Yesterday we went for a short local walk quite early in the morning. It was good to get out in the fresh air even if for just a short while.
I've been busy trying to de-clutter. Lots of old paperback books have been placed in boxes, they are probably too old even to pass on to a charity shop. The pages are brown, dry and flaking, spotted with age, the covers are scuffed at the edges, some torn. I notice some are priced at three shillings and sixpence, others at five shillings, Old money, old books who on earth would want them?
I have boxes of notebooks from the last thirty years or so. In them I find dotted amongst the pages, research I've done for leaflets and exhibitions at the museums I've worked in. Family history notes from Local History libraries and Archive offices. Stories and poems I wrote when I attended Creative Writing Courses, all side by side with recipes, lists of things to do, holiday planning and itineraries, lists of what to take on holidays and present and card lists for both Christmas and birthdays.
The family history notes have been extracted and I'm filing them into paper folders under each family name. I can sort them again from there. I think I have most of the information in my latest family tree files I am typing up the stories and poems. Some of them I remember, others I don't. I must have written them as they are my notebooks and my scribble. Everything else has been shredded.
Days are drifting by. Last Tuesday when we had a long and lovely Zoom chat with friends I was convinced it was Saturday. When Saturday finally arrived I was convinced it was Sunday. Today I am aware that it really is Monday - and so it goes.
We have taken out a subscription to Netflix. I've watched three good films already.
'All is True' 'Collette' and 'Hope Gap' All very different but all beautifully filmed with good, strong casts.
I've not talked much about the trees but they still remain stark and beautiful, casting wonderful reflections in the pond. The ground was wet and muddy underfoot but the air was dry.
On the way back from the walk I spotted this wonderful shrub overhanging a garden wall all those bright red berries ripe for the birds to eat on these cold days.
The last few days I've been finding it hard to keep warm. Homemade creamy parsnip soup and roll helps to lift spirits and warm cold fingers and toes.
I hope everyone is staying safe and warm.
That looks very nice,soup and a roll and butter at the table.I am afraid we have got into bad habits and often have a tray on our knees watching TV.I blame lockdown!,
ReplyDeleteSpread rather than butter, we tend to eat our main meal like you in front of the TV and lunch in the conservatory watching the birds in the garden but soup is best on the table in case of spills:)
DeleteGood time to declutter although I find it hard to motivate myself. The charity bookshop I go to will take any old books and those that are past their best are passed on to someone else possibly for recycling? Your soup looks delicious and very warming. Good to hear you got out for a walk. I took my son out to get some photos for his day job today and it was good to have even a drive to get away from the house for a while. I also stopped off at a local churchyard and was pleased to see snowdrops in bud.
ReplyDeleteI've boxed them up then it is up to the charity what they do with them. I decided to get rid of some of the paperbacks as I can't read the small print any longer. Lots are from the 60s and 70s. Glad you son was able to get out with your help to take the photos he needed. It would be really cheering to see the snowdrops:)
DeleteI threw away a lot of old fiction paperbacks from similar decades when I last had a major cull. A few I regret but it freed up shelf space for more non fiction :)
Deleteps should point out son is classed as a key worker and needed photos for his job and as he doesn't drive I ran him to and fro to save use of public transport. Don't want people thinking I am breaking rules unnecessarily!
ReplyDeleteFar better than public transport, safer and more reliable also it's necessary to run the car occasionally to keep it going:)
DeleteOh yes! He wouldn't have gone on a bus - so many people not wearing masks and also the place he needed to be would have required several buses. Even taxis he wouldn't fancy using these days. Yes the car desperately needed a run! Although now the perisihing key fob won't lock car and we have to do it manually. Looks like an eletrical fault :( So worrying now about need to take it to the garage!!!
DeleteThe soup looks delicious, the perfect meal for a cold day. Its amazing what we find when we start to declutter, I find some of my notes next to recipe books quite amusing.
