Wednesday 2nd November - Autumn

Unfortunately I didn't have time to stop and take any pictures today...

But it has been a joy to drive along the lanes in the sunshine through drifts of fallen beech leaves.

We were lucky enough to catch the end of the "Fall Colour" in Canada:

This photograph was taken just outside the town of Niagara, where the river is becoming calmer after the whirlpool just upstream. We had spent the day doing... err, I'd have to go back to my diary. I think it was the day when we went to the Ravine Winery for lunch (excellent) and wine-tasting and views,

    

and then dropped in to Niagara-on-the-Lake for a look around the town and to buy cheese and fudge, and finally home via Niagara, following the course of the river until we turned off to go back home. That was a memorable day.

Wednesday 6th November - Pay Attention in future...

This was really, really annoying.

I'm making another strip for the Tunisian crochet blanket, in a boucle yarn which was chosen for the blue colours that remind me of the water above and below the Niagara Falls.

I laid it out on the table to admire my progress...

and instantly spotted that it has lost a substantial amount of WIDTH.

To rip it out, or not to rip it out? The difference in width is actually nearly an inch.

So, I ripped. Ow! It hurt, really badly. All that work, gone, gone, gone.

About half of the strip returned to a single strand. It would have been a good idea if I had checked what I was doing more often.

At least, with Tunisian Crochet, you only need to pick up ONE stitch.

BUT, tempted as I was to pretend that "it will be all right when I sew the strips together", I knew that it wouldn't work out. So I'm glad I managed to take the path of righteousness, earlier rather than later.

Moral - PAY ATTENTION to what you are doing!

Sunday 11th November - Houseguests and Fish

"Houseguests, like fish, begin to stink after three days" I believe this quotation is attributed to Benjamin Franklin.

Opened can of surströmming (wikipedia)

A dear friend arrived from Canada on Friday night, stopping over between Europe and home. He heard at short notice that he would have to come over - could he come and stay the weekend? OF COURSE! He's the sort of guest who doesn't seem to mind letting himself into the house because we are at work, sitting waiting until I finish teaching piano at 6:30pm before I say more than a few words to him, or having to sleep on an air bed in the sitting room. It's okay that my husband had to work all of Saturday morning, that I disappeared off to visit my mother on Saturday afternoon.

For all three of us, the weekend, in spite of the way we were working to tight time-tables and rigid schedules, was a brief oasis of calm in the middle of hectic, fast-paced weeks.

We didn't need to entertain, or plan outings, or go out of our way to make things special. We find eachother's company restful and restoring.

We just seem pick up from where we left off. This time we hadn't seen each other for just over a year, when we went to Canada and spent two weeks staying with him and his wife and family, for their daughter's wedding, and to see where they lived. And they live within a couple of hours of the Niagara Falls! Somewhere that I never expected to see, ever.

I don't think that we started to stink after three days, on that occasion.
And three days for this visit, in spite of the current domestic turmoil, was far too short. But the three days were an unexpected blessing, and he didn't smell of fish either!


Kusaya (くさや^?) is a Japanese style salted-dried fish and fermented fish. It is famous for its malodorousness, and is similar to the pungent fermented Swedish herring called surströmming. (wikipedia)

We will be visiting my mother later this evening. I have made some apple sauce, and a thick, sieved vegetable soup in case she has been turning up her nose at the hospital meals again. Maybe a bit of home cooking will appeal? Who knows.