Saturday 31st January - and cheerfulness breaks out

 Here's my 'following a tree photograph' for the end of January. It's a little witch hazel called Arnold Promise, showing exactly why I wanted a witch hazel;

Isn't it pretty? All those gorgeous little yellow spidery flowers. I couldn't get close enough today to see if they had any scent. 

I've left sewing up the brightly coloured cardigan for today - I need time, and physical space, and brain space to do a decent job. So instead I started knitting a new pair of slippers yesterday evening. It's a delightful pattern and I enjoy making them once I have reacquainted myself with the mysteries of 'ssk' and 's1, k2tog, psso'. Not as complicated as they sounded, and very easy after looking at a youtube video. This must be my fifth pair...

Today I finished the uppers.

 The garter stitch rows will form the sole and heel, with a seam down the centre of the foot and up the back of the hell. The orange/pink knitting is the top. Like this;

All done, with the assistance of a cup of Jasmine tea. Now to start the next one, while I can remember 'psso' and 'ssk'!

The knitting abbreviations sound like magical charms, like "Treguna Mekoides Trecorum Satis Dee" from 'Bedknobs and Broomsticks' - remember that film? I loved it. I've no idea what that meant but it was on a par with 'supercalifraglisticexpiallidocious' as a great thing to be able to say.

I've succumbed to the Flash advertisements and bought some 'Spray,Wipe, Done!' Chanting that as I cleaned the bathroom and kitchen sinks turned a chore into a rather silly game. Whatever works, whatever works... little things please tiny minds...

I skipped ballet exercises yesterday. They were the last thing on my mind when we got home. But I think I will let myself off; one of the most cross-making things of that day was watching, appalled, as the woman in front of us waiting for the lift to go up to the lung department, or maybe one the respiratory wards, suddenly started sneezing and coughing about ten times without using a handkerchief or even her elbow to cover her mouth and nose. She obviously wasn't thinking about this;

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coughs_and_sneezes_spread_diseases

BB and I looked at each other, and headed for the stairs. It was a long climb; the lung function unit is on the 2nd floor, and the rooms in a Victorian hospital have very high ceilings. Coming back down was so much easier. So I reckon that was my leg-strengthening exercise for the day - maybe she did me a favour?

Neck and shoulders today and that will mean 4 weeks in a row completed (Sunday is a day off). Three cheers.

Looking back, yesterday's post was one incoherent mess of typos and unfinished sentences. Heigh ho, and on we go... it's amazing what a difference a good night's sleep and a quiet day can make.

Spring Song, No 2 of 4 Short Pieces by Frank Bridge, played by Yuki Ito, accompanied by Daniel King Smith 

Tues/Wed/Thur/Fri 27/28/29/30 January - will January ever end?

  Yeah, I'm being ridiculous, I know - Sunday will be February and everything with be different just the same. This week has been long and choppy and literally indigstible.

The last, because scleroderma can affect the body's digestion, making you prone to fairly savage heartburn if you eat too late at night, or the wrong food (creamy food, too much food, etc) later at night. Many years ago we started the pattern of proper lunch somewhere between 12 and 1, and a light supper around 6pm, and very little after then. The latest addition to the meds I (more or less) cheerfully consume everyday is something to be taken around 6.30pm WITH FOOD. In capital letters, stressed by the clinic. Or face the consequences.

BB has been to the dentist three times this week, for two different crowns, which means eating unreasonably early because the appoint was at about 1 (the dentist is an hour's drive away) or unreasonable late when he got back. I'm adding extra strong peppermints to the grocery order - by last night (lunch at 3pm, supper at ugh-I-really-don't-want-to-eat-again-this-side-of-Easter-but-I-suppose-I-have-to-eat-something o'clock).   

I 'merely' had blood tests at the beginning of the week and lung function tests in London today. 

Hence low visibility in blogger-land this week, both posting and commenting. I have had enough compos for reading posts, but not enough mentis for commenting. Sorry!

I have done some knitting... it has had its moments; when I wasn't paying attention (I think some bloke on the telephone was interrupting me to try as sell a complete refresh of our double glazing... I kept on saying 'But we've already but we've already but we've already' over and over again on top of his continuous patter until he stopped for a moment and I was able to complete the sentence 'got fairly new double glazing everywhere, good-bye'. I suppose I could have just put the handset down with a firm clunk. 

When I got back to the cardigan, I nearly tripped over this;

which I eventually resolved into this;

Since then I have picked up the stitches for the neck and completed it. Something isn't quite right; the picture shows a loose, fairly low neck line and this may well be a snugger fit round my neck, but I'm happy with that. Sleeves to add, and side seams, and dealing with all the myriad loose ends, and sewing on buttons. I'll be finished by Easter. You'll be able to see me coming alright!

