Starting To Draw

I finally started to draw again today, admittedly it was only 20 minutes in a colouring book, but oh what a joy it was.  To sit quietly listening to music and concentrating totally on the pencil and paper was an experience of flow that I’ve not felt for decades, except while walking.  A big thank you to Debbie who finally kick started this new years resolution into action!

My day started at Caffe Nero as usual, but as it was a Sunday I got a very nice lie in.  I stayed there until about 10:30 and then went for a walk along the prom and boy was it windy, luckily I was able to put my ear warmer over my hat, providing a double layer of insulation and holding it onto my head as well, it worked great, but I’ve enlisted Anna’s help to make it even better with a bit of sewing magic.  I took a few very nice photo’s of the bleak sea, the birds on the beach and an amazing crowd of kite surfers who were totally dominating the north beach and having a great time too.  I took the opportunity to do a bit more running in the dunes and then headed back to do some shopping.

Back home I had lunch, cleaned the bathroom, attached some ‘legs’ to the raised bed frame to stop it sliding on the raised bed in the gales, and took a nap.  After the nap I did my drawing and created a new playlist on Amazon music for future drawing sessions, cooked the chicken and prepared the Yorkshire pudding mix.  I then popped into town, walking along the prom again to admire the sunset.  Afternoon sunset watching has becoming one of the defining pleasures of my retirement, when I worked I was always deskbound all afternoon and evening and I’m now almost always moving in the afternoons, and sunsets often provide the view.

On my return I then made a big Sunday dinner, for Jennie, Jon, Debbie, Anna, Tess and myself.  I’d planned to make it nice and early to give me time to go swimming, but it turned out that we spent too long eating and chatting so it was about 7pm by the time we finished and it was too late and I was too full to swim.  We also ate the pineapple that Mum had bought just after Christmas and it had ripened to perfection, even the core was amazing!

Hunting in the garage for rubber gloves for Jennie, I discovered a couple of cans of diet coke, having been essentially addicted to the stuff for decades I thought I would try it now I’ve been off it for a few months and as expected it tasted pretty bland, I now prefer water.

I’m planning on going to Windermere tomorrow and taking my bike to ride on the stretch of the route from Ambleside to Bowness.