Monday 16th February - I do love a

great flashmob;

Waltz no 2, Shostakovitch 

I've never had the luck to experience a flash mob... one day, some day...

Meanwhile we're half way through February, it's been sunny all day, and we're set for over 8 hours of daylight now.

I've been designing my 'cooking area' this morning before we start creating next level plans with the architect overseeing the whole project.

My cousin's dishwasher is actually two pullout drawers under her draining board - wowsers!

You can get them with just the top drawer or with two drawers.

If you have two drawers they can be operated separately. So we'd fill the top drawer with a small load, no more stooping down to stack and empty the bottom rack. But there's always a cost... mega ££££. One can dream.

(My elderly neighbour tripped over the open door of her dishwasher, gashed her leg and 

scroll quickly away now if you are of a sensitive nature

 and there was blood everywhere. So I'm always careful how I move around ours when it's open.)

On a more cheerful note;

Einsame Blumen, Schumacher op 82, played by Mitsuko Ochida.

Apropos of nothing at all, my mother always wore 'Mitsuko' perfume...

Saturday 14th February - 52 tiny changes week 6

What happened to weeks 2, 3, 4 and 5? I had done week 2, but maybe not shared it.

There's more to each chapter than the bald suggestion; I find KDs additional ideas, suggestions on how to implement it, explanations and prompts very helpful. 

Unsubscribe as you go - in other words, unsubscribe from newsletter type emails you are no longer interested in receiving as they come into your inbox. You know the sort of thing; 'subscribe to get 10% off'. Then it's everlasting special offers...

But as for weeks 3, 4 and 5...

'Write it down'; choose a single place for lists and things you want to remember  - note book or phone app or whatever and stick to it. 

'One task at a time'; quit multitasking - it isn't actually more efficient most of the time.

'Mute the background'; either you're watching it, or listening to it, ot you're not. Even if you think it's just in the background, the sounds/music/changes still grab our attention. 

So I'm trying to catch up on these. Either I'm watching a programme or listening to sonething, or I switch it off (unless someone else wants to watch of). No more scrolling or reading or playing games at the same time. (The exceptions are straightforward knitting and simple sewing)

This week it is

'Declutter one surface that you see or use every day and commit to keepingit that way'. Was she reading my mind? I was getting close to The End Of My Tether because of four surfaces in particular. 

The dining room table (perennial one, this). The last time I cleared it in a hurry, I  should add, I did so by piling everything up on my worktable. So now neither were usable. The same could be said of my swivel table and footstool.

I'm now relaxing, with a pot of tea, in a glow of satisfaction and calm having cleated All Four Surfaces. I'm officially an over-achiever! It didn't take long. So why did I avoid doing it before, and will I be able to keep them clear (shaking my head)

These are the 'after' pictures.

Relaxing music

'Somewhere near Cluj' from  the anthology Spectrum2, 

Friday 13th February - flowers, flowers and more flowers

On Tuesday I got some daffodils included in my grocery order;

At lunchtime the postman delivered a little postman from Flowerbee. BB gave me a monthly subscription for Christmas, arriving on or about the 15th of the month. I found a little bone china miniature tankard for the short-stemmed trimmings - I hate throwing them away.

And finally I had a surprise delivery...

There are chocolates as well! The keen eyed might spot there are only eleven roses, sadly one didn't survive the transit. These are already beginning to open up.

Outside has been.... cold and damp...  while we were eating breakfast we watched a mist suddenly appear, rising up from the nearby stream and drifting across the garden, and then just as mysteriously disappering. It didn't start raining until about 4 pm though.

I'm fiddling around with a new poem...

In the grey damp February 

Everyone made moan,

Earth was wet and squelchy

And the sun never shone.

I think it needs a bit of work...

Now for another chocolate

Thursday 12th February - Spring is on the way?

 Spotted in a road a few streets away from us;

I sort of hope the flowers will survive in their new flowerbed. Or perhaps  they can be transplanted if the road menders come to fill the pot hole.

They are are cheery sight on yet another grey day.

Tuesday 10th February - cooking and Shakespeare

 Thank you all very much for your helpful comments yesterday. I shall make notes; you've all given me a lot to think about. I'll reply soon.

It's been an 'interesting' and tiring morning, which means I've been taking it very this afternoon. I had a routine zoom consultation with a consultant at the ILD (interstitial lung disease) clinic to review the results of the lung function tests I did at the end of January. Broadly speaking I have stabilised at this new (lower) level after dipping noticeably at the beginning of 2024, so that's good news.

So, instead of an interesting post, may I offer two wonderful performances of Shakespeare; Dame Judi Dench on a Graham Norton show 2 years ago;

And, most amazingly, Sir Ian McKellen on a chat show in the USA a few nights ago!

They deliver the words with such clarity of meaning. If only I had known it could be like this when I was slogging through Shakespeare in boring, boring English lessons at school...

I loved Dame Judi's book 'Shakespeare,  the man who pays the rent'. It's fantastic to read, even better to listen to as an audiobook. So 'unstuffy', so real.

Monday 9th February - asking your opinion...

 We're in the process of doing a comprehensive cooking area (excuse me for not using the k*t*h*n word as I do not want an inundation of advertising comments from b*ts!). The current arrangement dates back to about 40 years ago and at long last we have the chance for a big rethink.

I'd like to swap out our freestanding induction hob cooker for a separate hob and oven, and I'm wondering if anyone has experience of using a counter-top oven, as opposed to a built in one? It just struck me that this might be a cheaper, and in many ways better option to putting in a built-in oven.

I've been observing how we cook. I reckon I only regularly use two of the hobs, plus the main oven, and the air fryer and microwave. Oh, and the kettle and coffee machine and toaster, of course. We also use crock pot and bread maker a couple of times a week.

What appliances do you like using for cooking?  Which never see the light of day? 

I'm planning to have a shallow pantry cupboard somewhere so that I don't have to delve into the dark recesses to see what tins and packets are lurking at the back, and a carousel for the corner, and drawers  for pans instead cupboards. Any other suggestions? 

Here's the 'March Past of the Kitchen Utensils' by Vaughan Williams.

When I was teaching class music primary schools the children used to love listening to this - it's a great exercise in keeping up with counting the beats, because the sudden loud chords follow a regular pattern of 8s and 7s. (I've forgotten the pattern but it's easy enough to work it out). Once they'd got the hang of it I could dish out drums and cymbals etc and we could all play along, trying to add our own crashes at the right moment!