon be back to cut the grass.
I try to empathise with you
but, sorry, I don't have a clue

I wonder if Lisbeth is the actual Mrs Trellis from north Wales?

Not so much painting but prodding

I've been so busy tweaking and twanging with my blog that I haven't reported on Lisbeth's progress on the house in England.

The good news is that the paint has arrived for the trellis. The bad news is that you can't apply it in low temperatures and the weather has just become colder with snow forecast for tomorrow. However, as the sun was out today, Lisbeth and her workman carried some panels round to the front of the house, which faces south, so that they could make a start after the ice had thawed.

The general consensus is that paint is looking good. It is a home mix of grey and white which makes a really nice pale grey colour (obviously) which changes shade (apparently) in different lights. However, the panels are of a lattice, criss-cross design and the wood has a finely ribbed surface. This means that the only way to get the paint on is by prodding it into the ribbed, criss-crossing slats, as opposed to using any kind of painting movement. That wouldn't be so bad in itself if it didn't take so long: It took one and a quarter hours for two of them to paint one side of one panel. If you do the maths, and Lisbeth has to do the rest on her own, you're looking at 5 hours per panel. There are eight panels and ten posts! Whose idea was it anyway?

Thank goodness I only have to write about it.

Cool Hand Mout

I'm still thinking about the help I got yesterday with the links: Oh how I love this blogging thing! I am beginning to believe in myself as a blogger, despite the fact that I only have a loose grasp of all the blogging paraphernalia. (An 'r' in parapheRnalia - fancy that! If I'd done Latin, which I haven't, would I not be surprised?)

Any road up, as my friend says, I'm pretty pleased with my continuing talking practice, as well. Question: So what are your goals, Mouty in the talking department? Answer: I'm not sure that I have any. Question: When will you have practiced enough? Answer: What is 'enough'? Oooooo such questions. Maybe there isn't an 'enough' to get to. Maybe one just has to keep practicing, and the experience of practicing is 'enough' in itself? But now I'm starting to sound like Lisbeth.........

Testing links in the body of posts

I've been getting help from the 'blogger help group' to put links within the body of my posts in such a way that they look better than how I've been doing it to date. My test link here is to a post from one of these kind people who sent it to see if this way of doing it was what I had in mind. It was exactly what I had in mind. Thanks Mishka. It's the first time I've used this group and I'm knocked out by how many bloggers have taken the time to offer this poor html-challenged mouton a helping hand. Thanks guys.

Reflecting on a visit from a friend

Lisbeth had a visit from a friend today. It is someone she's known for quite some time, although they don't see each other very often. They met through the house in England: her friend was the previous owner. They got to know each other quite well during the time that the house was for sale and have remained friends ever since. It was a good day. They had lunch together, checked stuff out on the net, discussed Lisbeth's situation and what she can do in France to earn money. Lisbeth likes to see her friend as she has a very nice energy about her.

I think Lisbeth needs to spend more time around people who help to lift her spirits and to focus on the future. She has a tendency to feel very stuck in the house in England so it is not an easy matter for her to summon the energy needed to break the pattern that keeps her from moving into a happier way of being.

Time spent with her friend always helps her to feel more resourceful and I am confident that, little by little, she will be able to rewrite herself in a more positive light. Why wouldn't she? There's a thought for you, Libeth, why wouldn't you?

Mouty's Musings: Kites

Kites remind me of life: when you're up, you're flying and your spirits soar; when you're down, it feels as if you'll never fly again. If this is true, then when we are down, it might be helpful to remember that the kite has both flight and rest within it. So being down is just part of the natural ebb and flow of being a kite. And that is how it is.

Mrs Mop

Lisbeth's been quite the Mrs Mop today. She's been getting stuck in to cleaning some parts of the house that haven't been cleaned for some time, her being in France so much of the year. She's managed to keep reasonably OK although she could feel herself beginning to get panicky about everything there is to be done and how much everything deteriorates when she's away.

As far as I can tell, cleaning has pretty much always a trigger for feeling 'bad'. In France she notices it the same, yet seems to manage it better. In England, I think that she finds herself to be always catching up and never actually getting on top of it. In France the house is her house and she lives alone (apart from yours truly). Here, she sets the agenda and appears better at taking responsibility, not just for what happens, but how she relates to what she does. Because she manages her state better, she is more able to practice 'mindfulness' and stay 'present' when she's doing jobs that she doesn't like. Fascinating!

Slowly but surely the work progresses

Work on the house in England progresses slowly but surely. The new front door is fitted, undercoated and sporting some new door furniture. The tailor-made new garden gate (it's an odd size) is now in place, undercoated and shutting properly. The wall has been braced around the corner with metal brackets in preparation for attaching the fencing. Getting wood stain for the fencing has been a nightmare and Lisbeth is still waiting for delivery. Inside, books have been sorted and taken to a charity shop. All in all, it's been a good week.

A philosophical moment

Lisbeth has now told one of her closest friends about my blog and I am very relieved that they think I'm doing OK. Not that I bother what others think.................well...................

Perhaps I do a bit. I suppose all of us have some misgivings about letting others see our creations, especially if we want to retain their good opinion. Although their good opinion is theirs, so how can it really help my opinion of me?

If we take this statement from a human point of view, then I don't suppose that it would be an unreasonable thing to be concerned about, as the human condition appears to be dominated by the vagaries of the ego-self. However, if I am sheep AND I am stardust (and who amongst you can say I'm not?), then I need fear nothing; or so I tell myself. I do what I do; I am what I am; And that is as it is.

Then again, isn't that the same for humans? Lisbeth says she'd be much happier if she could just let go of her ego-self and live accepting that everything is as it is. (Perhaps truly believing that she is stardust is too much of a stretch for a damp evening in Frebruary?)

Better late than nothing

Oh dear..............Lisbeth lost track of the time and, having thought about it all day, was doing something else at the 'powering down' time! So she did the powering down, an hour later than planned, with Italy. I know it isn't as good as doing it on UK time but better to do something than nothing. One good thing to come out of it is our discussion about focus. She says that her forgetting is because she was not focused on what is important to her and if you want to make something happen, you have to focus on what is important and actually make it happen.