I can’t talk about the invasion of Ukraine. It’s all too real and too painful and we have enough coverage of it every night on the news to break our hearts.
When I don’t write a column about it and instead deal with insignificant everyday happenings, it’s not that I don’t care, it’s just that it’s all too heartbreaking.
After watching the news of doctors fighting to save injured 10-year-old Ukrainian girl Polina, and her mother being left clutching her pink scarf, I felt I needed to do something practical.
A local charity was collecting good-quality clothes to take to Poland for the people fleeing there with only the clothes they were wearing. It gave me a little bit of a purpose to run around the house finding everything that I had more than one of and which would be warm and cosy.
I managed to find four box-loads of things that can hopefully be of some help.
Perhaps there is a charity near you that you can reach out to because it certainly made me feel a bit better to do something. I feel so useless in this situation.
All we can do is get on with our lives and count our blessings.
When we did our kitchen up a couple of years ago, just as it was completed at the end of 2019, Gordon was told he needed a few months of cancer treatment.
We decided that now we had a lovely space to entertain we would have people over for Sunday lunch most weekends, just to cheer him up and have something to look forward to after a difficult week.
Well, sometimes things don’t go to plan.
I got a notebook and wrote “Guests and menus 2020” on it and then we all know what happened next. The pandemic scuppered all entertaining plans, and as Gordon was fed by a tube for much of 2020, Sunday lunches were off the menu anyway.
The notebook remained totally empty.
However, this weekend we decided to remedy that.
Two couples who didn’t previously know each other were invited and got on like a house on fire.
The cooking went well. My roast potatoes were even pretty perfect and we had a bottle of champagne to celebrate – to celebrate actually having guests, not the success of my roasties, although they did deserve a toast though I say it myself.
It’s all teamwork of course.
Gordon meets his mates on Sunday mornings, so before he went he did my peeling, and after the guests left I put my feet up and watched Dancing on Ice while he washed the pans.
First successful entry in the notebook, and I hope it won’t be the last.
My Uncle Colin was a chef and always hosted very posh dinner parties, so I’m trying to emulate him.
Speaking about posh, I was at my first opera in a while this week.
My friend Harry Brunjes is the chairman of English National Opera, so with my love of opera I’m lucky that he and his wife Jacquie often invite us along.
The opera was the Cunning Little Vixen by Janacek, which was wonderful.
Harry and Jacquie had a little reception for their guests afterwards and somehow Harry and I became the entertainment. It was a fun night.
Somehow, if you are an entertainer, it’s always in you, and when the music starts you turn back into performing mode.
Mind you, Harry and I are spring chickens compared to Davie Stewart, who this week, at the age of 86, travelled up to Aberdeen with his band to record an episode of Take the Floor for BBC Radio Scotland.
Jennifer Cruickshank congratulated Davie for being the oldest band leader to do the show.
The other band members range from 30 years old and upwards, but Davie very much keeps up with the young ones. In fact Davie is the most lively of them all.
Davie’s episode of Take the Floor airs on March 12 on BBC Radio Scotland. Have a listen if you can.
Have a good week,
Yvie x