I am going to enjoy playing with my cola pens..

Hope you can find a fun project too.

Just one sunny morning was all it took to bring me back to myself.

I toook the bus to town and instead of getting off at the supermarket I stayed on and took myself to The Boathouse, the nicest cafe in town.

Lemon cake and a cappuccino and a chance meeting with an artist friend who greeted me with a big hug - she radiates a wonnderful kind of energy.

On the way back through the town I bought a small bunch of roses and the man in the shop gave me two large bunches of flowers for free! Then I found the perfect birthday card for my grandson.

A stranger told me my hat was cute, and someone else  said my earrings were cool!

As my friendly red  bus trundled homeward  along the shores of the Holy Loch and Loch Long under a blue sky, I noticed everyone seemed cheerful and chatty. I was glad I had lit the fire before leaving and settled down in front of it to listen to the brilliant Tove Jansson's book Travelling Light.

This was January 29th and according o the weather forecast the sun  will shine again on February 10th! I will try to stay cheerful. Promise.

..by our conversation about amor fati of this song of long ago. Rather cheerful don't you think? (You prbably either love it or hate it!)

The robin flies up and bumps me on the shoulder if I have not got food on my hand!

I was lucky enough to get an invitation to the Cowal Gathering Highland Games in Dunon.

In early afteroon the grounds were filling up, though rain threatened.

Marching pipe bands and the world Highlland Dancing Chapionships.

Love the kilts.

Lovely gifts from a lovely friend who came to stay for a couple of days.

In the glorious spell of weather we have been having here in uk, I notice that especially in late aftternoon/early evening there are some wonderful cloud formations.

I often have my head in the clouds, but I love actually being up there among them. I had to understand a bit about them when I was learning to fly a glider (I wasn't very good at it - I really just wanted to look at the view). I've enjoyed the view from all sizes of planes from an Airbus to a seaplane and loved them all, though my favourite is probably ballooning which is the nearest thing to a  flying carpet - magical!

Do you like flying?

I am so enjoying teaching this workshop.

If you don't live near me and are interested, perhaps I could travel to you  (you kow I love to travel). If you can fit a few people round your table, or if your WI group or book group would find it interesting...

Let me know in the comments and I will get in touch by email.

My two goals for the experimental session of the workshop at home recently were to find out a)  if the author's claim that the process could be done in three hours was correct (that's Jinny Ditzler Your Best Year Yet)  and b)  whether with my impaired vision I could still teach/lead a group. I am happy to say the answer to both appears to be Yes!

To me, teaching is about sharing and I love to share my interests and enthusiasms and to teach things I believe in eg  that everyone can learn to draw, and that you can create a beautiful thoughtfully designed garden without spending thousands. I do believe that if we make plans and set goals the good things are much more likely to happen.

Intruiging...

..means extra trips to the city to meet friends for lunches and concerts. Weather is very very cold but sunny -so far so good!

..was the motto inside my fortune cookie at the Tai Chi group dinner. A demonstration in the village hall then next door to a wonderful Chinese inspired meal at The Blairmore.

Good fun and another reason to be glad I took up Tai Chi last year.

Some of you will kmow I have a history with the month of February, during which I often felt so low that I began to dread it. I think it was in 2011 that I saw how foolish this was and made the decision to make February fun.

For a few years I made it my Writing Month and I loved that, taking myself off on writing retreats in Buckinghamshire and fatefully, Venice (where my grandaughter and I got locked down for six and a half weeks (see March 2020)

In February 2022 I had Fit in February, in 23  Romantic  February - that was lovely - and last year I did Colourful February.

This yeaar's plan is Face to Face in February.

In yesterday's comments Gwendoline described beautifully the limitations of communicating through screens. During the pandemic my sisters and I began weekly chats via WhatsApp, a habit we have kept up since. My first face to face project has been to plan several days together in Nairn - really together, in reality! You know I oftern say I like the real thing.

Do you have any February plans?

.. and fantasy and creativity - I've been thinking about how important these are to our wellbeing. It reminds me that there are realms of life other than screens/media/politics. The irony is not lost on me as I write this on a screen and know that you will read it on a screen :-)

Missummer Night 2023  - listen and look here.

I am doing a Best Year Yet workshop at the Burgh Hall in Dunoon on Saturday 1st February - do come along if you live near enogh! More details tomorrow..

To notivate myself to do the mucky job of cleaning the greenhouse I looked back to Midsummer Night last year.

A little fantasy is allowed, don't you think? At least once a year.

Even just watching this is exhilaratin! I can hardly imagine what it mustt feel like to actually do it. (Scroll down and press watch.)

Question Seven from Your Best Year Yet by Jinny Ditzler is -

Which role is my major focus for the next year?

 You know I like a good question, so I was not surprised to discover from Gretchen Rubin's Four Tendencies Quiz that I am a Questioner. You might like to try it here.

Here are the next two questions from Your Best Year Yet -

Questin Five - What are your personal values?

Question Six - What roles do you play?

My friend showed me how to edit a photograph so that the subject looks spotlit. Shining a light on all things good and beautiful..

You in your small corner, and I in mine.

..my true north.

A walk on the shore and a playful tweaking  of the north point I made on the drive some time ago.

..bring out the Romantic in you?

..can give you a nice warm feeling, and make you smile.

Yay! New socks!

..fills the well. A good dinner out, a walk in the Botanic Gardens, coffees and croissants and browsing in some very stylish shops.

Thursday lunchtime concerts at the University of Glasgow are wonderful (and free). Four members of the Dunedin Consort played some lesser known Bpieces on cello, viola da gamba, violin and organ. It was superb.

Watching the wet world go by

with a capuccino and an almond croissant.

My new favourite word. I only discovered it recently. It means the warmth of the winter sun. I

Do you  have a favourite word by any chance?

...and a plaintive song.The city is full of contrasts. That's what makes it so stimulating.

I had a psh coffee (in The Ivy no less). I was just being nosy really, but it was so glitzy and blingy that I could hardly find my way around with the lights, nirroors, glass, reflections and pattern everywhere. But the coffee was very nice and the ladies' room amazing.

When I came back out onto the street a middle aged violinist  was playing a slow and poignant rendition of 'I Did It My Way' which cut to my heart. I always take coins in my pocket when I go to the city. The street musician was better value than the coffee.

One of the restaurants had pink plastic blossom all round the tables, and Christmas decorations all round the windows.

I bought a candle in The White Company and a  notebook in Poundland.

Contrasts.

And an afternoon without thinking about the news.

..of free fun, isn't it fun to take a stick and draw on a sandy beach!  Giant plants, directions to the North Pole, anything you like, the more nonsensical thhe better.

It will all disappear with the next tide. Pure lighthearted fun. Be sure to try it next tine you get the chance. It does you good to be silly now and then and we all feel less self conscious on a beach, don't you think? Do you feel you are allowed to be childlike on the beach?

When did you last have some simple fun?

This was the wonderful beach at Ostell Bay which we visited from Carry Farm and which looks out to the north coast of Arran.