This week, and next, I'm trying to limit myself to 2-3 'events' per day. Having a bath is an event, as is a zoom, or an outing, or going to my father's flat. Today's trip to London, walking up to the hospital, doing the tests, walking back to the car, stopping off for a late lunch and mooch around the gift shop and a breath of air at Polesden Lacey (National Trust) must count for half a dozen! We fortuitously took the wrong exit at a roundabout just outside Leatherhead, and found ourselves just 20 minutes away from coffee and a toasted sandwich. Considering it was 1pm, there was no need for discussion!

What bliss, to have a break from the noise of travelling and the noise of London. There were three most beautifully behaved dogs in the cafe, a delight to watch.

View through window of cafe

Now it's nearly 6pm, and like it or not, I will have to eat something soon and I guess BB is more than ready for something more substantial than soup. 

So, toodle-oo - and hopefully I will resume my normal hither and thither and here and there life very soon.

Oh, Lynda was first to ask about the book 'Maiden's Trip', so it will be on its way to Canada shortly. And the 2by2 stitching will also be en route for Norfolk!

'For Now I am Winter', omposed by Olafur Arnals, lyrics by Arnor Dan, performed by Voces8

     

   

 

Sunday/Monday 25th/26th February - energy slump!

Oh dear oh dear oh dear! Where has all my get-up-and-go gone! 

I am lamenting the lack of biscuits and chocolate in the house. I know exactly why this is - I ate the whole lot yesterday while I was flopped on the settee. Thank heavens the biscuit tin and chocolate o'clock tin were both heading for empty already.

A high spot of Sunday morning reading is the weekly newsletter from Jane Brockett ('the gentle art of domesticity' author, and creator of the persephone books posts). She writes on substack.

This Sunday she wrote on kettles, and this was one of the pictures she chose;

I love it, for it's casual, higgledy-piggledy character, both in the arrangement of the kettles and pans, and in the loose scribbly appearance of the drawing. 

.....

One reason why life has become the consistency of treacle at the moment is the weight of the form filling required for selling the flat. But today, frabjous joy, my brother came round (a three hour drive for him) to do last bits of sorting. He's found some paperwork mixed in with previous house and flat sales which is going to help, and carried everything away to hopefully fill in the gaps and sign them off. He'll post them back, we'll sign them and hand them over to the solicitors. 

I'm hoping I'll wake up all bright and energetic and ready to go-go-go-go tomorrow!

(BB has just walked round to the corner shop and come back with chocolate digestive biscuits... especially for me...)

I've not got nothing done... plenty of reading, hemmed some trousers, cut the too-tight ankle cuffs of my fleece lined leggings, ordered wool to finish the cardigan, tidied my sewing basket after finishing 2by2 

I don't think the pictures give any clues about my stitching!

....

Does anyone else to read this book written by one of  the many young women who stepped up to take cargoes along the British canals during World War 2? It's a cheerful account of her experience; itsounds like a tough life. If it weren't for the fact that canals are, on the whole, relatively shallow, I'd say they were certainly thrown in at the deep end.

 If you send me your address in the comments I won't publish it, but I can stick the book in the post to you. 

....

I got myself together enough to attend zoom church on Sunday. There's usually one phrase that sticks with me (it was an excellent sermon too which I'm still thinking about) and this time it came from one of the prayers, something about knowing,  or remembering that

'...in our weakness is His [God's] strength...'

it's certainly not by my own strength I've got through last week. 

Thanks be to God. 

Friday/Saturday 23/24 January - discombobulations and surprises

 Yesterday and today was were full of them.

 Yesterday was dentist day. Dentist afternoon, really, but it seemed to affect the whole day. 

It takes us 45 - 60 minutes to drive to the dentist  normally,  but BB had driven through heavy rain, half-flooded roads and three sets of roadworks for an emergency appointment on Wednesday and it had taken heading for 90 minutes. (He'd broken another crown on Tuesday, did I already say?).

So we allowed extra time, and found the rain had stopped, and the puddles had drained away, and only one of the roadworks caused any delays. We were half an hour early. 

Meanwhile we'd had a light lunch, just a toasted cheese sandwich, at 11.30 instead of a main meal around 1. It felt... weird. Are we getting too set in our ways?

The new hygienist obviously decided I was a fragile invalid and I was treated to the most delicate and gentle experience ever... not what I'd been expecting after my son had described her as having done an 'industrial level cleaning' when he went some months ago.

