Dailies: lightening things, understanding asters, nice life needs, new newsletter

A big catch-up now that the festivities are in the rear view mirror …

Saturday 28 December

Gosh. Christmas is over, pals. I’m not going to mislead you, I did not much like it this year. Two close family members were in hospital (my mum and my daughter) and everything felt a bit strange and worrying. We did present opening over Facetime and still managed a festive Christmas Eve gathering at one of the kids’ places. The rest of the days were very quiet and I am very glad to be past it all and hoping for better days.

The days can always be lightened. I love this idea. I think it’s what I do. It’s not quite gratitude. It’s more looking for the light. I was watching Beth’s video and she said “every hard day could be lightened, even if only a little, by watching the birds in our garden.” I do this light-seeking every day all day, but not just with birds. I do it with everything. The light, an animal encounter, an overheard conversation. So, with Beth’s line as a way of putting a name to my ‘looking for good stuff’ practice, I am going to be Light-Headed.

Above: Scenes from Christmas 

I’m looking for the light, be it humour or beauty or complexity or dedication. I’m looking for the light be it steadfastness or thoughtfulness or metamorphosis or anticipation or understanding. I’m looking for the light be it softness or irreverence, listened-to, arranged or felt. Or something else, somewhere else altogether. I want to be Light-Headed. In the best possible way, of course. 

(I had a little break here. So much seasonal load going on!)

Thursday 2 January 2025

A new year! At last. I can’t pretend the last one was great. But some good things did happen, so I will focus on those and reserve all hopes about the new year, just in case I jinx myself.

I got up and let the pups out, then made tea and went back to bed to drink it. Next? A shower, washed my hair, got dressed and made breakfast which was poached eggs on toast. 

Getting dressed: Op shopped H&M khaki pants, ASOS pasta tee, Birks.

I watched this gentle video, to set the tone for the day. I am going to sort out the Old Lady Books Club first post today. I’ll pop a link in to that post when I share this update. 

Light-Headed:  I’m excited that my Grow It Local seeds are all sprouting so quickly. The first shoots popped up within a week of planting. It’s the zucchinis that are most keen to make an appearance, but the beetroot and basil are gaining on them pretty quickly. There is something so bolstering – so light – about pushing seeds into earth, tucking them in with more earth, labelling them with embedded optimism and watering them (hopefully) each day. About wondering if some seeds have been washed in with their neighbours, if they’ll pop up together, if they’ll pop up at all. About the ritual of watering them carefully, morning and night. About looking for the first hints of green amid the soil. It’s all very Dicken and Mary, which you probably know I very much like.

Above: L/ Seedlings and R/ Silverbeet curry

I sowed a bunch more (flowers this time, plus some lettuce) from my seed stash in the hopes that I can have flowers right through to Autumn, when the baby comes. I want to take homemade posies to Rin’s house when I visit her and the little peanut. With this goal in mind, I am going to sow some more today. 

Friday 3 January

I posted the Old Lady Books Club first update yesterday and had such a great response. People are either a) so keen to read the first book over two months or b) loved the book once upon a time and are going to read it again. If you missed it, I wrote a bit of a profile on Rosamunde Pilcher, our book club book Winter Solstice’s brilliant author. So that felt good. I got into a bit of a trance writing and researching after a few weeks break from study. It felt good to use those muscles again and I was a bit sad to discover I’ve lost access to the online library at uni. You would think after spending a GIANT sum of money to study they’d let you have alumna access … but no. No they do not. Sigh. Never MIND.

I went out early-ish to water the garden … well. I lie. It was at 8am which is not that early, but my body thought it was early and was very creaky and dusty, so that’s what counts. I topped up the seed trays (gosh they’re sprouting so beautifully! sorry to go on and on about it!) and gave the tomatoes a good drink and then came back inside for tea and treats for the dogs and to write to you. 

You’ll likely be upset to hear I’ve been watching very old episodes of UK Celebrity Big Brother. When I’m not feeling great, I love to hunker down with this show (or 90 Day Fiance or Survivor) and watch episode after episode, drinking cup of tea after cup of tea and marvelling at the personal dynamics between humans. At the moment I’m watching a season with a bonkers amount of UK soap stars and Angie Bowie (who was once married to David Bowie and very sadly found out he had died while on this show). It’s nuts and I am enjoying it a lot.

