New Year’s Greetings

A recent feature in the Telegraph suggested that September, the start of the new school year, makes a better season of renewal than the more conventional January celebration. It’s  a good point, and one I think I’d sign up to. Even if it’s proving difficult this September to find the surge of energy that a good summer might have provided, January is much more suited to hiding under the blankets than to starting that diet or looking for a new job.

Around here, this New September is more about endings than beginnings, but perhaps one will lead to the other. Last week a dear friend died after a long illness, but we decided to celebrate his birthday (Saturday) in style,  with fireworks and a chocolate cake. The fireworks weren’t quite as grand as those in the picture but still good fun on one of the warmest evenings of the year, with just a touch of drama when a rocket decided to explode on the ground! Chris certainly would have loved it. Thanks to a fellow blogger for an excellent cake recipe perfected by DD (who also took the firework picture).

On the reading front, I’ve slogged through The Map of Love, which I enjoyed for the love story and the insight into Egyptian history, but found rather lacking in overall structure or ‘message’. Unusually, I found it better in the middle than at the beginning or the end. It’s also distinctly lacking in references to any particular map of love, which seems odd, in view of the title! 

On a more trivial note. I stopped updating my golf blog some time ago and handed it over to its original owners. Now I see new posts are appearing, and as they’re clearly commercial in intent, it’s time to withdraw entirely from that scenario. So it’s also farewell to the Green Goddess (at least until the next hole in one!)

And a Happy New Year to you all!