Monday 14th August - blog admin, tunisian crochet, rice pudding, birdsong,

 The title lists the subjects for today in the wrong order.

Let's start with the birdsong.

I was feeling really bleah this morning - no particular reason, just bleah. As I opened the door and came down the steps I heard a brief moment of birdsong, so clear, so true, so beautiful, that I was lifted out of my grey inner world and transported to a full colour, joyous morning of sunshine. My surroundings were  drear (the hospital car park; I'd been for a routine blood test) but I hardly saw the tarmac for gazing up at the trees nearby.

Walking back to the car I spotted a corner of wilderness among the dilapidated sheds and stashed broken furniture in an unkempt corner;

Some of the blackberries are nearly ripe. I could have taken this photograph anywhere in the local nature reserve... indeed, it is a tiny, forgotten little nature reserve.

I have just about perfected my basic rice-pudding-in-the-slow-cooker recipe. Bear in mind that mine is a small slow cooker for two, or at a pinch, three people.

1 pint milk

2 heaped serving spoons rice (a generous 2 oz)

1 serving spoon sugar (about 1 oz)Cook on high for between 2 and 3 hours, stirring once or twice. At 2 hours it is still a bit thin. A 3 hours it is surprisingly thick - heading towards solid! 

This makes 3 portions. Of course, your serving spoons may be larger or smaller than mine... you might have to play around a bit. 

Flavourings; any of brown sugar, nutmeg, cardamom pods, bay leaf, lemon zest...

It is certainly the weather for a good rice pud.

Tunisian crochet - if you haven't come across it before it's a bit hard to describe. The proper crochet hook for this is as long as a knitting needle, and really needs to have a stopper of some kind at the non-hooky end. Also, the handle needs to be smooth all the way along. If you are making a dishcloth, or a strip, then normal hook is fine. Try going up one size - eg 5mm hook for DK. 

 

Having done the usual way of starting, ie a single chain, or maybe a row of single crochet which will stop it curling, you set off on the forward pass, doing a row of single crochet BUT KEEPING ALL THE LOOPS ON YOUR HOOK.

When you reach the end, do a turning chain, and then do a bind off until you are back where you started, with just one loop on your hook. You can see in this picture how I am binding off by holding the yarn round the hook and drawing it through two loops at a time.

You can see all the vertical lines created in the fabric, with chains running horizontally through them beneath the hook. When you get back to the beginning, with only one loop left on your hook, you are now ready to work the magic;

Do a turning chain, and go forwards again, doing the yarn over, and then INSERTING THE HOOK THROUGH THE VERTICAL LINE and drawing the yarn through, but keeping your new stitch on the hook. 

Then once you have created all the loops, do a turning chain and bind them all off again! Keeping going, backwards and forwards until you have finished.

I don't know how to do shapings and fancy stitches, and I don't have proper hooks but that's ok - this is fine for dishcloths and flannels. 

For properly detailed instructions I advise you to have a trawl round youtube, especially if you would rather look at right-handed photographs and videos!

Blog admin
   

I often whack out the blog on my tablet with Antiques Road Trip burbling on in the background, (unless I don't care for the presenters for some reason, or the commentary starts to drive my a bit crazy). But this means I have been very lazy with adding labels to the posts. Today I went through and labelled April, May and June, so hopefully July and August will get caught up soon.

Sue asked her readers a number of questions in recent blog post of hers  about what makes them choose to follow a blog, or leave a comment and so on. That set me thinking, and is one of the reasons I have gone back through and added labels.

Reading back through the posts was interesting - I found I had already consigned most of the events into dusty corners of my mind (oh, how quickly the dust, real and virtual, accumulates) so it was good to do a little remembering. 

I have to say that if you prefer a blog that doesn't skitter about from one subject to another then you are out of luck, because that's not how my mind works! It also set me thinking about 'who am I writing for?' I will come back to this when I have done some more thinking - that's if I don't forget in the meantime.

(One vicar at our church, long moved away, was convinced I had a 'gift' for organisation and admin... he was serious, but everyone in earshot who heard him say this were convulsed with laughter, including me...) 

Monday 30th January - Busy busy busy...

 I've done this before - I start the week all full of vim and vigour and do masses of stuff on the Monday, and then - that's it for the week. We shall see...

Today -  

I refilled the bird feeders. The poor birds have been checking out the sad remnants in the seed holders and flying away disappointed for several days now. They are staying away at the moment; it always takes them a day or so to return.

Still on the garden theme, I had a go at using my Christmas present to make paper seedling pots;

 You wrap  strip of paper around the form, leaving the lower edge overhanging so it can be folded in to make the base. Then you push the former into the base so compress all the folds to stop it form coming apart. Finally you check the base to make sure you haven't torn the paper round the edge, discover that you have done exactly that, remove it and scrumple it up. If at first you don't succeed... As you can see I am winning - 9 completed pots and only 6 scrumpled sheets. I think I've got the knack now.  

