Thank you all very much for your helpful comments yesterday. I shall make notes; you've all given me a lot to think about. I'll reply soon.
It's been an 'interesting' and tiring morning, which means I've been taking it very this afternoon. I had a routine zoom consultation with a consultant at the ILD (interstitial lung disease) clinic to review the results of the lung function tests I did at the end of January. Broadly speaking I have stabilised at this new (lower) level after dipping noticeably at the beginning of 2024, so that's good news.
So, instead of an interesting post, may I offer two wonderful performances of Shakespeare; Dame Judi Dench on a Graham Norton show 2 years ago;
And, most amazingly, Sir Ian McKellen on a chat show in the USA a few nights ago!
They deliver the words with such clarity of meaning. If only I had known it could be like this when I was slogging through Shakespeare in boring, boring English lessons at school...
I loved Dame Judi's book 'Shakespeare, the man who pays the rent'. It's fantastic to read, even better to listen to as an audiobook. So 'unstuffy', so real.
We're in the process of doing a comprehensive cooking area (excuse me for not using the k*t*h*n word as I do not want an inundation of advertising comments from b*ts!). The current arrangement dates back to about 40 years ago and at long last we have the chance for a big rethink.
I'd like to swap out our freestanding induction hob cooker for a separate hob and oven, and I'm wondering if anyone has experience of using a counter-top oven, as opposed to a built in one? It just struck me that this might be a cheaper, and in many ways better option to putting in a built-in oven.
I've been observing how we cook. I reckon I only regularly use two of the hobs, plus the main oven, and the air fryer and microwave. Oh, and the kettle and coffee machine and toaster, of course. We also use crock pot and bread maker a couple of times a week.
What appliances do you like using for cooking? Which never see the light of day?
I'm planning to have a shallow pantry cupboard somewhere so that I don't have to delve into the dark recesses to see what tins and packets are lurking at the back, and a carousel for the corner, and drawers for pans instead cupboards. Any other suggestions?
Here's the 'March Past of the Kitchen Utensils' by Vaughan Williams.
When I was teaching class music primary schools the children used to love listening to this - it's a great exercise in keeping up with counting the beats, because the sudden loud chords follow a regular pattern of 8s and 7s. (I've forgotten the pattern but it's easy enough to work it out). Once they'd got the hang of it I could dish out drums and cymbals etc and we could all play along, trying to add our own crashes at the right moment!
Cilla Black singing 'I can sing a rainbow ' (if you are one of the people who dislike this song because it isn't a proper rainbow, please just, skip past! I happen to like it, and anyway those colours have all appeared in my knitting!)
Every page in my diary this month has complaints about grey, damp, dreary, wet, dreich weather. However if I look back over this week, it has been full of bright rainbow colours.
The slippers I made.
The 2By2 patch Ang did;
This one's Ang's, she sent me a Ark, which might be more appropriate considering the amount of rain we've had so far this year. We drove over to Midhurst for tea with 'the children' (what do you call them when they are fully adults?) and the River Arun had filled the fields on both sides.
I've persuaded myself to start sewing up my rainbow cardigan. Remember this?
(My original plan was to finish it in time for Christmas...)
I shared this prayer with Ang because I thought it fitted in with our collaborations so well;
O living God, draw all the fragments of my life into the bright mosaic of your love;
weave all the tangled threads of my desires into the tapestry you are spreading, like a rainbow, on the loom of the world;
and help me celebrate the many facets and the dazzling colours of your peace.
It's written by Julie M. Hulme, no 72 in '1000 prayers' collected by Angela Ashwin.
Ang has posted a truly beautiful version on her blog! I'm very tempted to print it out to keep a copy.
What really caught my attention was the final phrase - 'the dazzling colours of your peace'. Now that is something new to think about; I've always used soft, gentle, pastel colours in my mind when considering the idea of 'peace'.
I'm taking a day or so to think through and consider each line in turn.
I've been winter batch cooking. The freezer is full to bursting but it's all that needs cooking, are there have been so many days recently when summoning up the energy to create a meal from scratch has seemed like too much.
The local corner shop has a COOK freezer selling delicious ready-meals - a terrible temptation! But we can't keep succumbing to it's siren call.
