June Month 5

ANOTHER month of lockdown and I’m a bit bored with this blog, so I assume it’s not very exciting for readers either. So, to make it more interesting for me, at least, I’m going to write it backwards and try for a little story or note of interest with each ‘achievement’. As usual, there are photos too.

Starting at the end. No.68, to read all bookclub books. Two this month, Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams and The Doll Factory by Elizabeth Macneal.

We were warned that Queenie has a lot of sex in it, which it does, but more importantly it gives an insight in to what it’s like to be a young, black woman in Britain today. It’s funny too. It just won Book of the Year at the British Book Awards. The same place where Crickhowell’s Book-ish won Independent Bookshop of the Year. Well done to both. Particularly Book-ish though!

I didn’t think I’d like The Doll Factory as historical novels are not my thing. I may have said that before. However, I thoroughly enjoyed it and that’s why I love a bookclub. The joy of this book was added to by watching an author event put on by At Home With 4 Indies. Four independent bookshops have got together to host author events during lockdown and my local shop, Book-ish is one of them. These are delightful events which authors seem to be enjoying as much as the viewers. You can access all events (past ones too) on the AT HOME WITH page on Facebook.

There’s another event coming up on 9^th July with At Home With in collaboration with Penguin Books. I’m mentioning it because I think it will be amazing. Hadley Freeman is interviewing Curtis Sittenfeld about her book Rodham. The story of Hillary Clinton if she hadn’t met and married Bill. Now that’s the sort of book I like!

The herb garden, No 64, is coming along nicely although I don’t think the soil on the allotment is up to much. I planted Lemon Verbena there, and some from the same batch in a pot in the garden. Look at the difference! I’m growing it, not to make tea, which is a common use, but to make a lemon verbena custard. It’s delicious – like a Spanish flan where the milk gets infused with the herb.

Learn a poem No.63. After deciding which poem to learn – see last month – I’ve struggled. I can’t remember anything these days. Then I did remember how I used to learn things for exams. By writing them down. And Hey Presto! Look at this. Twenty minutes of writing and repeating and I can recite the first verse. There’s a psychologist/pedagogist somewhere who has a name for people who learn this. Let me know if you know!

No 62. Cooking. The thrill of the kitchen evaded me this month as both of the new things I’ve cooked I didn’t like very much. Also, I’m a bit cooked out. I’m not the only cook in the house, but I do most of it and the novelty is wearing thin. 100 days of preparing two meals a day! The new recipes this month were muffins. I tried two. Chocolate chip, and Feel Healthy. The muffins of opposites. The problem was the self-raising flour. The only one I had was wholemeal and take it from me, it doesn’t really work.

The second (third I guess) was Swiss chard, spinach and tomato with paprika almonds. I was full of hope mainly because it was an interesting sounding recipe from my hero Ottolenghi which would enable us to use up the ridiculously large harvest of Swiss chard from the allotment. But he failed on this one. Not only was it not interesting, it was decidedly dull.

The good news though is that lots of local places are now doing take-away meals and once a week we’ve organised one which means we’re able to support local businesses and I don’t have to cook.  Pizza from the Talgarth Mill, Italian food from Nonna Catarina, Fish and Chips from Yummy Kitchen and something from The Hardwick this weekend.  It almost like going out to eat.  Just not quite!

I’ve got nowhere near No 46 – to reach the summits of local mountains. The National Park has now opened footpaths and it will be possible to do some of these soon. In the absence of the walks, I decided to combine 46 with No 2, to write something. Here it is – before its turn – my imaginary walk up Table Mountain.

LOCKDOWN IMAGININGS

At the start of lockdown, a friend began to post Shakespeare’s sonnets every day on Instagram. She’s on ninety something. It has been, and indeed is being, a long haul. At the start of lockdown the Brecon Beacons National Park shut down most footpaths, so no-one was going on a long haul up a hill. But I need to as I have four hills to climb this year. As well as climbing hills I need to ‘write something’, so I’ve decided, this month, to write my walk up one of those hills. So, rucksack and boots on, here goes……

95 days at home. Thirteen weeks?

A short daily walk and not much more than a trip around the corner for newspaper and milk. But today! Today I’ll walk up Table Mountain in my mind, at least. Out of the door. Past the school. The school. The teenagers. All dressed the same. I stare.

What do they think about the world? Us oldies not so much, but they have so much to look forward to. I’m relying on them to make us a better world where we somehow failed.

Then past another school. Tiny children. Without a care in the world.

Through a couple of streets and over a stile. I hate this bit. A field with what I think are Aberdeen Angus cows, but maybe they’re something else. Their horns could hurl me to Timbuctoo if the urge was there. But, as usual, they sit. Just sit. I am of no interest. Another stile.

Spring shoots are shooting. Everywhere. Sometime soon the bracken will grow into a wall to battle against but for now it’s easy. The path is clear. The views are open.

Two more fields. Two more stiles. And then the creek. The creek is my favourite part of the climb. A path. A dip. A stream. A bank. A bank of bluebells sometime soon.

Now the ground is rocky. I need to concentrate. Concentrate hard on where I put my feet. It’s good to be out.

The moles have made a patchwork quilt of the next field.

Straight lines of mini hills following the footpath. Underground friends. Do they know I’m here?

A view at last.

Over there the highest peak.

Over there I used to live, and look out over here.

Over there where Pavel grows vegetables

Over here, I’m tired.

Onward and upward. Sheep stop and stare.

A stone. A message scrawled

‘Keys found. Call 07437321452’

I worry about the key owner who would never see the stone. Never.

And to the top. Alone at the top. Content at the top.

We move on to music. This month – No 43 buy and listen to a CD recommended by Matt who sent me Failures by Katie Malco. It didn’t arrive until close to the end of the month because we live in strange times and ordering and mailing is not as efficient as in non-strange times! I usually need a few plays to know whether I like something or not, but I liked this on first playing and look forward to getting more familiar with it next month. I hope July’s music doesn’t arrive too soon.

No 34 a new composer. Not completely new if you read last month. Clara Schumann who I had originally lumped together with husband Robert. Clara was amazing. An incredible pianist – one of the first to regularly perform from memory; a composer of some wonderful music; a mother of eight who also looked after her grandchildren after the death of her son Felix; a woman who ran a household and dealt with multiple cases of mental illness in her family. She did all that in the middle of the nineteenth century.

I have learnt two scales, continued to practice my Chopin waltz, had some ideas about the painting and sent a letter to a friend in America. I love that I’ve had two letters back from friends I’ve written to in previous months

No. 9 monthly donation. This month to the Hygiene Bank Wales. They distribute toiletries, toothpaste and sanitary products to people in need. I’m having to think about the monthly donations and everytime I ponder that I live in one of the world’s richest countries and that these things are needed.

It’s almost half way through my year and I’m nowhere near half way through my list. Next month there may be an announcement…..

End of June