Reverb11: Create

Create – What did you create in 2011? {prompt from Jennerosity}

A wedding. Groom's outfit by mother of bride, artwork and creative projects by the Prof, with assistance on creative input and general concept by me ;) 

Finding JOY: seventh

A beautifully sunny, windy day. Perfect for drying the washing outside. 

Reverb11: achievement

What goal did you set yourself and achieve this year? Did you achieve something you didn't think you could? {prompt from resound11}


Last January I wrote '43 things to do while I am 43', so I will take a look at that now and see how I did!

1. See an Imax film not got around to that one yet
2. Learn to crochet and make something I tried to learn to crochet, I did! Went on a course, and everything. I was the dunce of the crochet class.  
3. Get married! Done!
4. Organise my digital photographs Yep, I did that. It needs a little work again now I have taken more photos, but yes, I did do that one
5. Organise my old photos Does it count that I got them out of storage and left the box on my living room floor from July until last week, when I put them away again to make room for the Christmas tree?
6. Take a writing course too scared
7. Pass ECDL Level Two gave up the course after a few months, due to a combination of wedding stress and ill health
8. Have a colour analysis consultation Yep! Lovely parents bought it for my birthday
9. Paint the garden bench Disastrously, yes. I did it too late in the year, it got rained on immediately and the paint is all pockmarked. Will do it again in the Spring.
10. Take part in an online photography course or challenge Failed miserably with Picture Inspiration, but completed August Break. Go me!
11. Do archery again No opportunity really. 
12. Make a birthday cake Make a birthday cake? I haven't even bought a cake tin. 
13. Renew my passport No
14. Go abroad for a holiday We were planning France for our honeymoon and then changed our minds and went to Bath in Somerset.
15. Put a piece of my writing (other than the blog) online No, just blogging
16. Knit a flower brooch I recently got the pattern out and looked at it intently for a few minutes,
17. Knit 10 dishcloths, enough that I don't need to buy them anymore. Oh I love knitting dishcloths! Mindless and therapeutic. I don't like sewing the ends in though, so I have lots of unfinished ones from this year.
18. Make a pair of earrings Surprised to find this on the list, don't remember writing this. Would quite like to have a go though!
19. Visit the Tate Modern Nah
20. Visit 5 places in London I have not been to before Ooh. The Crypt of St Martin-in-the-Fields, The Thames Foreshore, um does an Anita Klein exhibition count?, Womens' Library. Not bad, but that's only 4. Must do better. 
21. Go on a walk with London Walks No, sadly. I love London Walks, but walking briskly for two hours is not one of my superpowers most days lately 
22. Go out with the Dusty Professor for proper London pie, mash and liquor Still not done this one. Can you believe I have been with this man for over three years and he has never been to a good old East End pie and mash shop? This needs to be rectified in 2012.
23. Take part in 30 days of yoga Yoga hurts.
24. Get a dining table and have people over for dinner! Dining table, check. People for dinner, not yet. Only Lisa, and she came for dinner before the table anyway and balanced her plate on her knee. 
25. Have a picnic at the ruins of Hadleigh Castle Sadly, no. 
26. Sort out and organise the house made progress
27. Sort out and organise the loft and shed hah!
28. Send some parcels of little goodies to certain people some
29. Try 10 new recipes again I say, hah! I think maybe I tried a couple. I seem to remember some chicken thing with lots of spices that stank the house out for days. Oh, and the one with the lemon wedges in, that I forgot to take out before eating and the Prof ate several wedges, peel and all. He thought they were chewy parsnips. 
30. Send the Young Philosopher's baby blankets here I have not done this yet, and I should. First thing on the list for January.  
31. Keep a record of the books I read I started keeping a list on the blog, it got long rather quickly and I got bored and deleted it. Now I wish I hadn't, as I have a poor memory and can't remember what I've read. One to do again next year, I think. 
32. Keep a record of the meals I make Oh, yes, now I remember I was going to write down what we have for dinner each day in a little diary to look at when I am lacking inspiration. Forgot to keep up with that one.
33. Take part in Susannah Conway's unravelling course Yes! Done!
34. Write real letters No...always mean to, rarely do.
35. Find and buy a pair of shoes (not boots or sandals) that are actually comfortable Forgot I write this and again I can say yes! Just last week I paid £80 (gasp) for a pair of Mary Janes from Hotter which I am hoping will be very comfortable.
36. Work my way through Part One of my French BBC course, or at least some of it! Without the French honeymoon on the horizon, I didn't bother.
37. Learn more about how to use the features on my camera Yes. Next step, Stop procrastinating over which model I want and buy that DSLR camera. 
38. Join a Tai Chi class Yes
39. Attend a traditional craft workshop Yes. Tablet weaving and drop spinning
40. Do some Saxon-style embroidery No
41. Have a boot sale No
42. Sell some books and DVDs on Amazon/ebay Amazon yes, still shying away from ebay as it looks damn complicated
43. Have a weekend away with the proceeds Not enough in the coffers, but it went towards a short break

