There are some Granary Rolls rising in the kitchen – it occurs to me that it has been an age since I last made bread. We’re just not getting through it very fast at all and I still have one baguette in the freezer from my last baking session before Christmas. I suppose it makes sense as we have been fasting two days a week and the holiday period was very much “crackers and cheese” (that’s why the weight loss had a hiccup.)
Overall I find that I have not really paid attention to the advice that the 5:2 regime leads to eating far less. I’m having real problems in getting through all the shopping that I have been doing – even the veg! I think I need to mentally absorb the new structure, perhaps by setting out a weekly menu before I go to the shops and learning what a new week’s shopping looks like.
A frinstance: I have some beetroots in the oven right now. They have been on the veg rack for three weeks. They didn’t get used because I had shorter-lived veg to use up first… repeatedly.
Yesterday’s mammoth vat of Vegetable Broth has helped to clear out the salad drawers in the fridge, considerably. We each had a large bowlful yesterday and we shall have the second half of the brew tomorrow. Today I am finishing off the parsnips in a mash with potatoes, in addition to getting rid of the beetroot. I should have empty drawers by the time that we go out on Saturday morning. I just hope, weather permitting, that there are fresh veg to be had when we go or I shall be looking very foolish indeed and reaching into the freezer for my veg.
Baking: again this weekend – we’re making Bagels again, as Mr L so enjoyed the last batch.
Speaking of baking, a comment left on the blog recently raised my awareness that I had too many About pages. I had gathered a few extra by virtue of importing other blogs of mine into this one. I’ve taken care of the problem and believe that I now have only the one About page, which I shall try and update shortly to encompass all of my interests.
In knitting news: The Evil Mittens of Doom made no progress yesterday, despite the fact that I had intended to complete the first hand on Tuesday. They truly are depressing me to the extent that I have no wish to work on them. On the other hand, no pun intended, I do have 90% of a Baby Surprise Jacket done – and all without catching a single ferry. I shall be pondering the mitten problem later today over at the Sanday Spinners blog. Perhaps not until the BSJ is finished… it’s kind of addictive, actually.
The weather: evil again, though the forecast is tending towards some subtlety for Saturday and I may well be able to get out with Turts99 and our cameras.
The camera(s): has seen far too little action over the winter. I had promised “Indoors if wet” but my room is in total disarray and not at all suitable for setting up a makeshift studio. I’m feeling the pull though and yesterday’s engagement with the Changing Seasons challenge is I hope some sign of future activity. I have at least charged my batteries, metaphorically and actually.
Blipfoto has disconcerted me thoroughly and I think my lack of photographic activity can be put down to a deep disappointment at what has been happening there. I did not want to act in haste and junk my account in a childish fit of spite after the Polaroid re-branding, so I bided my time. I have reached the decision that I really cannot stomach pushing the Polaroid brand into my friend’s faces, so I have stopped sharing my Blips via Facebook and Twitter. My main problem now is that I had paid for a lifetime membership: what am I going to do with it? How am I going to make that site work for me?
Aside from not knowing what to use my Blipfoto account for… I find that the site redesign has affected my use of the site and I am no longer drawn to viewing my contacts’ images. I’m no longer a daily user and when I do use the site I don’t stay as long or see as much, nor do I make as much comment. The site is pretty much unusable as it stands. I hope that matters improve.
Yes, I am unhappy. Yes, I am disengaged. All the same, I want in my heart to keep going for at least a while and I hope that I become used to the new site and its quirks and come to use it more often. One way to make this happen would be to come up with an idea to structure my use of the site and one that will make me want to take photographs and to post daily.
Some other Blipfoto users have wonderful projects going on and I want to be inspired by them to produce a coherent piece of work of my own. Could it be a year of images taken from the same spot at the same time each week, or perhaps an image that inspires a piece of writing – perhaps a little haiku or a flash fiction or something of that ilk. I did wonder briefly about connecting my Blips to the Trifecta writing Challenge that I have participated in from time to time. I looked yesterday and the challenge ceased last year. Not that, then.
The answer is that I don’t know yet what I might do that would keep me going for 365 days a year in the face of Corporate Branding and a difficult UI.
Something is surfacing in my mind as I write this… something about not having a project that is all “me” – instead a project that requires me to look and to engage and to share: “Inspired By” – a series of images inspired by other users, perhaps. Posts that link to the user doing the inspiring. It might be a recreation of their image, or taking a similar aspect of my life to theirs or maybe they post a beautiful picture of their dog and I am inspired to shoot one of my own… dogs, that is. With a camera, I hasten to add.
I don’t know – I’m thinking out loud.
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