When Life Gives You Lemons

Without doubt, Halloween is my favourite festival. You get the opportunity to festoon the house with crazy decorations; dress up and enjoy an abundance of goodies. Even better, unlike other major holidays, it doesn’t require elaborate meals or gift buying. For me, it is the ideal combination of quirky fun with no stress.

The only problem is in trying to avoid making my carbon footprint any bigger. So, the challenge I set myself was to make my Halloween plastic free and ideally only use resources that I already had. What I was delighted to discover was that not only was this possible, but added to the enjoyment of my preparations.

What follows are some ideas that you might like to adapt for your Halloween celebrations.

Decorations

No-one knows how to decorate better than the Americans and Halloween decorations are often on a cinematic scale. The pumpkin carved hobbit house above is just one example of the artistic ingenuity and playfulness that so perfectly fits this festival. Such things are well beyond my capabilities, but I can still have fun with paper and scissors.

Silhouettes of spiders, ravens and bats make great decorations. I copied the above free-hand from an image I found on the Internet, but you could just as easily print one off and cut it out.

Paper cutting

Inspired by a new paper cutting book, I also attempted some fun little spider webs on a variety of papers. I attached these to the window with blue tack and then added a few black spiders. The little bat garland was cut out of crepe paper – using the same method as for making little paper chain people. Just remember to always leave a fold for joining.

I used a different form of paper cut for a card for my husband. This method is called kirigami – a sort of origami with scissors. The outline was pre-printed on the paper, so I can take no credit for it, but it would not be difficult to make your own. Simply fold your paper in half, sketch your design leaving a clear fold mark that you don’t cut. Attach this to a piece of folded card in a strong contrast colour (making sure not to glue your design) and then gently lift the design away and fold so that it is pressed against the card sides when flat and ‘pops up’ when opened.

Origami gift boxes

I’m not sure how many little trick-or-treaters we will have this year, but I am sure that I want them to be safe. Normally, I would fill a Halloween bag and let them dig in, but with Covid concerns, I thought I needed something more individual. So I hit upon the idea of filling little containers with sweets and passing them out. It would also make their gifts a little more special.

My first idea was to make witches’ hats cones and then I decided upon origami boxes in Halloween colours, though either would work perfectly. I’ve added little handles to finish them off. If you’d like to know how to make them, I’ve included a link here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdKUkslqwHo Or if you fancy the witches hats, here’s a fun tutorial: https://www.u-createcrafts.com/witch-hat-party-cone-tutorial-free/

Now all I have to do is fill and pass them out. Unfortunately, for hygiene reasons, I will have to give wrapped sweets, but as that is all the waste I shall be creating, I don’t feel too bad.

That done, I can look forward to making pumpkin soup and other Halloween goodies and then start setting my mind to the next big festival. Post Halloween, talking of Christmas is now allowed.

Currently, one might be forgiven for believing, like Chicken Licken, that the sky is falling in. Throughout the last eighteen months, we seem to have lurched from one disaster to another: a world-wide pandemic; food and fuel shortages and natural disasters. My book club choice for this month is rather apt. Weather, by Jenny Offill, deals with the threat of climate change with humour and compassion, and it has got me thinking about how best we can deal with the comedy of errors we call life.

Nothing new under the sun

What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, there is nothing new under the sun.

Ecclesiastes, I.9 New revised Standard Version Bible

These words of wisdom were written millennia ago – around the mid 10th century, BC. And, of course, if we think about it, everything we are going through now is simply an echo of a previous time. The Spanish ‘flu of the early 20th century was far more devastating than our own pandemic and even that was a great improvement on the Plague.

As someone born in the 1960s, I have been privileged to live through the most affluent and stable time in history, yet my childhood was shadowed by labour unrest and three day weeks, hyperinflation, IRA bombings and war abroad. There was even a toilet roll shortage in the 1970s fuelled largely by panic buying (sound familiar?)

My parents, grandparents and great-grandparents had to deal with much greater calamities, yet the moral is: here we are. We are stronger than we think.

Be prepared

In the US, those who are preparing for future disaster are called preppers. They store vast quantities of guns, food and fuel and usually locate themselves ‘far from the madding crowd.’ Perhaps, should a Zombie apocalypse or nuclear war occur, they will survive. (Though why anyone would wish to live in such circumstances is beyond me.) Tempting though it may be to try to shore up against all possible catastrophe, it simply isn’t practical. (My larder really isn’t that big).

