What's all this then?

"Then" is when it was made - at least 20 years ago, as one of those exercises that help us get clarity on our life goals, or put things in perspective, or remind ourselves of what we'd like to get out of life.

How you do it is - take half a dozen magazines of various titles, and look through them for photos that appeal to you and tear out those pages. (You may want to discard the rest of the magazine immediately, lest it haunt your life as clutter.) Then glue "your" photos onto a big sheet of paper.

I found the exercise very ... clarifying. It brought what was important to me at the time, and what remains important to me now, though some small details have changed - the comfortable shoes now need to be somewhat stylish (and accommodate bunions - totally incompatible aims perhaps, but the search goes on), and that little black dress ... 20 years later and 20 lbs lighter, I'd rather wear little black jeans!

The minimal, hospitable rooms speak to an ongoing aspiration, but at the time had a deeper meaning - I was living in a shabby shared house and not happy with the situation, yet felt I was stuck there and could never afford my own place. But sometimes circumstances change; I don't remember exactly what happened, but being mugged outside my own gate certainly had something to do with it, and after a bit of hard negotiation I was out of there, moving 5 minutes down the road and into a very different life.

The dream-spaces are two dining rooms, or maybe three, at least one with a french door into the garden; a bathroom (with art on the wall!); and an airy library-gallery. Not to overlook the summerhouse/shed/studio in the garden.

Ah, garden ... flowering plants, and trees ... there are many in my dream-life. On the left is a paved courtyard garden with luscious clusters in great variety planted among the stones - a model for my own paved area out front, which is almost ready to plant (some dreams come true, but probably not quite as you imagined them).

Art supplies; birds; a fireplace. Keeping busy; observing nature; being warm.

Scenery - the sun breaking through clouds over gentle hills and long-cultivated valleys, how very English. The gloomier road beside the sea, and a snow scene elsewhere - these are about living in a place with seasons, and enjoying those seasons in their changeableness.

There's a painting of a family scene, but nothing about the importance of friends - that was an interesting omission but would definitely be there now. Maybe the fireworks - an explosion of joy - represent friendships and relationships?

To go with the many dining rooms, there are cakes. Cakes aren't quite so important to me now, but remain an important link with the past and my mother's effortless master-baker shining example, and her generous hospitality.

Last but not least - coffee, and an elegant coffee maker.