It rained lasted night, all night, judging by the water along the sides of the road. It might have been windy too, but we both slept through until about 6.30, our usual waking-up time, when something toppled outside. It was probably a wheelie bin - they get put out on Thursday night as the lorry comes round early on Fridays.
As soon as it was light, we went out to inspect the extension; the builder and plasterer also came round. The extension was completely dry - hooray!
They both disappeared for the morning, but the plasrerer came back after lunch and worked non-stop all afternoon. I suppose he'll be back on Monday - we seem to be back on track.
I think storm Austen wasn't too bad round here... I hope they restore power quickly in the West Country, and that ElizabethD (Small Moments) is all right in Cornwall.
The news has been full of a security issue with a programming language called PHP. As far as I can find out, Blogger doesn't use PHP, but WordPress does.
I've been going through the blogs I follow to check which are Blogger sites and which are WordPress, and what other blogs are using. For the moment I'm sticking to just Blogger sites... until I've found out more about the others. So I shall have to hold off visiting some favourite sites for a little while.
It was Delivery Day today; a friend's garage is full to bursting with our new kitchen and our induction hob arrived. Now all we need is for plastering and painting to happen before the kitchen fitter starts in a couple of weeks.
We're rather hoping for a decent amount of rain tonight, not for the garden or filling reservoirs etc, although that's good too. No, we want the extension to have a really good test to make sure there are no leaks.
We had a bit of a moment when we discovered what we thought was a leak... it looked as though we might be embarking on a bit of a 'it's not us, it must be the builders' or 'it's not us, it's the hup! installers ' debate, which would have been tiresome to say the least.
However the builder came round to drop of some bags of plaster, and inspected the ceiling and floor carefully. He said they both felt dry, so we're hoping it's a false alarm.
The weather looks to be very rainy, but not particularly windy tonight and tomorrow. I reckon it could be windy nearer the coast.
Yesterday was a bit tough; we've been wrestling with a dilemma regarding whether I should take yet another med, with yet another set of side effects.... and I could feel myself beginning to flip from sane and sensible to... not sane and not sensible.
Deep breath.
'I need a ritual ' I decided (not that I've ever had 'a ritual'!)
1 Acknowledge that I'm in a bit of a state. ✅️
2 Make a cup of tea in a lovely cup.✅️
3 Sit and draw... I drew a square and slowly filled filled it with circles and then filled it in with spaces. ✅️
It worked. I rang the cardiology clinic nurse specialist who advised me that I needn't plunge into starting the new med unless other symptoms got worse.
And breathe. And relax. And calm.
It's rare for me to suddenly overwhelm like this... maybe once every 15-20 years? At least I can recognise and deal with it now!
It's like going down a spiral staircase.
Central criminal court, Old Bailey- English Heritage postcard
The trick is to catch myself before I've gone more than a few steps... climbing back up is always harder than going down.
Other snippets
Another blogger, Kezzie, described a concert (several concerts!) she played in over the weekend. She is a talented flautist, and The Most Anazing primary music school teacher ever... I wish I wish I had been taught by her as a child.
She included a link to this song (did they have a digeridoo in the orchestra?). This a playlist on youtube and the song she linked is the first one. I love, love, love it and will listen to the rest in due course.
If she had written her blog yesterday then 'Deep into the earth I go' would have been just as calming.
With BB's agreement I'm writing him a to-do list for the little jobs I can't manage...
Unblock the small vacuum cleaner as I can't get it apart
Hoover the bedroom - everything is so dusty everywhere!
Hoover the rest of the house - I can manage the smaller vacuum cleaner but the dust is so fine it just blocks in minutes
Deal with the filters on the oxygen concentrator upstairs.
Take the kitchen scraps to the compost bin.
I find it infuriating that I can't manage these jobs, and feel a complete heel for having to ask him. They are tasks that take him maybe just a few minutes and take me maybe an hour with frequent stops to get my breath. Pooh! Stinkums! Bah!
But I can at least make him a cake for afterwards.
I cast on 33 stitches for the pesky knitted square which was defeating me last month. I WILL SUCCEED. (Is this interesting? Probably not)
Granny Marigold suggested I collect a couple of leaves from my Arnold Promise witch hazel and press them. I have done so and stuck one in my book. It was the last leaf left (say that ten times quickly if you can!)
