Things that are almost as good as chocolate #4

Getting real mail in a real letter box (and I don't mean bills).

I used to have 13 penpals, back when I was 17 and had time to do things like write newsy letters. I had penpals from many different countries - some were friends that moved overseas when I was younger and I kept writing to them, and some were the friends of new friends (the new friends having moved to Australia from overseas).

Now, I admit, email (and Facebook) are great for keeping in constant touch with people. Instant touch. But they are nothing at all like the letters you would get in the mail box in the front garden.

And that zing of joy that you'd get when you found a fat envelope in the mail, with stamps, and your name on it. I would take it inside turning it over and over, looking at the handwritten address and sit down with a happy sigh, and read it. There is nothing like getting and reading a real letter.

These days my hand gets cramped after half a page of A4 handwriting. Those muscles just don't work anymore.

So I think I'd trade a block of chocolate for a fat envelope in the letterbox any day. Of course, now I HAVE traded in the chocolate for a year, it's extra disappointing only to find bills in the letterbox. But, as my mother used to say (when my brothers complained that I always had mail and they never did), 'you have to write letters to get letters'. So perhaps I'll go find a pen. I'm sure there was one in the bottom draw in the back room last time I looked ...

What about carob?

So in the 'not eating of chocolate', where does carob sit?
Frankly, it doesn't really matter because I am not a big fan of carob and I don't eat it anyway. :-P
(Apologies to all you carob eaters out there ... perhaps later in my year choc-free I might feel more inclined to sample carob again ... but probably not.)

Change of subject ... so ... read any good books lately?

Our bookclub is reading The Mayor of Castorbridge (Thomas Hardy) at the moment. I read it years ago (like about 20) and remembered enjoying it. This time around it's going a bit too slowly for me. Possibly because I can't sit down and read it all in one hit, but have to nibble at it just before bedtime each night. So far, not much has happened except a lot of walking (yes, I'm not far into it at all).
Now, my husband is reading my children The Wishing Chair (Enid Blyton), a chapter each night at bedtime. And it's ALL happening in The Wishing Chair. So far it's been three nights of adventure, delicious-food eating, new friendships and magic.

I'm adding 'large wishing chair' to my Christmas list.

Triggers for chocolate cravings: grumpiness

Yes, it's true. I'm a grumpy boots tonight. And I'm even more of a grumpy boots because I can't drown my sorrows in a decent block of Cadbury. Boooo.

Chocolate accessories

This chocolate 'medic alert' tag was pointed out to me by a kindly friend. Of course, it could be dangerous to wear it until my 365 days were up. Someone might see me walking about listlessly and follow the directions ...

Chocolate flower

I have discovered that there is a yellow flower (a daisy sort of thing), called a Chocolate Flower, which smells just like chocolate. I can't decide whether I want to rush out to buy some and plant them right near the front door as a sort of chocolate substitute, or to buy some for myself as a reward at the end of the 365 days. Would it induce cravings instead (and actually work against me) to have them growing at the front door?

Apparently the plant in question is called Berlandiera lyrata, or Chocolate Daisy and is also drought tolerant (so it would make a good addition to our West Australian garden).

I think I have to buy some seedlings ...

Chocolate-free in Lent = acceptable chocolate avoidance

We're now into Lent, and I've noticed that people are quite happy for me to have given up chocolate 'for Lent'. As in:
Me: 'No thanks, I've given up chocolate.'
Them: (unemotionally) 'Oh, you've given it up for Lent have you?' (I have been known to do this.)
Me: 'Um no. I've given it up for a year.'
Them: 'You're KIDDING????'

Well, OK, so a year is a bit longer than 40 days, I'll give you that. But a year is really not that long people! You've been saying yourself how fast the year is going. It's March already, how about that?
I'm 1/4 of the way through already!

But I admit that I may find it ... challenging ... at Easter.