I’m stopping at the passport I got the year after my trips to France without one (see Greetings From Afar).
In 1974 you could pop into the post office for one of these. Flimsy and lacking in any sort of security.
I quite like the image of the 23 year old me! Serene I’d say.The evidence is that it was used to make a trip to Denmark, landing at Zeebrugge.
I remember a tour around the Heineken factory and a Reistafel in Amsterdam, and the Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen. Nothing else. Which I’m surprised at as this was my first holiday overseas.
But now I’m confused. Because I remember that my actual first holiday abroad was a camping trip to France with Annie and her Dad in 1967. There MUST have been a passport for that. One of these flimsy ones. Now I feel overwhelmed with temporary passports, and again don’t understand how I failed to have one for working on the ferries.
The camping trip was a hoot. Annie and I had the time of our lives, having adventures and misbehaving. No surprise there…. I remember getting quite tipsy on Pernod on the first day. We’d thought it was French squash which just so happened to taste of aniseed balls.
Annie’s dad allowed us to go on a midnight hike up the local mountain – La Tournette – to watch the sunrise. But only because it was all above board, organised by the local mountaineering club. Oh dear….. there wasn’t much safeguarding in those days. It was quite a riot – guitar playing hippy types who we were so enamoured with, alcohol, cigarettes, and quite a bit of consensual kissing of arbitrary French boys who smelt of garlic!
I have no recollection of what I was up to one day when I almost cut the top off my finger. I still have the scar and I still owe 10 francs (about £90 in “today’s money”) to the doctor who put it back together after we’d been rushed to him by the campers next door. Blood everywhere.
It was the holiday where I bought bow shaped pasta – which I now know as farfalle – to take home for Mum. I’d never seen food so pretty and had never eaten pasta, so had no idea what she would do with it. It turned out to be nothing. It stayed in our food cupboard for years. My guess is that she was panicked by the idea of foreign food but also couldn’t bear to dispose of a gift from her favourite daughter! Yes, there was only one…..
Encouraged to write another blog, I opened a box. And found this!
You can see how old it is – that London phone number starting with 01….
It was 1987. I was hanging around waiting to go to Warwick to do an MBA. My friend J was pregnant on maternity leave. Neither of us were (are!) very good at doing nothing.
J had lived for a while in Saudi Arabia and cleverly saw a gap in the market for a business that would be attractive to expats abroad who found it difficult to organise things in the UK. It was, after all, the time of NO laptops, mobile phones, internet, email, or Google.
We brainstormed ‘delivering gifts’, ‘arranging property viewings’, even ‘picking children up at airports and transporting them to school’ Essentially it was, you name it, we’ll get it done!
We called ourselves Errands (good eh?), designed a folder containing order forms which we sent to J’s contacts who pinned them on notice boards in offices in the Middle East. And we waited……
We’d definitely thought it through!
There was one order if I remember correctly. For a hamper. I delivered it with friend M as J now had a new baby. It was snowing and our trip to the Cotswolds almost ended in disaster when the car skidded into a ditch.
We eventually arrived, without the aid of satnav, at the house of an elderly woman who invited us in for a cup of tea. She regaled us with stories of her son living many miles away. The son who’d ordered the hamper. She thought we knew him!
A lot of effort went into sourcing special goods for the hamper but there was no doubt that the recipient enjoyed the chat most of all.
Perhaps there was another order. I don’t remember. Errands fizzled out and then in 1994 along came Jeff Bezos and Amazon. Ha! If only we’d thought big!
Years later another friend and I got together to cater private dinner parties.
They were delicious affairs which resulted in a gross profit of approximately £20 per event.
No surprises – I knew what was in the next box. Although after boasting about my decluttering skills, you’ll perhaps be surprised to find that I’ve kept EVERY SINGLE POSTCARD I’VE EVER BEEN SENT. Here they are.
