Monday 13 May
Reader? I managed to keep the dogs off the new garden bed when I first let them out this morning. Last night I stowed the rake by the back door and then this morning when I let them out, I led the procession brandishing the rake. I did not have to yell at them to ‘keep off the new garden’ but rather merely shook the rake from a great distance away, but within their eyeline and they retreated, low to the ground and fluffily miffed. I realise this is a bit menacing, but honestly I do not want to lose the garden and I think with enough rake shaking I can show them that they must not leap in and kick up their back legs, that this is a ‘keep out’ zone, that The Rake is always watching. So this was good news for me. Less good news for the dogs, obviously, but they are otherwise very doted upon and I think they’ll be ok. I give them lots of cuddles after The Rake has been shaken, I promise.
Getting dressed: the perfume Ari bought me for Mother’s Day (my favourite!), black floral dress, black opaque tights, pink Merry People boots.
Good stuff
Perfectly charming photos of Katherine Hepburn playing tennis.
There’s no better meal than a long Italian lunch.
Apple and spinach salad … I don’t like fruit in salads, but this looks so good. (Yes I know tomatoes are a fruit … I like those in there though. I’m a monster.)
A beginners guide to cut flowers.
An artist used pen and ink to ‘repair’ shattered plates and things.
This Town looks really good, right?
Raspberry lemon cake? Yes. Please.
This flower-filled story made me happy.
Do you decant your groceries? Via Kottke
Twelve salad dressing recipes.
I’ve been doing quite a bit more crochet since I got my shoulder injections a week and a bit ago, so this is good news! Crafting still hurts my back after a short while, but this is progress and I am here for it. It used to hurt wrists, shoulders AND back, so you can see what I mean by progress. I have almost finished a long-promised blanket and I have started a few other projects which I will show you once the long-promised blanket is sent off to its very patient people.
I spent most of the day studying, which was great because some days it’s hard to get a good block of time in. Today was not one of those days. I made some decent headway in the research strategy (and textual analysis) and have a clearer idea of how I am going to talk about my research topic (comfort themes in selected literature) and explain it in a tangible way. I’m quite proud of myself.
I nipped to the shops mid-afternoon to get some chemist-y stuff and a few little treats (a packet of Smarties, a packet of Tina wafers). While I was there, a mother with a baby in a pram and a preschooler beside her stood at the register ahead of me. The preschooler said to the shop lady “look what i can do!” and then she trilled her tongue quite loudly and very proudly. The shop lady was obviously amazed. Then the little girl blurted out “you can hold my baby sister if you want!” which seemed very generous. The shop lady told her she’d just play with her for a tiny while, while she was in the pram, in case mummy wanted little sister to go to sleep. All in all it was a very lovely exchange.
Dinner is leftover chilli and rice, because I made a helpfully big batch the other day. Then I’m going to settle in and watch some rubbish TV and then Masterchef … and then hopefully fall asleep early so I have lots of energy for tomorrow. That’s the plan, at least. Let’s see how it goes …
images above: L/ Koreanish chicken stew, R/ Peach the doggy
Tuesday 14 May
You know what? I have not written in my Woolfy journal the last few nights. I guess I have been either too tired or too distracted. I’m going to remedy that tonight (hopefully!)
Breakfast today was tea and toast … it seems to be the regular thing around here at the moment due to … I don’t know what. Maybe I need to step it up? But actually no. I am really enjoying a very basic breakfast at the moment. Perhaps as it gets cooler I will stray into more fancy territory, but I am fine with the simplest of things right now.
I’ve been very slowly learning more about colorwork knitting (which I am not great at), so I did a little bit of my knitting this morning and then watched some gentle YouTubes to continue this quietly positive day-beginning.
Getting dressed: The same black floral dress as yesterday, opaque tights, Fair isle cardigan, Fair isle socks, Chelsea boots
I went to visit one of my kids and then came home (via Bunnings) and … made Korean-ish Chicken Stew (yes AGAIN) for dinner. I also made a batch of overnight pizza dough, so we can have pizzas tomorrow night (yes AGAIN). After that I tooled around on the internet, added an FAQs page to this blog and did a bit more of my knitting. The first square I made was not quite what I’d hoped for, so I am making a second one in the hopes that I can get the tension of my ‘floats’ to be a little bit more even and neat. I am knitting with three colours (three different strands) so I am on my L plates for that, trying to understand where each strand should go for maximum correctness and neatness. It’s very fun to learn about. (I am not a very good knitter.)
