Two and half thousand words of blog post. Plus just under seven thousand words of WIP. That’s nearly ten thousand in the last week. An average of two thousand a day with weekends off for good behaviour. I’ve also been adding to my reviews of everything I’ve watched and read so that next month’s review posts will happen. I think I’ve been too ambitious. I set off, inspired by my daily music posts in December, with the intention of posting every other day, and didn’t really mean to get involved with very long pieces every time. But somehow, I invariably ramble and also need to look things up (like the names of authors or artists I like) and it all takes for ever. I suspect I could write more of my WIP if I was a little more laid back about the blog posts. So in February I intend to reduce the endeavour to a post every three days. Over the course of an average month that should mean four or five review posts, a meme, a couple of things that are bugging me, news about my writing (or a poem) and maybe a cookery post. That’s the idea, anyway.

When I post about cookery, be warned. I love cooking (though not planning a week’s menu, or shopping) but I’m a rather haphazard cook. My husband follows recipes religiously, and has been known to visit at least three supermarkets to get the right kind of kale. I tend to subsitute whatever I happen to have at hand. I don’t measure for a lot of things (though I do for baking) and I look for alternatives, short cuts, etc. As a result, after years of practice, I find most cooking easy, and will share my findings with you. If you want accurate quantities etc. please look elsewhere. If you want to feel confident about basic cooking – and some ‘party’ dishes, follow me! I also enjoy recipe books and will share new discoveries with you. Oh, and I cook in UK using scales that show grammes, a fan oven that uses centigrade temperatures, and most of my recipes are for two, with leftovers to freeze. Some of my recipes are vegetarian – we don’t eat meat every day – and where meat is in the dish you can substitute extra veg. I will give warnings etc. We are not, however, vegan, and nor are our extended family (though some are vegetarian). So expect butter, cheese, milk, etc. I have no idea how or whether the recipes would work with vegan substitutes.

The header photo is from my site header/banner/whatever. I created it using, as a base, a photograph of a violet in our garden. The violets could be out again soon!