Saturday 9th April - Drawing again - playing the piano again

 I'm back to drawing every day again - just a small picture to record a moment of the day. I was given a small sketchbook a couple of years ago, about 5" by 8" at a rough guess, with space to draw two sketches on every page to create a visual journal.

I made SUCH a hash of the first few pages that I put the book away. However, I decided to cut the first few pages out and start again;

This is after a family zoom discussing a forth-coming mad-cap trip to Cornwall that some are going on later this year;

My cold frame sits on a battered garden table to I can reach into it without bending down. I planted up quite a few pots with tulips, crocuses and daffodils last Autumn and am now seeing the rewards of that cold November afternoon. 

We had another small family zoom; just us, son and daughter. Daughter has only just moved into her new flat so the walls are still bare.  

The pictures for the 6th and 7th April will have to wait, as I roughly sketched the designs on the postcard project cloth, which has not yet been posted.

I tend to do the drawing when we have gone to bed, before I write the daily page in my diary of events, thoughts, happening of the day. I have a packet of water-colouring pencils, a brush, a tiny bottle of water to activate the pencils and a cloth for minor disasters by the bed. I need a light touch with the water; firstly because the paper is thin, and secondly because the pen is my ordinary fountain pen with washable blue ink!

I broke my Lent Resolution again the other day, ordering a book by Andrew Eales called 'How to Practise Music'. My excuse is that I have several students who are at the point of needing to know how to practise in a more thoughtful, focussed way, and this book seemed like an excellent summary. I'm only partway through, but it has inspired me to get started again.

I'm playing 'In the Bay' as an 'easy win', and exercise in memorising, the Chopin Nocturne 'for work' as I am teaching it but can't really play it (1) and the Impromptu is an old friend that I first played over 40 years ago.  

Studying the Chopin today was useful; I emailed this photo to a student to advise on playing an awkward bar in the LH (by the yellow sticker) a misprint (those red annotations) and a suggested fingering change (heavy pencil markings). "If a picture paints a thousand words..."

We'll see how this goes - the number of times I've tried to get a daily practice routing going is beyond counting.

  

Noah's Ark;

yesterday, leopards 

"can leopards change their spots?" Jeremiah 13 23

Today, gazelles or wild does

"I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, by the gazelles or wild does:

do not stir up or awaken love until it is ready!"     excellent advice from Song of Songs, 2:7

Not many windows left.

  

Friday 25th March - the day after the day before

 Yesterday was a series of social events;

Coffee with friends  - the Lent group I am in - sitting in the sun among the daffodils and violets under the old apple tree at the bottom of the garden which is just coming into leaf. The sun was warm, there was hardly any breeze, and it was a lovely slow morning.

We had just spent a hectic half hour arranging chairs and tables so the less mobile friend could sit in a chair with arms, with the only reliable table beside her, and trimming low branches, and clearing trip hazards along the path. Sitting and relaxing was doubly good for me!

Lunch, outside again, just soup, ryvita and some bits of salad to munch. One of the coffee morning friends stayed. We moved up to sit nearer the house as the patio was now in the sun, and just enough of a breeze had arrived to stop us from melting. We had marmite with the ryvita - that brought back memories! Back when I was at university, there was a sudden craze for marmite and cottage cheese on ryvita... note to self, add cottage cheese to the shopping list!

Then two lessons to teach - they do count as social events, as listening and conversation takes place, at quite an intense level for me, and usually for the student as well.

Do you want to hear what they are learning? In the first one we were working on 'Bransle de la Torche' composed in about 1600 by Michael Praetorius and also one of my favourite pieces, 'The Snow Melts', composed by Brian Chapple fairly recently.  (He's got a Steinway! have I given up envy for Lent?)

I think I may have mentioned the piece that the second student is learning, another of my favourites, Rumores de la Caleta by Albeniz. 

Finally, I had an evening zoom meeting - the Lent group has been meeting in the evenings on zoom until the weather has made it possible to meet outside.

