Category: Passing It Forward

“a life to which I feel myself a stranger.” -Swiss Long Rider Ella Maillart

A welcome update from Marc on his Long Saunter South through Central and South America, where he raised money and awareness for children in orphanages and special needs schools, and news of Red, his faithful steed!

vaquero's avatarThe Long Saunter South

Several months ago I returned home, to my loving family whom have been there with me every step of this journey. Still, months later it does not feel real. Taking in what happened and feeling out of place in my home town. It can be hard to process the changes that occur, not only within but the advances in the “civilised world” wifi, fingerprint recognition, smart phones, faster connections and no, I am not on snapchat. A lot can change in four years. Life seemed a lot more simple out on the road ….. however, I am not missing the chicken soup.

Lotus-Root-Rice-Bean-and-Chicken-Feet-Soup

Red, my horse, I am reliably informed is doing well, I wake every morning thinking of him, sometimes still disorientated enough that I jump up shouting his name, looking for him. He is safe and healthy with the wonderful family I got to spend time with in Ecuador…

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Versatile Blogger Award!

Thank you to the kind scribbleartie for nominating my blog for this award! Her blog is all about crafting trash into treasure and she does some lovely delicate and whimsical ink blot paintings too, have a look!

In accepting this award, I am tasked with listing 7 things about myself and nominating other bloggers whom I judge write with integrity and on a variety of topics.

So, the hard part, 7 things about myself:

  1. After being vegetarian for 39 years and after a few attempts during that time, I became vegan a year ago.
  2. I once worked at Woolworths, mostly on the cosmetics counter, but sliced my finger on the bacon slicer when standing in for someone else. (And people wonder why I’m vegan!)
  3. I gained a First Class Honours Degree with The Open University in my early 40s. An amazing ‘University of the Air’ founded by the Labour Government of Harold Wilson in the 1960s.
  4. My husband and I spent our first date looking for my contact lens!
  5. I once saw Paul McCartney and Wings for 50p when they turned up unannounced at uni and asked if they could play their first songs. They played their single ‘Give Ireland Back to the Irish’ several times. It was banned by the BBC.
  6. My dad’s first car was a black Morris Minor 1000. I have no idea how we got 2 adults, 4 kids and a dog in it!
  7.  Our first car was a green Morris Minor 1000 and our current car is also a green Morris Minor 1000 but not the same one, we had a blue one in-between!

Now to the blogs I recommend:

Pioneering the Simple Life is the most inspiring blog I’ve read. Posts and tips about living sustainably, about their experiences in Nepal and building an underground network of individuals to provide and transport vital supplies to villagers following the devastating earthquake there.

Organic Guinea Pig blogs about physical and mental health, providing recipes and lifestyle advice as well as having a Pet Therapy business working in schools, pyschiatric units, care homes and so on.

From Pyrenees to Pennines is a lovely gentle blog of posts and photos about the English countryside (and weather!), historic places to visit – including continental towns – as well as musings on geneaology and other everyday topics.

Itching for Hitching I have never been caravanning nor ever had a desire to do so, too claustrophobic for me, but this Australian blog makes me smile every time I read it.

Mandy’s Running Blog illustrates that life doesn’t have to start slowing down once you reach 50! Far from taking things easy, Mandy has become an ultra runner mainly up the hills of Vancouver, Canada!

Natural Juice Junkie Neil Martin writes a very informative but acessible blog on all things to do with health, nutrition, juicing, motivation, lifestyle coaching.

The Vegan Family blog recipes and beautiful photos from the woods in Aberdeenshire, Scotland

Our Green Nation is a group of individuals who pool their expertise to help empower us to make decisions on health and lifestyle with informative, factual posts on education, environment, food regulations, the role of Big Pharma and Agriculture, sustainable living, recipes etc., plus posts on mindfulness, thought for the day and so on. A great read. I learn something every day.

Cooking Without Limits has wonderfully simple vegan recipes, try her Raw Vegan Cheesecake all done in the blender.

That’s as many as I can manage. Apologies to other bloggers that I follow, I have tried to include blogs you may not already be aware of.

Copyright: Chris McGowan

Garden Glove Love

This is such a simple but potentially life-changing scheme initiated by pioneering the simple life: collect discarded/lost gardening gloves, pair them up and send to Nepal to help child rag pickers protect themselves from glass, excrement, chemicals, and infections. We should all get behind this: we’ll be searching the shed, the cupboard under the utility room sink and collecting from our neighbours and family – it may take some time, we are spread over the country, but eventually we’ll parcel them up and send them off. Great idea!

