montjoye

These are a few of my favourite things:


Filling my spice jars. Well decanting anything really. Partly it's about being well stocked, partly it's the process. Also the colours of all the different spices, the smells as you handle them, the contemplation of the food that will be cooked with them....




Unhurried food prep. These are the first stages for potato dumplings and red cabbage for dinner tomorrow.




Fresh bread and butter with honey. This is sourdough ciabatta from my local shops with leatherwood honey brought from Tassie by last weekend's house guests. Mmmm. Coffee in fine bone china is also a lovely thing. Crusts don't toast easily so one may as well eat them fresh eh?




Happy green plants, especially in my garden. Winter really is the time to grow snow peas it seems. I et one straight from the plant, can't get more crisp and tasty than that.




Watching flowers grow. These hyacinth bulbs seem to have forgiven me for not lifting them last summer.

against the rising heat. Yes I know it's only supposed to get to 32.. but we had 30 yesterday and that sent me into heat distress. I wonder how much work has been done on how different people perceive and respond to heat? Especially how 'acclimatisation' works. While I was bright red and desparately hot yesterday after a short time outside- my companion was speaking with a friend who was basking in the sun. Strange. I comfort myself that I am not alone- my uncle also reacts badly to the onset of summer, the first hot days slay him too. And those from hot climates shiver in jumpers when visiting cooler climes that the locals feel to be pleasant.

So today I managed to sweep the paths (way overdue) early and the house is now shut down until the weather cools as is promised this evening.  Except I want to go out, and that means in the heat, sigh. I am so grateful the forecast is for cooler days for the rest of the week. Mid 20s I can do.

When putting one's favourite* hat down at a party, I recommend NOT putting under an overflowing candelabra! I felt a bit targetted by the fates or something...I happened to pick the spot beneath the only candle that dripped, of the only one of five ceiling mounted candelabra that had pillar candles rather than tea lights. NOT HAPPY.




But. The two sequinned feathers were not waxed and ruined. And, after much picking, scraping and ironing into paper, the residual wax isn't hugely noticeable. AND I had been to Photios bros earlier that day to buy replacement feathers 'cause these were shedding and getting shabby. So total ruination was not the result. Whew. I've still to sort out the feathers again, but that is doable.



*lets say favourite German rennaissance hat. as opposed to all the other favourite hats in my collection.

Tonight for the first time I mean to nominate "no religion" on the census. This is quite a big decision for me. I seem to have finally decided that I don't believe in deities. Given that, I'm not prepared for anyone else to tell me what to think. However, I do believe in morals, which is interesting. Perhaps it is amazing arrogance to feel that I can make decisions for myself on right and wrong, but if there is no deity, how can any person be any better qualified to advise? and if there is no deity, why does it matter whether we do the "right" thing or not?

Still I bumble along trying to be the best person I can manage to be, while protecting my sense of centre as best I can. If I can't find my centre I'm no use to myself or anyone else. Sigh. I'm still developing thoughts on this topic, suspect I always will be. I do believe in balance and beauty, music and excellent design, endeavour and learning, fairness and caring, kindness and wonder. Some would say they are evidence of god. I believe in most of the things my few religious friends do, but not all and I find it impossible to respect "the church" wholus bolus. I love singing (some) christmas carols but I reckon that is more about music and tradition than the god stuff. It's possible I still have agnostic tendencies. Agnosticism still probably counts as "no religion" for census purposes and makes no practical difference to how I live my life.

I may not be willing to be told what to think but I love quotes and writings that make sense to me. That capture things I believe in. Or act as reminders to work towards. Or make me think. Or read as truisms and sometimes amusing. One source of these is the silly daily desk calendars I have used for years. Each day has a quote and if one "speaks" to me, I save it. I've been doing that for years. On occasion I go through them and cull back to the best few. Sometimes they repeat and I have often saved the same one twice. Below are my picks from the last couple of years in rough order of profundity. Hopefully somewhere around is the little collection from the few years before that. I'm not going to record who said them, I don't actually care. So here goes, exposing aspects of my world view even more than usual:



Great souls have wills, feeble ones have only wishes

Respect is something you earn. You can't beg, borrow or steal it.

Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored

No fine work can be done without concentration and self-sacrifice and toil and doubt

The knowledge of the world is only to be acquired in the world and not in a closet

Learning preserves the errors of the past as well as it's wisdom

Little minds are interested in the extraordinary, great minds in the commonplace

Wit is the salt of conversation, not the food

Enthusiasm is the greatest asset in the world. It beats money, power and influence.

Insight plus hindsight, equals foresight

Anything that can become tangled around something else, will.



Oh, interesting, I felt the need to cull one from publication. It will stay in my list but reads as potentially offensive, at least without discussion.

Enough philosophy for one evening. I'm off to make dinner and try not to succumb to the (yet another) threatening cold. Oh, and fill out the census.