2008!

I wish you and yours the loveliest 2008. May enough of your dreams come true to make you believe the rest will follow in 2009. :)

Am I the only person to dislike New Year??? Honestly, I find it a little scary and given the choice I would take to my bed and let the new year arrive all by itself. One thing I'm certain about - I'm absolutely thrilled to see the back of 2007. I can't imagine a more horrendous year and I can't quite summon up enough confidence to look ahead with unalloyed optimism.

But since I've been force feeding my daughter 'Anne of Green Gables' I've been reminded of Marilla's wisdom. When faced with Anne's 'Have you ever been in the depths of despair?' Marilla replied, 'No, for that would be to turn your back on God.' So, we'll go with that.

It's all started well. Committed foodie that I am I decided the year needed to start with a feast and I slow roasted a leg of lamb as instructed by Rachel Allen in 'Rachel's Food for Living' which I was given for Christmas. It's fantastic. Will absolutely do that again. And probably most everything else!

Plus I've just watched the first part of Andrew Davies's adaptation of 'Sense and Sensibility'. It's wonderful. I'm afraid I've already indulged my Amazon habit and pre-ordered it which I may end up regretting because Andrew Davies sometimes takes liberties with much-loved books in a way I hate. The opening scenes tonight were a little questionable.

I was watching with my daughter who doesn't know the story and they mystified her. Currently, as she should be, she's falling completely in love with Willoughby and identifies absolutely why Marianne wouldn't want a man of 35. I certainly don't want to spoil the experience for her by explaining what actually was going on in that first scene!! (Which if you didn't see it was a man's hand undressing a young woman ...)

I do wonder why someone doesn't reign Andrew Davies in at times. I found his recent adaptation of 'A Room With A View' annoying. It was so lovely and then, for reasons I simply don't understand, he killed the hero in the first world war. Why????

But, enough already. I have a words to write before I'm allowed to go to bed.