Eurovision

Who watched Eurovision? Go on, admit it. Eurovision has this slightly shameful, pathetic image (at least around these parts) and this year I very nearly bought into that, despite having watched and enjoyed it in previous years. Pah!, I said cynically, Eurovision. Load of commercialised rot, sub-standard music, ridiculous costumes etc., etc. And the two nights of semi-finals screened on tv here seemed to confirm that. But the finals were really something else. The winning song from Norway, "Fairytale", is just great (http://www.eurovision.tv/event/artistdetail?song=24699&event=1481). A wonderful pop song, in the truest sense of the term, but a great Eurovision song too in that it did have that bit of dagginess, that bit of sentimentalism (folk violin!) and so, that bit of heart. And it's got a bit of Abba too, and a bit of "Those Were the Days" for those who remember back that far, so really a very good song in a couple of respects. Another terrific one in my view was the entry from Portugal, "Todas As Ruas Do Amor" (http://www.eurovision.tv/event/artistdetail?song=24683&event=1480). Gentle, folksy, little bit of the Sundays. Lovely. Hooray for a bit of the daggy! Douze pointe!!

Western Skies

Well, here I am, back again after quite a break. These have been difficult times for me in many ways and I am quite sure I am not out of the woods yet. Difficult but perhaps also ultimately important and rewarding times of transition. Who knows? I guess I'll just have to wait and see. What I had thought I would be doing with my life professionally has fairly definitively ground to a halt and proved to be something of a dead end, rather than the highway to glory and satisfaction! This is distressing, unsettling, challenging and liberating news for someone in (as it was described to me) "early middle age" (!!) So I have been going through (and continue to go through) a slow process of rebuilding: how can I adapt the skills I have? Do I need to start all over again? What really interests me?, as well as encountering a few of the recognised stages of denial about it all: anger, hurt, blame, jealousy etc. Perhaps these are not the official recognised stages of denial, but they're the ones I've been feeling.

What prompted me especially to post is a post I've just read from a blogging friend of mine at Another Beautiful Day (http://milk-and-berries.blogspot.com/). In her latest entry, she ponders the nature of youth and this is what I have been thinking about lately too. How full of promise life seems when you're young! Everything seems possible, time and opportunity stretch out before you. What I now think is really amazing is to recapture at least some of that feeling later, when you've taken a few knocks, while also balancing it out with a useful dash of 30-something reality. Can it be done? I'll let you know. Meanwhile, I think Roddy Frame (he of 80s indie-pop group Aztec Camera, ironically part of the soundtrack of my youth) says it best in "Western Skies":

The road you chose to follow
Slowly turned into a cul-de-sac.
There's no shame in turning back
And trying something new.

Reasons to be cheerful 2

1. Turning over a new leaf, and really turning it over.
2. Realising just a little bit more of what it's really all about. I think.
3. Making scones but getting some really tasty biscuits instead.

Reasons to be cheerful 1:

A beautiful day. Not hot but warm, warming the bed which sits underneath the window.
A light breeze on the face.
Good milk chocolate.
Peanut butter on hot toast.
Just a little glimpse of promise, despite everything.

From Russia with love and a lot of mayonnaise

On Saturday, my fellow traveller in the Yellow Wood and I had a Russian themed dinner for just us two. Although the fotos I took of it made it look quite disturbingly disgusting (hence the lack of them above!), it was in fact quite excellent. We had Beef Stroganoff (prepared by my delightful and culinary husband), potato salad and egg with caviar (both prepared by me). The caviar came from Sweden so it left rather a dire ecological footprint, I fear, but we had to have some genuine Europeaness to such a Eurocentric meal! I love all things Russian (well, almost all. Perhaps leave out Stalin and the Gulags); I collect Babushka dolls and would love to learn the language but I stuggle enough learning German which at least uses the Roman alphabet. Cyrillic and I therefore seem unlikely to meld successfully.

Lost is the word

Did anyone (other than me) watch Lost in Austen last night? Lost was indeed the word. It lost its way and it lost me. The premise behind it is terrific - I am always one for time travel/escapism type stories - but with its crass and unengaging lead character it became more like a period drama crossed with Big Brother. And then, of course, it dragged out the classic chesnut: weren't people in the 'olden days' stupid, repressed and unenlightened; aren't we wonderful now in this emancipated age etc., etc. Certainly some valuable points were made, such as how our 'heroine' reacts to Jane Bennett essentially being offered up to the vile Mr Collins for the good of the family, but on the whole I was left with the sentiment of 'Well, if this is modern womanhood...'

The Quilt

I have been bitten by the quilting bug. Having been an avid reader of a number of lovely crafting blogs for the last couple of years, I have been aware of the deliciousness of quilts for some time. I have bought books on quilting. I even bought a sewing machine with a view to making my own quilts. And this was quite a step for someone with a long-standing fear of sewing, following sewing classes at school led by a teacher who tore in half ill-stitched garments. But nothing happened. Sure, quilts were lovely but I was struggling to get my sewing machine to work and my old fears returned – I couldn’t sew! And I certainly couldn’t sew to the beautiful, beautiful standards of the lovely Jane at Yarnstorm http://yarnstorm.blogs.com/jane_brocket/

But then, yesterday, I found a second hand quilt at an opportunity shop (charity shop, thrift store). Intact, clean and so pretty. I held it up to inspect it. Someone made this. Pieced together all of the asian fan shapes which made up the design. Made something soft, comforting and instantly welcoming with their own hands. I was hooked. The photo I took of it (and which I cannot currently upload for some reason) doesn’t do it justice. It was taken with my mobile phone because my digital camera is dead but it captures perhaps just a little of its charm, which is perhaps also just as much as I have of it right now too. I have much to learn, but at last I feel truly ready to give quilting a try. And so now, the sew-o-phobe begins her mission…