Instead abandon ship, close your eyes to the in-your-face ads. Make fine food choices. Be super-strong in the sea of temptation. Sure your children will hate you,for a time, but eventually they will see the light — The sea of junk-food advertising that envelops us these days, has happened by sheer stealth, and none of us could ever have been prepared for it. Not for the deluge. Not the intensity.

Still, this home, a labor of love, bears a striking resemblance to a super-famous house. — One thing I am certain of is, that if I lived in a place like Scotland I could never be a tradesman. Working in and against the elements, standing upright in the whipping winds. has no appeal for me. Yet many do. HOW they do, I cannot even offer an…

Time to clean up for the environment’s sake… —

An ecosystem that works hard to keep us alive. — I was not at all convinced this poor root would survive its new home. As many on Medium would know, this inherited garden has turned out to be a challenge for me. The first owners of the garden knew exactly what they were doing. There’s firm evidence of that, but…

In the hands of your adult children…for instance…in the not-too-distant future… — Photo by raquel raclette on Unsplash “The bread in your cupboard belongs to the hungry; the coat unused in your closet belongs to the one who needs it; the shoes rotting in your closet belong to the one who has no shoes; the money which you hoard up belongs to…

AI’s nascent power grab… — Preamble… ChatGPT has been getting a lot of airplay recently, mostly around questions involving its outputs, and how those outputs are being put to use. And these are all valid conversations we have to have. Just how will the outputs be used? In fact, how CAN they credibly be used? Given…

And flourishes when most tended seeds failed… —

Consider its appeal today, given that current Real Estate is a bolting, runaway horse, and homes for seniors, terrifying to consider in our older years — When I think back to my childhood, and to the old people I knew, I never wanted to grow old. There seemed to be no point to their days. Pottering in the garden, reading by the window …nothing too physical and nobody much to be physical with. Some of them…

Will it be too late to realize the environmental folly of our wealth accumulation? — This post is in response to a conversation I had with Susan Wheelock this morning. In it I mentioned the Cree Indian quote about the last tree falling and the fish in the ocean being no more. when the last tree is cut down, the last fish eaten and the last stream poisoned you will realize… Edit descriptionwww.askideas.com

What is needed for success is grit, determination, and MIRACLES. The rest is bloody hard graft. — When I first took on this garden, I confess I had no idea where I was going with it. Everything seemed tired and spent. The finished product was in my mind, but actually effecting it, getting rid of the overgrowth, the weeds, the yucca hedge, which was possibly once lovely…

My Winter Wonderland extravaganza has arrived. I am spellbound in her arms — I’d be the first to admit, the cold is not my friend. It chills me to the bones. It makes me miserable. Layers don’t keep me warm. Yet there’s something amazingly enthralling… about that first pure carpet of snow in winter about the silence that fills the environment about the…

Perfect for when lunatic Putin unleashes his nuclear attack. Force him to be first in. Then QUICK, lock the door, never to be opened. — In the event of nuclear war, how would you feel if you had access to the safest place on earth? I read this story from Susie Kearley some time ago. It got me thinking. Would I WANT to survive a nuclear war? …

Blame? Social Media groups such as Instagram that invite taking of selfies — Come on in! You’re very welcome. Stay a while, or, if you’re in for something different, why not throw caution to the wind, and opt to catch up with our country cousins? Do they have some visionary and culinary delights in store for you! Right now, on the outskirts of…

We hopped on a plane the next day…but this is not his story — This is not actually a story about my brother dying young, though it did happen. The morning I took the call I had just said goodbye to my nephew, his son, and his two friends, who were off to Queensland to catch up with my sister’s family. Bad timing, but…

A dutiful, long-lost tradition, and a once-in-a-lifetime experience — For where’s the State beneath the Firmament That doth excel the Bees for Government? Did you know? Of course you didn’t. But nonetheless, it’s true. It was a tradition started many centuries ago, that when a queen died, it was someone’s job to tell all the bees. Traditions that don’t…

Just because the rules were mandated 70 years ago, when we had fewer concerns about water, bush fires, or global warming — or the future generally — So effectively a few things happened in the last few days. Firstly, I went out to check the verge in front of our house, so I could decide on the heirloom seeds I wanted to plant. That’s when I discovered council had come along and poisoned a strip of lawn…

On the other hand, a wildflower lawn is everything, sustainable, saving water, and precious time. You become the envy of the neighborhood. Now…feet up…glass of Champagne anyone? — In case you thought lawns were something of a recent thing, the quote below suggests otherwise. “Closely shorn grass lawns first emerged in 17th century England at the homes of large, wealthy landowners. While sheep were still grazed on many such park-lands, landowners increasingly depended on human labor to tend…

Low-maintenance and beautiful, the insects will love you for it. — “Man has created some lovely dwellings, some soul-stirring literature. He has done much to alleviate physical pain. But he has not… created a substitute for a sunset, a grove of pines, the music of the winds, the dank smell of the deep forest, or the shy beauty of a wildflower.” …

Japanese kintsugi and daisugi should be another two — Some time ago I wrote this article about how we can use the principles of the delightful Japanese art of kintsugi, instead of tossing.

One that won’t cost you a brass razoo. — In this article I talked about my husband building what looked like a very old , 100-year-old, stone wall, to break up the incline in our front garden. It looked terrific, but we didn’t realize, at the time, that it was the perfect accommodation for many minibeasts…MANY! But also for…