clean sun on the cold grass

I don't usually make resolutions.  I don't usually - but this year I am.  It seems like a nice start to a new blog, which is itself like the first clean page of a new notebook: begging for a list.  So here is a list of six goals for my new year. 

1.  Walk.  Walk a lot, walk in high places, walk even when it's raining.  Walk further and earlier in the day.  Walk up hills and down hills and through woodland whenever possible.  Just walk.

2.   Create.  Sketch or paint every day, do it until something like a style emerges.  Draw maps, draw people, draw secret cities and hidden animals.  Paint every week, until the lines begin to loosen.

3.  Make.  There is a particular joy in making useful things, don't you think?  Once a week, make something useful: knit, or whittle, or string beads together, or bake a loaf of bread.

4.  Explore.  One of my very favourite things is exploring the country roads and little villages of the marches.  Finding roads so seldom used that grass has grown across the tarmac, spotting tiny cottages and dreaming of living in them.  Explore, and find new places close to home.

5.  Grow.  It's a tiny thing, but I would like to become better at growing plants.  Grow plants in pots and keep them alive: grow tiny, happy succulents and alpine flowers.  Grow bulbs in the spring and citrus in the summer, and never let them die.

6.  Travel.  Go to a new country and get to know it.  That's all.  Just go.  No putting it off to save money, because I don't do that anyway.  No visiting countries I've already been to. 

Six things, twelve months.  Not so hard at all.



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