I'b god a cod

 The lead-up to Christmas tends to feel like a race. I galloped and galloped and made it past the post with no major disasters but of course, now I have a cold.

Do you do this? Get sick as soon as the pressure's off? I can pretty much set my clock by it. So here I am in the lull between Christmas and normal life... in bed, drugged up, blowing my nose... Oh well, at least it's forcing me to rest. I guess that's the point.

It's also quite nice to have some fallow time to acknowledge the change of season. All the frantic Christmas festivity is over. All five advent candles have been lit and been snuffed. Winter solstice has been. We're now into proper winter (it's suddenly gotten colder) with the creep towards spring, more daylight, a few hardly bulbs peeking through the soil and the bloom into full summer. 

 

Awww... look at her face!

 I have a massive list of chores that I could be doing on in my few days off, but I'm not able to do any of them.
 
 Hopefully tomorrow I'll be up to mattress shopping as our  landlord's mattress has really given up the ghost. We got Christmas money to go towards a new mattress and we're itching to spend it. It will be lovely to have a comfy bed.

  I'm also looking forward to be healthy enough to get on the   wagon of eating nothing but vegetables and taking a daily run.  Well, I exaggerate somewhat, but I am a big blob at the moment  and need to indulge in the traditional January masochism. Soon, my pretty, pretty...

 Right, now I think I'll go back to my book. Bye!

The pleasures of hibernation

Brrr... baby it's cold outside! I'm deeply hunkered down into the couch, furry slippers on my feet. I walked home in the dark with a cold wind blowing through my hair and making my ears ache. It's hibernation time.

So, what are some of the pleasures of this time of year?

Mulled cider

Photo: John Wright

I'd never had mulled cider until I moved to Bristol (the South-West of England is a big cider region). I recommend you give it a go as it's delicious!

Recipes vary wildly but my suggestions include:

* Making sure it doesn't boil (or it'll lose all its alcohol)
* Adding traditional spices like cinnamon, a little nutmeg, about six cloves.
* Peel the skin off an orange in small strips and add.
 * Be cautious about adding sugar. Use caster sugar so it disolves more easily and taste after every dessert spoonful. A lot depends on how dry your cider is.
* Add an extra slosh of Calvados (apple brandy) or dark rum when serving.

Rugging up

 

Now it's gotten properly cold I can wear a jumper or cardigan to work all day and not get too hot. Often I'm in a scarf most of the day too. Gloves are a necessity for walking outside and I'm back to being grateful for my warm wool and cashmere duffle coat.

I'm carrying a few more pounds that I have for a while, but winter clothes are so forgiving that I'm okay with it for now.

Also, I can pull tights over my dry, white, unwaxed legs (sounds appealing, non? Luckily my husband doesn't care and nor do I).

 

 

 

 

 

Robins

 

There are many lovely festive things about December but robins are one of my favourite. They sing beautifully, they're unshakably perky and cute, they're quite tame and common enough that you're likely to see them regularly.

The only slightly odd thing is that they're clearly orange at the front, not red as popular culture insists. Wikipedia informs me that the colour name 'orange' didn't exist in England 'till the 16th Century as the fruit hadn't been imported yet.

Anyway, they're lovely and particularly good on bare winter branches.

So, I'm enjoying a nice quiet week at home after all my gallivanting. What about you - are you hibernating or running around like a mad thing? Or is it summer where you are?

Stressed? Give thanks!

So for some reason, the vast majority of my readers are from America. It's a bit odd 'cos I'm a New Zealander by birth and living (and writing about) in England but I really appreciate you guys!

Anyway, as you probably realise, we don't have Thanksgiving here. This is just an ordinary week in late Autumn.

For me, this has been a really tough week. Lots of angst at work, lots of people getting heated, lots of difficulties to negotiate and unmanageably huge amounts of work to do. So, as well as sweating it out at the gym every day (impressive, eh?), I thought it would be a good idea to practise gratitude.

What are the benefits of gratitude?
"More than any other personality trait, gratitude is strongly linked to mental health and life satisfaction...

Not only is gratitude a warm and uplifting way to feel, it benefits the body as well. People who experience gratitude cope better with stress, recover more quickly from illness, and enjoy more robust physical health, including lower blood pressure and better immune function." http://ei.yale.edu/what-is-gratitude/

Good enough for me! So, to get on with the gratitude, I am thankful for:

http://jaceksphotos.com/st-mary-redcliffe-church/

The beauty of Bristol, of England, of autumn, of the wildlife. 