I have no idea how many, but they weigh almost 5000gm (10lb 10oz)
How to write about them? I didn’t want to risk anyone’s wrath by displaying ‘their’ card but then I discovered cards I’d sent so I’ve chosen a couple of those.
1972 – A card to my parents from Townsend Thoresen ferries.
I was a woman of few words even then!
Working on the ferries – Southampton to Le Havre and Cherbourg – was the best paid summer job for students. It was also a real eye-opener. I could write a whole blog of stories from below deck!
On every return crossing crew could buy 100 cigarettes and a half bottle of spirits at super low prices. With two return trips each shift you needed serious willpower not to develop into a chain smoking alcoholic.
On some shifts we were allowed ashore in France. My employment was brought to a speedy end when the company discovered that I was swanning around French ports without a passport. Not because I’d left it at home, but because I didn’t own one. Who knew you needed one of those? Not this university student……
And yes, I know that technically this isn’t a card sent to me. Sorry!
1978 A card to myself
Yes that’s me – brief name change!
California College of Podiatric Medicine sent me, along with three podiatrists to organise the interviews for East Coast students wanting to study in California. It was my first trip to New York.
Oh my goodness. I fell instantly in love with the city. Between interview sessions I bravely – as I thought, because the city was more edgy then than it is now – set off to visit every NY site I possibly could and was excited enough to send myself a few postcards.
New York felt so much more connected to the rest of the world than dreamy California and that made me feel very homesick. So, what the hell. Freddie Laker was in full swing and I was halfway home. I sent the podiatrists back without me, made my way to JFK and bought a ridiculously priced ticket to the UK. Just for a few days.
1980 – goodbye San Francisco
When I left San Francisco the adorable T asked me to leave a little bit of my heart. I did just that and am using her postcard to link to my:
Final postcard reveal
Several years ago P, another San Franciscan friend started sending a postcard every week. It was a delightful way (for me as the recipient anyway) to keep in touch. Those cards have their own box and when I started to lay them out to photograph them I could barely find a space big enough. There’s 300+
Repeats – there were repeats!
The cards stopped at some point. I guess they were bound to. But if you’re reading this PC, there’s room in the box for more!
My first ‘lucky dip’ and I discovered my mother’s powder puff…..
My Mum’s fluffy powder puff
I remember keeping it after Mum died over 20 years ago, for the sentimental reason that its aroma reminded me of her! She wore powder and lipstick every day. Eye make-up? On special occasions only as I recall.
I rarely wear make up which reminds me that, although I loved my mother dearly, and I know she did me, our relationship was not one where she took me under her wing and taught me any of the things that might have been considered important for a young girl to know about (in those days)!
A good example is cooking. Did I spend time in the kitchen learning the basics? Not on your Nelly! Mum made THE BEST Welsh cakes – we called them bakestones – and I’ve never made them. I do know that she used lard and margarine to make hers, and when I left home and became a bit snobby, I felt that lard was a bit below me and stopped partaking in Mum’s delicious baking. P, however, loved those bakestones – lard after all is one of a Czech’s reasons for being – and my mother took great pleasure in feeding him!
I’m a more rounded person now, and less finicky, I hope. So here I am, on the internet, searching for a recipe for bakestones using lard. I found one!* Half lard and half butter. I’ve left the snobbishness behind and, using Stork margarine instead of butter, I set about baking.
They had a slightly rustic look about them!
They were yummy, and their taste reminds me of Mum, as much as the powder puff’s smell does.
* To make 16 Welsh cakes
225g plain flour
85g caster sugar
1⁄2 tsp mixed spice
1⁄2 tsp baking powder
50g butter, cut into small pieces
50g lard, cut into small pieces, plus extra for frying
50g currants
1 egg, beaten splash milk
Tip the flour, sugar, mixed spice, baking powder and a pinch of salt into a bowl.
Rub in the butter and lard with your fingers until mixture is crumbly.
Add the currants.
Work the egg into the mixture until the dough is soft adding a splash of milk if it is a little dry – it should be the same consistency as shortcrust pastry.
