Posted by Tania Kindersley.
The sun came out today, after four days of dreich, and it shone as if some great lighting director in the sky had decided to pull all the stops out for new year's eve.
It is not an eve I adore. I do not like phoney love on the stroke of midnight, or stupid auld lang's syne, or the absurd making of resolutions. It is just some random date on the calendar, but I suppose that humans like to put things into order and categories, and this category is the new beginning one. I shall be grumpy, and then put my lipstick on, and plaster a great big smile on my face, and pretend that I am in the sunniest of moods. Who knows? With enough lipstick and smiling, the fake may turn into real jollity after all. I have found that this can happen. (Just in case, I have warned my mother, who is dealing with her trepidation by shipping in extra champagne. I think her cunning plan is to get me drunk. I think it is an excellent plan.)
Anyway, despite my bah humbug old mood, I do wish you all a very happy new year, wherever you are. Tomorrow, when it is all over, I shall be back to being a little ray of sunshine.
Talking of which, here is the amazing light of the day:
And look, look, there was even some magic cloud, hovering over the sheep:
The rosehips and the wall looked particularly vivid:
And the ladyships looked like Ava Gardner, bathed in the incredible winter sun:
Finally, today's view of the hill, in all her glittering glory:
Hello Tania - I was thinking about you today whilst making soup! You are one of those writers who is compelled to write. When I was very young and wondered what I would be when I grew up, I liked the idea of being a writer and wondered how does one become one? The answer I was given was that one becomes a writer because one simply must write. It is a compulsion. I think it's wonderful that your blog posts are there, like fresh snow when you open the curtains in the morning. You seem compelled to share with us each day and it's a prolific gift! Lipstick or no lipstick, have a happy new year's eve and may I say the dogs look stunning today?! Lou xx
ReplyDeleteI love New Year's Eve. It's one of my very favorite holidays-- I'm a huge sucker for new beginnings, probably because I spend a lot of time messing up. I like the sense of clearing out the wreckage of the past holiday season, too (not my favorite time of year) and the onset, in the suddenly visible future, of Spring. Also, I shut the blinds, stay at home and get placidly drunk on cheap champagne in peace. I hope you do end up enjoying yourself, and that you and your beautiful family and lovely dogs have an excellent 2011! Thanks for this blog.
ReplyDeleteHowever your evening progresses (and I share a certain amount of the 'It's just another day' feelings, and the knowledge that no matter how we 'keep' it or 'See it out/Bring it In' a new day/week/year will begin and we shall KOKO.
ReplyDeleteA very Happy New Year to you, your family and of course the ladies and thank you for the pictures, the trees, the dogs, the sky and all - the thoughts, the thought provoking, the witty, the funny, the sad, the true, the deep, the angry, the frivolous, the ...... OK, you get the picture. All of it.
And the very best for tomorrow and beyond.
Amazing Year's End light - I'm always a bit bah humbug too, NYE is my birthday, so I can be double grumpy!
ReplyDeleteEnjoy the champagne and good things for 2011.
I'm also not a fan of New Year's Eve as I think that it's very over rated. However, seeing your photos is a great way to finish off the year.
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year!
Simply amazing photos, Tania! Great writing too. I have truly enjoyed reading your book and blog this past year. You have such a gift with touching readers, so thank you!
ReplyDeleteHere is to a happy 2011!!
Marcie
What a wonderful end of year's picture of the ladyships: bathed in the perfect light so as to distill their separate identity at their best. What a stunning portrait!
ReplyDeleteI too don't much love this evening.
So declined invitations and concentrated instead on cooking what now smells very nice now from here.
I wish you, the Pigeon and the Duchess another year full of mischief, fun and games!
And thank you for this blog. Cristina xx
Beautiful light in the photos as always.
ReplyDeleteI like the new year, less the eve but I like the feeling of time passing and the chance to reflect. Partly because now I am reflecting on 2010 it was not too bad really.
So I shall wish you happy new year and mean it.
All the best.
Our new year is also generally staid and this year was staid er than most other new years! I still however always hope that the next year could be improved upon (eternally optimistic I know!).
ReplyDeleteHave a wonderful New year and thank you ever so much for the photographs. It was beastly hot yesterday in Melbourne 40 and today it has gone back to a balmy 24. I will never get used to this yo yo effect and the weather here in Melbourne. Leaving Tuesday and looking forward so very much to going home though sad to leave my daughter alone!
The light where you live is INCREDIBLE (I keep coming back to look at that first photo....the colors, the layers...sigh)!
ReplyDeleteSo happy to have found my way to your blog (via via).
Started the New Year the way I ended the old one -- waking up on sofa after falling asleep in front of TV program I "wanted" to see.
Somewhere I once read resolutions are best made around one's birthday (so only December-January babies have half a chance of succeeding???)
In any case, here's to a happy, healthy, joyful, creative 2011!
Pat (in Belgium)