Monday 28th October - Listening Skills

After the conversation I have just had/failed to have with The Man I Love, I think these would make a suitable purchase;

Let me make it clear - it was MY ears that were doing the in-and-out-ing this time.

http://www.etsy.com/listing/96474390/in-one-ear-out-the-other-resin



So if no-one buys them for me, I might get them anyway. And wear them with great pleasure. it is always nice to find something that fits so well.

Monday 28th October - After the storm - rainbows and a godwit

Number One Son and I went out in search of weather after the Big Storm. We ended up at Pulborough Brooks, the RSPB place.

 

 

There definitely had been a storm; when I woke up, just before dawn, the wind was making busy and enthusiastic blustering noises round about. I looked out of the window and could make out the oak tree at the bottom of the garden pretending to be a Van Gogh painting - all swirly and twirly in the half-light.

 

By lunchtime, it seemed like a normal, slightly windy day. The sun was out, the sky was blue...    

 

And the clouds were big and determined. They meant business, as we were to discover.

Look again at the picture above; everywhere we went, we saw rainbows. After admiring that rainbow, we carried on round and went into one of the hides. Within a short time the sky turned properly black overhead and we were incarcerated for about ten minutes by real, steely grey rain thundering down relentlessly.

When it stopped, two of the volunteers laden with Serious Telescopes appeared. I was delighted to hear them exclaiming over a godwit that they could just make out at the far side of the water-logged field in front of us. How perfect. A godwit. (Not sure if it was lesser or greater or spotted or black-backed - not sure if I care, actually). They radioed their find in to "Base" who promised to report and log it. They even let us look through their telescope, so I, too, have seen a godwit.

It was getting on in the day so we made our way back up. At one point it was raining and sunny at the same time, with rainbows around every corner, appearing in the gaps between trees, brightening and fading, and brightening again.

Number One Son managed to track down a geocache that we failed to find last time we were here. It was hidden in a snail shell, and the shell hidden in the sort of place that snails like to hide in. I'm not sure if you can make out the tiny scroll tucked inside the shell for recording your D and the date that you found it. Luckily I keep a pair of tweezers in the car (!) so we were able to extract it.

Then he replaced the shell, and we went home to make cakes.

Yoghurt cake with apple, which was delicious.
A new version of Farmhouse Cake from www.recipesfromacornishkitchen.blogspot.com, made with whisky and water instead of milk, twice as much dried fruit, a peeled and chopped apple, and half and half muscovado and soft brown sugar, and mixed spice and nutmeg which is apparently still too warm to try properly. Verdict will be available tomorrow.
A Good Day.

Sunday 27th October - Corrections

A page from the Hindu calendar 1871–1872.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calendar

A reader (he knows who he is!!!) has noticed that sometimes, maybe occasionally, perhaps even frequently, the day-date-month part of the heading of my posts can be - misleading, inaccurate, or, to put it plainly, wrong.

Calendar of the Qahal, 5591 (1831)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calendar

Well, now that I am a grown-up, I don't like doing corrections.

Not since I used to have to write out my spelling corrections six times, neatly, at the end of the dictation tests at primary school.

All I will say is that the DAY of the post refers to the DAY. And the MONTH of the post refers to the MONTH. Usually. And sometimes the Date is right too.



A calendar from the Petaluma and Santa Rosa Railroad
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calendar

And sometimes not.

I've double-checked - today looks ok at the moment.



Richard of Wallingford pointing to a clock, his gift to St Albans Abbey
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clock

Oh, by the way, have you remembered to put your clocks back? We did.

Saturday 26th October - Cute Little Ducklings

 

Years and years and years ago, my brother gave my children (when they were tiddly little toddlers) a battery operated toy which was a sort of penguin helter-skelter. It was SO popular, and SO annoying, that in the end we would switch it on for just a few minutes as a last treat before bed-time.

An escalator would allow the 3 penguins to travel to the top of the slide, whereupon they would slide all the way down to the bottom of the escalator, and then travel to the top of the slide, whereupon they would slide all the way down to the bottom of the escalator, and then - you get the idea?

The annoying bit was the continuous high-pitched squeaking sound that went on while all this sliding and escalating was happening. My brother had bought one for himself (why? he was quite grown up, - at least in years) and almost immediately removed the squeaking-noise-making-bit. I'm not surprised.



