Gifts

In my last post I wrote about the dark side of life here in the valley, but that is such a minor aspect, overshadowed by kindness, generosity and general sense of abundance.

I have been given so much firewood over the last few days (a few sacks here, a share of someone's trailer load there), that my shed might not be able to hold all the wood I have ordered for myself. And since I have a couple of weeks to wait before the chimney sweep comes out, I can't burn any of it yet! Fortunately it continues to be warm enough during the days to have the doors and windows open, and at night, if I've pulled the drapes to hold the afternoon's sunheat and use the oven to cook my dinner, the house stays cosy til bedtime.

With all the rain last week my little lawn went from shaggy to out of control before my very eyes and yesterday Sean-my-neighbour came over with weedeater and lawnmower. It started to rain as he was trimming the lawn to velvet like smoothness, but he must have been enjoying himself because he then went on to tackle an even bigger and more overgrown area along the driveway.

Even the land is generous- Saturday night I made a salad with mushrooms and watercress picked on my walk, rocket from my little salad garden, sprouts I've sprouted, and ate it with home made bread, hummus, felafel and dukkah. I felt very self sufficient!