15th Jan 2022

Happy New Year all. Let’s hope this year will be better than the last. Maybe we’ll wake up and this all has been a bad dream. Two years on and the Great Lurgy is still threatening us. Working is still not happening.

I managed to have a wee break in September. I went to Pitlochry with my sister-in-law and her cousin. It has been our annual trip now some years. It was cancelled twice and finally last year we got away. It was lovely to be away somewhere distant. The furthest away I had been for ages was a quick trip to Dumfries. Well, I had to go to Glasgow once, the car needed new brake discs and pads. Here I have a big advantage when it comes to car maintenance. Being a female, with very little knowledge about technical matters, I distrust when anybody – even the car’s computer – says the car needs…. The local garage I have been using the past forty years gives me always an honest opinion so when the brakes and pads became an issue I asked them the first opinion and when they said yes they need replacing I was very happy to do it.

I have sad news to report. Katie the collie had to be sent to chase balls in the doggie heaven. She became too frail, she had no quality of life any more. Two weeks before Christmas when she came in from her constitutional she collapsed, couldn’t stand any more and I thought I can’t put off any longer the inevitable. My special friend Iain was with me when we took Katie to the vet. I seemed to be very quick peaceful event, no lingering, no suffering. I do miss the mutt! WAAAH! She was company, someone to talk to. She was the sweetest dog possible. She was very gentle, never growled, never tried to bite anyone. Serious nosing yes! It took several months to hear the first bark. Dawson and I were with her in the car – she loved travelling in the car – and there was suddenly a Woof. We got a fright! She was very intelligent. Collies are supposed to be clever and it seemed sometimes Katie was using human logic to solve problems. And she seemed to adore me, no matter how I sometimes got annoyed with her.

25.1.2022

It looks like some restrictions are being lifted, they think the covid is waning. I’ll still be wearing a mask in public closed places a some time to come. So far I have avoided the Lurgy but it is creeping uncomfortably close. Some family members have tested positive but are luckily ok. They say it is a bit like a mild cold.

Dancing can start again. A good thing too. My waist line keeps on expanding. The roll of lard at midriff is getting bigger. Eating less would help. Eating became hobby during all the lockdowns and restrictions. I tried having a dry January but failed miserably. I’ll try dry’ish February. That might work.

I have had two nice surprises recently. An old school friend got in touch. She is trying to arrange a class of 1966 (!!) meeting for spring. That would be good. It would be a good excuse to go to Finland, to see mother, meet old school friends. I must lose that roll of lard by then…

And another old school friend sent me a text, gave a brief report about her recent life. It could easily be ten years ago when I last saw either of these friends. Amazingly I have responded to both communications. I have learned that if I don’t answer straight away it can be months, even years, before I remember to respond. Especially in the past two years procrastination and laziness have become worse.

7.2.2022

Work has started in a small scale. Literally. I have been making wee flowers out of the new blue clay. Part of the problem has been that I haven’t had any really new things to do. They have been largely theme and variations.  It is good to try something different. I have a vague idea what to do with the flowers and that’s good enough. Also, I have a new strategy to lure me to the studio. I put on the heating and hope I’ll be too mean to waste it. With the current situation in the world, environment, economics, you try to do everything possible to save money and the planet. You recycle as much as you can, the light is on only in the room you are in, heating gets put on when you feel cold – there is a limit to how many layers of clothing you can wear indoors before it becomes ridiculous. Electric blanket is a life saver! Bedded bliss. Usually by the end of the evening the feet are ice cold, the joints are creaking and you can’t wait to go to bed to get warm. Yesterday I lasted until 9.30. I was watching the television. Usually the channel hopping finger gets exhausted and I take it to a warm bed to recover. Last night I was watching the Queen’s 70 years, Attenborough’s plant programme, the Antiques Roadshow and the Pottery Throwdown, all very interesting.

I have a lemon tree and it has been producing phenomenal amount of lemons (50). They are sweeter and juicier than commercial ones. They are all ready now and there are so many of them that I have been giving them away. Today though, I thought of a way to store them. I experimented juicing some of them and added icing sugar, then froze them in small pots. They are now ready for the favourite cocktail Long Island Iced Tea. Just add the alcohol.

Dry’ish February is going well. Lapsed perhaps once…

8.3.2022

Now the world has really gone bonkers. We are living on knife’s edge whether we survive or not. An evil man has got the western world on stranglehold. Being power hungry, narcissistic, feeling insignificant, inadequate and inferior is not a good combination. Now, which world leader am I talking about..? Oh, one of them is not in power any more. Let’s hope somehow miraculously this situation  will resolve soon and the people of Ukraine can return home and live in peace. As if the two long covid years haven’t been bad enough we now have to cope with this. Mankind is not willing to learn from old mistakes.

With the energy prices sky high my driving, heating the house, keeping lights on, has gone back to the lockdown levels – without anybody having to tell me how bad it is for the nature. Sometimes I feel I’m trying to save the environment on my own.

Well, that was another wee rant. I am getting very good at rants.

I am unlikely to work today. The heating isn’t on in the studio, it is six degrees C there. My friend Iain said he’ll open the fridge door to let out some warmer air… Cheeky boy. I am using the studio as an extended fridge. Good for the vegetables – lots of cool air circulating keeps the veg fresh longer. No problem with air circulating today. The high winds are coming in through every wee gap in the walls and windows. Old houses have more character than new ones in my opinion but they have a drawback in that they are difficult to keep warm. Even with the max loft and cavity wall insulation, double glazing, curtains, in the high winds it is waste of money to keep the heating on. The cold air seems to migrate in and warm air out. Ah well, put on another layer of clothing. I’m off to make a cup of tea and sit in the snug. The fire is on.