Happy 2024

 As I put the year just then, it occurred to me that it's ten years in March since I was diagnosed with spinal stenosis. 

Anyway, that wasn't what I planned to witter on about.   The subject of New Year's resolutions has cropped up on Facebook.

I haven't made any for years, in fact I don't think that I ever have.  I do promise myself to be kind to others, and myself, and treat anything bad as stoically as I can. Then move on from it, dwelling on bad stuff that happens to you just eats away at you and makes you bitter towards the world.  So, as that Disney princess sings....I try to "Let it go".

I do set myself reading and craft goals. 

The reading goals are usually the same.

1)  Read a classic

2) Re-read a favourite book

3) Read a translated book.

4) Read a Shakespeare play

and last year I added to the list, read a poetry book.

As for craft goals, I set myself several for last year, and completely forgot about them, because I had decided to knit a shawl for all my female cousins as they reached 60, and a pair of socks for my male cousins, but they have to be for their 65th birthday , as I had missed quite a few of their 60th 's. (Then I decided to add in Auntys and Uncles as they reached 80, several are already past 80, but I will work around it.)

So, I intend to keep myself busy this year.

Plans/targets/aims for 2017

If you follow my blog, you'll know that I don't make resolutions, as they are soon broken.  I like to set myself targets/aims, or make plans for the coming year.

This year one of my targets is to gain employment in some shape or form.
Another is to try to ease myself back into writing regularly, last year, I Kindle published a collection of poetry, that used different skills, as I had to prepare the poetry in the correct format.
Trying out different recipes is another that is a regular, but with so many recipes, it's always nice to give something different a try.

I must try to gather presents for Christmas throughout the year, and wrap as I go along, keeping a list of bought presents.

Reading goes without question.

Again this year, try to read a translated book, a classic, a Shakespeare play, and something that I wouldn't normally read.
I think the last, I am probably doing now, as the book I am reading is a romantic type, but not in the normal sense of the word.  In this book the main character is in a new location, she's falling in love with the surroundings, more than a person, and some of her previous preconceptions are being brought into question and either being reconsidered, or discarded.  An interesting book, but not what I usually read, and the strange thing is Angel Raphael features quite strongly in it.

I must also find time to put the various craft ideas brewing in my head, into action.

Plans for 2016

You notice that these are plans, not resolutions.
Resolutions are usually good intentions that run out of steam very quickly.
If you read my blog, you'll know that I have reason to be making changes in my life.  So....here goes.....
Plans!
Obviously I am going to find another way of making money, I might find conventional employment, or I might be working for myself, however things pan out, my life will be different in a few months.

I will still be knitting, reading, cross stitching, sewing, baking......but I have other ideas I want to explore and possibly follow up. I'll keep you updated as things develop, when I explore my ideas.

My reading plans.
1. Read a "classic" book.
2. Read a translated book.
3. Read a "classic children's book", that I haven't yet read.
4. Read some poetry.
5. Read a Shakespeare play that I haven't previously.

One of my exploring "ideas" involves me writing, perhaps the urge to write will return properly, it feels like it is beginning to already, as I have been blogging more in the last couple of weeks.  I'll try to post every day, however briefly, just to keep me going.

I'll also try to keep up my weekly kitchen challenge, and try out an "unknown" recipe every week.  The one I tried this week  was Turkish Delight, not the strangest thing I have ever created in my kitchen, but it's in the top ten.

Resolutions? An update

I thought I'd have a look at my list of non-resolutions to see how I am progressing with them so far

I have read Wilkie Collins' The Woman in White and Boris Pasternak's Dr Zhivago, and am currently reading Villette on my Kindle, so the read one classic book this year has already been completed.

I am still trying my best to eat healthily, although it did stumble slightly when I kept getting viruses.

I have made some of my own bread and will continue to do so.  I have also decided it would be good to try at least one different recipe per week.  Today I cooked a chicken and mushroom gougere.  I have never made choux pastry before so that was definitely a first.

I have been making dents in my wool stash, but did have to buy a ball of wool to complete something which I thought I had two balls the same , (enough to finish, ) but when I looked in daylight they were totally different. But the stash is diminishing.

I have only made a skirt so far from my fabric stash, and not done any more on the patchwork.

Entrelac knitting is going to be my next project in knitting.

The pot garden is being tidied slowly.  I bought mini tools suitable for using in the pots, but the extended cold spell put me off trying to weed, as frozen earth does not give up weeds readily

The kitchen, I think, is a summer project.

