I ironed my pillowcases today.  They were probably fine not ironed, I just wanted to do it.  I bought new sheets and a new spread for my bed recently and now the pillows show more, and I wanted them to be smooth and lovely. Seems sort of inconsequential to write about this, but it is a bigger subject than pillowcases.  I am living the life of a homemaker, and the person I am lovingly, contentedly making a home for is....MYSELF! When I had the "big crisis" a couple of years ago and changed my life drastically, I changed how I live on a daily basis.  I've written before about re-learning to do my own laundry, having my housekeeper only come on half day every other week, taking care of the things I used to delegate to others.  I raised ...

There’s no doubt about it, beauty uplifts your spirit and your mood!  It allows you to stop a moment, to relax, breath, and re-balance your self. Once thought to be an indulgence, it is now imperative in this crazy and fast paced world to energize yourself with wholistic beauty by: • Designing a welcoming home and stimulating work space  • Accessing the beauty, and flow of nature    • Enjoying the taste of local organic food, good wine, clean water   • Developing a sense of your own personal style   • Surrounding yourself with divine inspiration          • Feeling a sense of wellness and well being  • Experiencing the wonders of the world when traveling            • Appreciating simp...

My wife brought home this glossy magazine today. It was priced £2.50 on the cover but she didn't pay for it: it was thrust at her as she hurried past and, as she told me, it seemed easier to take it than not. Thumbing through it over a cup of tea, I saw why it was free: it was full of adverts. At a guess - I didn't actually count them! - I'd say about 60% of the magazine was advertising. At least that's what I thought. Reading several of the articles, it began to dawn on me that they were essentially adverts too, masquerading as journalism. I think it might work like this; a magazine is set up to approach people with lifestyle stuff to sell - oh, did I mention it was ''lifestyle''? Need I have? Then the journalist gets a freebie experien...

There is a good piece on the River Cottage website under the topic, ''Why Grow Vegetables''. I wish I had read this before heading off to a party in my old stomping ground in North West London. Cornered in the kitchen (it was a party after all), two guys, an old friend and a new acquaintance, were asking me how I filled my time now ''out in the sticks''. Without hesitation, I began to regale them with accounts of our new allotment venture, yet half way through it began to dawn on me that they didn't quite get it. Damning me with unintended feint praise, my good friend concluded it must occupy a good bit of my time – and money. Money? No way!, I protested. A packet of seeds is a pound-fifty, onions sets and potato chits a f...