Perhaps the strangest chapter I've ever read

 It's been blowing half a gale and chucking it down with rain all day today, so the furthest I have been is the compost heap!  Best to be inside looking out at it.  

This morning I was sat up in my sewing room, trying to select the best half square triangles for the table topper.  Some I unpicked and added an off white material to balance the design as I had sewn all the charm pack together using the off white print I had to balance the designs, until running out. Now I have unpicked a few which used up the plain fabrics -  green/yellow/lilac/dark red - and combined with some off white I had at home.

I was looking across to the woodland and desperately wishing for the first hints of green.  The Sycamore by the edge of the orchard has tiny green leaf-tips so perhaps more leaves aren't too far away.

Whilst watching the racing, I blew the dust off my Seaside Topper bobble hat and started the brim - which I should have worked first, but clearly wasn't paying attention at the time as I began it when Keith was so ill.    I will just sew it onto the top, no probs.  The wool I had bought from Wonderwool (with the pattern and John Arbon Devonia wool to knit this) for the brim was Sirdar and it kept breaking apart - I have about 6 knots in it so far.  I forgot to buy a 2nd 25g of it for the pompom so will try to match it.  I cast on too tightly first off, so had to rip it off and start again.  I need to do ten rows of stocking stitch. Hope to manage that today.  I have been trying to find a matching pair of buttons for Elderberry Bunny's eyes but despite having bought a couple of big bags of various size and colour buttons a few years back, finding a pair is difficult, and none in brown or black.  I can't find my big tin of buttons off clothes, which are nearly all brown, grey or black.  Into the cupboards tomorrow . . .

Now the title today refers to the chapter in Robert Macfarlane's book The Old Ways, which I have been listening to on Audible in the car.  I had only read perhaps half the book, so thought it would be nice to treat myself to it to listen to.  It is Chapter 8 - Gneiss.  Perhaps it isn't so much the content or subject of the chapter as the character, Steve, that it is written about.  I have to say he wouldn't be my choice as a partner in life, as no way could I live with this: (turn away if you are eating a meal or don't care for skeletons and remains).

"On the south-astern coast of the Isle of Harris, in a three-house village called Geocrab, behind a fuchsia hedge, in a chilly thin-walled workshop, hanging by a meat hook from a rafter is a human skeleton.  Its 206 bones are held together by sinews of braided sea-grass, which, as they pass through the vertebrae, are knotted alternately left over right and right over left.  Stitched onto the bones are patches of meat cut from a dead calf, which together form a rough over-body.  At the time of their first sewing - when they had been recently preserved using a solution of formaldehyde and sodium fluoride, administered with a horse syringe and prepared according to a mix-ratio perfected by the members of a mid-1920s zoological expedition to the Amazon - the meat patches were still plumply muscular."   The Old Ways, Robert Macfarlane, published by Hamish Hamilton, 2012.  This chapter continues writing about Steve and his artistic endeavours and ideas and he sounds a most unusual person.  His end game plan for this skeleton is to take the top off of a giant boulder, hollow it out, hang the skeleton inside and then put the top back on.  An idea so challenging it sounds almost impossible.  

So, with this book, I am realizing how humdrum my life is by comparison, and my utter ignorance about some of the people and places Macfarlane mentions. At least I am on the same page when he writes/speaks of Edward Thomas and am completely linked up and educated about his poetry, prose and character.

Anyway, spare a thought for Tam tonight as she has been at the Hospital with Rosie since lunchtime, as Rosie has a very bad limp (swollen knee) and the GP thought it needed checking out as she had been sore on that leg before.  I hope that nothing nasty has been found . . .  

Lamb Snow and gymkhanas in my youth . . .

 I had a busy morning, first of all trying to get through town - it only took 25 minutes! - they were trimming branches on the Giant Redwoods at the entrance to the carpark in the Groe - so two rows of traffic had to merge into one, and then the left hand lane (me) had to wait whilst there was a 3 way traffic light operating at the roundabout on the Llanelwedd side of the bridge.  I was late for my appointment at the Tip, but they didn't mind, bless them.  I had asked for help and  didn't have to move anything much as they were taking out all the shattered fence and rubble etc.  I just took a few hard plastic bits to recycle.

Here is my Georgian candle box (and yes, that is a scorpion shaped hook it's hanging off - Keith bought that!)  

Inside, a few candles (they were my mum's and she died in 2007!) and matches.  Waste not, want not.  I have a load more in the cupboard.

I parked up to go to the PO in Llandod, and take a couple of books to the charity shop.  I fell into conversation with a woman (farmer's wife) about the weather - as you do!  I said I hoped it wasn't going to snow, as had been predicted.  She said it might well and called it the "Lamb Snow" - e.g. it waited until you had finished lambing and had plenty of nice young lambs out in the field, before falling and causing angst.