Update: 3 days later, we have the beginnings of a collection!

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Liesl Clark's avatarPioneering The Simple Life

Roadside Garden Glove. Photo © Finn Clark

It all started on a bike ride. We kept seeing garden gloves along the side of the road. In fact, we had seen the gloves lying there for weeks and finally decided to pick them up. One by one, over the course of about 2 weeks, we had managed to collect 20 pairs!

I Have Good Garden Glove Karma. Photo © Liesl Clark

We’re an island of avid gardeners, farmers, and a world-famous garden tour called “Bainbridge in Bloom.” Twelve months of gardening weather here on Puget Sound has afforded us 4 seasons of dirt digging. The problem is that the gardeners’ (or perhaps it’s the hired landscapers’) gloves too often end up along the sides of the roads, having fallen from the backs of landscaper’s trucks, farmers’ tractors, or islander’s cars. Being a food-grower myself, I couldn’t just let those gloves rot in the ditches.

Garden Gloves Rain or Shine. Photo © Finn Clark

My children and I have been collecting them: pulling to the side…

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How Underground Networks Can Outperform Aid Orgs

We all sit at home watching or reading the news about disasters such as last year’s earthquake in Nepal and, other than donating money to relief organisations, we think there’s nothing else to be done and move on to the next news item. With supplies being tied up in red tape, stolen or resold at exorbitant prices and eventually running out, these individuals looked at the bigger picture and via social media organised an underground relief network that really did make a difference to many villagers who might otherwise have perished. With so many disasters of one kind or another in the world, it can often be overwhelming if not paralysing. This article shows how it can be done and will hopefully stir others into action. Please read and repost.

Liesl Clark's avatarPioneering The Simple Life

It was less than a week after the April 25th, 2015 magnitude 7.8 earthquake hit Nepal that we came to realize little-to-no relief had reached villages beyond Kathmandu. Roads were dangerous; But even worse, as time progressed, supplies for temporary shelter for the over 2 million now homeless had dried up. Tents and tarps were sold out in Kathmandu. Foreign governments and aid organizations were being shut down at the airport, their incoming supplies requisitioned by Nepal customs, and much-needed food, tents, tarps, blankets, and medical supplies were sitting on the runway, tied up in a confounding wad of red tape. 

7_Damaged house.anup © Anup Gurung

Our friends in Nepal were frantic, texting us asking for any means to get materials over to the remote villages. Aid organizations trucking supplies to villages were stopped along the roads by desperate, angry, and hungry people who lived right along the road who also had seen no relief. Supplies were…

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Passing It Forward

Many years ago, a good friend was visiting from overseas with her young daughters. Of course, despite only being September, the weather was wet, grey and chilly. She observed me struggling to dry the family’s clothes on a plastic airer in front of a heating vent on the wall of our tiny kitchen. There was nowhere else to dry them and we had problems with condensation and damp.

My friend insisted on buying us a drier. It made life so much easier and I never forgot her generosity.

Several years later, when our circumstances were much improved, I became aware that another friend, a lone parent with a young child, was in difficulties: her ancient fridge freezer had finally given up the ghost and she had no money to replace it.

I gladly offered to buy her a new one.

I was, as the Americans phrase it, ‘passing it forward’ and it felt good to repay the original act of kindness in this way. I knew the second friend would do the same when she was able.

These gifts were expensive but much-appreciated, they enhanced the lives of the recipients for a very long time.

But it doesn’t have to cost a lot of money – or even any money – to Pass It Forward.

Next time you do a clear-out of your wardrobe, your loft, your children’s toys, your shed or garage, think carefully about who might benefit from your passing it on. The local charity shops will welcome clean, useable clothing, toys, kitchenware and so on, many even take small working electrical goods. Playgroups and nurseries are sometimes short of good quality toys, books and play equipment. Women’s Refuges are often crying out for clothing and baby equipment.

We sometimes send books and refurbished bikes to our local Combat Stress centre.

Occasionally, we put an item at our gate with a note saying ‘free if you take it away’ or a serviced secondhand bike with a minimal price on which is donated to our local hospice.

Remember all those times when you were in need and someone helped you out, then pass it forward when your circumstances allow it. It can even just be the giving of your time.

I promise you, the recipient won’t be the only one who benefits.

Copyright: Chris McGowan