I don’t know what you count as “normal” life, but for the first time in ages today I feel that I am getting back to it. First of all, the new season of my on-line Italian conversations began, and it was an enormous relief (and I have to confess, something of a surprise) to discover that I have not forgotten entirely my knowledge of the language over the summer break. Of even greater note, however, has been the fact that I have started a new art project.
My recent visit to Bradgate Park is starting to pay off, and I drew-out in charcoal the basics of the design on a new canvas. With any luck I ought to be able actually to begin painting tomorrow. It is funny how my responses both to painting and language learning have been similar. I have to admit that in both areas of activity there has been that passing concern that perhaps I might have forgotten how to do it. We’ll find out tomorrow when I actually begin to apply paint to canvas. (I was thinking the other day that perhaps Caravaggio had these periods of doubt, because there were sometimes long periods during which he was separated from painting.)
Then tonight, after dinner, I laid a log fire in the stove for the first time this season. There was a distinct chill in the air when I went out to feed the hedgehogs. We certainly don’t want to put on the central heating yet, as there is no point in heating the whole house when the two of us will be in one room. There is something particularly homely about a real fire, and this certainly contributes to that sense that things are settling into their normal routine.