At Bunnings I bought a few more seedlings: mini cabbages, rhubarb, larkspur, lupins and hollyhocks. I am going to plant them tomorrow, hopefully.
Did I watch Masterchef at bedtime? Yes, yes reader I did.
Did I write in my Woofly journal as hoped for? No, no reader I did not.
This post’s op-shopped cookbook is Baking with Julia by Dorie Greenspan and Julia Child. Published in 1996 by William Morrow.
Wednesday 15 May
Feeling very exhausted so a BIG bowl of Weetbix was in order for breakfast, in the hopes that it might fortify me for the day.
Getting dressed: Jeans, blue long sleeved tee, cricket jumper, Fair Isle socks, Birkenstocks.
I watched this video over a pot of tea and then headed out for groceries. I also bookmarked this Dorie video, because I want to make English muffins one of these days.I went to ALDI and bought a bunch of groceries for a few different dinners. On the cards is:
Tonight: Pizza (I bought toppings – salami, mozzarella, pitted olives, a green capsicum, mushrooms) using the Jim Leahy overnight pizza dough.
Tomorrow: Leftovers (pizza and last night’s Korean-ish chicken stew)
Thursday: Chicken soup (I use this adapted recipe)
Friday: Salmon croquettes from this book. Or find the recipe online here.
Saturday: Leftovers (soup and/or salmon croquettes)
above image of salmon croquettes by Jerrelle Guy
I did a little bit more knitting and listened to this video which made me immediately want to put my bedding in the wash and my quilts on the line to air. I’m going to do that RIGHT NOW …
… I did indeed wash and air my bed linen. I also pruned my birthday roses while I was out there and now I have hives on my hands, as is the way with me at the moment. They’ll go away in an hour or so and in the meantime I can feel pleased about the pruning and the cuttings going towards future roses (if they strike properly!) I planted out the seedlings I bought yesterday. The Mother’s Day garden bed looks very cute now with its little green sprays. It’s trying very hard to be a proper garden bed already.
I did a bit of reading for uni, but to be honest my vision is a bit wonky due to illness. Hopefuly it’ll be a bit better tomorrow and I can catch up.
Tonight’s pizza turned out very delicious. The olives were the perfect addition to the same toppings I trial-ran on Sunday. It was Masterchef and pizza for dinner. A very excellent combo.
I wrote in my Woolfy journal – a little bit about the lovely weather, three good things about today and a few other lines. I’ve really been overthinking this journal, so I am taking it back to simple things and taking the pressure off. I mean, journals can be for all kinds of things, can’t they? What we had for dinner, what the weather was like, a few notes on what was nice about the day. That suits me perfectly.
I made my bed with all the freshly washed and aired linen before dinner, so I am hoping to sleep like a Swede tonight!
Thursday 16 May
Did I sleep like a Swede on my freshly washed and aired bed? Yes reader, I am pleased to report that I really did! It was one of those ‘get straight into a hot shower’ chilly mornings, feeling like the coldest one of the year yet (I may be wrong). There’s something affirming about being showered and dressed before breakfast … It feels like being set up for the best kind of day, all toasty and comfy already when wandering into the kitchen to put the kettle on and stare into the pantry.
Getting dressed: Jeans, long sleeve grey top, cricket jumper, Fair Isle socks, pink Merry People boots.
I’m feeling like my week has been semi-productive, but as always I wish I was able to do more. Perhaps in time this will happen, but at the moment it’s a case of counting the small things as low-key excellence and not letting my unrealised expectations get me down. I really am doing the best that I can do. I bet you are too.
The other day I was telling Max about how, when we were growing up, the teapot was always full and if it wasn’t, it was your job to make a fresh pot. Everyone had their own ‘special’ mug and I remember my late dad’s mug being a sturdy brown and cream one with a sort of Willow-esque transferware countryside scene on it. I had a look over the weekend, but I could not, for the life of me, work out which mug it might have been. There are a LOT to look at from Meakin or made in Staffordshire or other things. I’m going to keep looking, just to see if I can recover that long-ago memory. I could have been Wedgwood’s Avon Cottage pattern … or something that looked like that.