Oh my goodness gracious me! You can still get it! Be very grateful that you can't hear it. But, if you want to torture your ears, (and your eyes, but the video operator will calm down fairly soon )  click on this link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydDuM1RsZFQ

Now, I know this post is titled "Cute Little Ducklings", and here they are, and that's what made me think of the penguins.  (Video via http://johnthelutheran.tumblr.com/)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=IjWAsT2IffI

Friday 26th October - What a day!

Capuchin Monkey
borrowed from my music site
www.themusicjuingle.co.uk
drawn by "the artist" and
included by permission (from me)

When you are busy, and when the school term is eight weeks (less one day) long (and I know I have chuntered about this already), and when you have been teaching from 9:45am to 6pm, with twenty minutes for lunch, and a half an hour break between school teaching and piano teaching at home, and when the last four lessons at the school were three beginner recorder classes and one - let's call them the "slowly improving recorder class"








when you reach the end of the teaching part of the day,

Keyboard Snake, also borrowed from my music site www.themusicjungle.co.uk
drawn by "the artist" and included by permission (from me)

and you cook and eat supper (thank heavens for that pulled pot-roast-lamb that I put into the freezer a week or so ago),

and watch some television (Inspector Frost and the Gruesome Granny - suitably "easy-watching")

when you go to bed, and your eyes shut before you can finish the Sudoku (which you are doing because you've left your book downstairs and your Kindle has gone flat so in spite of having upwards of 200 books in the bedroom you can't find anything to read)

then next day you can hardly remember what happened until you start to blog about it!

But that was all yesterday, and today we've spent the whole day in Arundel, looking at this and that and the other. Which is partly why yesterday had disappeared under the overlay of what we did today.

It does seem a bit wasteful, to have your days so packed full that in the end you can barely remember what happened yesterday, let alone last week. That is the advantage of keeping a diary - at least you spend some time reflecting on the events of the day, revisiting the good parts, mulling things over, before they vanish from your mind.  

Wednesday 25th October - third comestible extravagance this week

After the surprise extravagances of Monday's flat white and croissant at The Artisan Bakery, and Tuesday's Hot Chocolate at the Camellia Bottnar Garden Centre, I found myself at Wakehurst Place on Wednesday.

About 5 years ago I was a regular here every week, between the morning school (keyboards with Falcon Class, year 3) and the afternoon school (two sessions of keyboards with years 5 and 6, and year 3 and 4). I would arrive here at about ten-thirty, settle down with my lap-top, a pot of tea and a croissant and get masses of work done before getting to the school at about 12:30, for packed lunch and teaching.

I have blogged about their Cornish Pasty before, but failed to photograph it:

because I ate it all up first.

My packed lunch today was a bit inadequate, so I thought I'd have another pasty. I was out of luck, but the sausage rolls looked nice. Once of those, and a coffee, and whack in "Mary Had A Baby"* in F# major on Sibelius (software programme on my laptop) for beginner keyboard players and that would be time well spent.

I thought I would be getting a sausage roll on a plate; I hadn't bargained for a complete lunch;

 

Excellent! What made it so special was not just the oven-baked wedgie potatoes, or the fresh green salad with some herby leaves in it, but also the little dish of WARM chutney that came with it - warm chutney, now there's a very clever idea.

 

I took some time to browse round the shop. It's a good source for Christmas presents, and have taken note of one that might be a good idea for someone.  

 

No time to buy anything today. So I carried along my way... half term half term half term............

 

All this eating out will have to stop sooner or later but I am enjoying myself while it lasts.

*Why "Mary Had  Baby and F# major? Most of the Christmas Carols are entirely hostile for beginner keyboard players. The plan is that the keyboard kiddos can play the "Mary had a Baby" bit on the black notes, and the other kiddos can sing the whole song and everyone will be happy. Hopefully.

Thursday 24th October - Cat - astrophe

I was greeted by two extremely vocal cats when I came home this afternoon. I was rather pleased to see them, as neither had come inside this morning for their breakfast. They came rushing up to me as I got out of the car - most unusual for them to greet me in this way.

"Miaouw-riaow-miaow-wiaouw-iaouw" they said, over and over (they use quite a limited vocabulary, either because they think I am thick, or because they are thick. Probably both, as they are too thick to know that they are thick.)

