April 2026

May. 2nd, 2026 02:32 pm
muninnhuginn: (Default)

April 2026

Read:
  • The Incandescent  by Emily Tesh (physical book! autographed!!)
Non-fiction:
Attended:
  • Iridescence
  • Rocky Horror Picture Show @ the Corn Exchange

Cramp!!!

Apr. 29th, 2026 02:20 pm
muninnhuginn: (Default)
I was wearing my wellingtons to garden* in. Should've worn my hiking boots.
Ouch.

*For values of "garden" that include pulling out many brambles--and not much else.
muninnhuginn: (Default)
Two years old. Onwards to cake.
muninnhuginn: (Default)
I'll be gone, as far as work goes, at the end of June. Decision made. Tidy things up. Move on.

March 2026

Apr. 7th, 2026 04:44 pm
muninnhuginn: (Default)
 

March 2026

Read: 
Novels:
  • Orbital
 
Shorts:
 
Non-fiction:
 
Poetry:
 
Attended:
  • (online) Peter’s Field (Sean Cooney, Sam Carter, and Rowan Rheingans)
 
Visited:
muninnhuginn: (Default)
I don't often point out stuff I've read outside of the monthly list, but I found this article, I have stage four cancer – there will be no cure, but death isn’t necessarily imminent: this is how it feels to live in the long middle, resonated. (Apart from the faith as succour/loss of faith bit: lazy unbelief renders that moot). I find that invisibility of cancer as a chronic illness quite tough. The mismatch between apparent restored good health and the ongoing existence of treatment, testing, four-spoons-a-day energy is difficult to negotiate: there's a great desire to go along with folk's assumptions about one's wellness, to not remind folk of the ongoing situation. And that's tough for everyone, because once in a while the facts do have to be reiterated--and it's like breaking the bad news all over again.
Also, what is it with folk objecting to my belief in my own prognosis, as if accepting, living the maintenance treatment is something they can reject on my behalf? Fear, of course, but it's immensely annoying.
But, anyway, a better summation of how I am, where I'm at, than I could've done myself. And useful as I cosider whether to resign earlier in the year, rather than hold out to the end of the year and my 60th.
muninnhuginn: (Default)

January 2026

Read: 
Novels:
  •  Agent Running in the Field by John le Carré
  • Silverview by John le Carré
 
Non-fiction
 
Watched:
  •  Hamnet
 
 
 
 
 

2026, eh?

Jan. 2nd, 2026 01:21 pm
muninnhuginn: (Default)
Well, there we went: 2025 all done and dusted.

Somehow got through it in (mostly) one piece.

Healthwise, I'm down to twice-daily tablets until mid-November. The CT scan from December showed no signs of cancer, but apparently I fractured a vertebra in the interim between that scan and the one a year prior. Who knew? Evidently, not me. Stanley continues to gurgle away, mostly unproblematically.

Workwise, I went back in May--and plan to continue until the end of this year. And then cash in my pensions (meagre as they are), and spend them in my (potentially brief) retirement.

Homewise, we added a bath in the middle bedroom/dressing room, had a new path paid along the front of the house, and had the chimneys repointed (and partially rebuilt) before they crumbled away. Hopefully, we've also fixed the leaky roof too.

Beastwise, no new cats, no new chooks, no bees. I've just let my membership of the beekeepers asociation lapse, tho' I could rejoin if I decide I am going to set up a beehive, but it seems less likely. We're about to celebrate the two-year anniversary of acquiring the Smolly Molecule, still the best thing to have happened in 2024. Shadow continues to be Shadow: a little bite-y, somewhat scrarchy, but still as loveable, and acquring ever more complex educational toys to keep him occupied.

So, this year? I'd like a little more energy to get throuygh what I need to do--declutter, sort finances, retire--and want to do--read more, make more, travel more, get bees(?).
muninnhuginn: (Default)

December 2025

Read: 
Novels:
The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper (K)
Over Sea, Under Stone by Susan Cooper (K)
 
Shorts: 
 
Non-fiction
 
Watched:
  • Megson (online)
  • Buildings in the Landscape (online)
muninnhuginn: (Default)

November 2025

Read: 
Novels:
The Green Man’s Holiday by Juliet E. McKenna (K)
 
Shorts:
 
Non-fiction
 
Watched:
  •  del Toro’s Frankenstein

Progress

Nov. 4th, 2025 02:50 pm
muninnhuginn: (Default)
Lets make it three posts in a day....

[Yes, I've taken a week's holiday!]