I spent the afternoon watching the racing and writing one last letter that I owed a friend.  We started off as penpals, and met up several times, but down the years our letters had dwindled to just one at Christmas.  She wrote at Christmas this year and asked if I wanted to start writing again as several of her lifetime penpals had died in the last year or two.  So we are penpals again and I am hoping that penpal extinction doesn't get me just yet!

She used to run little gymkhanas on their land and my friend Gay and I used to go down and help.  One year they had a helper's race and I was persuaded to ride a little skewbald in the beer-drinking race :)  I didn't win it!

I was there in the capacity of judge too.  Oh gosh, there was one pony turned up that was lame.  I took the child riding it to one side and told her to stand there as her pony was lame.  The parents didn't believe me and she entered every class (and I did the same in each), but right at the end, when the poor pony was being forced to jump, I had to practically drag it out of the ring and the parents finally conceded that it might be a bit lame . . .

There was another pony, NOT a looker, which was entered in the showing classes - which are judged by the pony's conformation (shape) and way of going.  Well, this pony had the head of a Shire on the body of an ill-shaped pony.  It was NOT pretty.  In each class, I put it well down the line.  In the final class I was confronted by an irate handbag-wielding mother:  "You don't like my daughter's pony do you?"  I had to reply, "Well no, it is a peculiar shape and has a head like a bucket and this is not the ideal class to enter it for"!  Happy days :)

I bought some more mince today and made a Chilli for tea (and subsequently).  Once again, the tomatoes tasted strange and I had to force it down and have put the rest in the freezer for when Tam is here, and she can take it home with her.  Since that bug I had, cooked tomatoes just don't taste as they should.  Nor do my curries.  I shall have to change my repertoire.

Busy in the greenhouse

 

It needs a tidy up and the glass scrubbed down, but it is starting to warm up in there and the plants I put in there when it was colder, are doing nicely.  The Hollyhocks were £5 the pair from Tesco, and the Lupins 3 for £12 at the Old Railway Line garden centre.  The seedlings in the centre are Lupins at the back and a tall white perennial I bought Tam the seeds for from Old Bladbean Stud Gardens (I follow them on Facebook).  Their seeds are really sensibly priced and I have lots more to start.  I chose Phlomis Russelliana and Phlomis Tuberosa from the little brown envelopes that Tam had put some seeds in for me.

Other seeds started are two trays of Scarlet Emperor Runner Beans (that is the sort I have grown all my gardening life).  Cosmos - Sulphur (which is a dye plant too), Seashells mixed and Double Click Cranberry.  Scabious, double mixed; Echinacea Hot Papaya - not sure if there were more than two seeds in the little bag of them which has been in the fridge all winter - they need chilling and I didn't know this when I sewed some last year.  I hope they come anyway, but it looked like I had chaffy seed-outers rather than actual seeds (bought on Fleabay).  Then lastly tall Delphiniums (also from Old Bladbean Stud Gardens).  

I didn't go off the premises today as I had a gippy tummy earlier on - it hasn't been quite right since my, ahem, procedure last week, so I guess it will take a while to settle down.  

However, as a positive I did find out how to watch the Cheltenham Festival (horse racing) on my tv.  Since giving Sky up I have had to look for live tv programmes on the Apps for various channels, which is not straightforward.  I have scarcely watched any racing on tv since for this reason and because it reminded me that Keith was no longer here.  He watched racing regularly and if I wasn't busy, I would sit down with him.  We always really looked forward to Cheltenham, and seeing the best steeplechasers and hurdlers in the country competing against one another.  So I spent the afternoon writing a letter to a friend and watching the racing.  Plus I baked a new-to-me cake - an apple gingerbread one using 2 chopped fresh dessert apples instead of cooked apple puree and using treacle instead of syrup.  It is cooling now.  I also baked a loaf which didn't work out as it should - a half and half rye and white flour one.  It didn't rise well but it tastes ok.  I had to guess at the setting as the one it said, on my Panasonic, was going to take SIX HOURS!  So my fault entirely, but I put it on a setting which gave 3 1/2 hrs which is how long it said it should take.

I will nip into Tesco tomorrow, after the Tip (which is just behind Tesco), and get more cat food - they won't eat the fish variety at the moment - and a shopping list 5 lines long for me.  Oh, and a bottle of wine for when the girls are here at the weekend (Mother's Day on Sunday, when we are going out for our meal in Hay-on-Wye.)

Mopre racing tomorrow afternoon so I will carry on with my embroidery.

The delights of . . .

A glimpse of summer (in NZ).