The thing I do remember about his mug is that it was very, very tea stained and that we were not supposed to try and scrub the stains off because it added to the flavour of each fresh cup (according to my dad!) I remember washing it carefully on the occasions that I did the dishes. It was allowed in a soapy sink, but no scouring … just a swish about and rinse. Also, I remember drinking a lot of warm stewed tea because I could not be bothered making a fresh pot. I am all about the fresh pot now, so apparently I am grown up.
image above: Homemade Chicken Soup
I just read about Virginia Woolf’s essay On Being Ill being turned into a book, and also about all the associated works of the artist who has undertaken the project. I love it all so much. So many wonderful ways of making literature come alive. During the early part of the pandemic I wrote a Woolf influenced diary about walking locally (think Mrs Dalloway in a tracksuit and you are on the right track) and it really helped me to get through some hard days and also connect with other people online. Anyway, I digress. The new On Being Ill book is on my wishlist and Ane Thon Knutsen is now one of my favourite artists. Thanks to Blogging Woolf for the heads up on this. I always love to read Blogging Woolf.
This morning’s errands included posting a parcel at the PO, picking up some crumpets and ciabatta rolls and popping to the new greengrocer near us for a bunch of parsley, silverbeet, an iceberg lettuce, cherry tomatoes and a cucumber. It’s so lovely outside again. Apparently a 20 degree day is ahead of us, one of the last of those for a wee while, I think. I had crumpets with peanut butter when I got back as a very late breakfast.
I’m making chicken soup today which I hope will fortify my lacklustre energy levels and generally make me feel MUCH better.
Slow reading: I Leap Over the Wall
We find Monica where we left here, at Astley Hall with her aristocratic aunt and uncle. She’s discovered she’s quite the pest because she’s used to opening doors very quietly, as she did at the convent. When she does this in the real world, she scares the heck out of the people she’s unwittingly snuck up on. Uncle Stan felt this was not an ideal habit, so he counselled Monica in the art of moving noisily through the world.
“Before a fortnight was ended, I had taught myself to stamp up and down stairs, rattle door handles and bang doors in such ways as to make my presence felt to everybody in the vicinity.” (p.45)
We now meet Monica’s cousin Di Kemp-Welch who is “as good-looking as anyone needs to be, with an up-to-date vocabulary, a rollicking sense of humour and expensive clothes” and Di’s younger sister Margot — who “described in vivacious detail the latest scientific methods of inseminating the domestic cow” — and was excellent company too. Margot’s son Hugo takes her to the cinema for the first time, accompanied by his young cousin Kiloran. “I cannot forget the solicitude with which they treated me. There was an awful solemnity about it. It was exquisite; it was also rather touching. Few elderly spinsters have been treated so delightfully as I was by those two representatives of the Younger Generation that afternoon.” (p. 46)
They saw an action film which Monica found bewildering, then a Donald Duck cartoon came on and she wrote “In all my life I had never dreamed of such lurid colours, undreamed of situations, or amazing technique. People ought not to be taken to see their first Disney film without suitable preparation. The shock is too overwhelming.” Wise words indeed (and actually worth thinking about when it comes to small children, although I guess they have much preparation when it comes to screens in homes … no judgement here.)
Monica goes on to write about the wartime world then and honestly it doesn’t sound so different to what we are witnessing / experiencing now.
“The very map of the world had been remodelled. Entire countries had disappeared. In their places, others with new and fantastic names had been constructed. Even those which remained had changed their outlines and been sliced away in unexpected places or made to bulge where they have never bulged before.” (p. 48)
On communism and fascism — after Uncle Stan explained these concepts to her — she writes: “it was my first real glimpse of the sinister power that seemed to be sapping the very foundations of the world that I had known.” (p. 48)
I spent a lot of time today making some of the little world for my Honours long-short story/novel-to-be characters. I chose the houses they’d likely live in and where they would spend their holidays. I thought about the shops they’d go to and where they would meet up with their friends and which way they’d drive to go to various places. (It’s set in Tasmania.) This funny sort of preparation is making it feel a lot more real, knowing what their houses look like and thinking about the things in them. I worked on my manuscript for a while, mostly doing this and refining the character names. This is all very good progress, I think!