Now I have a winter beef casserole to add to a bacon and pepper pasta sauce and I'm feeling a little bit virtuous. I've also made several portions of winter veg and lentil soup for evening meals. Now I'm feeling even more virtuous! The bonus is that all the chopping up of carrots and celery and onion somehow adds to my step count... what a win!
.....
Here are the finished slipper socks. But not on my feet... the yarn was thicker than the one I used before and they are just a bit too big. I gave them to a friend and she says they are a good fit. She sent me this picture, and said I could share it... they are certainly bright. Much easier to find than my old drab ones.
Did anyone, does*** anyone follow the FlyLady? She was/is a cleaning supremo. When I followed her, many years ago, it seemed her mission was to inspire people who were despairing of every getting on top of cleaning and tidying and clearing up their houses. I couldn't keep up and abandoned her checklists and methods. But I do remember her insistence on putting on proper lace up shoes when you get up.
*** see Ang's comment below, I'm clearly quite behind the times regarding Flylady.
If you flop around barefoot or in socks or slippers all day, she said, it's harder to motivate yourself to put out the rubbish, or do any outdoor jobs.
Well, these past few days I've been wearing slippers with proper rubber soles, and yes, it's so much easier to get past the door step and into the garden, even if it's just a yard or two. Maybe I'll hold off getting started on a new pair of slipper socks for now.
There was one, honest, for about 5 minutes in a short break in the otherwise endless rain today. What a gift.
I can post my final 2By2 stitch now, since I know Ang received it yesterday.
I've sent Ang the right hand one, obviously! I was so excited when I had the idea of doing a nine-patch quilt that I got going straight away. I've recently read 'The House of Silence' by Linda Gillard, and quilts are a feature of the story. One of the unmarried sisters living at a vast, decaying mansion on the bleak East Anglian fens makes endless quilts, including a postage stamp quilt, double bed sized. Imagine it... each patch is the size of an old-fashioned postage stamp.
The advantage is that you only need very small scraps of fabrics, and squares are so much easier to paper piece than hexagons.
I've ysed all the fabrics in previous collaborations except for the 'joy' patch.
Reading left to right, starting at the top;
A recent Christmas choice, a postage stamp print to represent trips to the post box, some Japanese style flowers,
Another Japanese flower, 'joy' from a Christmas print, which is what these collaborations mean to mem and a batik print from the last collaboration
Time spent on the collaborations (a print sent to me by Ang), a Christmas print which I used as the basis for 'Spring' last time, and a print with writing to represent our correspondence.
I pieced the first patch over felt squares which I've left in. It came out rather wonky! The second one is done the traditional way, except I've used thin card instead of paper.
Ang and I have started arranging and stitching them. This is where I've got to;
I'm ending with another rainbow, from Ang's 'Noah's Ark piece;
Sunshine in my heart... the postman has been delivering wonderful things yesterday and today.
A postcard of a favourite NT garden came yesterday; a sunny scene on a rainy day... thank you!
And today a notebook swap from a friend - must post mine to her tomorrow, and a box of delight from Ang; this is her 2by2 stitching in her own words;
I'm in awe of the blacksmith, and also of Ang's piece. Isn't is beautiful 😍
I'll post mine tomorrow when I'm sure Ang has received it.
Today we were blessed with a sunny day, the last until bext week if the weather forecast is to ge believed. I stood on the door step and gazed at the blue sky, noticing the leaves of the bulbs appearing, a few crocuses and the last of our snowdrops. Next-door's daphne wax wafting a lovely fragrance over the fence.
This recording of Dinu Lipatti's last recital at the Besançon Festival is so well known to ne. My mother played it all the time when I was little, and later when she was in hospital she just played it through her headphones on repeat. Schubert's Gflat major impromptu, preceded by sone 'preluding'
Frittering away a bit of time on YouTube I came across this
'O salutaris hostia' by Latvian composer Ēriks Ešenvalds, sung by Voces8.
TEXT
O salutaris hostia,
Quæ cæli pandis ostium:
Bella premunt hostilia,
Da robur, fer auxilium.
Uni trinoque Domino,
Sit sempiterna gloria,
Qui vitam sine termino,
Nobis donet in patria.