I have started a tray of microgreens; a shallow dish of earth, thickly sown with seeds and kept on the windowsill. According to Huw Edwards (Veg in one bed) I should have delicious shoots to harvest and add to a salad in 1-3 weeks. 'The perfect way to use up last year's seeds,' he says, so I have used all the leftover kale seeds. Kale was a complete disappointment last year - unattractive in appearance and unexciting to eat. No more kale in the garden, and hopefully microgreen kale might be more delicious.

I made soup - investigating the fridge I found a selection of elderly vegetables. Some dodgy carrots, floppy celery and leeks well past their best. I put some butter and oil in the slow cooker on HIGH to melt while I chopped up the vegetables. Then I stirred them into the pot, added bouillion, salt and pepper and left it alone for several hours. I had some at supper time with croutons made in the Air Fryer and the rest is in the fridge for another day. This was inspired by an entry for January in 'The Kitchen Diaries' by Nigel Slater; he did something similar with some 'woody old carrots'.

I am enjoying dipping into the book. I bought it cheaply, second hand. It is interesting to see that it opens freely in January and February, and several pages show signs of have been cooked from, if you see what I mean, but its previous owner seems to have lost interest, or maybe lot the book, after about March. I haven't started 'Vaxxers' yet - that was another Christmas Present from my wishlist. 

I spent a long time on the 'Print and Post' February newsletter. It is one thing to think about what I might write, but another thing to get it all written down and the accompanying photographs added. I still have to add the 'BOOKS' section, and then it should be done. Just as well, as February is only a day or so away.

Finally, just before I started teaching, I finished marking out the fabric for the next stitching project. I'm in the process of transferring the pattern to tracing paper, which I will post to Ang tomorrow so she can get it onto her piece. Then we will be ready for the Off!

 

 

Wednesday 9th Feb - Ribbons and Skylarks

 On Monday we went for a walk - Out! Away! Open Spaces! Sun!

You wouldn't know it from this photograph, but we went down to the south coast and walked a little way along the seafront at a place called Goring Gap;

It is one of the few places along the coast between Worthing and Brighton and Hove where the fields come sweeping down from the top of the South Downs to the sea.

I suppose the distance wasn't much more than one-and-a-half miles, but by the end of it my legs were as weary as that time we walked from Leeds to the Bingley 5-Rise locks along the Leeds to Liverpool Canal one night. (Why did we do that?)

You may notice that the line marking our path doesn't complete the circle - I came to a stop at this point, and BB had an opportunity to stretch his legs after walking at a snail's pace as he went to fetch the car!

The sea front was bright and cold, with a bracing breeze blowing in our faces, groups of people walking their dogs along beach at the edge of the water. The tide was well out, so there was a steep shingle bank to climb down, or up on the way back, so we stayed mostly on the rough path between the green grass and the pebbles.

The we turned inland, sheltered from the wind by the houses marking the boundary of Ferring, and walked through the fields along the the ditches bordering the fields. There were skylarks singing overhead - reminding me of the times my friend at boarding school used to skive Sunday Church by gong to the top of the downs - still the South Downs but further West - and lie on the warm turf in the sun listening to the larks, keeping an anxious eye out for any teachers, and also making sure we would get back to school in time for lunch.

There was a bare tree, decorated with ribbons halfway through the trees;

one ribbon had 'Happy Birthday' printed along it. Could this be a clue? Another, rather up-market gros-grain ribbon had 'Dior' on it, and must have come from a gift box.  

I have an urge to choose a tree somewhere near us and tie a ribbon to it, and see if more ribbons appear over time...

 

 

Saturday 29th January - This and that...

 Yesterday, a woodpecker came to the bird feeder. My, what a handsome bird! So slim and upright, such bright colours, so easy to spot!

I'm a novice at this birdwatching game. At the beginning of the month I bought some entry-level binoculars from the RSPB, and also a birdfeeder to replace and old one that had broken, and a 'selection pack' of bird food. Suet and meals worms - yum - at least, yum if you are a starling or a woodpecker.

This is the weekend of the RSPB 'Big Bird Watch' or something. I though I might join in - but we don't get many birds (next-door's-cat, maybe?) and I'm not that quick with the binoculars to get them lined up with where the bird is before it is gone. So perhaps I'll leave it until next year. We get sparrows, and starlings, sometimes robins and blackbirds, and, for a couple of days, a thrush was working across the grass. Oh, yes, and magpies. And squirrels (I know they aren't birds, but they still use the bird feeder.) 

I think I shall send off for more suet balls, or logs, or sticks, or whatever. Shopping for bird food is as complex as choosing which tomatoes, brand of cheese, kind of yogurt. Or cat food.

Our cats are really showing their age. I have to cut clumps of fur off McCavity, the fluffy cat, because she is too stiff to reach everywhere. Leo has shorter fur, which ought to be easier to deal with, but she has a fine undercoat which quickly matts up into a felted layer that has to be teased apart, as much as you can at a sitting until she gives a warning meow and swipes at you. They move creakily about the house, favouring an arthritic hip or shoulder.

