Christmas 2022

 

I started this post on Christmas Eve but somehow got distracted and now it's New Year's Eve.  I'm reaching the point where I've had enough of chocolate, mince pies and falling Christmas tree needles.  But not yet.  There's still tonight which we are celebrating with Paul's old friend from university and his partner, a tradition which we started way back in the 1990s and have continued most years since. 

I enjoyed the weeks running up to Christmas.  As Kate's boyfriend was away (in Qatar for World Cup) for the last week of the school term, I stayed with her to keep her company and also to attend her second graduation ceremony of the year.  This one was held in the very grand Whitworth Hall at Manchester University on one of the coldest evenings of the year -  Kate was absolutely freezing in the photo above.  And it was a challenge getting there as it was a train strike day.  But worth it: she has made some good friends on the course, several of them from Northern Ireland.  I enjoyed chatting with their parents who'd come over for the ceremony.  According to Kate my accent immediately becomes more Irish.

I also volunteered to help in Kate's school during the week I stayed there.  Watching her teach her class of 7/8 year olds was a strange experience for me.  It doesn't seem that long since I was teaching her in a class of 15/16 year olds.  I was so impressed by her confidence and skill at managing the children and, in particular, her Maths teaching.  She revised the rules of column subtraction with the class, a good job as I wasn't familiar with the method.  I helped out as best I could but was more comfortable during the English lesson on speech punctuation.  I also attended the school's Christmas production, walking with the class through icy streets to a local church.  Feeling nostalgic again as it seems no time since I was watching her in this Christmas show.

Christmas Day itself was good this year after last year's disaster, something I didn't ever report in the blog.  This time we kept Alfie far away from any chicken legs not wanting to repeat the stress and arguments caused when he devoured one whole last year while still a puppy.  Kate and her boyfriend Calum were with us for Christmas Day and Boxing Day before going on holiday with his family.  It was a lovely day.  Since Kate is now earning she was able to buy more presents and so the present opening lasted all day.  She knows what I like so I got, among other things, a new cosy dressing gown to replace the one I've been wearing for about 15 years, a fluffy hot water bottle, some rhubarb and ginger jam and some cherry liqueur chocolates. And I had a very swish new purse and handbag from Paul.  In return I bought him a rather smelly selection of cheese - he's hard to buy for. He cooked the traditional Christmas dinner and then we lazed around in front of the fire opening more presents.  Having walked Alfie in the rain in the morning, we didn't venture out again.  Just a board game - Articulate = and rubbishy television - Strictly and Call the Midwife.  

Alfie enjoyed opening his presents. 

That's it for now.  Need to get on with my New Year's Eve dessert preparation. 

Happy New year to all! 

November

Alfie has had enough of the football too.

As I write this there is yet another football match on TV.  I am very bored with the World Cup already. I suppose it is forcing me to write a blogpost though.

November has been a kind of literary month for me. I’ve read a lot, wrote a bit and attended several author events.  I went to see Patrick Gale talking about his books and in particular his latest, ‘Mother’s Boy’ which is loosely based on the life of the poet Charles Causley.  I’ve been studying his book’Notes on an Exhibition’ with one of the adult classes I teach so it was good to have an opportunity to ask him questions about it. He was a very entertaining speaker and seemed happy to speak to us about his writing.

I also went to see Maggie O’Farrell talking about her latest novel ‘The Marriage Portrait’ which is based on Browning’s version of the suspicious death of Lucrezia di Medici a year into her marriage with Alphonso, Duke of Ferrara. I’m halfway through reading the book and enjoying it a lot. I queued up to get my copy of the book signed and told her about my own attempts at writing. Her advice was simple - keep going.  So I will.

Otherwise a dull month of damp dog walks and routine chores.  I’m pleased December begins tomorrow. This weekend I’m going to be seeing two of my sisters and one of them is about to travel to NZ to see another sister.  I have already done quite a lot of my Christmas shopping so I can deliver presents myself instead of relying on the post.  I do wish I was going to New Zealand too - the idea of leaving winter behind is very tempting.

 Chester is looking very festive - the Christmas market is open.  I didn’t buy any presents there - lots of candles, fancy hand creams, weird alcohol etc.  But I did buy one of the paper stars in the picture below. We also have a brand new permanent Chester Market which seems mostly to consist of food outlets and coffee shops. There’s a huge bar running along the back wall of the hall and lots of seating.  Some of the shops from the old market have moved there; others either couldn’t afford the rent or weren’t considered suitable.  So no fancy dress shop, no greengrocer shouting out his deals, no stall offering cut price ‘fancy cheese’ deals. Instead there’s a florist which is selling a huge flowering Christmas cactus for £150; a shop selling wacky frames for glasses; an upmarket patisserie etc.   It all looks lovely but I feel it’s aimed at tourists rather than anyone wanting to do proper shopping.  I was hoping for something more like a French market with the focus on good quality fresh produce. I’m hoping it will improve as more of the stalls open.  But then many of the shops in the main shopping centre and on Chester’s famous Rows have closed down.  This development was planned years ago before internet shopping destroyed the high street. I do hope it succeeds but have my doubts.  