'You'll be fine,' I said to BB, based on my experience, as we waited for his turn. Half an hour later he emerged her the room  looking... well, looking as though he'd just undergone the industrial version. It's not that she's rough or hurts you or anything, but she was very, very, very thorough! Give me the delicate version every time!

I also had a checkup. The dentist has a new gadget, and scanned my teeth in such a way as to be able to display a 3-D image of what looked a set of false teeth on a screen. I have never seen such a set of crooked teeth, all overlapping and leaning against one another at crazy angles. Were they really mine? I suppose they must be!

We came home,  starving, and had a main meal at about 5 instead of light supper at 6. All - just - weird. Again. 

Still, that's me done and dusted for 6 months. BB is back next week for the crown. Or maybe a different one, I think there is an earlier replacement crown still to be finished.  I lose track.

Today has been blissfully quiet and uneventful, and all the meals happened as normal.

Apart from one major, important, joyful cause for celebration. BB's wedding ring slipped off his finger AGAIN about two weeks ago, and we had resigned ourselves to its loss. 

But this morning as I rummaged through the vegetable drawer in search of baking potatoes,  there, at the very back, was a glint of gold...

We rejoiced.

'

Wednesday and Thursday 21st and 22nd January - John Craske, 2by2 stitching, Yo-Yo-and Yeou-Cheng Mar

 I'm finding it easier to blog every other day at the moment - I don't know if that will remain the case, or if I will manage to raise my energy levels at some point (when it stops raining, perhaps?)

Meanwhile - 

I confess - we watch an episode (or maybe two) of 'Antiques Roadtrip' most evenings during the week. Not the ones with celebrities, only the ones with the two antiques experts driving around from shop to shop in a classic car. The really interesting snippets are when they go off and visit a museum or stately home, and we get a five-ten minute nugget about a place or person or event.

Yesterday one of them went to see an exhibition of art by Norfolk fisherman John Craske (1881 - 1943). He seems to have been ill for most of his life, and when he could no longer go out to sea, started painting instead. When he was so ill he had to stay in bed, he turned his hand to creating embroidery pictures.    

He was almost completely unknown in his lifetime, which is a great pity because the paintings and embroideries are astonishingly good.

I expect Ang has seen his work at the Norwich museum.

Then, today's 'Persephone Post' item was - John Craske! 

The short entry for today mentioned this book which is going straight onto my 'Wantables' list. It looks like being exactly the kind of non-fiction book I like - rambling around the subject, taking a wider panoramic view. 

In other news - as I thought, I haven't quite finished the 2By2 two stitching (not due until 14th February!) because, after letting it lie for a day I decided to add a little bit more...

Ang and I have been wondering about these little squares. The orginal plan had been for another book cover, but then Ang blogged about 'the analogue bag'. That set me thinking. What I fancied was a small 'grab-and-go' bag with a couple of small simple craft projects inside, all complete and ready to go. My sock knitting bag is one such 'grab-and-go'. Maybe also a small lightweight book to read - poetry would be good, or quotations, or extracts from books just a few paragraphs long. Things I wouldn't mind reading several times over, and that really don't take long and can be easily interrupted. 

I do a fair bit of hanging around in waiting rooms and so forth (for example at the dentist tomorrow, when we both have inspections and sessions with the hygienist) so a 'grab-and-go' bag would be ideal for these kind of occasions. 

The upshot is that Ang and I are going to make up the squares not as book covers, but as project bags, and mine will become a 'grab-and-go' bag of pick-up-able and put-down-able things to read or make. It took a fair bit of to-ing and fro-ing but Ang has come up with a pattern. 

Watch this space - as they say!

And yet another thing - I saw this today...

 

Leonard Bernstein introduces 7-year-old Yo-Yo Ma and his 11-year-old sister Yeou-Cheng Ma to Presidents John F. Kennedy and Dwight D. Eisenhower at "An American Pageant of the Arts," on November 29, 1962. The purpose of the event was to raise funds for the National Cultural Center, begun under Eisenhower's administration and encouraged under Kennedy's. The prodigious duo performed the first movement of the Concertino No. 3 in A Major, by Jean-Baptiste Breval. Two months after President Kennedy's assassination in November 1963, Congress passed and President Johnson signed into law legislation renaming the National Cultural Center as a "living memorial" to John F. Kennedy.

Monday and Tuesday 19th and 20th January - obsessed

Monday wasn't my best day day. I started reading the forms to be filled in for selling my father’s flat. 

