Things are going well here. I'm slowly working through a few projects, sorting through things I no longer need or want and each day I look back on what I've done to help create a future so different to the one I thought I'd live. It's amazing how many things I had here that just sat in a drawer or cupboard, had no purpose and just took up space. What I'm doing now should have been done years ago. Every day I declutter, the happier and more satisfied I feel.

My goal is to keep the comfortable and functional feel of my home without stripping it bare or throwing out things I'll need in the future. I brought a little trolley inside and when I fill it, I leave it for 24 hours before the items are placed in the rubbish bin, the recycle bin or given to someone I know. So far this is working well and I've retrieved only two things from the trolley and kept them.  I'll never have a minimalistic home, I love my home but I want to rid myself of things that weigh me down: old clothes, books and the appliances and items that helped me do the work I once did. I'm still living simply but I'm no longer making bread because I've found an excellent ancient grains loaf at my local bakery that serves me well. It takes about 10 days to eat one loaf. I no longer make my soap but I'm still making laundry liquid. I no longer preserve as much in jars as I did in the past but I'm still making bread and butter cucumbers, tomato relish, chilli jam, and a variety of fruit cordials. So my Fowlers preserving equipment is gone but I still have a good range of jars and bottles.

I want to use everything in my home. I don't want to keep too many things that aren't functional. To help with that aim, I've moved most of my "good dinner set" from the dresser to the drawer under the stove. The Villeroy and Boch Petite Fleur set that Hanno gave me for my 50th birthday is now used every day.  I did reverse the trend though because I bought a new kettle. My old one had been very dodgy for months. Some days it would work, some days I wouldn't. It went to the bin early last week when I had visitors and it wouldn't turn on to make coffee. 😡 I replaced it with an on-stove old fashioned kettle.

It may not look it but I've decluttered the kitchen too. Lots of glasses, plates, mugs, a slow cooker, bread machine, pots and pans have been recycled. This kitchen is 25 years old, we ripped out the old kitchen when we came here. I designed this kitchen and we got a local cabinet maker to make and install it.  It's seen thousands of meals produced and it's still a great place to work.

This is the first drawer under the stove - easy to reach when cooking. 

I'm also concentrating on building safety into my new life. As I'll be alone a lot of the time, I decided to buy an Apple watch (second hand) which will help me if I fall. The watch can detect hard falls and when it does will it will either ask: "Did you fall?" or show it on the watch screen and if you choose or say "yes", the watch will dial 000 for an ambulance to come and help you. If you don't reply after a fall, it will dial 000 immediately. The other day I was cleaning some mats on the back verandah and I was dropping a mat on its side to remove dirt and my watch asked if I'd fallen. I must have been holding the mat edge as it hit the cement. But all I had to do was say "no" and everything continued on as normal.

We also have these motion sensor night lights, Hanno bought them about 18 months ago. They're great if you wake up to go to the toilet and don't want to turn on a bright light. They're battery operated and you position them around the house in places you walk at night. We have one in the bedroom so when someone starts moving in the middle of the night, it turns itself on. It's a very soft light not like an overhead light. They're also helpful when visitors stay overnight and don't know where the lights are if they go to the toilet in the middle of the night. As soon as they open the bedroom door, the light comes on. We have them in the bathrooms and all along the corridors. You can buy them at Bunnings, Etsy and Amazon. Batteries last a long time. In the 18 months we've had ours, I've replaced the batteries once.

For those of you who ask about Gracie, here she is sitting on her new outdoor bed. She went through a stage of wandering around looking for Hanno but now she just follows me everywhere.  When I sit on the front verandah having tea, reading or listening to the radio, she's always with me. We're having a very cold winter this year so I gave her this little sponge mattress to sit on. Usually she lays on it but here's an unusual sight - Gracie sitting down.  She usually stands or lays down with her legs pushed out the back. She is such a cute and tender soul. I don't know what I'd do without her now.

I've been gardening this week too. I've planted lettuce, radishes, pansies, yarrow and penstemons, moved my Welsh onions and some roses and pulled out a lot of oregano that was taking over the herb garden.  Today I'll be adding more manure and organic fertiliser, watering and filling my new garden waste bin with clippings piled high by Tricia when she was here. It's a bit odd going into July without our big vegetable garden, it's was a big part of our lives for years, but it feels right to be keeping a small number of plants and growing all the herbs I eat.

