Friday, January 31, 2014

Miller Time Friday: Dear Diary



I was a faithful diarist as a child and as a teenager, and then only sporadically in my 20s, 30s and 40s. 

If truth be told, I have used you all as my Dear Diary since June of 2012.

But late last year I began to miss the practise of writing it all down just for me.  It seemed so cathartic; soul-spilling in some ways, mundane-capturing in others.

I have, from time to time, kept a small journal in my nightstand for noting all of the things I am grateful for.  That has been a wonderful practise and it is has evolved from the typical rote "I am grateful for my friends and family" (which of course I am forever grateful for) to much more esoteric fare, such as being grateful for the way that the sunlight hit a certain tree that morning.

So in late December, off I trotted to the local bookshop and purchased myself a lovely diary:

 



I have been quite faithful to writing in it all month and it is nice to take the time to have a small remembrance of the day or to talk out something that is troubling me.

While I was at the bookshop, I spied this little gem:



Cook's One Line A Day is a variation of the company's One Line A Day, which assumes everyone can find the time to make note of one thing every single day.

I bought it as I thought it would be fun to track what I cooked when, and for whom.



You can see that earlier in the week I made homemade gnocchi, which was amazing by the way and enjoyed by Barry and I, our children, and our son's girlfriend, who is an honorary family member now.

I am thinking this will be very helpful for dinner party planning, as I am often wont to wonder if I've made the same thing before for a particular group of guests.  Since one of my happiest ways of showing my friends and family how much I love them is by cooking for them, it is fun (for me) to track this kind of thing.  Oh and it was $5 in the bargain bin!


Returning to writing in my diary daily is another step in reclaiming the full writer and person that I am.  Some days I write 2 or 3 pages, some days I write a paragraph.  But I always write.

I would love to hear whether or not you keep a diary and do you write in it daily or sporadically?

Since it is Miller Time, let's have a cocktail in honour of diaries, shall we?


F. Scott Fitzgerald liked a good cocktail AND he liked to keep a good diary. 

His preferred cocktail was a Gin Rickey which, while undoubtedly more of a summer drink, might make us all feel a little more summer-like as we finally wave goodbye to January and prepare for Valentine month, or as my friend Brian has so-named it: FOREVUARY.


Gin Rickey

2 oz. gin
3/4 oz. lime juice
Top with club soda
Lime wheel

Pour gin and lime juice into a chilled highball glass filled with ice cubes. Top with club soda, and stir gently. Garnish with lime wheel. Serve with two straws.



So long January - you've been a cold task master!

Have a fabulous Friday and stay safe out there!
 

34 comments:

  1. I've never kept a diary, I tried when I was younger but I always felt like I was faking it when I was writing and I also only ever wrote in in when I was miserable - it was a load of tosh.

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    1. A Load of Tosh! Love that! I think that the self-editing it a difficult thing, but I am trying not to do that. I do find that at this age, it is a much different vehicle then when I was 15 and it all "dear diary, why doesn't wayne like me? and that kind of thing!

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    2. Wayne never liked me either!

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    3. Why the hell didn't Wayne like us Tabs? Wayne actually stood me up!

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    4. Obviously, Wayne was an idiot!

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    5. I don't like Wayne. He sounds like a dickhead!

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  2. I haven't kept a diary in ages. I love your purple diary, so cute!
    I have to say, I love how you speak of your son's girlfriend. It shows so much about you as a person.
    Have a wonderful weekend!

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    1. Thanks A! Well the girlfriend is quite lovely, but even more than that, I have come to the conclusion that mothers who wish to keep their sons close ought to treat their girlfriends like gold!

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    2. Yes Wendy! I notice these things as I am married to someone with a very selfish unkind mother.
      You sound like a smart woman:)

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    3. A - my Aunt Betty shared this lesson with me and she was a smart woman!

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  3. I never kept a diary because I am not good with words and not committed enough. Do you just write in every day or do you also go back from time to time to read again what you wrote?

