Today — New Year's Day — has been happy. In the morning I walked up the hill to our Rosie's place for what has become a tradition for the women in our family. Together we watch the BBC broadcast of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra's traditional New Year's Day concert at the Musikverein's Golden Hall. This year Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducted — joyously and well — and as always, it was brilliant.
This is accompanied by Rosie's wonderful hospitality; she makes us a delicious brunch, and we finish with a New Year toast from champagne glasses (but with what you might call children's champagne because our tases have been shaped by Methodism).
We had such a lovely time together, and it's always a little sad to go our separate ways at the end of the morning.
This afternoon I was writing letters, and then I had poached eggs for tea, and while I was eating them I watched this video from the St Elisabeth Convent in Minsk.
Oh, I love and admire these women, so much! Their output on YouTube is an inspiration and a refuge.
I think my favourite of all their videos is this one, about Sr Iohanna.
The St Elisabeth of their convent is the Grand Duchess Romanov, one of the new martyrs of the Orthodox Church, and as it happens our priest here in St Leonards has a particular devotion to her. So one way and another she hovers near, I think.
And now the video has finished and my plate and mug need washing up, and then I must take the letter I've written along to road to the post box. It's dusk but not yet dark, and our road runs west to the letter box, so sunset is a good time to go.
I hope your first day of 2026 was also a happy one, and that you saw people you loved and found things online to lift up your spirit.
Waving to you from England's south coast. May you be well, may you be blessed, may you be happy, may you be free.
4 comments:
We’ve made it through to Cumbria and have spent the day with both mums. Tomorrow we’ve arranged a premier inn breakfast meet up with one of our older girls ( the younger twin), her partner and the two youngest grand girlies. It’s been a lovely day 💕.
Your day sounded just lovely and full of joy and peace. Many blessings to you Pen xx
😃 I hope you have a lovely time tomorrow — and safe travels home. x
Yesterday we celebrated until two o'clock in the morning. That's not much, some people are celebrating all night. At exactly 12 o'clock it is necessary to drink a glass of champagne. Don't you do that? We celebrated at work the day before yesterday. After a couple of drinks, my colleagues become interested in theology. It's true that I don't explain well, they don't understand. I got a warm cape for Christmas, and we decided it was a selkie coat. So now I'm turning into a seal, lying down because I'm very tired. I'm reading Huysmans about Chartres Cathedral. I was there in 2013, an unforgettable experience...
Да, по традиции, Новый год встречают бокалом шампанского, но в моей семье так не принято.
Так уж получилось, что я не спал в полночь, но не на вечеринке. Я очень хотела спать, но кот Кларенс прятался под моей кроватью, испугавшись фейерверков, которые запускали на улице в честь Нового года. Он весь день пробыл в моей комнате, и я подумала: «Наверняка этому коту уже нужно в туалет». Но он боялся выйти на улицу.
В 9 вечера я уговорила его спуститься вниз, он немного поужинал, а потом убежал обратно под кровать. Затем, в полночь, после того как фейерверк прекратился, он вышел и был готов пойти в сад. Так что я не спала, но шампанского ему не предложила.
Тони (мой муж) пошел на вечеринку со старыми друзьями, так что, думаю, они подняли тост за Новый год.
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