Wednesday 31st January - New Year's Eve

 I thought this might be a day for finishing things. 

My page-a-day 2025 diary, obviously; once I've written up today it can join the other the others on the shelf. I can't remember how long I've being doing this - since 2016 maybe. I wish I'd started sooner. I see I've lost a whole 1.5 k over the year; that's about 3 pounds or 4 ounces per month! I won't be getting 'Slimmer of the Year' anytime soon for sure. As long as I'm a little bit lighter rather than a lot heavier I'm happy.

I was going to draw the amaryillis flowers, and the new one that we'e just started off. I took some photographs to make it easier, but now I can see that's not going to happen. So here they are instead.

And I was delighted to see a single brave broad bean emerging from the cold dark soil under a cloche. I hope the hard frost and fog hasn't made it retreat back down again.

Yesterday I thought I should take a picture of my oak tree to round off the year, but I didn't get round to it. 'Never mind, tomorrow is another day'.

Well yes, but today started with frost and fog, which barely lifted until late afternoon. 'Tomorrow is another day', I doubt there will be much change in appearance of the tree.

It's been a quiet day; stitching - I've nearly finished the practice 2By2 piece for the current collaboration with Ang. We've given ourselves an extension into the New Year as neither of us had one anything until a day or two ago. 

Hint; if you want to sew with three strands of cotton and find they won't go through the eye of the needle, you could either find a needle with a larger eye, or decide it would look just as good with two strands instead. To save time and temper I chose the latter course. It looks fine.

I've finished two books over the last couple of days; Winter Solstice by Rosamund Pilcher, and a 99p download on my Kindle, 'A Walk in the Park' by Jill Mansell.

We've had a long catchup call with friends living across the seas, hearing the news about Christmas and the family. Thank heavens for tech!

It's only seven-thirty in the evening; who knows but I might even finish the sleeves of my rainbow cardigan? 

But only if I crack on with supper; I'm frying up the bacon left over from yesterday and adding it to lentil and vegetable soup from a couple of days ago. To make it really festive we'll have some toast as well - we surely know how to live in this house!

Resolutions; the same as always (I don't set myself up to fail!);

2 bags of stuff donated/sold/thrown out every month

Write up my page a day diary 

Eat chocolate several times a week

The first one went a bit by the board this year, but I'm sure I can easily find enough stuff to make up for it next year.    

Have a Happy New Year, and thank you for your support and comments. What lovely people you all are!