How do they fare when so few peope carry cash now?
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How do they fare when so few peope carry cash now?
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Have you chosen a word, or a phrase for 2022? (Mine is Lovingly - see yesterdy's post.) A friend who longs to be lighter of heart after a difficult year has chosen Fun. Do share your word here!   York Minster was closed last week. I was disappointed as I like to light a candle for my husband Barry, who as a historian of the late medieval period, and volunteer in the Minster Library loved York and it's cathedral Next time... Meanwhile I took a closer look at the doorway. So beautiful! It's taken me some time to find my word for 2022. Decisiveness might have been a good one, but I have settled on Lovingly. I have tried it on for size as it were for a few days and it gives me a good feeling. Doing some boring chore I asked myself How would it fel if I did this lovingly? Hmm. I notice it brings my stress level down a little every time I apply it, and of course it can be applied to pretty much any situation....  I chanced to look up in the waiting room in Waverley Station in Edinburgh and thought They don't make them like that anymore
Thank you all for the good wishes for the new year. ..to see different scenery, different faces, have different conversations, eat different food, wear different cloothes! I realise how much I thrive on chnage and variety. It makes me feel alive, and feel ike myself.  Had a lobely walk at Inveraray Castle My word for 2021 was Stretch (boy were we all stretched!) and I am considerng lighthearted, freedom, fun, chill, growth, forward....restore might be good word. What do you think? I am taking a bit of a blog break now, but want to thank you for reading and for commenting. Above all I want you all to have a HEALTHY 2022 Be well. I am writing this on the 20th, but tomorrow is the shortest day and I like to light a candle for the solstice and this little one which turns the owls seems particularly appropriate. I will be thinking of Lynn who is planning to be at Avebury. Will you make a little celebration of it?  As the fox says in Charlie Mackesey's wonderful book The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and The Horse
To be honest, I often feel I haave nothing interesting to say. (To which the horse replies To be honest is always interesting.) LIfe is very quiet of late. I am catching up with a backlog of papaerwork, have sold another painting, am thinking a lot about suspending judgement and wondering what on earth I will buy for Christmas presents this year... What is happening with you? It took only a few minutes to make morning voffee feel like something special, and it lifted my mood.. As ever, little tings make a diffenence. What little thing could you do today to lift your mood a notch?  ..about November. Are you managing to find things to be cheerful about this November? Only a couple of hurs sunshine today, so I made the most of it by eating my healthy breakfast outside. It was very cold. Full marks for trying Freda!  ..about November. After some work in the sunny garden, an extra log on the fire and my favourite winter drink.   Equal parts clementine juice, cointreau and water. Served hot.
Playing around with table decorations, listening to Tamsin Edwards climate scientist Ted Talk and reading her blog All Models Are Wrong, anything but housework!         One o the most interesting things abut COP26 I think, is that we have heard from some new voices - inventors, scientists, negotiators, investors and activists as well as the politicians and journalists. A more complex and nuanced picture emerges... I am enjoying a very sociable time as friends and family come to visit and to see the exhibtion. My friend Ian and I took a walk along the main street reminiscing about childhood holidays 'Doon The Watter' as Glaswegians called the holiday resorts on the Clyde estuary. The statue of Heilan' Mary, lover of Rabbie Burns, is a good viewpoint. Please check my studio page for details of the exhibition.     back to health and back to basics. First cuppa, with a tiny homemade biscuit. I've not been eating much. I was careful not to switch on to the outrage/scandal/hysteria and other media madness, but opened the bedroom window, listened to the wind and the birds and slowly sipped the tea and nibbled gently on the biscuit, savouring every crumb. So lovely! Some lightly cooked chicken and a little salad and lots of water. Some extreme self care is called for... Any tips most welcome.  ..the very very small things.  Like tiny seedlings of wnter saladseSomething I have not tried before, but feeling a bit down (still a bit unwell) it lifted my spirits to transplant some seedlings. We all need something to care for, whether it be people or pets or plants.
What lifts your spirits if you are low? A walk through the Botanic Gardens, a meal sitting outside on a warm evening in Byer's Road, a visit to Kelvingrove Museum and Art Gallery to view some of my favourite paintings, breakfast in their cafe which had just opened again that morning, and the purchase of a pair of cosy gloves from the museum shop. It was only 24 hours but it felt like a long weekend and I enjoyed every minute! Almost 'normal'.      Overstimulated by a trip to the city, I was grateful for a gentle start to today. The mist was slow to rise and the morning air cool and moist. It's turning inot a beautiful sunny day, and I will be taking it easy. A little painting, a little housework and a little planning...No news today. I am looking after my mental health. What are your plans for today?  ..always comes over me when I have to acknowledge that summer is over..  What a wonderful expression Sheena (see yesterday's comments). It's why we drink tea from our special cup and saucer rather than a chipped mug, wear lipstick under our mask (loved that one), spend time looking at Instagram or Pinterest, or Country Living magazine, and play dreamy music at breakfast. Did anyone enjoy Kylie Flavell's channel by the way? It's why I prettied up the greenhouse again (I know at least one of you has a new greenshouse. I hope you are having fun with it!) A little bit of frivolity or escapism ..lovely. Especially in summer. Especially this summer.  ..came to stay for Midsummer. We had not seen each other for 17 months, during which she had gone through some terrible times. The weather was gogeous. We hugged, we talked, we ate, we drank. We decorated the greenhouse, we snoozed in the sun..       The moon came up.. We talked tlll mdnight It was relaxing and restorative and healing and fun!! ..Until death, it's all life..  yay moment in Venice I am celebrating Midsummer and the fact that I am alive! Happy Midsummer Day.X Is your joy in living, your enthusiasm for life returning? It is so obvious with hindsight that the missing element was contact - physical human contact with others. As I catch up with family and friends, and we hug and get around the table together it comes home to me. And the joy comes back as we eat and talk and laugh and cry. 'The retrospectoscope is an endlessly useful instrument' said a professor, whose name I have forgotten, in the early days of the pandemic. What do you see looking back?  ..is the first day of the rest of your life I told myself firmly this morning. So get on with it!
..may become shorter and/or erratic as I try to tie up the loose ends of my ever busier life! Blgging, gardening and painting and seeing friends, not to mention the odd lazy hour in the hammock are my happy experiences as my world becomes ever more colourful...  Mainly green and yellow but with great explosions of colour to come. May your days be rainbow coloured. And happy.  Freedom makes me happy. Have we ever appreciated it more? Have you given some thought to what make you happy? |
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January 2022
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