The main thing is that I feel okay and optimistic. I want to keep working at maintaining my simply life. I never want to be sitting at the computer or watching TV all day.  What a waste! I want to live, not just watch others live. It's important for me to connect to you via my blog because it keeps me writing and provides the best record of my life as it is now. Blogs will become more frequent but I won't return to daily blog posts or the Weekend Reading list.  Instead, I'll write when I have something to say and drop in interesting links if and when I find them.  Like these:

• ‘Disturbing’: weedkiller ingredient tied to cancer found in 80% of US urine samples
• Not just what it says on the tin: the best recipes for canned fruit
• Honey trap: is there a downside to the boom in beekeeping?

I hope you have a wonderful weekend. ♥️

Above are my latest dishcloths. While Hanno was in hospital and the nursing home, I knitted some for Shane, my nephew Danny, Tricia and I'm just now finishing off a set for myself.  I knit a new set for myself every year and when the older cloths are no longer serviceable, they go into the rag bag for general cleaning and when they're worn out, to their final resting place in the compost heap. 

1. Either leftover knitting cotton or a ball or skein of cotton yarn.  You'll get about one and a half washcloths from one ball.
2. Straight knitting needles. This doesn't have to be precise - either 4.00mm, 4.5mm or 5.00mm if you're in Australia, UK sizes - 8, 7 or 6, or US sizes - 6, 7 or 8.  I used 5mm needles for my washcloths.

Knitting Instructions:

Cast on and after three rows you'll increase the length of each row until you reach 50 stitches.

    

    Cast on 4 stitches

    Knit next 2 rows

    Next Row: Knit 2, Yarn Over, Knit across to end

    Repeat this row until you have 50 stitches

    Then you'll start to decrease:

    Next Row: Knit 1, Knit 2 together, Yarn Over, Knit 2 together, Knit across to end

    Repeat this row until you have 4 stitches left

    Knit 2 rows even

    Cast Off

I use organic cotton. It's soft, very absorbent and they can be used and added to your ordinary washing load. If they're stained, an overnight soak in sodium percarbonate - Napisan, Sard, Disan etc., will easily take care of the stains. They'll last for a couple of years if you use and care for them this way.  They're ideal for washing up by hand, wiping kitchen benches and for more general cleaning such as walls, doors, mirrors and glass.

These are some new skeins and lots of leftover balls of knitting cotton. This is how I use all those little bits of cotton and end up with new washcloths every year. There's no wastage, just repetitive stitches which, like meditation, relieve stress and add to our self-reliance.

Knitting has been part of human life for thousands of years and it's a really useful skill or have. Knitting washcloths may seem like such a simple activity you might wonder why I bother when I could easily go to the supermarket and buy cloths. Knitting is a small step and simple life is full of small steps. Living as I do isn't about large gestures or about complicated ways of doing things. Sometimes it's just sitting quietly and slipping stitches from one needle to another.

Hello everyone. This is one of my first steps towards a new life without Hanno.  Most of you know he died on 25 May after a long period of medical tests, doctors' consultations and time in hospital. He was diagnosed with vascular dementia and brain cancer but it took months to reach that decision. I tried to look after him at home in the early days of his illness but he deteriorated quickly with new problems presenting every week. I gave back the Home Care Plan the government gave me for his home care and after he refused all further treatment, he went from the University Hospital to a nursing home where he spent his final days.

Sunny and I after our family lunch.

Our entire family was devastated and overwhelmed by his death, even though we knew it was coming after the diagnosis of brain cancer. We were told about it on 23 March and he died nine weeks later. It was so fast, and cruel.

L-R: Kerry, David (nephew) and Shane.

My sister Tricia and nephew David arrived the following week and on Friday night we had a family dinner at Hanno's favourite German restaurant up in the mountains near here. Tricia and David have been a great help too. David put up a curtain, attacked some mould spots in the house and juiced oranges from our tree. Tricia made a huge difference by sorting through Hanno's clothes and taking them to various charity shops. She's helped with the decluttering too and as we go through all these processes, I feel like weights are being lifted from my shoulders. 

