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Sunday 30 January 2011

This and That

One down one to go! Here is the first new compost bin finished. Not sure whether I like the colour but it looks good and certainly more attractive from the guest room window! Now just have to make another to replace the other green plastic one!

My gardening efforts are bearing fruit too - here are my pea shoots poking through. I spent two afternoons last week gardening - trimming back and tidying up our boundary with the next door woodland. Having just a post and rail fence planted with rosa rugosa between us and the wood is lovely but it does mean that the blackberry brambles and weeds don't take any notice and just continue onwards into our garden. I kept at it with the shears and rake and pulling up the weeds etc till my arms were all of a tremble and it took several days before my muscles recovered! Still it was good to be out in the fresh air and I certainly slept better!


On Thursday I met up with a friend in Bridport and we went to West Bay where we had a walk along the coast for an hour or so. Boy was it chilly - the wind was from the East and I think it was straight from Siberia! It was lovely though to be out and enjoying a walk with a friend and we got back to West Bay in time for lunch here where we had a lovely big bowl of warming Tuscan Vegetable soup and some fresh baked bread - wonderful after our walk on the cliff tops!


It was a grey day although it was at least dry. This lovely litchen was the only spot of colour but isn't it lovely?


I read an article in the paper at the weekend here which was about whether or not on-line networks such as Facebook are diminishing us as humans. I had to wonder whether many of the criticisms levelled at Facebook might also apply to blogging.


The author said that "skimming people lightly but in greater number can be hard work" and is giving rise to what some call "online sociability fatigue" and he goes on to suggest that "the ties we form through the internet are not, in the end, the ties that bind but they are the ties that preoccupy".

The conclusion he drew was that we must find a new way of thinking which puts the medium back in its place, which frowns on compulsively checking for messages (this is my problem I must admit!) and refuses to follow the electronic crowd otherwise we may end up slaves to a glorified electrical machine. What do you think?!


I have to say that a walk in the real world with a real live friend beats sitting in front of the computer chatting to virtual friends any day!

However I feel that in blogging I have met some lovely people and some real friends so I wouldn't want to pack it up altogether so I guess it is as with most things in life a matter of finding a happy medium.


The twigs I picked a week or so ago have burst into leaf - what a lovely green isn't it?


Last week's fresh flowers were daffodils again! I noticed that there are daffodils in bud alongside the road near here so it won't be long till we have swathes of golden flowers nodding in the breeze. Speaking of breeze I must stop waffling and go and see if my washing is dry - yes it is out on the line in the sunshine and though the towels will not dry outside some of the thinner items have already been brought in and ironed smelling of fresh air - I love it!! Did I ever imagine that getting my washining dry out in the fresh air might one day be a cause for rejoicing!!

19 comments:

  1. I read the same article with the same sort of thoughts.
    I try to make myself think why I'm posting a blog. Sometimes, (well, frequently when I analyse it) it is for a specific person. That person/s may be grandchildren, possibly somewhere over a distant hill, or my old adult children who may like to have a memory of me.
    Blogs can't get lost in the attic unless the entire system collapses.
    Beneath that it the constant need to write, just for its own sake.
    I greatly enjoy receiving comments - thank you so much, Marigold! I don't mind a bit if the comments are rude - and they sometimes are. At least I'm not being ignored.
    None of this stops or affects all my usual interactions. I hope it enhances them.

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  2. my brother-in-law told me this morning he has put some pictures of our niece on FB and i could see her there. 'i don't do facebook', i said, 'i have a busy life'. i think FB is a waste of time; i don't really see the point in it. blogging is different; it's like a journal - i blog whenever i can and i don't feel like having to keep in touch with everyone that has left me a message. it's not a 24/7 thing for me. as for incoming comments, my perspective on them has changed recently: i'm happy to see my regular readers/ friends and smile and say to myself 'ah, great! jane's been here' but i don't care if there are only few comments as i used to. i believe i have found a balance.
    i'm glad you're spending time outside.
    take care!
    xo

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  3. I use facebook as a way of keeping in touch with family and friends who are scattered across the globe. It's lovely for me to be able to see their pictures etc, when actually I couldn't phone/visit due to lack of time. Your compost bin is super - I wish I had one like that! I've been in the garden for a little while today - so much to do!

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  4. I love your new compost bin! Are your peas sweet peas or eating peas?
    The lichen on the tree looks like flowers! I don't do a lot of face booking or emailing but I do like to visit blogging friends and i find it very inspiring!
    Lucy xxxxx

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  5. Lovely photos and an interesting post! As you say, it's keeping a balance, isn't it? I love meeting friends for coffee, etc., but now I also like looking at blogs I follow. I recently cut down on the blogs I read, as I felt it was taking too much of my time and I wasn't really interested in reading some of them! (I expect people follow me, then un-follow!!)

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  6. Jane, your husband is a complete star, the compost bin looks amazing and I do love the colour. I don't bother with Facebook any more, I'm not impressed with it at all and can only see that it would be a good way of keeping in touch with overseas friends and relatives, not your friends who live just around the corner. Blogging, I believe, is completely different. I learn all sorts of interesting stuff from the blogs I read and also find it a lot of fun, and that can only be a good thing!