Amen.
TRANSLATION
O saving victim,
Who opens the gate of heaven:
Hostile wars press upon us,
Give strength, bring aid.
To the one and triune Lord,
May there be eternal glory,
Who gives us life without end,
In our heavenly homeland.
Amen.
Just, just glorious. Even without the video you can hear the joy in the sound.
I've finished reading 'The Egg and I" by Betty MacDonald. I got it because of a mention in Jane Brocket's newsletter (you can follow her on substack') two Sundays ago. It's an account of the first years of her marriage to a marine who decided to be a chicken farmer, and bought an old farm up in the mountains in the Puget Sound area. It's back in what must be the 1930s, there's no running water or electricity. Be warned though, she has a shocking opinion of the native Americans living nearby. I hope things gave changed since then... it's a very backwards, backwoods community. Some of her stories are hair-raising, others plain hilarious.
I'm now about to start Brian Bilston's "Diary of a Nobody", and I've also been dipping in and out of "My Family and other Animals" by Gerald Durrell for a bit of sunshine, for there sure ain't any change in the weather round hereabouts!
New month, new moon, (we should really call it the Rain Moon, not the Snow Moon), new week...
Same weather, same routine,
It's quite reassuring, I suppose, when life is just a series small surprises, rather than humongous upheavals.
Today's happy little surprises; listening to the dawn chorus while I was having a bath this morning as it was still dark at about 7.30, and spotting daffodils are for sale on Ocado.
That will do me nicely.
Snow, Moon, Flowers by Peter Sculthorpe, played by Jill Morton
The actual date of Candlemas is 2nd February and there are many traditions associated with it.
This picture is hauntingly familiar to me. I managed to track it down to a book called 'My Book of the Church Year' by Enid Chadwick and Peter Kwasiewski, written in 1948. Did I have a copy as a child? Grandmother might have had one, but it's published too late for her children, all born in the 1920s and early 1930s. A mystery.
All the people in my family who could have shed any light on it are now sadly gone. You can find the whole book and all the charming illustrations here.
It's the day for particularly remembering when Jesus was brought to be presented at the temple by Mary and Joseph as their firstborn child.
Simenon, a very old prophet says,
Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace according to thy word.
For mine eyes have seen thy salvation;
Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people;
To be a light to lighten the Gentile and to be the glory of thy people Israel.
(Luke chapter 2, verses 29-32)
This brings me straight back to the phrase I have chosen to sustain me through the year;
'Arise! Shine! For the light has come into the world, and the glory of the Lord is upon us'
Here's my 'following a tree photograph' for the end of January. It's a little witch hazel called Arnold Promise, showing exactly why I wanted a witch hazel;
Isn't it pretty? All those gorgeous little yellow spidery flowers. I couldn't get close enough today to see if they had any scent.
I've left sewing up the brightly coloured cardigan for today - I need time, and physical space, and brain space to do a decent job. So instead I started knitting a new pair of slippers yesterday evening. It's a delightful pattern and I enjoy making them once I have reacquainted myself with the mysteries of 'ssk' and 's1, k2tog, psso'. Not as complicated as they sounded, and very easy after looking at a youtube video. This must be my fifth pair...
Today I finished the uppers.
The garter stitch rows will form the sole and heel, with a seam down the centre of the foot and up the back of the hell. The orange/pink knitting is the top. Like this;
All done, with the assistance of a cup of Jasmine tea. Now to start the next one, while I can remember 'psso' and 'ssk'!
The knitting abbreviations sound like magical charms, like "Treguna Mekoides Trecorum Satis Dee" from 'Bedknobs and Broomsticks' - remember that film? I loved it. I've no idea what that meant but it was on a par with 'supercalifraglisticexpiallidocious' as a great thing to be able to say.
I've succumbed to the Flash advertisements and bought some 'Spray,Wipe, Done!' Chanting that as I cleaned the bathroom and kitchen sinks turned a chore into a rather silly game. Whatever works, whatever works... little things please tiny minds...
