solitude

n's gone off to a stag do in brighton today (i know!) and i have had a rare day all to myself. well, myself and humph, who grew increasingly concerned as my telephone conversation with my mom grew near to, then exceeded established evening walk time. he thinks i'm inept, i swear. the huffing and puffing and long e.s.p-inducing stares toward the door - he's like an old man insisting that this modern stuff isn't music and it was all better when he was a pup and good grief, that's not how to dance - don't you know anything? anyways he got his walk, another lap for good measure at which point, arriving home, he promptly flopped over and has been asleep ever since. who knew altering routines would be so tiring?

i did not feel like swimming this morning despite the lovely weather (will i jinx it by writing about it?) being rather hung over (ahem) but i went anyways and had a fabulous swim. go figure. and then - wait for it - i worked on my dissertation - and even wrote something . will wonders never cease.

then i biked up to the farm - and - i biked up all the hills!! i mean, slowly, but hey. swimming has provided musculature! i'm still not thin (obviously) but my body is working better for sure. so much unexpected joy in this whole swimming lark. on the way back i detoured up to the shipright and had a yummy pint sitting on the creek bank watching the boats. a swan flew right past me - i could feel the wind from its feathers. magic.

when i got home i settled in for a good long catch up with my mom - i'm so grateful that long distance telephone rates are so reasonable - i don't think i could manage living so far away if it wasn't for the weekly connections with my mom. we dispense with the update section of our calls quickly and progress rapidly to the important topics of family gossip, yarn, politics, feminism, how crap i am at writing my dissertation, work, and bemoaning the hereditary apple body shape.

post call and walk, i cooked myself a fat farm porkchop for dinner - and i'm happily quaffing a very lovely rioja. bliss. n will arrive back in a little more than an hour - i've enjoyed my day of solitude.

although i did catch myself talking to myself sitting on the creek bank at the pub. i then proceeded to tell myself off (out loud). there's no hope.

gooseberries!

(you know, i never realise how awful our kitchen tiles are, despite spending, oh, say 60% of my domestic waking hours there, until i see a picture. i must have learned to block them out or something. and no, of course i didn't choose them. yeesh.)

in world cup news

switzerland beat spain (!!!) and today, greece beat nigeria. go figure. my colleagues eye my progression on the scoreboard with, if not awe, certainly respect.

i just tell em - i knows how to pick em

(yeah yeah i know its a random draw - irrelevant. this is world cup. we are wayyyyy beyond logic)

another year older...

no wiser, just older. it's 20 to 11 on a sunday and not only am i not in bed, i've just poured another slug of ginger wine. tomorrow real life will crash in - i want to milk this lazy feeling.

i am officially 36 - i do love birthdays but as soon as they're over it's all - well, that wasn't so momentous, was it? 36. seems fake. 29 was like that too, but it seems the entire late 30's share the same unbelievability.

sooooooo.project approved at work so now i finally have something to be getting on with. and i was called late last week by an honest to goodness headhunter (all i could think about were cannibals which did somewhat leak sophistication out of the whole conversation) and we are talking later this week even though i already know i'm going to turn him down. but still. feather fluffing.

knitting: 6 squares and counting
swimming: missed today,but on thursday managed my first length-turn-length. it was inelegant, but it existed.
dissertation: oh god. *whimper* (RALLIES) it will be fine. yes, fine.

new mural

we finally put it up! (with a little help from our friends - thanks katie and guy!)

i love it.

if you can't beat them join them

world cup fever has officially hit our office. the uk loses its collective head at world cup time - it really has to be seen to be believed. we have done the obligatory draw at work and it is unlikely that i will be recouping my fiver as i've drawn switzerland and greece (both with current odds of 125/1).

my cake turned out well :)

and my coworkers bought me lovely wine and chocolate for my birthday :)

go greece!

snazzy new swimming costumes

i love how the british say swimming costume. it makes me envision fully outfitted clowns or something in the pool.

anyways, turns out there are "pool suits" for regular swimmers which are suited to the chlorine in pools. the alternative, as i have discovered, is a swimsuit that rapidly thins, even during wearing. quite a startling feeling, i can assure you. i am now the proper owner of 3 snazzy "pool suits" - the one above is my favourite. i tried it out tonight and i positively swished through the water. then i messed up my breathing on the turn and nearly choked to death. i'm a very stylish and debonair swimmer as you can tell.

in other news i am baking a cake that had the temerity to call for 2 8 inch pans when all i have are 9 inch, so i winged it, and the result is mixed. I will have my work cut out for me frosting it tomorrow. may the goddess of straight cutting smile upon me. the cake is for me - it's my birthday on friday :) at work, we bring in goodies for our birthdays, or, in one man's case, when the spurs win a game.

and so to bed

wine tastings

1. nettle wine
making: argh. nettles. how exactly do you define a nettle tip? ouch. ouch. ouch.
bottling: hmmmm. maybe this will improve with age.
aging: OMG what was that noise? did something crash through a window? uh oh, another nettle wine bottle exploded....
tasting: first taste - this tastes like medicine. fifth taste - *hic* very strong medicine
verdict: probably good for vikings. hippy vikings.

2. cranberry wine
making: i am going to channel martha stewart and have the best thanksgiving evah.
bottling: go go go. i know, 2 weeks short, but thanksgiving waits for no one. i'm sure you won't be able to tell.
aging: unimpaired as was disgusting at thanksgiving. forgotten about for 8 months.
tasting: wow - this is drinkable
verdict: probably an accident

3. peach wine
making: peaches, yum. what could possibly go wrong?
bottling: is it just me or is this a little syrupy?
aging: you open it. no you open it. no you open it. isn't there some nettle wine we could have instead?
tasting: bland syrup. how is this possible? very alcoholic bland syrup.
verdict: stick it under the stairs maybe it will turn into schnapps.

4. elderflower wine
making: are we done yet? no - you will never be done. there are still 3 million teeny tiny flower heads to pull off of recalcitrant stems.
bottling: yum. juice.
aging: it's winter. elderflower is wrong. easy to age until the first sign of spring, then, - save it for summer! but - but - but
tasting: yummy. perfect for summer, but you'll never know because you have drunk all 5 gallons of it before the end of may.
verdict: *hic* hail hail the elder tree

elderflowers are out. tomorrow is our first picking day. the race is on.