Just like the infants at school when all of them have something important - the same bit of news - to tell me and they all want to tell me at the same time, so that I can't understand a word.

I opened the front door, and they both hurtled

down the drive round to the back door, and then took turns peering in through the transparent cat flap but not coming in.

So, I opened the back door and let them in.

Turns out there has been a system fail with the electronics for the cat flap (our cats have to wear special tags on their collars which magically - or electronically - whateverally - make the cat flap open for them, and bolt it behind them. This is to thwart an unwelcome visitor cat that used to come in and frighten ours.

I'm grateful that the flap failed in such a way that it would let them go out, but not let them in. Not so pleasant for the cats, but much better for me. And it hasn't rained today.

New batteries and sophisticated pressing of buttons to reset everything. and possibly reprogramming the cats - I mean the collars, of course, - and everything will be back to normal. Soon.

Tuesday 23rd October - First Hot Chocolate of the Week

Well, this is turning out to be a self-indulgent start to the week!

It was a fairly frantic morning - appointment at 9, and then a cross-country dash eastwards through rough weather to the garage, as I needed to get bit of the car re-attached before it came completely adrift. I managed to get half-an-hour's tippy-tappy-typing work done on my laptop while I waited, and I got the car back quicker than might have been expected.

As I wended my way westwards at a reasonably brisk pace, I pondered on what to do next. Should I go home, and then set off again for the afternoon schools? Or just continue. In the end I decided to call in at a Garden Centre/Tea Room/Gift Shop that I haven't been to for over a year. It used to be a favourite sanctuary between schools but years pass and timetables change...

So, another half-hour of tippy-tappy-typing, and a little letter-writing, while the rain hammered down on the glass roof above, and then back into the rough Autumnal wind and rain to truck on to my next couple of schools.

I had just five minutes to prowl round the little gift shop (and buy.... oh, but I mustn't say what, sorry!). They were partway through setting up their Christmas displays - so pretty - all white and pale and glittery.

Have I said it before? Eight weeks is a ridiculously long time for half a term. They are usually six or seven weeks long, and this extra week has made a huge difference. All the teachers I meet are looking "past it". And the children are tired too - half term holiday next week is not a day too soon.

I have been so grateful for these unexpected oases of time this week!

Monday 21st October - Mine's a flat white, please

Time out.

A flat white coffee and a croissant "could you heat it in an oven please?" "certainly"

I choose this particular café because they make excellent coffee and their food is good. I choose a flat white because it always looks so pretty!

I drank it very carefully to try and keep the pattern intact

until it was time to scoop up the frothy top with the teaspoon. The croissant was consumed long before this picture was taken!

Then time to jot down the shopping and various other lists for the day, and also some notes to remind me how much I enjoyed this brief time away from anything that could remotely be considered to be work. The extraordinary lines on the page are the computer's attempt to process the fact that it is a music manuscript book. It has made my notebook appear more interesting that it really is.

Saturday 19th October - Escape to another place

Having synchronised our diaries last night, we discovered that neither of us had anything scheduled for today.

That is, assuming we paid no notice to the laundry, the shopping list, the state of the floors in this house, the piles of filing, the dining room table, the emptiness of the bread bin and cake tin blah blah blah.

So, after a breakfast of real coffee and real toast with some of the marmalade we brought back from our stay in Dover Castle back in May, we legged it...

...as far as the front doorstep.....where we were delayed by sight of a vicious attack on my defenceless violas....

...having stopped and counter-attacked with extreme prejudice, we legged it again, as far as the car, whereupon we got in and drove and drove and drove until we got to Chichester.

I have been wanting to visit Pallant House Gallery since - since - since a long time ago, when we went round the gallery on a wet and grey day like today - just the two of us - and it was when they were planning and raising money to build the extension. I vividly remember the little model of a gallery of modern art, with miniature works by Real Artists like Patrick Caulfield and Andrew Gormley and others (this pictute below is possibly life size!)



pipe on a table
Patrick Caulfield
http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/pipe-on-a-table-70677

So we went in, and saw;
a strange and intriguing exhibition of pictures and poems called knitting-time by Colin Hambrook (www.knitting-time.com), you can see his pictures at the gallery on his site, and there are some poems here and there.

and an exhibition of prints by Erik Ravilious. The more I see of his work, the more I like it - atmospheric war pictures, and flowing wood cuts full of character and a strange dreaminess.

this print, the front cover of a book of his prints, was in the exhibition 

another front cover of a book with lots of his little black-and-white woodcuts

followed by a jolly good lunch at the restaurant, called Field and Fork.



ultra cool décor... beats the old bendy gerbera stuck into a vase.

