One Thing Today

Between heavy showers, I head out to my gate to record you a podcast and to talk a little about a tiny snail that caught my attention earlier this morning.

Join me for some of the sounds of my morning and a chat by my gate.

In this episode, Ounce and I are out to greet a very different looking day than we've been enjoying for the last few mornings and I'm talking about having been offline and why I'm planning more of the same over the next couple of days.

The books I mention in today's podcast are:

* At Seventy: A Journal by May Sarton

* How to Break Up with Your Phone by Catherine Price

I'm home and back at my gate to greet the morning...

Today started early and I wasn't sure what shape it would take, but it turned out to be a very peaceful day...

The singer who was playing at the bandstand is Louise and the Feathers and can be found on Spotify.

In this episode, you find greeting the day with a hot cup of coffee and pondering on what I'm hoping will be a week of rest.

Apologies for the buzzing at the beginning on this episode. I seem to be having some teething problems with my new microphone.

In today's episode of One Thing Today, you find at home again after my adventures at Gladstone's Library.

Join me at my garden gate after saying good morning to the chickens, for a chat about resting and an early morning cooking experiment.

Here's the recipe for my black bean burgers:

1 tin of black beans (drained)

1 tsp cumin

1 clove garlic

1/2 tsp chilli flakes (I might try a whole tsp next time)

A couple of spring onions, finely chopped

3 1/2 - 4 oz/100 g bread crumbs (I used a couple of slices of bread which I grated)

1 generous tbsp of tomato ketchup

Salt and pepper

Drain and rinse the black beans and mix them with the cumin. Put them in a warm oven for about five minutes (I might experiment with longer next time).

Meanwhile gently fry the chopped spring onions, garlic and chilli flakes until soft.

Remove the beans from the oven and mash roughly with a fork. Add the spring onion mixture an the ketchup and combine well.

Season with salt and pepper.

Shape into three burgers and then put in the fridge for about ten minutes to firm.

Gently fry in olive oil for five minutes on each side.

Serve in a burger bun with your favourite trimmings :)

Join me for my last full day at Gladstone's Library, a day that turned out to be fuller than I expected and included a Tiny Adventure under the watchful gaze of William Gladstone!

I'm feeling more relaxed this morning as I walk in the sun and talk a little bit about dealing with stress and nudging at the edges of our comfort zone.

The big day is here (and it does feel rather big!) and so I'm off for a calming early morning walk. Would you like to join me?

There was a while last year that I didn't think I was going to get to episode 1500th of One Thing Today, but I'm delighted that I have. 

Thank you to all of you who tune in regularly and special thanks to those of you who are supporting me on Patreon and making it possible to record audio and video podcasts and to continue to explore living this gentle creative life of mine. Everyone’s presence is very much appreciated.

I'm celebrating today's milestone by having a very ordinary day (which feels beautifully appropriate).

Thank you <3