I still appreciate walking through the park with the streetlights shining through the mist, large plane-tree leaves on the ground, golden leaves on the branches above, quaint cobbled streets and the amazingly beautiful St Mary Redcliffe church lit up to show off its sculptures.

We have adorable blue tits in the tree outside our kitchen window. I regularly see red kites, buzzards and other raptors on my way to work.





 My lovely husband
Not to get too soppy on you, but we've been married nearly 14 years and together for over half our lives. He is (to coin a cliche) my rock, my best friend and is generally a good person to have around.

How much I have managed to learn about doing my job
I did a short project management course this week and I found it rather affirming. It was really nice to see that I did actually know how to use all the tools and also some of the traps that you can fall into.

We've also had a bunch of new people at work and again, it has shown up how much I have actually managed to learn. I've still got the rest of my career to keep learning, but it's comforting to see that after about 15 years of work, I have managed to gain some skills.











Food and drink!
As much as I'd like not to be the size of a house, I do love my food. I'm grateful for good coffee in the morning (using our aeropress - it's delicious, try it!) and nice wine at night. I'm grateful for the cafe down the road from work which makes good quality food for reasonable prices. I nipped out for a very late lunch today and got a mix of Greek salad and pasta salad and a chocolate brownie for under £5.

So, happy Thanksgiving one and all and remember to regularly practise gratitude. You can start by telling me one thing you're grateful for, if you like.

Age cannot wither her?

A couple of comments on my last post got me thinking... First of the wonderful Duchesse  (go and see her blog, it's a delight) commented that,

"You may not be as pretty as in your 20s but I'll bet you are a more fascinating woman!" 

And a friend commented on Facebook: 

" I would agree that everyone gets more interesting as they age, as long as they take pains to keep their habits and activities fresh and out of a rut. I'd say you are accomplishing this nicely!"

Excellent words of wisdom! I'll be mulling over this 'facinating woman' idea for some time to come, I think. Trying it on, tweaking it about, seeing if it fits and how I can style it. 

I just tried searching the phrase 'facinating woman' and came up with a lot of traditional American homemaker stuff. Ick. Not my idea of fascinating. I'm more in tune with my friend's comment about becoming more interesting as we age by making sure we keep learning and growing. 

The Shakespeare quote alluded to in the title is "Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale her infinite variety". My overriding philosophy since moving to England has been 'Try something new'. I wouldn't claim (or want) infinite variety but I have loved stepping out of the old ruts of who I think I am and what I think I do. My younger self wouldn't recognise me in some aspects these days. 

I do recommend a seismic change every so often. I transformed myself around age 15 when I found a group of friends who hadn't known me since I was a baby. Being a new context allowed me to work out who I really was, instead of being stuck with the old expectations and patterns. Now with this move I've been freer to do that again. 

So what? Well, I guess I'll keep working on this fascinating thing and see where that takes me. What do you think - do people get more interesting as they age?

Obvious symbolism with the snake!

Do you treat your body worse than you treat your car?

I'm related to a mechanic* and he often rolled his eyes at how badly I treated my car. No oil, no services, not checking the tyres... I even ran out of petrol once or twice. I've gotten slightly better with age and more money. I do get regular services and get nagging issues checked out but I'm still not brilliant at keeping up with the basics.

Still, I was thinking the other day that I'm probably even worse at looking after my body than I am at looking after my car.

I have a theory that people tend to focus on one or two aspects of their lives to the exclusion of the others.

There are lots of different ways you can slice and dice the concept of wellbeing but the main division I see is between body and mind. I know lots of people (myself included) who are prone to treat their bodies worse than they treat their cars - not giving them proper fuel, regular maintance, grinding their gears (okay, the metaphor is getting laboured here...). 

Still, why do we do this? Why do we focus on our careers and sedentary things using our minds while our bodies seize up and rust away (metaphorically speaking...).     

                                                                      

I've put on about eight pounds (or four kilos) in the last year. It's gradually crept up with more indulgence in 'treats', more takeaways or pre-prepared food and less movement. I bit the bullet (another metaphor... I'll stop commenting on this now) last week did an assessment at the gym. Owch! The results were not good.

So, the worm has turned and so far I've had a good week on My Fitness Pal with diet and exercise. I need to keep doing this for a couple of months at least to get back to where I was a year ago. Then see how I go from there. 

I need to remember that I am a whole person: body, mind and spirit. I need to make sure I take time and energy to look after all three. I'm committed to making a change - let's see if I can actually learn this lesson this time!

What about you - how are you doing with your car and/ or your body?

* The picture is not my relative!