Monday 24th February - this isn't a totally a-typical day, to be honest

Today I have...

Done a page of 'pothooks' - it seems to be a good way of starting the day
made a list of outstanding tasks
Then I got up...

taught a piano lesson

put in a prescription request

wrapped three parcels, each with a letter, written a letter of condolence, written two more letters to accompany large heavy parcels still to be wrapped.

written emails to eight music students, another condolence rmail, a long 'catch-up' email to friends, acknowledgement of receipt of a book, and a 'thankyou for your email' email

Updated an inventory spreadsheet for work

Read a bit of the Parson's Tale from Chaucer's the Canterbury tales in the course of looking up how to spell 'accidie', and then following up this quotation

Envye and Ire maken bitternesse in herte; which bitternesse is moder of Accidie and binimeth him the love of alle goodnesse.

in which the word is used, in order to discover the meaning of 'binimeth' (it means 'to deprive or take away')

gone through two more of my god-mother's photogrpah albums and dealt with the contents ('keep, send to this person or that person, dispose')

Telephoned NS and I tosee what I have to do about my god-mother's deceased husband's premiium bonds which we found in a drawer; 'no, there are no outstanding prizes for this bond holder, no we can't disclose how many bonds there are over the telephone, you will have to download and complete these forms'

Downloaded the forms to reclaim the bonds and taken a deep breath at the information they require

Discovered that I can get a copy of his will and related grant of probate from the probate office online for the princely sum of £1.50

Emptied another shopping back of stuff associated with clearing my god-mother's house.

Stopped for lunch! 

Afterwards, for relaxation, I

sat and did a few rows of knitting,

made a start on creating a papier mache box (out of a cat food box and some old sheet music) to hold my book and diary and kindle and so on by my bedside table - getting generally gunked with PVA glue is somehow satisfying after all the word-smithing of this morning.

It's three o'clock! I've had a coffee and three chocolte biscuits and am ready to go!

I'll finish the box, teach two more lessons (4pm and 6pm) and then it will only be a few more hours untl bedtime! 

Himself has not been idle - errands and shopping around town, shifting two book cases upstairs in preparation for delivery of a new mattress later this week, emptying a shopping bag of my god-mother's stuff, and cooking lunch. The cats are now vying for his lap; whichever one has got possession finds themselves being 'stared out' by the other one... 

Sunday 23rd February - Back to work tomorrow

Halfterm is just about over. Another couple of hours until bedtime, and then...

wakey wakey, rise and shine



So, what about this halfterm? What happened? I feel as though I have been turned inside-out and upside down!

Saturday 15th 

Met up with friends for a low-key 'hen do', I suppose you could call it - we all had breakfast together at a local eatery. I then spent some time having a look around the wool shop (yes, I bought yarn, no, I'm not posting any pictures yet).

Sunday 16th

I have a feeling this was a lull before the frenzy of the rest of half term. I've no pictures on my phone to remind me  Looking through my sketch book I've found pages like these - I discovered a free on-line brush-pen calligraphy tutorial which is so simple even I can manage it, even at the end of the day. Instead of winding down with a couple of suduko grids at bedtime, I fill a page or two with 'pot-hooks'. I'm up to drawing the letter 'o' now, surprisingly complicated and needing concentration to get right.

Monday 17th 

The writing on the page above refers to a 'draw your day' idea; this is a drawing of Monday.
Lazy morning in bed, surfing youtube for tutorials on how to join granny squares together, and also making a few granny squares to practice with before I start on the real ones. Watching the stream behind the house come up and overflow the footpath and cycle track, until it was a broad rushing torrent of water. Copying tutorials on doodling flowers and leaves.

Tuesday 18th

House clearing. Keep or chuck or charity shop. Keep or chuck or charity shop. We came back with bags and crates of stuff - it is uch more tiring going through everything than I thought. The hardest part is dealing with things that my god-mother held dear, but that I have no affinity with, nor any desire to own.

 One of the items of clothing was the sweater on the front cover of this book - such skill. But it wasn't possible to get it into a good enough state to recycle, not even as a cushion cover. Nowhere for it to go but out.

Wednesday 19th

Going through bags and bags of clothing. Charity shop or chuck. In the end, ruthlessness took over, and the heaps of clothes were reduced to one bag of spectacles, one bag of bits and pieces, one load of clothes through the wash to go to charity, and four bags for recycling at the tip. They have a textile bank.

Going to meet with friends in the evening for our regular tea and cake and set-the-world-to-rights was a reward for the labours.

Thursday 20th

Back to my god-mother's house. To see the estate agent to sign paperwork, to the housing estate office to sign paperwork. To her bank to sign paperwork. To her house to scope out the next phase of house clearing.

Everything in the house sits on a green hand crocheted mat. There are dozens of them. Keep, sell, charity shop? Keep sell, charity shop?

Friday 20th 

James the gardener came, and I followed him around the garden recording his comments as he named plants and pruned them.

