(For W´s birthday I made the LASAGNA I had on my Christmas time list in the last blog post and some chocolate cream with Amarena cherries and chestnut puree - we all had to lay down afterwards. That panettone with glazed chestnuts in it was divine, the best we ever had - my mum found it a our local Italian grocers after asking the shop keeper which one from the wide range on offer was the best. It was, of course the most expensive one too, but so worth it.)
I am still amazed by the fact how over the holidays are as soon as they are over. The glitter so enticing that day becomes dull over night and festive spices taste only like left overs as soon as January comes around. But it has been surprisingly good, it felt the right kind of lazy, with bits of work throughout and we have been so well fed - basically the only stressful thing being organizing what to eat and when to eat it. Also - rather unexpectedly - winter isn´t bothering me as much as I thought it would, but then the temperatures haven´t dropped too much so far and there have only been two or three un-bikeable days due to snowy or icy streets AND I now own two more layers of down vests. And when I do ride my bike decked out in these I feel happy, no matter the weather. So far even the greyest skies haven´t bothered me, I do feel oddly cheery, a bit bored perhaps, but that might be a good thing.
I´m still at those Nancy Mitford novels and while I do enjoy a lot of those silly, cruel characters, there is something that is worrying me - the women (some of the men, too and no mistake) are mostly busy with nothing but clothes, lovers, "looking after goats" or hunting. One of them is stitching a petit point carpet " in a particularly crude Victorian design of roses and lilies of the valley and blue ribbons" she thinks "too pretty for words" - that´s basically all she does during WWII. Education or occupation is not considered ideal by everyone, it is much better to be lazy. Well, what I´m worried about now is, that this lifestyle might have been perfectly fitting for me - not being overly smart, endeared by all things pretty and tasty and yes, lazy by nature, if I wouldn´t be fighting it all the time. I rise late and then I idle about with endless cups of tea (about three) while checking my RSS reader and Facebook - then I move on to "work". Making jewelry or doing a bit of graphic design is probably just another way of stitching rugs and I will admit that I am planing to make some of these POM POM BUNNIES while the world goes awry - I have all I need on hand now, even chenille stems in the right size. What I would give for a brilliant mind, but it feels a bit dull instead and I imagine talking to me a quite boring pastime, I am not even a very amusing or sharp gossip. Staying inspired and keeping alert is hard work for me, since I am the kind of person who considers aquiring a new SKIRT an apt way to change the course of ones life (I don´t of course and I didn´t buy it in the end anyway).
One thing I´m quite into recently is deliming my kitchen sink, which is very new to me and since even the smell of bio-degradeable descaling agent gives me head aches I do so after cleaning my water heater with citric acid - I just cover it all with paper towels, pour the diluted acid over it and let it soak for a bit. What is left I use to deep clean the little rose coloured cut-glass bowls the cat likes to eat her Sheba from.
Off to stitching und gushing about a particularly stunning flower arrangement on a jade table I just spotted on Instagram!
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