Ok, I'm beginning to wonder if it's worth having a blog - such long periods of time elapse between me being able to blog and so much happens in those periods of time, that I would need to do very big blogs to cover it all ...
In fact the enormity of the task daunts me ...
For the next week, then, on each week day I will commit to blogging once, however short and see if it's possible.
If it's not, I'll abandon the idea.
If it is, I'll continue.
Do we have a deal?

Cool, rainy July

And so it's July. Dad's birthday month, the strawberries are over, the cherries are lipsmackingly good and the weather has taken a downturn into cool, cloudy grey days with periodic heavy rain. The rain tends to co-incide with my cycle ride home. Funny that. Not ha ha because I get wet, but funny peculiar ... by the time I get home, rush inside and drip all over the kitchen floor (and the cats who come rushing to meet me hoping to be fed!) it has stopped, dried up and is hot and sunny.

I think my henna tattoos are already starting to wear off - I shall miss them but won't have them replaced with anything permanent.

I ordered 2 rose bushes named after my two daughters and OH has planted them next to the Buddha statue in the garden that marks the grave of our last beloved cat, Smudge. I hope they'll take although I suspect roses are fussy and I know nothing about looking after them.

Back from hols, brown and quite relaxed

So, I'm back. I had a lovely week of doing exactly what I wanted (within the restrictions of location, time etc) and picked up a bit of a tan and 2 henna tattoos on my right ankle!
I swam every day, sometimes several times a day. I also showered several times a day, partly to wash off the sea-salt and partly to cool down (it was VERY hot). I sat in cafes and ordered drinks in a thoroughly decadent manner and charged them to my room. I walked to places I wanted to see and took photos of things that caught my eye or attracted my interest.
I lost my glasses somewhere in the sea ... luckily I had a pair of prescription sun-glasses with me, which looked fine during the day, but a little strange at night!
I ate when I was hungry - not always at conventional meal-times, and enjoyed the food I chose to eat.
And I got home at a reasonable time last night; in time to show my family the photos I took, dish out the small presents I bought them, deal with a week's worth of post and get a good night's sleep before coming back to work today.
I highly recommend it!

Various things

Well, I saw my play performed on Saturday night and was in a state of nervous tension throughout! The performance was exactly as I'd imagined it and they'd really done well with costumes and scenery and props - again, exactly as I'd imagined they would be. There were 3 other short plays performed as well and it was great to see how very different they were and the sorts of themes each of them explored. If I never have another play performed, I shall be happy - recognition of my writing is very much appreciated.

No.1 daughter came home for the weekend, to see my play and 'squish the kitties' (in her own words!). She is so full of energy that, by the time she went home on Sunday afternoon, we were all exhausted and collapsed into bed!

Today I have challenged myself by wearing colours that I wouldn't normally put together - because not being colour-co-ordinated bothers me - so it's something I like to challenge myself with occasionally. And it certainly doesn't hurt.

Tomorrow I'm off on holiday (on my own, if you recall - so the house WILL BE OCCUPIED - ok I'm being paranoid here, but there are B*%$ards out there who use the internet for their own disgusting ends including burgling people who announce they've gone on holiday ... may the fleas of a thousand camels infest their armpits).
I'll be back shortly with accounts of my experiences ...

Until then ...

Feeling rather unwell today ....

And since yesterday, actually. I went to a new yoga class Sunday morning, for an hour, and it was tough. The class leader was a tiny, very bendy woman, who was quite encouraging, but a little stern. I managed to do most of the postures and stretches, but was left feeling rather unwell for the rest of the day and today. It may be co-incidence, of course, or it maybe that I'm not used to doing yoga for that length of time, or it could be something else completely.
Whatever - I have been feeling rather fragile in the digestive area and tired and grumpy, since I don't like feeling ill.
Feeling a bit better since lunchtime - but still a bit fragile. I'll take it easy today, I think.

Update!

I sat both my AS level Classical Civilisation papers a couple of weeks ago. The first one didn't go so well - some of the low mark questions were asking for facts I couldn't remember, so I know I have lost marks there. I ended up seaguing from one higher mark question to the one following it .. and then had to go back to the earlier question and write most of the same information all over again ... it was partly that the 2 questions were remarkably similar and partly that this was the first exam I'd sat in over 10 years and I was in quite a panic!
Before the 2nd paper, DD2 sat down with me and worked out my timings for each questions, including time to check through at the end. She also revised me on some facts, in case they came up. That was very helpful (and most amusing to have such a role reversal!) and I sat the 2nd paper with much more confidence and didn't mess the questions up at all. I suspect I've dropped a couple of marks on the shorter questions but hopefully the longer questions will be enough to carry me through. I won't get the results until near the end of August. Fingers crossed!

Sorry for paucity of recent posts ...

I'm still suffering from Blogger's Block ...
However, it's very dry and we're now officially in a drought.
Our small garden is producing enough green veg for me and OH (DD doesn't eat it, unfortunately) and it's really satisfying to pop out the back door and come back with a handful of broad beans, mange touts, spinach(es!) and kale for supper.
I'm reading 'Starcrossed', which is rather like 'Twilight' meets 'Percy Jackson' and I'm enjoying the sheer trashiness of it.
In just over a week I'm off on holiday - but on my own, so if anyone's reading this and has worked out who I am, the house WILL NOT be unattended. So there!
The play what I wrote will be performed in a week's time - ulp!
I'll be seeing it on the Saturday night and it will be fascinating to see what they've made of it.