Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Still here...


Still here and not giving up entirely... although I have been utterly rubbish at the blog caper in 2012.
I am planning a blog revamp and a life makeover to give it more time. Stay tuned.

Of course I have been doing all sorts of blog worthy things - if only I could connect the dots - my camera, computer and brain.

I've been wasting time with instagram. Actually hardly any time at all which is what makes it so attractive. It's rather fun, give it a go. If you look me up (myvillalife) you can see a myriad of flower shots.  Too many really but I have a nice flower filled walk to school each morning and no life.

For instagram you'll need an iPhone and the App.  I'm typing this up on a shiny new iPad. Aren't I a million miles from here? You couldn't ever call me an early adapter to new technology but I get there in the end.  Yes, those who know how much I like to be right can give me two fingers and say I Told You So.

When not distracting myself with tech devices (and working and mothering) I have had my head in a book. I have a new book club, Book Club Lite as it is dubbed by its new members -  but we've read books that are anything but. Katherine Boo's Behind the Beautiful Forevers   and The Watch Tower by Elizabeth Harrower  - one of the Text Classics I mentioned here. All That I Am waits patiently next to my bed.

Minestrone has been my drug of choice this winter. My Dad gave me his recipe. I believe Stephanie Alexander gave her recipe to him.  It requires half a gallon of olive oil, pork rind and a hunk of Parmesan. His instruction - don't skimp on the olive oil. So right. He also grows his own borlotti beans. A bowl of it is like a hot water bottle and a hug.

We have also been to Vietnam and taken incredible pictures, eaten beautiful food, crossed roads with our hearts in our mouths and discovered pool side service. I like pool side service.

My son is still the sleeping stuntman. Four going on five - many months off five but in his head he was nearly five a day after he turned four. With me?

My older son is racing through books. It seems only yesterday that he was learning. We check every now and then that he is actually taking it in.  I'm thrilled that he loves reading but also annoyed that he stubbornly refuses to read any Enid Blyton.  What is it with kids these days?

As I type I'm watching the new  US HBO cable show The Newsroom. It's excellent viewing for news junkies. For washed up news EPs like yours truly it made the adrenalin pump like it used to and then a sadness settled on me with the realisation that I am washed up and will never work all hours in a frenetic New York newsroom. Ah well.

All these things probably deserve a post of their own. I have it in hand.

13 comments:

  1. Thanks for an interesting, rambling post! I enjoyed it.

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    1. Rambling is right!!! Thanks for reading. x

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  2. So lovely to hear from you again!!! I wrote a blog post very recently about my oldest and his love for reading... but not Enid Blyton, which irritated me no end as I have spent my life carefully collecting vintage Blyton books, "for my children." Apparently I spoke too soon though. This morning I found him lounging by the front door waiting for his ride to school halfway through Five Have a Wonderful Time, woohoo! It might still happen! xx

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    1. I read your post about dear Enid (just didn't comment because I really am a rubbisg blogger - all take and no give!) I live in hope that he might change. He's reading Horrible Histories now - all quite above him I think but he loves them! Particularly those Rotten Romans - 'they were very violent Mum' I'm quietly appalled...

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  3. I'm glad to see you've still been reading if not blogging! And the whole instagram thing is very alluring I agree...no pressure, only pleasure. But I have to tell you that you shamed me into writing a blog post. Not sure that I've come out of hibernation but I might have one eye open. And keep on gramming those flowers - I love seeing them. And please, Vietnam too!
    kxx

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    1. My aim was certainly not to shame! But I do find whenever I return to the blog I realised I don't want to give it up altogether.

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  4. you are doing too many fun things to blog. I completely understand.

    'All that I am'. I am reading it now. It is amazing and brilliant and lives up to the hype (I tend to be disappointed by over hyped Australian literature).

    I am obsessed in a non-weird way with Anna Funder. She has a daughter the same age and name as mine, and goodness me we were wandering around Melbourne Uni studying law at the same time. If only I could write as well as she does.

    Hope you are well.

    xo

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    1. Very pleased to hear that All That I Am delivers what it promises - by the time I got around to The Slap (three years late) I had heard way too much and was disappointed. Anna Funder certainly seems to have the gift - two fabulous books out of two. Bet she doesn't fiddle around on instagram...

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  5. I actually discovered your blog today for the first time via Instagram. Isn't it wonderful - so quick and easy, and I think most of us are "visual" so it is perfect for browsing when time is short. I can identify with this post on so many levels - I am not as frequent a blogger as I would like to be, but it's a combination of not enough time, and not enough interesting things to blog about (though I suspect a better writer than me would manage to elevate even the most mundane day to day observations to an interesting and amusing read). I too have All That I Am on my bedside table and haven't opened it yet. Hope it's good. I have recently read The Shifting Fog by Kate Morton and Wonder by RJ Palaccio both of which were excellent. My seven (and three quarters) year old also won't touch Enid Blyton but loves Zac Power, Boy vs Beast and Diary of a Wimpy Kid and I tell myself that it's more important that he develops a joy in reading than that he loves the classics that I enjoyed so much as a child. I've rambled on a bit but will close with this quote from Melissa Penfold of the SMH: "It is a truth seldom acknowledged that every house should have at least as many bookshelves as it has television screens". Hear Hear! Fiona (zooeysmum on Instagram xx

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  6. Great to 'meet' you Fiona - blogstyle! I loved the Sifting Fog - Jane at My Pear Tree House introduced me to her writing and I love it. I'll have to try Wonder. We have Zac Power, Horrible Histories and all Wimpy Kids - thankfully he's also devouring Dahl which makes me feel slightly better!

    Instagram is a gift for the busy yet blog loving modern woman. If only I'd invented it!

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  7. Lovely to see you although I am keeping up with you on IG, are we going to see the Vietnam photos there? My reading is also being left behind at the moment I desperately need to go and spend a day in the library with your list in hand!!! xx

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  8. Yay, an Anne blog! It does so pick up my early morning cup of tea when I find one. Funny you mention Enid Blyton abbey is loving her at the moment, thankfully she has moved on from the enchanted wood (after a very repetitive 6 months) and is devouring six o'clock tales at the moment.

    Jode

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  9. Ah, so fabulous to see a sign of life here, my friend. Please return here more often - I miss your wit! J x

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Thanks for taking the time to write, Ann x

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