Better still, we would be wise to prepare ourselves mentally and physically to cope with whatever may befall us. The Scouts have the right idea in fostering skills that encourage using what little there is to hand and to manage even when conditions are less than optimal. Camping in the rain, chopping wood and hiking difficult trails shows us that we can overcome adversity and that is crucial when faced with life’s challenges.

Resilience and flexibility

Resilience and flexibility are two qualities we would be wise to nurture to ensure that life’s ‘slings and arrows’ do not hurt us. Modern living, with its focus on instant gratification and personalised service, has weakened our abilities to adapt and recover from difficulties. Sometimes we simply have to do without. Since for most of us fortunate enough to live in the West, this means doing without luxuries: foreign travel, the brand of product we love or the ability to drive anywhere we want. Ask someone in the developing world what doing without means and they will probably point to necessities like food. Keeping a sense of perspective is important.

But to show that I am as fallible as anyone, I had a grumpy moment today while looking for some rice cakes or crackers to go with my soup for lunch. We were out of all of the above. I stood in my pantry and bewailed my loss. ‘I have nothing to eat!’ I cried out in my head while my eyes scanned the abundance of tins and dry goods on the shelves and the large fridge-freezer in front of me. A little voice in my head said, ‘Really?’ Then I laughed. Of course, I had plenty. Sometimes, we just have to remind ourselves.

And contrary to popular belief, a little hardship is not a bad thing. Without challenge, we are diminished. As anyone who has gone to the gym will know, you have to push yourself to exhaustion and even pain for muscle to build. Growth, both physical and mental, requires training and discipline. It is seldom comfortable. Indeed, we should be wary of comfort. Contrary to what advertisers might tell you, it creates far more unhappiness than joy. Only when we negotiate difficulties and overcome them, will we be rewarded with that.

Positive thinking

Getting our heads into a good place is going to be the most beneficial ‘prepping’ that we can do. We can take practical steps like reducing our dependence on social media (which rather like Chicken Licken loves followers in their proclamations of doom). We can temper our use of mainstream media, since it sells on the basis of what outrages rather than informs. We can turn our minds and actions to helping others, since ironically, it help us too.

Of course, we can train our minds through meditation, prayer and mindfulness to become more accepting and more alert. Focussing on what is rather than catastrophising about what might be would serve us all well. When I think of all my sources of stress, they are almost invariably of the what might be category. Yet, it was not the sky that fell but an acorn.

And most of all, be grateful. I once had a wee poster that said ‘Every day may not be good, but there is good in every day.’ Cultivating gratitude is the ultimate weapon against despair. Recently, I came across this lovely quote by Elizabeth Gaskell writing in the mid 19th century:

Looking back upon the year’s accumulated heap of troubles, Margaret wondered how they had been borne. If she could have anticipated them, how she would have shrunk away and hid herself from the coming time! And yet day by day had, of itself, and by itself, been very endurable – small, keen, bright little spots of positive enjoyment having come sparkling into the very middle of sorrows.

Elizabeth Gaskell, North and South

And now I better go and take the dog to the puppy park. She has dropped her ball at my feet and is pawing me for attention. It will probably rain. But that’s okay, I have a good jacket.

Teleportation doesn’t just occur in the sci-fi, fantasy world of Star Trek, it exists right here, right now. In order to be transported into another realm, we need only open a book. As we enter into the imaginative world of those pages, we can experience lives ancient and modern; observe and enter into the minds of others. And perhaps most excitingly, experience any number of lives:

A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies … The man who never reads lives only one.

George R R Martin, A Dance with Dragons

That isn’t even an option on the Enterprise.

Books have been on my mind, of late, in part because I have been chatting with bookish friends; exchanging titles we have enjoyed and making a long awaited visit to my local book shop.

Why read?

One of the first questions I ask my English students is: why read? They often look at me a bit blankly then try to think what the correct answer might be. Some come up with things like improving spelling or garnering more information about the world, but few get much further than that. So I shall attempt to answer that question here and I hope add a few more ideas to your arsenal when others ask the same question of you.

