August…. the month for facing up to the reality that things are not going exactly as planned. I’ve carried out an audit of the list. Results and conclusions are presented here:
Aim – to complete 70 tasks before my 70th birthday in February 2021. New readers can find that original list in the first blogpost
Progress to date – I’ve ticked off 25 items and concluded that I should be able to achieve 37 more. These findings were better than expected.
Problem areas – there are currently at least 8 tasks I will not be able to complete due to the pandemic.
Proposed solution – rather than wallow in failure I’ve decided to replace the 8 tasks with 8 new ones. It took a while to come up with 70, so this is hard. Nevertheless I’ve decided on 5 already (see below) and will happily accept suggestions.
FIVE (out of eight) NEW TASKS
1. Get a job. Nothing full time. Life has changed almost beyond recognition and I now have more time on my hands. This has been successful as I have been accepted for two jobs as of this month even though I’ve not done much for either one yet. More details on request!
2. Learn birds. I can identify so few birds and would like to be better at it. This one is partly inspired by my nephew Matt’s recent delve into bird photography. His Instagram posts are amazing. It’s not the best time of year to start this activity but I’m not going to let that put me off. And look, I have this charming book to help!
3. Learn to make chocolates. I’ve signed up for an on-line chocolate making course and am waiting for ‘the things you need to make chocolate things’ to arrive so that I can start.
4. Walk the Monmouthshire – Brecon Canal. It’s on our doorstep and I often walk the local part of the canal. I believe it will take about 4 days to walk from Brecon to Cwmbran. Possibly an extra day if extended to Newport.
5. Make all greeting cards from now on. You’ll see at the end of this page that my artistic skills are limited, so birthdays, anniversaries, house moves, new babies and whatever else will be a real challenge!
That’s all very exciting. Now on to August activities.
11. Monthly donation This time it’s to the Hay, Brecon and Talgarth Sanctuary for refugees. An organisation doing what it says on the tin. This felt like an antidote to recent negative press about refugees and asylum seekers trying to cross the channel.
36. Composer of the month August was Brahms. I’ve been listening to some lectures and learning to play one of his waltzes. I haven’t been very taken with the man himself but found it interesting that as a child he played music in pubs and brothels as a way of contributing to the family finances. This was acceptable child labour in the mid 19th century. And his relationship with Clara Schumann is fascinating. Did they or didn’t they?
His music I found a bit demanding although his piano concertos are lovely.
43. Matt’s monthly CD Honey Moon by Beach Bunny. Again, a winner. I wonder if he’ll ever send me something I really don’t like. Maybe at the end of the year I should rank the 12 I’m hoping to receive.
46. Getting to the top of local mountains I made it to the top of two peaks this month. Blorenge and Skirrid. It’s simply stunning up there. Two more to go before ticking this one off.
62. Trying new recipes every two weeks. One was to make use of the glut of cavolo nero from the allotment. I cooked it with chilli and chickpeas, topped with steamed cod.
The second was inspired by this cute video of Pavel’s great-nephew’s girlfriend’s English homework!
I think her chocolat meolleux turned out better than mine, but it was a fun and an easy thing to do!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdndXvV6PZ0
68. Bookclub books. One was Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens which, if you haven’t read it, just do. It’s a very lovely story that transports you to someone else’s fascinating, difficult and inspiring world.
The second Bookclub book was/is Thomas Cromwell by Diarmaid MacCulloch. Not at all my type of book and under normal circumstances I wouldn’t stick with it. But the challenge is to do so and so I will but I’ve cheated. First of all I have to admit to getting the Kindle edition (apologies to booksellers everywhere) but I also ticked the audio box, so I am listening to Thomas Cromwell! Is that cheating? I guess so, but I’m not cheating very often so let me get away with this one. Am I enjoying it? I’ve only just started and not hugely so far.
4. Paint a picture. I’ve left this one to the end so that I could leave you with my deconstructed rainbow in the hope that it raises a smile. Artist I am not, but all is not yet lost – I have one more canvas at my disposal.
7070 in 2020 
Liking the new categories!
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