The bad news is that it is moving to the Chichester Theatre next week so we were lucky we went today. He had Venison Pudding with red cabbage and carrot and jus and little round potatoes, and I had a whole roast plaice with lobster butter and saffron potatoes and spinach, and then He had chocolate and pistachio strudel with honey something and I had a trio of desserts which turned out to be a lime and basil pannacotta with passion fruit, a mango and pistachio tart, and a white chocolate mousse with raspberries and a short bread biscuit. I mention the food, because next week it will be someone else serving baked potatoes and sandwiches. You have been warned.

The museum is now in two halves, with no real, or false, attempt to amalgamate them. In the old house, built early in 1700 and something, is the most beautiful antique furniture and a selection of 20th century art - a couple of John Nash pictures, and a "typical" Lowry were two of my highlights, also Plums on a Dish by Henry Lamb

http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/plums-on-a-dish-70493

the way he caught the bloom on the plums was amazing. There was also an exhibition of painting y the Nicholson family - more a dynasty. John Craxton was not a name I knew before, but I do now. Lovely. lovely.

In the modern half of the gallery we found the little model gallery, as I remembered it, and also a lot of maquettes for the giant sculptures in the Cass Foundation sculpture park. And other paintings, large and small. Mostly Large.

We were pretty much "looked" out by now - so we ambled back through the streets - it had stopped raining, the sun had come out, and it was getting warm and brightly Autumnal - and made our way back home.

It's dark now. Suppertime. I'm still full of plaice and lobster and the rest. A Light Meal, I think.

Saturday 19th October - Deheading

As I mentioned some time ago, I found a few minutes to ram some unfortunate viola plants (unfortunate in the sense that they were bought by me rather than a real, caring sort of gardener who would nurture them an look after their well-being and make them feel loved) anyway, I shoved them into some planters which already had some unlucky (unlucky in the sense oh you know what I mean) spring flowering bulbs in them. They made a brave show, and considerably more welcoming on the doorstep than either the dead daffodils which had stood there since spring or the planters of bare earth and buried bulbs.

I don't know much about gardening, as you may have noticed,  but I do know that you should deadhead your flowing plants to make them have some more flower. Only, someone, or something got there before me. Not slugs, I reckon, unless they had cleared up their slime as they left.

 I lifted up the planter, and a hundred million woodlice dropped out to join the wriggling mass that had been sheltering under the pot. Rather like a scene from "Men In Black", only that time they were cockroach sort of horrors.

extract from Wikipedia

Woodlice as pests

Although woodlice, like earthworms, are generally considered beneficial in gardens for their role in producing compost and overturning the soil, they have also been known to feed on cultivated plants, such as ripening strawberries and tender seedlings.

I will not dwell on the scenes of carnage that followed, but hopefully the remaining two pots of violas might just survive.

Tuesday 15th October - Update on the Tunisian Crochet project

The concept of the Tunisian Crochet blanket/throw is beginning to look plausible - there are seven completed strips now, eight, if you count the double-width cream-coloured one twice. That one is a souvenir of our stay in Dover Castle last May - seems like months ago. Oh, that's probably because it WAS months ago.

I am part way through one of the Canadian yarns I brought back with me, the strip on the extreme left, chosen because of the greens and blues which remind me of the colour of the water thundering through the gorge below the Niagara Falls.

It looks a bit dark with the others above; here it is again, with the tawny yarn I bought at the same time for the "Fall" colours.
.

 I like the idea of having a souvenir blanket of the year. Several of the strips have extra meanings because of where I bought the yarn, or where I was when I was crocheting it.

Monday 14th October - Fruit Cake

The house is full of the smell of Farmhouse Fruit Cake, from www.recipesfromacornishkitchen.blogspot.com

I've used soft brown sugar, and added a couple of small apples, peeled and chopped, and a little extra flour because I suspect the apples might make the mixture a bit wetter.
It should be ready in a couple of minutes now. It's a "boiled fruit cake" recipe; I like that kind, because simmering the dried fruit in liquid makes it go all soft and juicy.

