January

The year started with cold crisp weather; a bit too cold and potentially slippery underfoot for venturing outside so an excellent reason to stay indoors. We didn't get the heavy snow of other places but enough fell, just into the second week, to change the world to somewhere magical where wild beasts prowl the pavements, and, more prosaically, to  block our drive and make getting the car out impossible. 

Then it suddenly faded away over night leaving the est of the month dull and dreary. We've thankfully had no dramatic deluges of rain but I feel it's been one of the most relentlessly damp winters I've known.

To cheer things up, I'd set hyacinth bulbs in December and now they were beginning to flower plus I treated myself to a bunch cheap supermarket daffodils, both welcome precursors of Spring flowers in the garden. 

To occupy me, I started the first of my Christmas present craft kits, three trolls/gnomes off on an adventure. This was an excellent project for short winter days as it mainly involved a little crafting followed by a longer period waiting for glue to dry

Then, while the rain continued to fall, I completed another Christmas present - a jigsaw representing plants from around the world.

As the month wore on, I thought I ought to make an effort to get back to a normal rhythm and undertake something a little more practical, checking my 'to-do' list and turning frozen tomatoes into passata, and pickling the 15p red cabbage left over from Christmas.

Towards the end of the month, things suddenly became busier. We headed up to Manchester to join my younger daughter and her fiance at the Bengali Sri Sri Saraswati celebration, and the next day (fortunately dry) visited Dunham Massey's Winter Garden.

Back home, seizing another dry day, we went out to Kedleston Hall to see more snowdrops in flower, I went out for tea and gossip with a neighbour, and by the end of the month I spotted crocus on one of my late afternoon local walks.

Spring is coming! .Days are noticeably longer and, with luck, the rain will eventually stop.

 

February already?

Somehow we're already at the end of January, and I can't believe how quickly the month has flown. It isn't as if I've been busy - if anything this year I've done less than normal

I firmly believe that January should be taken slowly. The run up to Christmas and then the festivities up to New Year are always busy (even for a stay-at-home person lie me) but I like to take the beginning of the year at a gentle pace, using it as time of reflection.

This year though has been quiet for a different reason - a slip on the stairs on New Year's Day, twisting both ankles. Hurt one, and you can hobble around on the other; hurt both, and you can't move far.

I've spent a lot of time just sitting, trying to concentrate enough to read or think straight through the distraction of pain, having to take things day by day, making no plans about what I might do the next week. As always the garden proved a respite, dragging myself outside whenever possible to see the Christmas roses in flower, the snowdrops and daffodils enthusiastically pushing through, or just to catch the sunshine through goldenrod seedheads, though a week of snow and ice hindered these attempts at exercise. Gradually I've progressed from using two walking sticks, to one, and eventually managing without.

Lack of mobility is fortunately no setback to taking part in online activities, so I joined in with an online Stitch Camp which gave me something to focus on for a few days. I wasn't happy with what I made but it gave me inspiration for future projects.

As has become my norm, I've decided to take part in Veganuary but at the beginning of the month standing to cook was impossible and the easy dinner options from the freezer mainly involved chicken pies or fish and chips. About a fortnight ago I switched over to vegan food, though still relying a lot on ready prepared options with an occasional chilli or something. I'm going to carry on into February though to see if I can make it to 31 days, so there's plenty of time for me to get me cooking mojo back.

The focus this month has certainly been on the smaller things in life; a bit, I suppose, like the practice of mindfulness.  January definitely hasn't been that unimaginably long month that I hear others talking about; it seems rather to have flashed past. So now I find it's suddenly February, that days are longer, and spring seems to be in the air (maybe. Let's see what the Groundhog has to say tomorrow)

Slow January

January is a slow, nothing happening sort of month. After the rush of things to be done in the lead up to Christmas, and the bustle of visitors, there's an emptiness to the start of the year. There's no pressing hurry for anything to be done, in the garden or around the house, so for me, with no return to work or school vibes around, it drifts in laziness and apathy. 

The month got off to a particularly slow start with a lingering cold (tested several times just to be sure it wasn't anything more, because that's what we do these days), but I'm now trying to embrace this quiet time; to approach it with mindfulness not waste it in idleness.

I'm taking inspiration from various sources. Firstly a subscription which I won to Mud and Bloom children's natural activity boxes. Admittedly this is really for my grandson, but planting bulbs, making art and decorations with pine cone and twigs, and generally paying attention to the natural world are things we can do no matter what our age. 

So I pottered outside to see my Christmas roses flowering (a little late), set some sweet peas and pansies, and along with my groceries I bought a pot of mini-daffodils which are now brightening up my kitchen windowsill. And when I can find some alder cones, I'm going to make some bees like those featured in the 'January' box, probably for Easter decorations.

