Happy New Year!

So, this is 2018. Happy New Year! I don't usually make resolutions (too easy to break) but do set measurable annual goals for myself. Stuff like living within my means, minimising purchases and waste, getting plenty of exercise, supporting my favourite charities, continuing my three volunteer jobs and cooking plenty of spicy food. 

This year promises to be challenging and exciting, perhaps in equal parts, as I'm planning to reduce my hours at my day job and increase the amount of freelance editing, volunteering and gardening I do. Since we bought our house eighteen months ago I've become absolutely enraptured with the joys of gardening! A recent article suggested that exposure to bacteria in soil has an antidepressant effect. I can believe that.

Our first boysenberry crop

You know you've moved to the 'burbs when you

excavate four balls in a single morning of weeding

Since deciding to semi-retire I've been making an ever-growing list of things to do with all my expected extra spare time. Things like reorganising the kitchen, taking classes in various household maintenance activities, sewing and knitting, writing, drawing, creating macrame thingimijigs to complement our 1978 house, learning history and languages with the U3A, volunteering at a local nature park and so on and so on ... it's all very exhilarating.

A friend put me on to the idea of hand knitting dishcloths. What a lark!

Whatever else I do this year, I plan to keep exercising at least ninety minutes per day. That's been my (achieved) goal for the past two years and I'm hoping it'll ward off (or at least delay) all the genetic nasties (diabetes, arthritis, heart disease) lurking within me.

If you'll excuse me now, I have to go and dig in the garden ...