The study of English at the university level is rather more recent than you might think. It began in Scotland and the US in the early 18th century and not until the mid 19th century in England. And it was not a common university major until the latter part of the twentieth century. Up until the 19th century, one’s literary education revolved largely around reading the classics and religious texts. The seismic shifts in science, religious belief and the social upheavals of the 19th century led to literature being a source of moral guidance and cultural focus. In a world of ethical uncertainty, books offered an anchor of sorts. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_studies)

Reading makes you good

Reading novels in the 18th and 19th century was generally viewed as at best, a waste of time and at worst, morally ruinous. (Women might, after all, be tempted to run off with the wrong man or neglect her household duties!) As time went on, though, arguments were made to suggest that reading – especially more worthy literature -actually improved morals. The jury is still out on whether this is true. Odious individuals have been great readers; however, there is plenty evidence to support the idea the reading increases the quality of empathy. In a book, we can walk not only a mile but for hours, ‘in a man’s shoes’. Understanding another’s perspective and experiences is almost impossible with our brief encounters with one another in real life; however, it is feasible in a novel. I’m currently reading an excellent one called The Wolf Den by Elodie Harper. It concerns the lives of prostitutes in a brothel in Pompeii – not something I am going to come across, but while I read about these slave girls and their lives in the ancient world, I am also conscious of the parallels of modern slavery and especially sex trafficking. I’m trusting that my novel will have a more satisfying outcome that could be expected in our modern world.

Readers are good for business

While researching all things bookish, I came across an interesting article by the Harvard Business Review that noted some of the benefits of a workforce of readers. It certainly supported the argument for empathy, stating: ‘reading literary fiction helps people develop empathy, theory of mind, and critical thinking.’ Further, it promotes emotional intelligence – a vital component of any team based activity. The article continues, ‘ When we read, we hone and strengthen several different cognitive muscles, so to speak, that are the root of the EQ. In other words, the act of reading is the very activity—if done right—that can develop the qualities, traits, and characteristics of those employees that organizations hope to attract and retain.’ Readers are a premium in the job market.

Further, readers are good at suspending judgement and willing to consider alternative views. In a world where unconsidered thinking is all too prevalent, this is a boon both for the flexible thinking required in the work and for democracy itself.

Reading reassures

When we read of a character’s challenges and their overcoming of adversity, we are able to reflect on the difficulties that our own lives contain and hopefully, see them more clearly and positively. Bibliotherapy works in just this way, showing at the very least that we are not alone in our suffering and often promising that the future may well be brighter than we think.

Children’s stories, and especially fairy tales, help the child build resilience and courage to face not just the monsters under the bed but the very real challenges of growing up.

If nothing else, a good book transports us into a different realms where, for the time of reading at least, our everyday concerns can be forgotten for a while.

That’s entertainment!

The one thing that disappoints me most when asking students the ‘Why read?’ question is that no-one has ever said, because it is fun. Perhaps we can blame the rather more obvious appeal of social media or children being force-fed long, out of date and difficult novels. Perhaps reading is just for oldies like me, but when I think of the excitement and enthusiasm shown for books such as the Harry Potter series, I wonder too if we are just not giving kids what they want or the time and leisure to idle away an afternoon immersed in a story.

Buy the book

I’m as guilty as the next person for borrowing, sharing and buying used books, but I do think we need to support authors by buying them new when we can. I’ve even started indulging in getting hardbacks. They may cost a little more, but the larger print, gorgeous sturdy binding and satisfying heft make it worth it.

We also need to support independent book shops. Here we may ask advice, browse real texts and get recommendations. My local book shop, Much Ado Books, is so good and the owners know us and our reading habits so well that when we go, we simply ask them to choose a selection for us. It’s like having one’s own personal shopper. Perhaps it helps too that it is a magical place to be.

Book groups

Many of you reading this are members of reading circles. The one I started with a friend when my youngest was a babe in arms, is still going strong 28 years on. Sometimes the attraction is more for the wine and socialising, but it does give a good excuse to read at least one book a month and to try authors that are new. It is impossible to enjoy every choice, but I have never failed to gain something from our selections and I have certainly been introduced to some treasures. If you are looking for a group to join, an ideal place to start is the local library. They are sure to point you in the right direction and probably have a group of their own. Or, find a few friends to join you and work out the most suitable way for you to run it. Don’t be afraid to experiment. I have been to book groups who have regular speakers; know some where they have dinner alongside and others that meet in the pub. In the past, we have met in each others’ homes, but this month, we are trialling meeting at a local hotel for afternoon tea. Book groups needn’t be dull and worthy.

The best part about books is sharing your thoughts and recommendations. So if you have a ‘must read’, please put it in the comments box below. Who knows where they will take us.

September is a strange month. So often, as this year, it begins with the promise of endless warmth only to change its mind mid-way and shift abruptly into the cool, damp days of autumn. It has an air of melancholy about it: grieving the loss of summer and filled with foreboding for the harsh months to come. Yet, like a capricious god, it takes pity and leaves us the gift of abundance.

