A couple of years ago, I made a new year’s resolution to try to draw something every day. I have fallen laughably short. I was inspired by someone (possibly Ruskin?) who said that even if you’re terrible at art you should try to draw what you see in galleries as that helps you to appreciate the painting. I do sketch a bit in galleries and I am terrible at it but it does help me to appreciate paintings more. I am surprised too to discover that I have a style of drawing that is all my own (like handwriting, I suppose). Should you be so inclined, I recommend this as a new year’s resolution for you.
Golden? Would you say Silence is Golden?
I have Scholl sandals with wooden soles. I tend to wear them instead of slippers in the summer. The family hate them; I’m sure they’re good for my feet so I persist in the face of general disapproval. Mr. Waffle remarked, to general acclaim, at one point, “In summer, a mysterious figure stalks the house, I like to call her Madame de Clompidour”.
That is all. Unless you have an annoying slipper story of your own to share?
Sport, Commerce and the Arts
I played a tennis match this morning (won, thanks for asking), I went to the RDS to the craft fair this afternoon (enormous and a bit exhausting) and I went to “Fanny and Alexander” this evening. I’m not quite sure what possessed me to go to a 189 minute film by Ingmar Bergman initially released in 1982. But I’m really glad I went; it is quite beautiful. Though long and weird in parts.
Saint Nicolas
He came – after all these years. As I write one of the Dublin based children is still in bed, so possibly excitement levels are not what they once were. But look, it’s the thought that counts!
I guess it’s a long time since 2006.
The Sick Man of Europe
The youngest child has been sick all week. Yesterday morning he dragged himself out of bed at the crack of dawn to go to a 9 o’clock lecture on the Ottoman Empire. Term is over but this lecture had been deferred. I suggested he skip it but he said that he thought he would be the only person there (so it proved) and he did not want the lecturer to have turned up for nothing. Very virtuous.
Today I got a text from Mr. Waffle saying that the student was quite sick in bed. The Ottoman Empire may have claimed its last victim.
Alas
My hairdresser is great. He remembers me. I go once a year in December and as he said today “It wouldn’t be Christmas, if you weren’t here.” So true. My hair grows really slowly and the cut is generally good for 9 months and not great for three.
I had my annual haircuts today and despite my very best efforts he would not at all take off as much as I wanted. It’s grand but I wouldn’t call it a huge change. I’ll have to go back to him in July. Sigh.