I was beginning to creak a bit too, so I have started a 'ten day basics' online ballet course. It costs £15 for unlimited access to a set of ten videos. I first came across this delightful website back in 2019. 

It is run by a mother-and-daughter team. The daughter, Susan, started teaching her mother, Elizabeth, ballet because Elizabeth needed to do something to strengthen her ankles and improve her balance, and things grew from there. 

When we were on our unforgettable one week river cruise along the Seine back in 2019 

Happy memories... I kept my first ever illustrated travel journal...

I used to do one of the free online exercise classes they offer every morning on the tiny balcony outside our cabin, propping my phone up carefully so that it wouldn't fall in. I've done the free classes off and on ever since, more 'off' than 'on' but having the basics explained is very helpful. I'm taking about two or three days to complete each level, but that's fine. I've also discovered I can convert time spent doing ballet into miles (or fractions of miles!) to add to my current 'Conqueror' challenge. Unfortunately ballet adds very little to my step count as pointing a toe (tendue) and returning to first position doesn't count as a step, even though it feels like exercise!

It solves the problem of really not wanting to go out for a walk when the weather is so cold, but feeling that 'one ought to do something rather than sitting about all day.

I've made almond macaroons this week. I could show you a picture, but I've just finished the last one. Not macarons - just reading the recipe was exhausting. I realise now why I disliked them so much when I was little - I have a feeling they were usually made with desiccated coconut, or, if made with ground almonds, almond essence was added. I didn't have any ground almonds, so put a packet of flaked almonds into the word food processor. This meant that they were more coarsely ground, and I think that is an improvement. Now, about those left over yolks and half an egg white... two yolks went into the scrambled eggs last night, and I shall make scones this afternoon with what's left.

My brother said he used to use cornflour when he made them (he used to make macaroons? well I never did!) so next time I will use this recipe and make them much smaller. I used a glace cherry to decorate - I'm sure that's how I remember them. They peeled off the baking paper fairly easily, but I think I might get some rice paper just to recreate my memories.    

The baking was to provide a gluten-free accompaniment for when family came to visit on about the only sunny afternoon last week. My brother and sister-in-law came up, collecting my uncle and father enroute and went for a meal locally. Just as they finished the meal - (they asked for affrogatos for dessert, not on the menu, but the waitress, who was Italian, produced them with great pleasure) - the rain stopped and we were able to meet in the garden and enjoy tea/coffee, and tome together. It was blooming cold sitting out in the garden in the pale afternoon sunshine, but we wore coats and hats and had blankets. Just a simply lovely and rare hour with family.   

Affrogato

Put a scoop of good vanilla ice cream into a suitable glass or bowl for each person.

Pour over a shot of hot espresso coffee.

Serve at once.

Saturday 30th October - make like an ostrich...

https://www.sciencefocus.com/nature/do-ostriches-really-bury-their-head-in-the-sand/

 I've been a bit pre-occupied this week, even though it was half-term and supposedly clear from all engagements (hahaha, remembering the old joke 'if you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans').

I've a red spot on my shin, which has been slowly increasing from a small, negligible mark to a circle heading for an inch in diameter. So, back in September, the consultant looked at it while doing a routine rheumatology check up and thought I ought to be referred to a dermatology clinic. 

However, it took four weeks for her letter to reach my GP. They referred it on promptly, but I was getting a little anxious. I looked on the website to discover 'most patients are seen within 15 weeks'. What?!? I rang the clinic 'have you received the referral from the GP?' After a couple of calls, they found the referral and added me to the list. 

Learning Point number 1; it's always worth making a pleasant and non-argumentative enquiry of the clinic admin staff! 

While on the phone I did let them know that I was very happy to be offered a last-minute cancellation - half an hour's notice would be enough. Well, they rand back ten minutes later - was I free tomorrow afternoon? - was I indeed!

Learning Point number 2; it's always worth offering to take a cancellation!

The result is that the malevolent-looking patch is nothing serious; the sort of thing that people with fair skin and spend too much tie in the sun are liable to. Very occasionally the patch can develop into skin cancer, but there's no suspicion of this in my case. I have been prescribed some cream to apply which will make it much worse before it gets better, and 'I'll see you again in about 5 or 6 months.'

I had no idea how much this had been bothering me until we got back home after the appointment, and sagged into the armchairs with a coffee and chocolate biscuit apiece.

So; if you have fair skin, and have been exposed to the sun (I lived in the tropics for a few years), and have a funny red scaly patch on your leg, get it looked at, rather than worrying!

I do tend to play the ostrich game over things that are over-facing me. Like, 

finishing my tax return, (not done)

sorting out the boxes of stuff brought down from the loft which need the keep/chuck/donate decisions, 

working out packaging and posting and customs declaration for parcel to be sent to 'foreign parts'

I'd much rather create a little holder using an empty box and pictures from a bulb catalogue to store my glasses in overnight to stop them falling to the floor when I will tread on them in the morning

 or scroll through twitter looking for jokes

Today, however, there has been progress; the parcel has been packaged up, several keep/chuck/donate boxes have been sorted so that two crates have been emptied and three more bags have been filled for a charity shop run (poor devils - I always feel a bit sorry for whoever is on the receiving end at the shop to do the 'keep/mend/chuck process all over again).

