Wednesday May 31st - month end

 Vicky-the-gardener came today with three cardoon plants! I am so excited! We have planted them against the fence; I wonder what our neighbours will think when they suddenly appear?

Tuesday 30th May - Water...

I've been trying to drink more for a while now. I know some 'experts' recommend drinking what seem to me to be huge amounts of water every day, but around 2 litres per day, including soup, coffee, tea, is what I'm aiming for in a fairly relaxed way.

Before I started on this I knew I hadn't been drinking enough; half a glass when I took my pills, a glass with lunch, another at supper... No, definitely not enough.

Drinking more has been quite easy to achieve; a whole 250ml glass three times a day for pills, water with every meal, and I'm at 1.5l already. A couple of mugs of tea or a smoothie during the day and I'm there.

I have just gone out to refill my glass. We're watching 'Britain's Got Talent' and and there's a man threatening to insert all kinds of ironmongery into his nose or mouth and I really don't want to watch, so it's a perfect moment to leave the room.

Phew. He's gone, and been replaced with the most wonderful male voice choir. Much better.

Tuesday 30th May - knitty gritty - socks.

I'm blogging this to give me half a chance of not lising my notes!

This is how I made my toe-up, forethought, weird pointy heel socks.

They fit surprisingly well!

I used 2.5mm Addi Crasy Trio dpns (I strongly recommend these!) and enough sock yarn  - 100g - and some spare contrasting sock yarn. Instructions wre derived from  thespruce.com, louisetilbrook.net and also 'Arne & Carlos easiest socks' and other youtube tutorials. 

The addi crasy dpns come in a set of three, all having a length of bendiness in the middle like circular needles. Otherwise you might be better off using 5 dpns so you can spread your stitches across 4 needles, at least for the increasing and decreasing sections.

Here goes... this is what I do for my English shoe size 5 feet, about 9.5 inches long from hel to toe

cast on 16 stitches and divide between the 2 addi crazy needles or 4 dpns. You will be left with an opening to sew closed, so second time around I did a provisional cast on, and grafted the seam later. Much neater, and actually much easier!

Divide them between 2 addi crasy dpns and join in the round. 

Increasing; 

Round 1; K needle 1 and needle 2

Round 2; for needle 1, K1, K through back and front, K2 to last to stitches, K through back and front, K1. Do the same for needle 2.

If you are using 4 needles, then for needle 1 and 3, K1, Kthrough back and front, K to end, and for needles 2 and 4, K to last 2 stitches, K to last 2 stitches, K through back and front, K last stitch.

I now have 20 stitches!

Repeat rounds 1 and 2 until you have 60 stitches.

Then just knit round and round and round until it is 7.5 inches from cast on and it is time to mark the heel. I've read that generally this point is 2-2.5 less than the overall foot length.

Marking the heel

It is important that the line of the waste yarn is in the same plane as the line of the cast on! Otherwise you will end up with the heel sticking out from the side!

Using the waste yarn, knit across crasy needle 1, or needles 1 and 2 if you are using 4 dpns for your stitches. Leave decent tails. Pick up the real yarn LEAVING PLENTY OF SLACK FOR WEAVING IN LATER and carry on across remaining stitches as though nothing has happened. 

I've summarised the measurements and instructions for myself on a paper ruler that cane with one 9f my notebooks. This lives in the cloth bag along with the yarn and a 2.5mm crochet hook for grappling with dropped stitches!

Leg

Continue going round and round until leg is 1 inch short of required length, and do 2 x 2 or 1 x 1 rib for last bit. Use a stretchy bind off method. 

Heel

Pick up the stitches above and below the waste yarn, removing the yarn as you go, so you have 30 stitches above and 30 below.

Now reverse the process for the toe, doing K2tog instead of K through front and back, until you have 8 stitches left on each needle. Leave a long tail of yarn when you start.

 Graft together, or bind off and sew closed.

Finishing

Weave in the end at the cuff, and use the long tails of yarn at the heel to close the gaps at the join between heel and main part of the sock. 

Monday 29th May - another couple of steps forward

 I've successfully made coffee today¡

I've completed a suduko without making a mistake!

And I've even dared to a little bit of cross stitch. But it's unlikely I will be putting it in the post in time to get to Ang before the end of the month... hopefully I'll finish in the next day or so. There's not a lot left to do.

I'm just trying to take things slowly; I'm desperate to plant out the four or five beans and one pea that have germinated,  and sow more carrots as only two plants have come up. I ate one of the four radishes that grew, and have left the three lettuces and two spring onions to carry on. The seeds I sowed at the end of April have been almost a complete failure, so I'll just throw some more on and see what happens. 

Sunday 28th May - the proof is provided by the coffee machine...

Am I 'better'? I have two tests of 'wellness'; can I reliably complete a fairly straightforward suduko? and can I reliably operate the nespresso machine? The answer to both questions is 'not yet'.

