Annal-ysing

     One of the great benefits of having this website - from a purely personal point of view - is the ability to revisit what I was doing on any given date. A glance at the kitchen calendar or a note in a diary tells a certain amount and reminds me of events, but having a fairly comprehensive and usually illustrated record of the everyday such as what I was cooking, making or reading, what was in flower in the garden, and so on is very valuable to me.

     Here, for example, is a picture taken this morning: our massive camellia just beginning to bloom. A quick browse through the archives tells me that last year it was around three weeks earlier (you can see it here), while a jump back to today's date in 2007 shows me how taken I was with a quite delightful book.

    I don't need anything other than my memory to tell me that today is my parents' wedding anniversary, so congratulations, Mum and Dad!

Comments

[Donna]

Lovely photo Karen. Thanks for brightening up a very snowy landscape here.

[Margaret Powling]

A gorgeous photo of a beautiful camellia (and happy anniversary to your parents.) I just had to look at the photos from last year, which are also a delight, and at the book you were reading. Oh, how I love Mrs Miniver, so different from the schmaltzy film (but which served its purpose as a piece of wartime propoganda). I love Mrs M's experience of choosing a new engagement book (desk diary to us lesser mortals). Coincidentally, we've just been to Staples (not as lovely as a stationer's shop but it serves a purpose, as did the film of Mrs M!) just for reams of A4 - not quite as elegant as Mrs M's engagement book!

[m]

I do love Mrs M and only wish I could aspire to her gracious living ...honey sandwiches and brandy-snaps for tea! 'As a rule she managed to keep household matters in what she considered their proper place. They should be no more than a low, unobtrusive humming in the background.' I wish! (As I write, we have no heating here, only cold water and if there's any low unobtrusive humming, it'll be the boiler about to blow up.) And then you remember that when Mrs M's maids went on holiday, someone still came in every morning to make her breakfast and she had the rest of her meals out.

Somehow, fond as I am of Mrs M - and she is delightful - I always end up feeling that I'd have just as sweet a disposition if I had all those other women keeping my household unobtrusively humming!

[Angela Young]

Your photographs of your woolwork and of the natural world are so beautiful ... and I too find my blog is an invaluable record. In my case it's a safe place to record what I was thinking, what I was writing or planning to write (or putting off writing!). It's far far better than endless notebooks which always get lost.