Plus ca change .....

Today can be summarized as more of the same. I hope I will soon have some time to get crafting - there are interesting challenges on Crafts by Carolyn every day in December: if you want inspiration for Christmassy makes, it's a good place to visit, and there are lots of people there who blog their craft makes (don't make exact copies, please: they put a lot of work into designing them and it's just not fair).

Better

As usual I'm referring to the weather! After several days of being grey it was nice and sunny to look at (and the best thing is, I could stay inside!)

Let's get something more interesting on record!

I copied up the letter my mother had ready to send out for Christmass, which I will print when she has seen it. Decided to give people gift tokens for Christmass (because despite my asking, the likelihood of me getting a list out of anybody is .... I just know I won't). My sister has just had a major refurbishment of the ground floor of the house and new central heating (four months of the builders in, and renting a flat!!). I'm sure she must have things she would like to have to fit the new rooms, but whether she will ever tell me ....

I am a little further on in my own efforts to get my place up to scratch. The fig tree (thereby hangs a tale - large fig tree, far too large) is now cut down to the trunk, so I hope will be kept within bounds (and if not and I have to get rid, a major part of the work is done). I got it done just before the weather changed so will have much more light in the dull months of winter. A builder has come to look at the conservatory door and floor which both need attention, and I hope as a result the living room will be warmer, without the draught from the conservatory.

Brrrrrr!

Well, as announced, I was out to Mass this morning. Then picked up bread and more (for the storecupboard - three months more of winter to come, at least, so the fewer the trips to the shops the better) and later in the afternoon to an ecumenical carol concert (singing by the local Anglican choir - a good one, which is why I went - and readings by everyone else, I think). Strictly speaking it is one of the Anglican choirs here, but it belongs to the oldest of the Anglican churches and is probably the biggest, so calling it the Anglican choir is accurate (but don't tell the others!). I picked up some leaflets about musical events they are having in December - good music five minutes from my door is good for my soul, my bank balance(compared to going into London) and my carbon footprint!! After that I went on to Mass.

Just in case you wonder, this does not mean I am a religious nut (though my Catholic faith is important to me): it just means it took me such ages to get out this morning that I only arrived half way through!! As I was already out tonight I had the necessary layers of clothing on, so this time around I arrived before it started!

All this meant that I in fact spent more time out than in today, and my feet still haven't got warm!! Well and truly time to dive under the duvet, where they will (even if it takes a bit longer than I'd like).

Yukky weather

The bad news is: the weather forecast was all too accurate.
The good news is: I'm hibernating! :) (until Sunday, when I will have to venture out to Mass).

I will probably have to pick up some bread as well, as I didn't get enough last time I went out (it was too late in the day). Sunday trading means I can do the two in one trip - strictly speaking I ought to be a conscientious objector to it, but it's a great help to me to have the option in this sort of weather, and I don't have a family who would lose out by it. I do think it is vital that employees can opt out without any loss to their prospects.

Church law forbids one from doing servile work on Sundays: the only thing that qualifies under that heading for me is doing Tax Returns. If you find me doing that on a Sunday I am right up against a Monday deadline ...... and yes, I did get our deacon to help me out with the last bit one Sunday afternoon recently (my brain was refusing to make sense of the adding up -. quite within my capabilities, but I just went blank on it). As he was performing an act of charity rather than work I wasn't leading him astray, and I had tried to make sense of it before, so hopefully I'm in the clear!!

Enough of those technicalities! I hope I have seen the last of the Tax Returns.

My immediate task is to copy up my mother's life story, which I am doing as she writes it - just the right thing to be doing in this horrid weather as I can stay inside, warm and cosy. :) Sometime I must join the Northumbrian Family History Society and do some research on her father during WW1 - he was one of the lucky ones who came back in one piece, though as he was MC and Bar and mentioned in despatches three or four times he must have seen some fighting. I'd like to find the citations for those honours.

Cold, wet and windy!

The weather forecast promised another icy blast tomorrow so I decided to do my shopping today (riding a mobility scooter means you get to feel every little bit of wind that's blowing - which is no joke when it's coming straight down from the Arctic .... ). Have now got sufficient stamps for my mum's cards and my own, a couple more pressies and a couple more books (if I ever won the lottery the local bookshop would be the very first to know!) and am hibernating forthwith - no such thing as a quick trip to the shops as it takes me longer to don the extra layers than it does to get the shopping. Although my desktop gizmo says the temperature outside now is the same as it was yesterday, it feels cold (probably because it was wet today, which the forecast didn't say).

I hate winter - I think I must have been a lizard or a cat in a previous incarnation (our cat used to sit right in your way, but just where the pipes for the central heating ran under the floor) ... one of the reasons I like cats is because they know how to look after themselves: any self-respecting cat (and most are) can look at you with a pathos that suggests it hasn't been fed for at least a fortnight (the one that came visiting here and tried that one got short shrift - having had a cat at home I was wise to it!!)

I wouldn't want to lose winter altogether - I'd just like a lot less of it (the same amount as we got summer this year would be plenty) ...... and we have January and February still to come :( The pressies I got today were terribly boring and predictable - but I hope they'll suit the people concerned (and I'll tuck a little extra inside the parcel so it's not just practical).

Habit-forming?

Just visited my fave website (Crafts by Carolyn - if you're into crafting and don't know it, it's a great place to visit) to find I have two comments, so thanks to the friends on there who found me here (they have crafty-inspired places to visit, too - My Crafty Outlook and Mishaps in the Making - so if you're into crafting look them up).

Hmmm ..... this blogging lark could get into a habit ...... and I haven't looked at my emails yet!

At last!

At last I have discovered how to add to this blog! (It does help if you can remember your username and password ...... ). This does not necessarily mean frequent and regular upadates, but should mean something more frequent than once a quarter!!

So what have I been doing since August? Mostly Tax Returns (yaaaaaaawn, believe me, you don't want to know any more; it has to be one of the most boring occupations known to man, and I certainly don't!) but now they are all done and I can live again - Hurrah!!

Next thing is to get sorted (well, the basics, fundamental sorting will take forever). I have started with my craft stuff. (Anybody who is into crafting will know that it can easily take over the whole house and is inherently messy.) A sort out is long overdue so that I know what I have and where to find it - it is so annoying knowing you have just the right thing to fit that work of art but not being able to find it!! And you never know, the place might just look a little less messy as a result .....

Maybe I will even get around to making some things as Christmass gifts .......

(by the way, you may wonder at my spelling of Christmass - it's just a little hint to remember it as a religious festival rather than merely a commercial opportunity, though I'd hate to think I was on a soapbox or coming over heavy in the process)