So, cancerwise, it's been a drag and then a whirl, and then, hopefully, a new, settled (for a while) normal.

First, the drag. Going back to work was great. Fought to go back up to my 4-day week as soon as I could as three days wasn't enough. Tiring through the summer, and cost any energy for reading or knitting, but worthwhile. As the months have gone on the fatigue has crept back more and more. I'd started joking about bedtime getting so early I wouldn't have got up yet! Getting home in the evening and not being aboe to eat dinner due to exhaustion is, however, no joke.

Second, the whirl. This treatment regimen started in slight confusion and it continues that way. The 3-weekly infusions stopped six weeks back, several months earlier than I'd expected (especially with appointments scheduled until the end of the year). Entirely correctly, it turns out. So, having got over my crossness (understatement, that) at suddenly and unexpectedly changed plan and the usual changes in medications hiccups (removing is just as unbalancing as starting), I'm feeling less achy and a whole lot less tired. I'm even staying up after 7.30 in the evening! What larks! (Or owls?)

I'm getting my knitting mojo back too.

Another year like this doesn't seem like a bad proposition. I'm intending to retire in a year too.
muninnhuginn: (Default)

October 2025

Read: 
Shorts:
 
Non-fiction
 
Attended:
  • Al Stewart (farewell tour, The Empty Pockets supporting)
  • Motorhome and Caravan Show
  • Merlin Sheldrake 2025 @ The Barbican (online)
 
Jabbed:
  • ‘flu
  • COVID 19

ETA: Bought:
  • Pebble 2 Duo
muninnhuginn: (Default)
From the OUP (whose blog I highly recommend; much variety and fun): https://blog.oup.com/2025/10/whats-your-literary-classic-halloween-costume-quiz/

I'm classic Gothic. Caw!
muninnhuginn: (Default)

I've been procrastinating since the diagnosis, or perhaps for even longer, maybe since I heard of the concept. But today I made a start. (This does not mean I've had bad news: I'm toddling along just fine, if knackered.)

For someone who claims to have few clothes (and I maintain I have, at least, fewer clothes than most: no judgment intended as it's nostly 'cos I simply dislike shopping for clothes, or shopping at all), I had a desparately overstuffed wardrobe.

Summer clothes (to the tune of one skirt, three dresses, one vintage blouse and two knitted pieces) are now in a box under our bed. One pair of lightweight linin trousers will be added after they're washedmand ironed. A second box contains my undergraduate gown (should probably donate to college), my wedding dress (homemade), one hand made skirt that down't fit, my mum's wedding dress and a couple of her party dresses (all three made for her by her mother). These I'm not ready to part with.

A pile of stuff to go to Vinted ('80s silk ballgowns, a bridesmaid's dress of Looby Loo's, an Alexon jacket) and some probably only worth donating items remain to be dealt with next weekend.

The wardrobe still contains items that fit, but I may not ever wear. I'll review at Easter.

I confess I haven't tackled the collection of impractical boots.

[This was all prompted by my sending off for a new pair of trousers, the third pair I've bought this year, and a new pair of winter shoes. I'm ditching more than I'm acquiring.]

muninnhuginn: (Default)
 

September 2025

Read:
  • A Legacy of Spies by John le Carre
  • The Quiet Mother by Arnaldur Indridason (K)
  • The Human Division by John Scalzi (K)
 
Shorts:
 
Non-fiction
 
Attended:
  • Bromyard Folk Festival
muninnhuginn: (Default)

August 2025

Read:
Shorts:
Non-fiction
 
Attended:
  • A New Day
 
Nothing much to see here. Just work, a few outings, and a whole heap of fatigue. Hey ho! Onwards with the program.

June 2025

Jul. 5th, 2025 08:40 pm
muninnhuginn: (Default)

June 2025

Read:
Novels:
  • The Foot on the Crown by Christopher Fowler (K)
 
Shorts:
 
Non-fiction
 
Attended:
  •  Gryphon @ The Junction

May 2024

Jun. 2nd, 2025 09:04 am
muninnhuginn: (Default)

May 2025

Read:
Shorts:
Non-fiction
Visited:
  • Wimpole Hall (grounds)
Attended:
  • Henry Normal and Brian Bilston @ The Corn Exchange
  • Burnaby Recital @ Emmanuel College
  • The Waterboys @ The Corn Exchange
  • Peggy Seeger (online)
ETA: Spotted:
  • Little egret (on Ditton Meadows)
ETA:
  • No current death watch beetle found. Evidence of past dwb and historic woodworm, but the noises we heard must've been "some other boring beelte".

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