Monday 20th July - like a butterfly

I've been watching large white butterflies twirling around in the garden, often in pairs, in a sort of free and aimless manner.

I've just nipped out into the garden to see if there were any in sight, but no, only bees; awkward little furry things to photograph, but anyway we all know what bees look like so focus and stuff like that doesn't matter.

 

 Just as I was about to give up, lookee lookee at what caught my eye; there, in the middle,

 

I guess this is the one that has been laying eggs under the leaves of plants in my veg patch.

 

 Anyway, butterfly-like is how I am feeling - third day of the Summer holidays (and yes, I am counting; each day is precious. Teaching resumes on 14th September.)  

 

I feel all sort of ready to go and be somewhere else and see something different. This time last year we were getting ready for our first ever cruise, working through the list of things to get done beforehand; currency, last minute errands, sorting out clothes, making lists... The photograph below is of one of the gravel paths leading up to Monet's house in Giverny; the lavender was humming with bees and a flutter with butterflies. 

 

 

I am absolutely gutted at not having another cruise in my sights, especially before Brexit complicates everything (even the Brexiteers in the government seem to have stopped pretending that it will be 'a walk in the park' and 'as easy as an over-ready chicken' - presumably a non-chlorinated chicken?).

But, I suppose, in the grand scheme of things, we are fortunate. And anyway, we might have had a problem putting the cats into a cattery this year; 

 

McCavity is learning to communicate, at long last, now that she is over 17 years old. It's not foolproof yet; when she wants to be groomed, she sits on the hearth rug and waits, and we are beginning to get the message. It is harder to respond to her 'my plate is empty' request; she goes and sits by the plate, but if no-one is in the kitchen then nothing is going to happen anytime soon. 

 

Her latest communication is to come and sit close, but not settle, and occasionally give a little mew. Eventually a maliferous odour will make its presence felt... she wants her back end cleaning. After a couple of messy incidents, fortunately dealt with by giving her a dose of worming medicine and a mouthful of viscous gloop called 'defurrem', she has discovered that she can get us to do this unlovely task for her. I can't imagine that a cattery would take kindly to being asked to perform this routine...

 

Here she is resting from our labours. All things considered, I would rather deal with her back end beforehand than start putting soft furnishings through the washing machine afterwards. Having babies is good training for dealing with elderly cats.

 

Did I mention vegetables earlier on?  What magic is this? Dwarf French beans from the garden; 

Raw

 Cooked; 2 minutes in the microwave, in just a splash of water

 

I prepped and cooked them within minutes of picking them; yes, yes, half past three is a strange time of day to be eating a bowl of green beans, let alone purple beans, but they looked so extraordinary, and I didn't totally believe the friend who said that they would turn green when cooked, so I had to try them.

 

They were d e l i c i o u s. These pictures are from a couple of days ago; the next batch were stored overnight in the fridge before cooking - nowhere near as good, but we repeated the quick-pick-prep-cook scenario yesterday and they were just wonderful again. There's a message in that somewhere. 

 

I've spent this morning finishing off the facemasks from Saturday. The fiddly sewing in loose ends bit. A friend has given me some elastic, so they will be in the post tomorrow, I hope. I was pondering the relative merits of hand and machine sewing... one is slower, with no finishing off stage. The other is quicker, and then you are left with nearly a dozen thread to tie off and clip. 

 

Ho Hum. This week I intend to be intentional; to do things 'on purpose', rather than let things just happen. It's 2.30pm on Monday and I'm doing well so far. 

 

 

Wednesday 17th June 2020 - This week will be different

That is, this week will be different to (or should that be from?) last week.

How so?

I'm just determined to be less bleah, less grey, and more upbeat through the day!

My to-do lists are lloking more cheerful as I'm adding little pictures;

Monday

 Tuesday

Wednesday

which cheers me up when I look at the list, and I am trying to do a bit more exercise, eat more fruit, leave the cake tin alone at least one time in three approaches - nothing radical or extreme, but just buck my ideas up a bit.