The heap does look a whole lot worse, but it is actually a whole lot better, and will improve further once the parcel is posted, the contents of the green bucket handed over to the charity shop and the orange bag taken to church for adding to the Great Christmas Shoebox Packing event tomorrow. Then we'll justs be down to the blue 'pending' crate, and several crates of photographs. With any luck it will be clear by Christmas...

Oh, and ostriches really do stick their heads in the sand....

Happy Days!  . 

Wednesday 27th March - Hello!

It's another time when I need to look and see what pictures are on my phone to work out what has happened since my last post.

I think it would be miles better if I posted little and often, but by the time I have closed the door on the last pupil and eaten my supper, my brain has stopped. I would then normally just sit and Freecell in a mindless fashion, but I have given it up for Lent... We've both been feeling a bit bleah to greater or lesser extents recently - some kind of virus? Who knows. Whatever it is, by the time evening has arrived both of us are dozing like some kind 'Old People at Home' cliche.

Right, here are the latest photographs - all garden ones, I see; Let's have a think;

Ah yes, I remember... on Sunday it was warm enough, for the first time this year, possibly, to sit out in the garden.

 I investigated the vegetable patch, largely ignored since last Autumn, and discovered loads of whatever this is - kale or swiss chard, I think. I could burrow in among the snails and find the label.

Since I had offered to make lunch - minestrone soup from the freezer (Blue Peter style - 'here's some I made earlier') I picked some of whatever this is to add to the soup.

Reheating soup didn't go quite as planned; I burned it. So he took over and produced cappelletti (anyone got any idea how many consonants in that? - I'll just wait for someone to answer '3' although that's not the answer I'm after).

Sitting in the garden, soaking up the sun (with our fleeces buttoned up to our necks to fend off the briskly bracing breeze) was sheer delight. We stayed out until the sun went behind a cloud and the temperature dropped quite suddenly.

There are signs of advancing Spring - I planted broad beans last Autumn, and although they are very collapsed from frost and wind, they are still are still managing to flower.

It is busy in the garden at night, but it looks as though this pigeon managed to escape.

I'll be keeping a lookout to see if I can spot one flying lopsided around the area.

I was distracted when teaching at a nearby primary school because two birds of prey were circling around the playing field. I could just see them from the window.

 

I think that they might have been common buzzards; they had that wedge-shape tail, and I could just make out the stripy pattern on the underside of the wings. This picture comes from the Spring Watch website  which has excellent pictures and descriptions of birds of prey.
They were there on Monday and Tuesday.

Catching up - Saturday 24th February

Coffee morning day. It happened. It went ok. They ate all my little cakes and as much of the apple pie that was put out. There was totally an over-supply of cake and biscuits, and maybe one of the most popular items on offer was the tray of fresh fruit for non-cake-eaters.

Afterwards Himself and I set off, off and away... and ended up south. Trundling along the main road I said 'there, there' and we turned the Panda up a short, steep and rutted cart track, parked it to one side halfway into a hedge, and went to investigate St Mary the Virgin, Upwaltham; a church that I've often wanted to visit.

There it sits, with fields behind, a graveyard in front, and the road below. In spite of the traffic noise, and a tractor harrowing the field, there was a sense of peace.or silence. It is a late Saxon church, serving the few houses and farms dotted about, with a Norman apse added at the East end. A couple of kites were making slow circuits above, in the cloudless blue sky.

This modern window was added for the millenium; maybe you can make out the Lamb of God in the top section, and the swallows flitting across the lower panes.

That Norman apse - oh dear. Some kind of major works are underway - I guess it is slowing detaching itself from the main building and sliding down the hill...

We continued on our way reaching the village of West Dean via a circuitous route, and found food at the Village stores and cafe. It was warm enough to sit outside and watch the rooks busy in their small rookery, flying in formation around the field - can just about make out the nests.

We were joined by a very beautiful and very persistant cat who tried to persuade us to part with our bacon croissant, or toasted brie sandwich, or maybe the milk for my tea.

Finding us impervious to all blandishments it abandoned us for a slow prowl around the border of the field - the soundtrack for the cat in Peter and the Wolf came immediately to mind - the cat's movements were an exact fit to the rhythm.

Friday 1st February - Birds, trees, flowers,

I've been looking forward to this Friday for  while - it's been nearly a fortnight since my last 'silent' day. As in 'all-by-myself' day. I need these from time to time to stay sane, or at least what counts as sane in my case.

So here I am; himself is out, and I am set up with tablet, fleecy blanket, cat, coffee, Kindle, snacks, writing book and pen, flask...

I have got as far as breakfast (in bed) bath (in the bath) and putting clothes on (me).