'There is nothing so easy that but that it becomes difficult when you try to do it' said Pythagorus. I wonder what theorem he was trying to prove.

Or

"Those that understood him smiled at one another and shook their heads; but for mine own part, it was Greek to me.”
 Spoken by Casca Act 1 of Julius Caesar

In other words I ground to a halt, had a meltdown, followed by a calming cup of coffee. Not my finest hour!

I got stuck into 2By2 stitching instead! Now, this was a different story. I spent Monday afternoon and all of Tuesday snipping and stitching. Monday saw my practice piece completed, and tonight I've finished the real piece! I'll let them lie for a few days and then see if I really have finished them. It will take me a while to clear up the chaos. 

Otherwise life has carried on, fitting in around the gaps in the sewing. I made what I consider to ge a lazy lunch; pasta with frozen veg added towards the end of the cooking time, and meatballs from the freezer, defrosted in the microwave and served with tomato sauce from a Lloyd Grossman jar. Minimal effort, but tasted good. 

I've cut off the dead flowers from amaryllis number 1, 

Amaryllis number 2 is growing day by day.

I'm still doing the balletbasedmovement exercises; that's two weeks and two days I've kept going. Will I get to the end of the month? 

Sunday 18th January - Sunday Morning

 Anna Lapwood;

You may be more familiar with this;

It's 'Sunday Morning', the third of the Sea Interludes composed by Benjamin Britten for his opera Peter Grimes.

I found myself in a fever to get out - to walk in fresh air, and see what was growing in the gardens in our nearby streets. 

As we slowly walked up the road towards the duck pond I heard the single bell in the church half a mile away, shortly joined by the sound of the full peal from the main church in town another mile further away. 

The church family has been a big part of our lives for over 30 years now. When my family all lived so far away so that we only net up a few times a year, the church family felt like an extra set of cousins, aunts and uncles, closer at hand.

Friday and Saturday 16th/17th January - 2By2

Ang has posted this month's completed stitching already, here and here, but here it all is again;

Hers

And mine;

So I now have these to add to my collection 

I had a little chuckle when I opened the package (thank you for the chocolates!) because for a while I was considering doing a snowflake for my stitching...

We're doing the last ones now, to meet a date of 14th February. As Ang said, it's our game so we can set the rules! After that it's a matter of making up the book covers and adding the 'rubric', we've always signed and dated the pieces.

And planning the next collaboration?!? I do hope so...

Meanwhile while, what am I going to do for the last bit of stitching?

Bach Prelude and Fugue in F major, from Book 1 of the 48 BWV 856

I love the way she manages to separate the three voices of the fugue on the harpsichord in spite of the fact that harpsichords only play at one dynamic unless you change the stops for the entire keyboard. On a piano you bring out a voice by playing it louder and the others softer.

Rather in the way one desperately wants to make a pot of tea or a coffee when the power goes off, I woke up yesterday wanting to play the piano, In my half awake state I chose this piece, purely at random. I don't think I've ever looked at it before, but I knew I had the music.

But the cut on my thumb is exactly where my thumb would strike the piano keys...

But (again!) I have a digital harpsichord as well as a piano! The keys are significantly lighter, and I've been fine, so able to make a start on the prelude. It's trapper than it looks, but easier than it sounds.

Thursday 15th January - teaching day

Firstly I taught a piano lesson. It was a really interesting lesson, and I might post it as a super-simple playalong. It was about recognising patterns, to reduce the effort and increase the speed and ease of learning,  something experienced players do without noticing, but something only one of my four childhood teachers ever showed me. Maybe the others had never discovered this?

Then, I was starting to cook lunch when, in a moment's lapse of concentration,  I cut my thumb. Everything stopped while we sorted it out, and then I taught BB how to cook our favourite fish dish;

Tray Bake fish for 2;

Step 1; oven 180°C, assembled medium sized roasting dish, a couple of peppers (one red, one yellow today), a smallish  onion, a handful of cherry tomatoes, however much potato you want to eat - I prefer waxy or salad potatoes - and fish- I've tended to use salmon, sea bream or sea bass fillets.

Leave the fish alone for now; prep and chunk the veg, eg quarter the onion, slice peppers into 6 or 8, cut potatoes  - peeled or unpeeled - into thick rounds.

Step 2 

Into the roasting pan - mine's non-stick - poor a generous tablespoon of oil, season with pepper, salt, chopped or dried garlic, mixed or fresh herbs or both, a few chilli flakes if you like, and 'rubble' it all together. Chuck in all the veg including the tomatoes, stir it all around, bake for 15 mins.