... a car full of absolute crap to take to the Tip for Tam.  It's the remains of their old fence, taken out by Storm Darragh.  I have an absolute pile of junk to add to it, and have requested the aid of a useful tip worker when I arrive.  I will load up my pile of junk tomorrow - unless the forecast is heavy rain, in which case it's best to load it today whilst it's dry.  Wednesday is the earliest I can take it (unless I book in at Brecon, which is a 40 mile round trip, so Wednesday and so Llandod it is).  With the cost of fuel so high, I have to stay close to home.

I was awake at 5.45 this morning and got up.  Now of course, I am feeling tired (4 1/2 hrs later).  I have just been round the kitchen, utility and hall and lower stairs with the vacuum cleaner and my back is now complaining.  Before I rest though I want to get seeds sown in seed trays and put on the south-facing wide windowsill in my sewing room.  One of the things that gets me feeling low this time of year, is jobs not done. I am SO FED UP with constant grey skies day after day - it's as bad as rain. 

Chicken pie tonight I think.  Update: couldn't be bothered to make the pastry so I had a chicken risotto instead.

I have not an iota of energy - I used up the last I had going up the track to bring the wheelie bin back.  But my fault entirely as I have just snacked today and not had a proper meal and very little protein.  Since Keith died, I find it very hard to plan meals, let alone enjoy eating them and my portion size has shrunk so I normally just have a bowl and not a dinner plate.

Positives for the day:

Heard back from my bowel screening that nothing was amiss.

Car all loaded ready to go to the Tip. I will be SO glad to get it emptied and the back of the car scrubbed down.  The wet wood makes it smell very fousty.

Recycling done and dusted for another week.

A Totally Different Day

 No photos taken - may hoik an old one up purely for decorative purposes though.  I was away at 8.30 (having woken early again, at 6 a.m.) and I stopped only briefly at Morrisons in Aber for cheese that Tam needed, and sugar (nearly out) and Hendo's relish (Henderson's, a Northern variety Tam got used to in her years in Yorkshire).  I noted that the cheapest fuel was at Morrison's (£1.45 a L for diesel) - even the garage at Ponterwyd which is normally the cheapest place was - this time - the dearest and even dearer than Builth at £157.9.  So I topped up at Morrisons, as it made sense.

So I have spent all day keeping Rosie amused, after helping Tam to move the masses of "stuff" which has accumulated in Rosie's bedroom.  Tam is decorating in there, ready for Rosie to move across as she's 2 in a couple of weeks' time.  Rosie should be getting towards potty training soon as she laid out her changing mat and obligingly laid down on it today, so I could change her nappy.

She borrowed my pen at one point and drew on her hands, and when Tam came down, went over and said "Look, I'm drawing on myself"!  That is pretty good going to have that sense of self and not yet 2.  When I was reading her a book, she was pointing to the pictures and saying Santa Claus (it was a Christmas book . . .), stars, trees, presents etc.  Little Miss Clever Clogs.  What made me smile is some words she says with a definite Northern vowel.  Now, I'm a Southerner, Tam's lived in Wales all her life (bar her time in Yorkshire, and she doesn't have a Yorkshire accent) and Jon is Welsh . . .  As I said before, she's an old soul, that one . . .

I had a low cloud/foggy drive through the mountains, but dry.  On the way back the colours of the hillsides were more visible - the dun colour of the purple moor grass tussocks, the faded grazing, a stippling of brighter green in the hedgerows either side of the mountain pass where it was warmer and Hawthorn happily putting out a good display of leaves.  On the B road to Tam's, there was a covert of Gorse in full bloom - such a stunning yellow and had the sun been out, I am sure I would have smelt the Coconut perfume of it.  I didn't see the sea today, but it was there all the same.

I am glad to be home and not feeling like I was yesterday.  I was listening to Robert Macfarlane's The Old Ways in the car and really enjoying it.  A couple of chapters I had read were what I listened to today, including the Icknield Way, where he speaks of my favourite author and poet Edward Thomas.   Then it was a sea walk - I can remember thinking the same "oh my God, I wouldn't do that" when he spoke of walking The Broomway - a "footpath" which traverses an area of the North Sea off the Essex Coast, near Foulness.  Having lost his guide (due to family matters), he and a friend walked it, despite being warned NOT to if it was foggy as it goes out into the sea and can become disorientating in poor visibility.  Of course, it was foggy when they arrived, but they did it anyway.  Having got to the other end, and heading back, they reckoned they had a couple of hours before the tide turned (and it came in very fast there) yet still walked directly out to sea, thinking of Doggerland and walking towards where it was under many feet of water.  Yeesh - what is it about men, tell them not to do something and they feel compelled to go ahead and do it anyway!  Now I am on the chapters about sea roads.  He quoted from Facing the Ocean by Barry Cunliffe.  I bought this for Keith, but just looked for it and haven't got it so must have passed it on.

