and february can bite my arse

i think it's safe to say that now - it's only a few hours till march is in and surely revenge takes time?

i saw out february in the best way possible seeing as the sun has not shone on this land for a good fortnight. a friend of mine (a very lovely friend indeed) organised for four of us to have a spa day today - courtesy of her - in celebration of unexpected funds appearing, and the general necessity of this sort of thing at this time of year. in an extremely unfortunate turn of events, one of the snappers belonging to the above came down with scarlet fever - which was a relief because it looked like meningitis and there was a rush to the hospital which gives you a flavour of what last night was like for them. he was to be discharged today, but by then one and possibly two snappers of super lovely friend also caught the victorian malady and it ended up that only two of us enjoyed the much anticipated spa day. it was still a lovely (though guilt-tinged) day and i am now more relaxed than a bag of frogs. on xanax. the frogs, i mean, not me.

so. being this relaxed is crap for pithy updates or observations on life. who cares? gill scott heron is on spotify, and yes, if i was down and out and did not know what to do, i would indeed call on lady jane and john coltrane.

this year has been tougher than expected - the year anniversary of my dad's death has been effecting - in many ways. i didn't really expect that - i thought we were through with most of that. it's good though- it's healthy, and i'm ok and the people i love are ok - and that's a lot - but i'm glad to start to move on now.

"and they'll take your troubles your troubles your troubles your troubles away...."

hello march - we've been expecting you!

i also have this huge unquenchable desire to KNIT ALL THE THINGS!!!!! is it spring fever? at this rate i'm going to have to quit my job for more knitting time...

preparing for an eventual spring

when we first moved "to the countryside" from london, there was a lot to learn. such as the fact that it is only possible to buy logs in the winter. when one thinks about this, it makes sense: logs = fireplace/woodburner = not necessary in summer. however we use logs outside, in a fire pit, all summer (whenever it stops raining so next to nothing last year). after two summers of disappointment  (once due to ignorance, once to laziness), we now know that if we need logs, get them well before thoughts of late and balmy evenings are taking root.

which explains why we had a delivery of half a truck of logs this morning, on a day so cold the wind literally takes your breath away, to a house with no chimney and therefore no fireplace.

there can be no doubt that we are optimists.