Even while so many plants and trees are retreating and paling into their autumn hues, the garden is filled with produce. Apples continue to ripen and grow as do squashes and corn and spinach and chard. The exuberant rocket carries on colonising every inch of earth not already taken and there are still raspberries and tiny, wild strawberries to be had. This month’s generosity always makes me glad. Despite the fact that the supermarket has everything I need, some primal part of me loves to see the harvest in and to preserve as much of it as I can for the rest of the year.

Apples

Like last year, I am awash with apples. (My beautiful crop of pears were all eaten by the squirrels.) I’ve picked all the eaters. What aren’t consumed are being dried for snacking. My cookers continually drop from the tree. I seldom pick them, since I can scarcely keep up with the ones I have. Two trugfuls have been prepared and stewed and put in the freezer. Several more await the same fate, but I must also get on with my apple vinegar and perhaps some fruit leathers.

Greens

Managing my greens has also become a race against time. It goes against every fibre of my being to waste them, yet there is a limit to how much one can eat. Both the spinach and rainbow chard have become like plants from the Jurrassic period – positively gargantuan. A trug of spinach is cooked and frozen and much more needs to be attended to. Unlike supermarket vegetables, they need a lot of washing and inspecting for tiny snails. I do not care for any extra protein.

Rocket does exactly what its name suggests and bursts through everywhere. (We’ve even found some in the front lawn!) But I love it and going to pick one’s salad is a real pleasure. As some of the rocket goes to seed, we are rewarded by their gorgeous flowers: a colourful addition to any salad giving a lovely, peppery hit.

The herb garden

My herb patch is looking a rather bare and forlorn at the moment. Something has eaten my lovely dill flowers and my mint has struggled in the dry weather. Sage, lavender, bay and rosemary continue unabashed and usually merge into next year’s crop. Since they are truly perennial, I need do nothing. What I have done is harvest my marjoram while the flowers are still pretty. It dries really well and once truly desiccated will be stripped from the stems and stored in jars. It makes a delightful herb addition to so many dishes and the hints of purple flowers always makes me smile.

This year, I have also dried mint and lemon balm to make tea. Let’s hope that it tastes as good as it smells.

Soft fruits

Unlike those superb gardeners who have bushes groaning with soft fruits, my attempts are rather more amateur. Just as my very healthy crop of blackcurrants ripened perfectly, they were decimated by pigeons or squirrels or both! My gooseberries made no effort at all. My raspberries have been a joy though. There are never many fruits – but enough for a little snack and added sustenance as I try (and fail) to get rid of the omnipresent bindweed. My tiny, wild strawberries are doing well too and I love searching for the fairy-sized fruits, which though tiny, are packed with flavour. I am hoping they will spread like the rocket – with sweeter results!

Looking ahead

With the days shortening, it is time to look ahead to planning next year’s garden. After our new fence was installed, I realised that the bed adjoining it is going to need some attention. Tall blooms like foxglove, hollyhocks and wall flowers are planned. Perhaps I will think of some slender shrubs (it’s a very narrow bed) to join them.

Despite the ravages of the hungry birds, the sunflowers gave me plenty seed for next year. Though on a friend’s advice, I shall plant them out the front to nod amiably at the passers-by.

The vegetables will need to be rotated and those that failed to thrive supplanted by the ones more forgiving of my inexpert gardening. The fruit bushes will need pruning and the fruit trees given a little tidying. But these are jobs for another day. Today, I made a spiced apple cake (thank you Lys for the brilliant recipe) and put a few more apples to good use. I plan to make more as we move into darker, colder days. And what better way to celebrate the bounty of September than in cake?

Last week you would have found me in the Highlands of Scotland. It is a magical place of ancient woodland; purple, heather-clad mountains and water everywhere. I lost count of the lakes and clear running streams we came across and saw enough mini waterfalls to satiate even my appetite.

While there, we ensured that we filled our days with culture and nature. Often both were intertwined as at the inimitable Clava Cairns. We drove down tiny lanes to discover perfectly preserved Pictish standing stones; saw a ruined cathedral and explored the Highland Folk museum to experience first hand what it would be like to live in a tiny, crofter’s cottage. But the highlight of our trip was without question the ancient woodland that borders where we stayed in Grantown on Spey: the Anagach Woods.

Almost every day, we took a walk (or in my case a scooter) through its other- worldly landscape and it got me thinking about why woods are my happy place and how forests are vital to our well-being.

Woods and the mind

As an archetype, woods represent our inner landscape. To psychologists like Jung, they were seen to embody, metaphorically, the unconscious. They are dark and impenetrable, easy to get lost in and a little dangerous.