Three days in and I'm sort of still there - I'm blogging now instead of walkinng round and round the garden because the heavens have opened and dumped a cloudburst of thunderous rain. So the 'walk' and 'exercise' boxes haven't been ticked yet.

I am amusing myself by doing a 15 minute beginner level workout using resistance bands. The phrase 'going through the motions' takes on added meaning when you learn that I do not possess resistance bands; I did a quick browse through amazon and discovered that there was too much choice, so bought none. I still get puffed doing the exercises; maybe I should wait a while until I have worked up to that level? I like the sound of that.

The walk; well, it takes 120 steps to walk down to the bottom of the garden,

along the back fence, up the path past the patio tubs which should be full of flowers but actually contain runner beans and courgette plants

Up the driveway towards the road, round the car, back through the gates and past the pot of nemesia (who planted those there? Self seeded from some plants bought back in 2015!)

and head back to the table and chairs where I started from (from where I began? I think I am channeling Morecambe and Wise; 'the play what I wrote')

I drop a clothespeg into a flowerpot on the table (to keep a tally of the number of circuits) as I pass, and round I go again.

120 steps is about 75 metres.

Many famous people like Darwin thought their best thinks as they walked around a circuit. I'll let you know if I have any inspirational thoughts, but don't be holding you breath now. 

My main thought at the moment is 'How I want to go and see the sea!' but that is going to have to wait a bit longer.

Saturday 15th November - no title yet

I can't think of a title - sometimes doing a daily blog seems a bit of a waste of - not ink, because it is typed.

Skin cells? Rattling from my fingers onto the keys? No, that is a bit of a revolting thought. Scrap that.

How about a poem?

No.

So I went scrolling back through the photographs - these two are from Thursday 19th December 2013;

Nine years later they are still true...

This is December 2010 - we went to Copenhagen for a long weekend. I was not very well, but supermax aspro kept me upright enough to enjoy the trip. That was a tough winter all in all - there was a lot going on. As I recall Himself managed to keep going through some pretty awesome logistical nightmares, driving hither and thither while feeling less and less well, until Christmas Day, which he spent in bed.

Moving forward; this was Thursday 6th October 2011, on a visit to our Canadian friends. The 'Fall Colour' didn't really start to happen until we were on our way back to the airport, but we found one tree doing it's stuff;

That was a glorious day... I remember it... we had wonderful weather for the second part of our stay. The first few days, when their daughter was getting married, were shiver-my-timbers-cold, and then it became like midsummer. Bar-b-ques on the deck and all that. 

Ah well.

Oh, now here's a good poem. You can have one after all.

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/42889/hope-is-the-thing-with-feathers-314

Sunday 3rd Feb 2019 - Tea, biscuits, Sunday afternoon

Amaryllis

     I promised a picture of the amaryllis;

Saturday afternoon

It was the best part of the view out of the sitting room window yesterday -
six E N O R M O U S flowers on one stalk. I have no idea how the flowers that are even as I type emerging from the buds on the second stalk will find any room to expand their petals. I wondered what they looked like in the wild; there are pictures on the www.pacificbulbsociety.org website, but I haven't copied the pictures here as I expect they are copyright protected.

Today is a better day, weatherwise, but still cold. We considered going out, and we considered drinking tea and eating a biscuit or two, and here we are.

Sunday afternoon

Church

I was playing for the morning church service today (first Sunday of the month). I really do need to change my glasses, or at least get some kind of Very Strong reading glasses. I wear varifocals, and can't work out which lens to look through when I am reading the music. It seems to make no difference whether I look through the top, middle or bottom. Those little dots and squiggles scattered over the pages remain vanishingly small and wriggly.  Today I had the horrid experience of losing my place in the music halfway through the verse of the last song. I ploughed on using a mixture of memory, luck and  guesswork to get to then end; unfortunately I had forgotten what key we were in, but found my way home in what I hope was a musical manner.