I am constantly making small mistakes in the suduko program, so that the numbers I just entered flash up RED; grrr,

and as for the coffee machine...

He likes a straightforward espresso. Simple. If you remember to check the reservoir is full so that it doesn't try and pump air instead of water (ooops, that was close) and can remember whether he wanted the red pid or the dark one, and remember to pour away the plain hot water which do run first to heat the cup before make the espresso... I like mine with hot milk; so even more room for error. The microwave's shortest setting is 10 seconds and it takes 15 for the milk to suddenly boil over... I've lost count of the number different ways I have failed to produce two espressos without mishap this week!

Ah well, things continue to improve. 

Knitting; I was concerned that the yarn I had used for the provisional cast on was a bit fluffy so I paused in going round and round and round (ideal brainless knitting) and did the 'grafting' or 'Kitchening' the toe thing.

I was right to be concerned; unpicking the cast on and getting the stitches on the needles was a bit of a pig,

But the grafting was very straightforward and I am delighted with the appearance. 

Cross Stitching

This is Ang's May piece. It's very pretty.

I've sorted out how I'm going to finish mine, but daren't go near with needle and thread until I can complete a suduko AND make our coffees without disasters...

 

Saturday 27th May - To and fro, here and there...

 Another day of 'possessing myself in patience'. But I am definitely improving.

I read for a bit (have finished a young adult fantasy book called 'The Left handed Booksellers of London', by Garth Nix, which I started yesterday because it was only 99p on Amazon Kindle)

and wandered out into the garden to commune with the broad beans. They have such a calming effect for some reason.

Then I came in, and took out the knitting I did yesterday - there was something very wrong, either with the shape of my toes, or the shape of the knitting. The knitting was going to be much easier to alter than my feet. Also, I have been having misgivings about the feel of the wool - it's not worth putting the effort into knitting socks if they are going to end up all 'itchy'. I shall use it up, no fear, probably knitting hats for charity.  

Then I ambled out to the kitchen and stare out of the window, and back to the settee and started the next book - 'Ayala's Angels' by Anthony Trollope (free on Kindle!). It was mentioned in a very light-weight romantic comedy, 'The Tall Stranger' by D E Stevenson (99p on Kindle!) which I downloaded and read in the two or three days before the Garth Nix book. (Yes, after several misunderstandings and wrong turnings, the right girls marry the right men, and all ends happily every after, never fear).

Then I spent time watching youtubes on how to do 'Kitchener stitch', having read Annabeth's comment on yesterday's post. 

Annabeth's instructions, and the video, have made everything crystal clear. Then I had a brainwave; if I leaned how to do a 'provisional cast on', I could do Kitchener Stitch on the toe as well!

So I have started another sock with a provisional cast on. Those of you with L o n g memories will recognise the yarn from the dreaded 'twice-knit' socks, the first I ever made using sock yarn and tiny needles, which took over a year to complete after many trials and tribulations. I have enough left over to make another pair... 

After lunch I went upstairs for a snooze, and Radio 3 this time. I have no recollection of what was being played, apart from waking to a lovely bit of Scottish violin playing.

And downstairs again. And television again. And knitting again. And into the garden again... sticking to anything, or being in one place for long is beyond me at the moment.

I have a hankering to make a sort of folded A3 booklet. I came across Shaun Levin's website about 5 years ago and have bought a few over the years. He creates these A3 booklets on heavy paper, either on 'how to write' topics, or as periodic collections of short stories, poems and art works (the A3 review)    

I find the writing topic books irresistible, but I'm not sure how useful they really are. That doesn't seem to matter. I just want to collect the set, because, well, there's something about collecting sets of things... I'm not so smitten with the A3 Review series which is a mercy when it comes to exercising self control.

So, when I have run out of energy or attention span for knitting, or reading, or watching, or listening, I can do thinking about how I would go about creating one/some, and what I would put in it/them.

Unfortunately cross-stitching isn't happening at the moment; that requires too much concentration. Maybe tomorrow. I have to chart something more to fill the empty spaces. Ang has sent me her May stitching. I'll post about it tomorrow.   

Friday 26th May - "Step out of the traffic!"

To explain the title;

I am quoting from Psalm 46, verse 10, in 'The Message' version - a modern language paraphrase written by Eugene Petersen. Traditionalists will know this verse better as 'Be still (and know that I am God)'.

Love it or loathe it, The Message Bible is well worth reading for its surprising reworking of familiar passages. 

This is exactly what is happening to me at the moment - or rather I feel as though I have been PUSHED out of the main flow, like a leaf that was floating on the current of a river suddenly being swirled into a back eddy and still, calm water. In other words, I am not well. I am not exactly ill, but definitely Not Well. So, I have the antibiotics, and they are having the usual effect of wiping me out. 