This is the Economical Boiled Fruit Recipe that I have often used in the past;

preheat oven to 160C

1/4 pint water
4oz marg (yes! but I ALWAYS use butter now-a-days)
6oz mixed fruit
4oz sugar
8oz SR flour
1 beaten egg

you can tell from the measurements that it's an old recipe - I got it from a magazine back in about 1970something. The recipe as given makes a very plain, but good cake.

Simmer fruit, water, marg(!) and sugar for 15 minutes
Cool to room temperature, and add the flour and the beaten egg
Turn into a greased (and lined) 2lb loaf tin and bake for one and a quarter hours.

Actually I NEVER made it like this. I always used brown sugar, and added a spoonful of mixed spice, for starters. Like the Cornish Kitchen recipe, I would sometimes add different sorts of dried fruit - "luxury dried fruit assortment" which had dried apples, pears and prunes, or "tropical fruit assortment".

But it was a good cake for when we were first married, and living on a very tight budget. Back then, he used to bring home a brown envelope with his pay every Friday - around £30. We used to divvy up the money into different jam-jars for the bills, and I had £10 per week to spend on food for the pair of us...

Aha. That's the buzzer. Let's see what we have got:

I forgot the sprinkle Demerara sugar over it before it went in the oven. Never mind. Looks good to me.

Monday 14th October -The Piano Tuner

I can always tell when the piano tuner is having a good time. He keeps lapsing into snippets jazz and blues.

It's not wasting time - he'll vamp his way along, then pause, try a note over and over, twang it  a bit, and then carry on.

When he actually finishes a whole piece, right up to the final chord, then I know he's done and it is time for me to appear with my cheque book.

So glad that's done then... there were a couple of notes that were setting my teeth on edge.

It's bad enough when the pupils keep playing the wrong notes, but when the right notes are wrong too...

Sunday 13th October - "I am the cake of life"

 

"Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?"
"That depends a good deal on where you want to get to," said the Cat.
"I don’t much care where--" said Alice.
"Then it doesn’t matter which way you go," said the Cat.
"--so long as I get SOMEWHERE," Alice added as an explanation.
"Oh, you’re sure to do that," said the Cat, "if you only walk long enough."
(Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Chapter 6)      

from http://www.alice-in-wonderland.net/books/alice-in-wonderland-quotes.html

Well, that's where my Sunday School lesson to a little group of seven children aged between 5 and 7 years old ended up.
    
A lot of my Sunday School lessons seem to go like that.

I took in a candle, a tall candlestick, matches, a bucket and some torches.

Also a jug of water and a towel to act as fire safety measures.
Colouring sheet with the verse from John ch8 v12;
When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
Felt pens, glue sticks and sparkly sequins. Oh, and a Bible.With that lot I thought I'd covered most of the options.

I turned off the lights, and half-closed the window blinds.
We talked about light. We played with the torches. We read the first part of Chapter 1 of John's Gospel:  In the beginning the Word already existed; the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² From the very beginning the Word was with God. ³ Through him God made all things; not one thing in all creation was made without him. ⁴ The Word was the source of life,^[a] and this life brought light to people. ⁵ The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has never put it out.  Then we talked hatted  about how the Creation story begins.

It was all going so well, even though one of the livelier lads had drunk half a cup of tea with three spoonfuls of sugar in it just before we started.

I lit the candle (and the smoke detector did not go off - phew). We read Matthew 5:15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. ¹⁶ In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

I took the candle off the tall candlestick and stuck it under a bowl. It duly went out.

Perfect! The children played some more with the torches, I relit the candle, the smoke detector stayed silent, the sugar boy stayed in his chair, we talked about Jesus and light and proper "Sunday School" things.

Then we started colouring and gluing and sparkling. "It's my birthday in three days" said one of the other lads. "I'm going do draw my candles on my birthday cake".
This set Sugar Boy off. He is well grounded in the Bible. "Jesus says he is the Bread of Life, but I'm going to do him as Cake of Life". 

Here endeth the lesson.

At this point, I gave in. All the children's interest and activity was now entirely focused on birthdays, cake, birthday candles, party games...
So we played a couple of games, tidied up, and took our sparkly gluey brightly coloured Bible Verse sheets back to church.