I skipped ballet exercises yesterday. They were the last thing on my mind when we got home. But I think I will let myself off; one of the most cross-making things of that day was watching, appalled, as the woman in front of us waiting for the lift to go up to the lung department, or maybe one the respiratory wards, suddenly started sneezing and coughing about ten times without using a handkerchief or even her elbow to cover her mouth and nose. She obviously wasn't thinking about this;
BB and I looked at each other, and headed for the stairs. It was a long climb; the lung function unit is on the 2nd floor, and the rooms in a Victorian hospital have very high ceilings. Coming back down was so much easier. So I reckon that was my leg-strengthening exercise for the day - maybe she did me a favour?
Neck and shoulders today and that will mean 4 weeks in a row completed (Sunday is a day off). Three cheers.
Looking back, yesterday's post was one incoherent mess of typos and unfinished sentences. Heigh ho, and on we go... it's amazing what a difference a good night's sleep and a quiet day can make.
Spring Song, No 2 of 4 Short Pieces by Frank Bridge, played by Yuki Ito, accompanied by Daniel King Smith
Yeah, I'm being ridiculous, I know - Sunday will be February and everything with be different just the same. This week has been long and choppy and literally indigstible.
The last, because scleroderma can affect the body's digestion, making you prone to fairly savage heartburn if you eat too late at night, or the wrong food (creamy food, too much food, etc) later at night. Many years ago we started the pattern of proper lunch somewhere between 12 and 1, and a light supper around 6pm, and very little after then. The latest addition to the meds I (more or less) cheerfully consume everyday is something to be taken around 6.30pm WITH FOOD. In capital letters, stressed by the clinic. Or face the consequences.
BB has been to the dentist three times this week, for two different crowns, which means eating unreasonably early because the appoint was at about 1 (the dentist is an hour's drive away) or unreasonable late when he got back. I'm adding extra strong peppermints to the grocery order - by last night (lunch at 3pm, supper at ugh-I-really-don't-want-to-eat-again-this-side-of-Easter-but-I-suppose-I-have-to-eat-something o'clock).
I 'merely' had blood tests at the beginning of the week and lung function tests in London today.
Hence low visibility in blogger-land this week, both posting and commenting. I have had enough compos for reading posts, but not enough mentis for commenting. Sorry!
I have done some knitting... it has had its moments; when I wasn't paying attention (I think some bloke on the telephone was interrupting me to try as sell a complete refresh of our double glazing... I kept on saying 'But we've already but we've already but we've already' over and over again on top of his continuous patter until he stopped for a moment and I was able to complete the sentence 'got fairly new double glazing everywhere, good-bye'. I suppose I could have just put the handset down with a firm clunk.
When I got back to the cardigan, I nearly tripped over this;
which I eventually resolved into this;
Since then I have picked up the stitches for the neck and completed it. Something isn't quite right; the picture shows a loose, fairly low neck line and this may well be a snugger fit round my neck, but I'm happy with that. Sleeves to add, and side seams, and dealing with all the myriad loose ends, and sewing on buttons. I'll be finished by Easter. You'll be able to see me coming alright!
This week, and next, I'm trying to limit myself to 2-3 'events' per day. Having a bath is an event, as is a zoom, or an outing, or going to my father's flat. Today's trip to London, walking up to the hospital, doing the tests, walking back to the car, stopping off for a late lunch and mooch around the gift shop and a breath of air at Polesden Lacey (National Trust) must count for half a dozen! We fortuitously took the wrong exit at a roundabout just outside Leatherhead, and found ourselves just 20 minutes away from coffee and a toasted sandwich. Considering it was 1pm, there was no need for discussion!
What bliss, to have a break from the noise of travelling and the noise of London. There were three most beautifully behaved dogs in the cafe, a delight to watch.
View through window of cafe
Now it's nearly 6pm, and like it or not, I will have to eat something soon and I guess BB is more than ready for something more substantial than soup.
So, toodle-oo - and hopefully I will resume my normal hither and thither and here and there life very soon.
Oh, Lynda was first to ask about the book 'Maiden's Trip', so it will be on its way to Canada shortly. And the 2by2 stitching will also be en route for Norfolk!
'For Now I am Winter', omposed by Olafur Arnals, lyrics by Arnor Dan, performed by Voces8
Oh dear oh dear oh dear! Where has all my get-up-and-go gone!
