Sunday, February 25, 2007

it's another sunday night in west hampstead. the usual sunday blues should have set in by now but it has been such a good weekend that i've escaped them so far. sad though it is, jg and i eschewed the offer of a post-church drink at the newly renamed the temperance (now refurbished and looking sadly soulless) in favour of an early night. so i'm sitting in our newly painted living room looking out at the amazing pizza place opposite and the overly bright lights coming from the 24hr shop across the main road. we've finally got the place feeling like home, and i'm gradually beginning to feel comfortable here. the paint helps. and if i do say so myself, i did a grand job yesterday. i woke up early with a huge sense of excitement at two days off work. almost as exciting as the summer holidays used to be. before 9 i was making my merry way to our local homebase, with a skip in my step and van m on the ipod. (i have, incidentally, found that a sense of wonder is a brilliant way to start the day.) after a moment or two of indecision in the paint isles i picked out a lovely shade of blue/grey with a ridiculous name and headed home. 6 hours later it was all finished. and yes, it did take me twice the time i thought it would, and yes, i did get paint in my hair and even on my eyelashes at one point, but it looks lovely and finally feels like ours. last night we had a whole congregation of people over for curry and cake (a winning, if somewhat challenging, combination) and all was right with the world. apart from sunday lunch, curry saturdays is one of my favourite institutions, which says a lot about me i suppose. the evening ended late, with mr zv reciting shakespeare outside, which i'm sure our neighbours appreciated. this morning i took myself off for a coffee at la brioche, just around the corner. i'm finding that i need to recreate the odd grad student moment in order to feel happy with life, and coffee shop reading is a staple of grad school existence. i found it somewhat bizarre reading foster's celebration of discipline with madonna singing material girl in the background but it was still a perfect piece of quiet. after which jg and i headed home for an extravagantly good lunch at home. nothing beats sunday lunch when it comes to family & food. having restocked on calvin & hobbes books, we hopped on a train with mr zv and made it to st. m's just in time to be stylishly late for the 5 o'clock. so it's been a full weekend in every sense, but it has left me feeling, if not excited about the week, well prepared for it at the very least. life is good...

posted by Joanna Ruth @ 8:06 PM

Friday, February 09, 2007

it's just past midnight and i should be firmly tucked up in bed. i was, in fact, but i switched my light back on when i remembered i hadn't written anything about today. not that it was a particularly exceptional thursday, but there are things that need to be remembered. first of all the snow, particularly the beauty of it all this morning before 8 as jg and i walked leisurely down the hill to the station (both hoping that there would be no trains and that we could go sledging rather than sit in front of our computers all day). everything was blanketed and perfectly white. snow will always be magical. it quietens life down too. chorleywood was incredibly peaceful this morning under its layer of snowflakes. then, of course, there were trains to work, and we made it as far as marylebone, at which point i gave up on the underground and decided to walk the rest of the way to work. there is always an air of adventure and cameraderie (i think, at least) when something unusual happens to the capital. and severe weather conditions have that effect - people talk more freely to strangers, and smile at one another more than they would on any other day. i made my way quite happily down marylebone high st. and across oxford st. to my favourite starbucks on avery row. this morning they were playing nina simone and i had to stop to watch the snow outside falling down and just soak up the moment. it reminded me of being back in aa in fact. not that it's even half as cold here as it gets there. not even close. but good music, snow & coffee will always be a combination that takes me back to the midwest. the rest of the day was less eventful. all except this evening, which was spent song writing with st. m's folks. the theme of the evening was being thankful, which is something i want to think more about and write more about later. perhaps not at 12.21am. time for bed again...

posted by Joanna Ruth @ 12:13 AM

Sunday, February 04, 2007

It's a sobering thing, but I think I am becoming a morning person. Not the hardcore, crack-of-dawn variety, but an early type nonetheless. Evidence? For two days in a row I have woken up all excited about the day ahead and the bright sunshine outside. I've almost leapt out bed, in fact. Yesterday morning I took myself down to a coffee shop and sat with a latte and a notebook for part of the morning, watching the world go by and flicking through some books I found in the local charity shop. After lunch I found the best Saturday afternoon channel 5 movie, The Slipper & the Rose. It's a musical, soft-focus version of Cinderella involving impressive wigs and some excellent tights. You get the general idea... Perfect for a cold February afternoon. Then miss ag and I went for a lovely pre-dinner drink at The Coach & Horses in Ricky. Now a firm contender for my favourite local pub... We sat by a gorgeous open fire and chatted away. I've decided that there are few smells more comforting than a wood fire. Then we headed home and cooked up another good Saturday night curry - the tradition continues...

This morning I took my Holga up on to the common with me, while there was still frost on the grass, and took some pictures of the beautiful bare branches against the bright blue sky. It was perfect. So lovely, in fact, that I went back later for a run. Then we hopped in the car and drove to The Green Dragon at Flaunden for some good Thai food. Followed up by an excellent game of Pooh Sticks and a walk around Latimer which is one of my favourite local villages. It all brought back to me how amazing it is to be able to relax at the weekend, how grateful I am for all there is around here, and how blessed I am by family and friends. And, of course, good food.

posted by Joanna Ruth @ 5:03 PM