I'm not downhearted - although teaching "Sunday School stuff" is partly what Sunday School is about, these children are also making friends, being sociable, sharing ideas, and, most importantly, happy to come back again next week. Job Done. 

Wednesday 9th October - More portions of happiness

Supper the other day made me happy - Roast Fennel and roast tomatoes and baked potato and an egg.  I LOVE fennel. It might not look that exciting, but I LOVE fennel and I really enjoyed my supper.

I got the baked potato started (wash it, prick it with a sharp knife and microwave it for four minutes, and put it in a preheated oven at 180 for an eventual total of an hour's cooking) before I blanched a small bulb of fennel (cut into quarters and simmer for 5 mins in boiling water, drain well), and quartered some beautiful vine tomatoes, and crushed some fennel seeds. coriander seeds and black peppercorns in a pestle and mortar. Then I coated the tomato and fennel pieces in extra virgin olive oil, sprinkled the crushed fennel/coriander/peppercorn mix over, added a grind of salt and baked it for nearly half an hour.  It needed some protein, so I cracked an egg into the dish and put it back in the oven (for slightly too long, and I can't remember how long that was, to be completely truthful) by which time the potato and everything else was cooked and delicious.


This was lunch today; an all-day breakfast (haven't had one of those in a LONG time, maybe not since Canada back in 2011) at the Balcombe Tea Rooms. Yum. I like to mix the tomato ketchup and brown sauce together; one is too sweet, and the other too vinegary, and together they are Just Right. Those hash browns were good too;

I haven't seen any sign of the protests at Balcombe when I have been going through these past few weeks. It was obviously all happening somewhere else in the area. I noticed that the tea rooms were closed during the last two weeks in September. Whether this was their annual holiday, or to do with the fracking protests, I have no idea.

No photograph of  today's supper. After that lunch it was just soup and toast!

Wednesday 9th October - Small portions of happiness

I've had a very happy week so far.

I've cleared yet more niggling tasks, many not even anywhere near the "to-do" list but still needing doing.

Stupid, piffling little things that were really getting me down.

I've cleaned the outside of the kettle. Because it is beside the cooker, it gets spattered easily, but somehow I'm always rushing on to the next thing rather than taking five minutes to wipe it down. (I also cleared and cleaned that complete corner, decrumbed the toaster, chucked a couple of broken kitchen utensils and recycled a surplus-to-requirements coffee tin.) It didn't take that long, really.

What a difference! My spirits rose every time I made a cup of tea or coffee!

Then there was the horrible hell-hole of the-cupboard-under-the-sink. It is where the bin and the cleaning potions and some plant holders and some vases fight for space. Every time I threw something in the bin or delved for the laundry liquid I was disgusted at the grimy vision that was revealed.

And we had had MICE. Our cats are useless at dealing with mice. I think they just like to loll about in their warm soft fleecy beds and watch the mice scampering about.

Anyway If cleanliness is next to Godliness then I was further away from Heaven than I could bear. Then, yesterday afternoon, a piano pupil did not come because she was ill. Suddenly, I came over all energetic, donned the old marigolds and went in. Everything came out, and half-an-hour's vigorous application of BANG! POWER DEGREASER solved the unsanitary situation. The next pupils arrived, and after their lesson, the cupboard was dry and everything could be put back again, apart from some dodgy eco-oven cleaner which didn't work, some window cleaner with vinegar which was a most peculiar colour, some hob-brite which I threw out in principle because of the spelling, and a badly discoloured bottle of stain remover. Memo to self - chucking assorted kitchen cleaners down the sink is a BAD IDEA, although the drains are probably cleaner now than they have been for a while.

 Notice that I have not sullied your eyes with "before" pictures. I was worried that some people might be reading this before the 9pm watershed, and I didn't want to be responsible for any resulting nightmares.

There have been other small portions of happiness. I found time to stick a couple of viola plants into the tubs of bulbs outside the front door. (All I have to do is remember to water them - but they are looking good at the moment).

I've cleared and cleaned the top of a bookshelf which is supposed to display some wooden boxes and puzzles, and had just become another surface for odds and ends and dust.