I have about ten minutes of typing before mental shutdown... I can read for ten minutes, listen to the radio for ten minutes, knit for ten minutes; (the sock I started a few days ago - double knitting so it is growing quickly),  

think about a new project for ten minutes, watch television for ten minutes - and then I mentally slow down to a crawl and rest for... a little while.

I want to sow my new seeds which were delivered earlier in the week - CARDOONS! I am so excited!

 Ever since I saw the first one - where ? Nyman's Gardens? The Prairie Garden at Henfield? I have no idea - I have wanted to have cardoons, or maybe just one cardoon, of my very own. Wouldn't two be better? Wouldn't one on its own be lonely? Anyway, I can't do anything about them now, and there's no use counting cardoons before they have germinated.

I've also managed to finish the second pair of socks which have been in progress for most of this year; (Technical talk - they are Arne and Carlos 'easiest socks in the world' and have strangely triangular heels, none of this 'turning a heel' hassle, and fit surprisingly well. The heel sort of rounds itself out when you put them on, but I MUST learn how to graft the heel rather than cast off and sew it closed.)

Right, time's nearly up. I've done 'afternoon snooze in bed', gently lulled to sleep by Gardener's Question Time on Radio 4, (amazing effect of sun shining through patterned glass at the top of the stairs as I came back down) 

and I've done 'siting outside in the sun with a pot of tea and reading'

and I am resigned to living a quiet, but hopefully not

life for a couple of days while the antibiotics do their stuff. Which they usually do quite quickly, especially if I give up all ideas of doing anything strenuous while they are doing their work.

Ten minutes is up. Back tomorrow...

    

Monday 22nd May - another 'day of rest?'

 Fancy that; two quiet days in a row... (be careful what you wish for; if this carries on I'll start thinking everything's boring...)

The weather has turned, I've 'cast a clout' again (no thermal vest ot t-shirt today) and done really not very much. We've even got the hose out and watered some plants that were put into the flowerbeds a few days ago.

The first task of the day was to try and rescue myself from chaos; not the dining room table which has been the usual scene of chaos in years gone by, but the settee where I usually sit;

The heaps of books are definitely Out Of Control.

I was able to restore order without moving from the other side of the settee;

 Tomorrow's task will to deal with all the stuff I removed, currently in heaps on the dining room table.

The other task I dealt with was one I had been putting off; scanning various documents and photographs into the computer. Of course it hardly took any time at all.. like all these things, I spend more time sighing and procrastinating than actually getting it done.

Ah well. If I haven't got my head round it in well over half a century (gulp) I'm unlikely to change now!

Sunday 21st May - Peace at last...

 

It's a bit early for bedtime. 

But today has been gently productive. 

First of all I went into the garden to see if my sweet peas had survived; oh yes! There are still 18 little plants!

I swapped over the contents of my old shed into the new one; that was heavy work; and identified half a dozen china pots for indoor plants that can go to the charity shop. When I was doing more piano teaching I used to get maybe four or five poinsettias every Christmas, several in red or gold pots, so now I have far too many!

While we were following the church service, which is live-streamed, I knitted a couple of rounds of the sock heel. When I go back to church 'for real' I don't know how I will cope without bringing some knitting along...

I stitched another bit of the cross country collaborative cross-stitch.

My father rang, pretty pleased with his first go at microwave scrambled eggs last night.

We had more of the soup for supper tonight.

Basic Soup

1 bag of sgraffito mixed veg from Waitrose, or else dice 2 onions, carrots, and celery. Soften in some olive oil, then add 1 litre of beef stock (I used a cube), mixed with a tablespoon of tomato paste and a little garlic paste if you like. When the carrots are soft, add a diced potato and a good handful or two of orzo pasta, the sort that looks like rice. And also a handful of French beans cut into 1cm lengths. Simmer until it is done, check the seasoning (I didn't need to add any salt, and the pasta and potato absorbed any saltiness from the stock cube). Add water if it needs it.

This made around 8 portions of soup, so we still have 4 portions to go in the freezer.

Oh, and I got the Wordle word today in two - yes, mostly luck, I know!

Saturday 20th May - suddenly everything is happening at once

Why didn't I post on Wednesday? I really have no idea. I'd have to look in my diary to find out. I think it is the day I had a parcel of second hand books and a dozen sweet pea plug plants delivered, and also a lovely catch-up zoom with friends as well a couple of piano lessons to teach. Oh, and himself prepared the base for another little sentry-box shed for garden furniture.

Thursday is when it all began to unravel hour by hour.

I will gloss over my father ringing first thing to let me know that he had set the fire alarms off the previous evening at the sheltered housing place where he lives. Suffice it to say it was a good test of the rapid response and effectiveness of the care staff, fire brigade and paramedic, and all's well that ends well. 

The sentry box shed went up; clearing the area involved moving a lot of gardening stuff, was was heavy work.

Our kitchen sink blocking in the afternoon was the next event. More heavy work, emptying the cupboard under the sink, undoing and clearing a U-bend (surely this amount of blockage couldn't have been caused by a single green bean lodged in the bend?) and pulling out the washing machine. We have a home service contract with the gas board, so we called them as everything was still blocked.