I am lamenting the lack of biscuits and chocolate in the house. I know exactly why this is - I ate the whole lot yesterday while I was flopped on the settee. Thank heavens the biscuit tin and chocolate o'clock tin were both heading for empty already.
A high spot of Sunday morning reading is the weekly newsletter from Jane Brockett ('the gentle art of domesticity' author, and creator of the persephone books posts). She writes on substack.
This Sunday she wrote on kettles, and this was one of the pictures she chose;
I love it, for it's casual, higgledy-piggledy character, both in the arrangement of the kettles and pans, and in the loose scribbly appearance of the drawing.
.....
One reason why life has become the consistency of treacle at the moment is the weight of the form filling required for selling the flat. But today, frabjous joy, my brother came round (a three hour drive for him) to do last bits of sorting. He's found some paperwork mixed in with previous house and flat sales which is going to help, and carried everything away to hopefully fill in the gaps and sign them off. He'll post them back, we'll sign them and hand them over to the solicitors.
I'm hoping I'll wake up all bright and energetic and ready to go-go-go-go tomorrow!
(BB has just walked round to the corner shop and come back with chocolate digestive biscuits... especially for me...)
I've not got nothing done... plenty of reading, hemmed some trousers, cut the too-tight ankle cuffs of my fleece lined leggings, ordered wool to finish the cardigan, tidied my sewing basket after finishing 2by2
I don't think the pictures give any clues about my stitching!
....
Does anyone else to read this book written by one of the many young women who stepped up to take cargoes along the British canals during World War 2? It's a cheerful account of her experience; itsounds like a tough life. If it weren't for the fact that canals are, on the whole, relatively shallow, I'd say they were certainly thrown in at the deep end.
If you send me your address in the comments I won't publish it, but I can stick the book in the post to you.
....
I got myself together enough to attend zoom church on Sunday. There's usually one phrase that sticks with me (it was an excellent sermon too which I'm still thinking about) and this time it came from one of the prayers, something about knowing, or remembering that
'...in our weakness is His [God's] strength...'
it's certainly not by my own strength I've got through last week.
Yesterday was dentist day. Dentist afternoon, really, but it seemed to affect the whole day.
It takes us 45 - 60 minutes to drive to the dentist normally, but BB had driven through heavy rain, half-flooded roads and three sets of roadworks for an emergency appointment on Wednesday and it had taken heading for 90 minutes. (He'd broken another crown on Tuesday, did I already say?).
So we allowed extra time, and found the rain had stopped, and the puddles had drained away, and only one of the roadworks caused any delays. We were half an hour early.
Meanwhile we'd had a light lunch, just a toasted cheese sandwich, at 11.30 instead of a main meal around 1. It felt... weird. Are we getting too set in our ways?
The new hygienist obviously decided I was a fragile invalid and I was treated to the most delicate and gentle experience ever... not what I'd been expecting after my son had described her as having done an 'industrial level cleaning' when he went some months ago.
'You'll be fine,' I said to BB, based on my experience, as we waited for his turn. Half an hour later he emerged her the room looking... well, looking as though he'd just undergone the industrial version. It's not that she's rough or hurts you or anything, but she was very, very, very thorough! Give me the delicate version every time!
I also had a checkup. The dentist has a new gadget, and scanned my teeth in such a way as to be able to display a 3-D image of what looked a set of false teeth on a screen. I have never seen such a set of crooked teeth, all overlapping and leaning against one another at crazy angles. Were they really mine? I suppose they must be!
We came home, starving, and had a main meal at about 5 instead of light supper at 6. All - just - weird. Again.
Still, that's me done and dusted for 6 months. BB is back next week for the crown. Or maybe a different one, I think there is an earlier replacement crown still to be finished. I lose track.
Today has been blissfully quiet and uneventful, and all the meals happened as normal.
Apart from one major, important, joyful cause for celebration. BB's wedding ring slipped off his finger AGAIN about two weeks ago, and we had resigned ourselves to its loss.
But this morning as I rummaged through the vegetable drawer in search of baking potatoes, there, at the very back, was a glint of gold...
I'm finding it easier to blog every other day at the moment - I don't know if that will remain the case, or if I will manage to raise my energy levels at some point (when it stops raining, perhaps?)