The point being, that today I have been moving at half speed. I have managed to write up yesterday's lessons, and put some red lettuce seeds into pots into my new plastic greenhouse

Here's the sketch I made on Wednesday, after we had moved the dodgiest of the benches to the side of the house and put the old greenhouse on it. I wrote down the measurements because I wanted to get a new cover; the plastic mesh has perished so that it is just a criss-cross of  webbing and no little plastic squares in between. I wasn't able to buy a cover to fit this shape, so bought a new one. The old one is second hand, bought fifteen years ago by a friend's daughter! It will still give some protection to the plants inside.   

The notes on the side are from tracking the movement of the sun to see where to place things.

Noah's Ark - who knew that there were ostriches in the book of Job?

Last year, or the year before, I forget now, I was enthused by the idea of Spring Cleaning and bought an ostrich feather duster. It is very efficient at sweeping dust and swiping down the cobwebs but only if I take it out of the cupboard.

 
 

Tuesday 22nd March - weightless

 I guess that's what you would call a 'click-bait' blog title.

The book I bought, breaking my Lent resolution to NOT buy any books in Lent, but supporting my Lent resolution to do exercises every day, which, so far, I have just about kept, arrived yesterday.

It is a book of strength training exercises, and a group of ladies of - shall we say - more mature years - are all trying it and recommending it. So I bought a second-hand copy, and skim-read it yesterday. It is basically a set of 8 gentle, slow exercises, done standing or sitting, but using weights on ankles for leg exercises and dumb bells for arm exercises. The weights one uses depends upon age and fitness; reading the charts I should use one pound dumb bells and two pound ankle weights, or the equivalent in kg. You increase the weights over time as your strength improves, but the emphasis is on progressing slowly and steadily. Festina lente. 

I don't have any weights, so today I followed the plan, but without weights, hence, weightless!

This is not a bad way to start; I can learn the moves without strain (actually, it was strenuous enough for me at the moment!) while I am waiting for the ankle weights to arrive. I shall follow one of the suggestions to save money by grasping the little weight packets in my hands for the arm exercises, rather than investing in dumb bells.

You do the 30 minute workout twice a week. That seems manageable. 'while watching tv', she suggests.

There's a lot of background about muscles,  and bones, and staying  motivated, and the effect of strength exercises on the general level of fitness and bone density and so forth. 

Nothing venture, nothing gain. 

I shall continue do my normal stretches on non-workout days. 

I have taken a gamble and planted out the broad beans; they were growing out of their peat pots. and also the one pea that germinated, and the few peas that escaped being eaten as pea shoots. I've come to the conclusion that the reason the peas didn't grow in their little pots on the windowsill was that I forgot to plant them, apart from one. Something must have distracted me at that point. 

The broad beans are mulched with a mix of torn packing paper and paper napkins which had a design of poppies printed on them. The peas are under one of the plastic cloches behind them.

They been experiencing 'hardening-off' as I have forgotten to close the cold frame several times over the past few days. Come to think of it, I think I have left it open again tonight. Oh well. There are only seeds inside; nasturtium, calendula, wild flowers, and as of today, snapdragons.

Noah's Ark;

Who is hiding behind this door?

Dogs!

Here's the story;

 A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is demon-possessed and suffering terribly.”

He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.”

The woman came and knelt before him. “Lord, help me!” she said.

 He replied, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.”

“Yes it is, Lord,” she said. “Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.”

Then Jesus said to her, “Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.” And her daughter was healed at that moment.

Thursday 3rd March - Locusts and Snakes

 I thought that title might get your attention!

Those were the pictures inside the first two windows of my Noah's Ark Lent calendar.

Two locusts; 'what the cutting locusts have left, the swarming locusts have eaten; Joel 1;4 ' for Ash Wednesday

'Be as wise as serpents and gentle as doves, Matt 10;16 ' for today.

Not exactly cheerful, but somehow fitting in with the times. One normally thinks of snakes as cunning and evil, but in the context of the rest of the paragraph, I think wisdom is what is meant. Unfortunately it is all too easy to use one's intelligence to twist and turn the truth. 

I shall be opening tomorrow's window with some trepidation...