Roll out the dough on a lightly floured work surface to the thickness of your little finger. Cut out rounds with a 6cm cutter.
Grease a flat griddle pan or heavy frying pan with lard, and place over a medium heat.
Cook the Welsh cakes in batches, for about 3 mins each side, until golden brown, crisp and cooked through.
As you likely know, I’m a big declutterer. Marie Kondo has nothing on me. It means that, apart from books, I keep very little from my past. Even my books have been purged to the limit.
I have kept a dozen or so boxes of the ‘little things’ I’ve been unable to bring myself to discard.
At the time of writing I don’t have a clear picture of what’s in these boxes as I rarely look. But occasionally I wonder what to do with that ‘stuff’ as, on my demise, I know it’s likely to end up in a black bag.
To have a bit of fun before that time, I’ve decided to take something from a box, at random, and to use it as the basis of a short story/memoir. Fact? Fiction? Faction? I don’t yet know. But as a woman of few words, I can guarantee brevity.
Hello all…. Yes, I’m signing off, at least from regular updates. The original 70 challenges couldn’t have been a better idea at a better time. They quickly turned from ‘going to be 70’ to ‘this is cheering up lockdown no end’. It’s been an unexpected way to keep in touch when keeping in touch felt so important.
Thank you all for reading, for your inspirations and your lovely comments.
Not all good things must come to an end. I’ll carry on reading, cooking (sometimes vegan), looking after the herb garden, listening to music – I’m asking Matt to keep sending the monthly cd. And the morning classical moment courtesy of Clemmie Burton-Hill has the rest of the year to go. I’ll make more charitable donations than I used to, and I’ll not stop looking for new ventures. The Monmouthshire & Brecon canal is almost complete – just one more section to go, from Malpas to Newport.
I discovered someone who makes beautiful personalised books and I’m hoping that Pavel can help me download the blog to do that. Any hints gratefully received.
The blog website is ‘mine’ and it maybe that I’ll post something from time to time. If you’re reading this you’re on my mailing list and I must give you the option to ‘unsubscribe’, so let me know! In the meantime, I really do hope to see you sometime soon.
First of all, welcome to my time zone. A challenge achieved. When I didn’t put the clocks back last Autumn I thought it would be something I’d manage to do for a couple of days. The confusion of it seemed obvious at the outset. Although I don’t have many appointments these days, I do have some. And there are a few things I like to watch on TV in real time. How could I be so out of synch? Probably the most important thing was that Pavel agreed to do this with me. I’m absolutely sure it would have been impossible with two of us on different times in the same house! Well, we did it and you all joined us in our light evenings a week or so ago. I would do it again. I settled into doing such things as having lunch while everyone else was having coffee and I ignored the raised eyebrows (you know who you are) when discussing anything to do with time with friends. I don’t have an image to celebrate this bit of nonsense so here’s a photo of a sundial I made.
If you remember, this all started off as a project related to reaching 70. Another school friend just did that too. Annie Wilcox lives in Canada now and is vegan. For her 70th she sent 70 vegan recipes to her friends. She says the recipes produce delicious offerings and are not complicated. Therefore here I am with another challenge. I will, from now on, cook two vegan recipes from Annie’s list for as long as I agree that what I’m producing is delicious! Thank you Annie for the inspiration. In the meantime I cooked:
A rather nice and unusual sweet potato macaroni cheese And these meringues which were a total failure. Fiona keeps the photo of them to look at whenever she wants to laugh….
I’ve made a bit of progress along the canal as the map shows. An aside – I discovered the canal is 35 miles long and so doing it in ‘there and back’ chunks means 70 miles. So I’ll go back and repeat the parts that have only been walked once. This month the walk was from Bridge (No 84?) to Goytre Wharf; Goytre Wharf to Pontymoile Basin; and Pontymoile Basin to Five Locks. There we ‘officially’ met up with brother Malcolm & Linda who brought us (thebest) fish and chips from Page’s in Cwmbran – this is a recommendation – and we wandered back to our starting point. I’m quite disappointed that I’ve not seen a kingfisher on the canal walks. Other people seem to quite often.