'The earliest we can get to you is maybe Tuesday sometime,'. I started looking up last minute weekend breaks! No way was I going to hang about in a house with a blocked kitchen sink for 'maybe' four or five days. Luckily we found someone to come out on Friday, and they fixed it.

Meanwhile, there was my father's shopping to fit in. Thursday was no good - he'd gone out for the day. I was just praying that the man for the kitchen sink would come in the morning, so that we could do the shopping and take it round to the flat in the afternoon - and that prayer was answered.

BUT, when we got into the car to take the shopping round to my father's flat, it was time for the next 'surprise'. On turning the key, the car just said 'click'. We tried again. 'Click'. Third time lucky? Phew. We drove to the flats, planning how we would deal with the possibility that the car would not start when we wanted to leave...

Thinking about it, our poor little panda now gets started 9 times a week for very short trips;

Home to the flats to pick my father; from the flats to his bridge club; home again. That's 3 starts 

The same in reverse; another 3 starts.

And on shopping days; home to the supermarket, supermarket to the flats, flats and home again. Another 3 starts,and each journey averaging a bare mile.     

The car started when we left to go home, and we took the long road, about 20 miles round, to make sure the battery was charged! I must admit we did enjoy the drive through all the little villages, and up onto the downs. It seems ok now.

Today I had 18 sweet peas to plant out. That took me all morning and afternoon.

These were a gift from a friend; I'm hoping the copper tape and the grit will discourage the slugs and snails. SNAILS! There are scores of them, everywhere I look. I actually lost a snail - I had put it to one side to deal with it in a minute or so, and it RAN away! I kid you not.

I also have another 2 large pots, and 2 small pots at the back. I've run out of tape, but we had a couple of bags of 'Slugs be gone' wool pellets so I've used those.

I'm hoping there might be 18 sweet peas still there tomorrow...

I think this might be a glass of whisky night.

We have had a trial at making scrambled eggs in his microwave, ''well, I never knew it was so simple,' he said. 

And we have switched his hob off. 'Good idea' he said.

He has two, 1pt pyrex glass bowls which he uses to make his porridge, so I used one of those.

Crack 2 eggs into the bowl, add a lump of butter and a splosh of milk and stir it all up.

His microwave only goes up to 800 W, and he also keeps an extra pyrex plate in it (why? no idea), so if he zaps it for a minute, it is starting to cook, and the rim of the bowl is still only just warm.

Take it out and give it all another stir; and it is likely that the residual heat in the base of the bowl will finish cooking the eggs while he assembles the buttered toast. 

You nay need to alter the timings for your own microwave and equipment,

,  

Tuesday 16th May - A Gentle Day

It took a while to work out what to wear. On the whole I avoid putting part-worn clothes back in cupboards or drawers, but with weather as changeable as it is at the moment what I wore yesterday will be too cold for today, and today's choices will be too warm/cold for tomorrow...

which is why ended up with two fleece jackets (one if which should be on the hooks downstairs but I was wearing it all yesterday evening) and a warm shirt and a lightweight fleece top all draped on the bedpost at the foot of the bed;

with my jeans, socks, a thermal vest and a sweater all lying on the bed ready for me to choose from.

I've ended up with the shirt and a fleece jacket, and returned the downstairs outdoor fleece to the hall. Turns out it was just about right for today, but what about tomorrow? 

Cross-stitch; I've cut out two day's worth of stitching and restitched one day's worth today. It looks a lot better so I'm glad I finally decided to do this.

I had a problem with my oxygen saturation levels today; the only reason I can think of was maybe not drinking enough yesterday and the day before and being a bit over-tired. 

In the end I recognised my grumpy, irritable mood, and general sleepy lethargy for what they were; Not a real state of mind, but symptoms low O2 levels. I checked, and it was around 80%! Usually I can get back to a more reasonable 90-93% with deep breathing and resting but not this time.

Half an hour on the portable oxygen concentrator did the trick; within ten minutes I suddenly became cheerful, my eyes stopped feeling heavy and I was able to potter around happily again. It's a nifty little unit that I can carry about like a slightly heavy handbag - so easy and convenient. 

My current Audible listen is 'Thornyhold' by Mary Stewart. I have read this several times before, and for some reason the combination of the story and the narrator does a lovely job of sending me to sleep in about 15 minutes. I mean no disrespect to author or narrator; this is exactly what I look for in a bedtime story. David Suchet reading the Bible has exactly the same effect but it seems disrespectful to choose this for its soporific qualities. 

When ever I read or write the word 'soporific' I always think of 'The Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies' and how they fell asleep after eating too many of Mr MacGregor's lettuces 

Monday 15th May - Nothing to see here

 I didn't write a post for Monday as I had nothing to say. It was a 'little' day; little things happened. Not a 'dull' day by any means; I managed to fill the page in my diary with the little things that filled the hours. 

