I find most home furnishing departments dull, desperately dull. Just how many shades of mushroom and grey does a girl need? To be in the right frame for novelling, I need brightness and colour around me, not beige. At least, I do while I’m writing the cheerful parts, when we get to the *spoiler alert* sad bit, I’ll be wearing gloom, surrounding myself with black, playing sorrowful music and watching the Orphan Train to get into the right frame of desolation. But today I’m writing a cheerful part, that includes a bridge party, the introduction of a Frenchman, whom the girls refer to as James, James, Morrison, Morrison (if you don’t know the poem Disobedience, do check it out) and I think we’ve found a suitable location on which I can base Madzi’s family pile.
In my quest for cheerfulness, I’m always pressing my nose against the window of the fabulous Jonathan Adler. I’m a bit of a fan his ideas, but when it comes to actually buying, I am merely a cat looking at the queen. I see something bright and cheerful, bravely go into the shop, ask the price and awkwardly shuffle out, when I discover that the way over-the-top £195 tag on a tower of plastic ashtrays actually attaches to each ashtray, bringing the whole shebang to a short £600. I think not. So I was delighted to discover the Danish concept of Hygge – there’s even a You-Tube video to assist with pronunciation, but I shall continue to say ‘huggy’, since that’s what it is.
According to Hygge House, ‘hygge’ is: ‘a feeling or mood that comes [from] taking genuine pleasure in making ordinary, every day things more meaningful, beautiful or special. Whether it’s making coffee a verb by creating a ritual of making it then lingering over a cup to a cosy evening in with friends to the simple act of lighting a candle with every meal. Hygge is being aware of a good moment whether it’s simple or special.’
And when I see that the Hygge emergency kit comprises, inter alia, candles, chocolate, a nice notebook, a pad and pen, I know I’ve come to the right place. So I share with you some of my personal hygge that is helping to create the appropriate cheerful ambience required for this section of the novel. The main pic shows jug with tablecloth. The jug is for water to quench the novelling thirst, it also saves time as it means one trip to the tap instead of five. The tablecloth will be used tonight, to make our evening meal more colourful
On the right hand side, from top to bottom: The log fire … definitely hygge on a cold, damp November day; the house per se is not very hygge as it is far from simple, but as it is the house of our heroine, it will be full of hygge. The third pic shows my NaNoWriMo vital statistics. Big hygges for me:-)
A State of Grace from The Visitor by Arena (not to be confused with the Taylor Swift song of the same title)