Meanwhile -
I confess - we watch an episode (or maybe two) of 'Antiques Roadtrip' most evenings during the week. Not the ones with celebrities, only the ones with the two antiques experts driving around from shop to shop in a classic car. The really interesting snippets are when they go off and visit a museum or stately home, and we get a five-ten minute nugget about a place or person or event.
Yesterday one of them went to see an exhibition of art by Norfolk fisherman John Craske (1881 - 1943). He seems to have been ill for most of his life, and when he could no longer go out to sea, started painting instead. When he was so ill he had to stay in bed, he turned his hand to creating embroidery pictures.
He was almost completely unknown in his lifetime, which is a great pity because the paintings and embroideries are astonishingly good.
I expect Ang has seen his work at the Norwich museum.
The short entry for today mentioned this book which is going straight onto my 'Wantables' list. It looks like being exactly the kind of non-fiction book I like - rambling around the subject, taking a wider panoramic view.
In other news - as I thought, I haven't quite finished the 2By2 two stitching (not due until 14th February!) because, after letting it lie for a day I decided to add a little bit more...
Ang and I have been wondering about these little squares. The orginal plan had been for another book cover, but then Ang blogged about 'the analogue bag'. That set me thinking. What I fancied was a small 'grab-and-go' bag with a couple of small simple craft projects inside, all complete and ready to go. My sock knitting bag is one such 'grab-and-go'. Maybe also a small lightweight book to read - poetry would be good, or quotations, or extracts from books just a few paragraphs long. Things I wouldn't mind reading several times over, and that really don't take long and can be easily interrupted.
I do a fair bit of hanging around in waiting rooms and so forth (for example at the dentist tomorrow, when we both have inspections and sessions with the hygienist) so a 'grab-and-go' bag would be ideal for these kind of occasions.
The upshot is that Ang and I are going to make up the squares not as book covers, but as project bags, and mine will become a 'grab-and-go' bag of pick-up-able and put-down-able things to read or make. It took a fair bit of to-ing and fro-ing but Ang has come up with a pattern.
Watch this space - as they say!
And yet another thing - I saw this today...
Leonard Bernstein introduces 7-year-old Yo-Yo Ma and his 11-year-old sister Yeou-Cheng Ma to Presidents John F. Kennedy and Dwight D. Eisenhower at "An American Pageant of the Arts," on November 29, 1962. The purpose of the event was to raise funds for the National Cultural Center, begun under Eisenhower's administration and encouraged under Kennedy's. The prodigious duo performed the first movement of the Concertino No. 3 in A Major, by Jean-Baptiste Breval.
Two months after President Kennedy's assassination in November 1963, Congress passed and President Johnson signed into law legislation renaming the National Cultural Center as a "living memorial" to John F. Kennedy.
Monday wasn't my best day day. I started reading the forms to be filled in for selling my father’s flat.
'There is nothing so easy that but that it becomes difficult when you try to do it' said Pythagorus. I wonder what theorem he was trying to prove.
Or
"Those that understood him smiled at one another and shook their heads; but for mine own part, it was Greek to me.” Spoken by Casca Act 1 of Julius Caesar
In other words I ground to a halt, had a meltdown, followed by a calming cup of coffee. Not my finest hour!
I got stuck into 2By2 stitching instead! Now, this was a different story. I spent Monday afternoon and all of Tuesday snipping and stitching. Monday saw my practice piece completed, and tonight I've finished the real piece! I'll let them lie for a few days and then see if I really have finished them. It will take me a while to clear up the chaos.
Otherwise life has carried on, fitting in around the gaps in the sewing. I made what I consider to ge a lazy lunch; pasta with frozen veg added towards the end of the cooking time, and meatballs from the freezer, defrosted in the microwave and served with tomato sauce from a Lloyd Grossman jar. Minimal effort, but tasted good.
I've cut off the dead flowers from amaryllis number 1,
Amaryllis number 2 is growing day by day.
I'm still doing the balletbasedmovement exercises; that's two weeks and two days I've kept going. Will I get to the end of the month?
It's 'Sunday Morning', the third of the Sea Interludes composed by Benjamin Britten for his opera Peter Grimes.
