jax60

Many people have been handed down fur coats from the previous generation who thought that they would be investments. They remain in attics as people really do not know what to do with them but do not have the heart to throw them away. However nowadays most people would not wear them for ethical reasons, although there are exceptions, in the past couple of years we have seen a revival of vintage fashion and of course celebrities always seem to get away with wearing furs without much of a fuss made of it. I have been making bears from fur coats for a few years, mainly as a hobby. I used to market them but came across so much negativity from people who did not want to listen to my reasons for using old furs for this or any purpose. That stopped me in my tracks as I found it depressing to keep having to explain that the coats were also a part of the person who had passed away and things were different back then. I do not agree with the fur trade and cheered the people who outlawed it in the 1970's and helped to create better understanding but what a waste of an animal and a memory to send the furs to landfill. I like to think that I honour the animals that suffered all those years ago by using the coats for a better purpose, the very act of cutting them up cheers me, as no-one will wear them again and therefore this does not encourage the fashion industry to pick up natural furs again. I also make pet beds for those who want them too. The furs that I use are donated, and are never from rare animals, like the big cats, the demise of these animals was partly because of the fur trade, they did have blood on their hands. I use rabbit, mink, and lamb fur mainly from coats not later than the 1960's, true vintage and never modern furs. I love the thought of 'Aunt Mabel' looking down and seeing a bear named Mabel being treasured by the family made from her treasured fur coat. Or maybe a much loved pet sitting on a warm bed from her fur which might have been thrown away.

Amazing and majestic! Well captured!

Beautiful x

Thank you so much Kes .

Hi, I have just come across this thread as a new member. I have bought some wool pellets for my squash plants and today was the perfect day to water in nematodes. I have lost too many vegetables to slugs and snails which have been so prevalent in my garden. It has been a feast for molluscs. I have been known to go into the garden in my dressing gown at night, in the rain and pick off snails from my plants. I am fearful for the wildlife and never use any blue pellets, even those which have to words "safe for pets" on them. We have a serious decline in natural predators of pests due to the use of those blue pellets, they should really be banned. I used to have hedgehogs in my garden, and when we had them as residents I could grow a glut of vegs. It has been a real struggle over the past decade to get a decent harvest of anything at all, but I will not give up . Good luck SueBarnish, let us know how the coffee grounds work as that is one thing that I have not tried yet.

I am new here too. Looking forwards to reading some good poetry too! I would love to have a bash at writing and showcasing something if I pluck up enough courage...lead the way! x

That is gorgeous.

Amazing! Love the legs..

I did try slimming world for a month. I lost about 10 lbs but struggled with my IBS because of the fibre content. My consultant juggled it around but unlike lots of people a lot of fruit and vegs does not really help me, I needed more wholemeal bread and cereals and got fed up with counting them as syns. Other people without my problem could sail through and use their syns for chocolate and other luxuries. To be honest I felt as if I was still having to count in the same way as a usual calorie controlled diet. I always cook by scratch in any case. I got discouraged by how many years that people were still attending, some would moan about putting on half a pound because they went out for lunch in the week, they maybe were a size 8 after losing a couple of stones, (good for them of course) but others who might have just joined looked a bit disgruntled at them because they might have 10 stones or so to lose. My daughters' joined with me, one is lazy with cooking from scratch and it really helped her to adopt new habits and lost 10 lbs too, but the other daughter was more than a bit miffed at having to count avacado as a syn yet be allowed to eat a whole tin of spaghetti hoops for lunch.. I think that there are people who have done really well with slimming clubs on the whole by sticking to the plan, which is not too difficult , but for me I had to drop it and just cut down on other things such as wine and weekend take a ways . We are all different after all.

I have one daughter who is starting a funded PHd in September, (this is not a brag before I continue), she is academically minded and fascinated with her subject. She is also academically 'gifted' ( an awful word which is used in schools) which unless you embrace it could actually be a curse socially. She did not fit in with any of her peer group at University for her bachelors degree, aside from the international students and would have had a hard time if it were not for those friends. She is also teetotal and studied hard, to her the whole work ethic was vitally important. Why am I telling you this? It is because it has become expected for young people to go to university, it has become a right of passage, which it should not be unless the young person is very devoted and very studious. They seem to need a first in most subjects , and in some , like the sciences they need further degrees including a masters in order to get a position and a job in their field. Some subjects require a PHd just for a research position. Unknown to most , they do also need some kind of work experience which is often omitted from a CV, this can be gleaned by volunteering work. This is saying that a degree alone is no guarantee of getting a job place, unless they stand out over and above every other candidate with a first degree .They also need to be pushy and happy to network with the best in their field and get themselves noticed to get on in academia. It is certainly NO easy ride. I can only speak of my daughter's experiences ,of course, in her subject field, at the moment she has a paid research assistant position before starting her PHd in September, but everything is SO competitive, she had to volunteer to get into her chosen lab before applying for her current (1 year contract) position and get noticed as being more than capable! That position also had 180+ applicants and she had to still go through the tough interview process. On the other side of the coin, I have two grand daughters (out of 6 ) who are going into child care and catering and hospitality, they are also very happy with their choices and have very good prospects of employment (we always will need good food and childcare). They both go to college and have experience in the workplace too. They are not academic and struggled to get the GCSE's to go onto A level, all being said they could not wait to leave school. My advice is, unless a young person is actually happy to work , write, study and go the extra mile, the whole concept of Uni is a waste of 3 long years and a long time paying off a huge debt to boot with often further degrees with further costs to get into a paid position.