Canals, Canines, Kennels and Crafts

On Sunday, We spent the First whole day on our Narrowboat this year.

It was warm and I could feel the sun on my back and face for the first time in 2012. It felt delicious!

I have written about the peace and solitude we find when we spend  time on Eliza.


We discover a simpler life. A way of life that suits us and that we strive to achive every day.

However, we have decided to sell Elisa so that we can buy a Boarding Kennel business with enough land to create an animal sanctuary and to become completely self sufficient.

We want to live a simple life, pursue work for more profound reasons and to have more time and space for creativity and interesting and enjoyable activities.

We had thought we may do this by becoming part of the canal community. Finding a plot of land where we could put an art studio and create a sanctuary for Rescue animals.

We have not ruled this idea out, and continue to search for that plot of land, however, we both also  like the idea of making a go at creating our own business in an area that we both feel passionately about. We want to create a home away from home for our canine Friends. A small  home that is environmentally Friendly, Ethical, Comfortable and Good Value.

I believe that by making a small income from this,  I will have more of an opportunity to raise money to set up my animal sanctuary which I hope will compliment the paying Boarding Kennels.

Rob will "potter" and I will "create" and if we are lucky, this may also fund the animal sanctuary.

So, at the moment, we look for both that Perfect Boarding kennel business, as well as that Perfect Canalside plot of land, while hoping that someone will want to buy our home to give us the finances to do either!

On Sunday, I knew that I wanted to find the Canalside plot of land, which I always do when I am on Eliza!

Other days, I want to move straight into an exsisting business that we can develop into "Harmony Kennels"!

Who knows what will happen?

But for now, following on from yesterday's post about wanting to make use out of my camera, I wanted to share some of the photos I took on Sunday which I hope, give a sense of the peace and tranquility we find on our piece of the Canal........................................

Preferred Pursuits

I started this blog at the end of Summer last year.  I knew I had at last found a creative space to express my thoughts, feelings, emotions, values and beliefs and I started to dedicate time to creating posts that I felt were interesting, thought provoking and meaningful.

I hoped people would read them, but I believed those "people" would be my Friends.

Now,  I love my Friends, I have wonderful Friends as I have spoken about in so many other posts.
So I wondered why they didn't read my posts. Why they didn't comment and why they didn't become followers?!

I didn't really take it personally. My Friends know that I am an "ideas" kinda girl, in that  all the time they have known me, I have always talked about my ideas, all the new projects and tasks I am going to undertake!

As I have written about previously, I am striving for self actualisation and I have not been afraid to try out lots of different things to get there!

Over the last months however, I believe I have finally found my true vocation after travelling down many roads. I know now what I want to concentrate my efforts on. What I want to focus my attention on. 

I have reached this conclusion through the help of so many wonderfully descriptive, creative and imaginative blogs that I have had the pleasure of reading and becoming a follower of.

So now I understand why my Friends haven't really become avid readers of my blog.

Blogging is self expression, it's a form of creativity and productivity. It's a forum to meet other like minded indiviuals, and...................... it's kinda adddictive!!!

So I understand now, that although I share a deep connection with all My Friends, it doesn't mean that we are neccessarily like minded in everything we feel.

I have really only now started to invest the time and energy into this "blogging" world.

Ultimately, as I mentioned in previous posts, when I realised that no one else wanted to read what I'd written, I decided that keeping a record of my thoughts and activities, values and beliefs was important anyway and that the blog would just be for my benefit.

I realised however, that it would encourage me to write better and be creative if I thought someone else might read it too!

So I started to really look around the blogasphere and boy, have I found some Beautiful Blogs. Blogs that I relate to, blogs that I want to relate to, blogs by people I want to meet, blogs by people I wish I knew, blogs by people that I strive to be like and blogs by people who I feel I should have been more like.

I have learnt that, at longlast, I have a project - DragonFly Aspirations that I enjoy, that I won't get bored of and that will encourage me  to pursue the other projects that I am passionate about, because I may develop an audience of like minded individuals who will share the same beliefs.

One of the reasons I started this blog, was to highlight the issue of Animal Welfare to the attention of any readers. To get the idea of Veganism out there. This my biggest project and I am now very much involved in campaigning in any way I can.


So, that is two pursuits,  DragonFly Aspirations and AnimalAid.
I am also  going to pursue my crafts which I have been leaving on the sidelines while I try out other pursuits, that seem to  have fallen by the wayside.

After looking at all the other Fabulous Blogs, my creative juices are flowing and I am needing to "create" some recycled art projects.

I have been inspired by the artists I have come across who are using their blogs as a showcase for their work.