I have an online meeting with my Honours group very soon. I managed to get the chicken soup finished and I will make the croutons after the meeting. It’s nice when the things I want to do actually fit into the day. I even managed to write a few little morsels in my Commonplace Book.
Still Open
(Tabs I am keeping open on my laptop, so as to keep going back to them …)
Woolf’s “On Being Ill”: from Instagram to published book
Hello. I see you. (via Kerry)
My Honours meeting was very good and super interesting. One of the other students gave a presentation and it was brilliant. I have to give one too, but I am going to record mine (rather than do it live) just in case I am not well on the day I have to present. Better to be safe than sorry.
No Masterchef on Thursday nights, so I will snoop around for something else to watch … something light entertainment-y, I think. That is a word. And I’m going to write in my journal, too. And do a bit more crafting, hopefully.
Just wanted to say how much I have been enjoying all the comments being left for me. It’s so nice when one pops up. I am trying to answer as many as possible because they are super appreciated. So know that.
Wishing you the sort of weekend you’d most like it to be, dear pal. See you back here soon on Monday, hopefully.
xoxo Pip
From my archives : Everyday life (an old post from when we lived in Tassie!) Looking for something in my archives? Ask me: meetmeatmikes@gmail.com
If you fancy, buy me a coffee —> https://ko-fi.com/piplincolne
Q of the P
(Question of the Post: answer in the comments section of this post, if you fancy!)
What was your first memorable ‘grown up’ drink and where was it?
Mine was a Malibu and milk at Canberra nightclub The Private Bin circa 1986.
Hallo!!!!
This probs doesn’t count because not even sophisticated or grown up but my first grown up drink was hot tea!!!! I didn’t have it as a child which Pony thinks is SO WEIRD! When I eventually had it as a teenager I thought it was excellent and still do HA!
Now I am always sure to have an extra stockpile box because heaven forbid if we ever run out of hot tea!
Pony is very bad at letting her tea get too cold and then drinking it very quickly like she did as a child (she says she always drank it like that) and I stare and go ‘ewwwwww’ and she stares back over the cup while happily gulping!
So anyway I did buy her some sort of tea warmer thing that you can plug in and sit your tea on, to keep it hot, for on her desk at work because otherwise she might be starey gulpy 🙂
Lovage xxxx
I only decant my groceries as I use them – I live in NYC and most of our kitchens are tiny spaces, and the only way I can fit as much as I do is because I move things into smaller containers as I eat through them. That way my kitchen isn’t crammed full of boxes that have only 200 grams of pasta and 900g of air or whatever.
This makes complete sense. I have a small kitchen too, but I have an adjoining hallway where I have pantry shelves, so I don’t run into the same problems you do. You are quite right, of course, no point having boxed air! 🙂 Thanks for reading, Kimberly. xx
Thanks for sharing the English muffin video. It was very entertaining. I experienced the same sense of pride that Dorie talked about in the video, when I made my first batch of home-made crumpets recently. Smacking around a few English muffins looks like just as much fun.
Haha! I will report back if I smack a muffin or two! Thanks for commenting – and for reading too, of course! xx
And I do decant all my groceries which Tim thinks is bonkers but I like seeing how much I have left of things, I like keeping things fresh. I buy in bulk so it makes storing things easier & it also means mice can’t get to my food!!! I have Tupperware that is 24 years old & new jars. It doesn’t look pretty but it works for me.
Well that makes a lot of sense to me. Sometimes I see those Instagram shots of people’s pantries and everything is in matching containers and labelled perfectly and I feel … admiration, but also know that I would never be able to keep up with such a system. I’d feel fenced in, I think. That said if you buy in bulk, as you do, it makes all kinds of sense. In fact it’s the only solution, isn’t it? Good call, Tupperware Queen. xx
Have you watched Muster Dogs on ABC? You should because it’s bloody wonderful but when training the dogs they use a rake to teach the dogs to stay behind them. Any time the dog tries to walk in front they shake the rake out to the side of them & the dogs quickly learn to stay behind. Hopefully, your dogs will learn that the rake means stay away from the garden!
That Julia baking book looks great! I haven’t had much luck at the op-shops book-wise lately but I did manage to find a jumper, a fun cardi & a pink dress.