Like, is it interesting to the wider world that we cleared the shed some more, or that I finally twigged that when a particular piano pupil says she 'hasn't done much' with this or that piece, has only done 'a bit' of practice on another, it's not the same as me at that age, wriggling out of admitting I've done no work, but means she's only done about 15 minutes a day on each of them and they are not perfect yet! And a friend kindly brought me a little pot of sweet peas to plant in the garden.

So we watched the second half of an old Poirot, enjoying the clothes and the general style of the sets, and waiting for Hastings to say 'Good Lord' in a shocked/surprised/amazed tone of voice, and toddled off to bed. 

Sunday 14th May- a day of rest

After all the extentions of yesterday, I might have expected to have slept like a log. 

Not so; it was a 'non-sleeping' night, when my brain just does not stop. Not, worrying, but just.... one thing after another, jumping around like a flea. Seeing if I can remember the rhythms for the various different sambas I used to teach;

 playing Debussy's 'The girl with the flaxen hair' in my head,

Wow, I never knew there was a cello version!

working out how to sew a little lined zipped bag with sashiko stitching...

Why was I doing this instead of sleeping?

So I listened to more of 'the Little Princess' on my headphones, and got so involved in the story that I listened right to the end.

Then I overslept in the morning, and didn't feel like doing anything all day.

There has been a problem with the local water supply today, an excellent excuse for putting off a whole load of tasks. We filled 5 jugs, the kettle and, most importantly,  the coffee machine, and then had a lazy day.

Apart from a sudden brief frenzy of clearing part of the garden shed, that it, as it needs to be ready for some major DIY next week.

Saturday 13th May - dare I belive that Spring has arrived?

I might wait a day or two before I commit to Spring. I cast clouts as the day went on; after yesterday when I got very cold working outside I had gonecback to three layers; shirt, jumper and fleece. By the afternoon it was warm enough to potter about in the garden without fleece or jumper.

So what was I doing all day?

Well, as usual, one small task led to another...

I checked on my little baby plants and they all looked OK. Himself added the side supports to the lid of the cold frame so I don't need to use a couple of bricks to keep the lid closed - job done!

I started preparing some tubs to plant potatoes, and then had a think; and changed my mind. I was sure there were some growing sacks for potatoes in my little shed... yup, but to getto them I had to clear out and tidy the shed, including sorting out the bird food and refilling the feeders. That left the area around the shed in a bit of a state, so I needed to s9rt out the jumble of pots, tubs, chicken wire etc...

Now, the veg patch

and the adjoining 'yard'

are looking pretty good. You might have spotted a garden chair in the first picture.  It is my delight to sit there in the sun and just admire the broad beans. I can't wait until they are flowering. It is such a peaceful spot, but only if it is all organised and tidy.

The next question was where to grow my potatoes? 

There's just space at the side of the house, the area I call the nursery. More shuffling of pots, and also unzipping the left hand greenhouse to let some of the heat escape.

I found some forgotten potatoes in the hall, four of them sprouting enthusiastically.  I've used two, and ordered 2 more sacks to plant the rest of them. More pot moving first; but I'm hoping that the salvias will all settled into the flower bed soon.

The temperature is dropping and I've just been out to close the greenhouse and the cold frame.

I have earned 2000 steps just walking here and there, up and down, with frequent pauses to consider my next move or catch my breath. Well worth the effort!

'Mrs Miniver' continues to make me chuckle. And in my Audible night-time listening, currently 'The Little Princess', poor little Sarah Crewe has just had her life turned upside down. Children were treated appalling in times gone past; I know that Sarah Crewe's trials are a work of fiction,  but the idea that you would take, or send your young children to live with strangers and not see them again for several years... and one of the other girls in Miss Minchin's most select seminary is only 4 years old... 

I remember one of Rudyard Kipling's short stories - was it called 'Black Sheep'? was about his own experience of this happening to him.

On the whole things are better nowadays.

Friday 12th May - more post, more procrastination

I spent this morning procrastinating. (So what's new?). I got my diary and computer all ready to get on with some admin and emails and sorting dates...

but was distracted by remembering some washi tape and stickers a friend had given me...

The problem I have is being able to turn up the relevant page in my diary as they all look so similar.

So I did this for next week

and this for the following week.

and so didn't get the admin etc done until this evening.

While we were having lunch there was a tremendous clatter in the hall. We looked at each other...

it was the arrival of a package containing my 72 plug plants in a surprisingly small package

Here they are, each in their own plastic thimble.

Then another delivery, my father’s walking stick, in a surprisingly Large package!

The first thing was to pot up all the tiny plants; verbena, 2 sorts of petunias, barcopa, lobelia, zonal geraniums, busy lizzie and 2 sorts of begonias, garzinnies - 12 different sets in all but I've forgotten 2.

