HALLOWEEN

I have never seen this many pumpkins in England before - and all you doubters who groan about American imported money-spinning customs should go out and get a
pumpkin right now. Carving a pumpkin is easy and tremendously satisfying - you could even use a drill to make the holes if you fear the knife. The most important thing is not to waste the food: First the yummy seeds - scoop them out and toast them in the oven they are really delicious. Now the flesh and I promise you will love this...
Pumpkin Risotto. Find a risotto recipe and follow all the instructions but about halfway through add a handful or two of cubed pumpkin and cook in the usual risotto way. The cubes should keep their shape and even you pumpkin-doubters will want to eat this again next week.
See ...this is how not to waste pumpkin.
xxx

Exhibition in the North East

Calling anyone in the North East who is interested in Designers using Recycling Materials should hot foot it down to Newcastle City Centre to see the CONTAINS exhibition which takes place over 9 days from 19th to 28th October. The works will be displayed in a series of shipping containers and you will be able to inspect, examine, touch, feel and marvel at the 100 innovative minds behind the designs. Carry-a-Bag is represented by two reversible bags and extremely proud to be selected.

WOULD YOU BELIEVE THIS?

I read a small piece in the weekend papers that made my blood boil.
This is true....
You know how tough it must be when you're throwing a party for all your tame celebs during Milan Fashion Week? The paparazzi swarm all over the place trying to snap pics of who is attending your event and its hard to get any peace. Well, here's the latest idea that gets you the privacy you crave has been embraced by several designers including Jade Jagger, who should know better. YOU HIRE A PLANE FOR YOUR PARTY! All your publicity shy friends and customers hop on board and take to the skies where you serve them Krug and nibbles leaving the poor old snappers stuck at the airport waiting for you to come back down to earth.
Does that not just take the biscuit? I'm guessing that if they considered the environmental impact it wouldn't have stopped them, they would have simply asked a carbon off-set company to get them some trees.
Grrrrrrr!

PEOPLE ARE CARRYING REUSABLE BAGS

When I started making my bags about two years ago I had to spend a lot of time explaining the simple idea "you go to the shops with a bag instead of going empty handed." It was just what older people had always done before the world was flooded with plastic carriers.
How things have changed in those two years. Take a look at people in the queue at any supermarket checkout now and you will find there is someone or maybe even several people who have brought their own bags to the store. Of course there are still trolleys stacked with plastic bags but the shops have all produced re-usables and in some cases provide bag recycling bins or biodegradable plastic bags - not sure that I believe in those though. Most things biodegrade eventually but that doesn't mean we can wait for it to happen.
Generally though attitudes have changed and that is A GOOD THING.

reduce your refuse

Words are funny.
Refuse (verb) decline; reject; spurn
Refuse (noun) garbage; rubbish; landfill; waste and so on.
You get the picture.

keeping in touch

Communicating is a full-time job. Get up switch on the computer; check the email; check the mobile messages; get the post; answer the landline; read a text; talk on the mobile; write my blog; send a text - oh yes and talk to my husband....and now there is Facebook. I innocently joined up and am now having to learn another new language and the protocol. Is it rude not to respond when someone writes on your wall and should I respond when poked? How many photos of one event should be put up and how long after an event can you add a very flattering pic of yourself? So much to learn and so little time. And that's the problem. Earlier this week our power was due to be cut off for 5 hours for some urgent work to be done on something electrical. The official letter gave us lists of instructions on how to cope - turn the freezer up, leave one light on; back-up your files etc. The liberating prospect of not having any way of communicating was quite intoxicating!(apart from the mobile of course).
In the event they didn't turn it off after-all. I felt mugged.
Life at carry-a-bag carries on happily. I search for fabric all the time never wanting to pass a charity shop or car boot sale just in case the pattern of my dreams is waiting there for me. I pick up all sorts of other stuff along the way (too good a bargain to ignore)then listen to the radio while sewing or cutting out and share the occasional day with lovely Amy who comes to help me print. Somehow with all the communicating I have to do I still manage to make the bags but am seriously thinking of instigating a power-cut day of my own to remember what life was like when we weren't quite so connected.
love x

On this bright blue sky day...

We remember another bright blue sky day in New York.
Last night driving back from a fabulous weekend on the Isle of Wight I heard on the radio that Anita Roddick had died suddenly and soon after I passed a signpost to Chichester Hospital where she was. She was such a force for good and the one time I had direct dealings with her proved to me how genuinely caring and kind she was. I have a friend Emerald, who is a stress and emotional trauma specialist and was working with London Underground staff when the bombs went off. She told me that people were having terrible problems dealing with recurring memory of the smell underground and she wanted to give them something to divert and help them with that. I was able to get word to Anita that my friend could do with some aromatherapy help and within hours she phoned Emerald herself to talk for an hour about what would be most useful, then sent boxes of oils over for her to give out to anyone who needed them. All those things could have been done by someone else but that was not the way Anita Roddick lived her life. I am going to read all the stories I can about her in the next week and try to learn and follow her wonderful example.
Rest in Peace lovely lady.