Monday 6 July 2009

The strains of domesticity

I've had a week of feeling rather down: overwhelmed, I suspect, by the move and the changes. I seem to have little direction and focus in life, nor any great achievements at the end of the day. Instead I have become a domestic goddess (or perhaps slave, given my lack of enjoyment and gross incompetence) and spend my days washing, ironing and cooking. It hardly seems the best use of all my qualifications and abilities.

(But the raspberry jam is very tasty.)

So I was delighted to receive an award from Maternal Tales - a lovely blog! How good does that make me feel? Thank you so much for bringing a ray of sunshine into my life!


In my turn, I shall pass it on to Working Mum on the Verge ('cos she's fun and witty and lives near me - oh, darn, you've already got one), Gareth Bentley (simply because everyone should take this link and look at his wonderful photos of Zambia), Hadriana (who inspired me into active blogging) and Ladybird World Mother ('cos I never fail to laugh at her writing).

Today I bravely faced a local writers group. This seemed particularly foolhardy, given my current fragile state, but I was blessed with a group low on criticism and high on encouragement. I'm not sure it will help improve my book, Singing in a foreign land, very much, but it will provide a welcome respite from the cleaning and tidying for a short while once a fortnight.

I had an interesting (and quiet) weekend at home whilst my son was at cub camp. I got a chance to spend some time in the garden and hope one day to know what the plants are that I attack. (They were definitely raspberries. I think it might be an olive tree behind them.) Unfortunately, my son was sick and had to come home early, which I have written about on my other blog here. Thankfully a day without food or excitement (except the Wimbledon Men's final) and he was right as rain for school today.

Tomorrow: I resolve to get back to the writing. Surely the ironing can wait just one more day?

6 comments:

Working Mum said...

Thank you for the award. It doesn't matter that I've already got one - ever see an actress upset at getting a second Oscar? No, I don't think so.

Yes, the ironing can wait. Sometimes it waits in our house until the clothes at the bottom of the ironing pile have been squashed into submission and are flat enough to wear!

Tim Atkinson said...

Ironing can always wait - writing is forever! (Btw, have you investigated Authonomy and YouWriteOn?)

Catharine Withenay said...

WM - yes, I abandoned the ironing. And the washing up. And the sheets are still on the line being washed repeatedly by the rain (grrrr...)

Dotterel - I've looked at both, although not for a while, so will make time tomorrow. Today I edited my submission chapters, my letter, synopsis and personal biog. Phew! If it stops raining I'll step out for some envelopes tomorrow!

Hadriana's Treasures said...

Hi Catharine, Thank you SO much for the award! I can't believe it was me who inspired you to actively blog!!! I'm amazed. I'm due to start blogging again any day now and hope to catch up with a lot of people's blogs. I'm so out of touch with it all.

The good news is that the exams went well so I can breathe a sigh of relief.

Your writing seems to be coming on well and I hope I can read it in full soon. :)

I might have a peep over at those blogs that The Dotterel has mentioned. I really do have to get down to some proper writing. Purely because time is running out and I must bleddy get down to doing it!!!!!!!!!

Ladybird World Mother said...

Oh how lovely!! I get such a thrill from getting an award... thank you so much. Hooray. Off now to put it up on my blog. Yippee!

cheshire wife said...

Moving can be a depressing experience, once the euphoria of the actual move is over. I am sure that life will improve and hey, you have got an award. Congratulations!

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