March 2021

Another Month – I’m no longer counting.

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 70^th 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:

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.

November Month 10

This has been the most difficult month so far and the writing of the blog follows suit. I feel I don’t know what to write about, but here goes.

There are no birds to spot – even the pigeons are in short supply – and so I decided to draw a few so that when the days are more conducive to ornithology, I may stand a better chance of recognising my feathered friends. It goes without saying that I can’t draw but I’ve made use of Matt Sewell’s Our Garden Birds and I’m copying his drawings. That doesn’t feel like much of an achievement, but better than nothing. I don’t think I’ll be sued for copyright any time soon!

I have another job. This is a voluntary one until Christmas. I’m calling myself Ms Am@z0n because I’m off to Book-ish every morning to pack the web orders from the day before. Every little bit helps I hope, at least Emma says it does. It’s good for my brain because I’ve had to learn how web orders work, how to check stock and how to order books. However, the real reason I’m writing about it here is that, yes, I am counting it as a job, albeit temporary, which was a challenge from a couple of months ago. It works really well with me being (still, yes still) on British Summer Time. I wanted to be able to work before the shop opens to reduce contact with people, and going at 9am my time is only 8am Book-ish time. I have plenty of time to not be able to find books before anyone comes anywhere near the shop!

Walking the canal is progressing with a bit of manoeuvring. This month was supposed to be Llangattock to Abergavenny, the plan being to catch a bus to Abergavenny and walk back. On the assigned day the bus was FULL and so the plan was quickly changed to drive to Abergavenny, walk half way to Llangattock and back again, and the next day to walk from Llangattock to the previous day’s destination and walk back again. A brilliant plan even though it meant walking this stretch of the canal twice. It was made even more brilliant by the fact that the ‘mid way’ destination turned out to be The Towpath Inn in Gilwern. We crept in to have a look, having not been in a pub for 10 months or so, and it was EMPTY. On both days. A drink was had and it made those two walks very special. Did you note how I managed to capitalise both full and empty in this paragraph?

Enjoying the pub. There’s brandy in one of those!

This month’s donation to Fine Cell Work. A charity which works with prisoners who make absolutely beautiful things. Have a look.

Matt sent me a ‘sweary’ cd this month. Kesha – High Road. He told me it was sweary to warn me and he was right. I didn’t mind too much. I actually liked most of it on first hearing. I haven’t played it a lot because I also ordered the new Bruce Springsteen. Not sweary. Very much liked my me.

Memory stuff. A real challenge this First of all the poem. I now know the second verse. I wonder if I’ll get it done before February? A friend Lorraine sent me a piece about the poem which I loved reading and made me think. Always a good thing!

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/articles/89511/robert-frost-the-road-not-taken

Then the Chopin Waltz from memory. Even harder, but I can pretty much do this if I have the music in front of me, not to follow, but for a quick look if I stumble. Since I’m short of content this month, I planned to post a recording of me stumbling. I’ve spent half a day trying to work out how to do that, and I’ve failed. You’ll have to take me at my word that I’m hardly looking at the music at all. If you’ve received a link to the blog via an email from me I’ve added the recording to that.

Cooking – here are the best from the month. A roasted mushroom on butterbean mash, recommended this as it full of tasty spices, and chocolate chip muffins. The chocolate chip muffin recipe is from Candace who seems to have made me these muffins at important moments in my life. A pandemic feels important!

Another of those ‘tasted better than in looked’ dishes

This month I read Ali Smith’s Winter and Elif Shafak’s How to Stay Sane in an Age of Division. See how it is? Wintery. Divided. Neither were Bookclub books so another challenge by the wayside. It’s ok though. Elif says so!

On a brighter note, it is my birthday in a couple of months, and no, I won’t have completed my 70 things, but if the governments let us, we will be celebrating in style. I’ve booked something for the day itself and if it happens, it will be perfect. It does, of course, involve eating. Details to follow.

October Month 9

I’ve set myself another challenge (I still need two more). This one is a little silly. I’ve been on lockdown here, and when the end of British Summer Time was approaching I decided that I didn’t want to deal with the dark afternoons that the time change would bring. So, out came the computer, I drew up a chart, and I’m not going to change the clocks until at least a decent time after the equinox. I imagined this would fail almost immediately, but it’s been a week and has been surprisingly easy. And it’s still daylight at 6pm! It’s working partly because Pavel has joined in too. We have discussions at ‘odd’ times during the day about whether it’s coffee time, lunchtime or Channel 4 news time, but we’ve missed nothing yet!

This piece of paper will get more and more crumpled

On the first day of the month I completed task No 46. All 5 peaks reached – Table Mountain, Skirrid, Blorenge, Pen y Fan and now Sugar Loaf. It’s been a delight. It was Pavel’s birthday and we left very early in the morning with a plan to be back down to the Sugarloaf Vineyard for lunch. I thought we would be on top on our own, but no. At least another 5 people arrived while we were there. People get out and about very early!

Walking the Brecon Monmouthshire Canal Day 2. Talybont to Crickhowell. Who would build a canal half way up a mountain? I’m glad they did. The views are stunning. I understand the canal boaters love it too because, unusually, the canal contours the hills, so it is not straight, and navigation is therefore more interesting. Unfortunately the next stage – Crickhowell to Abergavenny – is not possible for a while due to local travel restrictions and now our lockdown.