DragonFlyAspirations is giving me the motivation and incentive I need to get back to my Art Room, Sort out my lids, corks, ribbons, string, old clothes, old CD's, boxes, jars among others and get creating those recycled Art models that I haven't done for so long.

Two years ago, I started to make a Rather huge dragon. I moulded it out of Chicken Wire, and covered him with Paper Mache. The idea was to cover him with the many years worth of bottle tops that I have collected. This project never got finished because I went onto something else!

The wonderful photography displayed throughout many of the blogs I am following has motivated me to take a Course in Learning how to use my Camera properly! So this will be another pursuit, one that I have been procrastinating about for too long.

So there I have it. My Preferred Pursuits that sit nicely  alongside my main interests that are my Family, Dogs and the Natural World!

I am finally settled and relaxed and certain about what I will spend my spare time doing.

A long time ago, Rob and I turned away from striving after wealth and possessions to free us to pursue work for more profound reasons and to have more time and space for creativity and interesting and enjoyable activities. However we are still striving for more time and space but we know it is coming, we are heading in the right direction.
http://dragonflyaspirations.blogspot.com/2011/10/consumer-blitz.html
Like me, Rob has his Preferred Pursuits of rock climbing and pottery and yearns to be able to give more time to them. Unlike me, he has less time because he works longer hours but we can see the end to this way of life in sight now.

We Aspire to lead a sustainable, self reliant life where we can make time for the intentional activities we choose, our work, our hobbies and interests, community activities and interpersonal relationships.
We are choosing to find activities and a way of life that will improve our wellbeing -
Creative Arts, Gardening, Taking Action for Others and the planet and being at one with Mother Earth will add meaning to our lives and help us to become more fulfilled.


Here are photos of some of my creations for our"Joyfest".

And here are a Few creations that were made for us By our wonderful Friends!

 Rob made over 40 Flower holders and Lanterns:

THANKYOU TO THOSE OF YOU WHO HAVE STARTED TO KEEP ME COMPANY ALONG MY BLOGGING JOURNEY AND TO THOSE OF YOU WHOSE BLOGS INSPIRE AND ENTERTAIN!

JENX

CONSUMER BLITZ

 I HAVE BEEN THINKING ABOUT HOW I HAVE  CHANGED AS I HAVE TRAVELLED ON THIS JOURNEY CALLED LIFE.
MY LIFE IS RICHER AND MORE DIVERSE NOW THAN IT HAS EVER BEEN.
LIFE IS INTERESTING AND EXCITING AND HAS BECOME MORE SO AS I HAVE GOT OLDER.

IT WASN'T ALWAYS SO, BUT WITH PERSISTANCE, VISION, HOPE, AN INNER STRENGH AND THE LOVE THAT I  GIVE AND RECEIVE, I NOW LEAD A CREATIVE, FULFILLING AND ENRICHING LIFE.

I HAVE MORE TIME BECAUSE MY CHILDREN ARE OLDER AND MORE SELF RELIANT, AND I NO LONGER HAVE TO WORK FULL TIME.

HAVING THIS TIME HAS CERTAINLY MADE FOR A BETTER QUALITY OF LIFE AND GIVEN ME THE OPPORTUNITIES TO BE MORE CREATIVE IN HOW I LIVE.

WHEN I LOOK BACK, I REMEMBER HAVING A VERY HECTIC AND TIRING SCHEDULE.

I LIVED MY LIFE ROUND THE CLOCK, HAVING TO BE AT WORK AT A CERTAIN TIME, LEAVING IN TIME TO PICK THE KIDS UP AND EVERYTHING THAT GOES WITH BALANCING WORK AND FAMILY.

I NEVER GAVE MYSELF A CHANCE TO "ENJOY THE MOMENT" (as highlighted in my previous post as being an extremely important part of finding enjoyment in life)

HOW COULD I? I HAD PLACED ALL THESE EXPECTATIONS AND COMMITMENTS  ON MYSELF. WE HAD BOUGHT THE HOUSE TO SATISFY OUR OBSESSION WITH OWNING A PROPERTY SO NOW WE HAD TO PAY FOR IT WITH THE SOUL CRUSHING, ROBOTIC TEDIUM OF THE DAILY GRIND.