 

October…ing

 Just squeezing in a monthly update.  This is what I’ve been doing:

Enjoying the late flush of flowers and berries in the garden. It looks better now than in the summer. 

Auditioning for a small part in the Chester Mystery play which is produced in the city every five years.  Anyone in the community can volunteer to be involved and you are guaranteed a part.  It’s happening next June in the cathedral.

Getting my flu and Covid vaccinations.   Had the Covid one today. I’m hoping I don’t feel as rotten as Paul did last week after his. 

Reading ‘Still Life’ by Sarah Winman.  Kind of Eastenders meets Miss Garnet’s Angel though mainly set in Florence rather than Venice..  .  More on reading soon.  Best thing about the book - the descriptions of Florence.  And then…

Booking a city break in Florence with Kate in the springtime.  Have never been. 

Celebrating Kate’s birthday. Luckily it was half term and she was back here for a few days.  I booked us a spa afternoon at a local hotel.  And made a Black Forest Gateau for a birthday cake.

Signing up to an intermittent fasting study.  It’s not too tough. You simply have to eat all your food in a ten hour window. It’s supposed to give your digestive system a proper rest and improve sleep, mood etc. We’ll see.

Resolving to avoid all social media and pointless internet browsing until I have written a daily target of 500 words of my ‘novel’.  Progress has been very slow this month.  

That’s it for now. Planning a book post soon.

September..ing

 

September is nearly over and I haven’t written a single blog post.  Here’s a quick round up in Christina’s ‘ing’ format. I have been….

Visiting the Lake District. Took the dog to Grasmere for a couple days. We walked around the lake and Alfie went for a paddle. He’s still not brave enough to swim. 

Exploring Dove Cottage where Wordsworth lived with his sister Dorothy.  I’m not a huge fan of Wordsworth’s poetry but I really enjoyed my visit.  Only a few people were allowed in the cottage at a time and the guide was available to answer questions without being intrusive. And I liked the garden which was designed to look as it might have done when Wordsworth lived there.  I was on my own while Paul and Alfie were back at the pub where we were staying having an afternoon nap. So I was able to take my time in the museum listening to recordings of the poems and looking at original manuscripts.

Eating Tuscan Fish Stew.  We had this on our holiday in a pub in Grasmere.  Then Paul cooked his own version when we got home. Both were delicious.

Enduring an unpleasant sickness virus which hit Paul shortly after our return from the Lake District. He’d blamed the mussels in the fish stew but I hadn’t eaten any of these and I was sick too. Horrible but didn’t last long.

Travelling to Northern Ireland with my youngest sister.  We stayed in Brooke Lodge guesthouse in Magherafelt which was really welcoming and comfortable.  Another visit to The Scullery in Ballyronan for lunch in what was our old ‘sitting room’ - another word I’ve never heard in England. 

Listening to the writer Donal Ryan talk about his latest book ‘The Queen of Dirt Island’ at The Seamus Heaney HomePlace in Bellaghy.  I chose this weekend to visit NI so I could attend this event.  I finished the book while waiting at the airport that morning. Very good - made me cry at the end which was a bit embarrassing in the airport cafe. He read from the latest book and talked about his writing methods. I’d have liked to have heard more from him and less from the man interviewing him who told the audience at least five times that he was an academic.  Something Donal Ryan isn’t even though he teaches creative writing at the University of Limerick. He was very down to earth and approachable.  I bought my own copy of the book (I’d read a library copy) and had it signed. 

Contemplating buying one of these T-shirts at the airport on the way back. After all I was born in County Derry.  Not at £25 though.

Enjoying autumn walks around the park and the racecourse with these two. Note Paul’s hat! 

Teaching my adult classes. Now that the threat of Covid has retreated for now at least, I have larger groups this term.  The first couple of sessions have gone well.  I’m teaching a course I’ve called ‘When Literature meets Painting’ and we’re studying Margaret Atwood’s ‘Cat’s Eye’ as well as some ‘ekphrastic’ poems. . This is a new word to me too - it means a poetry which responds to a painting like this one.

Trying not to moan about being cold.  We have the heating on this evening but I note the room thermostat has been turned down to 19 degrees. Last year I’d have turned it back up to my preferred setting of 21 but not with the huge price hikes looming.  

August…ing

 August has been a quiet month for us. Here’s what we have been doing:

Looking after Alfie.  He has had ‘the op’ since his amorous moves on other dogs of either sex on walks were becoming embarrassing.  He felt a bit sorry for himself for a while but is now back to normal.  

