Happiness Kit

This little collection of items came to me as a small, thoughtful gift from a friend in my green group. I would like to forward a virtual happiness kit on to anyone who is kind enough to drop by and read my witterings from time to time.

It consists of the following:
An eraser so you make your mistakes disappear.
A coin so you can never say "I'm broke"
A marble in case someone says, "you've lost yours"
A rubber band to stretch yourself beyond limits
A piece of string to tie things together when they fall apart
A kiss to remind you that somebody cares about you

Good health and cheer I hope to everyone for 2017.

Arilx

Why I'm Giving Up Frugality.

Thud...it's ok you can pick yourself up off the floor....it's only a sensational blog title. Fear not...I have no intention of becoming a scattergood! I am simply giving up the word. For a long time I've used the word frugal and thrift interchangeably, but I have noticed that the nuances of the two words make me feel very different.

 "Frugal" I have to come to associate with austerity, spartan, having to go without....it seems bleak and negative. "Thrift" meanwhile gives me a buzz....an ability to mend things, reuse things creatively, think out of the box and come up with original solutions. Lateral thinking is something I greatly enjoy.

As for many of us, I have lots of leftovers to use up. I've loved the process of tracking them all down and working out what I'm going to do with it. Usually, I menu plan like a demon and lurkers get incorporated that way, but I've had a couple of days off and I've been able to wing it a bit more. It's been liberating and not without its moments of humour.....the teenogre has brought home some free perishables recently which his company has been giving to staff at the close of business. Having been out for ahem a "few" celebratory drinks for a mate's birthday, he proudly announced he'd brought a spring onion home for me only to triumphantly pull a rather large leek from his bag...cue one big vat of leek and onion soup the next day!

Out of interest I looked up the definition of the two words...they are very similar. "Frugal" is from the Latin "frugi" meaning economical. "Thrift" originally meant savings and prosperity...the idea of the accumulating savings from being careful with your money came later. Although now seemingly a contradiction in terms, a spendthrift in the first sense would simply have been one who spent their savings. I was pleased to note that it is also derived from "thriven" from which we get our word "thrive". It would seem that my gut instinct was right on this occasion.

Well seeing as this is quite a long blog post for me please allow me to finish with a rather touching quote from the late Carrie Fisher speaking about  the late Debbie Reynolds:

"If anything my Mother taught me how to sur-thrive."

Arilx

Gone Missing?

I would strongly suggest that the current holder of the Strictly Come Dancing Glitter Ball check his trophy cabinet for I fear it may be missing. I am quite sure I caught a glimpse of it hanging from this tree earlier in the week!

Big trees need equally scaled up decorations it would seem....

I, meanwhile, am more in the scaled down camp....twelfth scale to be precise. The tree is about 5" tall.

More miniature treasures have just been gratefully received from Mr GBT.  In homage to my trip to the Pitt-Rivers collection earlier this year, I now have my very own shrunken head for the Victorian study as you do. My teenogre simply said " You are so weird Mum" as I showed him said item. He was not impressed. Photo to follow!!

Arilx

Keeping The Old Traditions Alive.

Hello! Hope you all had a splendiferous Chrimble. Much feasting and drinking here in the halls of GBT [well a bit anyway!] so it was good to get out and stretch the old limbs with a spot of that ye oldeMorris Dancing yesterday at a local hostelry. The new mask had its first outing and I danced out a new-to-me dance called Labyrinth. It has a lot of spinning on the spot and changing direction...my aching rib cage is telling me so in no uncertain terms today! I've put up a little film of how it should be done [unfortunately yesterday I was the one who went wrong so it didn't quite look like this!]

Arilx

Merry Chrimble

Festive greetings from all of us here at GBT. Humphrey is wrapped up in my woollen cloak because I felt guilty that I had to move him off the clothes I'd laid out to wear today.....I know, I know!! 

Arilx, Mr GBT & the teenogre.

xxx

Mari Lwyd

The Mari Lwyd [meaning grey mare, although this translation is disputed in some quarters] might just come knocking on your door at this time of year if you live in South Wales. This is one of a number of styles of hobby horses which are seen around different regions in Britain at various points during the year. I saw this particular example earlier in the year during my visit to the Horniman museum with Lovely Grey.

Unlike the wooden hoodening horses, this one is a slightly more macabre version. Normally made from an actual equine skull, it is bedecked with ribbons and bells, mounted on a pole with a white sheet hanging down to allow it to be operated. Many have the jaws articulated so that it can snap open and shut unexpectedly startling and frightening the audience by turn. Taking the beast from door to door along with the ostler, Punch and Judy, the sergeant and the Merrymen, it is traditional to sing a verse of a song to try and gain entry. By turn the local homeowner refuses entry by way of a witty sung riposte [known as pwnco] and this continues until finally they are allowed over the threshold for cakes and ale. 

The custom was first recorded in the early 19th century, but I like to think it goes back much further than that. Knowing how old the Uffington White Horse it doesn't take a huge leap of imagination to think that the horse has been an important part of our folkloric and magical traditions for a great deal of time.

Arilx

Alban Arthan

Winter Solstice blessings. Despite the steel wool clouds out there today at least we can celebrate that the daylight will lengthen every day. I had the privilege of dancing in Stonehenge at the weekend to celebrate this festival. It was, as ever, a magical experience.

Arilx