From this....

to this

It was fascinating to watch him chopping and snipping with a pair of long-handled shears - within an hour the whole border was trimmed ready for this season. I would never have dared grab a little lavendar plant by all the loose stems and just take off all the top growth with one snip... 

Then I went back to making four dozen Zimbabwean sweet potato cookies for a coffee morning on the Saturday...

Saturday 22nd

World Day of Prayer (formerly Women's World Day of Prayer) is coming up (Friday 6th March) and we always have a coffee morning in our area to show a powerpoint presentation about the country for the year - Zimbabwe - but you've probably guessed. As usual I loaded up soundsystem, microphone, table cloths, a tray of primula plants to make table decorations (just bung each pot into a tea cup), paper napkins (leftover from Christmas as I forgot to buy any), laptop, HDMI cable, printed copy of the script, and two tins of cookies. And, most importantly, my Best Beloved who has to put up with so much. I needed his skill to set up the TV/laptop/sound system/microphone connections, and his strength to put up tables and fetch and carry chairs. The other ladies appeared in good time and somehow, together, all working but not necessarily as a well-oiled machine, the coffee morning happened.

Afterwards I planted up the primulas with the last bit of energy and then sat in a collapsed heap for the rest of the day.

In the evening, Himself went round to deal with a problem on my father's PC, and brought him back for Roast Lamb, roast potatoes, roast sweet potato, carrots and peas.

We were in bed shortly after nine, and asleep before ten.

Sunday 23rd

That's today!

I've sat about - upstairs in bed for the morning, and downstairs still in my dressing gown this evening.

Himslf has brought me breakfast in bed (actually, he has done this just about every day this week!) and lunch (he has done this just about every day this week) and supper (he has done this just about every day this week).

I've been adding squares to this blanket that I'm making using yarn that I've found in my god-mother's house. I might not be able to, or want to keep her stuff, but making this blanket is a peaceful sort of thing to be doing, and when it is finished I'll have something useful to keep or give away.

Deep breath, and back into the fray! I've an easy start though - just three pupils to teach all day.   

Tuesday 18th February - Knitting Books

This is a bit of a niche post; I have got all these knitting books to pass on from my Godmother, and I have let a few people know that I am putting them up on this site in case they would like first dibs.

My Godmother was a great knitter and crocheter and embroider, and her house was full of examples of her work - complex crochet mats under every item (if anyone is interested, I can retrieve them and pass them on), embroidered pictures and tapestries on the walls, hand-hooked wallhangings, crewel work cushions on all the dining room chairs...

I can't keep them all... especially all her books and patterns!

She used to knit professionally for Jamie and Jessie Seaton, who sold their knitwear all over the world. I have two of her jumpers with their intricate millefiori designs from this book

There's no way I'm ever going to knit any of these patterns!

Here are the rest of the books;

I doubt there will be many takers for the last two; the 'Family Knitting Book' is full of those photographs of men trying to look as though they are enjoying wearing their manly knitwear.

And the last one comes from Finland - which is where my godmother was born!

There's also  binder full of loose patterns.

If you would like any of these books, leave me a comment. I don't want any money, although a donation to a Cancer Charity would be much appreciated.

Monday 17th Feb - The Loft Challenge

What a brilliant idea!

In a blog post someone said that their grown-up son has set them a loft challenge; every time he visits, he brings down a couple of crates and bags from the loft, and they try and sort it before his next visit.

I'm up for that; we're about to get serious about clearing my recently deceased godmother's house, and I am everlastingly grateful that she has already done most of the hard work. And she had no loft.

When we tried to clear my sister-in-law's house, we gave up; we would have had to go and live nearby for a month in order to go through every drawer and bag and bag-inside-a-bag which just couldn't be done. In the end we salvaged a few items and left it all to the house clearance people.

My parents downsized four times, starting from a large seven-bedroom house with three attics, and ending in two-bedroom flat. I am so grateful to them for all the hard decisions they have saved me from making.

I'm very conscious of the state of our loft; we have lived in this house for over thirty years and the loft is terrifyingly full. I don't want to leave our children with a nightmare to sort out.

(Do you think we could in turn get them to do the bedroom challenge? Every time we visit one of the offspring, or they come here, we could give them a couple of bags of their stuff to take away and sort? I don't mind storing things that they actually want, but I reckon there must be things that could be re-homed, re-cycled, or even actually used?!)

While I'm on the subject, one project that is high on my list is to sort all the kinds of things people need to know when the time comes into some kind of order. My god-mother's affairs where much simpler to deal with than they might have been. Although she had stopped filing things away some months ago, nearly all the paperwork was in piles in the same room, so gathering it all together and working out what needed to be done was massively simpler than it might have been.

Sunday 17th February - London last Tuesday

Tuesday was a routine checkup at the Royal Brompton Hospital chest clinic.

That meant an early - very, very early train. I was counting the houses where it looked as though someone might be awake as we drove through the streets at 5.30am. I reckon about eleven households...

