Welcome to the October edition of MBS where we are wrapping up and getting ready for pumpkin season. I was very happy to purchase my first pumpkin, pumpkin spice and sugar free syrup for making lattes and pies with an autumnal, Halloween theme.
I also realised the flu and cold season is coming, let alone Covid worries, so I quickly adhered to a Firecracker Cider recipe that takes 4-6 weeks to brew so best to get on with it now.
As usual, we have recipes, alternative therapies and other health information in this month’s issue. We hope you enjoy, along with crackling fires, rugs, pumpkins and woollens. I cannot wait to go for long walks and come back to hot chocolate. I will be making mine without sugar as I am enjoying cocoa powder with artificial sweetener (I use Sukrin Gold, available on Amazon) and warmed with milk, (I use soya but oat and almond are tasty choices. Welcome to our October edition. Keep safe.
The Equinox fell on the 22nd September this year. Spiritually, there is a lot happening during this time as the ebb and flow of energies shifts with the seasons.
As Mother Nature prepares for the cold embrace of winter, so should we prepare to let go.”
Now, as the leaves begin to fall and the weather gets cooler, Mother Nature begins preparing for a type of death, and we too may feel called to let things go.
“We may also feel a need to ‘put things on ice’ or to release our attachment to taking action and making decisions in order, to see where things may flow on their own.”
I look forward to Halloween every year and hopefully, we can go back to our parties in halls and trick or treating as we were unable to do so last year, which saw many children feeling miserable. However, there are always things to do at home and crafts to follow online to make Halloween bunting or decorate pumpkins and Halloween cupcakes. I am looking forward to my annual Halloween movie and spending time making lots of treats for my family.
I still have not received any treatment for Type 1 and it is soul destroying to be in many groups on Facebook where those who have just been diagnosed are automatically given a pump, yet I am constantly told I need to count carbs first. I am sure the many who have been given one did not have to wait eight years with high blood sugars to learn to count. I am not impressed with the lack of support or care and complained once only to receive an apology but still no action.
We have tried to go private to receive a pump and pay for it but so far there is a backlog of cases due to Covid and it is months later with no appointment. I tried low-carb eating this month and there is only a very slight difference in sugar levels, so it does not work for me.
As a rule I do not eat doughnuts or anything with too much sugar or white flour, so I tried keto doughnuts that I purchased online and bagels. The bagels contained no white flour and tasted quite nice, although they are very small and the doughnuts were a little coconutty and dense so, not that successful. I decided to bake some myself but they exploded all over the oven, proving very hard to clean and I think the best way is to use a doughnut maker.
In our quest to keep healthy, we tried a vegan breakfast at the new café near Coleg Sir Gar, named ‘In House’, and it was quite nicely decorated and well-positioned. However, it was too warm inside as, even though it is a new building like most places there is no adequate ventilation and I was sitting near the window but could still feel heat from the kitchen.
I have a complete intolerance to heat and what with the menopause, and seem to burn from the inside out. The breakfast was a little disappointing with boiled spinach and mushrooms that were tasteless but overall my son enjoyed a milkshake. We try breakfasts everywhere and always tend to veer back towards Tesco in Carmarthen. That seems to be the best, but do not tell everyone!
We have been slowing down the B&B and have continued to receive very good reviews, plus a 4 for our hygiene when the Health Inspector called, that really made our efforts seem worth it. Although many do just come to stay for a few nights or less, many find us a safe and comfortable haven and we make sure we look after all of our guests. One family in particular springs to mind, a mother and daughter who were away on the Welsh coast after their husband/father took ill and was admitted to Carmarthen hospital. Looking for a place to stay, we quickly accommodated them over a few weeks where they also joined us for meals.
We received a bunch of beautiful flowers and chocolates, with a card to say how grateful they were. They did pay at a greatly reduced rate, but we were pleased to help, although sadly he passed away. We felt honoured to have helped provide a safe haven, even if it was a small gesture on our part.
I am an avid recycler both as a way to save the planet, and a gesture to not keep buying new. And also as I find it extremely therapeutic and a break from my charity the Olive Trust Wales and the B&B.
I am loving Cool Beans, Frenchic paint bought from Cadno in Burry Port, where it is not quite white, grey or beige, but a wonderful butter bean colour that catches the light and gives off different hues of colour. So far, an upcycled dressing table and hall stand have received treatment.
Finally, we are going to Nottingham at the end of the month to see friends and my nephew who has started University up there and the next phase of his life.
We are going to visit the Holocaust museum and have been meaning to go for a couple of years now. We trust a lockdown will not stop us this time.
We hope this month’s MBS will give you lots of ideas and options to stay healthy in mind, body and Soul, this Autumn.