Knitting (and a short 'tale of the unexpected')  

As part of making an effort to play less freecell, I have cast on stitches for a scarf using a ball of wool I bought back last Summer, when we were staying in a showman's caravan in Bodiam. We took the steam train to Tenterden, and, my oh my, there was a superb wool shop!

I had been resisting starting anything with this wool until I had finished a few other things and now seemed the opportunity. The wool is called 'zauberball'; I have an idea that 'zauber' is German for 'magic', and the wool 'magically' changes colourways as it unwinds. I have come to the conclusion that this is one of the attractions of yarn; watching the different colours slip through my fingers as I go.

The pattern for the scarf is only 'slightly' interesting, but that is the whole point - I play freecell because it is 'slightly' interesting, because it is repetitive, because it is easy, because (and after a long teaching day this is very important) it doesn't talk to me, ask questions, or require decisions and answers. Very much like this knitting
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
That was all a bit sudden. Somehow, as I put my mug of tea down it sort of bounced (how? dunno) and the tea leapt out of the mug and onto the keyboard. (I don't think it would be helpful to mention at this juncture that the keyboard needed a bit of a clean. )

He went from sitting semi-comatose in the chair beside me, reading a book, to full action stations in a nano second; emergency shut down of computer and cleaning tea out of the keyboard... which is now drying off in the airing cupboard for a while while I was still wondering what ha happened and how.

I have moved to another part of the sitting room and am using the laptop! Here's hoping that I haven't destroyed the keyboard.

Now, where was I?

I honestly can't remember. Except my mug is now empty; perhaps I should put the kettle on?

Sunday 6th January - Epiphany

On Sunday 6th January I went to a Splendid Occasion;

Cousins from Florida arrived in England for a few days, on their way home from a holiday on the Continent - and we met in London for a magnificent Afternoon Tea. We hadn't seen them since about 1990, when we took the children out of school to see them off at the airport after their last visit. We were quite a large party, and as well as meeting the American cousins, other members of my family were there, some who I haven't seen for several years.

As I have a policy of trying not to include names and faces, I haven't posted a group photo of us, so a picture of the magnificent cake stand will have to stand in for all the guests!

Friday 5th October - Connections

The book club choice for last month was 'A Time of Gifts' by Patrick Leigh Fermor'. I had already read it several years ago, and enjoyed it then.

I think it may be one of the first books that Mummy read after her stroke; I have one of those penguin '40s' books of just the first few chapters (my brother gave me 40 of them for my fortieth birthday, rather clever, I thought). She loved the descriptions of the Netherlands, especially Rotterdam, before the war.

I spotted this book by Robert MacFarlane and downloaded it because it was only £1.99 and I liked the cover picture;

Then I discovered it is all about Robert MacFarlane's reaction to having been given a copy of 'A Time of Gifts' by a friend.... and the effect gifts of books have on the giver and the recipient.

My father, a couple of weeks ago, insisted on buying me a copy of 'The Hare With Amber Eyes' by Edmund De Waal.

At the book club meeting, one of the members commented that there is a link between 'A Time of Gifts' and 'The Hare', in that a descendant of someone that PLF stayed with on his travels appears in 'The Hare'. I will have to finish the 'Gifts' i order to make the connection.

I've just started 'The Hare', but stalled in the first paragraph of the preface (I nearly always read the preface - it can be the best part of the book!) where De Waal recounts going to a language school in Shibuyah, Japan.

I teach an extremely popular chant in my music classes, which goes;

Shibuyah! Shibuyah! Ha! Ha! Shibuyah! Hoh!

You then go on to add individual statements before repeating the chant.

I'd always thought 'Shibuyah' was a made-up word; it has a lovely sound and feel. And then the word leapt at me when I was least expecting it!


The chapter names in 'The Hare With Amber Eyes' are so enticing that I can't wait to find out more;

I ought to get up. It is nearly lunchtime. Himself has been busy fixing the gates back to the driveway; a job which has been 'on the list' for a few years. Every time he goes to the tool cupboard in the next room, I hear 'hohoho Merry Christmas' from the Toy Father Christmas that was in a stocking so many years ago. Its battery is lasting well.

