Long absence from blogging

It's been a long time since I added anything to this blog. I've been moving away from FB of late and tried Instagram. I've been more selective of who I friend on Instagram and find the posts/pictures more to my liking (selected music mostly). FB became a menagerie of barely-known friends' recent gym visits, pictures of their latte and other self-indulgent posts. Too much exaggerated 'awesomeness' for me. So, I'll keep on with Instagram for a while and put perhaps more thought to this blog.

What's happened to me since the end of 2019 then? Not much of great note due to the pandemic and working mostly from home. My wife and I bought an old farmhouse near Lake Suwa (Okaya where she was brought up). We are now in the long process of getting it renovated and trying to keep the builders to our budget. I'll try to post some pictures as things progress.

I've been fairly busy research-wise. I'm 60 this year so it's the last stretch of my working life till 65. Research has always been important to me but I think I'd like to slow down a bit and not research with people who don't pull their weight on the project. I've got some publications with Multilingual Matters (on multilingual research practices) and with Sage (their handbook on qualitative research design by Uwe Flick). I've also got various other projects 'on-going' at various stages, most of which involve collaborative autoethnography - the joint narrativizing of life experiences. I've done so much with CAE and am thinking of writing something purely on the methodology itself.

The weather has been really good at times and I've been spending more time on the patio, working, reading, taking research notes (and even studying Japanese). This is 'my space of choice' on fine days

I laid the patio (badly) myself and frequently trip over uneven tiles. It's a little oasis away from the workplace, surrounded by plants (now in bloom). The other day I was sitting out there listening to Virginia Astley's From gardens where we feel secure from 1984 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Gardens-Where-We-Feel-Secure/dp/B0001JXOXU/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=virginia+astley&qid=1624578026&sr=8-1 I think we all need a space like this, a kind of sanctuary shaped in our own style and taste.