The twelfth day of Christmas

There's a stretch of the M4 motorway which we jokingly refer to as the "black hole." There are many miles between junctions through scenery that seems to change little, if at all - it's a bit like driving on a treadmill.  We tend to glaze over, go on to auto-drive and occasionally ask each other "where the hell are we?" 


The period from the twelfth day of Christmas leading up to Steve's birthday in early March feels a bit like the M4 black hole. Other than the bright spark of Valentines Day, we usually have our heads down and grind through the long hours of darkness, gloomy weather, winter coughs and colds, while waiting for spring to arrive.  However, time is too precious to waste when you know it's likely to run out sooner than expected, so this year we are going to try to do better!


Although we can't influence the weather or change the hours of sunrise and sunset, we can use of the next month or two to continue sorting out the house, now denuded of Christmas decorations; be sociable - a visit to, or from, friends always lifts the spirit; get well organised for our treat week away in February; make some progress on photography which has rather fallen by the wayside over the last few weeks and make the most of any clear, cold crisp days to get out and about while the light is good.  Well, that's the plan anyway!


When you get yourself into a positive frame of mind, you begin to see little things which make you happy which you might otherwise miss. In my case, I noticed today that there are buds on the clematis Armandii which look like they will be opening soon, studding the dark green leaves with small white stars all over the back of the house.  The birds are singly loudly, beginning to claim territory for nesting - always a good sign! The people who recently moved into the house next-door-but-one to us have invited all the neighbours to tea and biscuits on Sunday afternoon - how kind is that?  


Steve is making good progress clearing his work room, sorting out papers and getting everything ready to do his accounts. He also had his eye test this morning and ordered some new specs - very cool :-)  I've completed my "dossier" of exhibition acceptances in support of my AFIAP (Artiste Federation de l'Art Photographique) application, which is another small step forward on that front. 


For a change, we're looking forward to the time after the Twelve Days of Christmas; not a black hole but a bright tunnel into spring.  Steve's next assessment isn't until mid-March, so plenty of time to do something positive!