Sunday 2nd September - a 'tragedy' averted

Almost a year ago, a kind friend gave us the most amazing fortieth wedding anniversary present; a voucher for a Full Cream Tea at a local Very Smart Hotel.

The capital letters are required.

Today, almost a year later, we redeemed the voucher. We went there for 1pm; a full cream tea makes a very satisfactory lunch.

I was quite tempted to take photograph of the table with the cake stand and teapots (I had White Peony Tea, he had Darjeeling) and tea strainer and everything. But I couldn't quite manage to bring myself to do so in the rather lovely surroundings of the dining room, so you will have to be content with a rapid scribbled sketches;

I had to sketch all the food from memory as we had eaten it all, including an extra plate of sandwiches, offered free of charge and gratefully accepted.

There were

sandwiches - a finger each of smoked salmon, cream cheese and cucumber, superior version egg mayonnaise, and ham and mustard on brown, or white, or granary bread, fresh as fresh could be and the crusts carefully trimmed

cakes - one each of blueberry and elderflower tart, chocolate brownie, passion fruit macaron, strawberry cheesecake

scones - a fruit and a plain one each, supplied with just the right amount of clotted cream and jam

I felt a bit like one of the judges on Bake-off Creme de la Creme, looking at the delicious little cakes, all layered and decorated and set out so temptingly.

Afterwards we wandered around, inside and outside the castle (had I mentioned that it was a castle?) enjoying the views and the atmosphere.

 
It was a perfect day out, and a brilliant last-day-of-the-holidays for me.

An the 'tragedy'? It would have been too, too awful to have missed this opportunity. I had a reminder on my phone to make sure that we would use the voucher before it ran out. It has been a present that has lasted nearly a whole year in anticipation, three hours in indulgence, and will last for many years in memory.

Tuesday 29th May 2018 - We're back

Did you miss us?

We've been staying here

or rather this is the view from the verandah. Somewhere in the distance, about a mile away across the valley, is Bodiam Castle. It appears and disappears as the light changes, sometimes the exact same colour as the surrounding trees, sometimes a warm, tawny colour, sometimes austerely grey.

Here's our bedroom

and the view from the bed, through the window, looking out across the verandah to the view in the first picture.

There's the bedroom window, on the left of the door way.

It is in a restored, unconverted showman's living quarters dating from 1894. The only concession to modern living is electricity, which allows for electric light (pretend oil lamps), heating (dimplex radiators and a pretend coal stove) and TV (hidden inside a cupboard, which in turn was clearly a pull-out sleeping area.

Cooking happened in a thatched kitchen hut to the left of the wagon

washing, showering and "etc" in a wooden cabin just visible on the right of the wagon, behind one of the two large sofas on the verandah.

We were very, very lucky with the weather. I suspect it might have been less idyllic if it had been cold and damp, like it was when we arrived on the Friday evening and when we left on the Tuesday morning. But the intervening days were scorchers, starting cool but rapidly heating up as the sun burned through the clouds.

We took a river trip, from Bodiam to Newenden along the River Rother, chugging between the high flood banks covered in tall grasses and wild flowers under a blue sky.

We watched a stunning thunderstorm, the lighting lighting up the whole valley as though it was under arc lights, the sound of the thunder obliterated by the hammering of the rain on the verandah roof.

We visited the castle, along with hundreds of other people enjoying a Summer Sunday day out - and discovered that it was possible to take pictures of the far side of the castle with not a visitor in sight, looking old and mysterious and enigmatic 

and just like the jig-saw puzzles

We took a steam train ride, ("Time flies by when I'm the driver of a train, and I stand on the footplate, there and back again..."  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-hQ6-biWoo) , except we didn't drive, but upgraded to First Class. BB took plenty of pictures of trains etc; I took one of the very, very elegant carriage we came back in, restored to its 1890 glory days;

(It was beastly uncomfortable, with the suspension jerking and jumping all the way home,

clicketty clack, clicketty clack, ker-thump, clicketty clack, clicketty clack, ker-thump) but the cushions were so soft they absorbed some of the jolting!)