I was very pleased with myself at how I was getting on with sticking to Lent yesterday - but when I looked at the clock it was still only 11am. I was reminded of this;

Morning Prayer

---

Dear Lord,
So far I've done all right.
I haven't gossipped,
haven't lost my temper,
haven't been greedy, grumpy, nasty, selfish, or overindulgent.
I'm really glad about that.

But in a few minutes, God,
I'm going to get out of bed.
And from then on,
I'm going to need a lot more help.

Who said religion had to be a serious business!

Knitting and sewing;

I have started the felted tea cosy after spending some time on research. I found a pattern for a felted children's hat, and from that was able to discover how much this yarn is likely to shring when it felts up. 

Currently my pattern looks like this;

but I don't advise you to attempt to understand or copy it. The only thing I am certain of at this stage is the picture of the teapot.

I'm using the same yarn that I used for these potholders; hmm, mine didn't come out exactly as this picture on the pattern, as I recall. Maybe I should have been a bit more heavy-handed when I ironed them! The website is a treasure trove of free patterns, by the way.

The sock continues, the wrist-warmers have been posted off, and I know that Ang has received my sewing on the postcard swap project so I can reveal the labyrinth I did;

French knots are a new skill; you have to know the magic words and say them with exactly the right intonation; 'twisty twisty french knot'. If you say it wrong it turns out as 'twisty twisty french no' which isn't too bad, but if you are really unlucky it becomes 'twisty twisty french oh bother' and now you are in trouble. The red blob in the middle does look like a heart from a different angle, I assure you.

Tuesday 1st March - Looking forward to Lent

I really am looking forward to Lent. Seriously. 

I have bought myself a 'Lent Calendar', like an Advent Calendar, but of course no chocolates, and I will get to open the first window tomorrow;

The booklet to the side has the Bible reading for the day. I think it will have to do with the animal revealed behind each window.

The lack of chocolates won't be a problem; no way am I giving up chocolate for Lent! In fact I have recently stocked up the 'chocolate stash box' with mini Fair Trade chocolate eggs from Divine. No more than one egg per day, though, to make them last.

I shall be following the course that the Rev Andrew Dotchin creates every year. This year the title is 'With a song in my heart', and you will be able to follow it here. It started today and promises to be as excellent a read as ever.

 So am I giving up anything for Lent? Yes, I am not going to buy or download any books. I must admit I hastily ordered my book club choice yesterday, as it would have been very difficult to join in the next meeting if I hadn't. It is 'The Valley at the Centre of the World' by Malachy Tallack. I have also chosen it for my Audible purchase as I had a credit, for hearing the regional accents and language.

 Our previous choice was 'The Mayor of Casterbridge', by Thomas Hardy. I haven't ready any of his books before, and I was surprised how much I enjoyed this. If you have an Audible subscription you can listen to Tony Britton reading it, very well indeed, as one of the free books.  

I'm not going to go short of reading matter... there must be hundreds of books in the house, plus ones that are waiting for me to read or finish on my kindle.

And I am going to give up wasting far too much time playing the various solitaire games on the computer. That will be very hard, much harder than giving up chocolate. 

What am I taking on for Lent? Letter writing; I will be printing off and sending copies of the Lent course to two friends who don't use computers at all. I reckon that's a reasonable commitment. I'm also aiming to try and do some form of exercise every day to improve my fitness levels. I do them while I am listening to the songs in the Lent course.

Let's see how long this lasts... 

Friday 19th February - Lent!

 Those pancakes last Monday were the only ones we had this week. I don't really do a 'food' fast in Lent so we will probably have pancakes some other time.

This half term week has been a pleasant break from teaching, and I've enjoyed doing more writing, more reading, more drawing. And even a bit of housework here and there. I have completed spring cleaning the bathroom and loo - that's a 'win', and will have done the stairs and landing as well by the end of February. 