Talking of birds, I sent for some proper colouring pencils but they didn’t arrive in time to colour a bird this month. So I chose a wood pigeon which really only needed pencils…… And I’ve started the bird tapestry but not done enough to warrant a photo.
I’m not sure that this warrants a photo either!
I made two donations this month. One to Coffi Cymru/Living With Dementia which is a group organising get togethers for local people with dementia. The other to The Parkinson’s Society. I donated to a local Parkinson’s group earlier in the year, but this month my friend Jane’s mother died with Parkinson’s and her daughter-in-law decided to ask for sponsors for her challenge to climb Skirrid – a local mountain – every day in March. I love other people’s challenges and this one was much more demanding than any of mine and so I wanted to support her. And anyway, it was for Jane too.
I forgot to report on Matt’s CD last month. He’s not sending me new CDs this year, but his favourite ones instead. He knows I won’t have them already. So, February and March – I think I’ve got this right are Neutral Milk Hotel and Deer Park. Matt must be getting old too because he gave me Neutral Milk Hotel a few years ago when he came to stay in luxury instead of a Green Man Festival tent. I like both, and I do so like getting some music each month that I wouldn’t otherwise know about.
Neutral Milk Hotel on the left obviously
Books. Two again. One for bookclub – Elif Shafak’s 10 Minutes and 38 Seconds in This Strange World. I wasn’t sure what to expect as I’d not read about it. But I had read Elif’s little gem – How To Stay Sane In An Age of Division, so I was optimistic. She didn’t disappoint. A book about Leila’s memories that come to her as she is dying. Which may sound depressing, but it’s not. It’s about friends, their friendships, and extraordinary lives. I very much liked it.
I read Belinda Bauer’s Exit, which was a swapped birthday present. Susie originally bought me Richard Osman’s Thursday Murder Club, but I’d read that over Christmas and since the wonderful Book-ish was Susie’s shop of choice I was able to do an easy exchange. I decided on Exit because it’s partly about elderly people getting tied up in a murder. It’s fun and I enjoyed it, but it’s not quite a good a read as Thursday Murder Club.
The favourite monthly CLOUD, POEM and PIECE OF MUSIC from the breakfast time routine:
I mean… where did it come from?My choices are often short. Not next month though… it’s only 4th April and I know which one it will be.
It was a difficult choice of music this month but I loved that when I listened to Libertango by Astor Piazzolla I could see the dancers. Then I found this on YouTube.
That’s all for now! I gave up chocolate for Lent under the influence of Joanna who I know has been doing it at least every year since we met in 1984. I thought it would be something to do in lockdown (and a challenge!). Emma helpfully pointed out that it was the complete opposite of something to do…… Anyway, I did it. Happy Easter.
70 things didn’t get done but on I plod regardless. This month’s entry will start with a quick look at what I failed to do – the things that there was no (pandemic) excuse for! Followed by a short account of this month’s achievements – there’s not so many as I’ve had a rest! And since this blog was started because of a birthday, I’ll finish with a few photos of that lockdown celebration.
There were nine tasks I failed to complete. From that list, six were related to learning 🇫🇷 French 🇫🇷 and I’ve decided that I’ve been too hard on myself because keeping up with the passe compose vs imparfait is very definitely pandemically related! Because when am I next going to 🇫🇷 France and so what’s the point? Answers on a postcard please.
Another failure required a car ride to the starting point of the Llanbedr horseshoe – a walk of 17 miles. Car rides to exercise are illegal and although I could have walked there, I doubt I would have survived the extra demand on my limbs, so I’ve forgiven myself that one, and it remains a challenge.
The two things that I really did fail at are both connected to my brain’s ability to retain much – learning a poem and a playing a piece of music from memory. Trying to learn the poem gave me no joy and I simply gave up.
