I'd go with his choice, because even if it wasn't 'my' style, I'd rather feel like he's taking an interest and equally invested in our home together. Plus, if I'm being completely honest, I think his taste is probably better than mine. ;) He rarely has an opinion on anything house-related, so when he puts his foot down, I go along with it: and on each occasion, it's been exactly the right decision. Example: I wanted the whole house painted out in ecru and antique white because it looks awesome with oak floors and I'm kind of a minimalist. Hubby insisted on painting the lounge room in yellow. YELLOW. I thought he'd lost his mind... but I went with it, because I get my way 99.9% of the time, so why quibble about the 0.1%? He insisted that 'in Winter, you'll be glad we have this warm, cozy colour'. And you know what? Every Winter, I love that room. It's an odd duck compared to the rest of the house, but damned if it doesn't actually work surprisingly well. It'd definitely be too much to take as a house-wide theme - but contained as it is, it's pretty great.

The next time I decorate by a colour of the year will be the first time. Don't hold your breath. I have nothing against this particular colour but it doesn't work with all the things I've collected over the years, and I am not about to discard carpets bought after hard bargaining with dubious merchants in Istanbul or Islamabad because they don't "go" with a paint colour that someone voted "colour of the year." In its place, I think the colour would be quite nice (better than this years choices, certainly). It's just that my place isn't the right place for it.

When visiting other people's homes I always gravitate to the photos. I enjoy looking and talking about them. In my own home I have pics of mum and dad in their youth and they are in my bedroom. For my children and grandchildren's pics I have made a collage in the stairwell interspersed with photos of me and my mates in our heyday. It always gives my girlfriends a good laugh as we reminisce old times.

So should the oldies have a proper meal. My parents were quite vulnerable to eating a poor diet as they aged, with no one to take them in hand. I'm determined that won't happen to us. Plus, I spent a fair bit of my life in places where you ate what was available seasonally, so it was all fresh and unprocessed and had actual flavour. (Of course, in some of those places, you were desperate for anything even remotely green by the end of winter!) I also spent a good part of my life eating fruit and veggies trucked several thousand km from California or Florida to Canada. Been there, done that, never again. Eating apples that have been in cold storage for months, or tomatoes that have travelled hundreds of kilometres, or someone's idea of a 21st century version of the old TV dinner, just doesn't cut it with me. As much as possible, local produce, my own herbs, and meat from a reliable local butcher. Frozen peas, beans, even spinach and broccoli, fine, all good,along with canned tomatoes and beans. But that's where I draw the line. Life is too short to be eating mediocre food just because it's convenient.