The hall is going to be harder; there are heaps and heaps in the hall.

stuff left from my godmother's house that didn't make it to the charity shops before lockdown last year.

food stocks originally against possible Brexit shortages, then against lockdown shortages, and now just a policy of having roughly a month's worth of staples in hand. When the lockdown started last March we had to employ a certain amount of ingenuity to get groceries, fruit, veg and eggs via wholesalers, food boxes from Marks and Spencers, and the kind efforts of friends. Once I managed to get supermarket deliveries arranged everything suddenly became so much easier.

letters and parcels which have been delivered, which we leave 'quarantined for a number of days unless they look urgent

the usual stuff like shoes, coats, scarves and gloves, packets of batteries, tool boxes, the cello, djembe, saxophone and glockenspiel and such-like that everyone always keeps in their hallway. 

Ah well, that will be something for March.

Letterbox gifts are an amazing idea! I have just ordered a letterbox gift of wine for my father (he never reads my blog so he won't find out - unless this is the one post he decides to read?) I hope the wine tastes reasonable, and it is ridiculously expensive, but it was irresistible - they have put the wine into a specially designed flattened bottle so that it will fit through a letterbox.

 How clever is that!

I have also frequently bought flowercards from https://www.bloomsofguernsey.com/ and they have always been amazing and entirely worth it, which is why I have included the website.

Yesterday was the first time I went out for a walk since nearly two weeks ago. It was a bright sunny afternoon, after last week's bitter cold and this week's dismal rain. The weather makes such a difference! We didn't take the oxygen concentrator, and I still managed to walk round the block with only a few pauses - perhaps stopping to chat with friends who were also out for a walk gave me a usefil breather...

Touch typing is still a work-in-progress; today I started on z x , and ', and I find that if I remember to pay attention to what I am doing I do more and more 'proper' typing. 

It dies tend to be a bit error ptonr if I don't watjb what O am doinng closwly.

February's is 'drawing people'. On the assumption that sometime this year I am going to be able to get out and about with a sketch book I thought I would get into practice. I googled 'people at the seaside' and sketched from the photographs, and then amused myself while watching a Poirot on television.

     'Sketch' is the operative work here...

Sunday 8th March - Lent Inspirations 2

Angela Almond, who hosts 'Pause in Advent', is hosting 'Lent Inspirations' over at her blog, 'Tracing Rainbows'.

Here's my contribution;



My trouble with doing any kind of 'Daily Readings' of any kind, for any purpose, is that unless I've got plenty of time to keep revisiting what I've read, and thinking about it properly. the words just go straight out of my head.

I was trying to remember one thing from each day's reading and reflection (they are here if you are interested) but in the end I've cut down to working on just one idea from last week;

to try become less grumpy and more gracious and generous.

I've become a bit grumpy these days, and it really doesn't improve daily life!

Thinking about how I was going to accomplish this change, it occurred to me that praying for a grateful, gracious and generous mindset, first thing in the morning before I even opened my mouth and said anything to anyone might be a way to begin. On the days when I have remembered to do this, I have found everything went more pleasantly.

When I'm teaching the piano, I lay great stress on trying to learn things correctly the first time, adn then reinforcing the right notes/fingers/articulation/dynamics/phrasing/balance of tone etc by accurate and thoughtful repetition until it becomes automatic - a habit. 

Like learning good manners, or a new language. You just have to pay attention to what you are doing in the early stages in order to inculcate the 'right' way of doing things, and free up your mind from the necessity of remembering things.

Simples.

Oh I wish it wasre that easy!

(By the way, the daffodils haven't changed that much in a week - the earlier photograph was taken some weeks ago!) 

Sunday 1st March - Lent Inspirations

 Angela Almond, who hosts 'Pause in Advent', is hosting 'Lent Inspirations' over at her blog, 'Tracing Rainbows'.

Here's my two-penn'orth....

Once again I was inspired to do all sorts of things to mark Lent;

Give up playing wasting time on Freecell
Celebrate Ash Wednesday in some way

Go to church every Sunday
Read a suitable book every day
Read some Bible every day

and so on.

Four days in and I have failed on every count except Freecell, and that has had some near shaves.

This is a very good thing; it means I cannot begin to feel any kind of pride or self-satisfaction that I have 'kept the whole of Lent'.