I filled the zippy greenhouse, but still had nearly 3 dozen tiny plants to go, which precipitated the mending of the lid for the cold frame. This was accomplished by the time I had finished doing all the plants, including scouring the shed and garden for a couple more pots. (The number of times I have nearly recycled the ridiculous stack of pots cluttering up everywhere!)

We had just enough time to nip round to my father’s with the stick before I was due to start teaching again.

A good day's work.

Books; I've downloaded a copy of 'Mrs Miniver' by Jan Struther (she also wrote poetry and children’s hymns such as 'When a Knight won his spurs' and 'Lord of all hopefulness') I did so because it was referenced so often in the opening chapter of 'A very great profession ' by Nicola Beaumont which I had started reading. It is enjoyable light reading about life for what I think of as 'Country Life' people, (as opposed to country people), well-written and amusing.

'A very great profession ' is a well-researched book about the lives of the kind of women who read, swrite, and were the subject, of women's fiction between the wars. Authors such as Molly Clavering, Elizabeth Taylor (not the filmstar), DE Stevenson and so on. It sounds dry, but isn't.

Thursday 11th May - new skills, full to-do-list, chocolate o'clock,

The new skill I acquired today was how to unpick a whole line of my current cross stitching with scissors!!! I have avoided using scissors until now, but this time it was unavoidable. I did try to see if I could redo the chart for the remaining half - let me tell you it would have been far quicker to just accept the inevitable...

However, the various charts I tried did give me some more ideas so I am hoping that the result of exercising patience and self-control will result in a better finished piece. So far, so good, especially now I have removed the offending area!

Various things added themselves to the to-do list as the day went along; for example giving the back door mat a good clean. Why would one do that? Ah, therein lies a tale.

Personally, I always carry the entire compost caddy out to 'the worms' as we affectionately call the compost bin. We have switched to using brown paper bags for the kitchen waste as it decomposes better, and I don't trust them in the situation where the scraps and peelings are a bit soggy, just in case this

happens... which, as you can see, it DID happen. Those caddies hold a surprising amount of... gunk.

Another item added was the making of a cake; on Thursdays we now go to Waitrose armed with a shopping list provided by my father, and then take it round to his flat and sort through the fridge. This week there were two eggs left from the half dozen, but someone had put a plastic milk bottle on its side above the egg box which had almost disintegrated. We dealt the the puddle, and swapped the eggs over and took the two old ones home. Rather than have eggs which had been soaked in milk hanging around, we made a cake...

Air fryer sponge cake

Make an ordinary 2-egg victoria sponge type recipe (2 eggs, 4oz each sugar, butter, SR flour - maybe a little more flour, in which case add a little milk or coffee essence). Combine - I do 'all-in-one' method, and bake in a suitable container for 23mins at 160C - at least that's what our air fryer needs. Coffee cake for elevenses tomorrow.

Chocolate o'clock has got out of hand. It seems to be happening twice a day! But I have reduced the size of my potion from 4 squares back down to one. Mostly. Quite often. 

 

    

Wednesday 10th May - Treasures in the post

My godfather, well into his 90s, died nearly two weeks ago. I've not been in touch for some years, although I  often thought of him, and I keep the prayer book he gave me for my confirmation, 50 years ago almost to the day, beside my bed. I enjoy the old-fashioned version of the psalms, with the leviathan and other monsters in the deep. The the old prayers are familiar from going to church with my grandmother when I was young. 

They are a bit like Shakespeare; we all quote from them almost without realising; "we have followed the devices and desires of our own hearts" and "we have done those things we ought not to have done, and left undone those things we ought to have done" for example. I ought to have written to him....  there will always be regrets.

His wife will be very busy with funeral attangements, but she has still found time to write to me twice; once to let me know, and then today I received a card from her with a long note, and enclosing two thank you letters I wrote when I was about 6, and 7. He had kept them in his desk... I have certainly left undone the things I ought to have done.

I have many good memories of times with him. He was a good man.

Tuesday 9th May - Hail! and other astonishments

I've just come in from a quick look around the garden, after a sudden thunderstorm with hail hit us early this evening. Luckily everything seemed to have survived.

The salvia 'Armistead' and 'Hotlips' cuttings that I have been nurturing all winter and Spring were out in their pots, waiting to be planted in the borders, and I was worried about them, and also all the little vegetable seedlings but I needn't have feared.

The slugs have found my broad beans; I have encircled some of them with copper tape and will have to take action over the rest very soon.

This morning was mainly shuffling pots about; the dead lavender and rosemary plants are n longer disgracing the front door step, various other pots which are just full of weeds have been dealt with, and I have looked out 72 little flowerpots for when the plug plants arrive in a few days. We have also worked out how to repair the very, very cheap cold frame I bought a year or so ago. The plastic transparent sheet that forms the hinged lid had crumbled into holes due to the sun. But we still have a large transparent piece of plastic which was used to protect the floor from an office chair that we were using. Today we checked, and it will just about fit, so can be fixed to the old lid frame. Excellent.

