Is spring just around the corner?
I don’t know where the last week went either! It’s proving to be quite a good practice to take some time to reflect on what the week has actually held, otherwise I run the risk of them all blurring into each other and forgetting all the small, sweet things, the little pockets of joy. The things that might seem inconsequential at the time but later I’ll be pleased weren’t lost.
I also enjoyed doing a little ink painting of my blue jug of pink tulips.
Favourite experience/s of the week
At the risk of sounding like a complete nerd, I did enjoy my annual review on Wednesday. The enthusiasm and support for my PhD project at my university is beyond anything I could have hoped for and always spurs me on. Which was a good thing, as I had to spend the rest of the week preparing my exegesis draft for my supervisors to read. I felt oddly scared sending that to them on Friday evening - more scared than I’ve been sending them creative work. Is it because, ironically, I am taking more risks with the exegesis, putting myself out there that little bit more? It was an interesting thing to think about and energy that I hope to transfer over to the creative work too.
I also loved my Hidden Nerve lecture on Thursday evening, which was given by Amanda Lohrey. It’s not often that you get to hear thoughts on the craft and pearls of wisdom from a writer of Amanda’s stature (though she was my lecturer for one of my undergraduate units 20 years ago, and I so wish I had been more aware of what a great writer she is back then!) so my hand could barely keep up as I tried to scribble down everything she said. The first thing she said was that there are absolutely no rules in writing - “except don’t be boring. But even that is problematic and subjective too!” she laughed. The overriding message I took away from everything she said was that every book is a gamble, reading is a deeply subjective experience and therefore you can only ever really write for yourself. Write the book or page that you find interesting.
Reading
Last week’s bedtime reading was The Bloomsbury Cookbook which, while fascinating, gave me some very peculiar dreams one night which I didn’t fancy a repeat of (!), so I have switched to some favourite spiritual books on Kindle over the last week, which get my mind into a peaceful space before sleep (always advised). I’ve been reading What Helps: Sixty Slogans to Live By, Coming Home: Refuge in Pureland Buddhism, and Just As You Are: Buddhism for Foolish Beings, all by Satya Robyn whose writing is the equivalent of a soothing hand on the brow.
I started reading one of my Persephone books I bought in London - Random Commentary by Dorothy Whipple, who I am a huge fan of and on the pleasures of whose work I have waxed lyrical many times before. As I suspected, I’m finding it fascinating and so very entertaining. This week’s quote of the week is from this book.
Sydney Review of Books: In The Garden with Amanda Lohrey (preparation for this week’s Hidden Nerve!)
LitHub: Winning the Game You Didn’t Even Want to Play
Bustle: What Do We Owe Each Other?
I feel certain I read more than this but, to be honest, the week has passed in a blur of writing and rewriting my exegesis, cutting words, putting them back in, switching things around and trying to entice some order out of the chaos!
Listening to
My “writing beats”, general “for writing” and inner winter playlists were on repeat, as well as a lot of blues, for some reason. Alabama Shakes was in there a lot, particularly this song. Nick Cave and Ludovico Einaudi were also constant companions, but that’s pretty standard!
Best Friend Therapy: People-pleasing - why do we do it? Is it really nice to be nice? How do we say no? Hooray, this podcast is back with another season and yet again delivers some profound and illuminating messages. I had to stop the washing up, take off the gloves and press rewind and listen to one section several times over, such was the power of what Emma had said.
The Imperfects: Glenn Robbins - Listening To The Voice In Your Head - I listened to this last week and loved it so much I listened to it again! I’m also halfway through the episode with Dr Emily, The Pesky Hedonistic Treadmill.
Vegan Sunday Roast
Eating
We had a delicious Sunday roast - I used up a box of vegan stuffing I bought sometime in 2020 when I was looking for things in the supermarket that would last a long time if indeed we were at the beginning of the apocalypse. The stuffing was made and then wrapped in puff pastry with some piquant sun-dried tomatoes. To accompany the roast, we had roast potatoes, sprouts and boozy carrots (carrots cooked in foil in the oven with white wine and herbs). I made enough for a crowd so we had leftovers on Thursday night when we were both working until late, which was nice as it felt like someone else had done the cooking - well, Past Phil had!
Creamy roast pumpkin risotto
There was also a delectable roast pumpkin risotto which has almost overtaken tomato risotto as my favourite this winter. It tastes so creamy and indulgent.
Vegan banana bread - made in the new air fryer!
Sticky crispy cauliflower, which I served with fried rice - I really didn’t expect this to work, seeing it was baked in the oven. But it was brilliant, and the cauliflower pieces were beautifully crisp!
Cauliflower stalk and lentil tacos - I used broccoli and cauliflower stalks (and cauliflower leaves) for this recipe and subbed kidney beans for the lentils - very delicious and no waste! We had these in wraps with cashew queso, which I’ve made many times this year. Totally planning a taco mac and cheese with the leftovers!
Picking / growing
Winter greens are going strong in my mostly dormant garden. Spinach, chard, celery - the latter is particularly abundant. There’s a little kale. The garlic shoots are coming through. The lemons on my tree are starting to turn yellow. I have also spotted some nettles which I’m allowing to grow wild and which I’ll turn into a nettle soup at some stage over the next few weeks.
Watching
Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol (Blu-Ray) - Tom’s choice! Not normally my sort of thing but I didn’t hate it. A plot full of highly improbable things but good fun! Fast-paced, stylishly shot and Simon Pegg was a real scene stealer and kept things lively.
C’mon C’mon (iTunes) - Mike Mills is one of our favourite directors and his latest didn’t disappoint! Shot in black and white, which naturally invites you to pay close attention (a theme of the film), this film follows the story of Johnny, a radio journalist whose current project is travelling around the US interviewing children about their lives and their opinions on the world and the future. One evening, in his hotel room, he randomly calls his sister, who he hasn’t spoken to since their mother died. It turns out Viv, his sister, needs his help - she has a young son Jesse whose father, her estranged husband, is mentally ill. She needs to try and get him into treatment and asks Johnny if he could come out to LA to look after Jesse for a few days. Those few days turn into a few weeks and, under pressure from his boss to get back to work, Johnny ends up taking Jesse back to New York with him temporarily. Johnny has spent a lot of time with children in his work but finds it’s a very different ball game being completely responsible for one, something he isn’t quite prepared for. He both marvels at Jesse and the way a child sees the world, and also finds caring for him 24/7 very frustrating. It’s a typical Mike Mills story in that it appears remarkably quotidian on the surface but there’s actually a lot going on. Mills’ oeuvre is very much centred around child/parent relationships and with this film, it takes a wider look at how children and adults relate to each other. With every scene, we are brought further and further into each character’s world, inviting empathy which I think is very much the message of the film. That and children are far, far wiser and observe much more than they are given credit for. I also love how intertextual Mills’ films are - there’s always part of a text (or several texts) read aloud that then informs your understanding of the characters’ cultural influences.
Quote of the week
“I’m not lost any more. I know what I have to do with my life. I have to write.” - Dorothy Whipple
If you’d like to share your thoughts on this post, or anything else, with me, please do! Stay well xx