Step 3

Remove the tray, stir everything around and put it back for 15 mins

Unpack the fish, dry, season with a little salt and pepper, and a squeeze of lemon or even a generous dash of interesting vinaigrette dressing 

Step 4

Remove the tray, stir everything around. Clear a space in the middle and put the fish in, skin side down. Put the tray back in the over for 7-10 mins depending on the thickness of the fish.

Step 5 

Remove the tray,  check the fish and serve! We like the flavour,  and we like the lack of clearing up, and we like the lack of fried fishy fat smell! Win, win win!

....

I've been taking it easy the rest of the day, avoiding using my thumb as the cut is near the knuckle. So no knitting, sewing, washing, clearing... plenty of reading, drinking tea, and a moderate amount of biscuit eating...

....

A friend has just come round with a bunch of tightly closed daffodils, the first of the year. Perfect timing, as last week's tulips are nearly over!

Wednesday 14th January - spaghetti legs means progress?

It's encouraging to see how even after just one week of exercising, even for only five minutes, every day is making a difference. Today I managed to complete the leg strengthening exercises, which was an impossibility last week. Although I discovered afterwards that my legs appeared to be like cooked spaghetti for the rest of the morning. 

Ah well. A bowl of porridge and a strong coffee helped.

Looking out of the window at my little witch hazel tree I wondered if my eyes were playing tricks... I can't get any closer without removing my oxygen cannula or switching to an oxygen cylinder. Being stubborn and impatient I removed my oxygen cannula... that gives me a couple of minutes... not enough for a proper picture! 

so I asked BB to nip out at take some photographs; there, on the little twig, bottom left, can you see? A LEAF!

Hey, little tree, it's not even the middle of January! I shall be watching to see how this goes.

Tuesday 13th January - nothing venture, nothing gain?

 This article from The Spruce appeared in my newsfeed just now, with instructions on how to persuade your amaryllis to flower for a second year. I need to re-read it to make sure I know what to do, although it seems quite simple.

Our first amaryllis is almost over, so I I'll give this a go. 

Meanwhile the second bulb has produced a stem and bud to go with the two leaves. 

I'd like to see if there are any leftover bulbs in the garden centre; perhaps we'll get there later this week. 

Here's a little warmth for you, 'Am Kamin' or 'By the Fireside' from 'Kinderscenen' by Schumman

It's astonishing how differently people play this; either at this gentle, reflective speed, or else at what seems like a flat-out romp.

Monday 12th January - More small changes

 I downloaded this title onto my kindle near the end of last year, after looking at a sample.

I've resisted reading ahead, as I intend to consider just one tiny change per week. I have actioned the first two suggestions; firstly muting notifications on my tablet and phone, and secondly unsubscribing from advertising emails that I'm not interested in, or for newsletters that just clutter up my inbox, as they come in.

I suspect I'm just paying for a list of obvious suggestions, but I do enjoy a book full of quotations and encouragement!

That's something to consider...

I'm exchanging far too much of my life for reading my Internet  newsfeed for sure. I now try and catch myself before I start, or say in my mind exactly what I am planning to look up or do on my phone before I pick it up. 

It's slightly working. Very early days yet!

The aim is to try and improve my concentration and reduce the amount of flibber-jibber and distraction going on in my head!

Grieg; Puck from Lyric Pieces

and Butterfly, also from Lyric Pieces

Sunday 11th January

 Two take-aways from this morning's zoom church service, both noted in my diary to review through the week ahead;

This verse from the first hymn, 'Hail to the Lord's Anointed'

It has so much resonance with me; flowers and spring, and in the face of the uncertain political events in the world, the lines about peace and righteousness flowing from hill to valley. 

And something the preacher mentioned, almost in passing. She was talking about God saying 'this is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased'. Her point was that God was expressing his love for Jesus before he had done anything useful. 

'You don't have to be useful to be loved by God', she said. How wonderful is that!

Saturday 10th January - tulips

 Here they are

The ones I received yesterday from a friend. It's just a rough sketch while I half watch 'Saving Lives at Sea' on iplayer. There doesn't seem to be anything much on Saturday TV at the moment. Those lifeboat crew are so brave and resourceful, I'm just amazed. 

I've batched cooked meatballs today, mixing 500g minced beef with paxo stuffing mix that I had in the cupboard, fine chopped onion and celery, seasonings and an egg. This time I baked the little meatballs, rolled to about the size of walnuts, in the oven for 15mins at 180°C. I made 37, so I took one out to test; just done! So that's 6 portions of 6 meatballs. 

