~ Diurnata ~

I’ve Moved!

Suzy — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 13:22:08 +0000

In a moment of what may well have been madness, I have moved my blog! You can now find me at http://diurnata.wordpress.com/

You will be redirected automatically in 5 seconds.

Dreams to-do list 2

Suzy — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 15:59:53 +0000

A few more items to add to my list - here’s the whole list again with the additional ones at the end:

My list of things I would like to do before I die

Watch my children grow up
Cuddle baby grandchildren one day
Fly in a hot air balloon
See orangutans in the wild
Go skinny dipping (would have to be somewhere extremely secluded!!!)
Take an utterly relaxing holiday where literally all I do is sleep, eat good food and read good books
Do something really worthwhile, like help feed starving children, actually there in person, not just by sending a donation, or help dig a well for people without water, or help care for AIDS orphans … or something, anything that would actually make a real difference to someone
Sing in a choir or group
See elephants in the wild
Draw & sketch, like I used to when I was young
Take the kids on a walk through the woods in autumn, specially to enjoy scrunching through the leaves

Dreams to-do list

Suzy — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 19:33:56 +0000

I recently read “Where the River Ends” by Charles Martin, and it made me think …

In the story, Abbie has been battling cancer for several years and it’s got to the point where there is nothing else to be done, so her husband Chris takes her off on a journey to fulfill her special to-do list. This is some of Abbie’s list:

dance with her husband
laugh until it hurts
drink wine on a beach
loop the loop in a plane
swim with dolphins
ride the St Mary’s river from where it starts right down to the sea
ride on a merry-go-round

It started me off thinking of a list of my own. I’m not dying or anything, as far as I know, but sometimes I get so bogged down with the everyday stuff … get up, get the kids up, take them to school, go to work, pick them up, go home, get dinner, put them to bed, slump in front of the tv/computer, go to bed … and then it all begins again. So I’m going to start to make a list of things I would like to do before I die … and maybe gradually I might work my way through them (or maybe I’ll never do them - but it’s nice to dream!)

My list of things I would like to do before I die

Watch my children grow up
Cuddle baby grandchildren one day
Fly in a hot air balloon
See orangutans in the wild
Go skinny dipping (would have to be somewhere extremely secluded!!!)
Take an utterly relaxing holiday where literally all I do is sleep, eat good food and read good books
Do something really worthwhile, like help feed starving children, actually there in person, not just by sending a donation, or help dig a well for people without water, or help care for AIDS orphans … or something, anything that would actually make a real difference to someone
Sing in a choir or group

To be continued …

Remembering

Suzy — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 06:54:40 +0000

It’s 11th of September once again, and we haven’t forgotten.
My tribute to Suria Clarke, written in 2006.

School Photo Time

Suzy — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 17:55:47 +0000

Ben and Abi had their school photo taken yesterday - we have the proof already, and it’s a bit different from the usual ones. This time they’ve gone for a more relaxed look. Here’s the proof:

[Photo by H Tempest Ltd]

Looking forward to getting the real thing And of course there will be copies for all interested relatives

Just in case you are like me and want to look back at previous photos they are over there to the right (click to see bigger versions).

Small Pleasures

Suzy — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 15:14:52 +0000

Just been hanging the washing and thinking mmmm what a lovely smell! It seems that Surf Small & Mighty have improved the fragrance of their yellow washing liquid (was just Sunshine, now is Sunshine Lemons & Bergamot) - I liked it before but now it’s just delicious I know that you should probably buy washing liquid on the basis of its cleaning abilities, but I have a tendency to go by smell (and value for money)! And mmm I love the smell of Surf!

By the way they are not paying me to say this - it is just my opinion! Although obviously if someone from Surf happens upon this post and feels like sending me, say, a year’s supply of Surf, I would be delighted!

Surf small and mighty advert
by hamster1992

End of Bloggy Break!

Suzy — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 11:04:48 +0000

It’s been building up the last few days … the urge to blog, that had been missing for quite some time! I don’t know where it went or why it has returned, but I will follow the urge. We had a saying when I was a student “never surpress an urge” … it may not always be right, but in this instance I will go with my urge!

Well, I’m sure like most people, I’ve been watching alot of the Olympics - I’m loving these ones! I’ve enjoyed watching all kinds of sports, and of course it helps that Team GB are doing really well - 16 gold medals so far! Wow! I’ve particularly enjoyed watching gymnastics, athletics, swimming, diving, rowing, skulling, sailing, cycling and even a spot of equestrian. Some of the people in the olympics strike me as a bit arrogant … but then again if I was that good at something, I’d probably get a bit arrogant myself. But some of the best moments are when people win and they are so shocked, and so modest, and you feel quite emotional along with them. It must be a wonderful feeling to get a medal after all the hard work they put in. I’m getting quite excited about London 2012 now, and wondering if we could manage a trip to London to see some of the events … trying to imagine 4 years from now - Ben will be 13 1/2 and Abi just 10 - hard to imagine that!

I do get the thought in the back of my mind about all the money being spent on sport … that could be being spent on people who have nothing … it seems so extravagant. I am torn. But then when I’m on the edge of my seat watching a race and cheering, I forget. I don’t know what to think about that.

Not dead

Suzy — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 08:30:54 +0000

As you may have noticed, I have lost my blogging muse. I am still alive however. Might be back one day, might not …

Firefox 3

Suzy — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 21:21:52 +0000

I now have Firefox 3 … but as yet I am not entirely sure what’s so different about it compared to Firefox 2 … I shall have to investigate!

If you want it, you can get it here, but it might take a few attempts as there is rather a lot of demand at the moment.

Updated: Today is the Day

Suzy — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 13:08:46 +0000

Today is Race for Life day. It dawned grey and damp after a few days of beautiful sunshine, and I felt nervous as I got up. Today was also supposed to be Sports Day at my children’s school, but they have postponed it due to the wet track this morning. Typically it is now (lunch time) lovely and sunny and the Sports Day probably could go ahead, but I guess once the decision is taken to postpone it would be too complicated to “un-postpone” it again! I was having the day off work to watch Sports Day but as it isn’t on, I went to work instead. I want time to speed up and get me to this evening so I can get on with the Race for Life. I am excited and a little nervous. I will be jogging the race in honour of Heather, and remembering Julian, as well as doing it for hope for all with cancer. So far I have raised £110. If you want to sponsor me, you still can - my online sponsor page will stay open for a while after the race. Hopefully I will have some photos to add later after I’ve done it. I’m going to try and beat last year’s time (44 minutes), and maybe even the year before’s time (39 minutes). Last year was slower than the year before as I was wearing my fairy dress and didn’t bother to try and jog, just walked the whole race. This time I plan to jog a bit. Hopefully. The course is changing for the first time this year so instead of just going up and down the prom, it will go through town a bit - should be exciting and a bit different And of course it is at a different sort of time - in the past it has been on a Sunday morning, so having it on a Wednesday evening is very unusual. Anyway… I shall stop rambling on now! I will let you know how I get on later.

Later:
I did it! It was a very nice new course, but with a few more ups and downs than the old course. I didn’t manage to beat last year’s time and did it in 45 minutes. I am very tired, but happy. I managed to avoid blisters this year! It was a great experience being part of a crowd of 1500 women all with the same aim in mind. Fab! Abi wants to do it with me next year - she’ll be nearly 7 by then so I think she’ll be up to it