Recycling Challenge Day 12 - End

Last year all the family gathered at Mum's for Christmas dinner and the celebrations went on until 2am boxing day. Even Mum saw it through to the end despite usually being in bed at 9pm. I just had a call from her saying that my niece has requested that we do it again on the proviso that I do the cooking. Now that's a very nice compliment and I'm happy to do it because I have been trying to get the family to come together at Christmas just like it used to happen when I was growing up, but I have my reservations that last year was a spur of the moment thing and that's why it worked so well.  Then again, these things work not due to my cooking or entertaining skills but due to the attitude of the guests.
Anyway, I said yes because for the past week or two I have been considering just spending Christmas day on my own. I did it a few years ago when my son and daughter were away for Christmas and it was one of the most relaxing and enjoyable days that I have ever had. Just me and the dogs tucked up in the house, watching TV, listening to music and reading.

Here we are look

Dogs with social skills. Even when their bowls moved against one another and eventually switched places, they didn't argue, they just carried on eating and remained at the table when finished. I think that was more to do with waiting for more food than waiting for me to give permission for them to leave the table. I don't think they were too keen on the hats and scarfs though.
I was going to delete this section of the post but decided that it's just general chat. This is the last time I will mention Christmas until it gets nearer to the time, because I'm quite traditional in that sense. I hate Christmas starting in November.

The freezer that was on freecycle was taken by someone else so I'm still watching for another one. The Blackcurrant bush that was advertised was also taken before I got in there (damn, I really wanted that) and no one is listing a wood burning stove. I have seen quite a few old French wood burners on eBay for as little as a pound, but they are mostly in need of repair by welding or require parts that are unavailable I presume. Why else would they let them go for a pound when burners are in fashion and selling for hundreds of pounds? Anyhoo, I will keep looking and eventually I will find one. along with a freezer and a blackcurrant bush.
I also decided last night to fill in the hole in my garden, not bother with the decking and create more growing space. If I get the allotment I can deck over my garden at that point. So now I also need to keep my eye out for enough earth to fill a huge hole and have a word with the neighbours to see if they mind if get a couple of Chickens

I have just got cleaned up after a very muddy couple of hours in the garden. The rest of the slabs that were in the 'Hole' have now been used to make my path a bit wider in places. All the flower pots have been emptied into the hole and the dead flowers chucked in the recycle bin with the weeds, ready for the final collection of the year. The gravel and purple slate has been relocated to the path between the slabs and the floor of my house is black bright because the dog managed to open the door whilst I was busy and has been running in and out with sticks, weeds and dirty toys. Oh Joy! I left them be until I came back from our walk though.

 Usually I walk straight past this thing but today decided to go and have a proper look at it. As you can see it's an old meeting place / farmers market.
There are lots of these little stones around the area an I am going in search of them.
Doing a little bit of research on this one should be fun and maybe turn up a few surprises that lead me to other things.

A quick search on Google suggests that there are Buttercross stones all over the UK, all serving the same purpose, a meeting place for selling wares. In one instance the Buttercross was used at the time of the Black Death to leave food for the villagers after it had been quarantined.

Winter preparations have started and I could do with a really sunny or windy day this coming week so that I can get all my cushion covers in the wash and dried off for the winter, which means I have to keep an eye on the weather forecast and plan it because it takes me a few hours to wrestle all the cushions out of the covers. Putting them back in is another story altogether.

Recycling Challenge -  I have knocked this one on the head because I don't really see what I am trying to achieve by doing it. I like the fact that my life is without stress, has no purpose other than enjoyment leading to personal fulfilment and a warm fuzzy glow and here I am worrying about doing one thing every day to recycle things. I don't need to, I recycle constantly anyway, sometimes it happens to be one a day and the next day it could be a dozen things. So I'm done with it.

I hope you all enjoyed your weekend. Take care.

Food spend today - Nil
Total for the week - £11.27
I will do it again next week without the wine.