I’ve tried doing the 2009 retrospective post, but it’s very slim and I keep thinking I must be missing something really big, so I’m sitting on it for the time being.

In other news, I’m sick, which is really annoying as I’ve had to cancel two things already this year. (I think it’s two. Last year’s Cancel-O-Rama may be blurring into this year.) This feels suspiciously like gastro, which is not the way I wanted to begin the year. And to top it off I’ve pulled my back today, so I’m in a fabulous mood because even sitting hurts and I have work to do.

Speaking of which (work, not the back) I am currently in the throes of the design and layout for A Modern Cellist’s Manual, and I suspect that Emily and I are having way, way too much fun with it. It’s great to be able to chat with someone three time zones and four thousand kilometres away, and send samples of things back and forth immediately. Living in the future is very useful. It also helps to be working with someone who has a very similar sense of humour, who coincidentally loves the samples I send to her.

Our postman retired at the end of December. He let us know as we were leaving before Christmas (literally; HRH stopped the car so I could get out and watch to see if there was any mail to be put in our box). I said a heartfelt thank you for everything he’d done for us and wished him an excellent retirement, but I wish I’d known earlier so that I could have given him a gift certificate to Tim Horton’s or Chapters. He was truly fabulous, always focused but cheerful, with a dry wit. He never complained about the piles of books I used to order as research when I was on a contract. I will miss him.

HRH has already repaired the CD tower that fell apart in a spectacularly attackish way on New Year’s Day (thank goodness for MLG, Mackay, and Ceri, who were all here and who helped rescue the hundred-plus CDs and the pieces of the unit, because HRH caught it across his back and was stuck). It has been screwed into the wall so it won’t attack anyone again.

I am dragging my feet about finishing Mum’s silk scarf. It’s very annoying because I only have about five inches to go, but wow, the resistance I’m getting from my subconscious is something else again. I’m scheduling an episode of Slings & Arrows (season 2, aka the Macbeth season) per workday to watch while I knit, but even that’s not motivating me very well.

Thanks to the piles of snow we’ve gotten over the past two weeks, HRH and the boy have once again built the massive slide in the backyard that starts at the little door off the back deck and winds around the outside of the yard. The boy positively flies on his little saucer-sled and makes it about three-quarters of the way around the yard before stopping. It’s hilarious to watch.

I haven’t really spun anything this year so far, other than a sample to show the Marcs what the process entailed, but it will come. If I made resolutions, one would be to spin more and sell the resulting stuff so I don’t have to worry about what to eventually make with it and at least cover the cost of the fibre. I can spin, enjoy the process, and then Etsy it without anxiety.

And finally, I have moved my dresser out of the corner of our bedroom because the puddles of frigid water behind it and the black mold were just too much to keep up with. This way the air circulates more and will theoretically slow the problem down.

Right. Back to some editing, and then some knitting.