fac et spera

 I had a marvellous experience this morning. First, I slept through my alarm for my meds, and woke up an hour and a. half later. Then when I rolled over and got out of bed - I had NO pain! None! I moved like a normal person. That was absolutely awesome. I'm wise enough to know not to push too hard, so I just made myself a cup of tea. That blissful feeling lasted a whole half-hour, but it was heavenly. I hope that it repeats itself again, and soon. The heat continues to be oppressive and stifling, so I'm not being too active. I would love to be parked on Store Bay, or at least on my balcony overlooking it. But I understand that the beaches remain shut, so I'll just fantasize about being there. Here I am, 3 years ago, in that spot.

It was 10 years ago, back in 2011, that I did a pilgrimage to the Holy Land with my mother and aunt (AKA "The Mommies" so named by my team) That was an excellent experience, and can be found here in the blog. There are several posts, covering the entire trip from our departure from Trinidad, through Egypt, into Jordan and then Israel, and back home. There are some treasured memories from that trip, and I remain disappointed that my camera died in Petra so I couldn't capture all the photos I wanted. (And at the time, my phone camera wasn't great.) I bring this up because I had started a "Buy nothing new" campaign before my trip. In chatting with a friend recently. she spoke about the proliferation of the Buy Nothing groups all over. I thought that I might resurrect that idea for myself.

I'm very tempted to scrap the contents of my kitchen cabinets and replace them with new dishes. But that's impractical and very expensive. When I get urges like that, I begin reflecting on the "Buy Nothing New" plan. There are some items that could be replaced, but they are a minority. The concept is fairly simple. Each of us has more stuff than we use. So for the programme you go through all your stuff and reuse items. You do what our forefathers did and "make do and mend." You only buy food-and even with that, you need to eat what you have stocked in your freezer first. Instead of buying items, either get from freecycle groups or swap in items you don't use.

The end goal is to avoid spending unnecessarily. So unless there is a definite need for an item, we work around it. There are some exemptions, but the intent is really to minimize trips to the store (or online purchases). My urge to replace my dishes is a result of boredom, and not necessity.  Realistically, this is just a reaction to the prolonged pandemic, where I have been at home for 2 years.  No, I won't be tossing the dishes. I'll probably cycle some that I don't use often-that will meet the need for something different, without spending money. I suppose that I could yield to temptation and splurge.  I won't be purchasing new dishes- I've got at least 3 full sets that I don't use, so I'll swap in one of those. Similarly for cutlery, pots, etcetera. These are all items that may find their way to a new home or to a charity. And I may scan second-hand or consignment stores.

Ok, I'm off to bed. Fingers crossed that I have another good sleep!