All in all, I feel I have managed to keep pretty much to the promises I made to myself back in January.

Will "twilight" fans be disappointed?

After putting Twilight in my post title, I've probably lost a lot of readers, but don't give up hope.  Please read on.
At the end of March there will be a film released that is based on a Stephanie Meyer novel.  Most people know Stephanie Meyer as the author of the Twilight saga, and might presume that this film is in the same vein.  If you are a reader and read the book the film is based on, and have read the Twilight books, and can tell an author's style, it will be obvious that is by Meyer, but The Host is an adult book
I had no trouble reading it, as I had only read one of the Twilight saga at the time, but a friend, Fluffy, had read the Twilight saga several times over and had to try several times before she could read the novel through.  It isn't difficult going, no, not at all.  Just the setting is somewhat bleak at the start.
If you are expecting Vampires, Werewolves and their ilk, you WILL be disappointed by The Host.  However, if you are a fantasy/futuristic fan and keep that mind open, you will probably thoroughly enjoy The Host. I'm torn between trying to watch it at the pictures, or waiting for the DVD.

Resolutions?

Have you made any?
Nah! Me neither.
What I think I will do is make decisions to try to do certain things.
One nearly everyone decides upon is to lose weight at this time of year.  I'm not going to go on a silly drastic weight loss diet, that as soon as I stop the weight will pile back on, no, I'm just going to pick healthier food, and try not to comfort eat.
I love reading, so I think I might try to read at least one "classic" book this year.
I'm also going to try to make serious dents in my fabric and wool stash, even trying not to buy any of either, for at least the first six months of the year.
There's a patchwork quilt I have all the fabric for and started, but ground to a stop, make a bit more of that up, perhaps even finish it might be a goal, but definitely  do some more.
I've long thought I would like to do some entrelac knitting, go that can go on my list.
I'm enjoying making my own bread, and like the varieties I can create, so that can join the list, too.
Try to tidy up my pot garden, get rid of weeds, etc.
This one is probably a necessity.  I think the kitchen is long overdue a re-paint.  Peach/apricot I think, with white wood work, and try to get a kitchen door.

There, I don't think those goals are too bad, they are achievable, and require me spending time doing things, which will keep me distracted from being on my own.

I'd love 2013 to bring along a "Mr Right", but I'm not holding my breath.

Holiday so far

I'm on summer break from work at the moment. Haven't done much apart from read, knit and some housework.
Today though , I decided it was time I tried to get back swimming.  As I haven't been for such a long time.  I went at noon and managed to swim 16 lengths, which is quarter of a mile.  I didn't push myself for more, as I felt I needed to get used to swimming again.  The other reason being, I had walked there, so had to factor in the walk back home, so swimming until I was exhausted would have been a very bad move. 
I feel good , but now one of my knees feels like it wants to bend wrong way when I walk.
I hope I can keep it up.  There is really no good reason why I shouldn't swim more, apart from fitting it in, and the holiday seemed to be the best time to get into a routine about it.

Free review copy

If you are a regular reader of my blog, you'll know that I love reading.
On Wednesday the postman brought a parcel that I wasn't expecting. :) Always a good thing. Inside was an advance copy of The Gallow's curse by Karen Maitland. I started reading it yesterday, and I will post my review on Waterstones when I have finished it. All I will say is so far I keep picking it up when I should be doing other things.

Blue's visit [part 1]

Blue landed in the UK on Friday 23rd of July, and arrived in Sunny Morecambe on 24th.
Most of the day we just spent relaxing, and she got to meet my "someone special", yes, he has a name, and she does know it. We had a relaxed day with a roast for tea.
Sunday, Blue and I went to have a belated birthday lunch, for me, at the Hest Bank Hotel, Oliver had come back from Manchester as well to join us. The rest of the day was spent relaxing, chatting and reading.
Monday I drove Blue up to Kirkby Stephen for her chauffeured motorcycle tour of the Dales. I'm so glad she didn't ask me to accompany her, the helmet would have scared me. we wandered around Kirkby Stephen when she returned, then drove home. After a Nice and Spicy for tea we watched Tv and chatted. At 11.30pm I went to Lancaster station to collect another friend, 13.
On the Tuesday we three went to the Falconry Centre near Skipton. The displays were amazing, I took the wrong camera, so didn't get any photos, but I did have a Barn Owl and a young Kestrel land on my hand. Whilst we were there a local Buzzard dropped in for a visit, apparently, it has figured out, if it comes close enough it will be rewarded for it's boldness. The young Kestrel was clearly ill at ease with it though.
Wednesday we explored locally, OK..we walked along the prom and looked at landmarks.
Thursday, I took Blue and 13 to St Patrick's Chapel, whilst I went to the doctor's, then we went into Lancaster, looked around, visited Waterstones, then just before 5pm I said goodbye to them as they both caught the train down to 13s home in Gloucester.