Learning the Chopin Waltz did bring joy, and I almost managed it, but not without the music in front of me. I didn’t need to look at the notes all the time, but I needed to know they were there. Fascinating. It was clear that I didn’t have the staying power to memorise the whole piece, and that too fell by the wayside.
J’ai decide que ce n’est pas mal.
Moving on to February!
The morning cloud and piece of music have been joined by a daily poem. I’ve chosen my monthly favourite from all three and here they are:
Pretty eh?I love Liszt. I think of him as being the Bruce Springsteen of his time, but this is as far from Bruce as you can get!
If you can listen, do. It’s gorgeous. I may well have posted a link to it before….?
Thank you Sue Holder for recommending Poem for the Day. It will be a challenge, but here’s one that wasn’t and reminded me of being young and perhaps foolish.
The bird topic is advancing. First of all I forgot to post this photo of me on the bird watch – with my father’s binoculars – from last month, and I rather like it, so here it is:
Then I received a bird colouring book from bird watching enthusiasts Kathy & Peter. I’ve attempted one. I definitely need to get better colouring pencils though. Mine are just not good enough. Yes, I know, blaming tools and all that!
And here’s another challenge, vaguely bird related, From One Fine Cell, the charity that supports prisoners, I’ve purchased a tapestry. Of birds. It will eventually be a cushion and I hereby set myself the challenge of completing it for my 80th birthday. Have you ever done a tapestry? They take forever.
I’ve cooked. The most delicious buns, and a quiche Lorraine. I’ve never made one before and this one was spot on. I also made laverbread patties for a St. David’s Day breakfast. Oatmeal really does make seaweed edible.
These contain fennel seeds and cranberries. Yum. Is that not perfect?Laverbread and oatmeal. Surprisingly good when cooked in bacon fat!
What did I read? The Secret River by Kate Grenville, an historical novel, about life in Australia for the transported convicts and their families and other settlers, and the relationships and conflicts which developed with the Aborigines. So well written and a really interesting story which rang true. The other good read was Hungry by Grace Dent. Grace, a restaurant critic, writes about growing up in Cumbria, and although she’s younger than me, she definitely took me back to my childhood.
I made a donation to Crickhowell Primary School request for funds for laptops for children.
Not much else this month, other than I WAS 70. Here you go, some photos of the day. Lockdown didn’t stop it being absolutely spot on. Thank you for making it special. There’s a lot of you. You know who you are!
Nigella’s chocolate cake made with condensed milk!Sister in laws made cakes too for the Zoom call. I’m not sure why the brothers are absent from this photo. They were there!Anne Sinclair sent decorations!The cards were fantastic!And flowersAll the presents were brilliant – I loved this one from Helen, Karen & Sally-Anne who know me better than I thought they did!Happy Birthday to me! Fish and chips and champagne.
This is a very important entry of two halves. First of all this month’s achievements which I have to say, feel like a bit of a barrel scrape and, as it’s month 12 (how did that even happen?) ‘The Audit’.
This month On January 1st I took up two, one a day ‘new’ activities. Inspired by Annie Wilcox I bought A Cloud A Day and every morning, with breakfast, I read about a cloud.
What a lovely idea!
This then inspired me to go back to something I failed to complete a couple of years ago – Clemency Burton-Hill’s book A Year of Wonder.
This is the book if you want to learn something about classical music
In it she writes about a piece of classical music for every day of the year and someone has usefully put together a Spotify playlist to go with it. It’s another breakfast activity, and a real joy. If a particular piece of music is not a joy – because not all of it is – Clemmie makes it one with her writing. I’d like to add a gentle acknowledgement to two friends Sue and Fiona who are also listening, and with whom I have an, albeit brief, exchange of opinion on what we’re listening to. Winter lockdown isn’t tremendous fun and this fleeting daily contact is just lovely.