Going to open garden events and buying plants.  I’m experimenting to see what grows in my garden which  is very dry in places, especially with the recent drought. This astrantia likes moist shade but seems happy enough in the spot I’ve chosen.

Combatting the drought by using washing up water to water my canna lily.  It doesn’t seem to object. I’ve been putting the  bath plug in and saving water when I shower too though carrying watering cans down the stairs is a bit much. 

Going to the Empire Theatre in Liverpool with Kate to see ‘Book of Mormon’.  It really is an impressive building - I love the ceiling.  I enjoyed the show - very entertaining and it was good to see one of my former students on stage. 

Visiting the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool and going to this exhibition. I liked the self portrait by local artist Gary Sollars and the satirical portrayals of Trump and our ex-PM by the Singh Twins.

Pleased to see the bees in my garden but sad that there are so few butterflies - just the occasional white.  I snapped this tortoiseshell in a garden centre on Sunday. First one I’ve seen this year.  And no peacocks or red admirals at all.

Eating outside in the cool of the August evenings. Kate has been at home all of August.  She’s now moved out as she starts her teaching job later this week. She’s persuaded me to download a new app called Be Real as another way of keeping in touch. The idea is that instead of posting posed idealised images of your life, you share what you are really doing/ look like.  You get a notification and are supposed to take post your image within two minutes. So that’ll be me walking the dog or hanging out washing. 

July

 July split into two halves for me. I really enjoyed the first part of the month. Here’s what I was doing then:

Hosting my sister and nieces from New Zealand.  We did the usual touristy things - walking the walls, ice creams by the river, trip to the zoo. 

Going with Kate to see the musical Six at Storyhouse theatre

Dog walking in the Cheshire countryside.

Eating berries I’d grown myself for breakfast. I had a good crop of raspberries and blackcurrants. The blueberries weren’t so good this year so I let the blackbirds finish them off. I also had a few morello cherries from my newly planted tree, a surprise as I’d been told not to expect any fruit for three years. 

Going to London for the weekend to attend a wedding party.  A beautiful evening in the grounds of the Royal Chelsea Hospital. 

Meeting ganching in the Tate Modern during my visit to London. 

All good so far and then:

Cancelling plans for a birthday visit to Kew Gardens because of extreme hot weather warnings.

Waiting over two hours in Euston for delayed train back home. The whole rail network appears to be falling apart in this country especially routes up north and this was not a strike day. Paul had to come to pick us up from Crewe as we’d missed the last train back to Chester by then. 

Feeling grim and then testing positive for Covid on the morning on my birthday.  I’d felt a bit hot and headachy the night before but put it down to heat and exhaustion of day in London but there was no arguing with the two lines on the test the next morning.

Worrying that I’d been a superspreader all weekend.  Thankfully I have only heard of one other person I’d been in contact with who had caught the virus,

Drooping around the house feeling very sorry for myself for the last two weeks. It hasn’t been much fun even though I wasn’t that ill - just like a cold really . But I’ve felt very tired, lethargic and lacking in any motivation to do anything. Still not feeling great.

Pulling myself together to attend Kate’s delayed graduation ceremony this week. We stayed in Sheffield for the evening and went to a ‘bring your parents’ evening at the Students’ Union. Good fun though I was absolutely shattered the next day,

Cheering myself up this weekend now I’m feeling a bit better with a visit to a very impressive local garden and an outing with Kate to see her friend acting in an open air production of ‘Little Women’ in the Grosvenor Park. 

Enjoying my own garden now that we’ve had some rain and it is all looking a bit greener. 

This is what I’d like my garden to look like. NGS garden opening

June

 

June has been a busy month. Here’s what I’ve been doing using Christina’s …ing format.

Watering the garden. The weather has been mostly cool and cloudy but not wet in this area.  I’ve planted lots of new perennials, a rambling rose and a wisteria to grow up my new pergola and it’s been hard work to keep them thriving. I’ve discovered things that do best in my garden are plants that don’t need much water: sedums, lavender, self planted foxgloves and poppies.  I might have to give up on sweet peas which used to do so well for my dad.  They certainly need richer soil and more rain. 

Celebrating with Kate who has now finished her teacher training course and has got a job in a primary school starting in September.  She’ll be teaching Year 3 like she did on her final teaching practice which she enjoyed. 

Making some progress with my writing though haven’t done anything this week.  I’ve joined a group with some of the others on the course I did and have set myself a target of writing 15.000 words in July. 