I am, however,  reading a daily reflective email/post written by Suffolkvicar, Rev Andrew Dotchin It comes into my 'inbox' every day, so that's easy. I have even acted  upon some of his suggestions, clearing space in my diary, sending thank you letters, pondering various suggestions.

In the post for Day 1 he gently says

Perhaps [you should] not be too fierce in prosecuting your Lenten disciplines], be ready to let go of the ones that don’t help and maybe change tack as the Way unfolds, discard any Lenten discipline that diminishes our relationship with others.  For there is no gain in polishing up our discipleship if it mean another soul feels weak and unable to continue at our pace.

Well, yes indeed. After all, who was it who chose the Lent disciplines' for me? Me! So it's more than possible that I might be on the wrong track. Or trying to follow too many tracks. at the same time.

This year, I think Lent may be about 'less' as in quantity of activity, will be 'more', as in quality of activity.

Saturday 9th March - Lent

Me again, idling tapping away on the tablet until it is a reasonable time to go to bed.

I was looking for the picture I took this afternoon of the iris bulbs after a couple of days of daylight, but for some reason it doesn't appear in 'photographs' yet. Stuck in a cloud somewhere, I suppose.

It occurred to me that their growth might be symbolic in some way of how one is meant to 'grow' in Lent. Or maybe it is nothing to do with Lent.

The advantage of giving up or taking on things for Lent is, of course, that it keeps the season firmly at the forefront of your mind. I have decided to give up the usual things that I usually choose; playing patience and freecell (you've no idea how hard I'm finding it), and speeding when driving (by which I mean paying Extra Attention and Exactitude to speed limits) and to take up praying for myself, every day if I can remember to.

A Latin chant setting of the Gloria Patri from the Liber Usualis, with two euouaealternatives
wikipedia

On the whole, I find saying a sort of rosary is a good way to pray for people, including myself. I use my hands to guide me through; one thumb for The Doxology, fingers for The Jesus Prayer and the other thumb for The Lord's Prayer, and hold that person in my mind as I go along. It stops me from trying to second-guess or speculate...

Christogram with Jesus Prayer in Roumanian
wikipedia

Some aspects of my early education in a Catholic Prep School have obviously formed deep roots. I always wanted one of the pretty rosaries that the school has displayed in a case for sale, (but not enough to actually go spend my own pocket money...)

I use the traditional version of The Lord's Prayer. Recently, because of something I read somewhere, I can't remember where, the word 'trespass' has made more sense to me than 'sin'; as in stepping over the boundaries or out of the pathway that I am meant to keep to.

And, in the Doxology, it is always the Holy Ghost, not the Holy Spirit!

Deep roots.

It might seem odd to end with a poem from a fantasy novel... I've always liked this one.

All that is gold does not glitter,

Not all those who wander are lost;

The old that is strong does not wither,

Deep roots are not reached by the frost.

From the ashes, a fire shall be woken,

A light from the shadows shall spring;

Renewed shall be blade that was broken,

The crownless again shall be king

Sunday 4th February - Sexagesima Sunday and Books

Which doesn't mean what some readers might be thinking it means...

It's the Sunday after Septuagesima Sunday (and before Quinquagesima Sunday) and are the Sundays in the run-up to Lent.

If I'm going to take Lent seriously, then I need to be thinking about it before Ash Wednesday. I normally give up Free Cell (that's actually quite a toughie for me, as it is my main way of unwinding after teaching!) and speeding, by which I mean that I pay close attention to keeping to the speed limit, which then lasts me the rest of the year.

They are the basics; I usually add something else. Maybe, this year, it will be the book mountain. As in, NOT buying books through Lent, and donating the book-budget (an as-yet undecided figure) to charity might be a thing to do.

So, here's the pile of books that I am currently reading;

on Kindle;

The Artists's Way - Julia Cameron, nearly finished. I've found this a fascinating program; I haven't followed it exactly, but have got a lot out of pondering the questions and writing theb'morning pages' most days.

A Far Cry From Kensington - Muriel Spark, halfway through. I started this, my first ever book by Muriel Spark, after reading a blog post which described the book as 'almost a manual on How to Write'. I'm finding it very amusing, in a quiet, 'Barbara Pym' way.

