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New hippy, hip replacement

Health and Fitness • Wellbeing

Gill Paul’s hip replacement: me and my new hippy

Breast screening, the pros and cons

Health and Fitness • Wellbeing

Breast screening – why I opted out of a routine...

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This Grown Gal

I’m Avril – midlife graphic designer, writer, gardener, cook and bottle washer. I live and work in East London with my childhood sweetheart and our mini schnauzer Ricci.

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ageing ageing parent baking beauty careers care homes childless chocolate climate change crafts cruelty free customer service detox dogs empty nester environment exercise fashion feet foraging friendship gardening grey hair grief health healthy eating hobbies holidays home improvement interiors loneliness memory menopause mental health mindfulness recipes shoes single spring cleaning stress incontinence travel vegetarian work writer’s block writing

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This Grown Gal

I’m Avril – midlife graphic designer, writer, gardener, cook and bottle washer. I live and work in East London with my childhood sweetheart and our mini schnauzer Ricci.

growngals

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Pain au chocolate for breakfast in a PAPER bag - thank you @sainsburys. It’s been 6 months since I walked away empty handed after only been offered a plastic bag. Hooray for small changes. Also a timely post because we booked a weekend in Paris by @Eurostar last night. I’ve promised not to fly in 2020 but that doesn’t mean I can’t travel. Only downside is that Ricci can’t come with us and she sulked all evening. How does she even know? I swear she can read the computer screen.
#plasticfree #ecowarriors #littlebylittle #makeyourvoiceheard #recycle #sustainability #travelwithyourdog #weekendinparis

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Work in progress. This evening I’m practising embroidery stitches courtesy of a lovely prize from @cordwainersgrow. Hopefully this will become a little lavender bag. The silk fabric has been hand-dyed using natural plant based colour. Looking forward to learning more next week when they run a workshop at my lovely WI. Last month they gave an inspirational talk to my gardening club. Two wonderful women changing lives, mending hearts and healing minds with their love of plants and people.

#stitch #embroideredflowers #practice #flowerpower #naturaldye #plantbasedlifestyle #mindfulness #lavenderbag #communitygardens #unionofhackneygardens

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It’s the first day of dry January and I’m nursing a teeny hangover from NYE. My tip for staying sober is to invest in plenty of delicious cordials. This one tastes surprisingly like a mojito! When you feel your willpower dwindling the sugar kick will get you through - and it’s even better served with ice in a posh goblet (thanks for the gift @gill.paul1). I make it with filtered tap water spritzed in the soda stream cos I no longer buy bottled water. I’ve decided there will be no compromises this decade. No flights again this year cos I’m saving my footprint for a long haul 2021. Less plastic, more cooking, more friendships, more gardening, more growing and more love. Cheers.

#non-alcoholic #sober #dryjanuary2020 #abstaining #fitandhealthy #willpower

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Ricci has been given a kerchief for graduating from class of 2019 with Teri of @arthurandmarthasdog. Specialist subject - barking at anything and everything.

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Beauty berry. #natureisamazing

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It is four months since I lost my mum. I’ve had her engagement ring remodelled to match my own rings. The rings arrived back yesterday, they work as a stack and the new one was by @justinduancejewellery in Cornwall. The new ring is at the top set with two of mum’s diamonds. Her ring was melted down and recast in Whitby sand. They used the yellow 18ct gold for the band and the white gold for the settings. The third diamond was reset in the bottom ring which had lost it’s stone. It’s exactly what I wanted. A bit of mum and dad’s fabulous romance with me always.
#upcycledjewellery #diamondsareforever

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In light of #halloween and #dayofthedead I’ve written a piece for the blog about taking control of death. If you want to read about how I’m planning for a good death head over to Growngals.com.
#dead #death #dignity #assistedsuicide #thegooddeath #compassion #mercy #lettinggo #ageinggracefully #bestlife #nevergiveup

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Our black cat door stop from @themuseumofmodernart comes into its own today. #halloween #blackcat #schnauzersofinstagram

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The colours of #autumn #nofilter #docmartens

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A full tray of farmed mushrooms from Chapel Street market today - £3. It’s been the perfect growing season so they are plentiful but this is still an incredible bargain. Mushroom risotto for supper.
#wildmushrooms🍄
#girolles #chanterelles #kingoystermushroom #funghi

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Pumpkins everywhere. Taking our pumpkin carving inspiration from a 1000 pumpkins on display @dalstongarden. #easterncurvegarden #dalstonpumpkins

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#Saturday #Sunshine - a bright day is a happy day. How lucky I am to be at home.

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End of the season. Discovered a wonderful tomato sauce recipe with anchovy, garlic and lemon rind. On rainy days its all about bottling, #pickling and #preserving.
#homegrown #fruitandveg #homecooking #simplelife

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This #RainySunday is my autumn deep clean day. I’ve bottomed the lot - skirtings, cornices, washed floors, swept out the cobwebs but saved the spiders. All with natural cleaning products including my new favourite - citric acid ingredient. He on the other hand made this lovely #focaccia to go with my roast tomato soup.
#notsolazysunday #home #homebakedbread #baker #autumnclean #naturalcleaning #citricacid #ecofriendly #sustainability #thegoodlife #foccacia

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#yarnbombing in #whitstable. Beautiful work but I wish the installation was about the #climatecrisis instead. Take that beautifully knitted globe girls and use it in a more powerful message about protecting this place we call home.
#craftivism #whitstableyarnbombers #yarnbombing #knittersofinstagram

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This is what I’ve been doing since my mum died. Organising a community event which takes place tomorrow and the forecast is for a beautiful day. It’s been a focus, a challenge, a joy and a headache. Most of all it makes me realise how much like her I am. The making banners, painting plastic fish, baking, growing - even a bit of design. These posters are printed onto waterproof paper so don’t need laminating. This one has been up for a month through rain and sun.
#flowerandproduceshow #hackney #debeauvoirsquare #dogshow #bakeoff #flowers #organiser #preloved #greenerplanet #recycle #greener #allotment #fightingclimatechangetogether

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My man made bread. Delicious fougasse.
On the blog: why men are so good at bread.
#menwhobake #homemade #realbread #flatbread #mezzeplatter #practicemakesperfect

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The latest post on the blog comes courtesy of my mate Gill Paul. I’m not strong enough to write about the big stuff yet so here’s how to clean a scorched pan instead.
I’ve realised this late in the day that everything is connected. If we are mindful of the detail, the minutiae, we begin to see more. So we can choose to scrub clean, breaking nails and using abrasives that leave our hands raw. Or, we can soak, use natural ingredients and conjure some ancient wizardry to lift the burnt-on layers.

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I’ve decided that Ricci’s politics are on the far right. She likes fox hunting but hates hoodies, skateboards and children. She is greedy, a racist, a bully and a coward. Luckily she is a dog so she will never stand for #election.

#schnauzersofinstagram #schnauzer #dogsofinstagram

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I started making my own #granola in plastic free July and it’s a revelation. Toss any nuts, seeds and oats in honey and bake. Served here with my home grown raspberries and a spoonful of kefir yoghurt. Oats from scoop shop, local honey in a glass jar, nuts and seeds from scoop shop. Home made kefir using milk delivered in a glass bottle. No plastic. Na. None.
#plasticfree #breakfast #sustainableliving #growyourfood #homemade #storecupboard #homemadegranola #granolahomemade #allotment #kefir #lovethisplanet #onesmallstep

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