Kindness- Mantra For 2017

If you are a long time reader, you'll know I seem to find a theme every year, "words to live by" if you will that seem to come my way at the yearly junction 'tween old and new.

Towards the close of last year "kindness" struck a cord with me.

I read a particularly powerful piece about weathering the storm of argument in a marriage by remaining kind even in the midst of disagreement, I happened to think this was good advice for all sorts of relationships for instance between; siblings, work colleagues, step families, customers/clients and social groups etc. Ever since, a quiet little voice of calm within my head sits on repeat saying "be kind, be kind".

Kindness can take you far and heal rifts and open opportunities.

I think we could all adopt the mantra of kindness to help us through some tricky situations.
If I could work on "patience" too I would surely be an angel on earth, but sadly I seem to be able to work on only one virtue at a time!

Clay Pipe Find

It was a common practice to dig a rubbish trench and dispose of small household waste. We have found buckets and buckets of broken glass from bottles to windows and oodles of china and clay fragments and even a penny token from before currency.

In the post hole this week we have found a clay pipe bowl and with the best internet trawling I can date it to around 1840-1870? which fits the settlement date of this area. These pipes were quite common everyday items and made from kaolin clay, the same used in fine china for it's fineness and whiteness.

I've located another photo of one here and they have called it a comedy/tragedy pipe. It has a distinct happy face one way and when turned upside down it has a tragic, sad bearing. The features put me in mind of the Dickensian characters illustrated at that time. Not worth much but an exciting find non the less.