Dear Readers, as The Big Day for our window replacement gets nearer, I’m spending more and more time trying to be realistic about what I will and won’t do during the rest of my life. Honestly, my cook book collection is out of control. If I cooked a new recipe every day from now until I’m 95 (which is 30 years from now and probably pushing it a bit) I still wouldn’t get through them. So here I am, trying to persuade my neighbours to take my books and enjoy themselves. We’ve had a few takers, but I suspect there will be a few more trips to the RSPCA charity shop.
There are so many memories here. In 2016, following the Brexit vote, I decided to become a qualified TEFL teacher, and here are just some of my text books. I spent a few years teaching groups, particularly women, the basics so they could navigate things like shopping, going to the doctor, using public transport and sorting out their children’s schooling, and it was an amazing experience, particularly the way women from different countries came together to help one another. Plus we often ended up with impromptu cooking and gardening sessions. Every woman had a story to tell, and every one was determined to make the best possible productive life for themselves and their children. I often wonder how the women are doing now.
And here are the very last of the flowers from Fran – so many went to people all over the country (don’t forget to send me any photos if you remembered to take any!) A number of parents have taken some seeds for their children to grow, and I’m pretty confident that at least some will come up. I hope Fran would have approved of how far her seeds have spread, and how many people they’ve cheered up. I’m sure she would love that small children will be watering them and encouraging them to grow just like I used to when I was a child. Plants are a miracle that we should never take for granted, especially now, in the face of all the terrible stuff that’s happening. When everything seems bleak, there’s always something growing.
I have been thinking in the same vein. I have gotten rid of a lot of fabric and yarn, as well as cookbooks and knick-knacks. I have also given away a lot of books, although I don’t want to denude my bookshelves entirely!
Here in Seattle, I have lots of options, including my local Buy Nothing group, and many neighborhood Little Free Libraries (LFLs) I can stock. Even my local grocer has a LFL near the entrance just for cookbooks! That saves me from too many trips to the second-hand shop.
It’s so strange to be at a time in my life when it no longer interests me to collect things, as I have been a busy collector, crafter, cook, and gardener all my life.
A lot of people must feel as you do: we receive a number of cook books – mostly in excellent condition – in the charity shop. Gifts? Swooned over? Fuelled good intentions? Who knows. They count among the slower moving books, yet find homes eventually.
I have some second generation echium seedlings from Fran, stoutly surviving the frosts in the greenhouse. (I hope that hasn’t jinxed them after last night’s temperature fall!)
Same here, too, with regards to books…cookery and teaching texts have left my shelves in the post retirement shuffle. I have about four cookbooks that I still refer to: Delia Smith, a couple of Cranks and an encyclopaedia of cookies. Everything else comes from the internet.