White shiny stones

My blog used to be called nothing of particular importance. However, I have been thinking about the need to change it.

A while ago now I watched a movie by the Russian director Nikita Mikhalkov. In English, the movie title translated as Anna:From 6 till 18. The movie is a record of Anna's feelings and beliefs over the time period. In the movie they talked about a Russian Poet and how all children of the time knew his poems. There was a particular poem than went "In my pocket, I have a screw. What have you?"

I was thinking about this poem watching my own daughter collect small stones and put them in her pocket.

Wo betide you if you tried to throw those away afterwards.

So I thought, my blog was important if only for me. I was thinking of those dry stone walls. The strongest element of those, isn't the large rocks, but the small ones that surround and hold the big ones in place. Isn't it the same in life?

All the small things add up to something.

Cooking

A few years ago, I bought a DVD of Julie and Julia. The movie with Meryl Streep as Julia Childs. On first watching it I didn't like it, however, I recently watched it again and appreciated it more. So I thought to myself, why can't I create a blog like Julie did in real life and the movie and improve my cooking. Further, Zhe is a good cook. When she is in the mood her food is really good. So that added extra impetus for me to improve my cooking too. Even though I am an average cook I like to cook and every Saturday afternoon it is my turn. I especially like real earthy food, if you know what I mean. I don't really care for refined cooking or all the niceties. So, I'm going to start to read cooking blogs. I'll find recipes that I want to cook and learn to cook them. So this week I thought I would tackle Chicken meatloaf. I'll cook this on Saturday and let you know how it turns out.

New Year in August.

Every new year I make pretty much the same resolutions - to learn Mandarin, to fix the vegie garden and to lose weight. This time I am getting in early.

I am going to get back into blogging. There is a Pete Townshend song about never spending your guitar or your pen, so here goes. I am picking the pen up again.

A new start.

I am a fifty seven year old with a Chinese wife, Zhe and a going on five daughter, Rebecca. That's my family.

I'm a Librarian, I sometimes wish I was something else, especially when things need fixing around the house. I envy those people who can pull out a hammer and build a chest of drawers, say, then turn around and fix the tap, before moving on to fix the car. I wish I could do something like that. But move on.

I like going shopping to a point, I like giving my wages to my wife and feeling that primal feeling about supporting the family.

I go to bed early.

My favourite TV shows - Dr Who, I'll blush and say I also watch Law and Order SVU and Blue Bloods.

Favourite music, Rolling Stones, Neil Young, but also pretty much anything.

I like cooking on Saturday afternoons when Zhe takes Rebecca to Chinese School.

I like gardening, but only in the warmer months and definitely not in the wet.

What else can I say?

I hope this blog is meaningful to people and to me.

I am going to improve- my writing will get better.

This is my journey beginning again. Let's go. To be continued...

Tomorrow, the recipe I am going to cook on Saturday.

Time's gone

I am here at work, over the last couple of months we have been doing this program on web 2.0 and I am writing this as part of that program. So even though this is work time I consider that writing this blog is a part of work at the moment. So there you go.

We are half way through the 30th week. It has been a long 30 weeks. Speaking for myself, I have had just about every emotion that you can experience. We've had all the testing and the horrible wait for results and now it is just waiting. Every night we read to our daughter. I hope that we will continue to do this when she has been born. Zhe has downloaded "baby" music to her computer and she plays it often. Can baby's really hear in the womb? Does she already know our voices. What on Earth is she thinking? Can she think or is she just in this limbo and like us waiting. Zhe and I go for walks at night and we talk our hopes. When our daughter is born I want the walks to continue, me pushing the pram. The three of us.

I want to write my daughter a letter and tell her everything. All that I hope for her, everything that I have been through my hopes and my dreams and my fears. Write this in a letter and put it away until she is old enough to understand.


Anyway, better get to work and do something else

How much time has gone by since I last wrote a blog.

Well things have changed a bit. Zhe's pregnant and I am going to be a father. Things got going pretty quickly. I will be a dad before we celebrate our first wedding anniversary. How do I feel. Scared, elated. You name it. There was elation when the doctor told us we were pregnant. (yes, it is a we thing) But afterwards, the self doubts and everything else clicked in. How will this go? What kind of father will I be?

Zhe is now in the second trimester and she is till getting morning sickness. Isn't this the honeymoon period of the pregnancy?



Write again soon

Tomorrow New Life Begins

Tomorrow is Zhe's and my wedding day.

I am elated
I am nervous
I am counting down the hours
I am thinking what have I forgot to organise
I am thinking who did I forget to invite
I am in love

I want to dance

Time's gone, where

I'm sitting here at the computer surrounded by furniture. The house is being renovated and I'm feeling a little lost.

Not to much though. Zhe is here and that is all that matters. Things didn't go like I dreamt they would but everything is good and I feel great.