Tuesday 5 January 2016

New Year



Thank you for all the Happy New Year messages following my previous post. I hope the post-Christmas period hasn't felt like too much of an anti-climax for anyone.


I'm not really a fan of New Year, never have been. But I actually managed to get food poisoning on Christmas Day and spent the night being violently sick. Boxing Day was spent in bed feeling really quite ill. Suffice to say, after a couple of days chocolate made its way back onto the menu.


One thing that has changed though: I've started drinking my tea with lemon instead of milk. I much prefer it.


I'd intended to do the whole Healthy January thing but... well, it's cold and dark and we're still in a state of semi-hibernation. Although I did make some of my own snack bars using the ingredients listed on some very expensive ones. Cashew nuts, cocoa, dates and sultanas, carefully weighed out according to the ratios on the packet. The result: exactly the same flavour for around half the price.


I bought some wool at the weekend and am attempting my first ever jumper. A very simple pattern and already it looks... homespun. Artisan. Yes, let's called it that.


The flooding around here has been terrible. Joe's preschool reopened today but they had to replace all the toys. All the houses in the village were a few feet deep in water. Bridges have collapsed. Even a mill, built in the early 1800s, came down.

We're fortunate that we're not close to the river. The garden was pretty waterlogged for a while (we're at the foot of the moors below a sloping field) but it drained away. And *touch wood* the kitchen roof's holding out. 


Joe and I have been out walking whenever we can. There have been picnics in the car and picnics on a rug in the living room too. We've made thankyou cards for those who sent him lovely Christmas presents. We've read books and watched DVDs and done jigsaws.


On the reading front, I gave up on Moll Flanders. I'm now midway through Westwood by Stella Gibbons, and enjoying it very much indeed. That and seasonal poetry are keeping me going of an evening.


The tree and decorations came down on Sunday. I was slightly worried about courting bad luck, especially considering the past year and a bit, but it was time. The needles were dropping - even though we had a living tree - and I decided it could go outside and enjoy the still plentiful rain.

Everything's packed away now. We still have candles but things have been rearranged here and there; some of our pictures are now up on the walls and the holly has been replaced with a bunch of cheery little daffodils. It all looks fresh and promising.


I even cut a piece of muslin into two and hemmed them to make some sheer curtains for the front window. The bobble trim is stitched on too. They look rather nice.


Tomorrow Joe goes back to his two days at preschool which means I can get on with some work. Commissions, getting a new website, booking tables at markets and craft fairs, making more lino-cuts...

I've even booked myself onto a printmaking course up on the Yorkshire coast in March. It's only for a day but I'm going up there with my stepdad and we're thinking we may stay overnight in a B&B. 


Speaking of treats (although the course is actually 'Professional Development', funded by my misleadingly impressive-sounding Business Account) I spent my Christmas money. A new coat. I'd seen it in a local clothes shop for more than I could afford. Then I found it online for 50% less.

It's now mine and I love love love it. Just my colours and old-fashioned enough to satisfy my Housewife, 49 tastes.


Treats like this are very few and far between, but for me personally it means I relish and appreciate them all the more.

Finally: resolutions. I'm not weighing myself down with a list of what I should stop doing, what I need to do more of etc. But having spent the best part of a morning today listening to a social worker (the visit overran by an hour meaning I had to cancel on my friends) and the prospect of more of these seemingly fruitless meetings in the coming weeks, I do need to prioritise. The danger is always that of getting caught up in so many things and feeling as though I'm being pulled downstream by a very strong current.

Family commitments and responsibilities, Joe, a new house, establishing a business: I'm struggling to fit it all in. Time alone to rest, to think, to be inspired, to grieve... It just isn't there. So I need to be firm with others and to safeguard that time. It's very easy to allow yourself to be pulled in all directions and to let others assume you're always at their beck and call. The hard bit is figuring out how to change that.

I'm determined to find a way this year.





















30 comments:

  1. Food poisoning - oh no! How awful. Wishing you all a very happy 2016. Hoping all your plans go well.

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  2. Enjoy your new year, you've so much happening, it will be busy and fulfilling, I'm sure, wishing yu all the best :)

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  3. What gorgeous photos Sarah, you never fail to capture the season beautifully. Sorry you were ill over Christmas. Exactly the same thing happened to me last year. No fun at all. I know what you mean about trying to fit it all in. I have no idea how to do everything I need to do. I spin around not quite knowing what to do first. I hope you manage to find some time for yourself though. It was a very hard year I think, and you must look after yourself as much as you can. I'm wishing you and yours the very best for 2016. May it bring you happiness and success. CJ xx

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    1. Thankyou! I must visit your blog this weekend. I'm so behind with everything... Wishing you a great 2016 and I hope you continue to write x

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  4. It's been nice to catch up with what you have been doing, sorry to had food poisoning through not a nice thing to have. You picnics brought back memorise for me of building large tents in the front room for the my children to play in on wet rainy days. Just love your curtains.
    I wish you well for the new year,and don't work to hard,have fun with your son as they group so fast.
    Amanda xx

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    1. Don't they? It's frightening, he starts school in September... Glad you like the curtains. I want to make some more this weekend:) x