I’ve also started watching a strangely-premised Korean show called Culinary Class Wars on Netflix and am half way through the three seasons of The Outlaws (on Prime). I was so excited to read that Eleanor Tomlinson from The Outlaws (and Demelza in Poldark) is going to be in a new adaptation of The Forsyte Saga. I’m going to watch the 2002 version as a bit of a warm up.

Above: Preston Market scenes

I’m going to start rewriting my novel this year. For uni I had written it as a bit of a literary fiction type thing. I’m going to begin again and write is as a commercial fiction piece. It’s where I had intended to go with it, but the pressures of academia waylaid me. I love commercial fiction and I am going to go back to that, now that I have proven to myself (and others …) that I am actually a proper writer. And also now that I understand how important it is to champion women’s commercial fiction (as well as other writings by women) and capture stories around the domestic space and women’s lives. I’m excited by this. And also nervous. But mostly excited about the possibilities. 

*Light-Headed!!!

Above: Op shopped books and sewing patterns

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Good stuff

Writing tethers me. (Found via India who always shares the best sorts of things)
Summer flowers to plant now (in Australia).
“I didn’t think I’d feel this way at 61. I thought I’d be tired and broken down, emotionally and spiritually. I thought I’d feel my world was winding down. Actually, I’m just getting started.” And also “After trauma, you have to find the light*, or else what’s the point of continuing?” (Also via India.)
Why don’t we have beautiful stamps in Australia?
A roasted carrot salad.
How great are these vintage photos of Salt-n-Pepa.
Emma Straub’s newsletter was full of amazing news!
Have you ever tried strawberry butter?
These fashion photos are amazing, aren’t they?
Chilli and lime chicken bowls sound good. Or tofu it?
Have you ever watched Fly Me To the Moon?
All the details on the home Meghan used in her new Netflix show.
Look at this colourful and interesting woman!

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Above: Op shop finds

Sunday 5 January

Gosh. We’re in the middle of a mini heatwave again. I don’t like the heat much, but I do like the impulse to slow down and do still and quiet kinds of things. I woke up at 7 after a semi-fitful night’s sleep (like much of the eastern states of Australia, I would imagine.)

I made tea and toast (a chonk of baguette, sliced through the middle, toasted and spread with jam) and watered the garden while the dogs had a low key frolic. The tomatoes are looking a tiny bit worse for wear, but I am confident they can recover with continuing TLC. My seedlings are coming along beautifully. They will be ready to plant out when we next get a run of cooler days, I think.

I did a quick errand this morning and then gave the pups a bath, made coffee and settled in at my desk to watch some YouTube videos and work on the little baby jumper (as in pullover) I am making. It’s a very basic crochet pattern I found on YouTube. I’m not really very experienced at making woolly garments, but the time is nigh and I’m going to dive headfirst into it. I’m working on the hemline ribbing at the moment. Next up will be the sleeves.

Above: Things I’ve been cooking and eating L/ Green tea noodle salad and R/ Curries with rice

Also? Thank you everyone who has signed up for The Old Lady Books Club. If you are new here, we are reading books featuring older lady protagonists/main characters in 2025. One book every two months. More details here.

I also chopped up a little floral baby romper I bought a week ago at the op shop. I am making a little quilt and am repurposing fabric from second hand garments. The romper was $1.99 and the fabric will make about 8 little pieces for my patchwork. I have set aside the straps and some frilly bits for another project. Perhaps a confetti quilt? I am not quite sure. The quilt I am aiming to finish by April is a hexagon one. In a cot size. What a happy thought that is!

L/ Eggs for breakfast and Christmas socks

It’s nice to have my sewing machine out again. It’s the very first time since we moved here, can you believe? I’ve just been too busy trying to feel better to do any sewing, but I am VERY determined to make a quilt, regardless of energy levels, for obvious reasons. It was so satisfying to fill some bobbins, thread the machine up, sew some test rows and fiddle with the tension and stitch length until things seemed quite right. Tapping into old muscle memory and using my hands to do something I haven’t done in a while was very bolstering. 