Flowers

A surprisingly wonderful Christmas Present has been this amyrillis;

This photo was taken three days ago, and I only planted the bulb at the beginning of January. Today it has four huge, white blooms. You will have to wait until I go downstairs for a picture. I am not disturbing the cat Again.
So much energy and vitality concealed in such an unpromising bulb! Which reminds me, I need to check on those poor little iris bulb, which, according to the instructions, have to be shut away in a dark cupboard for TEN WEEKS after being planted. Last time I looked they were inches tall, all pale and loitering among the spare china and tablecloths.

Birds and trees

When I look out of the rather high window of the little music room I use on Mondays and Tuesdays, I can see a great expanse of sky, and the tops of a couple of oak trees. These are always full of starlings. At a first glance I don't spot them, but one or two will move, and suddenly the tree is alive with a score of black shapes shifting from twig to twig. Watching beguiles the minutes between pupils, or even moments when I need to 'count to ten' before responding to some playing (or behaviour) which needs a measured and effective approach to achieve  a positive result. 

'What are you looking at?' asked a provoking boy.

'The birds in the tree over there.' (is honesty always the best policy?)

'Why?'

'Because you are messing about and not listening to a word I say so I would rsthee watch the birds.' (Let's test this policy)

He was totally silenced (for a moment).

'Shall we have another go at those notes now?'

On Wednesdays I drive under a rookery. I was very concerned that the rooks were all checking out the nests a few weeks ago... too soon, too soon! They must have heard my thoughts as they were absent for a while. This week they were back as I drove to school at 9am; each nest had a black rook sitting beside it. When I returned along the same road several hours later they had all gone. Where?

On Thursday the week before last, driving along another road (did I write about this before?) I passed several trees each with about a dozen pigeons hunched among the bare branches. They were still there on my return. I've just remembered that a couple of years ago at about this time of year they were all crammed (not as many of them) into a small birch tree in the middle of a nearby roundabout. Odd.

It is remarkably difficult to draw small birds sitting in a tree on the tablet using just mt finger, but the stylus is downstairs. It is even harder to persuade the picture into the blog; in the end I took a photograph of the drawing using my phone.

Thursday 22nd November - Furs day

It was cold this morning - the coldest it has been yet. I wondered if the trees would all have a furry coating of frost, but in the event I forgot to look.

I set off early on Thursdays; last week I had a horrible couple of minutes when the queue of fast moving traffic I was in suddenly jammed up behind a slow-moving cyclist creeping up the steepest part of the hill leading to the village. We all crashed down through several gears, and went from a brisk 40 mph to about six miles an hour. I didn't dare change down another gear in case I stalled, so did my best in second. A gear of minus one would have suited me better.

So today I was praying and praying that I had timed it to miss the cyclist... and Lo! the road was clear! Phew.

Then a tawny brown shape reared into flight from the roadside, veering right into the path of my car long before it was properly airborne. There was nothing I could do, apart from rather uselessly crying out 'No n  no no no'. Luckily the owl - it looked HUGE - managed to gain enough height to clear most of my windscreen, and slipstream did the rest. I could begin to become phobic about that particular road.

I only teach for two (very intense) hours, so was home for 'elevenses'. I had been eyeing a packet of  Heston Blumenthal 'mince pies with a lemon twist' with some suspicion, but He assured me that they were very good. I had one, and yes, well worth getting more of them. Not too sweet, and good proportions of pastry, strudel topping and mince meat. Mince Pies they are Not, though.

It has taken until now - lunchtime - for me to shed my coat and deem myself warm again. I don't know why I got so chilled - but there you are.

I'm blogging now, because if I leave it until this evening it won't get done.

It is St Cecelia's Day (patron saint of music, but you all knew that, didn't you?) Also Benjamin Britten's birthday and here is his 'Hymn to St Cecelia'


.

Thursday 15th November

I'm very disappointed with our government.

I think the cats have got the right idea about this Brexit business;

All the politicians and wunderkinds who promoted Brexit and said how wonderful it would be have all disappeared. Boris and Gove are the worst offenders. They and all the others appear to have taken very little part in working out the terms and conditions for arranging an orderly exit from the EU. All they seem to do is criticise everyone else's efforts without getting stuck in themselves.

'That's not good enough', they cry. 'Make it better'. How? Any suggestions? Answers come there none.

Enough.

Today's music is Mahler's 2nd symphony, 4th movement. Up till now I haven't ever listened to Mahler on purpose. I think of it as heavy, over-crowded, sturm-und-drang stuff. But this, this is ethereal, pellucid, restrained. I listened to several versions - this one gives the English translation of the words of the song. Also, it is played by the Simon Bolivar Orchestra of Venezuela, a world leader in Youth Orchestras, although it is no longer a Youth Orchestra as the players are older now!  (what is going to happen to them now with their new President?).  Anyway, I really enjoyed this performance, especially the lovely, lyrical violin solo which illustrates the broad leading to God.

Here are the words;
 

O Röschen rot!                            

 Der Mensch liegt in größter Not!