Tenterden is an interesting town; we didn't stay long though. Lunch in an ancient building, 

"The Lemon Tree Restaurant in Tenterden is housed in a 14th century heavily timbered former Wealden Hall House, reputedly visited by King Henry VIII."
https://www.tenterdenchamber.org/businesses/1573535053367214/

and a slow mooch the length of the main street. BB went to the museum, because I spotted a wool shop...

https://www.mytenterden.co.uk/Directory/hoop-haberdashery-listing-686.aspx#.Ww2ZokgvyUk

I managed pretty well - just a box of pins and one ball of yarn.

The point of the long weekend was to take some time away from everyone and everything, and just "chill".

I reckon we achieved exactly that, and many thanks to the offsprings, who did the cat- and house- sitting that helped make it possible, and even left a vase of flowers on the table for our return!

Ah well. Back to normal. But with added memories to keep me going through the rest of term...   

Monday 26th February - The Calm Before the Storm

I expect you think the blog title refers the the incoming weather

but no,

I am thinking of this being my last day off work before I leap back into the fray.

I am starting gently, with a couple of private students this evening. See how that goes.

I tackled an "extreme" killer suduko puzzle this morning with some success, so that is a step up from yesterday. Not this one; I've got it from the internet, and would rate it as heading for "extreme"

https://www.dailykillersudoku.com/

I've finished reading "Summer Story" by Jill Barklem, the second of the Brambly Hedge series. Dusty Dogwood, the miller and Poppy Eyebright, who runs the dairy, get married.

"Poppy Eyebright, do you love Dusty Dogwood, and will you love him and care for him for ever and ever?"
"I will."
"Dusty Dogwood, do you love Poppy, and will you love her and look after her for ever and ever?"
"I will."
"Then in the name of the flowers and the fields, the stars in the sky, and the streams that flow down to the sea, and the mystery that breathes wonder into all these things, I pronounce you mouse and wife."

Altogether "Ahhhh." 

A shorter and simpler ceremony than ours, all those years ago. Our cake did have three tiers, as I remember... 

And a timely reminder that Summer will come again. .

Wednesday 1 st Nov - NaBloProMo

And the challenge begins; to put up a post every day in November!

November is beginning very well - games night with the offspring. Not sure what games we might play but that's not really the point - it is a convivial way of spending an amusing evening together.

Some time ago, can't remember when exactly, I had a go at propagating new Christmas Cacti from my original plant. This year I now have four, and they are all coming into flower. The ones in the kitchen are furthest along;

These are two of the newest little plantlets. I reckon the bud on the left will be in flower tomorrow. I can see why people get hooked on gardening - seeing new plants grow is very satisfying.

A bit like teaching. I've had a few "moments" this week (already!) - for example - one student understood an important part of piano technique, which has completely transformed her playing. Another has such enthusiasm for the piece she is learning that she has gone ahead and finished it of her own accord. That's especially pleasing in both cases, as they are playing pieces I learned at their age, and that my mother particularly loved and always asked me to play.

Sunday 24th September - Happy Anniversary?

It is our fortieth wedding anniversary this weekend.

Who would have thought we would have stayed together for so long?

Well, me, for one. Not as in "taking it for granted"way, but as in, for me, "being married to this man is the very best of all options, ever", way.

Anyway, how to celebrate? I'm so glad we didn't plan a huge friends and family party weekend affair. It is three weeks into the new school year, and I am absolutely zonked out. I've also temporarily left the human race and become a - what shall we say - no, I won't type the word that comes into my mind. Just use your imagination; I have a HUGE box of tissues to hand, and the waste-paper bin within easy reach, and am having a long, slow start to today. Me and the cat.

which is a bit of a waste of a beautiful day. I'll get up later and rejoin humanity, maybe. If I can take my tissues with me.

