We had our end of term dinner party last night and it was great fun. Everyone brings a favourite dish along with them and a glass of wine is very welcome, as we chat about a variety of things plus, of course, books.
We have a list of books for each term and for those books not yet received from the library for various reasons, such as other book clubs still holding on to them and not available, or because they are not yet out in paperback, we always have a couple of unread books to tack onto the next list, as has happened now.
We can also borrow books individually from a local library, we people do, or order them from Amazon, which is also a favourite method of getting our hands on the next book. And, of course, we swap books with each other, which means we don't have to buy each book on every list.
Of course, all these new books mount up and mostly people don't want to hold on to every book they read simply because of a lack of house space for storage. And it's good to circulate books to friends and family, or given them to the Oxfam book shop or to any of the other charity shops, for re-sale. And this is what I shall be doing for we already have more than enough books and there are some favourite books you simply can never part with.
At least we don't go in for book burning any more which, historically, has happened throughout millennia.
We were talking about how our fears and worries can keep us awake at night at times, coming up with tried and tested means for dealing with this. My favourite is to list urgent worries on a small notebook, kept by my bedside for just such a purpose, and for me it works very well. But a friend suggested her worries were not conscious ones but those lurking within her sub-conscious which, by listing them, actually brought them to a more prominent position, making them more of a problem to cope with.
How she deals with her worries is to simply blank them from her thoughts at night time and just calmly endeavour to get back to sleep as quickly as possible; living in the moment really, for the past has gone and who knows what will actually happen in the future or even tomorrow.
And, dealing with one issue at a time is also probably a very good truth to live by. We busy women, juggling a multitude of jobs/issues at any one time, ought to consider this approach sometimes, if we weren't so busy coping with all the things we expect ourselves to do.
Could it all just be a mind-game, with our expectations of how we should be and act, our thoughts and minds wired-up to what we think we should be achieving, controlling what we eventually are able to achieve. The thought being father to the action, demanding a never-ceasing struggle to achieve more and more. One is always reading that people are now busier than ever before yet don't we have more help these days with our modern machinery, technology and countless means of communication.
Just running around and keeping things going, is often what I feel about things, and just trying to keep on top of work, life and hobbies, let alone eating and sleeping and being with kith and kin; as for reading, well, that's quite another thing - highly enjoyable, necessary, vital and hugely enjoyable, which brings me nicely back to my book club.
We have a smashing circle of intelligent, articulate and interesting women, all with busy lives, expectations and commitments to consider, yet they all read regularly and passionately. At times it seems as if we're expecting to be able to read a new book every week and I often find this quite difficult, with all the other activities I endeavour to cram into my life. yet it's worth the effort which is more than repaid by the friendship and jolly camaraderie to be enjoyed at our end of term "jolly" which we all thoroughly enjoy.
I can't wait for the next occasion - when summer has once more returned to us!
Toodle oo
Daisy
PS back to my cooking for I've just created my own gluten-free pastry recipe and I'm tickled pink!
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