Stick to what you know

Leader's debate, education.
phonic reading? old style stupid...ITA...have to re-learn all over again..unless very bright.
Above are notes I made after watching one of the "leader's debates" before our General Election in May.

I've waited until after the election to air this one.
The winning party seemed to think there would be more literate people if the "phonic style" of reading was returned to. They clearly were unsure what exactly they were talking about.
Children currently learn to read using phonics in the first instance, I know this to be a fact as I have trained as a primary school teacher and also in a scheme that also uses phonics.
I presumed, especially due to the age of the people putting this forward they might have meant ITA, where the words are all written exactly as they are pronounced, this is NOT phonics.
The reason that method was tried in the early 1960s was for just that reason, the "powers that be" thought it would make learning to read and write easier. It did, but what they overlooked was that after learning the ITA method, pupils then had to go on to learn the conventional method. Not everyone found this easy, in fact it has been shown to be one of the reasons there was almost a whole generation who had problems with reading and writing. ITA encourages poor spelling, and when faced with a book written correctly, or any other printed matter, the less intelligent people found great difficulty reading and writing.
Literacy is a subject to the forefront of many educational debates, and sometimes people who know little or nothing about the nuts and bolts of actually teaching people to read and write, debate the subject. [Stick to what you know in a debate, don't be drawn onto a subject you are unsure of.]
If you want proof of this....Take a pencil in your "opposite hand", i.e if right-handed, your left, and vice versa. Then get someone to dictate at a fairly slow speed something they wish you to write. Unless you are lucky enough to be truly ambidextrous, it will look something like a reception age child produces. I know this is true, as during my teacher training, the lecturer had the whole group do this, and out of 40 of us, not one produced anything legible.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not against helping people become literate, at whatever age. But some of the old methods were rejected for very good reasons, and as a pointer, the less time they were used, shows how poor they were at gaining satisfactory results.
For an article about ITA, click here.
I know the debate will carry on, but more specialised help with children learning to read would help the matter. I qualified in a scheme called the Better Reading Programme", and found that it gained satisfactory results, but when all is said and done, the educators can only do their best, and if this is not supported outside of school hours, progress will never be as speedy as some might wish it was.

Things about me [1]

Thought I'd occasionally put things here, just about me. So, here goes.

I love to read, and can't remember not being able to read. At primary school I do remember flying through the school "reading scheme". So much so that I finished it by the time I had finished year 4, I would have been no older than 8, as my birthday is late on in the school year. From then on I was allowed to read whatever I wanted from the school library, tiny, and helped by listening to the remedial readers. I also read all the books in the village library for children, back then the children's books were very limited in range.
By the time I started secondary school, aged 11, I had moved on to adult books, and started reading my way through a lot of Jean Plaidy's books, most of John Wyndham's, and I know that I read practically every book on the CSE literature reading list.
When I started college I still read on the way to college on the bus, and the way home. Same thing starting work. For two years I worked in Lancaster, and used to travel from home in Catterall and back every day, reading to pass the journey.
Whenever I go on holiday I pack my current book, and at least two others to read. When I went in hospital to have my ankle operation, books and something to keep my brain occupied were as important to me as a dressing gown and nighty.
My idea of hell is somewhere with nothing to read. I once was invited to a friend's house, I thought just for tea, but they asked me to spend the night and next day there as well. The only thing I could track down in the house to read was my friend's mobile phone handbook. I got very fidgetty. My friend asked me to play on the PS1 with them, but they were playing a role play game, and I was crap at it, I prefer puzzle type games.
So now, if I go somewhere...I nearly always have a book with me. Perhaps I should leave on in my car in a glass case, with a little hammer beside it...you know...like fire things have...saying...in case of emergency...break glass.
So.....there you have it, am a self-confessed bookacholic! And I NEVER want to be cured, I can think of much worse things to be.