This afternoon I was at last ready to chase after the osteoporosis treatment I should have received back in 2020, but since then, there's been 

Covid lockdowns, a routine right heart catheter for me (bit like an angiogram but not quite), various accidents and alarms with my father, Himself's cataract appointments, my medication change which left me seriously breathless (turns out the original dose was exactly right and reducing it did me no favours), and then my pancreas scare 

time can certainly fly when you are 'having fun'. 

I sat down with diary, telephone and the number of the hospital department and settled down for a long wait and explanations. Wow! What happened there? I got through straightaway, the medical secretary consulted her computer and noted I had a telephone appointment which had been cancelled (what? when? by whom? I didn't even know about it!) for THIS THURSDAY, as in the day after tomorrow! It has been reinstated, and so it is being set in motion again without any more waiting. 

This astonishing event left me completely at a loss - a cup of tea, Pukka 'Feel New' seemed most appropriate;

I'm not sure that I actually 'feel new', but certainly revived.

Let's post this NOW as I am about to write up piano lesson plans for yesterday's lessons and may feel a bit jaded after that!   

Monday 8th May - In and out of the garden

It has been a grey day for most of the day, but I managed to get quite a bit done. I go out every day to encourage the broad beans. They give me a ridiculous amount of pleasure. I just stand and contemplate the little leaves bravely pushing up through the soil.

Not all the peas have come up, so I have planted another dozen or so in individual pots so that I haveca Plan B. And with the help of Himself, doing the heavy work of filling the bigger pots, the three tomato plants are now in their 'forever' homes.

Cross Stitching - 

it's always a big relief when I get to the point of starting to stitch. I spent an hour this morning, only unpicking about four times - not bad for getting back into the rhythm after a break of over a week.

Knitting - 

I've managed to unpick and reknit the cuff of one sock, and learned a stretchy bind off from youtube which is easy to do. So that sock is finished, and I have undone the cuff of the other sock, and picked up (most) of the stitches. Is the end in sight? We shall see.

Drawings - 

I copied this from a photograph, the idea being to draw a picture of this church on a card I wanted to send, This is the practice version,  which I drew in my diary which is why it is on dot paper. It's quite small, around three or four inches square.

Would it look better with a bit of colour added? I think so... (the first picture was taken in daylight, the second with the main light on)

In the end I scanned, printed and stuck a copy onto the card because I was running out of time.

Sunday 7th May - nah, I don't think I will

 watch the Coronation Concert tonight.

Well, I can tell you I woz wrong.

Our Canadian friends wanted to watch, so by hook and by crook through the wonders of the Internet we managed to fix it, and started watching it on zoom together, and we were hooked! I'm so grateful to them for causing us to watch it.

They discovered it was being broadcast on Canada, so we bade them farewell and watched it in our respective countries on our respective televisions. 

If you missed it, hunt on iplayer and watch. I particularly want to listen to the Prince of Wales' short and excellent speech again (around 9.45 pm).

And as for the lighting effects... Wow.

Saturday 6th May - After the Coronation

 They must be exhausted, all of them, from the people working behind the scenes right along to King Charles and Camilla.

It was a grand occasion,  and I am so glad to have watched it.

Friday 5th May - Such a day, such a day

I think it is going to take a very long blog post to cover today, and yesterday, and probably the day before.

This morning was the dentist, a bit of a long morning, as Himself had over an hour's work finishing off replacing crowns and bridge work. I just had a check up. 

This new dentist just peers intently at my teeth, using special magnifying glasses and a bright narrow-beam light, barely poking at my teeth at all. After years of dentists scritching and scratching and picking at my teeth this is a welcome change!

do you remember that toothpaste advertisement on TV; 'no fillings today, Mum!'? Well that was me today!

Home, but no lunch as himself was still too numb to eat. But there were other excitements as we approached the drive. The entrance was blocked by a white delivery drive - hurrah - we were just in time to sign for a piece of tech (a new kindle reader) which Himself had ordered, before realising there was a very good risk that we would be out and unable to sign for it! That was a real distraction from lunch.

A further distraction was the arrival of a very snazzy rollator for my father.

  Which as you can see fits into the boot of our Fiat Panda with ease. We have unpacked it and set it up to take round on Sunday.

After that we put up the bunting. That makes five houses decorated so far at our end of the road - maybe more people will join in tomorrow.

While I had my phone with me I had a little walk round the garden; EVERYTHING that I sowed in the vegetable plot has come up! That is just so cheering. For some reason it is the broad beans (crimson flower again) that makes me the happiest. They look so eager and energetic, pushing through the soil.

The tulips are still bright and attractive; we are holding off dealing with the forget-me-nots which are very exuberant this year until they have finished flowering.

