anew

Happy new year to you.

I look forward to the new start, don't you? And the promise of new adventures. This year instead of making resolutions I've decide to set myself a challenge - to sew one garment per month. I fear I'm asking a lot of myself but let's see how it goes.

I've been busy preparing for long-term house guests. My son, his partner and three-year old daughter will be staying while their house is being renovated. So we've been having a bit of a clean up. I even reorganized the pantry. It looks great (I sometimes just stand in the doorway and gaze into it) - all clean and neat with just about everything labelled. And nothing past its best before date. We've got rid of a lot of stuff and it's a good feeling - liberating. Of course, a big clear out means you can bring in a few new things - like those Crown Lynn color glaze cups.

Reading:  
My father's island by Adam Dudding. Son writes memoir of father, Robin Dudding, one of New Zealand's great editors (most famously of the literary journals Landfall and Islands)

A life discarded by Alexander Masters. 148 diaries are found discarded in a skip in Cambridge, England. The author reads, obsesses and tries to understand then discover who was the diarist. Intriguing and, surprisingly, gripping. Alexander Masters also wrote Stuart: a life backwards (2005) a biography of homeless man Stuart Shorter that I really enjoyed and must read again.