I found myself in a fever to get out - to walk in fresh air, and see what was growing in the gardens in our nearby streets.
As we slowly walked up the road towards the duck pond I heard the single bell in the church half a mile away, shortly joined by the sound of the full peal from the main church in town another mile further away.
The church family has been a big part of our lives for over 30 years now. When my family all lived so far away so that we only net up a few times a year, the church family felt like an extra set of cousins, aunts and uncles, closer at hand.
Ang has posted this month's completed stitching already, here and here, but here it all is again;
Hers
And mine;
So I now have these to add to my collection
I had a little chuckle when I opened the package (thank you for the chocolates!) because for a while I was considering doing a snowflake for my stitching...
We're doing the last ones now, to meet a date of 14th February. As Ang said, it's our game so we can set the rules! After that it's a matter of making up the book covers and adding the 'rubric', we've always signed and dated the pieces.
And planning the next collaboration?!? I do hope so...
Meanwhile while, what am I going to do for the last bit of stitching?
Bach Prelude and Fugue in F major, from Book 1 of the 48 BWV 856
I love the way she manages to separate the three voices of the fugue on the harpsichord in spite of the fact that harpsichords only play at one dynamic unless you change the stops for the entire keyboard. On a piano you bring out a voice by playing it louder and the others softer.
Rather in the way one desperately wants to make a pot of tea or a coffee when the power goes off, I woke up yesterday wanting to play the piano, In my half awake state I chose this piece, purely at random. I don't think I've ever looked at it before, but I knew I had the music.
But the cut on my thumb is exactly where my thumb would strike the piano keys...
But (again!) I have a digital harpsichord as well as a piano! The keys are significantly lighter, and I've been fine, so able to make a start on the prelude. It's trapper than it looks, but easier than it sounds.
Firstly I taught a piano lesson. It was a really interesting lesson, and I might post it as a super-simple playalong. It was about recognising patterns, to reduce the effort and increase the speed and ease of learning, something experienced players do without noticing, but something only one of my four childhood teachers ever showed me. Maybe the others had never discovered this?
Then, I was starting to cook lunch when, in a moment's lapse of concentration, I cut my thumb. Everything stopped while we sorted it out, and then I taught BB how to cook our favourite fish dish;
Tray Bake fish for 2;
Step 1; oven 180°C, assembled medium sized roasting dish, a couple of peppers (one red, one yellow today), a smallish onion, a handful of cherry tomatoes, however much potato you want to eat - I prefer waxy or salad potatoes - and fish- I've tended to use salmon, sea bream or sea bass fillets.
Leave the fish alone for now; prep and chunk the veg, eg quarter the onion, slice peppers into 6 or 8, cut potatoes - peeled or unpeeled - into thick rounds.
Step 2
Into the roasting pan - mine's non-stick - poor a generous tablespoon of oil, season with pepper, salt, chopped or dried garlic, mixed or fresh herbs or both, a few chilli flakes if you like, and 'rubble' it all together. Chuck in all the veg including the tomatoes, stir it all around, bake for 15 mins.
Step 3
Remove the tray, stir everything around and put it back for 15 mins
Unpack the fish, dry, season with a little salt and pepper, and a squeeze of lemon or even a generous dash of interesting vinaigrette dressing
Step 4
Remove the tray, stir everything around. Clear a space in the middle and put the fish in, skin side down. Put the tray back in the over for 7-10 mins depending on the thickness of the fish.
Step 5
Remove the tray, check the fish and serve! We like the flavour, and we like the lack of clearing up, and we like the lack of fried fishy fat smell! Win, win win!
....
I've been taking it easy the rest of the day, avoiding using my thumb as the cut is near the knuckle. So no knitting, sewing, washing, clearing... plenty of reading, drinking tea, and a moderate amount of biscuit eating...
....
A friend has just come round with a bunch of tightly closed daffodils, the first of the year. Perfect timing, as last week's tulips are nearly over!
It's encouraging to see how even after just one week of exercising, even for only five minutes, every day is making a difference. Today I managed to complete the leg strengthening exercises, which was an impossibility last week. Although I discovered afterwards that my legs appeared to be like cooked spaghetti for the rest of the morning.