The 'nursery' is fairly well-stocked at the moment;

The salvia Armistead cuttings are in the 'holey' zippy greenhouse, having been moved from the newer zippy greenhouse to make room for french bean and borlotti bean seeds.

Here are three tomato plants, Gardener's Delight, Alicante and Beefy Beefsteak, and some herbs from the supermarket which will restock the herb garden in the next few days. 

Oh yes, every part of our rather small garden is labelled in my mind; the nursery, yard, vegetable, herb and woodland and wildlife gardens, the sunny border, shady border, lawn, container garden, lower patio and upper terrace... one day (in my dreams) I will have signs, like in a 'real' garden, directing the way to each area... and maybe the number of paces, as opposed to yards, to reach the destination...

I will post on the Cross Country Stitching Project another time - suffice it to say I have the idea for May clear in my mind and can start charting. Phew, because nearly a week has gone!

Thursday 4th May - and may the fourth be with you...

 There, that's got that out of the way, I don't it think matters that I've said it at the end of the day, unlike white rabbits which needs to be said first thing, or April Fools which need to be over and done with by noon?

Yesterday and today have been a bit chockablocka, tomorrow will be a visit to the dentist and as for Saturday, well we all know what Saturday will bring; 

an ultrasound scan on my gall bladder to decide if it is a polyp that showed up on the MRI scan way back in January,  or a gall stone. Either way nothing will need to be done, but it's good to know.

Oh yes, and the Coronation... how could I forget. I watched an astonishing programme about how the dress uniforms are made, in a British factory, using silk velvet from Spain, red woollen cloth from Yorkshire, and all the metalwork (buttons, cap badges and the shiny helmets) all made in Birmingham. There was a man, an armourer, moulding the helmet by hand using a machine that defies description 'there are only 2 people who know how to do this' he said, without pausing in the work.

We shall look out the bunting and drape it over bushes in the front garden tomorrow in readiness for The Day.

Tuesday 2nd May - Green Explosion

 I suppose the title is rather misleading - I am referring to the blossom on the apple tree at the bottom of the garden, and the way all the trees around where we live have suddenly burst into leaf, all at once, it seems. 

Last week there were just hints that this might happen; today - whoosh! Even the oaks have (belatedly, as always) realised that it's time to get a move on.

I foolishly attempted to cast a clout last week, but I have gone back to three layers of clothes as a matter of course. The difference is that I am slightly too warm when I settle in the sitting room in the morning, and then find myself coming to the boil when I am working or giving a music lesson at the back of the house in the afternoon!    

Monday 1st May - Promising start to May, weather-wise

The weather looked pretty good today, apart from a short, fierce shower of rain...

Himself had gone for walk and to post the cross stitch parcel, so I rang him up to ask if he wanted a lift home as I knew he was wearing a showerproof, as opposed to waterproof jacket. It was very disconcerting to hear him answer the call from upstairs. Turns out he had returned, said 'hi', I had answered, all about fifteen minuted ago. Shows how much I was paying attention.

Coincidentally I tripped across this on another blog (spinsterstitcher.blogspot.com) this morning;

Indeed.

The Molly Clavering book - 'Mrs Lorimer's Quiet Summer' was so right for my current state of mind that I hunted to see if I had any more - yes, two, which I read last year, or maybe the year before. I vaguely remember the plots, but not enough to matter. So I have started 'Touch not the nettle' which is a little awkward, because the other one, 'Susan Settles Down' comes first. Am I bothered? Not really!

Our book club choice is 'The Instant', a memoir by Amy Liptrot. I have started it, and t is interesting, but not a 'light' read. A couple of pages, and my head is full of things that need thinking about. One of the other suggestions was Joan Bakewell's memoir 'The tick of two clocks' sounds much more the sort of thing that I would enjoy, and I will buy a copy anyway. 

Buying second hand books from the 'World of Books' website is my current pleasure, although I haven't failed to notice that when I send old books back to them (via ziffit) they give me pence, but charge me pounds when I buy them! (Fair enough though - staff, storage, postage....)

    

Sunday 30th April - And so to bed...

I forgot to post this post!!! 

Here endeth an eventful week... 

I have packaged up the cross stitch for April, but there was no rush to get it into a post box, as today is Sunday and tomorrow's a Bank Holiday.

We took my father for his covid booster this morning. They offered us the option of having it done in the car - what a brilliant idea! We sat in the car with doors and windows open to enjoy the sunshine and birdsong and in due course someone appeared with a tray of syringes going from one vehicle to the next. I asked if I could have one too (I hadn't booked, but am allowed a booster because I take immunosuppressant medicines) and she obligingly fetched the appropriate vaccine and did me as well. Unfortunately Himself is underage - irritating,  as it seems to me it would be a good idea for family members of people who are vulnerable to have boosters but hey, who can understand the machinations of The System? 

The whole process took less than an hour door to door.

Here endeth an eventful month; 

Tomorrow will be a new day, a new week and a new month.