Three Men in a Boat - Jerome K Jerome, part way through. I can't remember why I started re-reading this, oh, yes. It was because a description of 'towing' which I read in 'Country Bunch' below made me laugh out loud.

The Diet Myth - Tom Spector, half way through. Interesting investigation of food, digestion, diet-debunking, speculation, gut microbiology.

Letters to a Young Poet - Rainer Maria Rilke, a 'dip in and out book'
Selected Poems - U A Fanthorpe, 'dip in  and out'
Flame and Shadow - Sara Teasdale, 'dip in and out'

and 'real' books;

The Secret Life of Cows - Rosamund Young, part way through. Popular bestseller about - cows. Good bedtime reading. Gently written.

A Monk's Guide to a Clean House and Mind - Shoukei Matsumoto. I'm starting Chapter 2 so it is a bit soon to come to conclusions. The cover is a beautiful shade of blue; a possible contender for the bathroom walls.

Country Bunch, an Anthology - 'Miss Read'. a 'dip in and out' anthology of poems, extracts, diary entries.

On Writing - Stephen King half way through. Fascinating, enlightening, inspiring


And then there's the list of unread books... hey, you might think this isn't such a sacrifice, NOT buying new books for a couple of months. But don't forget, I will have given up playing Free Cell....

Sunday 4th February - Cold and Grey

It was cold and sunny this morning, but that has all changed as the afternoon has continued.

Now it is half past two, and the cats have made their feelings abundantly clear. I would have been sitting in comfort at the PC, but one cat, after prowling and meowling for ages, has decided to settle down at last on the computer chair;

somewhere in the folds of the quilt you might just make out her ear.

The other is asleep on a cushion balanced on the radiator.

enough  about cats.

I am going to have to set a limit on my book and Kindle purchases. So I have. But I'm not saying what it is in case I need to make adjustments. I suppose I could try and give up buying books for Lent? That means I would still have just over a week before Ash Wednesday on 14th February. I've got a fair few stacked up in the 'New Books to Read' pile, and it is not as though we don't have hundreds in the house and access to thousands in the library... and Easter is only a couple of months away.

Chocolate, cakes and biscuits don't usually figure in my 'Giving up for Lent' choices. I did give up biscuits once, and nearly managed it. I ate one biscuit by accident. I was chatting with a friend, and discovered the taste of biscuit in my mouth with no memory of having lifted it from the plate, conveyed it to my mouth, or crunched it up. The other I ate on purpose; 5-year-old daughter appeared with bag of biscuits she had made at school, so of course I ate one. What mother wouldn't have?

I shall be baking biscuits for the upcoming Womens' World Day of Prayer coffee morning which will happen at church on Saturday week. I say 'happen', because I am supposed to be 'organising' it, much against my will (and better judgement). One of the most unlikely things any 'spiritual' person discerned about me was that I my 'gift' was for organisation. Maybe he meant the person next to me?

We will serving traditional biscuits and cakes from Suriname; not as easy as I had hoped. The most popular cake is Bojo Cake, made with coconut and cassava. First catch your cassava - sounds like a long-legged antelope to me. So I found a recipe for...

Traditional Surinamese Custard Biscuits

heat oven to 180C, line two baking trays with baking paper

Melt 100g butter

add 120g castor sugar (I use sugar which is stored in a jar with vanilla pods for baking, so no need for

vanilla extract

add an egg, mix well,

add 200g of custard power, or half and half custard powder and cornflour

mix well, and use spoons to dollop onto the baking trays. I made 16 biscuits the first time, but will make smaller ones the second time. Leave a gap, they spread a little.

decorate with "disco sprinkles" (this recipe came from a Dutch blog, translated by google). They look like hundreds and thousands in the picture on the blog. I've bought gluten-free ones for the next time I make them.

B ake for 25 mins according to the website; I'd check after 15. They are done when they are just beginning to brown round the edges.

They are very sweet, quite moreish, with a strange texture. They taste quite custardy...

So that's my contribution sorted.

