Saturday 15th April - A Good Day for Doing Things

 First of all (and this was a tense twenty-five minutes) I have started the heel of my sock;

Step one was to watch the Arne and Carlos video on how to pick up the stitches for 'the easiest sock in the world' - they make it look so easy...

Like I said, it was a tense time, with many pauses to check a) I was doing it correctly b) that my jaw wasn't clenched c) that I had remembered to blink my eyes d) that I was still remembering to breathe. Eventually I managed to pick up all 60 stitches, 30 on each of my bendy needles as opposed to splitting it between four needles as they do. 

More tension, as I unravelled the contrast thread that I had knitted in where the heel was going to be all those weeks and weeks ago

Leaving the stitches (31 on one needle now - how did that happen? And should there have been 32? Oh well. I couldn't see any dropped stitches anywhere....)

The next problem was 'did I have enough blue sock yarn?' The knitted swatch was a trial for another project, on larger needles, and weighed 1.5g. The little nest of yarn that I had left for the heels was 3g, so not enough for one heel let alone two. The ball of multicoloured sock yarn weighs 24.5g, so that made the decision for me - contrasting heels!

And I'm off!

The heel is going to be the most peculiar shape, as you just follow the instructions for the toe in reverse.

 Arne, or is it Carlos?, assures us that it will sort of round itself out with wear. I believe every word he says, I think... 

I've also cleared another couple of overdue emails, prepared two more tubs for veg planting and done a good deal of cross stitching.

Now why is everything centred on the page, and refusing to left align?

Friday 14th April - weather dependent

What is weather dependent?

Whether we get any gardening done... yes, as a matter of fact. There was a brief spell in the afternoon when himself roared up and down the grass with the lawn mower (it was the lawn mower doing the roaring, I should explain). Heavy work, as the grass was long (first cut of the year) and not as dry as would make things easier. Meanwhile I sat on my trusty little trolley seat  and cleared out another couple of tubs ready for vegetable seeds - when? Ah, well, that's weather dependent too.

(No, this isn't me - I've snipped the picture from amzn)

I'm amazed that the trolley still supports my weight. We keep it outside, and every time I trundle it out from under the potting table I expect the plastic to have perished, and to find myself ignominiously dumped in a heap on the round.

Was it really last September and October that I was poring over seed catalogues...

This is the first year that my windowsills haven't been full of little trays of earth and hope... 

Whether I am feeling energetic or sluggish or downright dismal. This changeable weather can switch my mood as many times as the sun shines or the rain pours or the wind blows, often all at the same time and then where am I? 

Whether I get things done - I am slightly celebrating because I have dealt with a number of tasks  including sending the invoices for the next six week's piano teaching. There are too many Monday Bank holidays this half of term so I'm not sure how that will play out for the Monday evening pupil. Mostly we ignore them and keep on trucking through.

One thing I have started today is the cross stitching. I charted it yesterday (twice) and began stitching (twice)... luckily I had only done a row and a half and it was easy to unpick. So no heavy sighs or regrettable language.

The stand magnifying glass makes such a difference...

Whether a blog post gets written or not, no, nothing to do with the weather. More a case of suddenly remembering at 7.59 pm that I was hosting a group zoom at 8pm... 

Wednesday 13th April - still the holidays

Less and less is getting done, but isn't that the point of school holidays? At least to some extent?

Reading;

I think I have read a whole Dick Francis in one day; 'In the frame'. I know I have read it seventies before, but I had almost completely forgotten the plot, apart from one incident fairly early on. I read 'To the hilt' a few days ago, mainly to revisit the bits about how the painter creates the pictures, and was hoping to compare the painting bits with 'In the frame', but this is an earlier book, published in 1976, and before there was so much detail about the various professions (air traffic control, glass sculpting, travelling on trains across Canads, to name a few).

I've also finished the Trisha Ashley 'Happy Endings', again an earlier book in the rom-com series. I prefer the later ones, although there were some lovely phrases; a woman who lives in a Manor, breeds dogs 'with a name like Wiener Schnitzels' and goes around in 'one of those caped Barbour coats and green wellies, looking like an escaped tarpaulin'. How I wish I'd thought of those descriptions! 

Listening;

This morning (at about 3am) I finished listening to 'An enemy at Green Knowe' by Lucy M Boston. One more book in that audible bundle,  but I had an unused credit so bought the first three books, also bundled together.

Zooming;

long chatty zoom in the morning with a friend - it would usually incorporate a piano lesson but we are both enjoying the school holidays. 

Knitting;

More ribbing around the sock... halfway through.

Running Repairs;

This isn't really my department... although I suppose I have some involvement... Himself is in the midst of sorting out the collapse of the cutlery drawer. Something gave way as I pulled it out yesterday, resulting in the sudden self-dismantling of said drawer. I managed to grasp it in such a way as to prevent it from completely deconstructing into front, va k, sides and base, and dumping the contents over the floor. Now we need different screws to the ones in the tool box, no, different ones to the ones delivered today... meanwhile drawer and contents are filling the dining table and we are eating of trays. 