We had 12 mixed with a tin of baked beans, a baked potato and boiled carrots and swede for lunch today. The reast are in the freezer for another day. I'll do something similar with 500g minced pork tomorrow. 

There's also a crock pot of red cabbage to be portioned up as well. Time for restocking the freezer.

I'm back to knitting the Christmas New Year Epiphany Candlemas cardigan. Eight more rows to finish the sleeves and then comes the business of fixing the length of the back. Then sewing up, picking up stitches for the neck, and four buttons. Maybe I'll go for a March finish date!

The tortoise seemed the appropriate choice for today.

Friday 9th January - can Spring be far away?

 A friend returned a book this evening and handed over a lovely bunch of tulips

If there are tulips in the shops, surely Spring can't be too far away?

I adore this version of Carnival of the animals,  with Roger Moore's tongue in cheek delivery, and the humour of the performance, and obvious enjoyment and rapport of the musicians, and the romantic venue. I wish I had been there.

I think this must be in the spirit of the original performance; Saint-Saens composed it as a light-hearted entertainment for his students and friends, and afterwards tried to suppress it as a mere frivolous nonsense. 

It might be frivolous, but it is still genius!

 Here's the cuckoo... where's the cuckoo?

Thursday 8th January - small changes...

 I'm doing my annual flip through of Dr Rangan Chatterjee's 'Feel better in Five'. At sometime during the year I'll go back to it for a reminder. His premise is that if you sped Five minutes a day on each of three short activities Five days a week, you will feel a lot better. He sets out a mix to choose from, under the heading of mind, body, spirit, an you choose one from each category. 

For spirit, I spend five minutes a day outside, or looking out of the window if it is too cold for me to go out.

For body, I'm doing the five minute daily ballet based exercises - thoracic (upper body) stretches today,  

For mind, I'm reading, writing, and keeping my daily page-day diary going.

I find that a few weeks of this gently sorts out any looming lethargy. Of course the best cure for lethargy is to DO SOMETHING instead of just thinking about it! So yesterday I dusted off the piano and played through a chunk of 'Dozen a Day' exercises. Just about anyone who ever learned the piano used these books!

The exercises are illustrated with delightful little stick-man drawings, even at the advanced levels, and everyone I've ever taught, and me too come to think of it, colours them in as they go...

....

Ang's 2By2 collaboration stitching arrived today. I've just about finished mine. As usual I thought I'd chosen a quick project for mine. As usual it isn't! 

I'll post mine tomorrow. I just need to get on with it.

Which reminds me

I have two memories of the very first nursery school I attended; Mrs Stallman, I think she was called, used to lead us into a elegant drawing room, and we walked round in a circle all holding hands and singing nursery rhymes while she played the grand piano. Very staid. Very dull. Then we would go into a smaller darker room. We all sat at little desks working in our exercise books. I had a desk over in the corner, surrounded by a fire guard because I worked so slowly. I can remember Mrs Stallman continually nagging me; 'Get on dear, get on!'. My mother rescued me quite soon, or maybe Mrs Stallman asked her to take me away... The next nursery school was a much brighter and happier place.

the phrase 'Get on dear, get on!' in an exasperated tone of voice lives on in by subconscious even now, 65 years later. Oh dear.

At the moment my scales are sounding too much like this

Instead of like this!

Wednesday 7th January - Ice. Amaryllis

 We thought we might go out this morning; if we go early the garden centre and cafe we like are usually almost empty, so I can wander around easily without worrying about the 'social distancing' which has to be a permanent fixture of my life.

But

In spite of the sunny morning, at 9 am the pavements and roads and the car were all so icy that it wasn't sensible to go out unless you had too! So we had coffee and toast at home instead. 

I went through the Christmas cards, saving a dozen that need replies for one reason or another, and updating the address list. I've tucked the address list in the box with the leftover cards ready to be put away until next year. I eyed up the cards... would I recycle them into crafts or tags, or recycle them into the recycling bin... bin it is. I'm trying to reduce the amount of stuff in the house, not add to it!

Job done. Another weight off my mind.

The last few Christmas bits have been put away; out of sight, out of mind. Excellent. 

We planted BB's Christmas amaryllis about a week ago, and it's showing a tiny sign of life.

 I'm looking forward to watching it grow.

It was so difficult to find things to interest my father during 2024, the year before he died. Everything he used to like doing, listening to music, tracing family history, reading books on history, reading 'the Economist', following the news and politics, all became too hard, took too much concentration. 