I decided that I should post here, my favourite piece of music and my favourite cloud from the month. Here they are:
Philip Glass is one of my favouritesI think it was the blue sky as much as the cloud!
An aside – If you don’t know anything about Clemency Burton-Hill, look her up on Wikipedia and listen to her recent Women’s Hour interview. She’s amazing.
Staying with the music theme, I have to report that MATTHEW HAS NOT SENT A CD THIS MONTH. There you have it. I paid too. Now laugh! I’ve forgiven him and he says that one is on the way. He asked me to rank the music I’ve received over the last 12 months. You’ll notice that there are 12 EVEN THOUGH I HAVEN’T RECEIVED ONE THIS MONTH. That’s because I’ve included Bruce and put him first because that’s where he belongs.
11 from Matt, 1 from me
Birds! I went for a walk and heard, as well as saw, a woodpecker. Can you:
Tap, tap, tap
I almost took part in the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch. I say almost because it turns out that I did it wrong because you’re supposed to count number of birds not just the type. So, for my readers only, I saw blackbirds, jackdaws, sparrows, blue tits, robins, thrushes, and pigeons. That’s it. I was very disappointed that the tiny wren who dances around the garden from time to time didn’t make an appearance.
The canal. No walks this month as we couldn’t get to the starting point without an unofficial drive. I did, however, find out that there’s a map of the canal and I’m using it to highlight the walk. You can see how much has been achieved. The orange sections are those where we’ve had to walk ‘there and back’ because of lack of transport. It’s a great map – all 167 bridges have names!
Looks about half way to me
A couple of recipes – lentils cooked in coconut milk. More than edible but ‘presentationally’ dull…
Doesn’t look good does it?
and something called Hoppin’ John cooked to use up a lot of spring greens delivered in the veg box! Unexpectedly delicious.
Better
Books – The two bookclub books this month couldn’t be more different. The Wall by John Lanchester, a dystopian novel which describes a scary Britain protecting its borders after a climate change catastrophe, and The Wintering by Katherine May, a book about preparing for the ‘down times’ in life. I thought I wouldn’t like this at all but I absolutely loved it. Maybe because of the times? I liked The Wall too, but it I suspect it wouldn’t be everyone’s cup of tea.
This month’s donation went to the Abergavenny Food Bank.
THE AUDIT It’s happening. In a few days time I’m going to be 70. Instead of ‘celebrating in style’, at least the style I’d hope to have planned, it will be champagne with Pavel at home. Maybe I’ll get dressed and put on shoes and if so, I shall wear make up.
This blog and the tasks/challenges I set myself were all about having a bit of fun because of my birthday. Yes, I’ve had a bit of fun, but not exactly the fun expected!
70 tasks. Without going into detail they break down as:
47 completed
13 pandemically failed to complete
9 actually failed to complete and
1 was not allowed to complete
What I’ve really delighted in are the readers who’ve said ‘oo why don’t you do this? Or you’ve inspired me to do this!’ And things like last month when I mentioned decorations from the Sacramento Street Christmas shop in San Francisco when Yvonne undressed her tree and sent me a photo of all the decorations she bought there, with the comment, ‘I can’t toss (them), it was a hell of an era.’ So then I emailed Christine, my flat mate from above the Christmas shop and we had a little reminisce.
I’ve wondered about carrying on with the blog and the tasks, and I’ve decided that I’m going to. Until all 70 things are ticked off. I’m nothing if not obsessive. What’s the point of having a list otherwise? As I add the pandemically inspired ‘extras’, who knows, there may end up being 80 or more tasks and…. well, you can see where I’m going with this!
There may not be a monthly update but there will be updates. If you’ve read this far you’re on my mailing list. Do let me know if you want to be deleted – I won’t mind at all. But thank you for staying the course this time around!
It’s been a bit Nigella Lawson here. Challenge, complete, repeat. So up Table Mountain I went again. Originally this was a challenge because there’s the mountain, on my doorstep, and I never climb it because I’m too busy or am away and anyway, there’s always tomorrow. Now I can pop up there every day. Here are the cows we saw on the way up this time – one gently rubbing horns against the other one. So very cute for a very large cow.
