Sunday 16th December - A Quiet Day In

I haven't been indoors All Day - no, I have stepped out into the garden twice; once to clear the leaves from under the apple tree to see if the snowdrops will be in flower for Christmas Day, and again, later, to take a photograph...

Here they are! It is four o'clock now, and the light has faded, so the buds are not very easy to see,

so here's a flash photograph so you can see the first buds more clearly. It always amazes me how the leaves of bulbs will grow through the dead oak leaves lying on the ground, making holes in them. I'm not sure what is more surprising - that the little snow drop leaves are so strong, or that the fallen leaves are so determined not to move out of the way.

I've been sewing all day. When the house is full I have found it is the path of least resistance to bring a little Windsor chair into the sitting room and sit there - but then I have nowhere to leave the book I am reading or the knitting that is in progress, as a side-table would be sorely in the way. Brainwave - I have converted three rather unloveable cloth table napkins into a bag that can be tied on to the chair arms;

It seems a very old-fashioned idea, but will hopefully be the answer. The whole scenario is full of memories; or Oma (that's my Oma, children, not yours!) used to sit in the rush-seated chair that is in the back bedroom at Christmas chair - she was so short that it was the most comfortable chair for her - and this Windsor chair is one of two that used to be in her sitting room when I was a child.

Going through the button jar to find four matching buttons was another trip down memory lane...

The table napkins came from a whole bag of tablecloths and napkins, many hand embroidered with great skill, that came from my godmother. She is de-cluttering - every time we visit we come away with bagfuls of things - some for the tip, as she can no longer get rid of rubbish, and others just things that she wants to be cleared away. 'I don't need those things any more,' she says. 'You just take them away. You can have them now.' So we do, as it is clearly what she wants.

I'm not sure what to do with all the linen tea table cloths and matching napkins. So they are de-cluttered out of her house, and cluttered into ours at the moment. Well, we have lots of clutter - ours and other peoples' in the house - what's a little more, here or there?

And, breaking news; when was the last time the cats consented to share a settee?

 
Leo was hugely suspicious at first, but finally settled on the blue fleece rug heaped on the back of the settee and draped over the radiator, and went to sleep with her head on one of the hot-pack teddy bears, kept ready in case of sore necks. She's not there now - when she woke up and found McCavity had crept into her cushion/bed, that was the end of that.