THIS GAVE ME NO ROOM TO THINK ABOUT AN ALTERNATIVE WAY OF LIVING. BUT MAYBE I DIDN'T REALLY WANT ONE BACK THEN. I WASN'T PARTICUARLY RADICAL OR PROGRESSIVE IN MY THINKING AND I WAS YOUNG, EASILY INFLUENCED, NAIVE AND MATERIALISTIC AS I BUILT A HOME WITH THE HELP OF CONSUMERISM AND EXPECTATION FROM SOCIETY THAT THAT WAS HOW IT SHOULD BE:

GO TO WORK, MAKE MONEY, SPEND MONEY, BUY A HOUSE, BUY A CAR, GO ON FOREIGN HOLIDAYS, GET INTO DEBT, WORK MORE TO PAY THAT DEBT OFF!

I CAN SEE NOW THAT I WAS BEING EXPLOITED BY THIS MODERN CAPATALIST SOCIETY BUT I FELL FOR IT AND DID SO UNTIL VERY RECENTLY.

I AM NOW IN RECOVERY. STOPPING MY CONFORMIST AND CONSUMERIST LED LIFESTYLE WAS EASY. MAINTAINING IT TAKES DISCIPLINE, A CHANGE OF DESIRE AND FINDING REWARD IN OTHER SOURCES.

I AM FINDING THAT I LEAD A MORE SPONTANEOUS, EXCITING AND CREATIVE LIFE. I AM SPIRITUALLY RICHER AND SELF - RELIANT.

"OUR NATURAL DESIRE IS TO LIVE WELL AND ENJOY LIFE IS CO-OPTED BY THE CONSUMER SYSTEM AND TURNED INTO SOMETHING MATERIALLY BASED AND ENSLAVING. IT SEEMS OBVIOUS THAT IF WE COULD JUST EXTINGUISH CONSUMER DESIRES AND STOP SHOPPING, WE WOULD GET A LOT CLOSER TO EVERY DAY LIBERTY, SIMPLY BECAUSE WE WOULDN'T HAVE TO DO SO MUCH WORK. THIS IS NOT THAT ONE CAN'T ENJOY LUXURIES, IT'S JUST THAT WE SHOULDN'T TAKE THEM SERIOUSLY AS A KIND OF GOAL IN LIFE.
THE KEY IS NOT TO RENOUNCE ALL PLEASURE BUT TO BE A MASTER OF THEM"

(taken from "How to be Free", of course!!!)

IN THIS CONSUMER DRIVEN SOCIETY, WE ARE LED TO BELIEVE THAT "THINGS" WILL SOMEHOW ENHANCE OUR LIVES. SO WE BUY THESE THINGS WHICH DON'T LIVE UP TO EXPECTATION, THEY DISAPPOINT AND DON'T MAKE OUR LIVES BETTER AS WE WERE LED TO BELIEVE.

BUT DO WE ABANDON THESE "THINGS"? NO, WE SIMPLY BUY THE NEW AND IMPROVED "THING".

I'M COMPLETELY GUILTY OF THIS BEHAVIOUR. LOOK AT THE PREVIOUS POST ON MY NEW MOBILE.

THE MESSAGE TOM HODGKINSON MAINTAINS THROUGHOUT HIS BOOK IS THAT CAPATILISM WORKS THROUGH A CONSTANT STREAM OF DISAPPOINTMENTS WHICH ENCOURAGE THE SPENDING OF MORE AND MORE MONEY.

WE AREN'T HAPPY WITH JUST THE SIMPLE THINGS IN LIFE; SOMEWHERE TO LIVE; FOOD TO EAT;  SMALL LUXURIES SUCH AS GOOD WINE AND CHOCOLATE; A GOOD DVD OR BOOK AND FRIENDS AND/OR FAMILY.

THIS IS WHAT'S IMPORTANT.

"THINGS" ARE MERELY DECORATION, DISTRACTION, OSTENTATION AND VANITY.

THE UNMATERIALISTIC LIFESTYLE CAN BE ACHIEVED ON ANY INCOME.

WHAT I HAVE FOUND IS THAT MY DESIRE FOR "STUFF" HASN'T MAGICALLY STOPPED. THAT WOULD BE TOO EASY!

BUT I DON'T ALLOW MYSELF TO BECOME CONSUMED BY MY "NEED" FOR IT BECAUSE I DON'T "NEED" IT AT ALL AND I CAN RATIONLISE THAT WITH MYSELF NOW. I DO ACKNOWLEDGE IT, BUT I DON'T ALLOW MYSELF TO GIVE IT MUCH THOUGHT. I DISTRACT MYSELF WITH  DOING SOMETHING BETTER THAN SHOPPING. I SPEND TIME WITH MY FAMILY AND FRIENDS, I READ A GOOD BOOK, I GO FOR A WALK, I MAKE A NICE DINNER AND FIND THAT THE REWARD I GET FROM LEADING THIS MORE LAID BACK, ENJOYABLE AND FREE WAY OF LIFE FAR EXCEEDS ANY BENEFIT FROM CONTINUING A CONSUMER DRIVEN LIFE STYLE.