At the start of the month I ticked off the next stage of the canal walk. Llanfoist to Bridge 84 (and back). I was hoping to get to Pontymoile this month but as we’re in yet another lockdown, and it needs a drive, it will have to wait. Earlier in the year I was disappointed as tasks I’d set myself were becoming unattainable. Now I shrug my shoulders!
Bridge 84, so I know where to start from next time
Cooking. Because I love cooking and had been neglecting it, I originally challenged myself to try a new recipe every two weeks. This has become a bit tired over the year of endless cooking – the highlights this month were baked potatoes with baked beans, and macaroni cheese (twice). No photos. But going back to Nigella, I was inspired to make her spiced bulgar and look what it did without any help from me. Then quickly, before the year descended, I decided on Ottolenghi’s kofta for New Year’s Eve. Phew! One recipe every two weeks. Tick.
The spices made this pattern with no help from me! (Nigella’s spicy bulgar – recommended)Kofta, tahini sauce, rice, spinach. Yum.
You may remember that last month I drew some birds. This month I drew AND painted one. To paint a picture was a challenge up until now failed, so I’m rather pleased with this!
A kingfisher I drew and painted
Matt sent Katy J Pearson this month. It took me a while to get around to listening and I’m sorry I waited. As usual I find a lot of the lyrics hard to make out, but musically it’s mostly uplifting and a very pleasing listen.
Matt keeps them coming and they’re all different
This month’s donation was to a Welsh charity working with homeless people. It’s never a good time to be homeless but it’s unimaginable in winter during a pandemic lockdown.
My ‘study a composer’ music challenge took a slightly different turn this month as I decided to study opera. I signed up for a Great Courses Audio Course – How to Listen to and Understand Opera. The lectures are rather dense and complicated. Totally wrong for me. I would have preferred to go to operas and immerse myself in the music, singing and drama. But never mind, I tried.
Not really recommended. Sorry Dr Greenberg.
Chocolate making. I moved on to truffles. A bit messy making them but worth it. I have some leftovers if you live close by.
What to say….. truffles, home made
Bookclub books. The library Bookclub book for this month is The Dutch House by Ann Patchett. Those of you with a good memory may recall that it was also a book from the Bookish Bookclub and so already read. This month’s Bookish book is Away with the Penguins. A sweet novel, not at all demanding and perfect for the time of year. Although I did think it could have been a little shorter!
As it was ‘the time of year’ I read some other undemanding novels – One by One by Ruth Ware, a murder mystery set in a ski chalet which made me miss my usual pre-Christmas skiing holiday and so made me a bit sad, and Richard Osman’s The Thursday Murder Club which the whole world is reading! Murder in a retirement village, investigated by residents. Absolutely delightful.
Murders
I’ve resisted looking back on the original ‘challenges’ I set myself. Let’s face this, the year has been a challenge in itself. I could have just said, “get through it!” However next month will be month 12 and there will be a thorough audit of progress and the lack thereof, and maybe an announcement!
But before I go, yes, it was Christmas and it was a challenge for me this year. I’m not a Bah Humbug type, but we don’t usually ‘do’ Christmas in any ‘bauble’ sort of way. Mainly because we were often away and haven’t established any traditions. This year was different and I wanted to have a go. Out came the small box of decorations. Most of these were from the Christmas shop I lived above on Sacramento Street in San Francisco. That was 40 odd years ago….. Then came a tree, candles, lights, cards, an advent calendar (albeit a gin and tonic one), and a cake. Not a turkey dinner though. Duck confit.
Christmas 2020
Decorations have been put away today, but not the lights on the coat stand. I decided that they’re staying until ‘the end of the pandemic.’
When will they be put away?
A Happy New Year everyone! I’m still an hour ahead and am definitely not staying up until 1.00am
7070 in 2020 