On spec I took him a couple of amaryllis bulbs. He was very sceptical and not particularly enthusiastic at first, but as they grew and grew admitted that they brought an interest into his day. After that we always included fresh flowers with his weekly grocery shopping which he also enjoyed. 

Well, I wonder which jobs I shall tackle tomorrow...

....

At my first secondary school (a brand new state grammar school) we had a superlative music department with an astonishing and ambitious music department. We actually put on the operetta 'Hansel and Gretel' by Englebert Humperdink, (the German composer, not the pop singer!) Here's one of the most famous songs

Tuesday 6th January - Zzzz

 The Zzzz is me now, at half past seven. 

I was joking when I said to my brother that whenever I made a big decision, signed an important document, or paid an ENORMOUS bill I need to lie down in a darkened room for a couple of hours. 

But I have been doing admin, and chatting to my brother about the sale of my father's flat as well as catching up on family news, and getting the grocery order in, and then, this evening, zooming with some cousins - more chatting, more news to share, and I've suddenly run out of steam...

Here's a very rough picture of the amaryllis to be going on with.

It's from one of the notebook swaps, now hurriedly added to and packed up for posting tomorrow. 

I used to fall asleep to Cantabile singing from this album or 'Lullabies and Goodbyes' for years. 

Monday 5th January - undecked

 I hadn't heard this word before this year, but many bloggers have talked about 'undecking' their house after Christmas.  That was the main task for today.

It's so much quicker than decorating  - partly because of Advent, when the calendars come out. And we took several days over putting everything on the trees, and stringing the lights and cards around the room.

Now, it's all, nearly all, gone

The wise men have arrived at the Nativity scene, and have found places in the Advent ring. It is the day of Epiphany today. They will make their way home tomorrow,  and I'll disentangle the Advent ring. The Nativity stays there all year.

I started on the blue post-it to-do lists today. Several admin tasks, and a housework task were completed. 

I've also restarted the 5-minutes a day ballet-based movement exercises for improving balance, leg streng and mobility. I'm not sure how much can be achieved in 5 minutes a day, but it's a start. I certainly noticed the difference when I did them regularly for quite a long period. Today was easy; ankles and feet. I remember Tuesdays were a whole load tougher.

Then I read books. It's a joyful thing to discover books you haven't read on your kindle. 'The Art of Inheriting Secrets' by Barbara O'Neal which I finished the other day was one, and today I started 'The Angel Tree' by Lucinda Riley. I enjoyed the Barbara O'Neal more than this Lucinda Riley so far. 

Three Kings from Persian Lands Afar by Cornelius. Voces8

Sunday 4th January - the year ahead

The thing about joining a zoom church service using a laptop is one can easily and comfortably take notes draw/doodle through the reflection...

It's a rough copy of a 4th century carving on the side of a sarcophagus at Adelphia. The three magi are presenting their gifts to the baby Jesus. I was struck by how they are holding out these gifts, and Jesus is reaching for them, and Mary is holding him very steady on her lap. 

No prizes for guessing the the reflection was around the Journey of the Magi.

I was paying attention, honest, and I did also scribble some notes. I have to be quick; the peril of PowerPoint is that the next slide often arrives before I'm ready.

This is the opening prayer, based on the Old Testament reading, Isaiah 60, v1-6

Whether we are awake or asleep, let us arise and sine, for the glory of the Lord is upon us.

Whether we are upbeat or gloomy, let us arise and sine, for the glory of the Lord is upon us.

Whether we are warm or cold, let us arise and sine, for the glory of the Lord is upon us.

So, that's what I'm going to try and do; whatever my circumstances or mood I will do my best to arise and shine, for the glory of the Lord is upon me (even if it doesn't feel like it).

This was the opening hymn.

Saturday 3rd January - the last lazy days

 I've got my three to-do lists for next week written out ; finance  (paying bills etc), stuff to do with my father’s flat,cand housework. And I'm resolutely ignoring them all until Monday. Then I shall set about them, whittle them down to size, cross things off, and feel virtuous. 

Until then I shall carry on eating Christmas goodies, reading,  and slowly getting on with 2By2 stitching. 

Birdwatching again.  We were visited by the wren this morning, foraging busily in the moss and weed-filled gaps between the pavers on patio under the table and chairs. It is well camouflaged being almost the same colour as the papers. 

And the magpies roared up again, like a group bikers suddenly and noisily descending on a roadside café, disturbing the peace, and sending more timid customers scurrying for cover. Then all zoomed away after a bit of strutting around and showing off.

I finished Elly Griffiths 'The Frozen People' on New Year's Day, and Barbara O'Neal 'The Art of Inheriting Secrets' today. Very different, but both perfect for lazy day reading.

