Sunday 30 December 2018

Sunset













cramp balls?


wood ears?



As usual I am galloping towards the New Year with a head full of plans and dreams and trying to ignore any niggling anxiety. It's always the same. Excitement and fear. But it's good to feel the feelings, no?

I've been working hard on the writing front, both the non-fiction, which earns the money at the moment, and the fiction, which is the dream. I've really enjoyed meeting more fiction writers this year. There's a group I go to occasionally where everyone is so knowledgeable and encouraging and I always come home really inspired and motivated. Slowly, slowly, I'm building a little network of writer friends, both in the fiction and non-fiction worlds, which I'm happy about - a while back I didn't know any at all. Now I'm starting to become immersed in those worlds, and I'm loving it.

The children still have loads of time off school, which is good. There are still leftovers to be finished off for one thing. Although on the subject of food, remember the twenty food photographs the biggest boy had to produce for his homework? He informed me the other day that he needs to take twelve more. Twelve! The first twenty nearly finished me off, and I honestly don't think I have any more photo-worthy dishes I can produce. I have already done my entire repertoire. I am trying not to think about it in the sure and certain knowledge that we can scream at each other about it later on in the week when I have work to do and time is almost up. We do our best work under pressure.

We went to the pantomime yesterday. I always think I'm not keen on pantomime, but I do enjoy it on the whole once I'm there. I like the time-honoured tradition of going to a theatre and being entertained by people. And I like going out for something to eat afterwards, I especially like that. The littlest boy and I can be lured almost anywhere with the promise of something delicious to eat. I am always dragging him along on the most tedious of trips simply by throwing in a packet of crisps or a good biscuit. I suppose one day he will stop being so happily enthusiastic about it all, but for now he is full of joy about pretty much everything.

Fungus pictures from a walk in the woods today. I'm guessing that they're cramp balls and wood ears. Wonderful. It's all deliciously damp and decaying out there. You can almost hear everything recycling itself. Nutrients returning to the soil, bacterial activity teeming.

And so it just remains for me to wish each and every one of you a very happy New Year. Thank you for coming here to visit, it means a lot to me. I hope 2019 contains some magic for you and yours and that your dreams come true. Happiness to you all. CJ xx

18 comments:

  1. Happiness to you too, CT. Fantastic fungi photos, and the names are brilliant. We peaked panto-wise several years ago when R was actually dragged up on stage and had to dance. The music was practically drowned out by the sound of his wife laughing like a drain! To add to the trauma, it was his birthday and he thought that I had arranged it - to be fair I would have done if I'd thought of it, but it was pure serendipity! Good luck with the food photography. xx

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  2. Happy New Year CJ may all your best wishes come true!
    Re food photograhy - how about some fruit or vegetable sculptures done by the boys to photograph. There are aome wonderful examples on You Tube and Facebook to try out.
    Good luck!

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  3. I’ve loved reading your blog throughout the year. I’m wishing you well with all your writing plans and particularly with the next photo shoot. Glorious photos as always. Happy New Year to you all. B x

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  4. Happy New Year to you and your family. These photos are amazing, especialy n. 14! I absolutely love your blog and I always look forward to your new post. Hana (Czech rep.)

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  5. Wishing you and your family a Happy New Year :)

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  6. A most enjoyable post and good pictures. The car in the second picture looks like a Bristol, which if it is makes an expensive rarity.
    I laughed at your comments about the littlest boy, you and the promise of something delicious to eat.
    Thanks, and for you too. xx

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  7. I agree with the fungal identification (not a sentence you often get to write in polite company). Good luck with the food photos :o). And good luck with all your writing endeavours for 2019- you deserve success. Happy New Year my friend xx

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  8. Does the food have to be cooked wouldn’t a fruit bowl or a basket of veg count? Or even fruit and veg taken from different perspectives, the patterns inside a cabbage cut in half, the calyx of a tomato.

    I never liked pantomime, as a child it irritated me that the story didn’t stick to the traditional story and I never could see what the slapstick sketch had to do with anything,

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  9. I remember daughter having to take food photos once, can't remember what for, think it was an art project, in desperation I started making face of people and animals from spaghetti and pasta with a variety of veg, I was amazed when she got straight A's!Loved the fungus and pics here. I have no doubt that you will be a successful writer, you have a beautiful way with words. All the best to you all for 2019.xxx

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  10. 🥂Happy new year 🥂....love Ria 💕

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  11. Hey CJ, so pleased to hear you've made happy inroads into writing fiction, and, yes it's great to have likeminded writing buddies too. I enjoyed catching up with your news today.
    I've not been around much lately due to this and that, and my blog is poorly neglected, but I'll be breathing new life into it in 2019 - Happy new year to you and yours, may the new year bring you joy!

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  12. Ending 2018 with thanks to you for sharing such wonderful stories of life above the river and your stellar photos that continue to make me smile and dream of your side of the big pond. Starting 2019 with good wishes for health and happiness and much good fortune in whatever form you wish it to be.
    :)

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  13. You sure did capture the essence of a winter landscape with your photos! I've enjoyed reading your story over the year and I'm glad to hear you've made friends with like-minded writers, such a good thing! Thank you for your kind thoughts about our loss of our little darling Buddy.

    *:._.:*~*:._.:*~*:._.:*~*:._.:*~*:._.:*
      *H*A*P*P*Y* *N*E*W* *Y*E*A*R*!*
    *:._.:*~*:._.:*~*:._.:*~*:._.:*~*:._.:*

    ((hugs)), Teresa :-)

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  14. Happy New Year CJ, thank you for including us in your wonderful life my friend.

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  15. Happy New Year lovely CJ. I like the sound of eating out after the panto. We went just before Christmas - it was brilliant, totally hilarious - then had fish and chips afterwards. I hope you're enjoying these inbetween days. I'm dreading the return to school and work next week but I'm guessing it will give you a quiet house and some much needed time to yourself. xx

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  16. Happy New Year CJ!

    I love that the youngest is still so full of joy over everything. It is something that has crushingly changed so drastically in my son and I sometimes bite my lip to avoid tears when I recall his youthful joy.

    Break ends for our school this coming Monday -- not soon enough, sigh!

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  17. Happy new year CJ. May all your writing dreams come true x

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  18. I'm a little bit late to wish you a happy new year, but so good to hear that your writing is going well. Hope 2019 brings lots of good things your way x

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