What Am I Doing?

 

 

 

 

 

Doves in my garden
(Pics taken through my (dirty!) window)

Dear Diary,

What am I doing?

I am:

Listening to:

My Last Fm station with lots of my favourite tracks.  You can listen too – go to the side panel of my blog and scroll down to the Music bit. Click on my Playlist in the top left hand corner and when a page opens dismiss the message that says something doesn’t exist. Then go to Library Radio or if you can’t find that go to Music. Play my library radio and my music will play continuously – I skip those I don’t want to listen to (a few are slotted in by ‘obscure’ artists, not many). I know a few bloggers who do listen to my music while working, why not have a go and tell me if you like/don’t like. Or any song suggestions are always welcome.

Watching:

Out of the Window.

Doves and snowflakes. The flakes are sometimes huge and have been swirling all day but none have  landed because the wind is so strong. I don’t think they could reach the ground if they wanted to. Much needed moisture for the plants and the water levels too.  I have made sure all the birds have enough food because I know many are busy feeding their babes.

Photographing:

Pics of my doves, some are above.  We have two tall pines in the garden and in the one there are two wood pigeons  nesting and in the other are the pair of precious, gentle doves, they are our neighbours every year.

Discovering:

Windows Live Essentials –thanks to Country Girl   who says she uses it to post photos on Blogger and they are posted ‘big’. I don’t know why but Blogger only posts my pics real small. I have had a quick go with Essentials and so far it hasn’t worked but I am on the case to learn how to resize the pics before posting.  Any help would be welcome!  So many bloggers out there manage to put up ‘large’ photos but I am hopeless.

Learning:

Brushing up on my French because I am going on a trip to France with my daughter later in the year; we are searching for my husband’s grandmother’s roots in Pleurtuit, Normandy and other parts.  I only have French ‘O’ Level and am reading the dictionary while I wait for sites to load etc.  I also have French language learning CD’s in the car but have not been allowed to drive for six weeks (which are up tomorrow, yippee).

Also learning how to use my new camera. I have gone from a little Nikon point and shoot to a more expensive type one (after much pressure from M to treat myself). I now have a Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ45 24X Optical Zoom 14 mega pixels HD (whatever all that means). It has a Leica lens which I gather is something special.

Excited about:

Something I can’t mention just yet.

Reading:

The Help by Kathryn Stockett ( a must-read – has she written anything else I wonder?) and Selected Diaries by Virginia Woolf. Thoroughly enjoying both and look forward to the books I have on order from the library (see side panel for titles).

Recognising:

That I am 100% introvert. Have you watched the TED video below about the subject? Susan Cain’s book is one I would like to read. Her website has a quiz whereby you can ascertain how introvert/extrovert you are. I came out a complete intro.  Pondside left an interesting comment  on my post. 

Sometimes I think that blogdom is full of introverts masquerading as extroverts. 

(I know what she means). 

Elaine Aron’s book The Highly Sensitive Person is a good one to read if you or your child is introverted.

Angry About:

This could be an ongoing section as every day something, or more than one thing, gets me wound up. Feel free to add your own wind-ups in the comments section.

Today it is the fact that English libraries are once more trying to go down the road of getting rid of librarians and replacing them with volunteers. 

Also the fact that Big Brother is now wanting to monitor our emails, texts, Tweets etc. and to hold courts behind closed doors. 1984 is still becoming a reality it seems.

Wishing for:

Inspiration to write, writer’s block has set in rather.

Cooking:

The Herman Cake.  Or Hermione as I prefer to call it as I feel she is feminine. Or Friendship Cake as some may know it but it actually originates in Germany so the name Herman is probably more correct.  I can’t give you the recipe as you have to receive a yeast-based ‘starter’ to get the cake going and only a friend can give you that. Would that I could send it to you online.

Enjoying:

Playing catch-up in the  garden. Having not been able to touch it for six months I am now well enough to go out and clear all the dead stuff away, albeit in slow motion. It has taken days and days and I have had barrows and barrows of the stuff but at last it is all done. Next job is weeding and then when all danger of frost has passed (not for a long while) I shall be able to start planting etc.

Genealogy – this is ongoing – doing my own and others' trees is never-ending but so addictive and I am learning so much about history along the way.

Happy about:

Regaining my appetite and now I just have to regain all my lost weight. My energy is returning too though I am really tired by the evening, but then who isn’t?

If you’ve read this far, thank you.

I must sign off with a tribute to the wonderful poet Adrienne Rich who sadly passed away last week.

God rest her soul.

Translations

You show me the poems of some woman

my age, or younger

translated from your language

Certain words occur: enemy, oven, sorrow

enough to let me know

she’s a woman of my time

obsessed

with Love, our subject:

we’ve trained it like ivy to our walls

baked it like bread in our ovens

worn it like lead on our ankles

watched it through binoculars as if

it were a helicopter

bringing food to our famine

or the satellite

of a hostile power

I begin to see that woman

doing things: stirring rice

ironing a skirt

typing a manuscript till dawn

trying to make a call

from a phonebooth

The phone rings unanswered

in a man’s bedroom

she hears him telling someone else

Never mind. She’ll get tired.

hears him telling her story to her sister

who becomes her enemy

and will in her own time

light her own way to sorrow

ignorant of the fact this way of grief

is shared, unnecessary

and political.

Adrienne Rich

Bye for now,

Cait.