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    1. I am writing every day right now, but I give myself permission not to; it supposed to be helpful, not a lodestone, to me. I was actually contemplating digging out my old diaries this weekend - I have a new book I want to start and these might help me!

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    2. This reminded me, we recently found something I wrote for a class when I was 12 and the parts about where I see myself in 2000 (haha) were hilarious and also true! I wish I had an old diary to read.

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  4. I don't have a diary now-- not since long ago--but it would be fun to read about my past as filtered by me. My girls have kept all their diaries and enjoy the look back. I do keep all my Filofaxes and make notes in them; I have kept what I made for dinner in them for several years including dinner parties.
    I think this is the perfect time in your life to start this again!

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    1. You know I never had a Filofax, but always wanted one - it seems so Mad Men!

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  5. If I kept a cooking journal, it would be the epitome of sad! lol I made Kraft Macaroni and Cheese one night this week, you get the idea ;)

    I don't keep a diary. I probably should have kept one years ago just to chronicle life from a historical perspective, it would be fun to go back and read about lots of things. The problem with that is that there are lots of parts I would not want to go back and read about.
    Hope you have a good weekend!

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    1. Cate you made me laugh about the KD! Who doesn't love KD!

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  6. Never have kept a diary but actually had a poop journal...don't ask, I THINK it was a joke but we all participated off and on for awhile. I do believe your blog will be a wonderful diary for many generations to come...come see what crazy great grandma Wendy was up to one hundred years ago.

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    1. Okay - I am NOT going to ask about the first part. Well hope this exists somewhere for my descendants!

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  7. I kept a diary/journal when I was a teen and like Tabs, it was full of sad rubbish. It would be hilarious to read what I thought was so earth shattering back then. Or maybe it would just be pathetic and embarrassing.

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    1. Oh I guess I have a different perspective on it. I never think of the old stuff I wrote about then as being pathetic - I was just a lot younger and inexperienced and we can only write about what we know, and frankly, I was reading a lot of dramatic books at the time, so who can blame the hyperbole!

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  8. Gosh Wendy, good on you, I don't know how you have energy to do a diary with writing books and doing a blog. Mind you, I guess a diary feeds the thoughts for the others? I kept a diary through all the time I was traveling by myself in Middle East in my twenties, then threw them all out before we came to the US eleven years ago. I really didn't want to read them then, but regret it now.

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    1. Jody - I do note things I want to write about - it is less a dear diary, today I did this and this and this and more about some of the challenges I am facing with my writing, etc. oh I would be with you - I would want to know they were there to read later on!

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  10. Girls keep diaries; men keep journals. A diary entry is about Wayne standing them up. A journal entry is about how Wayne is going to get an ass-whipping for behaving dishonorably towards a gal he likes and how he intends to make his way in the world.
    Hemingway's drinking buddies didn't keep diaries.

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  11. No diaries here. Parents taught us never to put anything in writing.

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  12. I only kept a diary occasionally in my childhood but have enjoyed using a blog to record everyday life as well as special moments. I don't feel under pressure to write each day with a blog. The cooks notebook is a great idea & something I'd definitely use, I could also use the gin rickey!

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    1. HI Jay - I agree the blog is definitely a great way to keep track and document our lives in a less angst-filled way!

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  13. I kept a series of self-consciously terrible whining journals in my teens. I still have them in a box somewhere. One day I'll get them out and cringe, no doubt. They're of the 'why doesn't Wayne call?' ilk, although most of the boys I knew had preposterous names like Diccon, Rupert or Gabriel (actually, I love the name Gabriel! but not so much in my teens!)
    My daughter is now an obsessive journal-writer. She's only 12, so no boy obsessing yet.... I hope.

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    1. I think it's great your daughter's writing. For me, the writing was the biggest part of it anyway - it is good practice for later in life!

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Kindness is a virtue...