MY BACKYARD

School has gone back and I am officially unemployed. For 15 years I have worked at a little school for teenagers with major behaviour problems. Now it has closed for funding  reasons and I am out of work. I have been a teacher (not always full time) for over 30 years , except for pockets of time where I home schooled my children.

Until last weekI was on leave or on holidays, but now I am without a job. At 58 the chances of my getting another job are slim, so I have a chance to start a new and simpler way of life.

I cannot receive any welfare payments (and this is not necessarily what I aspire to) until I have used up the money I received in my redundancy package, which I must say was not large.

I must admitI really think it was time for me to finish at my job. I loved the kids I worked with but had lost considerable enthusiasm and patience. Because of financial considerations I was not going to jump, but now that I have been pushed it is probably all for the best.

I live in a large house on my own, so have decided that my best option is to sell it - to eventually find somewhere smaller and create a small income stream.

My lovely life companion P:-) is a builder and is helping me to do repairs and line a back room with plasterboard.

I have been doing a lot of reading on Tiny Houses and downsizing and love the blog Rowdy Kittens by Tammy Strobel. Tammy is a young  woman who moved  into a Tiny House with her husband Logan. I have found her blog really inspiring.

Tammy's Tiny House (Photo Source)

I have a lot of 'stuff' and downsizing has really made me look at what is important. I have lots of things in my cupboards which I have not used for years and years, and probably never will. I had forgotten about a lot of it.


In the garden
P:-) and I have been working on the back yard, clearing a lot of syngonium or butterfly plant that has taken over.

Clearing syngonium

As I cleared I came across this extremely delicate toadstool.

Toadstool

 The birds nests ferns down under the trees have come through the hot weather staying remarkably green.

Birdsnest Ferns

 
I found an old gnome under some old pots. I don't remember this little fellow so I think he has has been lost for about 15 years, but he has a new home, next to the solar toadstools.

Old gnome

Down just outside my boundary and in my neighbour's yard is a brush turkey mound.  

There are a few brush turkeys that wander around the place. The eggs are kept warm in the mound which is tended by the male,

Interesting sites

1.

Photo source

Click here to checkout this fascinating stone house in Portugal


2.

Photo source

 Look out for flying houses. Click here to read more.


3.

Photo source

Click here to view some really interesting modular furniture.