Hmmm, Is There a Problem Here?

When we first hoped for a little shop, it seemed like just a dream. M and I were working in the south of England and our jobs, while rewarding, didn’t satisfy the need to craft something for our future with our own hands. That was nearly three years ago and the road to now has been a bumpy ride at times. Along the way, the focus shifted a lot and as we defined our strengths and weaknesses, there has been constant adjustment of our goals.

The ill-defined destination of the journey is still revealing itself…we have not yet arrived but like an explorer in a new world, I am finding challenges to overcome constantly!

How grand and high-minded that all sounds! In a nutshell, my bad habits of a lifetime are coming home to roost and many of them have to do with…

Time management…Oh my, how much time can I waste! …It’s criminal, knowing intellectually that there is no more than what I have been given (however long that is) and each passing day means less of it. And yet, I fritter it away! If procrastination were an Olympic event, I’d have double gold at least.

Why is it so hard to stop? Is it some sort of addictive behaviour? Surely, having identified the problem, I could just re-adjust a little and correct myself – make a list and follow it – or something? Usually, procrastination applies to the unpleasant chores waiting; washing the windows, finishing the laundry, clearing up the shed, keeping up with the filing, doing the taxes. But, guess what? Keep putting stuff off and it snowballs, and I find myself at eleven pm, in a howling gale and driving rain (because I was watching a fascinating show about composting), with a dying flashlight (put off buying batteries), in my summer dressing gown (the winter one is in the wash) looking for a box (last seen at the bottom, back, furthest corner, amongst the spider webs), holding the missing sales receipts from eight months ago (that should have been filed already), that I need for the tax return that I have until midnight to file online (before we are fined), in the shed that should have been sorted over the Christmas break – four months ago! I think you get the picture…

This happened, I’m still here…does anyone know of a twelve-step program…somewhere…?

The Otter Ferry Comeback Kid?

~ The first day open ... third of March and all snowed up ~

I can’t believe it’s been so long! When I last posted, I knew that entries would be scarce; few and far between, but I never realised it would take so long to get back. This is really like starting over and going through my links in the sidebar, I see there’s a lot of “housekeeping” to be done
here.

~~Major cleanup work done -just painting & decorating to go.~~

Woodendollars, the bricks and mortar store is open! Has been open for a month but it’s been a slow start. With weather, tax season and other events (both planned and unplanned), the estimated couple of weeks has turned into nearly two months?

~~~~~~~~~~ Almost there - Still too empty! ~~~~~~~~~~

For the friends and family who justifiably think we’ve dropped out completely and for those of you who may still wander by, I’m going to chronicle the process with some pictures ‘cause you know they’re worth a thousand words.

~~~~~~~~~~~ Starting to look like something? ~~~~~~~~~~

I’ll hopefully get this place cleaned up a bit, organise the categories better and fix all the links too. Wow, it’s good to be back!

First You Catch Your Elephant…(A Guest Post)

Our second eldest son, who works in the wildlife conservation industry in Africa, wrote this entry. Last year was an event filled one for J, who contracted Malaria and Anthrax in the space of a few months! Today, he celebrates his birthday and I thought I’d post this account where he gives us a brief insight into the wildlife business as one of the guys “on the spot” complete with photos. Happy Birthday J!

... Welcome to this post. Please go to WildmozWildmoz.com to see all our new articles on wildlife as they appear. We are also publishing all our African Folktales in their full version in e-books for readers, PDFs, etc. as well as in hard copies. 

Keep a look out for these wonderful little stories for children and adults alike at Wildmoz.com. Collect for yourself a set of twelve, in the format of your choice, as and when they are availible…Wildmoz.com

A Short Valentine Story...

Every family, everywhere has at least one story of great romance. From the most humble to the most splendid, these are the memories that fuel our imaginations, inspire us and reassure us. In the harsh and unforgiving modern world, these stories shine out to remind us of the power of love.

Last year, at this time I wrote about the meeting that changed my life forever, when M and I first met, here and here. But long before that meeting could happen, maybe half a century earlier, another story was being played out…

They met at a wedding, both had sisters who were bridesmaids, and they had travelled from the small farming communities of Paarl and Willowmore to be there. The place: A society wedding in the diamond boomtown of Kimberly, Cape Province in the Union of South Africa. The time: sometime in those halcyon days between the end of Second Boer War and the outbreak of World War I.

Willowmore and Paarl were at opposite ends of the Cape Province and had it not been for the wedding, these young people may never have met. Her father was a wine farmer in Paarl and his family had a department store in Willowmore and the two towns were several hundred miles apart. That early meeting blossomed into love and they became engaged, not realising that events taking place in far-off Europe would soon force them apart.

The outbreak of WWI in Europe meant young men all over the British Empire were enlisting; he joined the RAF (Royal Air Force) in England and served as a fighter pilot until the end of the war. Years later when the war ended and he returned to South Africa, she was waiting for him and they were married.

