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Hello! Whew, I’m glad January is over because it was the month that Covid caught up with us. We’d managed to avoid it for four years, so I guess that was an achievement. Symptoms still linger but we are on the mend, thankfully.
Gardens
It has long frustrated me that all my hand-written plant labels fade until I can no longer read the writing. I’m trying a new method now, using a Dymo machine to create labels, which I then stick to smooth plastic tie-on pieces. It’s working quite well so far and I hope that the embossed letters stay legible.
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Dahlia buds are beginning to open – yay! This gorgeous one is Sugartown Sunrise. Such a pretty flower with a sweet name.
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Reading and writing
I had to miss our local Writers’ Circle session in January due to you-know-what. We are meeting twice a month from February so I hope that will give me the push I need to get words down.
I’ve been limiting what I read on Substack. So many people are writing intensely personal posts that are so earnest but I have to wonder whether reading them is good for me. Do I really need to know all that private stuff about strangers? I prefer newsletters that arrive in my inbox rather than reading them in an app. If you subscribe to my newsletters, I thank you for allowing me to send them to you. It is a privilege.
Do you know the books written by Celia Fremlin? I discovered Uncle Paul recently. You can read my review here.
Quilts
I’m still hand quilting a wall hanging. There hasn’t been a lot of progress since feeling fuzzy wasn’t conducive to working on this but I’m pleased with the way it is turning out. Yay for small quilts!
![](https://ericaspinks.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Erica-Spinks-quilting.jpg)
What are you enjoying? Are you making quilts, nurturing your garden or reading good stories? Let me know!
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Hi Erica – glad to hear you have survived you know what. Also glad you’ve moved from Substack, I agree all the over sharing is getting rather tedious. I guess I’m just getting old and haven’t got enough eyesight left to waste!
Your dahlias are beautiful by the way. We used to have a yellow dahlia which was named after my grandfather, the E.H. Graham. Can’t grow them in Ql,d climate.
Have you read Question 7 by Richard Flanagan. First book I’ve read in a long time that I couldn’t put down.
Best wishes
Cheryl
I must look out for the E.H. Graham dahlia. Was your grandfather a breeder?
Question 7 is on my list. Richard Flanagan writes so beautifully. I read one of the essays from that book and it was an example of how excellent memoir can be. Looking forward to it.
I don’t know how you stand the Qld humidity!