IF WE ALL CONSUME LESS, LAUGH MORE AND STOP STRIVING FOR THE NEXT BIG THING, I'M CERTAIN WE WOULD EXIST IN A HAPPIER WORLD.


DOMESTIC BLITZ (Joke............or is it?!!)!
AM
7 - Get up, shower and dress.
7.15 - Get children up
7.20 - Let dog out in the garden
7.30 - Make breakfast
7.35 -Let dog back in
7.45 - Make children's lunches
8 - Get children washed, dressed and hair combed
8.20- Husband leaves for work
8.30 - Take children to school
8.31 - Return to house for packed lunches
8.32 -  Set off again for school
8.45 - Drop children off
9 - School phones
9.15 - Return to school with swimming kit
9.30 - Return home, Wash up, Clean kitchen
10 - Put washing machine on
10.30 -Vacuum and polish. Make Beds
11 - Empty dishwasher
12 noon - Go to supermarket for weekly shop
PM
2 - Put shopping away
2.30 - Prepare soup and sandwich for lunch
2.31 - Hang washing on line
2.35 - Starting to rain - bring Washing back in
2.36 - Rain stops, Re-hang washing on line
2.40 - sit down (for 1st time) to eat lunch
2.41 - Torrential downpour. Bring in washing
2.42 - Dog eats sandwich
2.50 - Pour cold soup away.No time for another sandwich
3 - Collect children
3.30 - Arrive Home
3.35 - Return to school
3.40 - Collect forgotten school bag
3.45 - Arrive home
4 - Make snacks
4.15 - Give dog his dinner
4.30 - Dog not touched dinner. Let dog out
4.45 - Let dog back in
5 - Re-Spin sodden washing
5.30 - Eat apple
5.45 - Supervise homework while ironing
6.15 - Finish ironing. Put clothes away
6.30 - Empty tumble dryer
6.45 - Husband calls. Will be home 7.30
7 - Start dinner
7.10 - Tell children to pick up toys and homework from lounge floor
7.30 - Turn TV off. Sit down (for 2nd time) with children to eat. Put husband's dinner in oven
7.31 - Burning smell from kitchen. Run and remove husband's dinner from oven. Scrape off black bits.
7.32 - Dog jumps up at table and eats my dinner
7.35 - Start to pick up children's toys, homework and books from floor.
7.36 - Phone rings, Take message re football team
7.40 - Children finish eating. Send upstairs to wash and get ready for bed
7.45 - Start to tidy up lounge
7.46 - Hear screams from children fighting upstairs
7.47 - Stub toe on toy left on floor
7.48 - Run upstairs to separate children
7.49 - Remove toothpaste from youngest child's ear
7.53 - Load dishwasher
7.55 - Fold school uniforms. Pour 2 glasses of wine
7.56 - Drink both glasses
7.59 - Put dog's dinner (untouched) in bin
8 - Husband arrives home and says
"Have you seen the state of the lounge?
 WHAT ON EARTH HAVE YOU BEEN DOING ALL DAY?"

Anyone relate to this?.........................!!!!!!

Phones, Photos, Cameras and Computers

Ok, so 5 posts in, and I would say that this blog is rather becoming all consuming! Although yesterday's post was relatively easy to write and didn't take too long in the grand scheme of things, it was the finer details that saw me up until the early hours!
I need to get a grip on this technology thing! I've never been one for doing things on computers, I can't get a handle on all the different things they do, and I haven't got the patience to find out! I'm a practical person, I like to be active and I find myself getting frustrated when the computer won't do what I want it to do!!!
So last night found me adding the pictures and photos onto post 4 which ended up taking ages as I learnt how to place them where I wanted, which still didn't go according quite to plan!
I think I need to persuade 1 of my more technology minded friends to "show" me  how it works and what I can do rather than to spend hours "trying" to work it out for myself.
So, any offers...............................................................................................???!!!!

I was given a camera for my joint birthday and Christmas last year, it is a lovely snazzy thing which I think does alot, however, I have only really worked out how to take photos on it. So along with learning how to make the most out of my blog, I need to link that in with learning how to use my camera properly which can only compliment my blog with relevant photos and video clips!

And now, to top it all off, I have to learn to use my new mobile phone after my old one was drowned some time ago while out walking in the rain!

