Lush, now in Durban!

Last month I was thrilled to see this at Gateway Theatre of Shopping

And yesterday, I followed my nose (the store smells amazing due to all the different essential oils in their product range) and bought a huge chunk of yummy honey soap.

What I love about the Lush brand is that the products are handmade, against animal testing and, directly from their website: "effective products from fresh*, organic* fruit and vegetables, the finest essential oils and safe synthetics"

Update

I've just found the asterisk after "fresh" and "organic" above is for: "We also believe words like "fresh" and "organic" have an honest meaning beyond marketing"

Feeling sheepish

I'm totally in love with the products from Herdy and isn't this the cutest sheep you have ever seen?

January in the Lake District is wonderfully un-crowded but I was disappointed to find that the Herdy shop was closed. The B&B where we stayed had these Herdy mugs.

The Herdy company also donates a percentage of their profit to the herdyfund which promotes conservation of the Herdwick sheep and upland fell farming.

Assagay coffee

Recently we got the chance to tour the coffee farm of Assagay Coffee (available locally).

Coffee trees

It's a complete tour from seedlings to tree and fruit to dried bean, followed by the sorting and roasting. The process is very labour-intensive and a lot of love and skill goes into a cup of coffee. The roasting part is the most complicated because that affects the flavour so significantly.

After the tour we were treated to a cup of coffee and some yummy banana loaf and pecan pie in the farm coffee shop.

Banana loaf (baked in a mini loaf tin) and pecan pie.

You can go on a tour too, they're not very far from central Durban. Contact them on 0317821268 or 083640223.

Upcycled and cute

I just love this little lamp (again, I'm thinking of the Luxor lamp from Pixar). It's from Fab UK. My favourite part is that the little tap turns the light on and off. Perfect!

Special delivery

To be truthful the actual delivery wasn't so special (the less said about UPS and the grumpy guy that came to our house, the better) but what was in the box was a real treasure trove.

Some of the excitement contained within was...

• a microscope that magnifies 200x and connects to your computer (with some shenanigans relating to trying to insert one of those mini CD's into a disk drive of the sort that doesn't have a tray) - some AMAZING photos will follow
• a protective box for the geiger counter that my husband put together some time ago (a long-overdue post)
• a super-bright LED
• a teeny-tiny Wi-Fi device
• some screens and digital displays
• and some skill badges like this one  ------>

All of this excitement came from Adafuit - the most exciting online store, just full to bursting with inspiration and possibilities.




PS. Don't you think the packaging paper that they used instead of polystyrene peanuts is just great?

Top greens

In this post a while ago I mentioned my top three "green" bloggers. They are (in no particular order):

Karen Cannard at The Rubbish Diet

Beth Terry at My Plastic-free Life

and Mrs Green (Rachelle Strauss) and her family at My Zero Waste

Each of these women started out in a small way to change their impact on the environment and have gradually become experts through diligence and hard work. They all know that it can be a battle to do things right but they keep on trying and that's what makes them outstanding in my book. All of their websites contain a wealth of information and advice for anyone interested in recycling and caring for the environment.

New from old

I'm unreasonably proud of my little celery plants because I grew them from the cut off bit from some bought celery stalks. I love to reduce waste and having them grow instead of throwing them away is so rewarding

Getting to meet Jeremy Irons

Today's post was superseded by this lovely post from Mrs Green at My Zero Waste. One of my top three "green" bloggers got to meet the great Jeremy Irons.

Imagine getting to meet such a wonderful actor AND encourage folks to be environmentally aware.

Simple Living Pledge

Pop on over to Sonya's blog Kanelstrand and join up for the three week Simple Living Challenge.

From 1 February 2012, for three weeks, I pledge to:

• Identify the important things and attempt to eliminate everything else
• Free time to do what inspires me and be with the people I love
• Declutter my mind and my life
• Live frugally
• Slow down and be present in the moment.
• Have a healthy body and home
• Be green and sustainable

Balmy and Breezy

Yesterday

Today

The weather peeps have promised rain all week but the garden is still dry. Then again it's I ❤ Market on Saturday so I'd rather it remained balmy and breezy for that! It can rain on Sunday.

Bright, bright sunshiny day

Lyrics again today. This line courtesy of Johnny Nash's "I can see clearly now" released in 1972. It seems that my mind is full of snippets of songs and I'm reminded of them so often in conversation. 