Reading books by writers from Northern Ireland.  ‘Trespasses’ by Louise Kennedy was set in the 70s when I was growing up there.  I loved it - sad but accurate portrayal of life at that time.  It’s the best ‘Troubles’ book I’ve read since ‘Cal’ by Bernard MacLaverty.  I’m now reading ‘The Raptures’ by Jan Carson set in 1993 in a village called Ballylack where children are mysteriously dying .  It mixes realism with a kind of ghost story and again I’m really enjoying it. Jan Carson says she wants to give a voice to the Protestant experience in her books.  I certainly ‘recognised’ many of the characters she portrays in her novel.

Eating raspberries for breakfast picked fresh from my my garden The blackcurrants and blueberries will be ready soon - I’m planning a summer pudding. And my fan trained cherry tree I planted last year has a few  ripe cherries which I need to pick soon before the birds get there first.

Travelling to Dorset last weekend for more celebrations- my sister’s 60th birthday.  All five of us were there as New Zealand sister is in the for a visit for the first time since Covid.  There were 21 of us in total with nieces , nephews and their partners.  Despite rather chilly and occasionally damp weather we had a lovely time: a trip to the seaside in Weymouth, a celebratory meal in the village pub and a birthday barbecue.  I made the cake and NZ niece decorated it beautifully. 

The Best View in England: Arvon Foundation Creative Writing Course at The Hurst

John Osborne's Best View in England

Last week I went on a residential writing course with the Arvon Foundation.  I’ve been longing to do one of these courses for years, putting it off because of lack of time, family commitments and hesitation about spending so much money on a ‘holiday’ just for me. I’m so pleased I did sign up - I had a brilliant time.

The Hurst Photo credit: Anise Hamilton

The course I took was held at The Hurst in Shropshire which was formerly the home of playwright John Osborne.  It’s a beautiful old building in a rural setting surrounded by a huge garden. Every morning before our workshop started I did the ‘azalea’ walk through several hundred metres of very colourful, scented azaleas and rhododendrons.  Stunning but a bit too much - clashing colours and slightly sickly sweet scent.  I  preferred the wilder section of the circular walk which was at its peak spring luxuriance with fresh leaves, fading bluebells and a pink/purple weed (red? campion) and, on one glorious sunny morning, dragonflies with metallic blue wings.. I wasn’t alone in appreciating the garden - quite a few of the other writers enjoyed attempting to identify the wildflowers and unusual garden plants. 

Photo credit Anise Hamilton

Another day some of us went on a longer walk in the afternoon.  We walked past the giant redwood trees and then followed the track across a steep meadow dotted with buttercups to the pretty village of Clun and its ruined castle. And then there was the reassuringly messy kitchen garden and the bench looking over what John Osborne insisted was the best view in England. Just being in this place was inspiring.  

Each evening the course members and tutors got together over dinner.  We took turns in groups to cook the evening meal and wash up. Good fun if a little stressful at times.  The Hurst isn’t run like a hotel - you help yourself to breakfast and can make yourself a drink in the kitchen whenever you want. This made it seem very welcoming. The food was simple, healthy and there was plenty of it including a new cake every day.   

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Our tutors were crime and historical novelist, Andrew Taylor and Janine Giovanni who had a career in publishing and now works as a writing coach.  Each morning they ran lively workshops for the group of fifteen writers.  Andrew has published over forty novels so he knows what he is talking about yet he was very modest.  One thing he said which I found reassuring was that he does not fully plan his novel before he begins to write.  In fact he says he ‘gets ideas’, he ‘blunders forward’ to complete a first draft and then much of the work happens at the rewriting stage. He also stresses the importance of what he called wrong-footing the reader and allowing them to make up their own answers.  And this doesn’t just apply to crime fiction.  Janine set out to help me and my fellow procrastinators on the course explore and dismantle the blocks which prevent us from actually completing the writing projects we have embarked upon.  Her practical advice and gentle guidance have left me feeling more determined and positive about moving forward with my writing. 

One of the best things about the course was meeting the other writers, a really interesting and diverse group of people.  The oldest was in her 80s, the youngest only 20, with most somewhere in between. Some were experienced writers, others were just getting started.  We came from all over England and beyond - one writer had travelled from Canada, another from the Isle of Man.  There were, among others, journalists, teachers/lecturers, young professionals from London, and an engineer from Yorkshire who brought along her violin to entertain us. We wrote in a range of different genres - crime fiction, fantasy, children’s fiction, romance, historical fiction and climate fiction.  On the final evening we had to read some of our work to the whole group.  Although I was a bit nervous,  I felt more confident than I did at the beginning of the week and enjoyed reading the piece I’d written.  

Regular readers of this blog (all three of you) may recall that this is not the first time I have attended a writing course. I returned from that one full of inspiration and good intentions but still did not complete the project I started.   This time I’m not letting myself off the hook.  One problem I have is that now that I am largely retired I have too much time.  And no deadlines.  So I have taken Janine’s advice and have made an arrangement with another member of the group to swap 1000 words every month. No excuses.  .