Once more unto the breach

Posted on 5 October, 2011 by Val

I’m beginning to wonder if my predilection for Giving Stuff Up is less about self-improvement, and more about the fact that I relish a good fight. Of course by ‘fight’, I don’t mean fisticuffs or even a shouting match. I mean the sort of fight that involves strategy, and tactics, and quiet victory against the odds. Having said that, I really don’t like conflict with other people, so a bit of internal struggle now and then fits the bill nicely. It’s all very well being at peace with oneself – but, hey, where’s the fun in that?

And since I like to wax metaphorical, I often find myself personifying my various qualities, and imagining a good-but-generally-weak part of me engaged in an ongoing fight with the less pleasant aspects of my self. It is an honourable tradition. Buddha versus Mara on the bank of the Neranjara River (Living with the Devil: A Meditation on Good and Evil). Jesus versus Satan in the wilderness (Matthew 4: 1-11). Ed Chigliak versus The Demon of Low Self Esteem on Northern Exposure. And now me versus The Demon of Sweetness.

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Posted in Life | 2 Comments

Sweet Tyranny

Posted on 25 September, 2011 by Val

Here’s something I bet youse lot never thought you’d see on my blog – a post about dieting! Yes, you read that right. I know I’m not fat (“au contraire” I hear you smirking). And I know that my pitiful complaints about my slowly-but-relentlessly ballooning middle-aged belly cause many of you to roll your eyes and shake your heads in a sort of “she doesn’t know what ‘fat’ means” kind of way. But here’s the thing.

I don’t so much mind looking a funny shape (flat chested, but with a tummy profile similar to my four-month pregnant daughter) – but I hate feeling fat. I mean, I hate the bloated, leaden sensation that I lug around with me all day that drags me down, and pulls me under, and makes me feel like I just totally Can’t Be Arsed to DO anything.

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Posted in Blogging, Life | 6 Comments

Warning: This post contains scenes of a sentimental nature that some readers may find nauseating.

Posted on 5 September, 2011 by Val

And so, the 2011 season of The Blanchetière Summer Visitors draws to a wistful close, with the all-too-swift passing of the fourth and final episode. The season finale was the much-awaited visit of my own son, daughter and two-year old grand-daughter, whose wide-eyed, wonder-filled enthralment with All Things Blanchetière provided a fitting end to a delightful summer of Doing Nothing in the good company of welcome guests.

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Posted in Environment, Life, Visitors | 2 Comments

What To Do

Posted on 21 August, 2011 by Val

If I’m going to review the third instalment of the 2011 series of The Blanchetière Summer Visitors, I need to get on with it, before episode four begins on Thursday, (with the arrival of my offspring, and my offspring’s offspring). The third instalment, completed yesterday morning, was brought to us courtesy of Simon’s brother, and his two youngest children.

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Posted in Environment, Life, Visitors | 4 Comments

Idle Wise

Posted on 13 August, 2011 by Val

The trouble with my Wise Friend is that she has a tendency to encourage me in the pursuit of my whims. If I hadn’t sat across the table from her at work for three and a half years, I might never have ended up living with llamas in the middle of a French nowhere. I have noticed however that she rarely pursues whims of her own. I suspect this is because she is indeed wise.

She, and a reduced cohort of her family, constituted the second instalment of the 2011 series of The Blanchetière Summer Visitors. They travelled here (as they always seem to) on the busiest day of the year on the French road network. My Wise Friend has her off days.

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Posted in Environment, Life, Visitors | 9 Comments

When we were younger…

Posted on 27 July, 2011 by Val

It is 52 days since I last wrote a blog post. That is one day for every week of the year. Or one day for every card in a standard deck. Or one day for every white key on a piano. Or one day for every year in the Mayan Calendar Round. Clearly 52 is a very significant number and, clearly, I only see patterns in everything because they are really there.

So… after 52 days of Not Writing blog posts, and 52 days of thinking I may very well Never Write Another blog post ever again, what unusual occurrence has brought about this 53rd-day change of heart?

The answer to that intriguing question, Dear Readers, is Colin.

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Posted in Blogging, Life, Llamas, Visitors | 5 Comments