But to return to today being a bright sunshiny day, It's searingly hot out there (thank goodness for aircon) but I can hear children's voices at the nearby junior school and it sounds as though they're all running around (must be break time) and enjoying themselves. I wish I could have saved some of that energy from when I was small so that I'd have some in reserve when I need it now.

Childhood memories and hopes and dreams

One of my favorite pass times when I was a tot was to look at all the buttons my mother kept in her button tin. It was a brown shoe polish tin - very utilitarian and totally delightful because you couldn't see what was stored inside. I distinctly remember thinking that I'd have to have a tin full of buttons  when I was a grown-up.

My mom still has her button tin and it still holds its fascination for me, but I have been fortunate to have inherited my mother-in-law's collection of buttons. I'm currently sorting through them to select which ones to pass on to Cupcake Couture's Button Hunt. I wonder whether they will be of any use to her?

There are a few buttons that I will not be able to part with though. These delicate pink ones on the left are being saved incase I'm lucky enough to have a baby. My husband said that if I'm saving pink buttons we will most likely end up having boys! 

Today's view:

It's VERY bright and sunny at the moment so the sea is mostly just reflecting the sun. Perhaps if I were to take this pic later today the sea would show as bluer than blue but it's good to feel the sun in the sky - it makes me feel energized and reminds me of the fact that some of the best things in life are indeed free (uh, oh, my apologies for the cliché).

White horses

Could not drag me away from you....

Apologies for the mis-quote. I always seem to remember only tiny bits of song lyrics. This one is from Gino Vanelli's "Wild Horses" but I was thinking of the white horses on the sea because it has been a very windy day. Regrettably you can't see the white horses in my little photo.

The view {update}

Our weather is currently as changeable as the weather in the UK. These are pics of my view from yesterday and the day before that.

Early start

I am quite an early riser so this is the sunrise at 5.26am (according to my camera). I'm not really fully awake till at least 6.30 but I know a good sunrise when I see one. I have to confess that other members of my family who are not early risers do not enjoy being woken up to enjoy the sunrise, so here it is for you, dear reader, to enjoy at any time of day.

My camera isn't an SLR so luckily I can take pictures like this without having to look directly into the sun and so my retinas remain intact.

Relaxation and nature

I am beginning to see that nature has it's way of working things out for itself. Take for example the way my cat can be utterly relaxed...

and out of the window the view of the sea and the sky is totally exquisite without any fancy camera work or filters or photoshop.

Organisation 101

Take a look at Hayley's post on everything inbetween. She's started the year with a big tidy-up (something I usually only get to in October after squirreling everything away during winter) and her ideas are really super cool.

Image from http://www.highhopesstamps.com

My favourite Christmas tree

Our Flamboyant tree has started to flower. I think the red flowers against the green foliage is perfect timing for Christmas, so for me they are Christmas trees. They are not indigenous to South Africa,  originally coming from Madagascar, but are now popular all over the world. You can find out their latin name and more on the eThekwini online site at this link: http://www.durban.gov.za/durban/plants_index

Earth as Art

Byrd Glacier, Antarctica

Sometimes I like being reminded that life in all its forms is utterly awesome. The image and text are from Wired Science

Truly a river of ice, Antarctica's relatively fast-moving Byrd Glacier courses through the Trans-Antarctic Mountains at a rate of 0.8 kilometers [0.5 miles] per year. More than 180 kilometers [112 miles] long, the glacier flows down from the polar plateau (left) to the Ross Ice Shelf (right). Long, sweeping flow lines are crossed in places by much shorter lines, which are deep cracks in the ice called crevasses. The conspicuous red patches indicate areas of exposed rock.

Image taken by Landsat 7 on Jan. 11, 2000

Update about the doggie

Do you realise, I'm becoming famous?

Thanks to everyone who read about and commented on the little paper doggie. I've dug a little deeper and now have more details to divulge.

My great aunt, who lived in Pietermaritzburg all her life, befriended a sailor who was recuperating at Oribi hospital after the war. His name was "Lofty" Ham. He would visit my aunt and on one visit brought this paper doggie as a gift for her. It may have been made by another sailor, we are not sure. The cigarette boxes that were used are Players Navycut 10's. The sailor on the box has been used to make the nose of our little dog. The doggie was passed on to my aunt and from her to my dad.

He's a little bit old now and is showing some signs of wear and tear. One little foot pad no longer has any of the original image left on the paper, another little leg is not as strong as the other three, and when you pick him up he is very light and delicate. Nevertheless it is clear that he is a terrier and we all know that terriers are known for their tenacity and strength so I'm certain he'll be with us for a long, long time.