Daffodils

The daffodils are available in the hedge vege stalls by the side of the road.

You can buy a lovely bunch of unopened buds for only 50p.

This bunch is £1.00 worth of daffodils.

They are in one of my Maling lustre vases.

It is so grey outside at the moment their bright yellow petals bring a little sunshine right into my kitchen :)

£3.50 can make for a lot of entertainment

I needed to get out of the house.

I needed some cheap entertainment.

The charity shops were calling.

One and a half hours later....

I was entertained, out of the house, in possession of fine accessories and a lovely vase; what more could you ask for £3.50?

Jack-O-Lantern Invitations

I overheard B3 telling one of her friends that she was going to have a Princess Party for her seventh birthday.

I was so pleased to hear this as I have a huge amount of pink and purple sparkly party supplies I want to use up before my girls get to old to want a pink and purple sparkly party.

I was getting ready to make B3's invitations and I thought that I had better confirm the theme she would like, just one more time, just to be certain.

'Halloween, Mummy!' In those two words, gone are the dreams of my last 'little' girl party :(

I rummaged through my scrapbooking supplies and fortunately had some suitably pumpkiny orange card.

I wonder if my sister needs a huge number of  sparkly pink and purple butterflies and glitter?

If you need a laugh :)

The lack of sunshine is getting to me. This made me laugh so hard I had tears; just what I needed.

Notes from Chris

Please enjoy :)

Well done Australia

So much has been going on in Bumble Bee Cottage since before Christmas that I haven't been reading the Australian newspapers very regularly.

Look what happens when you don't keep up with the goings on; people power with united voices win the day.

Well done Australia (it is heartfelt, if a little late) xx

The Lucky Country No More :(

I also found this Youtube clip on The Greening of Gavin. It seems the more I look into this topic, food waste, the more shocking it is. The fridge policy in our house is that all the fruit in the chiller drawer in the fridge must be eaten before I purchase new supplies, no exceptions. I am no saint however, as I am guilty of purchasing food with every good intention of making  it into dinner, only to find that I didn't get around to it before it went off. Not really good enough is it?

I always knew, generally, that this 'type of thing' goes on but it was always 'somewhere else'. That is the key to shoving it all from your mind, isn't it; it is happening somewhere else. It was always NIMBY i.e. Not In My Back Yard. But it is, it happens in my own house; perhaps not to the extent discussed in this video but it does happen.

I have been reading in various blogs and newspapers about food shortages in many places across the globe. I watch UK television. It seems to constantly run advertisements about the thousands of children starving to death in Africa. Then I watched this clip - quite a contrast.

I have no doubt that many western countries are the same but it still makes me very sad and very angry that this is happening in my home country. It is hard to contemplate over half the mango crop being thrown away. Supermarkets have trained consumers to expect blemish free fruit so now they do.Surely those 'damaged' crops could be sold at farmer's markets?

The Lucky Country hey; well not for too much longer if Aussies don't start to change their ways - me included.

Poisonous Milk

B1 had a total melt down the other morning as the only milk we had for breakfast had a used by date of the previous day. Mr Bee and I had used this milk in our morning coffee, B2 and B3 had been served this milk on their breakfast and clearly we were all still alive. When this was pointed out to B1 it had no effect at all. He was probably waiting for us all to drop at any moment.

I tried to reason with B1 but there was nothing that could be said that would change his mind and this reasonably small issue was turning into World War III when it shouldn't. So Mr Bee went to the shop and bought some 'fresh' milk for B1 so he would not be poisoned during breakfast.

Now more than a week later I have come across this Vimeo post by Daniel Klein, The Perennial Plate Episode 84: Dumpster Diver. I found it on the blog 'The Greening of Gavin' (there is a link on my side bar).

I asked B1 to sit down and watch this with me. I explained about used by dates and how supermarkets use them for two reasons 1. so they are not sued for selling 'off' food that may make someone ill and 2. the modern consumer is pre-programmed to throw food away when it is past the 'used by date' and then be forced to purchase a replacement.. The majority would not even bother to check to see if the food is still OK. I am a clean freak when it comes to cooking areas but when it comes to used by dates I have always used my own judgement; can dried pasta really go off?

This movie raises some interesting questions about the culture of the supermarket; that it is better to throw things away than have a table by the back door where hungry people could help themselves. I am positive there are a string of reasons why they are unable to do this and common sense is not among them.

While we were watching it B1 asked me if what they were doing was illegal i.e. the dumpster diving. Now I am sure the law differs from state to state in America but I seem to remember seeing a documentary, some time ago, in Australia where people were doing something very similar. I know at the time they made that documentary, it was illegal, in Australia.

To take the point a step further I talked about my Nan and my Mum and that the milk they would have drunk when they were his age did not have a used by date, in fact it was delivered in glass bottles that, when empty, were collected by the milkman, taken back to the dairy and washed ready for the next day's milk.

By the end of viewing this and discussing it when I asked B1 if he would now drink out of date milk after he had used his sense of smell and sight to decide whether it was safe to drink he said 'Yeah.......probably.' Ah, such is the power of the pre-teen.

He then asked, in a more concerned voice, 'We aren't going to do that are we Mum.' I told him no and this is the truth as we are fortunate enough not to have to but in today's uncertain future who knows what tomorrow will bring.