Month: December 2022
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When life’s fraught, and there’s a momentary break in the clouds
It’s been a busy couple of days, but mostly filled with increasing anxiety about the immediate future. Will the house sale go through? Will the anticipated surgery actually happen, for our own surgeon daughter, so she can keep working for the NHS? Will we get everything ready for the imminent arrival of family? Will there…
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Joys of Christmas present
The tree is ready for dressing . . . when the time comes, we’ll move it from the jammed-in corner and centre it a bit. The star will point the way to Bethlehem, and we’ll figure out a proper angel, or perhaps a stand-in, for the peak. The stories will be told and re-told: religious,…
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The joy of a clever idea
One of the reasons I get quite grumpy around this time of year is that I have to deal with siting the annual Christmas tree. We’ve had so many live ones in, over the years, that there’s no more room in the garden to plant any more! So this year, with great reluctance, I agreed…
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Continuing joys of clearance
Sometimes, with the best will in the world, it’s too challenging to recycle, and yet things must be cleared. The little Fiat Panda is chock-full of stuff for the recycling centre, and the cardboard still left over from its store under the big bakery oven felt overwhelming. Another little bonfire was the only realistic solution.…
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The compelling relief of access, or egress . . .
When you live far up in the high fellsides, half a kilometre from the nearest road, you do feel properly isolated. That’s lovely, and we’ve loved the sense of living in a remote location for the past decades, of course. But there are challenges to this sort of lifestyle, and perhaps the most salient one…
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A completed list
I do make lists, but it’s rare to have a completed set of ticks by the end of the day. For one reason or another, with the perseverance I aspired to yesterday, I did manage to tick every task off the list! That’s enough joy to carry my weary muscles, joints and sinews through into…
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Perseverance, because . . . what else?
Sometimes setbacks feel so very daunting that it’s hard to see how or whether one’s pursuit of any particular project is worthwhile. In writing, in particular, this feeling must be so pervasive as to drive so very many authors to despair. I’ve had this sense of banging into a wall for several days now, amplified…
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A joy of wonder . . .
In one of my writing groups, the monthly task has been to do a piece on the deep significance of something very small. The writing should embody the meaning, rather than telling us. I decided to write something about my discovery of an iconic piece of LEGO. I was pleased (I confess that I am…
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The joys of flexibility
This morning I’m exulting in multiple uses for the same thing. A few years ago we decided to tidy an awkward wedge of space behind our house. The idea was to store wood for the bakery oven, so it would be conveniently accessible, and dry. The first incarnation of the roof was not felicitous; too…
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Advent joy
My beloved opened the first package in her advent calendar this morning. My delightful task, after receiving a lovely thank you embrace, was to retrieve her faithful eSpinner from out of the recessed window nook in the craft room, so she could start to spin the Falklands Merino, Sari Silk and Bamboo blend. Nothing like…
Roads to Joy 