Mother's Day was
I like the consoling "rain stopping soon" knowing everyone was a bit tired of it!
After several setup calls, Gary and I were sure our friend was up for a visit and clear about it. So we walked down and spent a lovely hour, chatting about the orchids her husband gave her, as on every Mother's Day, blue this year, gardening, kids, grands, weather, cars, cancer treatment, dogs, vegetables, especially beets, and various other things.
She was so happy, because her treatment has been happening daily, no chance to see anyone other than doctors and hospitals, so this was a change. I'd say this was one of my better Mother's Days. I was doing what my Mom would do.
Once home I plunged into the long awaited red lentil curry from Yeung Man Cooking's channel. This is a slow meditative process, many ingredients and stages, and the result was bangin'. Just great.
All the scents and colors were just a treat. And there's enough for several meals. He really knows how to teach a recipe.
I'm taking a bit of time to decide on my next fabric book page, and I want it to be different from the previous ones. I have a couple of ideas.
Meanwhile there's such a tempting offer on Freecycle of really lovely calico pieces..very local.. someone may save me from myself by getting in first... it's easy to refreecycle, if necessary, busily rationalizing.
I may do a bit of pinloom weaving, as a change of pace.
Speaking of which, I've come to value certain thoughtful YouTube channels, like Marion, the stitcher, painter, dressmaker, gardener, cook, modest, quiet and blessedly without music. It's like being with friends when YouTubers dare to allow quiet.
Ant, of Ant's Country Life, is another.
Sunday he uploaded a long video of himself rebuilding a collapsed drystone wall, occasionally turning to explain what he was doing. His skills are marvelous to watch and he's not afraid of silence, just letting us hear ambient sounds, birds, wind, sheep. It's an antidote (!) to the endless racket of the world.
It doesn't hurt that Marion and Ant are both from my native part of the world, familiar scenery and speech, so restful.
I've been appreciating a lot of things, quietness, friends, skills, Mother's Day greetings, chair yoga, simple days.
Happy day everyone, enjoy what you have going, and, as one of my greeting texts said we're here, we're vertical, that's all we need!
Photo AC
I do so understand your appreciation of your chosen artisans sans musical overlay. So much of what i consume online these days i do with sound disabled and rely on subtitles or very basic lip reading. Your dahl looks divine; what a pity you can't blog the fragrance.
ReplyDeleteI do likewise, and I like those channels which demonstrate with no talking, just music I can mute and still follow.
DeleteThe smells of spices toasting and grinding, just can't describe. You need to do it, or be there!
That visit was a good thing to do on M-Day.
ReplyDeleteIt was great. Time well spent. She knows she's not forgotten.
DeleteAnt's Country Life sounds charming!
ReplyDeleteMy comment went into spam, I think! Take a look at him, he's lovely. My people.
DeleteOh no, it's here but blogger disconnected it from your comment.
DeleteI hope you got that calico. You could do so much with it.
ReplyDeleteSimple days are the best days.
I haven't heard, so oh well.
DeleteOh, Yeung Man has such a relaxing and calming voice. I am very bad at toasting nuts though. They always burn.
ReplyDeleteYou can't take your eyes off for a second! He's as good as yoga, to cook by.
DeleteTake a look. He's so skilled and so matter of fact about it. Such a northerner.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you had a thoughtful and pleasant Mother's Day.
ReplyDeleteNow get that calico!
We'll see. Haven't heard back.
DeleteIt was a lovely Mother’s Day indeed! Just the right mix of people and activity!
ReplyDeleteYes. Giving as much as receiving, it was good.
DeleteI know your friend appreciated the visit. You certainly are not in a rut. New things are tried all the time at Casa Boud! I often tell myself you are not toes up so quit complaint. Sometimes it works.
ReplyDeleteNew ideas everywhere! And I have the time to try them, such a luxury.
DeleteAfter 40 plus years of running a glass art studio and fabricating ideas from paper to large panels of carved glass, treading water through the feast or famine days, I find quiet simple days to be the best.
ReplyDeleteA day with natural sounds is a balm for the soul. Our blackbirds have been singing their little hearts out - so lovely.
ReplyDeleteIt's so great when birdsong returns in spring. Such a hopeful sound.
DeleteI don't know Ant's Country Life, but that looks like a heck of a wall repair. At least no masonry! The lentils sound yummy and glad you had a good visit with your friend.
ReplyDeleteHis skills date back centuries. Trees sometimes knock walls down, or weather or sheep forcing a path through. He fitted the stones so skilfully. Lovely man.
DeleteThousands of dry stone walls in these parts, nearly all hundreds of years old. You wonder who built them and the hours they must have spent. But some farmers now are taking them down and replacing them where needed with fences, and selling off the stone to make a short-term quick buck. Vandalism.
ReplyDeleteI'm very sad to read that, tasker. That's history, irreplaceable.
DeletePeople like to poo poo social media but you tube has taught me so much
ReplyDeleteIf I need to find out how to do anything I turn to you tube
I’m a see and do learner. So detailed instructions confuse the heck out of me
But show me once and it’s usually enough
YouTube is right up your alley, then. A lot of demo learning. I've learned a lot, about health as well as crafting and food.
DeleteI've taught in person groups of women with almost no English, who picked up skills like lightning, once demonstrated.
When you are older, unwanted noise is very annoying. Loud cars, trucks and motor bikes disturb me a lot. Noisy cafes too.
ReplyDeleteIf I cook pea and ham soup, it will be ready the day after the next and it is very satisfying to cook, and of course wonderfully 'mature' by the time it is ready.
Too true about sound. My life is quiet, and I'm out of the habit of noisy environments.
DeleteSoup is one of those great foods that gets better as it goes, yes.
Such a lovely day; a gift to an old friend.
ReplyDeleteIt was a day where I got back so much more than I gave.
DeleteSounds like your mother's day was lovely. Mine was very quiet punctuated by a short video chat with our family out west.
ReplyDeleteIt was. So nice to go visit a mom with good wishes instead of just receiving.
Delete