Saturday 1st March - Avoir du Pois and Lent

Ohhhh Yes! All that sitting around for three weeks has made a difference to my weight.

Not much, but those pounds can't stay there - if every chest infection results in a weight gain of 2 pounds, and then there's Easter on the horizon, and Summer and ice cream, and then, later on, Christmas

Those pounds have to go.

I've been reading an article in my mother's Good Housekeeping magazine about how someone lost 42 pounds in 42 weeks. Without dieting. Without doing anything more spectacular than being sensible and patient and determined. In other words, common sense. No tricks, no magic methods, no obsessing with food.

After all, we all know what makes us fat. We all know what we shouldn't eat.

So far, this week, I have walked away from one toasted teacake opportunity, two biscuit moments and a toast temptation.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/spiced_teacakes_29429

Unfortunately I have given in to two hot chocolates and two (but not three) glasses of sherry. I suspect flat white coffees should be rationed too.

I could give up chocolate for Lent, but that would be breaking my New Year's Resolution. And I'm not going to give up biscuits and cake. In my line of work I need occasional chocolate and biscuits and cake to keep me sweet! So, I shall take up MODERATION for Lent.

My other Lent challenges are to OBEY THE RULES, and to DO IT NOW (instead of procrastinating).

I'm also planning to replace hours frittered away on Free Cell with getting a couple of my on-going half-finished craft projects completed.

Not very spiritual, you might say. Well, I've been reading quite a lot of "spiritual" and "religious" stuff, one way and another, and I think that these challenges are right on target.

Thursday 6th February - Staying In

Today I'm not teaching samba, or class music, or recorders, or ukulele club. I have cancelled tonight's piano teaching, and all tomorrow's teaching.

I'm tucked up in bed, with a tea-tray, and my lap-top computer and mobile phone and Kindle and radio (and the cat) for company and entertainment, feeling that I really should be at work.

I feel a complete fraud; I've been told NOT to go into work and to REST. But I feel ok, not Properly Ill at all.

I've a chest infection; probably as a result of the disgusting head cold I had all last week. I cancelled one school last week, but taught everything else. The problem with the kind of chest infections that I seem to be prone to is that they don't make me feel ill - just a bit breathless, a bit lacking in stamina. I can keep going for weeks - have done so in the past. Unless I take myself to a doctor and get checked out, I don't realise that I've got one. Or, in this case, another one. This is something that I'm going to have to watch; the combination of my dodgy lung function, and the immune system suppressing drugs that I am taking, will make me vulnerable to chest infections from now on.

However, my Lent resolution (which I am getting into training for) is to Do What I Am Supposed To Do. Things like obeying speed limits, completing forms for work by the due date, not overstaying parking tickets, answering emails, and, today's challenge, following the doctor's advice.     

Still it could be a lot worse. I could be feeling ill instead of just a tad guilty. I'll just have to make the best of things - tea, radio, reading, daytime tv.....

Monday 18th February - A Close Shave

It's been a tiring sort of day. I haven't done that much - just trekking up to London for a routine hospital appointment. I even had company for the day!

So what was so tiring?
The early start? (7:30 am train)
The bitterly cold wind?
I reckon it was all the sitting around:

You arrive at the hospital, navigate the maze of corridors (even after 10 years I still get lost), book in, and sit in a chair in the waiting area (a corridor).
Someone comes, and moves you to another chair for blood pressure and oxygen saturation levels.
You sit in another chair.
You do a "walk test" - this entails walking up and down a measured length of the corridor for 6 minutes while someone keeps count of how far you go (487 metres today).
You sit in a chair for blood pressure and oxygen saturation levels again. (There's no point really - my fingers are so cold, that by the time they have got a reading I am breathing normally again, so the levels are back to normal again.)
You move to another chair.
Someone calls you to be weighed - I'm 3 kg less than last time :)
You sit in a chair in another corridor.
You get called to see the consultant, and sit in a chair in his room, then lie on a couch while he "has a listen" and prods you about a bit, then back to the chair (No significant changes, which is Good News as far as I am concerned).
You go and sit in a chair in the waiting area.
You go upstairs for blood tests; there are 50 patients before you, so you sit in a chair in the waiting room.
You are called for the blood tests - you sit in another chair and are sensible and brave for a few minutes. It doesn't really hurt. Only a little scratch. She's very quick.
Back down to the chair you first sat in when you arrived.
Another doctor needs to see you - guess what - another office, another chair.
Back to - but as you lower yourself in a chair it's "no, don't sit there, come in here and I'll give you your next set of pills and sort out the date for the next appointment". This is nice - a swivel chair with a soft comfy seat. I resist the temptation to have a few twirls and try and pay attention.

