Around here - June 2026

This blog was born out of the "simple living" mantr after coming across Rhonda Hetzel from Down to Earth in an magazine back in 2008.  Sadly I have just discovered that Rhonda has closed her blog completely and is no longer on IG either.  I knew she was not wanting to contribute anymore to the blog or comments but I had hoped her blog would remain online as it was a huge source of information for me over the last nearly 18 years.

I was just going through my blogs I used to read which are linked on the side and so many of them have closed over the years.  Todays fast paced social media is so different than the days of blog posts.  Every morning I would make a coffee and read through my favourite blog posts with words and photos and recipes, crocheting and life of other Mums.  Then Instagram [IG] came along and it was back then a photo sharing app which was also nice but then because of Tik Tok [I've never been on it nor do I have any desire to] IG made everyone do reels [little videos] and hence the fast pace quick vidoes and stories which are gone in 24 hours took over from people's blogs.  It's actually so sad because we are consuming more and more social media than ever before and short form content like reels on IG is just that short form.

I have been getting into watching long form content on Youtube which is more enjoyable, sitting down with a cuppa and watching a 30 minute video about gardening, cooking, homesteading, camping or people's lives from the opposite side of the world.  I find it interesting and worth while rather than scrolling on my phone however I still do that way more than I should which I think everyone can relate to in 2026.

A few people I follow on IG have started saying they feel that photos on IG is what we are all missing where you can look at an image and study it and appreciate it rather then a half a second of an image in a reel, I think we are all getting sick of the fast pase of social media but it's also very addictive to scroll as well.

Not too sure how many people read my blog these days but this blog is a record of our lives and recipes over the years.  I often refer back to things I've posted here and more than likely it's a recipe of some sort.  I did print out my blog each couple of years which a company called "blog to print" and sadly they shut down too because blogs were a thing of the past.  Here's a few photos from recent times.

Home made sourdough bread.

My sister bought this when we were at Woodford on the way back from camping.

This is my caramel fudge recipe.

Meal prepping.

My new water bottle.

Home made date loaf which is delicious.

I'll have to do a post on the lovely date loaf recipe as it's super quick and easy so stay tuned.