It’s that time of year again. Too much food, not enough exercise, late nights, late mornings, never shifting from the sofa. I’ve officially done too much relaxing now, eaten too much chocolate, and I need to get moving again. Yesterday I started sewing, and now that the Christmas knitting is finished I’ve picked up a couple of long-abandoned projects that I’m enjoying working on again.
Last night I couldn’t sleep, and was nestled into the sofa again at half past three in the morning. I managed to find a spot of David Attenborough on the telly, and when he’d finished I found a programme with Maya Angelou. I also watched a five minute preview of “Here Comes Honey Boo Boo”, and that’s five minutes of my life I’m never getting back. Sometimes I despair of humanity, I really do, and I don’t know what kind of mess we’ll be in when people like David Attenborough and Maya Angelou are gone. I was very glad to have the opportunity to watch them, and even though I’m very tired, I’m also inspired by their excellence and experience.
When the sun came up, I opened the blinds and curtains and was met with this. I’m sure I’ll show you many pictures of this view, and this picture doesn’t do any kind of justice to the beautiful light that fills this space. Now the ice is melting as the sun comes up, and every leaf in the garden is twinkling as the heavy frost melts and falls. The houses at the back are nearing completion, and I’m thinking about what kinds of trees we can plant to disguise the vast expanse of that big brown roof. We were lucky enough to suffer very little damage in the storms, just the loosening of a few already-wobbly fence panels, but we know we have a lot of work do do out there.
Inside the house, I had a little flash of inspiration right when I should have been going to bed. This led to the late night shifting of furniture, and the creation of a little crafty corner. It’s not the most elegant arrangement, but it fits in the space and fulfils its function, which makes it ideal! The table and chair are from the 1950s, and used to belong to my Great Uncle Frank. They’re the closest thing I have to a family heirloom in furniture terms, and I’m really happy that they’ve found a little space in the new house. (Plus they match the curtains, which is a bonus!) The bookshelf on top used to belong in Paul’s teenage bedroom, and we have several of them scattered around the house. I might paint it, if Paul doesn’t mind. It’s the perfect size to hold my knitting books and magazines, and the big box at the bottom is my “emergency craft box” that I have to confess I haven’t touched since the move.
As always, when the New Year approaches, I’m full of good intentions and thoughts of diaries and journals and plans. Every year I buy a new planner or start a creative project that always falls flat after a few weeks. This year I’ve downloaded Susannah Conway’s Unravelling 2014 workbook (free) and Leonie Dawson’s Life and Business Workbooks (not free). I’ve also joined a Facebook Group called The Documented Life Project, which is about keeping a planner and art journal combined – something I’ve tried before, but never quite succeeded at. I’m hoping that now I have a little place where I can sit down, with arty and crafty materials at hand, I’ll have no excuse not to follow the weekly prompts and see what happens. We’ll see…