And we've escaped! I arrived at 9:30 am - it is now 1 pm. 


"Le Pain Quotidien’s logo depicts a loaf of bread
 being pulled from a traditional bread oven."
Got this pic from wikipedia -I always wondered
what the logo was meant to be...

We go to my absolute favourite coffee shop for the best croissants and a bowl of coffee - yes, a bowl of coffee - and then complete the London ritual by buying lunch in M and S and eating it while travelling back towards the West End on the top of the bus...

We got off in Charing Cross Road, checked out a couple of bookshops, mortally offending the assistant in Foyles by trying to buy a clip-on light for my Kindle ("a what, dear? don't know anything about them. Sure you've got the name right?").

I tend to get off at the top of the road, as I find walking downhill substantially less tiring than going uphill!

We carried on, taking in a diversion through China Town, still all red lanterns and fortune cookies from Chinese New Year
(but no brollies, crowds or dragons).

At the bottom of the hill lies Trafalgar Square with living statues, and a bare-kneed (brr) bagpipers. We ended up at Waterstones (who do know all about Kindles and had 2 different kinds of booklights for sale - one at £29.99, and the one I bought, for £7.99).

Then we carried on, still downhill, and caught the bus to get to the station to get home. I bet those cavalrymen were glad of their warm winter cloaks. I hope their shiny brass helmets have nice fleecy linings.

We got home at the reasonable hour of half-past-five. One answerphone message, one email, and a pile of post.

So - that close shave? Well, if you've been paying attention, you will know that I've given up Freecell and Solitaire on the computer for Lent. And after all that sitting about, and book-browsing, and walking around, I very nearly forgot, and came sooooo close to clicking on All Programs=>Games=>Freecell. That would have Really Spoiled My Day. Phew. A Close Shave.

Wednesday 13th April - Ash Wednesday

I'm not ging to be able to get to church today - in fact attendance has been very erratic since I don't know when - ah yes, probably since 30th October..... that fateful day when, "at a stroke" everything turned upside down for all the family.

However, I will be trying to make an effort to keep Lent as a Holy Season.

Giving up: I think it has to be Freecell and Solitaire. I sit there, mindlessly clicking away for far too long. It is a way of unwinding, of letting myself stop thinking and be mindless, but it is time I gave it a break!

Taking on: I'm going to use the online website to try and say one of the daily offices every day - morning prayer, or evening prayer, or compline.

Looking outwards: I'll take the Mignon McLaughlin quote as a motto; "Don't be yourself. Be someone a little nicer" and see how that goes.

I'll also be following a Lent course which a friend put me on to; a Fransiscan vicar who emails a reading and reflection and a call to action every day. Last year it was all drawn from the Narnia books. This year, he is using "The Screwtape Letters" as a starting point. I'm actually a little apprehensive: I read my grandmother's copy years and years ago, when I was a young teenager, and the illustration on the front cover scared me half to death. It was the way his eye is open just a slit, staring so knowingly at you.  

  

Last year, I "gave up" speeding - I had come to the realisation that I was being a little hap-hazard about observing speed restrictions as I roared around the county from school to school. That resolution has "taken" and I am now much better at observing and obeying speed limits. I think it is a good idea to use Lent as an opportunity to make a long-term change for the better.

Having Mummy home, is, as she herself commented while still in hospital, making big demands upon everyone's goodwill. We all have to be careful, patient, considerate, thoughtful, every moment of the day, to keep the house of cards standing. As time goes on things will get easier. Meanwhile, we are all trying not to be ourselves, but to be someone a little nicer!