I looked at the layout for the table topper this morning and it slipped into place today.  It was sensible to stop when I did yesterday.

Down in the Dumps

 

This is all I have done today.  I have just put it aside as my brain just doesn't want to function to work out the layout of the next row round - despite having it shown on paper in the pattern.  The fabrics are from the charm pack I bought last month and aren't working brilliantly together in this pattern.  Ah well.  The cats will enjoy sitting on it!

I am feeling so low today - I have no energy for anything, no desire to do anything and I just feel lonely.   I had to force myself to work on the table topper.  I have just gotten Robert McFarlane's The Old Ways on Audible, but I wasn't enjoying that either as it required concentration (sadly missing today).  I have several of his books, but have only dipped into rather than read as his style isn't a relaxing one to read.  I felt the same about Hilary Mantel and Wolf Hall. 

I managed to find ITV live racing on my computer, so can watch the Cheltenham Festival next week.   

I can't face a 2nd night of Tortellini and pizza topping, so have made a Pizza base which has just come to dough in the bread maker.  I can't be bothered to make that either, but will have to force myself and force myself to eat some too.

I must take a leaf out of Sue in My Quiet Life in Suffolk's book and count my blessings:

Mainly the 'oscopy is behind me and no worrying signs.

I am going to see Tam and Rosie tomorrow.

I have kind and helpful neighbours.

Hah - I have a fabric stash to keep me going for years, at the rate I sew!

I have four lovely cats who adore me.

I have a wonderful family who would do anything for me.

I am going to Copenhagen next month and will finally see Bog Bodies for the first time :)

The sun has shone a couple of days this week and I got out in the garden.

I have seeds to start and plants to plant.

Cat Fight!

 Alfie decided he wanted to go out in the night, so obligingly I let him out.  A couple of hours later (5 a.m. ish) I thought I could hear him meowing to come in.  Anyway, I went down to check and he was in the hall and came in happily.  I went back to bed.  He jumped up and settled on the edge, away from me. Ten minutes later and Lulu jumped on the bed and then all hell let loose.  There was a sudden brawl which rolled out through the door and both the girls were fighting with Alfie.  My goodness, they were going hammer and tongs.  Lulu scarpered, but Pippi was determined to get the upper hand (though she is half Alfie's size) and I had to shout at them until they separated.  That was it for me for the night, sleepwise.

Of course, now the order is all upset.  Lulu has been hiding in the Library most of the day, though she did come out for her meal, but then headed back and is now in her safe place, inside the sofa.  Pippi has calmed down, and Alfie seems to have too, but L. Whale also upset and he ran away when I came into the room earlier on.  Think I will have the boys downstairs tonight, and girls upstairs, just until it all calms down again.  Perhaps Alfie met the stray (farm tom probably) tom cat whilst he was out and so his nerves were a bit on edge and he mistook Lulu for the tom cat when she woke him suddenly.  

I have done a bit more clearing out in the garden - another two wheelbarrows full of branches from that shrub, plus ivy and grass from around that area.  Having uncovered the first compost container, I decided I would take up the wet Beech leaves from the lawn and steps to the pond, and put them in the container to rot down.  So I have made a start on that.  I also cleared another stretch at the side of the "path" and put one of the Glen Doll raspberries in, and covered the area with cardboard, more muck heap and the whole length so far with compost.  I'm making sure I don't overdo things and just work half an hour or so each time, and rest inbetween or I will be aching all over.  In my 60s I would work 8 hours a day in the garden at Ynyswen.  Those days are past!

My neighbours invited me to come down for a cup of tea (I took my own Earl Grey) and sit out in the garden with them. It was pleasant to be able to sit outside again and the river runs past the end of the garden (but 30 feet lower, down a very steep slope).  It was very peaceful listening to it. They have been taking out the wall over the porch to put a window in.  It will give lots of light now to the staircase and first floor hallway.  Then they asked if I'd like some lunch - I just had a few of their home made chips, and we had a natter and then Ed came and knocked in the two 6 ft stakes for the tallest apple tree (the Howgate Wonder) and the pear tree, which has shot up this year and is covered in leafbuds now.  It's nice to have company.  I saw how hard they were all working (3 of them) so made a batch of Apple & Banana Chocolate Muffins (which are vegan, just in case B was vegan).  I imagine those went down well.  I had one mid afternoon and it was so light and fluffy :)  It's a variation on my Chocolate Apple Cake.  I have discovered you can turn many cake recipes into muffins, and they are easier to pack if travelling.  All you do is make the cake mix, then divide into muffin cases.  Simples.

I saw this online this week.  Isn't it gorgeous?  I'd love to do that with a plain pine chest of drawers.

Oh, and I nearly forgot.  Another unusual name in the family tree, this time the Birds, from Kent.  Pleasant Bird.  I've never come across that used before.