Second, is a publication with a very similar ethos, but aimed at adults - the Simple Things magazine. I've been considering a subscription for a while but with a New Year offer decided to treat myself. The actual magazines haven't begun to arrive yet but an anthology (or compendium/compilation/call it what you will) of previous articles has. It takes the reader on a journey through the year with seasonal things to do, cook, grow, plus a range of loosely related articles. 

Copying an idea from the winter section, I retrieved some sprigs of fir from the Christmas tree, an old hessian bathsalts bag, and made a pine (with lingering lavender) -scented drawer sachet. 

Following with the idea of slow, simple, but great tasting food, I've started a new sourdough - which has already led to homemade naan, focaccia, and cinnamon apple rolls, and hopefully sometime soon there'll actually be bread!

Taking part in Veganuary also helps me think about what I eat, instead of just filling myself with junk food. So, although some days I've gone for 'vegan alternatives like fish-less fingers, most evenings I make something from scratch - curries, chillies, stir fries - trying to use last summer's homegrown veg - so many runner beans and tomatoes in the freezer, and several pumpkins, including these huge moscade de Provence with amazing orange flesh. 

Although coughing and sneezing has kept me at home, I've tried to spent at least a few quiet minutes outside each day watching the sun set or spying the full Wolf moon hiding among the birch branches. 

I'm now starting to feel ready to take on the New Year, with plans hatching for busier warmer days ahead.

Snow days

On Sunday morning I was watching the sky impatiently as almost everyone else on social media appeared to have had snow overnight. Even in London! 

Then, in the early afternoon, flakes began to fall. Gently, hesitantly, at first, but within an hour there was about 6 inches of snow covering the lawn.

And it didn't stop there but continued to fall for the rest of the day. I went outside briefly to clear branches but decided it was too chilly and wet for a longer walk.

Monday dawned clear and bright. The garden trees still had snow decorating their branches, and paths and lawn had disappeared under a smooth blanket broken only by the footprints of cats and birds.

The easiest way to clear the path was, not to get out a shovel and dig, but to roll a ball, and make a snowman. The snow was loose and light though, and he didn't turn out as big as I expected.

Just before lunch I decided it was time to get out and see more snow, up on the nearby playing fields. A lot of people had decided the same thing though, and it wasn't the pristine blanket of the back lawn.

My garden must be more sheltered than I realised as there was little snow left holding onto the trees which surround the field, only on the wider heavier branches.

By Tuesday, it was starting to melt away, helped by persistent drizzle, and by Wednesday the only sign of snow left was my deformed snowman.

More is forecast though! After some warmer days, temperatures will be dropping again at weekend, and Sunday is predicted to have more snow. Usually my delight in snow is tempered with the knowledge that there'll places places I was planning to go, people I said I'd meet, but right now there's nowhere I can go, so I'm happy to be housebound for a day or so.

 

Jottings - 24th January - busier, happier week

 As you may have gathered from the title, this week has been busier and happier. Perhaps happier because busier. Actually, make that definitely rather than perhaps. 

  After the bustle of organising, and re-organising, and re-arranging everything again of Christmas (thanks a lot, Boris), January has been too quiet and I've slipped back into that empty nest feeling that comes when children leave home. Try as I might I couldn't find a focus for my days, and was in danger of slipping back into last Spring's lazy habits. 

Then I found a purpose in life - starting a sourdough culture - and my days since have revolved around it. When I wasn't actually tending it (to be honest that takes about 15 minutes max, but it does set something in stone which must be done) I was reading up and watching on line videos on best ways to keep one going. A lot seem to make things needlessly complicated - from fancy flour to specialist equipment - rather than help, but I found Irish Examiner food columnist Colm O'Gorman's Instagram tutorials helpful and inspiring, and posts I'd seen over summer from author Sarah Jasmon encouraged me to experiment and use each day's 'discard'. 

I'm a thrifty, waste-not-want-not style, housekeeper at best, and I hated the thought of throwing perfectly good 'dough' away, so loosely following Sarah's ideas I've tried to make something every day - pancakes, dough balls, dumplings, a pie/cake now named Rhubarb Caramel Sourdough, cinnamon rolls - and I'll continue to do that.

This has certainly kept me busy, plus my Veganuary challenge keeps me busy as meals seem to take more planning than usual to avoid repeating the same dinner too often. We've had a week of chillis, curries, pasta (with doughballs), winter roots stew with dumplings, but occasionally I've fallen back on lazy ready-prepared mock-chicken pies and burgers.

I've completed a skirt I started before Christmas (being home-made, it has pockets!), and knitted a pair of gloves. It's all kept me busy, and left less time for scrolling through worrying news reports.

To finish the week off in style, Sunday brought a heavy fall of snow. Normally my delight in snow is tempered by knowing it will be impossible to drive anywhere. But this year I've nowhere to go, so I can enjoy it.