Der Mensch liegt in größter Pein!                       

Je lieber möcht ich im Himmel sein.               

 Da kam ich auf einen breiten Weg;

da kam ein Engelein und wollt' mich abweisen.

Ach nein! Ich ließ mich nicht abweisen!

Ich bin von Gott und will wieder zu Gott!

Der liebe Gott wird mir ein Lichten geben,

wird leuchten mir bis an das ewig selig Leben!

Oh Red Rose

Mankind stands in deep distress

Mankind suffers great sorrow

I would dearly love to be in heaven

I came upon a broad path

An angel appeared and tried to turn me aside

Ah no, I would not let myself be turned aside

I come from God and will return to God

My Beloved God will grant me a light

He shall light my way to the life of eternal blessedness

Let's not despair too soon?

The finale is worth a listen too, and it's only a couple of minutes long - a relief as the total length of the symphony is around 90 minutes. 

I'm still not going in to work, although I have been teaching a couple of pupils in the evenings. But I', steadily improving. The weird thing at the moment is that coffee doesn't taste right at all. To bitter. Tea is not much of an improvement. Water it has to be, then.

I'm getting quite a lot of knitting done today; I added a row of hearts to this scarf yesterday evening, and now I am halfway through these birds. I'm having to knit the picture upside down as I am nearing the other end of the scarf. So far I have done their heads and necks. That's those pink bits close to the needles

Sunday 21st October - Half Term

Delicious, delightful, delovely half term.

It sort of started on Friday morning - apart from the drumming workshop at 6pm that evening, and an emergency music lesson on the Saturday morning (exam on 31st October), and a heap of admin to complete and email to various people before the weekend.

So, perhaps I should say it started on Saturday afternoon? Yes, that's probably nearer the reality.

We went to Wakehurst place for a light lunch - that's me, the son and the husband. The men roamed the grounds, enjoying the afternoon sunshine, and I roamed the gift shop, enjoying the displays of delectable goodies. I managed to to a little Christmas shopping, and then sat down with a cup of tea and my laptop to have a go at drawing the view across from the cafe

 
 using one of the drawing packages (the simpler one). I'm pretty chuffed with the way it came out.
The cafe was close to a 'poke-stop', so from time to time I was able to go on pokemon and do the twiddly-thing on my phone to collect more poke-balls and presents. Yeah. I know. Do not mock.

Today I did gardening. It's a fairly exhausting process, as 'bend and stretch', and 'dig and delve' are very aerobic activities so I rapidly run out of breath. I have found the best method is to sit down on the path, or in the flowerbed if necessary (on a kneeler, because the ground was wet) and rummage around in the earth with a hand trowel and hand fork. Surprisingly effective. I was working in the 'dark and damp' border which gets mostly shade. 

Over the course of an hour I removed a tub of weeds, planted out an ivy and some primroses I have been saving for this part of the garden, and generally made a bit of a difference.

It was very pleasant; I was joined by a robin sitting on a nearby gate for a while, and observed by a seagull perched imperiously on the TV aerial. An odd assortment of birds, until you remember that the landfill site is only a couple of miles away 'as the crow flies'.

I found this;

It was a bit scrumpled but I managed to unfold it. So delicate.

I have a list of things I would like to get done over half term. Like,
dealing with the admin (there is more to be done)
getting the roughness off the surface of the bathroom basin (he did that yesterday)
hoovering the bedroom
planting the little cuttings I have been taking of our kalanchoe house plants (done yesterday, all 16 of them)
sorting out the skandi-wreath kits for daughter and friends (done this evening)
letters to write

and so forth...
 

Thursday 4th October - the jay

It was misty this morning, for the first time since last Thursday.

Then, I had great wrestlings with the demister controls in the Corsa while trying to work the wiper controls and also rub the condensation off the inside of the windscreen. It was all rather hectic for a few minutes after I thought I'd got the windows clear enough to set off. 

This time, the mist turned out to be very fine rain, not wet enough for real precipitation, but too substantial for fog. Not wet enough for the wipers to be left alone to get on with their job without great groaning complaints, but I managed!

On the way back down the hill after a couple of hours of teaching, I saw a jay. Just a glimpse as the car was bucking along and most of my concentration was on the driving of it (the hill is steep and twisty with a lumpy road surface).

The jay was picking at something at the side of the road; I had just enough time to catch the lapis lazuli blue glow of the bars on its folded wings, and the glorious autumnal creamy red-russet-brown of the body.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurasian_jay

It was a sudden vision of joy and pleasure.

Saturday 7th April - Cake and candles

Number One Son had presents (not the right day, but close) and we had cake and cream after he's blown the candles out.

I've had to move the new bird feeder. The fluffy black and white cat (we don't know where it lives) has taken to hiding in the ivy next to the feeders.

I used up one of my lines scribbling in  a green background.