ReplyDeleteThe soup was lovely and warming. Some of the things I've written I've no memory of others I can remember where I was sitting when I wrote them - very strange:)
DeleteLovely photos and a catchup of what you've been up to in these trying times. I should do a really good clean out too, but just keep putting it off, though I am doing tiny bits now & then. That berried shrub looks like a cotoneaster maybe? Never had parsnip soup by itself, but occasionally make sweet potato & parsnip soup & that is nice. Take care, stay, safe warm & huggles. PS: We are also having trouble remembering what day it is with no set things we used to do except the odd Car Club bits.
ReplyDeleteYes, I think it is a cotoneaster, there were two of them overhanging a wall with a little gate between them and further along an orange one, it was quite a display. We grate nutmeg into the parsnip soup and it had a little greek yoghurt in it to make it smooth and creamy. My enthusiasm for clearing has fizzled out for the moment, I hope it will return. Stay safe:)
DeleteIt sounds like you've been busy with all your sorting and I expect you found some hidden gems in your notebooks. It's good to have a project with the days going by so quickly. The trees look wonderful in your photos, it won't be long until the leaves are back again. Take care. 🙂
ReplyDeleteI have three piles of shred, keep and not sure. There are some things that I have completely forgotten and others I have no idea what the notes meant at the time. Yes, we have to look forward to the return of leaves to the trees and hedgerows and the first flowering spring colours:)
DeleteI like the bush with the red berries for the birds. I am doing de-cluttering too. Every day on a walk I give a book to a Little Free Library, do you have any near you? Someone might like your books, even if old.
ReplyDeleteI wish we did have a little free library. Some places have them in old phone boxes but not around here. I will send most of them to a charity shop when I can, the very brown ones are from the eaarly 1960s, I used to cram them in my school satchel with text and exercise books so they did get a bit scuffed and look very well used:)
DeleteSoup and a roll is among my favourite things to eat! I try to part with old books but regret letting them go. Silly but I feel they are part of me and I have learnt something from each of them. Some charity shops send old books for landfill but there are people who use them up in mixed media projects so at least they are being recycled. My Dad always taught me to respect books and would never even let a corner be turned down on a page. He used to give me lessons with his books on how to handle them! Hope you are feeling warmer today Rosie. We are in double figures here today - mild and damp! :)
ReplyDeleteI'd hate the books to go into landfill. They have moved with me and sat on various book shelves some since I was about thirteen years old. They were cheap paper backed books and produced with cheap paper so they have just gone dry and brown over the last fifty plus years and some covers have begun to flake away. One of the lesons I learned was not to push books open and crack the spines and never to write notes in them too. It's funny what you remember. Take care Simone:)
DeleteI find the temperature changes from day to day depending on the weather. We try to keep moving to stay warm at least in the mornings when we have housework to do. In the afternoon we sit and watch some television (programmes I've recorded that are informative and easy on the eye eg travel, art and culture). Then cooking together late afternoons keeps us occupied. I'm glad you were able to take a walk. Your photos of trees and reflections in the water are beautiful. I would like to have a declutter, but tend to put it off. Perhaps I'll feel more energetic when Springtime arrives.
ReplyDeleteI try to get everything done in the morning too and it is the afternoons and early evenings when I seem to feel the cold, dark winter afternoons are the worst. It's good to fill them with colour and sound from interesting television programmes and we like those kind of programmes too. I'm walking less frequently at the moment because of the weather or because deliveries are expected at some point during the day so we daren't go out together for a walk. Spring is on the way, take care Linda:)
DeleteThere's something about a new year that makes you want to declutter (even in these times!) it's always a shame to have to get rid of books even if they are beyond use! I'm working and I still have difficulty remembering what day it is, they do blend into one!
ReplyDeleteIt's probably not the right time to declutter but I feel weighed down by all the paper, I still have notes and essays from my degree work and other stuff, I just need to get rid of it all now. The paperbacks I will never read again because of their small print so they will have to find a new home but I'm very sad to see them go. I ask each morning 'what day is it?' or things like 'do we have Friday today?, the only recognisable day is bin day:)
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