Sunday.

Not quite a day of rest but a gentle day in some ways.  I completed some jobs done that needed to be got on with and also had time to just sit quietly as well.  

I put the flattened boxes that have been in my hallway for far too long up in the loft - I had been procrastinating for goodness knows why!  Which meant I could then give it a good vacuum, I got the old photos of my great grandparents out and put them on the Singer Treadle machine and also hung a couple of pictures on the wall.  This hallway will eventually be repainted as the colour is not something I am particularly fond off and it doesn't go with any of our pictures for a start. I've just put the pictures up where the previous owners had removed hooks and painted over with a slightly different colour paint as it was pretty ugly so I wanted to hide it.   I broke another drill bit in the process - this is the second drill bit from a brand new box of Bosch drills, so not impressed with them.  These pictures probably won't stay there long term but just until I repaint the hallway and plan out what to put up there.  I also put up another couple of pictures in our lounge.  

The after picture...

Ha ha, the before!  Obviously I hadn't been using this door to go in and out of the house which was just as well.  

Much better when it is clear and spacious.

Looking in the opposite direction.

One of our set of the wedding photos we had done with our son and daughter in law up on the wall.  As mentioned I broke the drill bit, so couldn't put the rest up as the other drill bits are too big to make the holes.

I put up the Takehe painting that a friend (and one of my Dad's 'neighbours' ) painted that I bought while in NZ a couple of years ago.  Still need to put my Fantail picture up.

I picked some flowers from the garden.  They smell wonderful!

These are the flowers - on the bank that I can see as I look outside my kitchen window.

I spent some time weeding the four raised vegetable beds in the back garden, and have a couple of beetroot to cook, plus some peas and raspberries which I will have this evening.  The ground is so very dry.

A cauliflower starting to form!

Yellow courgettes.

A very dark rich coloured poppy.

This illustrates how little rain we have had.  The pathetic amount we had yesterday morning did nothing.

The grass is all but dead.

I cooked the beetroot and had a bit with dinner tonight.  I also had some chard.  The peas I had raw, as I think they are so much nicer than when cooked and I picked a few extra raspberries to add to these and added them to a little chocolate pudding I made for dessert.  

I went for a lovely walk this afternoon.  It was pretty windy but relatively warm which was good.

I sat down on the beach for a while watching and listening to the waves.

They were actually quite loud.

You don't often see seaweed washed up on this beach...so I had to photograph this piece.

Such a lovely afternoon, despite the wind.

The waves crashing against the rocks.

A pretty good Sunday, jobs done, letters written ready to be posted and one of my little doll dress and cardigan sets packaged up ready to be posted.

The Art of Letter Writing

Having left a comment on a blog that I have recently started following with regards to sending Christmas Cards and led on to the discussion of writing letters and fountain pens got me thinking, how many of you out there still write letters?  If you do what is your writing instrument of choice?

Mine is definitely writing with a fountain pen.  There is something special about writing with ink and nib, the pen seems to flow much more smoothly over the page and I love how it looks.  I had a very special fountain pen that I always used, but unfortunately DS2 got hold of it one day and it is now ruined.  I have a new 'cheaper' one that does the job, but would really like to get another special one some day.  Perhaps that is what I could have asked  for Christmas!

I have always written letters and had pen friends as a very young child, through my teenage years and into my early twenties.  I used to always write thank you letters and letters to relations and friends.  Sadly over the years this letter writing has diminished somewhat as perhaps the advent of it being easier to keep contact through phone, emails etc...   I still find something rather special though about receiving a good old fashioned letter, opening it and reading the wonderful hand written pages.  The sheer act of putting pen to paper and taking the time to sit down and write means just that little bit more I think.  It is not done enough in my mind.

Sadly I find letter writing rather a painful process nowadays so don't do it as often as I should and this is rather sad really.  I still send letters, but they are mostly of the typewritten variety - or rather done on the computer. This is not my preferred form of medium, however it makes it easier for me, and far less painful without the resulting flare up I get when having hand written a letter.  The letter is still sent with love and feeling and good will, but I still feel it is missing that little extra something.

I remember taking a couple of aerogramme letters to the post office a few months ago - they were rather shocked as hadn't seen one in years!  I like this form of letter - postage is already prepaid and was a handy way of sitting down and writing a letter - not too long, and not too short.  Once bought you can sit and write your letters and you don't have to queue up at the Post Office to send it.  I hadn't used one in a number of years it seems (which is why I checked), but fortunately they were still valid and I do believe they got to their destinations...At least I am hoping they did, thinking about it I am not sure I got a reply from one of the people I sent one to!

I do worry though that the art of letter writing is dying out.  We were taught in school how to write letters, both personal and official, although by then I had already learnt from my parents.  Nowadays I don't think any youngsters are taught how to write letters.  I taught my boys, but they certainly didn't learn at school.  A lot of people I would think would find it difficult to write a 'proper' letter, if some of the emails and texts I see are anything to go by! 

Would love to know others thoughts on this.