Today’s post was meant to be written in time for last week’s weekly blog. Posted on Tuesday with irony. Instead on a bank holiday blogging rest day my fingers are flying (not quite) across the keys so as not to miss another week. Why? ..because the message is clear and simple, get on with it. Let’s go! Excuses “why not” are easy to find, but sometimes when we miss a deadline we give up and that often doesn’t make us feel good. Fine if we have decided that the task is no longer necessary but more frequently it goes into that someday cupboard in our head which if not emptied will often spill out in the night and keep us from our much needed recuperative rest. Today the message is not to give up just because we missed a gate on life’s slalom (not sure about that metaphor given I’ve never been on a ski slope but that’s what my fingers wanted ) but to finish the course .  After all can’t stay half way up a slope for rest of our lives (warned you this metaphor would be strained!) Failure is not trying, trying is at worst partial success.

Enough !It’s a bank holiday so today short and sweet. I’ll leave you with a picture as a taster of the post to come on Don’t throw it away, Give it away. Enjoy the sun

Instead of rejecting, recycling or even binning our neglected clothing, now is the season to mend and make new. Missing buttons, sagging elastic or a descending hem are no reason to give up on your old favourites… just fetch a needle and thread and embrace the spirit of Mend It May!

A quick look around my house soon uncovered some items in need of a little TLC…

A skirt I love has been developing a hole for some time. Ignored, it is steadily getting worse. The pattern disguises it a bit, so I keep forgetting the hole is there. I tried to take a photo demonstrating this cunning camouflage, but Jacques had other ideas. So, as soon as I get my skirt back, #1 on my Mend It list is a spot of darning.

Item #2 is a flappy-soled shoe. OK, I admit these may have seen better days- in fact, they were once smart school shoes- but they’re perfect for gardening. For those days when wellies are OTT, but it’s still too nippy to go bare foot al fresco, this is my go-to footwear. A spot of superglue and they’ll be right as rain.

My third item is one of those mending jobs that gets put to one side, hidden in a cupboard or drawer, until the necessary glue materialises. Well, it’s Mend It May and this poor chap has been out of action for long enough.

I’m sure I could easily find a heap more things to fix, but three’s enough to be getting on with. We’re only halfway through May… once I’m on a roll, there’ll be no stopping me. Meanwhile, one particular project is calling to me from behind a large family portrait on my sideboard…

This lovely pot was broken well over five years ago during a rather enthusiastic game of ping pong. My children “mended” it with sellotape, but this fix hasn’t proved terribly robust. I clearly need a class in kintsugi, the Japanese art of embracing imperfection by taking a broken object & transforming it into something new and beautiful…

It’s a good lesson. Even if life has left us a bit wonky and broken, we should be proud of every chip and crack. Instead of seeing our scars as ugly, let’s acknowledge them as proof of all we have been through to be transformed into who we are today.