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.
Dahlia buds are beginning to open – yay! This gorgeous one is Sugartown Sunrise. Such a pretty flower with a sweet name.
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!
What are you enjoying? Are you making quilts, nurturing your garden or reading good stories? Let me know!
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!