trimmingthesails

There's no such thing as ...

"You don't think", said Himself cautiously (taking a step backwards to what was just beyond an arm's length away), "that it's a bit ...". Something hovered in the air.
"A bit ...?" I enquired politely, trying to keep a smidgen of ice out of my voice, as I dried the cup.
"Well, you know ... late. After the event. Quite a lot after, actually", he added, nodding in the direction of the small book, papers and camera on the kitchen table. He warmed to his theme. "I should think it's about, oh, six months ago now." There was just a hint of smug. In Himself's world, projects are always delivered on time.

"Luckily", I replied, "we don't do 'late' in the scrapbooking world. No such thing. We don't even worry about 'finished'". I stared him straight in the eye, hoping I sounded convincing as I carefully folded the tea-towel lengthways. "Argh!" he cried, in mock-horror, riffling through a couple of the pages. "Process, not product? Oh dear!" Management-speak: he knows I hate it and nimbly leapt out of the way and into the table as the end of the tea-towel flicked the hem of his jumper. By the time we'd picked up the book, papers and tripod off the floor, there was contrition (him), mollification (me) and a pot of tea on the go as we alternately turned over pages or held the camera steady to produce these ...

"Happy memories!" he said with a satisfied sigh when we finished dipping in and out of the stories, fishing for photos in the pockets and got to the big family photo on the final page. "Funny, isn't it - reading all about it again makes it seem as if it happened just yesterday". His eyes crinkled at the corners. "No such thing as 'late', is there ..."

So despite its appearance half-a-year after both the holiday and the Ali Edward's Scrapbook On The Road class which helped me back into memory-keeping, I hope you find something to enjoy in it too ...

Take Three Thursday (03 Jan19)

Joining in with Mary-Lou, over at Patio Postcards, who hosts her 'Take Three Thursday' meme, featuring a trio of photos linked in some way - by colour, theme, date, moments, or point of view. Thank-you, Mary-Lou!

Our first walk of the year for me and Himself along a new-to-us path, led past some wonderful carvings illustrating the history of the area: submarine fossils, a ten-foot rectangle illustrating the flora and fauna including the nearby folly in the shape of a round tower, and a lime-kiln worker (he's the one on the right).

Amazing to realise that over 300 million years ago, this landscape was bathed in warm tropical seas; in the eighteenth century was so scarred by a sprawling quarries, 'pudding-pie' lime kilns and swirling smoke that even the locals complained; and yet now is a forest so quiet you can hear a twig crack underfoot. Vive la Nature!

Welcome, 2019

 

And a warm welcome to you too - thank-you so much for stepping aboard :). Hoping that as we sail into the year ahead, there are fresh horizons and joy in finding our way through new challenges. Up here, there have been diaries and organizers to design and print, and inspiring books placed in a pile for serious perusal ...

Cathy Zielske's email about FIT for 2019 dropped into my email box at a very useful moment, and it's been such fun to sign up and work with her templates alongside my own yearly and two-week diary. After lots of experimenting last year, I've settled on a 5x8" size for all of them ...

• a yearly diary (a double-age spread for each month, numbered 1-31) holds dates and events
• the FIT diary has pages stitched together as a pamphlet to hold goals, records and thoughts for a month, held in place inside the cover you see above with an elastic; I'll handwrite in it, and print a fresh one every month.
• my Weekly Diary contains two months worth of pages: for each week, I just need appointments at a glance and an Action list (which I code a bit like a Bullet Journal).

The Gwen Diehn book? I've long admired this, and would love to be able to make and keep a journal of sorts. Even my adult children are urging me to write about my days; "It'll be so interesting and instructive for us, Mum", volunteered my lovely son recently. "When we get to be your age, it will be wonderful to be able to read your perspectives and concerns and how you were navigating this period in your life - we're going to need all the help we can get! And you'll probably put things in there too about all of us which we will have forgotten and will be glad to be reminded of." "We'll see", I smiled, tucking it away for thinking about later. Suddenly, later is now. I'll keep you posted ...

Oh, and I noticed when I opened up this space to write that this is my 500th post. Sending my warmest good wishes for 2019 to each and every one of you, and thank-you again for peeking your heads round the door over the last five or so years and sharing my journey with me :).