I've dealt with a series of small, but vital errands - arranging the piano tuner, arranging the tree surgeon/reclaim the garden from the jungle man, forwarding some mail, sending birthday cards, sorting some timetable clashes, creating a surprise for - oh, no, I don't want to give that one away just yet.

Little victories, but how happy they have made me!

Monday 7th October - Something sensational to do in a cafe

"I never travel without my diary. One should always have something sensational to read in the train"


"A        H A N D B A G???????"

Oscar Wilde - from "The Importance of Being Earnest"

I've emerged from a weekend and spent the morning having an enjoyable jaunt around the town. I started in M and S; (as they have nice clean accessible loos!) I was taken a back to find Very Fancy Loo Paper for a semi-public convenience:

but  then, there are only 11 Mondays left before Christmas, and I had been enjoying looking at their display of Christmas Decorations as I made my way through the shop. Seriously - I'm not being ironic, or sarcastic or anti-let's-get-ready-for-Christmas! I'm feeling very up-beat about Christmas at the moment.

Followed by a coffee in their café; if this is their idea of "regular", I will try and remember to choose "small" next time.

I used to time to do what I often do; see what's going on in my handbag. I discovered that I had all this in the section of my wallet that I use for café loyalty cards, library cards and stamps;

and a guitar pick?

Further investigation uncovered the fact that I have another 24 credit cards, entry cards, loyalty cards and business cards inside my wallet. Two dozen?? I managed to chuck out two of them, after careful consideration.

I like going through my wallet and handbag from time to time. It's a bit like opening a Christmas Stocking. You are never quite sure what you will find. It whiles away a pleasant ten minutes or so in a café, and there are always a few surprises along the way. If there is more time to fill, I can always look through the little notebook I keep for jotting down odds and ends; lists, quotations, observations, even the odd little sketch.

I finished off by writing a postcard to a friend; (I keep a few in my handbag for exactly this purpose). As it happened, one of them was a Christmassy sort of picture, which exactly fitted my mood. I hope the recipient enjoys the unseasonal picture as much as I did.

Then a trip to the post office, because although I had First Class Large Letter and First Class Ordinary Stamps, and Second Class Large Letter stamps, and World Wide Postcard Stamps, and European Postcard Stamps, I couldn't find any Ordinary Second Class Stamps. So I bought TWO books to keep me going. Hmm. That's a net weight gain for the contents of my wallet and handbag. Perhaps if I spend some more money that will lighten things up a bit.

Sunday 6th October - The New Quilt

I started at about 9am, and gently chugged on through the day. It's going to be good to clear another "pending" project - a couple more days should see it finished.

It started with a rash purchase of a packet of cotton squares (reduced, of course, that's why I couldn't resist it!) from Oxfam, about a year ago.

From time to time I laid them out, but couldn't think how to use them. There were so many that I didn't like very much. (There are two or three of each fabric)

In the end, I decided the best thing to do would be just whang them together, any-old-how, and let them get on with each other as best they could. However, when I started doing the calculations, there weren't going to be enough for a quilt cover. I had a rummage through my boxes of bits and pieces, and found a full-length blue flowery batik print cotton dress, of a similar weight to the Oxfam squares, that I bought years ago. It is a wrap-over sun-dress that never fitted properly and tended to unwrap itself too often for happiness.

I also found a piece of old yellow duvet cover that I had dyed blue; it's really much bluer than this photograph. So that was the backing solved. An old cot blanket, that came with the second-hand cot I bought for my son, would be the padding. I much prefer re-using things as much as possible when I make quilts.

The blanket needed de-fluffing and washing, so I used a damp rubber glove to remove the fur and fluff, and washed it in the bath (the washing machine filter is blocked, remember?). I left it on the line to drip.

It was a glorious day

I was delayed by not being able to find my shoes. In the end I just wallowed around in His shoes for the short trip to the line and back.

The squares from the dress worked perfectly; I made up the horizontal strips, but was a little worried that I wouldn't have enough of them, so I added a spare strip from the dress to the top and the bottom. It took a bit of fiddling around to decide where the strips should go, and in the end I got fed up and just sewed them together.

 

 

Here's the finished top, with another go at photographing the backing fabric. I've added another strip from the dress to the middle, just in case there still wasn't enough length. I can adjust it later when I layer everything up together. All finished by 6pm, with breaks for emails and television and lunch and tea and whenever I felt like doing something different.