I have made sourdough English muffins before & they are really nice but can be fiddly to cook. My tip is watch the heat of your pan because it is easy to burn the outside & still have a raw middle. Once you get that part right you will be very happy indeed!
The first grown-up drink I had was a vodka orange. I was 12. I was at my friend Heidi’s house. She lived 2 doors down from me. It was a Friday evening & we were in the kitchen with her mum, Sharon. Sharon was making ja tarts (none have ever matched hers) & drinking vodka with orange juice. I can’t remember how it came about but she asked me if I wanted one. Of course, I said yes because I always felt grown up & this was a grown-up thing to do! I only had one & she told my mum she gave it to me. I don’t remember my mum being mad, which says a lot about how I grew up. And so began my years of teenage binge drinking. Alcohol played such a big role in my life before I became a parent. After I had kids drinking became a rare thing & now it’s been about 15 years since I had a drink.
Muster dogs! I have seen the ads but have not watched it. I am going to add it to my list. Hopefully it’s not at ALL sad, because sad animal things are quite emotional to watch, aren’t they?
Your muffin tips sound a lot like crumpet-cooking tips too. I have experienced the disappointment of making undercooked crumps, so I will bear this in mind.
Vodka Orange with Heidi? That sounds very sophisticated and also very young. What a time to grow up, right? So different from these very sensible days.
Love to you, chicken. xxx
Muster Dogs is not sad at all, it is the best kind of animal show.
Tim & I were talking about the drinking thing the other morning as we were getting lunches packed & I said how at the time I thought nothing of it, I thought I was a grown-up too but now I look at it completely differently. Blake is 11 & the idea of a parent giving him a drink horrifies me. But the late 80s/early 90s were different…..
ha first memorable grown up drink, not sure about the grown up bit but we sure felt grown up, green ginger wine (insert vomit emoji) out of the cap because yuck! in my bedroom with my bestie, it was awful, but cheap and we thought we were so rebellious and grown up.
I do decant lots of stuff, but mostly it’s a moth/rodent issue from the past and into a mish mash of old coffee bottles, tupperware, bottles I’ve saved etc, so not really in the asthetic league.
my dad died 5 yrs ago at 91 and he always kept a diary, i have most of them now, they are so interesting to look back on because they mention the weather, when he was fishing they talk of catches and the markets, when he went farming the cows, milk production the cost of things, people who called in or notable events in the family. I love that kind of stuff, the big newsy events are recorded in lots of places, but the minutiae is often missed, it’s so fun to pull out a random year and see what was happening on todays date. all that to say i think you idea of your woolfy journal being something similar is great.
cheers Kate
Kate, your dad’s diaries sound so wonderful! What a precious thing to have x
I’ve been thinking about your comment for days … about your late dad … and it’s lovely to imagine him writing this and you reading it down the track. Thanks for sharing this point of view because it’s so helpful for those of us that find journalling a bit daunting. It’s a bit of a commonsense pep talk really. 🙂 Green ginger wine … HAH! I do remember quite liking it over lots of ice a decade or two ago … but I might have been having a fever dream. Your decanting style sounds a tiny bit like mine … except I only decant spices and herbs, really. I have not moved on to the higher volume things yet. Maybe I will?
I am going to think about the question but, in the meantime link to a recipe that my DD put me onto
https://www.ambitiouskitchen.com/the-best-chicken-soup-recipe/
Thanks for the tip! Always looking for new recipes!! 🙂
Hello Pip
I’m a long-time reader, first-time commenter (I’d been really overthinking that!) finally thanking you for sharing your wonderful words. You have a gift.
I’ve been really enjoying your Slow Reading of the former nun’s novel. Here’s some of my favourites of yours:
“All in all it was a very lovely exchange.”
“I am fine with the simplest of things right now.”
“… this quietly positive day-beginning.”
“The Mother’s Day garden bed looks very cute now”
“… counting the small things as low-key excellence…”
Enjoy your weekend Pip.
Julie x
Oh my goodness! You’re here! I mean, you were sometimes here, but you’re HERE …. in the COMMENTS! Thank you so much for taking the time to pipe up, and mostly thank you for reading. It means a lot. I am lucky to have you, truly. xx
Gosh what a lovely reply! Thank YOU Pip xx