Actually, now I look at that, I think it's not too bad an effort. I am quite impressed, I did better than I thought I had!  Time to start thinking about my 44 things list, it's my birthday soon....

Finding Joy: sixth

Is it cheating to post another photograph I took yesterday? This is a close up of the Christmas tree outside Canterbury Cathedral. I really like the effect of the lights. Isn't it pretty?

Reverb11: The Best Day

I am thoroughly enjoying Reverb11, and am awestruck and impressed and all sorts of other adjectives about the manner in which the blogging community rallied with such speed and determination within a few hours and filled the vacuum with so many great prompts. I am discovering new sources of prompts every day, and actually this way of doing things works better for me than last year. Last year I felt that the prompts, or at least my responses to them, were becoming repetitive. I love that this year there there is so much variation. I even wrote a haiku for one of the prompts, for goodness' sake! Fab. I hadn't written a haiku since school, it was fun.

For today I am being rebellious and using a December 1st prompt from a site I have just discovered. Just because there are no rules, and I can.

If you had a “snow day” announced right when you woke up, what would you do with your day? What would your perfect day look like? {prompt from #reverie11, at Eat The Paper}

To start with, I love snow, so just the fact that it was snowing in the first place would make the day pretty perfect. The last real snow day I had was when I was working. These days I am at home mostly anyway, so what a snow day would mean to me would be my husband and son home for the day. The company on a weekday would be welcome. I think I would rise about ten, and stay in pyjamas and fluffy socks all day. Breakfast would be the special patented sandwich made by my son. I'm not sure exactly how it goes, it has mushrooms, ham or bacon and a slice of fried bread in between another two slices of bread. It's crunchy, greasy and quite delicious, and would have to be accompanied by a cup of builder's tea with sugar - rooibos just wouldn't cut it in this instance.

We would then settle down on our battered old sofa for more tea, and the Saturday Telegraph crossword - it might not be Saturday, but this is my perfect day, right? My husband and I (bit of a Queen of England moment there) have been doing the Telegraph General Knowledge crossword on Saturdays since we met. On this perfect snow day we would find for the first time, that we do in fact have enough General Knowledge to complete the whole thing without having to use books and the internet for the last few clues.

We would watch some films, obviously the Princess Bride, best film ever (inconceivable!) and for laughs, Fawlty Towers or a Monty Python film. Followed by the King and I, which I love and my husband doesn't but this is MY perfect day, so he wouldn't only watch it, he would join me in singing along to all the songs and crying when Yul Brynner dies. There would be Galaxy hot chocolate with marshmallows of course, and maybe I'd pop some popcorn - sweet for him, salty for me and the Young Philosopher. Then a small nap.

For dinner it would have to be my all time comfort food which gets far too many mentions in my blog posts - egg and mash. Or tomato soup with cream and basil, with crusty bread. I think in the evening the Prof would draw, and I would curl up with a wonderful book. Oh, and cherry brandy, there has to be cherry brandy in there somewhere, and a roaring fire. Bliss.

Finding JOY: fifth

I was Christmas shopping in Canterbury today. After a couple of hours of walking around and not managing to find much of what I was looking for, I was feeling exhausted and then I came to Christchurch Gate, and there was the Cathedral. It was lovely to see it at night all lit up, and with hardly any people around. Beautiful. 

Finding JOY: fourth (belated)

This was not so much joy, as hilarity, when I noticed this on the wall of the Chinese takeaway last night. The photograph doesn't do it justice, it is larger than it looks, 3D and the shells and crustaceans inside the frame are real.