There is a public piano in the station, painted to look all jungly;

I did a quick sketch to get the main idea down, and then spent the train journey colouring it in. I suspect the piano has been damaged, as the lid was padlocked closed. I did play it last time we were there.

We arrived at Victoria station as dawn was breaking, pale and pink,

London skyline at dawn

far too early for the first appointment, lung function tests, at nine thirty, but the very early train means that we get seats. Any later and we would like as not have to stand. Our reward is breakfast at le Pain Quotidien and then a leisurely stroll up Dovehouse Street.

Oh my word, but it was cold! Sunny and bright, but COLD.

Once we're in the hospital system, it is just a question of queuing to check in for lung function, waiting for your turn, queueing to check in to the clinic, waiting for your turn, waiting for your blood test, and then - freedom! I'm glad to relate that as nothing seems to have changed, they are
not replacing the medicine which has become hard to get as I probably don't need it,

the blood tests I have every six weeks to check if I am tolerating the various other medicines will now be done every 12 weeks,

after my next appointment they will probably see me annually instead of 6 monthly.

So that's all very positive.

We walked to the V and A museum for lunch and a look-around. There were a couple of exhibitions, and exhibits, that we thought we might go and see, but were distracted by all the things that caught our attention along the way;

the music room from Norfolk House, all white and gold, the parlour from a house in Henrietta Street, an interactive 'design your own chintz pattern' screen, which then emailed me a copy of my design;

the Great Bed of Ware, and another HUGE state bed from somewhere else....

so, all too soon, it was time to catch the train home.

Friday 14th February - Hearts and Flowers

About hearts;

I have discovered how to crochet a heart. Aww...

The little basket of mini-daffs is a great success, as far as I am concerned. They are about at my eye line as I park the car in the drive, making a cheerful kind of welcome

That shrub that looked as though it might be about to flower is looking more promising by the day. I squelched across the lawn - well - mossy sward - for a closer look

We've asked James-the-gardener to come and fix a fence panel and post that has given way, and also to advise on what to do next with the border - 'Shall I fettle it while I'm over?' - sounds like a plan, so long as I can be there and make plenty of notes.

The rosemary bush beside the back door has survived and is in flower!

We were in London on Tuesday 12th Feb - that will be another post. Whole we were at the V and A museum I bought a slightly expensive packet of sweet pea seeds, as they should be sown about now, and I haven't managed to get hold of any. Is this likely to be an accurate picture of the contents when they are in full flower? We shall see...

Finally, I have been presented with a dozen red roses...

Sunday 9th February - Twitter

Sometimes twitter has its moments;

appropriate for Storm Ciara.

Although I reckon the poor people of Hebden Bridge and Todmorden in Yorkshire might be wishing the storm had run out of rain much sooner.

Sunday 9th February - last week

Last week? Or the bits I can remember anyway.

Some of the bits could even be the week before...

I was in Sainsbury's the other day - did I mention this already? They had a Valentines's section - all pink and red and hearts and Lurve and stuff

and an Easter section - all yellow and green and Cadbury coloured

but no Lent section. Actually, that's not true, come to think about it - everybody 'knows' that Lent lasts only one day - Pancake Tuesday. (Which is the day BEFORE Lent)

I suppose the Lent section would just be a row of empty shelves.

I've knitted another pair of slippers to the same pattern as before. It is rare for me to knit the same pattern twice, but I still can't get over the magic way the shapes form themselves as you knit and purl and turn and pass slipped stitch over. I've managed to use up a reasonable amount of some rather dreary greenish-greyish wool I bought several years - decades? - ago. The colour wasn't anywhere near are dull once they were knitted up. Watch out - I may be producing greenish-greyish slippers for everyone for Christmas. Or maybe they would be a suitable subfusc shade for Lent.

However, you may yet all be saved from penitential slippers, as THIS came my way;

Felted Potholders!

You knit them all of a piece, going half way or all the way or some of the way along each row, and I am so looking forward to seeing how they are constructed. I'm just waiting for the wool to be delivered, and then all other work will cease. Once you have made them, you wash them in the washing machine to make it become felt.

It's the topology that I find fascinating; how a single strand can be manipulated into the three-dimensional shape. I once knitted a little jacket for number one son when he was a baby - the whole thing was knitted all in one piece and then folded together like this and like that and sewn up here and there and - surprise! - a jacket. I've kept it - one day I'll inflict a photograph on you.

There is no other news - we've refilled the bird feeders, I've changed the January wreath outside the front door for a crochet twine bag of daffodils. You can have a picture of that in the morning if it is still there; storm Ciara is currently trying to undo the wire holding it in place and it is dark and rainy and wet out there. McCavity the cat hasn't sneezed for a week, apart from this afternoon - she was sneezing for a whole week at the end of January. 

We have snowdrops and crocuseses and primulas in the garden. One of the new shrubs looks as though it might have spring flowers but we'll just have to wait and see. The birds are making themselves heard as though it might even be Spring.

As I said - no real news. After the ups and downs ever since last Autumn, I'm more than happy with that.