Onward and upward into 2018!

Well it is the end of another year! I really haven't given a lot of thought to making plans for 2018 as that is quite daunting to be honest. Some major repairs need to be done to our house and there will be some major arm twisting to get that done I think. Until I get that organised I will concentrate on the 'little things' in life that bring joy and don't cost any money or arm twisting at all.

This year I want to learn how to look after the five remaining roses out of the six a neighbour gave us a few months back. The Queen Elizabeth has flowered but has black spot so I have been putting bananas in the pot as suggested by one of my readers and a couple of the others have flowered as well....

...including the beautiful Esmeralda.  Only two have the tags still on them so they are the only two I can identify. In the first photo at either side of the white gardenia and above the Esmeralda are two light pink roses from another bush. Does anyone have any idea what they might be? This rose bush is really, really thorny unlike the others we have inherited so I am really careful when I am near it.

I also want to keep experimenting with soap recipes and have some rose infused goats milk now in the freezer ....

...as well as lavender infused goats milk. The instructions are in Jan Berry's book Simple and Natural Soapmaking. I shouted myself some new fragrance oils from Gavin at Little Green Workshops and a couple of them are rose scented so I now I just have to get the 'right' shade with my pink clays and hopefully will end up with a nice soap.

Meanwhile I have experimented with making my version of Aloe and Cucumber Soap from Jan's book and these are the two best looking soaps out of the lot. I did restrain myself this time from taking the soap out of the mould for a couple of days but in the end put it in the freezer for a while to make it easier. I am not made keen on the olive green clay which looks a bit darker in the photo than it actually is and will probably fade eventually as well so I might look for a nicer green for future soaps. Some of the soaps also have red spots on them which I presume is from the clay even though I mixed it thoroughly before adding to the batter. Must have the measles ;-) I will do a post about the soap next week for anyone who might be interested. 

2017 has been a difficult year and I mentioned this fact to a young mum of five or so at church this morning. She had major surgery recently and then was diagnosed with cancer on top of that. She said that she didn't like to think of it as a terrible year but rather one full of challenges to work though. Then one of our pastors, who is also young, spoke about having hope in the New Year and how important that was in one's life quoting writers who had been prisoners of war who noticed that those who had no hope were often the ones who died first. 

I found the morning quite uplifting and have decided it was a good way to start off a New Year. I don't think I will be seeing it in though as I am not a fan of fireworks as all I can think of is all that money going up in smoke and how it could be used to house a few of our homeless. I am a bit of a party pooper where fireworks are concerned. Ha ha! 

However, if fireworks are your thing then I hope you do enjoy them and also hope that 2018 is a year of peace and joy for you and your family in spite of the challenges that undoubtedly will present themselves.