Now, I have toyed with the idea of really, truly living what I preach, and not having a mobile phone at all. Afterall, I lived without one until I was in my mid 20's and I survived! It is just another "thing" which makes life more complicated, stressful and busy!
I am extremely uncomfortable with the cost of the environmental footprint that the production of mobile phones has and the cost on human lives. We talk alot about our carbon footprint, but our personal footprints are much bigger than that, they are social as well as ecological. Many of us are lucky enough to live in a charmed world where we can buy anything if we have the money, however we know little about what our footprints are. It all happens so far away. The people and pollution that sustain us are invisible to us.

The following information comes from "Confessions of an eco sinner" by Fred Pearce.

A typical mobile phone weighs only about 75g but taking its  many ingredients from the earth requires the mining of 30kg of rock. In addition, manufacturing the chips requires several hundred litres of water, and the energy that probably comes from burning several tens of kilos of fossil fuels.
There is 1 mobile phone for every 3 people on the planet.
More than 2 phones are assembled from components every second in factories, of which the majority are in China, mainly in Shenzan, which, 25 yrs ago, was a fishing village surrounded by rice paddy. Today it is an urban sprawl of 12 million people. People make these phones, and those people are hundreds of thousands of young women migrant workers.

Behind the component suppliers lies another vast industry, mining and refining the metals other materials that go into components. The phone is a miniature smmorgasbord of metals and other ingredients.
The main metal that is needed for our mobiles is "Coltan" which is an african nickname for a bunch of minerals that contain 2 elements, columbium and tantalum. Tantalum is essential to the modern mobile phone, without it, mobiles would still be the size of bricks and need recharging every 15 mins. And the smarter the phone, the greater the number of tantalum capacitors (the tiny components of electrical circuits that store and releace charge). A phone with a camera and video function requires more than 20 capacitors.
Today more than half the world's tantalum goes into making more than 20 billion capacitors every year - 3 for every person on the planet.
As the demand for mobile phones soared,the mines in Western Australia and Germany were not enough and the coltan reserves of eastern Congo were exploited. Unsavoury rebel military leaders made fortunes out of the ore and used it to raise cash for arms or filled their swiss bank accounts.
They pressganged child soilders and prisoners to mine the coltan and ship it off to brokers.

Amnesty International says that coltan paid for a war within a war that claimed hundreds of thousands of civilian lives and subjected millions of others to a humanitarian catastrophe.
For a while, Congo was the main source of the world's coltan and much of that went into mobile phones.
Coltan prices eased in 2002 and the congolese civil war subsided soon after but the warlords are still in business making trouble in the jungle. And since then, another vital resource has come under their control. Rising global demand for tin has triggered a rush for rich congolese reserves of cassiterite, an ore containing tin oxide. The same soilders, and the same illicit supply channels through Rwanda, are involved
http://inspirationgreen.com/minerals-that-cause-war.html

And what happens to phones after we have finished with them? There are many take back schemes which recycle old phones by melting them down, extracting the metals to make new phones. Many charities benefit from these schemes by selling donated old phones to these schemes so I believe this is the best use for our my old drowned mobile.

So after writing all that, I am in fact questioning my decision after my post yesterday extolling the values of a freedom from material desires and avoiding waste!
However, I will ease my guilty conscious by pledging here and now, on this blog (not that anyone's reading yet!) that I will learn how this phone works and make use out of every function that will serve to benefit me.

I think the message from what I have written today is that, for me, I want to be driven by idealism, not by a desire to keep up with the latest fashion or consumer durables. Antimaterialism is good for the soul and the planet. We could all get by on much less if we had different priorities.  If we just reduce our consumption, we'd be well on the way to tackling global warming, reducing human suffering and ensuring a more equitable global distribution or resources.

"Everyone thinks about changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself"
Leo Tolstoy, novelist and moral philosopher

So, I hope that by my 6th post, I will have learnt more about how to make this blog look more interesting, learnt about all my phone, and even have a better understanding of my camera's abilitly to help me make this blog more exciting!

More challenges to keep me motivated, focused, interested and energized! I am really enjoying writing this, and anything that is going to make it easier, less time consuming and more visully pleasing will keep me committed!

Now I have written 5 posts, I am going to email all my friends and family and hope that they log on!

Off to Animal Aid training tomorrow about how I can raise awarness of animal welfare in schools, and then helping to run a stall for our primary school at the Wychwood forest fair on Sunday.

http://www.animalaid.org.uk/h/n/AA/HOME/

http://www.wychwoodproject.org/wps/wcm/connect/occ/Wychwood/Events/Forest+Fair/
Better put a whole day aside next week to write all about those experiences!

Till then!x