I watched some more YouTube clips and then cleaned out the fridge ready for (hopefully) a food shop this week. Please know that the only double I had was two jars of Hot English Mustard, so I am very proud of me. Ignore the fact that there are 12 different types of chilli sauce in there, please. It’s not excessive at all …

After that I made a coffee using the new coffee pot that Ari gave me for Christmas. I love it so much. It’s this one. My op shopped one was good, but sometimes the seal went wonky and ruined the coffee. The new one has a nice-fitting seal which avoids that problem altogether. And really, what could be more heart-lifting than making coffee in a pink pot gifted by a loved one?! Very little, I am telling you. Truly.

Above: Crochet works in progress and my Commonplace Book

Tuesday 7 January

I’ve been getting very stuck in to a few different craft projects:

A baby jumper (pullover) – crocheted
A rainbow shawl – crocheted
Another baby jumper (pullover) – knitted

I’m liking them all a lot and alternate between them during little down time pockets of the day. I’m also working on the Old Lady Books Club craft project and will share that later this month or early next. 

The sky is the most powdery bright blue this morning. I moved my desk so I could see out the window, rather than looking at a concrete wall, and it’s made such a difference to my mood. Granted I am looking at the neighbours’ house, but if I tilt my head I am looking at a row of fairy lights they’ve hung from their eaves and a very tall, very green leafy tree. There are honeycomb-like spiderwebs all along the fence top and they catch the morning light very prettily.

I got up before 7, watered the seed trays and pot plants, made tea and then came back to my desk to watch a comforting video of a lady making herself a solo cheese fondue. Honestly? I admire her very much.

Above: Bread rolls made by me and floral fabric scraps

Thursday 9 January

Yesterday I launched a new Substack because it’s been quite a while since I wrote on that platform. Yes. It is also rent week. Yes. Scammers did skim $300 from my bank account before I blocked them, prompting me to think of ways to recoup the funds. Sigh. BUT turns out this was a blessing in disguise. I have missed writing in a slightly more formal way and I spent a bunch of hours working on my first post for said Substack aka Wallflower Cordial. I was so pleased to a) do this and b) hit publish. I think it’s going to be an excellent challenge. I’m going to post twice a week with a more formally researched post grad student type post and then a post that is less formal and more chatty/about daily life. A bloggy kind of thing.

Above: Bialetti Moka Pots in pastel colours

I’ve been cooking, well, meal prepping really with the help of YouTuber Doobydobap and I am happy as a lark about this. We’ve been eating katsu and okonomyaki and japanese curry and dumplings. The fridge is filling up with options that absolutely reject the ‘ingredients house’ tag and instead are labelled ‘pick and mix options’. I like this very much. Yesterday I used a base tomato sauce to make a Japanese curry with cabbage silverbeet rolls and it was so delicious. In the fridge are containers stuffed with other things that can make a meal in a few minutes. I absolutely recommend her easy and funny and delicious videos.

L/ silverbeet roll curry and R/ a rice bowl with lots of goodies

This morning, I woke up at 7 and went out to let the dogs have a frolic and water the seedlings. The asters are not sprouting at all. Perhaps they need a very long time to warm up to the world? I understand, asters. Everything else is coming along swimmingly. My tomato plants are heavy with tomatoes and the first couple are just about ripe enough to pick. I know that I can pick them right now if I want, but there is something nice about leaving them on the vine until the last minute, I think. They’re hidden deep in the tomato bed, so hopefully the birds won’t get to them first.  After the seed trays I watered the other thirsty plants, took some laundry in and then made tea. Next I watched a gentle YouTube, to set the tone for the day, and thought about what I might have for breakfast. I made some really good rolls yesterday using a new recipe, so I think I will have one of those. And some coffee from my little pink coffee pot. 

I wrote a little list titled ‘nice life needs’ and added some things to it: candles, new oil diffuser and oils, new socks … I’m going to keep tacking things on over the coming months, and picking things up when they catch my eye.

Hope you are doing okay, dear reader. Hoping very much your 2025 is overwhelmingly good.

x Pip

If you fancy, buy me a coffee —>  https://ko-fi.com/piplincolne