My sincere thanks to everyone who sent cards, letters, messages, emails and flowers. They helped me and my family get through some very tough days. It's the small things that help normalise critical periods when life seems out of control.

(DIL) Sarndra with Alex planting a grevillea they gave me.

I intend to continue on with my blog, writing about what I'm doing, with small bits and pieces on Instagram. The bulk of my writing will be on my blog so if you don't want to miss anything, follow me. I've learned so much about budgeting and paying bills that I thought I already knew but because Hanno organised our money, bills and banking, I only knew a small portion of what I should have known. I'm cooking and shopping for one now and by the amount of decluttering already done, I can see I'm still learning about what is enough. I'm continuing on with the back garden so there'll be some information about small gardens and what we can grow in small spaces or pots that will help us eat fresh, organic produce in the months ahead.  

I'm glad I'm getting back to writing because not only does it provide the best record of day-to-day life, it helps me think about the beauty surrounding me and how I'm nurtured and inspired by my home.  ♥️

Photos by Sarndra and Kerry.

• Kitchen larders making a comeback

• 9 fun family games to play over the Christmas holidays

• Keeping it crisp: how to care for white shirts

• Christmas recipes – our all-time favourites

• Pickles, ketchup and chutney: recipes for Christmas gift jars

• Trophy Cabinets, Kitchens podcast 

• The Secret for Extra, on-Demand Counter Space Lies in Your Laundry Room

• 31 fabulous cabinet and drawer organising ideas

• Is flying home for the holidays bad for the planet?

• Renegades - Born in the USA, Barack Obama and Bruce Springsteen

• The Art of Solitude: Buddhist Scholar and Teacher Stephen Batchelor on Contemplative Practice and Creativity

• How we make pencils

• ‘No one knew they existed’: wild heirs of lost British honeybee found at Blenheim

• Dilutions Cheat Sheet for Dr. Bronner’s Castile

• Cracks in food system driven by year-round hunger for fresh produce begin to show

• DIY How to Make Paper Christmas Ornament / Tutorial

• Helen Garner: I always liked my diary better than anything else I wrote

• Cats track their owners’ movements, research finds

• Hard graft: backyard gardener claims world record for tree bearing 10 different fruits

• Worried about waste and having too much ‘stuff’? Get rid of the fitted kitchen

• What can 1,000 Australians show us about the risks of COVID-19 infections and vaccines?

• King parrots are dying of a wasting disease that may be spreading through birdbaths

• How to convince your apartment strata to go solar

• A teenager was accidentally invited to a grandma’s Thanksgiving dinner. Six years later, he’s still going back

• 110 g soft, not melted, butter plus 110 g sugar and beat together 
• 1 egg, vanilla and mix again
• 180 g flour - I used half plain, half self-raising and a pinch of salt - mix
• 120 g chocolate - I used 200 g choc chips because I didn't want 80 grams of choc chips lurking in the fridge. True story. 😇

I am feeling better now but my arm is still swollen and bright red with peeling skin. It's like I've been badly sun burnt. I'll go back to my doctor in the morning, hopefully the last of the many visits I've made to the clinic. It's good to be back among the living. 💖

I'm not well. I was diagnosed with cellulitis of the arm yesterday and I've been told to rest and take antibiotics. The wound was inflicted by Gracie when we were playing last week. I didn't think the skin was broken, but I was wrong. The doctor said that if I get worse, I'm to go straight to the hospital 😮. I already had my list ready so I'm sending it to you and hopefully I'll be back fit and well next week.

Weekend Reading

• How to retrain your frazzled brain and find your focus again

• Indigenous Australia, holograms and the Beano

• Why we're so terrified of the unknown

• Australian supermarket tomato sauces tasted and rated – and how to cook with them

• Huge restored mosaic unveiled in Jericho desert castle

• Is my phone listening to me? We ask the expert

• How to survive a venomous snakebite — from a professional who's been bitten before

• Easy chocolate pudding

• Unpacking: the meditative puzzle game that’s all about organising

• Living Simple

• Aurora australis seen over Tasmania was 'hands-down best' lightshow in years

• Kitchen of endangered people in north Russia