It looks straight and you can’t see the hills to the left, but it’s not and they are

Bird watching! My lovely friend Jocelyn turned up with another bird feeder to join the one that Kathy sent. This one had fat balls in it. We struggled to attach it in the garden but managed and then watched. My ptarmigan – recently picked up from Arts Alive where I made it last year in a pottery summer school – did not go for the fat balls, but, after a few pretty tits had done their thing, the local jackdaws found them. That was very sad because Jocelyn confirmed that once found, they would not forget. As mean as it sounds, I really don’t want to feed and gaze at jackdaws and so that particular feeder has been abandoned. The apple on the heart still attracts a few small birds. Our garden is not the best place for bird watching though – we have an over-abundance of pigeons. I look to the Spring to work on this challenge. All being well I’ll be 70 by then and the blog will have finished. That is, unless I decide to stay 69 for another year……..

No. 67 completed too. We went glamping! I feel it may be a bit cheating as it was rather luxury glamping. In a treehouse, in the middle of Wales. Just us, sheep, books and a hot tub! How luxurious is that? I always forget how lovely mid Wales is. Wild, empty and beautiful.

If you look closely you can see the hot tub!

Music. Scales are progressing. I’ve tackled nearly all of them now and have moved on to more complicated arrangements. This month 3 against 2. Not easy.

I haven’t studied a composer. I don’t know why, I just didn’t feel like it. Instead I’ve been listening to minimalist music. Arvo Part’s Spiegel im Spiegal is 10 minutes of total peace. That, or it will drive you crazy! Have a listen.

And then there’s Steve Reich’s (short)) clapping song. Go on……

The chocolate course Lecture 2. Make truffles. I watched the lesson, made the water ganache (I had no idea there was such a thing) and ended up with a total fail. The ganache, even after a day in the freezer – where you’re not supposed to put it – is still too soft to turn into a truffle! We’re eating soft (not)frozen balls of chocolate with creme fraiche. Highly recommended! I’ll try again next month.

Matt sent me a hip hop CD. Marlowe. I had to ask for a copy of the lyrics as my head was baffled. I’ve listened. I don’t mind it but it’s probably not going to find it’s way to the top of the pile. It doesn’t matter.

Matt said: Well this one was always going to be a little challenging. I doubt many people start getting into hip hop at 70

I’ve cooked, as always. After last month’s blog, my vegan friend Annie suggested I try making ‘fake’ Rolos. Remember Rolos? They probably still exist! Anyway, chocolate covered soft chewy toffee. The vegan ones have a mashed date and peanut butter centre. I sprinkled sesame seeds on them for a bit of interest. As if mashed dates are not interesting enough.

It’s clearly a ‘sweet’ month as I made a rice pudding cake. Rice pudding cake you say? It was quite delicious, but actually not hugely more delicious than rice pudding itself.

I also made a spicy lamb dish and a chicken bake. Even though we’re almost vegetarian. Strange times.

This month’s donation has gone to the Longtown Mountain Rescue team. Chosen because a friend’s husband volunteers with them. They do great work and depend on donations.

Books. Only one this month for a bookclub. Patrick Gale – Take Nothing With You. A charming coming of age novel about a young gay man who plays the cello. The joy of music in the novel made it for me, but then I got close to the end and discovered the absolute best recipe for pasta tomato sauce ever. For some reason I thought it must be Patrick Gale’s recipe, but it turns out that it’s Marcella Hazan’s very own. Simmer a tin of tomatoes with a whole onion cut in half with three ounces of butter for 40 minutes. Discard the onion. Eat. Absolutely delicious. Pavel ate the discarded onion!

I’ve started to paint another picture. You really don’t want to see it.

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.

The one on the right is massively bigger than the one on the left in the herb garden.

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

February Month 1

7070 in 2020

It has started well, with only one small hiccup with blood donating, but even that had a silver lining.

Here goes!

BEING CREATIVE

1. To document the year

I’ve posted quite a few photos on Instagram, mainly for fun. Some things I haven’t because it didn’t seem quite right. The most popular posts related to food!

2. Write something

The first writing class was a bit nerve- wracking but I met some lovely people. It seems that you don’t have to read any of your writing to the class if you don’t want to. Currently I don’t want to. We’ll see!

3. Write letters to friends who live away

MaryElizabeth in Los Angeles is about to receive a letter! She was my first because I know that her current lifestyle is such that she’s unlikely to be at one address for any length of time. I had an address so I pounced on it. 3 pages, handwritten, with a fountain pen.

GIVING

5. Monthly donation to a worthy cause

This month to Headway, Cardiff and South East Wales. My nephew Matt’s girlfriend Rhian, works there, and I know funding is tight.

17. Give blood

So, it turns out that if you’ve not given blood before you’re 66, then you can’t…. So I’m looking for another number 17. The good news is that when I was telling this to the lovely Mark – who was decorating our flat – he decided to give blood. Yay! I know he’s already looked up the dates when he might do this.

MUSIC

18. Learn all the major and minor scales

A flat major and F minor for February. This scored very few likes on Instagram 😂

30. Study a new composer every month

Beethoven is the flavour of the year as it’s 250 years since his birth. I chose him for February and it was brilliant. I learned and listened to so much – a weekend at the Barbican listening to all nine symphonies.

I read a book of poems by Ruth Padel – Beethoven Variations. And I’m not that keen on poetry!

Watched a film about Beethoven’s life and music. But also failed to watch a film on YouTube which was not very good.

Properly listened to the 3rd and 4th piano concertos and went to a Rush Hour concert to listen to the Brodsky Quartet play String Quartet No 132.

I loved it all – the life and music of a genius.

43. Buy and listen to a CD recommended by Matt at Diverse vinyl

For the first month the postman delivered Lizzo. Mark (decorating) was pleased and so was I. I’d not heard of Lizzo and on first playing I wasn’t sure, but now I’m pleased to add her to my listening.