My mother’s parents were not unusual; many young girls waited for years for their beloved to return from the war and many never came back. It’s a condition as old as the human race but no less poignant in the repetition…

Snow and Other Diversions...

Winter arrived on the weekend after all the mildly cold and somewhat gentle seasonal weather that we have been having; for a Scottish winter it has been positively bland! The ominous warnings began on the thirtieth, my birthday, when neighbours dropping in asked if we were ready for the weekend and hadn’t we heard there was SNOW on the way. Having not heard anything and thinking that perhaps this was a bit of over-enthusiasm for some real winter weather, we didn’t pay too much attention. The first warning that perhaps we should have listened a bit better, was the sound of heavy winds growling 'round the house Thursday night!

Friday I tried to get a quick post written in between other work as I waited for the telephone engineer, the tree felling guy, the landlord and M to sort out our broken telephone/Internet connection. Well, we all know where I got with that! I'm still trying to catch up with my list of "To do's" and here it is Tuesday already and this is my first post for February…pictures of snow. It didn’t stick around for long; rain later in the day ensured that the hills were back to normal by nightfall.

But it was magical for the moment; imagine a whole landscape dusted softly with a thick cloud of icing sugar! And the stillness, so still…the only sounds, the rhythmic lapping of the tide on the sand and the far-off calls of the Eider Ducks…

Winter Warmer...Healthy Oatmeal Soda Bread

Not getting very far this month ... being workshop assistant has it's drawbacks! The patient is improving slowly although it seems like a case of one step forward and two steps back sometimes! I've never had to live with a case of broken ribs before and it's been quite an eye opener! Silly things like coughing or sneezing cause incredible pain and common movements, such as bending to pick up something or reaching over the head, have to be done very carefully.

Keeping us extra healthy is a big priority right now so I'm making lots of nourishing soups and this bread. It's quick and easy and wonderful with a bowl of steamy goodness...and a nice glass of red wine.

Healthy Oat Soda Bread

Butter and flour a 2 lb (900 gram) loaf pan – makes one large loaf

2 C wholemeal flour
1 C self-raising flour
1 C breakfast oats (not instant)
½ C wheat germ
½ C all bran cereal
2 tsps bicarbonate of soda
2 tsps sea salt
1-heaped teaspoon raw sugar
1 large egg
2 ½ C buttermilk I never have this (mix whole milk with 1 Tblsp vinegar–let stand 10 minutes)

Mix the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl and make a well in the middle. Beat the egg and the buttermilk together and add. Mix together with a fork or spoon until most lumps are incorporated and you are left with a slightly sloppy dough. Spoon this in to your prepared pan and give it all a good shake to level. Bake at 190 C or 375 F for 50 minutes to an hour depending on your oven. Turn out and let cool on a cake rack. This doesn’t get very cool at our house…just barely warm and fresh out of the oven; it makes the most wonderful base for a lunch of cheese and pickles, or a rustic pate, or just serve it with butter to accompany a big pot of fragrant country soup. Very yummy...

Bruises and Breaks: A Cracking Start to The New Year at Otter Ferry

We have been so focused lately that we spent almost all of the holiday season working, with the exception of Christmas Day, doing something towards our several ongoing projects everyday (even New Years Eve). Because our application to re-open the Post Office branch here at Otter Ferry has been approved, one of the big jobs is clearing the storage room that will become M’s main workshop. He is also working on some commission pieces and needed open space to use the big saw safely. As it was, the saw was the least of our worries, we never got that far…as M was packing things outside the door to move, his safety boot became caught in the door frame (which was loose) and he fell head first into the room, landing with his chest straight down onto the broken handle of a trolley waiting to be taken out the door. Because of the angle of the fall and the fact that the trolley was on the lower level, all his weight was at the point of impact, squarely on the broken handle end.

The trolley is standing to the right of the door - broken handle closest to the door

Two, possibly three, broken ribs and some impressive bruising later, we are counting ourselves fortunate that it wasn’t worse. M had an array of tools in the pockets of his jacket that could have caused some nasty wounds…that screwdriver alone, for one!

Why do we store dangerous things? That old broken trolley is vintage as well as useful (M’s a sucker for a fine piece of old iron) and the original broken handles had to be left on to copy for new ones. To be fair, most of the stuff is furniture waiting to be restored with some smaller items that are stock for the shop/post office. Wood, for the most part is stacked outside but we do have several sheets of plywood that must stay very dry – still storage of any type is always at a premium and it’s the odd bits…the garden hose, bags of cement, the steam cleaner, fertiliser, etc. that clutter up the space. There are no other potential culprits, unless you count tripping over some inanimate object so I suppose this falls (Arghhhhh! unintentional pun) under the category of freak accident.

Nevertheless work continues, albeit slowly, here at Woodendollars and the best bit for me…as new workshop assistant, I’m finally being allowed within three feet of the power tools!