Five (good) things on Friday

Hello again!  I’m so sorry to have been absent again for a while.  Still gradually recovering from the long-lasting bout of flu, which has left me with a wheezy cough and depleted energy levels.  But fortunately still able to enjoy what energy I have (mainly in the morning through till mid-afternoon, when I slump rather) – and it’s getting better, so no real complaints.

I promise I will catch up with replying to your comments, which I really truly do love to receive, and catch up with dropping by and visiting your blogs and commenting.  In the meantime, I do hope you’ll bear with me.

So, another ‘Five (good) things” post feels like an easy way back in.

1. Two really interesting talks – first of all, a talk in the local (council owned) Victoria Art Gallery linked to a most beautiful exhibition of prints by Howard Hodgkin.  The talk was by Andrew Smith, a printmaker who worked very closely with Hodgkin to produce the prints to his exact requirements.  So very interesting, and such a fascinating insight into both the painstaking process of making the prints, and also the way Hodgkin himself worked.  Then on another evening at another gallery (the Martin Parr Foundation, at the Paintworks in Bristol), a talk by Martin Parr himself outlining his life and work, illustrated with fascinating slides and delivered with great humour. If you live in the UK you’re probably familiar with his work even if you don’t realise – he’s made a series of interesting BBC1 ident films that I’m sure you’ll have seen, and there are more to come in 2018.
2. Time to go out on the allotment and do some jobs I should have done last month but didn’t.  In particular I’ve cut down and thinned out all the autumn-fruiting raspberry canes, and saved some spares to pass on to fellow allotmenters.  I’ll offer any surplus on Freegle.  I was cold and tired but very satisfied when I finally finished and came back indoors.
3. Exchanged an unwanted Christmas gift for something I really do want.  Well, to be fair the gift wasn’t at all unwanted, in fact quite the reverse.  I gave a short list of some things I would enjoy to close family, thinking they might perhaps talk to each other….  Well no, and both sons and partners gave me the same book.  So – I took the duplicate book to one of the independent bookshops we’re fortunate to have here in Bath, explained the problem to them (including making it clear that the book hadn’t been bought from them), and they kindly agreed to do a swap.  So now I have two inspiring allotment/garden books, and will enjoy both.
4. Enjoyed watching the garden birds on the new (squirrel-proof) feeder oldest son and his partner gave Malcolm for Christmas, as well as the two broken feeders I mended, refilled, and put out again.  Such a pleasure to see!  And helped by Malcolm’s photos and the bird book we’ve had for ages, we’re learning to recognise new-to-us species.
5. A much-loved regular circuit walk around Bristol docks, including a stop for a flask and snack, then a cafe stop for a delicious light lunch and coffee.  So beautiful in the muted January light.