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  7. Lovely pictures and I really like your new compost bin, so much better than the plastic ones. I agree that sometimes people probably spend too much time on the internet rather than out doing things, and I don't really use facebook as much as others (although I'm now trying, not very succesfully, to use it to promote my etsy shop). But I do think blogging is different, I often blog for other people (parents and friends), although I also like that I've met other new virtual friends who've helped me out and given me great advice. So I guess a happy madium is good. Just re-read what I've written and it probably doesn't make sense - never mind! :) x

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  8. Great compost bin Jane. I really must do more than just think about one. ;-) The flowers look very cheerful and the twigs in green are great. I've got a couple of lovely bunches of flowers in the house at the moment that my lovely hubby bought me yesterday.

    Oh I so agree with what you write. I don't do facebook at all, tried briefly for about a week or two but just didn't 'get' it, or see the point. Funny I had this same type conversation with my quilting lady friends on Thursday night.

    Your walk looks very refreshing and enjoyable and so much better to do so with someone in real life.

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  9. I'm with the others in their criticism of Facebook. I am on it but think it is fairly silly though I do manage to keep in touch with people I otherwise wouldn't. I think younger people use it now instead of email.
    Blogging however, I love. Penfriends of the 21st century with more constant communication and photos. Possibly less personal unless private emails are involved too, but such a learning experience that it can't help but lead to better understanding of our differences and similarities.
    Among lots of new acquaintances I have several new friends that I would never have had the opportunity to know and I'm very glad of that !!!
    cheers
    Helen

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  10. I love your compost bin, including the colour! I have my first bunch of daffs in the house this weekend too, they're beautiful. You're not the only one who delights in washing drying outside, I love to see my washing blowing in the breeze!
    Vivienne x

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  11. heh, never thought those sticks would look so good, amazing! You are doing well with the gardening, lovely photos of the country side there, its certainly different from here. We are fighting back the grass- now over our heads! I try to help but it really plays havoc with my hayfever! I agree on the facebook thing- dont really like it and have deactivated mine, but really love the blogging, meeting such interesting people such as you has been fab, thanks Jane, happy gardening!

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  12. Lovely to see the fruits of your labour! Keep at it Jane (wrote the woman who has hardly touched her garden yet this year!). Re blogging: I think it IS a matter of finding a happy medium. I love coming in from work, getting a cup of tea and seeing what you all have been up to, but it would be VERY easy to get pulled into sitting here all day flitting round blogland.....

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  13. That's a very cool green you've stained/painted the compost bin, that's just the colour I'm looking for to paint our fence can I ask what make it is please? Lucey xx

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  14. I've been trying to limit my computer time lately - mainly because there's so much else to do. I love blogging and the people I've met through my blog, but I eschew face-book and twitter and I've lately cut down my posts to about one a week, though I do quickly skim through my list of blogs that I follow on a more or less daily basis - I do like to know what everyone else is up to! It's nice to communicate with like-minded people, and the computer is always there when I can't get out or meet up with friends - unless the broadband fails as it has lately...

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  15. It is all a matter of perspective isn't it, as your commentators have said? Anyone who lets any one thing dominate their life could be said to be leading a narrow existence. The internet and all its applications is a wonderful tool, and I love corresponding with people from all over the world and having information at my fingertips. Sometimes I do seem to spend a lot of time hovering and checking for comments etc, but other times I do find other things to do. You seem to have a full life outside of computers Jane, well done for getting stuck into the gardening - it's been too cold and damp here. We spent a great week in WestBay a few years ago overlooking the harbour when they were still filming Harbour Lights (Whoops, that is quite a long time ago now!) and we stood on the beach there a few years later to watch - or try to - the total eclipse, it's a lovely spot and especiall good off season I should imagine! We have three plastic compost bins, but they are well hidden from the house - our wooden ones rotted!!

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  16. Jane,
    I wouldn't mind sitting in front of this lap top if it played fair! For some reason I couldn't see the majority of your photos but I got the gist and loved the one of the compost bin. Now that has some style and your husband is a clever man. Although I can't make out the colour it looks pretty good to me. Just wait until you have two side by side! Always remember seeing Geoff Hamilton do these on his cottage gardens programme. Lovely. As for blog friends and face to face friends I think you've got the balance exactly right and I think that having the opportunity to enjoy both is a real plus. Like you I value all my friends near or far, particularly those I've 'clicked' with online. Long may it continue. Lesley x

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  17. Beautiful stunning pictures - don't you just love the coast on a blustery Wintry day? Though I think Bridport is far more scenic then Thanet!

    take care,

    Nina xxx

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  18. I love your pictures of the coast and wish we had some where close by that was as beautiful for a long walk, even if it was a little chilly!
    I'm undecided on FB, each to his/her own I guess. I have an account, but it's a terrible way to try and contact me!!! My boss has FB and frequently gives me updates on my college boy (who has FB) from her iPhone, which I must say I do enjoy.
    Jealous you are seeing signs of the daffs already! My are buried under snow.
    Take care,
    Louise

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  19. I am late to read this post, but fresh washing is one of my 'free treats'!! I love fresh sheets on the bed!

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