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  5. Happy New Year to you and yours Sarah. So sorry to hear you were poorly over Christmas. I am glad the flooding has not affected your new home at least. You are right it is so important to make time for yourself in the midst of all the demands on you. It is no fun feeling like a piece of overstretched elastic! I had to smile as I am also a Stella Gibbons fan, my dear OH has collected her complete works for me over the years, some are pretty obscure. I am also a fan of Housewife 49! Take care, Elaine x

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    1. Happy New Year to you too! I've been browsing the Stella Gibbons books online. I'm hoping to slowly collect them - they're not something I've ever spotted in charity shops or secondhand bookshops.
      It would be great to go to Hay on Wye and unearth some old copies of them one day! x

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  6. Happy new year Sarah. What rotten luck to be ill at Christmas - I hope you're back to full strength now. Lovely photos, as always, especially the one of Joe looking at the sheep. It's been crazy-rainy here too but thankfully no flooding on the scale of up north. I'm glad your new house is ok. Here's to a peaceful, productive and healthy new year. Sam xx PS Just had a look at that coat – gorgeous!

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    1. Hi Sam, glad you like the coat. I'm very attached to it and suspect I'll still be wearing it in summer like a crazy old woman...
      We had yet more rain today but it's turning to hail, which gives the illusion of snow up on the hills. It's definitely feeling colder now. The brushed cotton bedding's out...
      S x

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  7. I hope that you find a way to getting what you need to feel whole and happy. I wish you all a happy new year!

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  8. So much flooding, it's just awful...I'm glad you are staying dry, that coat will help. What an eventful year you've had, full of challenges, from lots of different levels, good and sad ones. Yes, be mindful of your own needs in lol this, very difficult I know, but essential. As usual your photos are fab, I only wish I could learn how to take them too :) xxx

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    1. Thankyou - but there's no skill involved, I promise! A seven-year-old DSLR camera which I lazily keep on Auto mode... Just lots of playing around with editing programmes afterwards! x

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  9. So sorry to hear that you were icky and that your neighbours have had flooding, I hope that all can soon be restored to normal. I hope that this year will be a good one for you without too many hopeless meetings! xx

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    1. Thanks Amy. I'll go to the meetings but be firm about how long I can stay... Being firm isn't easy for me so that could be my challenge for 2016! x

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  10. May your new year be happy, healthy and fulfilling; with plenty of time for you to breathe, reflect and find your way.

    And please, please post a picture of the lovely new coat. ;-) xx

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    1. Oh, does that mean a selfie? I'll try...
      Wishing you a great 2016 too x

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  11. I am glad to hear you are back on the chocolate. That was a pretty rough card to be dealt at Christmas after such a tiring run up to the big day. I hope you are getting a chance to recuperate.

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    1. Oh, not really! It did wipe me out for the best part of a week though. Serves me right for not putting something back in the fridge then returning for seconds several hours later...

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  12. sorry you were so unwell xxx the printmaking sounds fun, I want to do a course with an artist based in Staithes, I wonder if it's the same course x

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    1. I'm going to Staithes too, it's with Stef Mitchell. A 300 mile round trip but I've been dying to do it for ages x

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  13. Your paragraph about being pulled in all directions resonated with me. I hope you manage to find some time for you and for reflection. I don't often comment but do read and wondered if the floods were likely to affect you. This winter has made me very glad to live up a hill!

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    1. It's really sad to see the village at the moment. Ruined furniture and white goods in the street, sandbags everywhere and the trees along the river are full of plastic bags and litter.
      It'll get cleared up in time I suppose, and it's really brought the whole community together.
      Hope you have a healthy and happy 2016 :)

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  14. Happy New Year! Love your photographs!

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  15. Be kind to yourself Sarah, there are lots of demands on your time.

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  16. Happy New Year from the running wave! I have just found your blog - what a good start to a new year! Love your photos. I know what life is like, when it is pulling you in many directions! As long as you pause every now and then, take a few breaths to look around, and then get on again, you will triumph! Best wishes, A

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  17. Your photos, especially of Joe, are a tonic. Good to hear your new home isn't affected by the flooding but how terrible for the poor people who are. Good luck with everything you are juggling in 2016. It will be a challenge but challenges are good for us and make us stronger for the future. You are so tuned in to the natural world I know you will make time to stop and think.

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  18. Hey Sarah,
    I'm glad your house was spared any flooding, but feel sad for your village. And boo to illness over Xmas too. I'm not one for resolutions (what's the point; I always break them before day one is out), but I aiming for a more balanced year. Wishing you one too.
    Leanne xx

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  19. I'm relieved to read that you weren't flooded. And my sympathies re. the food poisoning. Much the same happened to me, but at New Year. I'd like to say it kickstarted a diet, but we're still finishing off biscuits we were given and have as yet unopened packets of cheese.

    Joe is looking so grown up. Time flies!

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  20. Still catching up with your blog! I wonder how you are managing with your quest not to weigh yourself down with what you should stop doing, should do more etc? It is incredibly difficult I find (as I am drowning in a series of commitments that I felt impossible to turn down...). Social worker visits can drag on a bit. We had so many when we were in the process of becoming adoptive parents, and after James and Alistair came to live with us. There seemed to be an never-ending stream of visits. As always, your photos are beautiful and heart warming. Have a lovely weekend. x

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