I’m on Bluesky now. Having been mostly avoiding Twitter for a while now, I’ve rather lost the knack of microblogging, but for what it’s worth I’m at https://bsky.app/profile/kathleenjowitt.bsky.social.
The good
We took the baby to visit her great-grandma. This was the first trip involving an overnight stay, and went very well, all things considered.
Things change every day. Usually they get slightly easier than they were the day before.
The difficult and perplexing
The baby does not like long car journeys. I shall leave it there.
What’s working
Whingeing in a closed forum to sympathetic people. At the very least it relieves the perception of being on my own. Quite often, I’ve noticed, the problem in question removes itself quite soon afterwards. Coincidence, no doubt, but I’ll take it.
Putting the baby in a sling (see, in particular, Cooking and Moving, below).
And always, always, remembering that whatever the particular moment of difficult is, it’s temporary.
Reading
Finished Acts and Omissions; read Unseen Things Above; now need to see which of the others I have on my e-reader. I am, as ever, a little frustrated that Fox ducks out of showing us any really awful marriage, because I think that’s an important part of the conversation she’s trying to have in these books.
I got round to the Murderbot Diaries (Martha Wells) several years after everyone else and read All Systems Red late on Saturday night. It was enjoyable enough, though I wasn’t blown away.
And in between times I’ve been working my way through the Tiffany Aching books, and have finished The Wee Free Men and A Hat Full of Sky so far. I’d never read them before, and they’re lovely.
Writing
Some work on Don’t Quit The Day Job. I would like to do rather a lot more, sharpish.
And the Kickstarter for The Bicyclist’s Guide to the Galaxy, in which my story The Ride for the City (portal fantasy, Cambridge, bonding over terrible books) appears, has just over two days left to run. If you want a copy of the book, the Kickstarter is by far the quickest and most convenient way to get it, and also makes me more money.
Making
I have obtained the fabric for the skirt I was talking about last time. (Olive green twill, with some rather lovely green and red shot lining.) I have also thought about the pattern. But I’m not going to be able to start cutting out until I have an afternoon without a small person strapped to my chest.
Watching
Good Omens, season 2. Quite fun but felt rather lightweight compared with the first season.
Looking at
Some extremely impressive Lego models at Ely Brick Show. I think my favourite was the War of the Worlds diorama, but it’s a tough choice between that and the Underground station.
Cooking
One-pot things that are forgiving with regard to timings. I have some chakchouka in the slow cooker at the moment. The other day I managed to turn all the green tomatoes into green tomato chutney.
Eating
At this precise moment, jelly beans. We’ve had a couple of rather uninteresting pub meals.
Moving
We’ve instituted an evening walk. If it’s late, it’s just up and down the road, to keep within the range of the streetlights. But several times we’ve managed what used to be my morning walk, a full fifty minutes.
Noticing
A small deer (muntjac, maybe?) wandering across someone’s front garden.
In the garden
Picked some of the pears, a few of the apples, and most of the tomatoes. Which feels like a huge achievement, actually.
Appreciating
Family. The friends in my computer. A little more sleep than I was getting before.
Acquisitions
Bras. I’ve managed to lose one, which is weird and annoying.
And I’ve just ordered a travel cot. The hope is that it’ll do for naps downstairs as well as for actual travel. We’re going to need a new pram, as the baby is about to grow out of the pram bit of the existing travel system while being too small still for the pushchair bit.
The cat’s current preferred location
Various points in the sitting room; she spent most of the week on the table at my left elbow while Iwas feeding the baby. You can tell from the fluff deposit.
Line of the week
Some painfully well-observed prayer in Acts and Omissions:
And not being a Charismatic Evangelical either, he hesitates to give the Almighty matey advice in the subjunctive mood.
Monday (oh dear) snippet
A new bit from Day Job:
Why should the world that’s captured between the covers of books be one that only a tiny privileged minority inhabit? As we’ll see in the next section, even the pale, stale and male Western canon develops some significant holes if we remove those who wrote around the edges of their paid employment.
This coming week
Rather a packed schedule, actually, and a party on Saturday!
Anything you’d like to share from last week? Any hopes for this week? Share them here!
Kathleen Jowitt 