Making Good Use

Ironing, Len and Me

Another bea-u-tiful spring-like sunny day means yet another load of washing is drying on the line.  Sadly, this has led to teetering piles of ironing in the ironing basket.  I'd much rather be blocking and sewing in the ends on my now-finished wrap, or choosing and sewing on some brightly-coloured buttons to jazz up a new, but rather plain, navy blue top.  Instead, I've set up the ironing board in the dining room, in a nice pool of sunlight, and am diligently ironing my way through what seems to be every item of clothing we possess - and then some.

To keep me company, and to take my mind of the tedium of the task, I'm playing my way - yet again - through my new 'favourite album of all time' (they do change quite frequently.)  This time it's 'The Essential Leonard Cohen'.   I treated myself to this double CD just before Christmas as I was totally obsessed with the song 'Hallelujah' and didn't want to hear Alexandra Burke's yodelling-type version all the time.  I thought I knew good old Len quite well - having been a keen listener of his songs in the early eighties - but it turns out I'd been missing a huge chunk of his more recent songs - things like 'Democracy', 'Who By Fire', A Thousand Kisses Deep' and the rather catchy Shania-Twain sound-a-like 'Closing Time'.  I'm amusing myself by warbling along very tunelessly to as many of the complicated lyrics as I can.  I'm sure I sound dreadful, but whatever gets me through the ironing pile is fine by me - I just hope the neighbours can't hear me.

Do you have any suggestions for 'songs to iron by?'

A Breath of Fresh Air

Today, for the first time in a.g.e.s., I've had windows open to let in some fresh air.  It's not especially sunny but it is wonderfully mild - at least double digit temperatures anyway (so mild that I can dispense with at least one pair of socks!!).  I know the windows haven't been open for months as some of them were still locked from when we were away at Christmas.  I don't think I'd realised how fusty and dusty the air in the house had become until I let in the sweet-smelling fresh air - fantastic!

The good strong breeze has also been a great opportunity to get a double load of washing dry, with another couple of loads ready to go into the washing machine this evening, so that I can get it hung out first thing in the morning - taking advantage of every minute of warm(ish), dry, breezy weather while it lasts.

Country Cottage Curtain

I was really pleased with this old piece of curtain fabric I found in a charity shop this morning.  It even has the old round metal rings for hanging it still attached along the top.  The fabric is real country cottage style with it's cheerful cottage-garden posy print in a patchwork-style pattern.  It was, amazingly, only 95p from a charity shop where I never find anything to buy - a statement I made as Mum and I went through the door - obviously, today was an exception.

It's very unusual for me to come across anything quite as vintage as this fabric these days, perhaps charity shops think no one will buy anything quite so old.  I remember in the days when jumble sales were much more common that this sort of vintage curtain was nearly always lurking on the linen table, and would have cost pennies to buy.  Still, I'm not complaining at the price I paid today - all I have to decide now is what I'm going to use the fabric for.  Summery cushion covers sound good to me at the moment.

Rhubarb, Rhubarb, Rhubarb

It has been a beautiful weekend for the time of year - clear blue skies and fairly warm sunshine.  Spring is certainly showing it's hand in Mum's garden as the wonderful rhubarb crown is starting to sprout - intensely-red mini stalks are pushing their way up through the soil, topped by the freshest lime green leaves. 

I love rhubarb, and it's particularly sweet and juicy when stewed up only minutes after being picked from the garden.  I'm not sure this was the original rhubarb plant, but I know there was a large crown of rhubarb in the garden when I was a small child as I used to spend a lot of time in the summer picking the humungous leaves and using them as a sun-shade and / or umbrella for myself and my toys.

When P and I lived in Nottingham, Mum and Dad often came to visit for the day (a pretty big undertaking by train from Bristol) and in the spring would usually have a bundle of rhubarb, freshly picked from the garden that morning, wrapped in newspaper, for us.  That rhubarb stewed up the next day was always especially sweet as it reminded me of home and my childhood.  Delicious.

Mum and I have taken full advantage of the dry and bright weather by getting out and about and visiting as many local charity shops as we can.  My haul to date has not been wonderful - an Ikea duvet cover for £3.00, Sliding Doors video for 20p (for some reason I've been really wanting to watch this film again lately), and a reasonably good book for re-sale.  Mum has done slightly better as she has found a new spring-weight fleece jacket, a cardigan, and a vest.  There have also been another stack of Disney videos found for DN - including the elusive 'Aladdin' - which, I think, pretty much completes the full set - they were 20p each too.

As the forecast appears to be dry again tomorrow, we're hoping to try yet another batch of charity shops - after all, you never know what you might find!!

Conversation with a Five-Year Old

'Mandma's* an idiot', said DN yesterday, as he was being pushed by both Mandma and me on the swings.

'Don't call Mandma an idiot', I replied, 'it's very rude.'  (Mandma being hard of hearing had not heard this conversation.)

'But Mandma said she was an idiot herself', replied DN very seriously, 'and she's quite right!!' 

What can you say to that, except be careful what you say to five-year-olds!

*Mandma is what DN calls his Grandma.  He used to call her that as a baby and somehow it just stuck.

The winner of the Fair Isle knitting book is Catherine.  Catherine, let me have your address and I'll post the book off to you at the end of next week.  (Sorry for the delay but I'm still away from home.) 

Computer Says 'Bang'

Yup, this morning, after nine years of loyal and faithful service, my computer finally died with a loud bang and a nasty smell of burning.  P has resurrected it twice before but this time we both feel it might be time to buy a new one.  The first time P brought it back from the dead it took him a couple of months to get it working - amid much swearing, shouting and tearing of hair (and that was just me!) but it soidiered on for another three years with no problems at all.  Second time he managed to get it working again a lot quicker with the help of a new motherboard - this repair gave another 20 months of use.  This time it's definitely curtains.

