Sentence a Day – January 2018

January is a funny month – there’s all the excitement of the new year and yet there’s also the disappointment that Christmas is done. Having said that, the worst month of the year has to be February. I read something the other day where Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall said something like (and I’m about to misquote) “thirty days hath September, April, June and November All rest have thirty-one except February which has 1000.”

I had the first week on leave from the day job, but certainly made up for that by the time January came to a close.

Anyways, here’s January all wrapped up.

How I spent New Year…

I lasted only until 9pm although the thud of the midnight fireworks at Mooloolaba did wake me…does that count as seeing in the new year? Floated about in the pool reading on New Years Day…and the day after and the day after that. In fact, I barely got out of the pool until I had to be back at work on the 7th.

The Ballinger Hill Challenge…

I went into January determined to tackle this hill twice a week.

It mightn’t sound like a big deal but this is a long and very steep hill. Entire cycling and other events have been planned with this hill in mind – although if you’re fitter than me – and, let’s face it, most people are – you’d still think this isn’t that much of a deal.

Although I walk 5kms each morning, I have the cardio capacity of …something with a poor cardio capacity. I might not want hills in my life, but I need them – it’s a self-nurture vs self-love sort of thing.

So up I went – stopping a lot along the way to take photos and find the breath that I’d left somewhere far below. It’s a habit I’ll continue with in February.

What I booked…

Way too much travel – my credit card is groaning! We have 3 overseas trips planned and a couple of mini domestic breaks:

1. North Island NZ in March for a friend’s 60th birthday/ 30th wedding anniversary. We’ll be away for my birthday so are putting a few days either side onto the trip.
2. Penang and Singapore in May to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary and 30 years together.
3. England in December for Christmas and New Year. I’ve now booked all our accommodation – just need to deal with airfares and car hire. It amazed me just how many Air BNB properties were already booked up for Christmas.
4. Canberra and Eucumbene in August. Jetstar was advertising $61 airfares to Sydney so we jumped on some of them. From Sydney, we’ll hire a car and drive south.
5. I’ve also booked some travel to Sydney for the day job

What’s inspired me…

The cream tea at Aimee Provence in Buderim. You’ll need to wait for Christmas At Curlew Cottage to see how.

What saddened me…

Hearing of the sudden death of my web host after a freakish accident in Perth a few weeks ago. My heart hurts for his family and friends.

What I’m grateful for…

Not being in Sydney (or Melbourne or Adelaide) with the disgusting heat waves they’ve been having. I don’t miss those 40+ temps we used to get in western Sydney at all. We’ve had a taste of it over the last couple of days in Melbourne and it really isn’t fun. Weirdly we don’t get anywhere near those temps in our little pocket of Queensland, although we do get humidity and it doesn’t really cool down at night.

What I read…

A lot – hello, it was January and I spent the first week of it floating about in the pool reading. My January total was 10 books, with the stand-out read being Jay Rayner’s A Greedy Man in a Hungry World. I started reading as research for Christmas At Curlew Cottage but soon forgot all about that. This book takes everything you thought that you knew and believed about food – industrialisation, seasonality, localisation, supermarkets, GM products – and makes you think again. It certainly gave me food for thought…no pun intended.

Another 5-star read in January was Jenny Colgan’s Little Beach Street Bakery. I want to go see puffins and bake bread now.

What I wrote…

I’ve made a good start on my new novel. It’s fun to be heading back to Brookford to see what’s been going on there, and I’m enjoying playing around with an invented reality show – you’ll need to wait until the book is released for more about that!

What I learnt…

Coorie is a thing. What Hygge is to the Danish way of living, Coorie is the Scottish art of snuggling down, cuddling in. It’s about living happy the Scottish way. It’s cool, contemporary Caledonian. You heard it here first.

What I watched…

Great British Bake-Off is back (yay), so is Death In Paradise (yay). I’ve also been watching Christmas cooking shows that I recorded leading up to Christmas. It’s for research.

What I cooked…

A lot! I’ve taken on the challenge of cooking my way through Nigella Lawson’s How To Eat. My daughter picked up the book, screwed her nose up and said ‘Okay, I don’t get why you want to do this. The book is like huge and there are no photos. Where’s the fun in that?’

Indeed.

Okay, that was my month…how was yours?