Gardening;

Hahaha ha no. It has been sunny for short intervals in the day, for long enough for Himself to collect up the scattered garden chairs from where the fierce gusts of wind scattered them across the garden. The rest of the day was drizzle, rain, heavy rain, more rain, less rain...

Walking/stepping/exercising;

Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof....

Now, what shall I read next?

Tuesday 11th April - English April

Yesterday we had warm sun, rain, strong winds and a rainbow, sometimes all at the same time.

Today was pretty much the same, except no rainbow, and the different types of weather came one after the other; sun, wind, clouds and rain. 

I've been more than usually breathless since the weekend, even resorting to using my oxygen concentrator during the day to keep my resting oxygen saturation level around 90% or above. I started the reserve antibiotics kept at the back of the drawer yesterday, and reckon it's improving things. I know they don't cure colds and lurgies, but the purpose of them for me is to to prevent any likelihood of a chest infection getting a hold. (Sats currently at 90%, without extra oxygen this evening; a big improvement on yesterday!)

The first effect of low oxygen levels is to make me inclined to be tearful, welling up for the slightest reason, so I'm glad I'm getting better!

Meanwhile I continue to take things relatively easy; 

knitting - 

I'm up to the ribbing of the second sock 

and I'm steadily adding more mitred squares to the patchwork blanket

Cross stitch:

 I'm still mulling over my plans, but I'll have to choose soon, and get stitching.

Reading; 

light-weight cosy whodunnits and rom-coms are the order of the day. I've indulged in Far too many Trisha Ashley rom-coms recently, but she has a wonderful turn of phrase which I an extremely envious of.

I'm also hugely enjoying listening to the last three Greene Knowe books in the series by by Lucy M Boston on audible. Her descriptions of the country are just beautiful. I finished listening to Stranger at Greene Knowe, featuring Hanno the gorilla and the delightful boy, Ping, a few nights ago (it was my insomnia listening). Enemy at Greene Knowe, book 5, is just enough on the 'safe' side of scary for me to cope with in my current mood. One of these days I will manage to visit Greene Knowe, for the house really does exist, exactly it is in the books.

I have two Donna Leon books lined up to read next, in her Inspector Brunetti series, set in Venice.

I have been ignoring my daily step target (a mere 2023) for the past couple of days; barely managing more than 600. Today is looking better, as somehow I'm on course to pass 1000.

Monday 10th April - Questions

 About all I have accomplished today is finishing and sending off the stitched square which is my contribution to our local Eco group's thing. I think it is some sort of cape; it is going to be very heavy by the time all the squares are stitched to it.

We were asked to write about our square. This accurately sums up my 'creative process', if it could be called that. After layering bits of the various fabrics supplied in the project bag I was thoroughly dissatisfied with the result. I draped a bit of cord over it to see if that would improve things and decided to stitch it down as it lay. 

My accompanying statement is more about hope than certainty. I really don't know enough about green issues to make informed decisions apart from dutifully recycling as much as I can.

It does seem that as fast as we try and solve one eco problem, half a dozen more rise up... for example, electric cars - hooray - but then the extra weight of the vehicle causes more pollution from tyre wear on the roads, the batteries need replacing after a couple of years, and cats are being written off and scrapped after quite minor accidents because the batteries are attached to the chassis, and could be compromised if the vhassis is damaged. And that's before we discuss how the extra power for charging them is to be generated and the national grid upgraded, and the latest news report on whether multistorey carparks are strong enough...

I've just finished reading a whodunit by Marisala Taylor set in the Shetland Isles, and one of the subplots concerns a huge wind farm (hooray) supplying clean energy (hooray) but necessitating construction work which will destroy an area of peat bog (boo) releasing CO2 (boo) and adversely affect the main breeding site of the bird population (boo)...

It was a good read, anyhow. I'm not sure if the prospective (fictional?) windfarm will feature in future books in the series.

Easter Sunday - A day of rest and quietness

The last month has been so full of events that we have been grateful to celebrate Easter very quietly. I expect Jesus was ready for a rest too... Thursday and Friday, and then Saturday spent in the harrowing of hell...

Easter Saturday is an odd sort of day, betwixt the sorrows of Friday and the rejoicing of Sunday. It helps that we know how it ends, unlike the first disciples.

I think of Jesus spending Saturday descending into hell to lead 'the people who sit in darkness and the shadow of death' into the light, as prophesied in the Old Testament and sung about in the O Antiphons in the week before Christmas. Busy busy busy.

I'm not sure what Jesus did with himself for the rest of that first Easter Sunday, after reassuring the women that he was alive in the morning. Perhaps he found a quiet spot to gather his thoughts before appearing to the rest of the disciples that evening...

This is a chunk from John's gospel, chapter 20;

Like I  said, we have the comfort of knowing that the crucifixion was not the end of everything. 

'Peace be with you' said Jesus, twice. 

May we too receive this peace.