busy time summertime
[‘Basket of Flowers’ (1924) by Raoul Dufy]
Retired, my foot.
Slightly busy with life stuff: a full house, Theo’s 2nd birthday party, hose pipes and watering cans, digging up potatoes and counting strawberries, making bread, watching England at the World Cup 🫣, reading favourite books (Hairy Maclary from Donaldson’s Dairy, Coming to Tea, Peepo!, Ten in the Bed, Cockatoos and Mr Magnolia), pretending the supermarket trolley is a speedboat, making Theo laugh by saying stuff badly in Swedish, watching him learn two languages at the same time, showing him the cows in Cambridge, buying more Spot books in the wonderful Topping’s in Ely, wishing I owned an original Raoul Dufy flower piece.
[we drove past it last year: Quarry Bank High School for Boys, now Calderstones School]
Also: asking myself whether it is too nerdy to go on a John Lennon School Tour, abandoning a couple of recent, well-reviewed books without a shred of regret (no guilt involved), lining up a few good exhibitions to see incl LS Lowry at the MK Gallery, Ravilious et al at Holburne, and Horrockses dresses at the Harris in Preston (if the stars align I could combine this with a JL School Tour…), looking forward to a quick trip later this month to Stockport which is very much in the news due to Andy Burnham’s Manchesterism (it is working in Stockport), enjoying the prospect of a Prime Minister whose vowels are the similar to mine, wondering what the world record is for the biggest meringue as we have accumulated about forty egg whites in the freezer after making a LOT of ice cream, recommending the excellent Death of an Ordinary Man by Sarah Perry to Tom and Zoë who also found it extremely good, and enjoying having everyone here.
Happy Sunday!
Loving having a summertime houseful. Shoes everywhere, weird stuff in the fridge (one of them has just finished a 2 week ayurvedic retreat in Nepal), soooooo many used towels, where are the car keys, how can you watch so much tennis, are the potatoes ready to dig up yet, and the happy sound of the bulldozer digging the hole where our son and daughter in law will build their house in our village.
Not sure what happened there, wrote a comment which disappeared and I seem to have posted - 7! Well, it is my lucky number. Here’s my second attempt. I love hearing about your busy ‘retirement’ and life with your family. I’m off to Pembrokeshire tomorrow to stay with my sister and brother-in-law. We are promised sunshine and temperatures in the low 20s, rather than 30+ which it will be in my home in South London. We’re all getting a bit decrepit now, walking sticks and wheeled walkers in use, but that means we go slowly and look at things properly instead of rushing to cram everything in. We’ll be looking at local arts and crafts, enjoying lovely fresh fish and seafood and ice creams by the sea. It’s my birthday on Friday so we’ll be having a special lunch out and I get to choose my main birthday present - what’s not to like! Not a grandchild between us, but we enjoy similar things, good food and conversation, reading and old films, and people watching of course so we’ll have a great time.
If there’s one thing your writings have taught me, it is to look at and enjoy the things and people around us, whether it’s gas holders or alms houses or tulips or knitting wool or the Fab Four. My only regret at growing older is my inability now to visit all the galleries and exhibitions I want to see (Horrockses dresses, Schiaparelli at the V&A, High Society at the Barbican) but thank goodness for the internet and streaming and of course exhibition catalogues. Not quite as good as being there but it will do. Enjoy your ‘retirement’ and please keep writing! Love and best wishes, Maureen