When we explore our unconscious – perhaps through therapy or perhaps our own contemplations – we are forced to face our darker thoughts and fears. It is often a rather scary and even unpleasant experience. However, if we can hold our nerve until we are ready to return, it is an exceptionally enriching one.

Just as Hansel and Gretel and Snow White must face the dangers of the forest to return mature and triumphant, so too must we find courage and cunning to negotiate our world. Wandering through real woods inspires contemplation in a peaceful cathedral of trees. It unites mind, body and spirit without the price tag of an expensive spa day.

Forest bathing

Many of us are familiar with the Japanese concept of forest bathing. In Japan it is called shinrin-yoku, which translates as ‘making contact with and taking in the atmosphere of the forest’. What I did not know was that it was an idea promoted by the Japanese government from the 1980s to improve its citizens’ health. Researchers had discovered that meditative immersion in the woods had significant health benefits – lowering blood pressure and stress while simultaneously heightening cognitive abilities – particularly concentration and memory.

As a further bonus, they discovered that trees release chemicals which had a positive effect on the human immune system. If you would like to learn more about forest bathing, I would head to the source I used. It has a handy guide to how to make the best of your woodland adventures, too. https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/lists/a-beginners-guide-to-forest-bathing

An abundance of flora

From a distance, woodland can seem a little monotonous – tree after tree with very few hues other than shades of green and brown. But if we enter into the wood, alert to all it has to offer, we are rewarded with an abundance of plants and colour.

This year has been especially wet in Scotland, as well as most of the UK. As a result, fungi have been having a particularly good year. I have never seen such a variety of mushrooms from the fairy like red spotted to the tiny purple ones. Equally abundant were the tiny flowers that skirted the tracks where there was a little more light than the interior.

Planted in 1765, this pine forest is unusually old. Some of the trees are so tall that only craning your neck skyward allows you to see the tops. As is usually the case in nature, the pine were not going to have all the place to themselves. There were plenty others: rowan trees heavy with berries; willows by the water and birch and beech taking up what ground they could.

The undergrowth was thick with moss and ferns and some of the of the old trees were festooned with strands of hanging moss similar to the Spanish moss you find in the southern states of America.

But perhaps most prolific of all were the wild blaeberries – a kind of blue berry that was laden with fruit. The berry was more bitter than the commercial blueberry, but tasty all the same. We even found some wild raspberries. It was a forager’s paradise.

Sensual pleasures

In addition to the delicious treats we found on the trail, all our other senses were satisfied too. There are few places more quiet than forest and this silence is a real balm after the hubbub of modern life. After a while, the peace is broken by bird song or simply the sound of one’s own footfall. These noises provide no irritation, however, only a counterpoint to the stillness.

Hardly any scents are more refreshing than that of fresh pine and the air was full of it. Even the slightly damper, earthy smell of the ground and leaf matter was pleasant, reminding me of days exploring the woods near my childhood home. They were not expansive, but full of mystery and adventure to a ten-year-old child.

Touch was satisfied not by the jolting journey via scooter but by the exquisite velvet of the mosses and the prickly delightfulness of pine cones. The ground cover was lush and soft with pine needles and moss. I could think of worse places to make my bed.

Of sights, there were too many to tell, but our favourites included the wild animals that peeked shyly from the foliage.

Animal magic

The Highland woods are home to several elusive creatures: the red squirrel, the roe deer, the endangered capercaillie (bird) and the pine marten. We were lucky enough to spot three of the four – though the pine marten was crossing the road on the way to Elgin!

Two roe deer fawns were our first encounter. They peeped out from behind some trees and shrubs and seemed as interested in us as we were in them. We watched them for as long as we could before Hermione realised there was anything to see. We had no desire to frighten them.

The red squirrel, that I had only seen in captivity before, eluded us until almost our last day. Coming across a group of people looking up, we did too. And there he was scampering at astonishing speed between the trees. Later on, I found my own squirrel who was rather more still and we admired him for a long time. It was one of those rare moments in life when time slows to no-time, as one is held rapt in a capsule of absolute attention.

Living deliberately

Like Thoreau, “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.’ (Walden) Woodland has always been precious to me. There is something ancient and elemental about it, something magical. In the woods, the imagination can run free and your are forced – unless you wish to lose your footing or your way – to pay attention to everything around you.

Perhaps it is this slight frisson of danger that makes it thrilling. Perhaps it is being surrounded absolutely by nature’s beauty and mystery that makes it inspiring. Perhaps it is a combination of all these plus childhood memories that make a woodland walk so satisfying. The science tells us it is good for us; I think we already knew.