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!