A blipping dozen

This blip marks the 12th anniversary of the first post to my journal. Happy blipday to me!

I feel that I can’t let this milestone pass without some reflections on the past year. I have also checked through my blips of the last 12 months to identify those which I consider my best.

Much of the content posted to my journal since my last milestone blip replicates that of previous years. In no particular order: I take exercise, much of it now at my ‘new’ gym; party - see especially the blips for 22nd April 2023, 18th June 2023, 22nd July 2023, and 6th October 2023; tend my garden - with home grown frogs; continue my work associated with Lorna Lloyd - I'm currently writing up the empirical study on audience engagement with digital archives; suffer regularly from insomnia, and occasionally with colds and other minor medical complaints; contribute to Mr hazelh’s artistic creations, notably our Christmas newsletter, and as Princess Freckles to the plays of Mugg and Zung; do the mending - mainly darning cashmere jumpers and patching jeans; comment on draft doctoral work to see my students through to graduation; haunt charity shops - both donating and buying; go to the theatre and gigs; read; watch a bit of television; listen to a lot of radio and podcasts; meet up with my fabulous book group pals, four of whom are also blippers - ArcLight, LauraMuir, Ridgeback13, and Winsford; cook, with soup brewing and scone making my specialities; chamber-maid; write; blog; and travel with Mr hazelh. 

This past year has been a particularly busy one for trips, including short stays in Biggar, West Sussex (twice - in January and November), Comrie and Grantully, Northumberland, Somerset, Manchester, North Yorkshire - for a school reunion, Argyll, the Borders - for a book group field trip, and London - for Abba Voyage. We had two fabulous Scottish summer holidays in amazing weather in May/June and August/September, and a great stay on the Isle of Lewis in October. We received many guests ourselves (I had to list them on our whiteboard in the second half of the year just to keep track of them all), all of whom made the most of the new bathroom  and freshly decorated bedroom at the back of our Edinburgh flat.

There have been some big changes in the past year. The saddest is the loss of my dear friend Kate, who died on 30th October 2023. In addition, almost a year ago on 13th January 2023 we witnessed the funerals of Mr hazelh’s father (in person) and our friend Eliza (remotely). The felling of the tree at Sycamore Gap was also a dark day in the hazelh household. In happier news, we both enjoyed our 60th birthday celebrations in March and October, with the partying for Mr hazelh lasting well into November. The most significant change to lives, however, is that we acquired a new flatmate on 20th October 2023 when Mummy hazelh came to stay with us indefinitely. It will be interesting to see the impact of her presence on both our travels and the hosting of guests in the future. No doubt there will be some commentary on this when I post the blip equivalent to this one in 2025 (assuming that I am spared...)

These are the photographs that I consider my best of the last 12 months:

Sunset over the Water of Ruchill, Comrie - 5th February 2023
Meadows at dusk with tree shadow, Jupiter and Venus - 24th February 2023 <- my second favourite
(Man-eating) black swans - 29th April 2023
Family portrait - 30th April 2023
North Somerset Agricultural Show - 1st May 2023
Pepper and wild garlic - 5th May 2023
Backlit meconopsis - 11th May 2023
Spring garden flowers still life - 20th May 2023
Through the gunpowder mill windows - 21st May 2023
Back to Fountains Abbey - 28th May 2023
Feall Bay, Coll - 3rd June 2023
Sea thrift and another beautiful Coll beach - 4th June 2023
Barrisdale Bay - 8th June 2023 <- my third favourite
Loch Garten - 11th June 2023
Stockbridge gardens - 25th June 2023
Black, white and pink umbrellas - 24th July 2023
Afternoon tea for Adrienne and Charles - 28th July 2023
East coast - 6th August 2023
Mellon Udrigle beach - 2nd September 2023
Raindrops caught in a spider’s web - 16th September 2023
Flower harvest Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh - 24th September 2023
Fungus village - 2nd October 2023
Ullapool marina and seafront - 9th October 2023
A present from Poland - 20th October 2023
Peak autumn colours Dawyck - 31st October 2023
Birthday celebrations at the Educated Flea - 2nd November 2023
Stunning Argyll - 4th November 2023
Reflections at Kilmelford - 5th November 2023 <— my personal favourite
Autumnal lace - 14th November 2023
Frosted fern - 6th December 2023
Christmas at the Botanics 2023 - 8th December 2023
Forth Rail Bridge - 31st December 2023

Thank you to everyone who reads my blips and leaves comments, stars and favourites on the entries, especially those who have been with me since the start. I am also grateful for the team that binds us together through their hard work to keep the site up and running.

As for today, it was spent at my new computer updating/securing all my passwords.

Exercise today: none.