..and now it's nearly New Year

Well, there we are. 2014 is coming to a close. It's been a fairly uneventful year for us at the Dormousehold, but generally it's been good. Mr FD has a job - soon, we believe, to become permanent; I have had plenty of work, my 5 weeks in the UK working was a great success, and we have a new addition to the family.

Here is my mum, my brother, my two nieces and my great-neice: Four generations of Hardmans. What a blessing.

We have had reasonable health - save for Mr FD's little hernia problem & a few other bits and bobs, plus my chronic back and foot problems. But all liveable with, thank God. I have settled into church, and been able to preach once or twice, and I've enjoyed some new crafting experiences - zentangle inspired art has really caught my interest, and I have been creating some for people at church:

Both of these have been sold to raise funds - I'm surprised at how much people are willing to pay for something that I love doing!!

Another creative oulet has been creative journalling,which I have been exploring with a group from church. This has been a lovely way to end a Thursday of teaching. Unfortunately I probably won't be teaching in Clermont on Thursdays in the new year so I won't be carrying on...
Here are three of my layouts from that group (I think you can click on the pictures to enlarge them):

Christmas was lovely: I was lucky to receive lots of splendid gifts (here is a lowdown on a couple of the Secret Santa/Christmas Swaps that I took part in)  and, bien sur!, we ate very well, and continue to do so, with a pintarde stuffed with morilles and amagnac for dinner tonight (courtesy of Lidl) with a starter of scallops (again, merci M. Lidl!) and a dessert of chocklit! We may crack open a bottle of fizz, ensuring that we will be a-bed way before the bells of midnight ring out. Friends are coming for a meal tomorrow - starter as yet undecided, but possibly a River Cottage warm salad, followed by wild boar casserole, mash and green beans and Mr FD's pannetone pudding (which he hasn't yet made this year).

We stop feasting after the weekend, and will start 5:2-ing again as well. We need to, I fear, as Mr FD has been unusually inactive, due to his op, and I have been doing my usual impression of a ruptured slug. Whilst I fear to trumpet them abroad, I have made a couple of resolutions that I should try to stick to:
1) More exercise - in addition to my couple of hours dancing, I am going to resolve to do 30 minutes walking at least three times a week. Dark evenings don't help, so when I'm at home a brisk lunchtime walk around the village should be attempted. I'm saying three times a week as that seems doable.
2) More blogging - my tablet died recently, so we have bought a hybrid tablet/computer (I think that's what it's called. I think that's what we (or rather, Mr FD) decided would be best for me) so I won't need to closet myself in my icy study if I want to blog. I should be able to do it more easily from the living room, which means I should be slightly more motivated to blog. I want to try to post something every day, either here or at The Teapot. While I make no promises, I hope this will happen. Though I can't promise that the posts will be worth reading!!!
3) More Acts of Kindness

I'm with Gandalf here. I loved taking part in 40 Acts last Lent, and have carried on with some of the Acts that resonated with me most. I want to try to do more. I may blog about them occasionally but it's not really a blow-my-own-trumpet type of thing.

So, with my good wishes for a joyful, healthy and peaceful 2015 to everyone who follows, comments or just reads this blog, I will leave you with this saying from Julian of Norwich (which I discovered I use on a fairly regular basis in my creative journalling!)

SOURCE: mindfulbalance.org