'the Frozen People' is a time-travelling murder mystery with a twisty ending, 'The Art of Inheriting Secrets' a family mystery, where an American woman discovers she's inherited a large English country estate and title, without having any clue that this was part of her mother's past...

 I've downloaded another Barbara O'Neal for a future read. 

Have you seen the moon tonight? So impressive. 

Drawings? Photographs? None today! 

Friday 2nd January - michief, tiding, conventicle, or tribe

 I've spent a good deal of time today watching the bird feeders. It's a constant joy. In all the decades we've lived here the feeders have never been as successful. 

Today I spotted sparrows, blue tits, long tailed tits for sure. Possibly other birds; I'm not that good at telling them apart yet. Definitely 2 starlings, but I'm glad they didn't stay too long, gobbling up the peanuts.

More ominously I saw just the tail of a squirrel in the big oak tree... I hope it doesn't start gorging on the bird seed and peanuts. I thought they hibernated, it is certainly cold enough at the moment. Below zero all day, and into next week as well.

Then there was a great commotion and a mischief or tiding or conventicle or tribe of eight magpies suddenly arrived in the oak, flushing out several pigeons from the branches. 'Eight's a wish, and nine's a kiss, and ten is a bird you must not miss'; who remembers that from the opening music for the children's TV programme?

We had to call out the gas board as there was a strong smell of gas at the bottom of the garden (cooking gas, not gasolene). We know there is a massive gas main running along the common ground parallel to the backs of the houses. I remember when they replaced it about 35 years ago.

It turned out this was due to some work being carried out some distance away so 'our' gas main is fine. He noticed in passing that some widget on our gas meter needed changing ('we swap these out whenever we notice them because they sometimes leak' said the gasman) so that got done in passing.  And we didn't even know it needed doing.

May I introduce Arnold Promise?

This will be my tree of the year 2026. It's a witch hazel I got in the Summer. 

It's so appropriate; my father died a year ago today. When my mother died in January 2016, we didn't know what to do with ourselves (me, my husband, my father, his brother and sister-in-law) so we all went to Nymans Gardens for lunch. They had witch hazels for sale, and my father wanted to buy me one, because I admired it and it was so pretty, but in the end we didn't get it. Now I've got what he and I both wanted.

It's in a pot at the moment, because I'm not sure where to put it in the garden. We are planning Major Upheavels at the back of the house this year so it will have to stay in the pot for a while until things settle down. Having been reading how trees all communicate through their root systems and the soil, I can't bear to keep it in a pot like a lonely caged animal for any longer than necessary. 

And here are the two Amaryllis flowers 

What a change from yesterday. Drawing the bud every day is fascinating. 

Thursday 1st January 2026 - Happy New Year

 It really is a Happy New Year for us. Last night as we were getting ready for bed, BB discovered that he was no longer wearing his wedding ring. Horrors! It had slipped off his finger sometime in the evening. 

It wasn't in plain sight anywhere so we went to bed, planning to search more thoroughly the next day.

We started after breakfast by slowly stripping the bed; BB goes up and makes it every evening and we thought that might be when he lost it.

Well, hurrah! I found it under my pillow! How romantic is that, sleeping with my husband's wedding ring under my pillow! We celebrated with coffee and croissants. 

It has been properly cold all day, but there was some sun this morning so here is my December 2025 picture of 'my' tree, the oak at the bottom of the garden 

It is almost completely bare of leaves, and will remain so until most of the other oaks are already green.

And here is next-door's cat guarding the bird feeders from all those pesky little birds that keep raiding them. We have a seed feeder and a peanut feeder in the apple tree as well as the one on the right.

Actually,  as long as Aki stays still, the birds will carry on, just keeing an eye on him. Aki isn't a climber, and he just likes watching them. Mostly.

My amaryllis plant keeps on growing. I can see a difference every day. Standing there and drawing the buds as they change helps me understand how the petals are carefully 'origami-ed' inside the green covers. 

Ì did finish the practice piece of the 2By2 stitching collaboration, today, not yesterday. Now I know how I should have gone about it, for when I start the 'real' piece which will be Ang's eventually. 

Another day of holiday, going through my Christmas presents, looking at the books, eating the chocolates and biscuits...

I'll start on the to-do lists, yes, three of them, one Monday. I wrote them on post-its and stuck them on next week's pages.

Until then I'm on holiday. If I was still teaching I'd be up to my eyes in planning; Oh the joy of retirement. Do I miss the school teaching? No, not a bit!