Friday 6th April - In search of lunch

We went in search of lunch by the sea; The Bluebird cafe in Ferring seemed very appealing. Many, many other people, with hundreds of dogs and thousands of children seemed to agree with our choice. So we left and headed for Arundel, and  found monumental traffic jam. So we zipped down a convenient lane signposted 'Poling'. There we found no pub, but a minute village (population 174) with a cold, damp, but interesting church.

The font (possibly Saxon, as is the earliest part of the building) wooden cover with painted panels which opens up like a cupboard.

There is a framed record of the Radar station at Poling during world war 2.

But no pub in the village. So, now very hungry, we returned along the lane (Poling village is at the end of a single track dead end) and found the traffic jam just as we had left it. So we crossed over to go back towards home. At Clapham roundabout we doubled back along the old road and stopped at The Fox. Yes we could have food if we ordered quickly. Two portions of whitebait and one bowl of chips suited us just fine.

Meanwhile, more about the birds; we have a robin nesting in the ivy. It rushes back and forth with huge leaves in its beak. I need to look a bit more closely to spot the exact place he goes in. I'm quite pleased with this drawing, but it took more than ten lines;

so here's another scribble sketch, of a scene that may come true later when it is Much Warmer.

Thursday 5th April - Hello World

Apart from a fruity cold, I am feeling restored and revived after the exhausting efforts of last term - Hurrah!

I've started reading Ironheart by Charlie Fletcher, the sequel to Stoneheart. It's all a bit fast-paced and complicated,  and I would be surer that all will end well if there wasn't a third book in the series. At the moment no-one except the baddies are doing well.

I've knitted a foliage design on the scarf. I'll take a picture tomorrow when there's more to see.

I've learned the hard way that a 300 piece jigsaw is too fiddly for a tablet. I did finish it in the end.

We've beem to the garden centre to buy flowers for some friends, and more bird seed. Feeding the birds has become rather to watch. The expert in the garden centre recommended a slightly different feeder (at £3.50 it was worth a punt) and said the birds liked sunflower seeds best. So that's what we've put up, next to the old one, on a branch sticking out of the hedge.

I've done my 10-line drawing - honestly, just ten lines...

The squirrels have found our older feeder. Number One son caught it in the act. I've done the drawing from his description. Afterwards the pigeons waddle in to hoover up the seed scattered on the ground. The feeder goes from half full to empty in a few minutes.

There's a challenge...

Number One Son was in charge of tonight's meal. Chicken Satay - most excellent.

Tuesday 14th November - Rooks

Driving home through the lanes at the end of a day of teaching I passed two trees both full of rooks.

They were oak trees, nearly bare of leaves, and every exposed branch had at least one rook, all silouhetted against against the pale late afternoon sky.

"A parliament?", I mused, hurrying home. Not sure, thought that might be owls.

Turns out that the collective noun for rooks can be a parliament or a building.

Both words seem appropriate; the rooks were packed in like residents of a high-rise block of flats, on different levels in the trees (the penthouse apartments seemed the most popular) all in motion, as though some great debate (Brexit, maybe?) was in progress.

Halfterm Week

The first weekend of halfterm was the last day of good weather for a whole week. I'm glad we went out and walked round a local garden for an hour or so in the afternoon as the rest of the week saw us back in winter clothes and frequently cursing that we should have put on a warmer fleece.

The garden was lovely; an entire small steep valley with a lake at the bottom, big enough to warrant a small rowing boat and a punt tied up at the landing stage. We walked round in a leisurely fashion as befits the elderly (that's how we felt that afternoon, pockets full of tissues and stopping every few yards to cough or sneeze). Luckily the gardens were not crowded so we didn't need to inflict ourselves at close quarters upon the other visitors.

While refreshing ourselves with a cream tea, I spotted two kites (birds, not the other sort of kites) circling round on the thermals in the clear blue sky.

There isn't much parking at the house, so we had been directed to a National Trust car park further along thought the woods, next to a lake. Definitely NOT a meromictic lake as you can see from the colour of the water!

The white thing in the top left hand corner of the lake is a heron - there were two, flying round and round together with lazy, elegant flaps of their wings. One settled where you can see it, the other went and pretended to be one of the bullrushes on the far side at the edge of the lake.

Home to rest up after our exertions and eat some more of the Victoria Trifle.  

Saturday 14th May - Early early mornings

The dawn chorus is just getting going at around 4 am. I tried to persuade myself that I was privileged to be awake at that to time hear it.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pasture_at_dawn-George_Inness-1891.jpg

Sleep was proving elusive. Now, I read this blog post recently

"You can tell a lot about a person by the music they listen to. Put your mp3 player, or whatever, on shuffle and list the first ten songs, and then tag 10 people. Rule: No skipping."

Their list of songs was meaningless to me. I hadn't heard of any of them.

