February, so far, has been cold, damp, grey and miserable, so I injected a little colour with some red, felt, heart bunting, just £2 from Tesco's, in preparation for Valentine's day. My yellow bunting will go up soon and the fake forsythia will be out, encouraging, sunshine, warmth, brightness and Spring!
I've been helping out up at school, in the gallery this week. It's been good to be busy and not just sat gloomily looking out at the grey weather! This year Millfield is celebrating 90 years and one element of the celebrations is a 90 Photographic Portrait Project. The students had a workshop with photographer Finn Taylor, then went about photographing various members of the Millfield community. 90 portraits were selected, edited, and finally, I got to print out the final results.
Derek framed them all and ...
Rach and Jen curated the order .....
before Derek and I spaced....
...and hung the portraits.
I LOVED it!! Completely in my element. I love display and remembered in conversation, that I actually did my dissertation on the importance of display. I am such a visual learner and that's also why I take so many photos and why I love my little job in the gallery.
Friday was Valentine's day and Jeff broke up for half term.
Although I spent my Valentine's evening in Bristol at the theatre,
watching Dear Evan Hansen....
....with Sophie!
She'd seen it back in early 2020 in London with a friend, just before Covid happened!!
And said at the time, that if it ever toured I should go.......so we did!
We met for food first. Had a good catch-up, tried to lift her spirits. She'd just put in her very first offer on a house but got pipped to the post by a better offer. So we talked through the disappointment and by the end of the evening and turned it all into a positive, and as I always say...things happen for a reason and this one wasn't meant to be. It's hard doing it all on her own. Last house viewing she took Sam and we're going up in the week to view a couple, to give another opinion. When the right house comes along, and it will, it'll have been worth all this stress and emotional upheaval but at the moment it's an additional burden she doesn't have the capacity for..
Jeff says we'll never move again!! We've been in this house for 9 years now, and are only now finding the motivation to tackle the stairs and landing. I was supposed to do it last year but my frozen shoulder got in the way of that. No excuses this year, we've no where to be, it's not great weather, it was supposed to be just the two of us, so not bothered about exposed gripper rods as a painful trap. Somehow the kids have us booked in for next weekend, so they have been told to bring home their crocs!! The carpet doesn't actually get fitted for another couple of weeks, as the paint needs to harden off, so the hazard will remain!!
My other surprising motivation, has been staying focused on my Italian countdown health kick. Despite the cold weather, I have pretty much been eating well, no real carbs other than my Valentine pizza date and a couple of slices of sourdough. I actually managed to lose 2 and 7/8 pounds, so near enough 3lbs!! Half term makes things slightly trickier with Jeff at home, enjoying carb'ier lunches, possible days out, kids coming home at the end of the week, but!! I do not want to waste this weeks efforts, so I must do my best to remain focused, 5 weeks to Italy and counting.
I'm going to continue to drink plenty of water, have my veggie starter, focus on fibre, protein, and good fats. Might not walk as much as I'd like, as we're decorating this week, but see how I go!
And it's at the mention of decorating, that I must love you and leave you and crack on. Jeff's just finished pulling up the carpet. I now need to sand down all the wood work, wash it it all down, hoover up the mess and then I can start actual painting!! I always think the prep is the worst bit. Just need to keep reminding myself it'll be worth it in the end. Hopefully I'll have something to show you next week.
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