That chocolate cake was sooo good; shame it was such a little one.
I'll have to make another tomorrow. I've got plenty of eggs after the delivery yesterday, plus the single egg left over from last time.
This week I forgot to include breakfast cereal and potatoes in the order. There's always something.
I have made dahl! First time ever.
I picked a 'dump and go' slowcooker recipe from tamingtwins.com. I've got a very small slowcooker, so by the time I had added the chopped onion, tin of chopped tomatoes and tin of coconut milk to the pot it was nearly brim full. There was just room for the lentils but I left out the butternut squash. (I didn't have any, I was thinking of substituting celeriac).
The result is delicious, in spite of using dried ground ginger and garlic granules instead of fresh. I left it cooking for an extra hour by mistake so I'll add a little more stock as it is rather thick.
Back when I was doing a couple of hours of after school piano teaching most nights, I used to light this candle lantern by the front door to greet the children.
This week's chapter of '52 Tiny changes for a quieter Life' suggests lighting (or switching on!) a candle and just sitting still and watching the flame for a couple of minutes. Good idea! I'm looking at my battery operated candles to choose one. Some of them don't flicker, but the older ones do. They also have the advantage of a remote control to switch them on and off.
Meanwhile there is always our metal suncatcher to watch as it slowly twirls in the slight draught;
Making shiny patterns on the wall beside it, and also on the floor;
Simeon said 'He is a light to lighten the gentiles' when he saw the baby Jesus at the Temple,
Jesus said 'I am the Light'
John, in the very first chapter of his gospel wrote 'the Light came into the world, and that Light was life to all mankind'
and
'The Light came into the world, and the darkness conprehendeth it not'
(I'm quoting from memory... but I reckon I'm pretty close)
I love the triple meanings inside the word comprehend,
as in 'understand' or 'encompass' or 'include'.
Jesus, God the Father, the Holy Spirit as a Light, a lighthouse, a torch, an inner fire keeping me going...
Today's plan of action... cooking and shopping (and knitting)
When did I last make a cake? August, I think. But I've eggs to use up... hence cake and quiche.
I cannot believe the same person has been slumped for a couple of days managed all this before lunch;
At the back, all the ingredients for a chocolate cake ready to mix together. I often used to make little cakes with my aged 5-7 years Sunday school class. I'd put all the ingredients in a tupperware mixing bowl, leaving the eggs whole, and when it was time we would sit in a circle. I'd crack in the eggs and get the mix started, and pass the bowl round.
I'd explain that they had to treat the mixture gently, Just One Stir Each so as not to spoil it. Of course there was the one who just had to go at the cake madly and give it a wild whirring... 'oh no!' I cried out as the other children looked taken aback. 'You've taken too many turns, and all your friend's turns too'.
He looked at his friend, quite upset and passed the bowl to him. 'I think if you have your stir, and do it very gently, everything will be all right', I said.
Well, of course the little cakes were fine, and were borne in triumph to their families when it was time to go back into church.
In front of the cake are two pots of stewed fruit, a thermos of warm milk with a bit of live yogurt to make a new batch and a crustless quiche for supper. That's five eggs used, one to go.
After lunch I made up the cake and put a loaf into the bread machine. I do feel virtuous! I expect normal me will return soon enough... and I don't think I'm going to make dahl today, although one never knows...
.....
While I was slumped yesterday I watched some a lot of YouTube videos.
I don't know how I came upon this one... apparently this style is called Combination Continental knitting. Maybe it was the title that caught my eye...'fast and lazy knitting '
All I know is that it has transformed my attitude to purl knitting. Hurrah! I haven't watched all of it as I wanted to remember how she does knit and purl before I went any further.
I was really looking for videos of Joan Hickson and Julia McKenzie knitting when they were being Miss Marple. I've always admired the way they hold the needles in a pencil hold, so elegant. This style is known as the English style, apparently very common before circular needles and continental knitting styles came in over here.
When I first learned to knit aged about 7, from Sister Patricia at the convent school, I held my needles in a clumsy grip which meant taking my right hand off my knitting at every stitch. I was looking for a video to demonstrate, and found this;
Although I'm not sure how any garment ever got knitted looking at the way they hold and use the yarn!