We have celebrated; son and daughter were here last night, and cooked and served a delicious meal, and we played Ank Mpork (and I won, partly because no-one else was concentrating either).

We've had cards and texts and good wishes from friends and family.

And we will be celebrating again; Kind friends have given us a gift voucher for afternoon tea for two at A Very Superior Establishment and I am looking forward immensely to redeeming it in the near future.

I reckon our 40th Anniversary Celebrations, in a sort of on-going, low-key, way, will last for several months to come. Meanwhile, I am, weirdly enjoying today, in spite of snuffles and snorting-into-handkerchiefs. Who wouldn't - in a favourite place, surrounded by favourite people, on a lovely sunny Sunday day.

This is the best kind of happiness.

At Last - All about our trip to NI Monday 14th - Saturday 19th

Well, not ALL about the trip...

Some edited high lights...

We were staying with cousins and friends that we've been getting to know again after decades of being apart. Some we met up with for the first time in years last year, so this was a second meeting.

It is a wonderful thing to be reunited with family and friends after so long, and find that we are still family and friends despite the gap in getting together. I'm not going to go into details, just to say that the hospitality throughout our stay was of EPIC, Biblical proportions. I daren't count the amount of cake, home-made shortbread, pieces of cake, platefuls and platters of food, cups of tea, bottles of wine that came our way. Thank you to everyone!

places we visited;

Tuesday 15th;
Newtonnards, ancient little town at the North end of Strangford Lough. Not much to say - we had various things to take care of, including eating cake (of course).

Tuesday 15th:Wet and rainy day, unlike the day before. We had a guided tour of Belfast City Hall

http://visitbelfast.com/things-to-do/member/belfast-city-hall

I didn't take many pictures this time; just this one of some stained glass in the entrance hall because I love the colours;

Then, after lunch we went to Paterson's Spade Mill, a National Trust Property.  The same man on the website photographs was there, hammering away at a block of iron to make hand-made spades (available to purchase for £120 - not today, thanks). 

American accent; "How long do these spades last?"

Pause

Northern Irish accent; "A lifetime. Or two or three lifetimes."

That must have been dark, dirty, noisy, hot, cold, dusty, exhausting work. Outside there were the ruins of the one-roomed cottages the workers lived in. You will look in vain for the waterwheel; it used a turbine, which appears very like an unexploded mine;

https://irishwaterwayshistory.com/2012/04/23/sluices-and-streams/

The day ended with a mega-meal in a restaurant in Carrickfergus; "What will you have for dessert, Madam?" Me "Just a spoon, please", so we ordered three puds between the six of us and a soon each. I could have started something here.

Thursday 16th

A Hot day - the weather was unpredictable, so say the least! We had planned to go on The Gobbins Cliff Path - have a look at the great video on the website!

On the day I backed out after the first section. I had been concerned about the up-ness and down-ness of the walk, and had contacted the centre in advance. In the end, I decided that I would hold the party up as my pace was So Slow, and we went back to the centre and enjoyed the exhibition instead. Maybe another time. 

We went on to stay with more cousins where we had an amazing day; food, wine, tea, talk, music, chat, food, wine...  quite a celebration.

Friday 17th

 Off to Londonderry. Or Derry. Or L'Derry. Whatever. The sun was shining as we drove over the Glenshane pass through the Sperrins. 

I could see where the peat had been cut and stacked on the slopes across the valley, and the colours and the scenery was beautiful. We didn't stay for long in the city; we've had a good look round twice before (the first time was when we got mixed up in the Apprentice Boys' Parade) and we were still too full of food to move far or fast.

We had a grand time with our friends, (they are the ones with the Airfryer) talking about our children (we are all dinkies when they left England)

Saturday 18th

We left at about lunchtime to return to our base, staying with cousins in Belfast. Coming back down the Glenshane Pass, you have the whole country spread before you (on a clear day like it was then!).

Just a couple of days left... we were out and about until the very last minute. I'll finish the story another time...