Ah well. A bowl of porridge and a strong coffee helped.
Looking out of the window at my little witch hazel tree I wondered if my eyes were playing tricks... I can't get any closer without removing my oxygen cannula or switching to an oxygen cylinder. Being stubborn and impatient I removed my oxygen cannula... that gives me a couple of minutes... not enough for a proper picture!
so I asked BB to nip out at take some photographs; there, on the little twig, bottom left, can you see? A LEAF!
Hey, little tree, it's not even the middle of January! I shall be watching to see how this goes.
This article from The Spruce appeared in my newsfeed just now, with instructions on how to persuade your amaryllis to flower for a second year. I need to re-read it to make sure I know what to do, although it seems quite simple.
Our first amaryllis is almost over, so I I'll give this a go.
Meanwhile the second bulb has produced a stem and bud to go with the two leaves.
I'd like to see if there are any leftover bulbs in the garden centre; perhaps we'll get there later this week.
Here's a little warmth for you, 'Am Kamin' or 'By the Fireside' from 'Kinderscenen' by Schumman
It's astonishing how differently people play this; either at this gentle, reflective speed, or else at what seems like a flat-out romp.
I downloaded this title onto my kindle near the end of last year, after looking at a sample.
I've resisted reading ahead, as I intend to consider just one tiny change per week. I have actioned the first two suggestions; firstly muting notifications on my tablet and phone, and secondly unsubscribing from advertising emails that I'm not interested in, or for newsletters that just clutter up my inbox, as they come in.
I suspect I'm just paying for a list of obvious suggestions, but I do enjoy a book full of quotations and encouragement!
That's something to consider...
I'm exchanging far too much of my life for reading my Internet newsfeed for sure. I now try and catch myself before I start, or say in my mind exactly what I am planning to look up or do on my phone before I pick it up.
It's slightly working. Very early days yet!
The aim is to try and improve my concentration and reduce the amount of flibber-jibber and distraction going on in my head!
Two take-aways from this morning's zoom church service, both noted in my diary to review through the week ahead;
This verse from the first hymn, 'Hail to the Lord's Anointed'
It has so much resonance with me; flowers and spring, and in the face of the uncertain political events in the world, the lines about peace and righteousness flowing from hill to valley.
And something the preacher mentioned, almost in passing. She was talking about God saying 'this is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased'. Her point was that God was expressing his love for Jesus before he had done anything useful.
'You don't have to be useful to be loved by God', she said. How wonderful is that!
The ones I received yesterday from a friend. It's just a rough sketch while I half watch 'Saving Lives at Sea' on iplayer. There doesn't seem to be anything much on Saturday TV at the moment. Those lifeboat crew are so brave and resourceful, I'm just amazed.
I've batched cooked meatballs today, mixing 500g minced beef with paxo stuffing mix that I had in the cupboard, fine chopped onion and celery, seasonings and an egg. This time I baked the little meatballs, rolled to about the size of walnuts, in the oven for 15mins at 180°C. I made 37, so I took one out to test; just done! So that's 6 portions of 6 meatballs.
We had 12 mixed with a tin of baked beans, a baked potato and boiled carrots and swede for lunch today. The reast are in the freezer for another day. I'll do something similar with 500g minced pork tomorrow.
There's also a crock pot of red cabbage to be portioned up as well. Time for restocking the freezer.
I'm back to knitting the ChristmasNew YearEpiphany Candlemas cardigan. Eight more rows to finish the sleeves and then comes the business of fixing the length of the back. Then sewing up, picking up stitches for the neck, and four buttons. Maybe I'll go for a March finish date!
The tortoise seemed the appropriate choice for today.
A friend returned a book this evening and handed over a lovely bunch of tulips
If there are tulips in the shops, surely Spring can't be too far away?
I adore this version of Carnival of the animals, with Roger Moore's tongue in cheek delivery, and the humour of the performance, and obvious enjoyment and rapport of the musicians, and the romantic venue. I wish I had been there.
I think this must be in the spirit of the original performance; Saint-Saens composed it as a light-hearted entertainment for his students and friends, and afterwards tried to suppress it as a mere frivolous nonsense.
