February ...ing

It is noticeably lighter now, at the end of February. I am also feeling lighter, much lighter than back in the old year. That is in mind, not in body 😂

:: Re-fashioning a favourite sweatshirt I made a few years ago, maybe in 2021. I fell out of love with the neckband and cuffs, which were orange and gold. I replaced neckband, cuffs and hemband with a pale pink version. Combining orange with pink makes my heart sing. It took longer to unpick the seams than to sew the new ribbing on...

:: "Suffering" from litter picker repetitive strain pain. I always try to use both arms but I clearly favoured my right. 

:: Overall though feeling strong as ballet and volunteering both contribute to my core and upper body strength. 

:: Persevering with running. I used to think that I am not running, merely jogging but I have decided that this is nonsense. I am running, albeit slowly. 

Enough of exercise! 

:: Reading a most insufferable book for book group. Yes, reading. I returned the audiobook because it is difficult to skim read with audio. I downloaded it on the Kindle instead so I can skip passages at my leisure. The book is Three Women by Lisa Taddeo. The tagline is "A riveting true story about the sex lives of three real American women, based on nearly a decade of reporting". The stories may be real but hopefully not representative. I am just not interested. I rarely give up on a book for book group but this is one of them. For distraction, I have been listening to a new to me crime series Bill Kitson. 

:: Buying lavender plants at Lidl, to replace our dead lavender boarder in the front garden. It feel victim to winter 2022/23. It is probably too early to plant it out but with Lidl, delaying a purchase is not advisable as they have a quick turnaround. We'll get the plants used to the outdoors over the next week or so. I know they are hardy because the same variety is on sale every year and my neighbour down the road mentioned that the Lidl lavender was the only to survive the harsh winter last year. Fingers crossed.

:: Hanging out the freshly washed bed linen on an unexpected sunny day. A bit risqué considering it is still February but whites benefit from a bit of sun bleaching now and then.... although I am not sure the sun is quite strong enough yet and the sunlight barely just skims the garden. It was worth a try. I didn't expect the washing to dry and it didn't. 

:: Deciding not to apply for the post I mentioned in a previous post. I worried I might wake up full of regrets after the application deadline but I feel relief instead. Thank you for your thoughtful comments on this conundrum. 

:: Increasing the breadth and depth of my English language skills. I am fairly confident with English after living in Scotland for 24 years but I want to make more accurate use of vocabulary and idioms. I make a point of looking up words that I think I understand but suspect I don't always use correctly. I also look up words that I am not familiar with, rather than just deducing from context. One of the new words in my vocabulary is "solastalgia" (the distress caused by environmental/climate change). I am not sure yet if I will get much opportunity to use it but I know from a student project that this concept provides a growing research area. 

:: Thinking (and procrastinating) about a new learning resource I am creating on the disease Noma, which was recently added to the Neglected Tropical Diseases list. It is a horrible disease, one of extreme poverty undermined by a lack of functioning health systems. I started this back in November but I really need to get cracking now. 

On that note, I better get back into reading key literature. Thank you for visiting. I am making more time visiting your blogs, too. I'll try to comment more often.