Friday, May 16, 2008

Clearing the Clutter!

Modelling

This week Carla's challenge on wings4you is to get rid of something:
Choose something that you've been holding on to for a long time (two or more years is a good starting point) because "it's too good to get rid of" or you "might want to use it someday."
Well I have tried! Which unfortunately, so far, translates to I haven't managed this yet.

When we were on holiday in Cornwall, we had to go very near a friend's house. She has recently been making beaded medicine bags so I thought she might make much better use of some of my bead collection than I'm making of it. (Many beads have been in my collection for something like 30 years.) I really enjoyed going through my beads and deciding which ones to pass onto her, attempting to consider both which I really was ready to let go of and what she might make good use of. I also sorted out a bag of books with a similar set of criteria. However despite all our best attempts we were not able to get together so rather than passing on a big shoebox of beads (and feathers and things) and a carrier bag of books we actually cluttered up our overfull car with them and carried them to and from Cornwall!

If I needed a message that I'm having trouble letting go of things this was it.

However as I've thought before that this challenge made sense more as a joint venture between me and Jim I do have one success to report. On Wednesday Jim dug up my blue Hibiscus. It was in the way of our new vegetable plot. Rather than squeeze it in somewhere else that it would not be happy I watered it and wrapped its roots carefully. Then labelled the bag: "Hibiscus Please Take". I put it out the front and when we returned home some time later it had gone. I hope to a good home!

Now I just need to carry on and do this with something I'm rather more attached too... maybe I'll enlist Jim's help from the start this time.

4 comments:

GreenishLady said...

I wish I'd passed by your garden in time to bag me a free hibiscus! That's a lovely idea. I didn't know about the challenge, but I'm sure there are LOTS of things I could be releasing. OK. Time to let go. Thanks for the idea. ... and enjoyed your post about your and Jim's blog names. Jimpulse... very good!

Anonymous said...

Heehee! Well done Caroline! But hey, every woman has a box of beads and ...buttons ;)

Anonymous said...

I am sure someone was absolutely delighted to find that hibiscus in need of a new home. As for the beads and the books... you know, there are other ways to pass them along to your friend other than directly from hand to hand! I love your photograph - so colorful and friendly, as if the mannequin were saying hello:>

Caroline said...

Imelda - I hope if you were passing I'd be in! Jimpulse is a good name isn't it. I don't think he's really got into blogging yet... not such a wordy person as me :-)

Anonymous - maybe that was the problem - I did include a lot of buttons in there... perhaps I need to keep some more of them... as to the beads it was a very small dent in my overlarge collection... a bead shop opened on Gloucester Road a while ago... if I got rid of more, I could easily buy more ;-)

Carla - I know... but I only made quite such a big collection on the basis that I wouldn't be having to pay postage (that's very expensive here)... and I did ask her if I could simply leave them outside her house in passing but she asked me not to...