Saturday, December 15, 2018

What I realised

This week I realised that:

if I wake up in the middle of a lovely dream at 5 a.m. for a pee, it is still possible to sink back into the loveliness, if not to the dream itself. I'd been dreaming about my mother who died 10 years ago and when I got back from the bathroom and climbed under the duvet and closed my eyes, she was still around 

I need to have my breakfast in bed on a tray, otherwise I get jam on my iPad

if you hang Christmas decorations in a south facing window your eye will be drawn to the muck on the glass lit up by the low winter rays of the sun (reader, I cleaned said windows)

writing Christmas letters via dictation onto my iPad is so much easier than writing them by hand

I did not mind - this year - getting an email instead of a Christmas card, from a friend who preferred to donate the money to Shelter

I was not quite ready to follow suit myself, but I might do next year 

I still love my robin Christmas cards that I've collected over the years, seen here displayed in the loo



forcing myself out on my bike on a bitingly cold day improves my state of mind no end

it is possible to transport a potted African violet without damage on a bike, by placing it in a waste paper basket inside your open pannier.

it still feels weird, even though my 'kids' are now in their 30s and 40s and we've had an empty nest for years, that I am not stressed at Christmas; and sometimes I long for the days when the family was at home and I was working  and exhausted by everything that needed doing and would seek refuge in a long hot bath with the bathroom door locked, refusing all interruptions

my new phone really does take better photos than my old camera. Here's Thursday's sunset taken from the field across the road from our house:



(bother, I just noticed the telegraph wire.)

lastly, something I knew already - even though he hates Christmas, Dave makes beautiful Christmas decorations in stained glass




3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love reading your blog Sue - quick note to say thank you for another year of posts, from the thought provoking to the hilarious.

And to say that I too relented on the cards front - it was just too nice opening Christmas messages from people I still treasure but don’t correspond with regularly. Those tenuous but warm links across distance and time somehow feel more important than ever.

Then this morning, I treated myself to a most satisfying ‘shop’ on the Choose Love (Help Refugees) link you provided, sending an Arrival Bundle, Shelter Bundle and Hygiene Kit to help. Thank you for bringing that to our attention.

Dave’s lights - ah, yes.

Happy Christmas to you both.

Anonymous said...

Sue-Thanks for all the tips. I loved seeing your collection of “robin” cards. Absolutely beautiful. Dave’s lights are lovely-colorful and simple.
So thankful to have found your blog on twitter. Would love to share tea with you one day; however, that most likely will happen in my dreams!
Christmas blessings to you and your family.
Donna

Sue Hepworth said...

Thank you friends - Anonymous and Donna. Thanks for your lovely warm comments.
They make writing the blog feel worth my while.
Happy Christmas to you both.