Post Comment Love 14-16 January

Welcome to this week’s #PoCoLo - a friendly linky which I co-host with Suzanne, where you can link any post published in the last week. We know you’ll find some great posts to read, and maybe some new-to-you blogs too, so do pop over and visit some of the posts linked and share some of that love. If you were here last week it was great to have you along, if you’re new here this week we’re pleased you’re here.

As I mentioned last week I spent some time with MOH’s family moving his mum. She’s in and her new place looks like home, but boy was it hard work. Seriously hard work, but I guess downsizing always is, and that’s leaving aside the emotional side of moving house. It was definitely a case of going back to work for a rest!

Our post has been pretty erratic for the past few weeks with the postal service suffering from the fall out from Covid. We have started to receive post again, and this week a further three Christmas cards arrived. It’s definitely prolonging the Christmas season this year.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Where do you find peace?

That was the question that faced us as we started a walk around the lake at Stourhead when we visited at the end of last October, and it definitely made us stop and think. I mean look at that view, I think that alone was influencing our answer! But it’s true, isn’t it, in nature often brings peace - my usual answer would most likely have been Greenwich Park, had I not been standing in this exact spot.

WHERE DO YOU FIND PEACE?

I’m very much a take in your surroundings kind of walker, with occasional pauses to take it all in. This can frustrate MOH who likes to walk to get there, at a much quicker pace than I. But at times I can get him to stop and take stock of the views, and just as well as otherwise I might have missed the urn hidden amongst the greenery.

With paths leading invitingly off the main route, we left this one for another visit on another day.

Our visit was full of autumn colours, and spotting further excerpts along the way was a genius touch.

AND ROUND ABOUT SOFT MEADOWS OF
VIOLETS AND PARSLEY WERE BLOOMING.
THERE EVEN AN IMMORTAL, WHO CHANCED
TO COME, MIGHT GAZE AND MARVEL,
AND DELIGHT HIS SOUL…
ODYSSEY, HOMER

It introduced me to poems I’d not read before, though I’m sure many have and they are well known and much loved.

NOT DISTANT FAR FROM THENCE A MURMURING SOUND
OF WATERS ISSU’D FROM A CAVE AND SPREAD
INTO A LIQUID PLAN, THEN STOOD UNMOV’D
PURE AS TH’ EXPANSE OF HEAV’N, I THITHER WENT
WITH UNEXPERIENC’T THOUGHT, AND LAID ME DOWNE
ON THE GREEN BANK, TO LOOK INTO THE CLEER SMOOTH LAKE,
THAT TO ME SEEMD ANOTHER SKIE.
PARADISE LOST, JOHN MILTON

As you can see from the photos, we were really lucky with the weather and it was a real treat to capture the sunlight on the trees and enjoy the blue skies.

NOTHING IN ENGLAND COULD COMPARE
WITH STOURHEAD… WE WERE IN SUCH
ECSTASY WE HAD THE UTMOST
DIFFICULTY IN TEARING OURSELVES AWAY
FROM THIS CHARMING SPOT…
BARON VAN SPAEN VAN BILJOEN, 1791

We made it round the lake, with plenty of stops for photos and to take in the views and much more - at some point I’ll share more from our short stop off at Stourhead, which is always a welcome stop as we head to Devon to visit family - and yes, I know it’s not the most direct route, but with views like this that’s not such a bad thing, is it?

Two categories and I'm already at 94/100

I mentioned in my last post that I’d spotted @orgjenise’s challenge on Instagram, and that the first category of food drew me in. Over our New Year’s Eve dinner MOH and I had talked about how I’m a ‘things’ person and how he isn’t. I mean that’s ok, they say opposite’s attract but he was right when he said our kitchen cupboards were sometimes a bit of a discovery, so now you can see why I knew I should be in for this challenge.

I should add not all of my items so far have been food, I’ve picked up some other easy wins from around the kitchen and our main living space. Even so it’s a large number of things to identify with such relative ease. The subsequent prompts - especially toiletries and paperwork - are also likely to be, shall we say, profitable.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Orjenise (@orjenise)

With life getting in the way the past few days, I’ve not kept up with all of the categories but I’m planning to cover those shortly. What number I’ll end up with I’ve no idea, but I’m confident I’ll surpass a hundred easily, even 200 could be an easy target. Remember in 2016 when I decided to try and get rid of 2016 items? This challenge feels more achievable, but who knows how close I’ll get to equalling this year’s number?

I’m not expecting every prompt to produce such large numbers, for example I’m relatively good at clearing out my purse, but I suspect I could find a thing or two that could be lost, so I might find some surprises along the way.

What I’ve already benefited from, apart from much tidier kitchen cupboards, is a sense of calm and achievement as well as discovering an unknown stash of vac-packed chestnuts, which I don’t think is a bad thing at all. Even MOH’s impressed with how tidy our kitchen cupboards are, though I suspect he’ll be less keen if the challenge moves towards his shed - and even if it officially doesn’t, unofficially it will, though getting him to count could actually be the challenge!

Wish me luck!