And I'm not going to tag 10 people. But if you would like to have a go, you are welcome share the consequences in the comments. (That's two sentences in a row begun with conjunctions, heheheh)

Here's my list - and I'm very proud of having remembered it, as I didn't want to wake BB by switching on the light;

1. Samuel Goldburg and Schmuyle from "Pictures at an Exhibition" by Mussorgsky 
2.  Prelude and Fugue in C minor from "The Well-Tempered Clavier" by Bach, played on a harpsichord
3. The Lord's Prayer by Cladwell, sung by the choir of Tewsksbury Abbey, from their CD "Paternoster"
4. "Going Home", a traditional spiritual, sung by "Cantabile", a male vocal quartet, from the CD "Lullabies and Goodbyes"
5. Variation no 1 from "The Goldberg Variations" by JS Bach, played by Glen Gould on piano
6. "The Reel of Whirlie", tradidional Scottish tune, played by Lauren McColl, from her album "When Leaves Fall"
7. Paternoster, by Palestrina, sung by the choir of Tewsksbury Abbey from the same CD as The Lord's Prayer
8. "Wet and Windy", by Sarah Watts, from her Tutor Book "Red Hot Recorder". Surprisingly effective in spite of only using notes A and B.
9. Variation no 1 from "The Goldberg Variations" by JS Bach, played by Frederick Haas on harpsichord - well, that was a surprise!
10. "As Torrents in Summer" by Elgar, another surprise, "Cantabile" again, from their CD "Songs of Love and War 

At this point I switched the mp3 player off and mulled over the music I had been listening to - all very, very familiar except the two versions of the Lord's Prayer - I have listened to that CD quite a number of times but only a few of the tracks have made a lasting impression so far. 

I might try this again another night... but I am a little hesitant, because I remember how the first time ever that I borrowed my daughter's mp3 player for a long journey, I couldn't work out how to stop it from playing random bits of music. So a Debussy Etude was immediately followed by "I'm A Believer" from Shrek, and then maybe my ears would suddenly be filled with Mozart -  all a bit too sudden for me.  

Friday 29th April - Small Grey Hawk

There's a hawk, maybe two, that hunts along Stane Street, the Roman Road linking Five Oaks and Billingshurst.

A few years ago I was stuck in slow moving traffic one morning while travelling out to a school (that was back in the days when I used to go as far over as Rogate). A hawk suddenly stooped onto its prey on the fairly narrow verge right by my car - whoosh. That blew my concentration for another mile or so.

Today I was coming back when I saw a hawk hovering just over the hedge beside the road, a mere ten feet high. Left a bit, right a bit, up a bit, down a bit... I wish I could have stopped to watch....

A bit searching on Google makes me think it was probably a kestrel - although they have brown plumage on their backs, their undersides appear to be mainly grey.

Also
"when hunting, the common kestrel characteristically hovers about 10–20 m (33–66 ft) above the ground, searching for prey, either by flying into the wind or by soaring using ridge lift. Like most birds of prey, common kestrels have keen eyesight enabling them to spot small prey from a distance. Once prey is sighted, the bird makes a short, steep dive toward the target. It can often be found hunting along the sides of roads and motorways." 

from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_kestrel

Although the hovering picture is blurry, it corresponds very well to what I saw as I drove past.

female: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_kestrel

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_kestrel

Thursday 27th April 2016 - Naming Flowers

It has been annoying me ever since they suddenly appeared in the verges along the little lanes between the villages - drifts of delicately pale pink flowers

(now "delicately" can't be an adverb, even though it ends in "ly". It is describing the adjective "pale", no hang on, "pale" is surely an adjective for "pink" which is an adjective for "flowers"? How on earth do they expect 11-year-olds, especially those with English as a second language to work this out? It's beyond me, but then I am too old to have learned more than the very basics of grammar at school. I think I'll ask a teacher on Tuesday. It's going to bother me - but only a bit)

pale pink flowers, as I was saying. Various names were floating through my ind, but none of them sounded quite right. "Loostrife", I think, is always preceded by "Purple", and I suspect it is that tall weed flower that appears in the garden in Summer. "Lady's Bedstraw"? Maybe. (Should that be "Lady's" or "Ladies'?).

Google Purple Loostrife:

https://www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/10645/i-Lythrum-salicaria-i/Details

Lady's Bedstraw:

https://www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/7596/i-Galium-verum-i/Details

So, neither of these. But round at some friends on Thursday evening, I mentioned the flowers, and they came up with "Cuckoo-flower" and "Lady-smock"

https://www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/94085/Cardamine-pratensis/Details

Their picture has white flowers rather than pink, but other pictures are much closer. 

I haven't heard any cuckoos this year - we used to hear them all the time in the woods behind our house, but not any more. I'm told that there is one in the woods in Cuckfield - just as well. Cuckfield without cuckoos wouldn't be Cuckfield.

The other flower that was bothering me is a little white bell-shaped, star-shaped one, with a small yellowy-orange centre. My mother said they used to call them "piss-pots" when she was a child, because that's what they look like (the flowers, not the children).

I told this story to my friends. "Stitchwort", they said in unison.

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/may/24/stitchworts-alys-fowler

Having read this article, I'm sending off for some seeds to put in the shady woodland area (as we like to call it) at the bottom of the garden, to add to the weed collection that already grows there.