I don't think nine years for a computer base unit is too bad going, especially as it gets used A LOT every day.  On the positive side, it will be lovely to have a computer where I can actually delete my photos when I want to, can view websites that are heavy on photographs without having to wait a.g.e.s for them to download and, fingers crossed, I'll be able to view the BBC iPllayer service.  Every cloud etc etc.

Two much more positive things though are:

1. The neighbour whose garage borders our garden had a chap in this morning to replace the guttering.  As he had to get into our garden to do it I asked if he could have a quick look at what I suspected was a blocked gutter on our roof too (once he'd finished the other job, of course.)  The gutter has been pouring water whenever it rains, and irritatingly dripping almost constantly this winter. He did a sterling job on both the neighbour's garage guttering and with unblocking our gutter - yuk, it looked a horribly mucky job.  And all he charged me was a fiver.  Excellent service.  He's recently been laid-off working as a builder but I foresee him having no shortage of work in our area as he was a really tidy workman, charged very reasonable rates and actually arrived bang on time.

2. I bought a £2.99 boiling bacon in the butchers on Friday so that I could make Nigella Lawson's delicious 'Gammon Cooked in Cider' recipe.  In the past I've always bought the boiling bacon in Aldi but the one's in the butchers looked much nicer for roughly the same price.  I couldn't believe how much meat there was for the money - no way that even P and I could eat it all in one sitting (and we have both got good appetites.)  I chopped up the leftovers - meat and carrots and leeks, boiled up some dried Penne Pasta, mixed it all together, added a cheese sauce and baked it in the oven.  Well, it was truly delicious and there is even still some of that left over.  That £2.99 piece of meat has provided enough for five or six separate (and very generous) servings. 

Postings will be a bit sporadic for the next week or so as I'm off to Bristol tomorrow to see the family.

Giveaway Monday - 4

This week's offering is 'The Complete Book of Traditional Fair Isle Knitting' by Sheila McGregor.  A 144 page hardback book.

Here's the spiel from the introduction to the book 'Sheila McGregor describes the unique techniques involved in this type of knitting.  However, she makes it clear that any good knitting technique can be used to create Fair Isle patterns as long as the circular method is used.  There are chapters on designing garments (including jerseys, lumbers, stockings, gloves and tammies), on knitting techniques (such as grafting) and on the use of colour.  There are no stitch-by-stitch instructions, instaed, Sheila McGregor sets out the steps in planning a Fair Isle garment, so that knitters will be able to design their own knitwear.  She also explains the principles - and the few rules - that apply to the use of colour schemes.  Applying these guidelines to the many pages of patterns - probably one of the most comprehensive and authentic collections ever published - will give inspiration for endless variations and adaptations.'

So, if you fancy winning this book (and are a much more advanced knitter than me - circular needles are the devil's work in my opinion!) please leave a comment on this post and I'll get the virtual hat to draw a winner on Saturday 21st February.  It's a bit of a weighty tome so I think, for once, I'll have to restrict entries to UK addresses only.

The decluttering continues at a more reduced pace these days, although in the past week I've managed to get rid of three pairs of my old shoes.  They all had completely worn-out and split soles so goodness alone knows why they'd been gathering dust on the shoe rack for years.  There was also an old bra with a completely snapped underwire that was poking through the fabric.  Like I was ever going to torture myself by wearing that particular undergarment again!!

The 'Virtual Hat' Chose ....

Comment number 3 which was  A Piece of Wood.  Let me have your details and I'll put the Cath Kidston pouch in the post to you.

Thank you to everyone who took part. 

All You Need Is ....

Decorated L O V E letters given to me for Christmas by my best boy - my darling nephew. 

He's only five but is the loveliest, sweetest, funniest little fella in the world to our family.  Ever since he came into our lives he's been the centre of our universe (and he knows it!!)  Seeing the next generation growing up - learning to walk, talk, have opinions (oh my goodness, does he have opinions on anything and everything), now going to school and learning to read and write, seeing the world through his eyes, and learning all about Ben 10, Lego, Star Wars and 'aliens' (that's us, not DN - he knows ALL about those things already) - that really is the best LOVE ever.

Happy Valentines.

Geek

I don't suppose I really am a geek (certainly not technically at least), but there is one thing that I am somewhat obsessed and geekish about, and that is the hours of daylight.  I certainly suffer to some extent from Seasonal Affective Disorder and find the winter months VERY difficult.  Hence why I rather geekishly check the sunrise and sunset times on the BBC Weather Site several times a week.  And this year, for the first time ever, I remembered to make a note of the sunrise and sunset times at the winter solstice so that I could check every week just how much extra daylight we've now got (and can compare the times with the sunrise and sunset at the summer solstice if I, hopefully, remember to make a note of those too.)   If anyone (apart from me) is the least bit interested, I can confidently tell you that at eight weeks past the solstice this Sunday we will have gained 47 minutes extra daylight in the morning and 1 hour and 20 minutes extra in the evening.

Sadly, my geekishness doesn't stop with details of sunrise and sunset just for where I live, oh no.  I also have comparison times written down for Bristol (the same gain in daylight as where I live but 13 minutes later with both the sunrise and sunset), and Lerwick in the Shetland Islands (a gain of an hour and 22 minutes in the morning and just short of two hours in the evening - impressive).  I've also noted that this coming Saturday, Qaanaaq in Northern Greenland will finally glimpse daylight again after living in perpetual darkness since mid-October.  (Again, for any fellow sunrise / sunset geeks out there - or am I the only one? - Qaanaaq will be in 24 hour daylight from mid-April.  Wow, that must really mess your body clock about!!)

So, for anyone else who finds the long, dark days of a British winter very trying I can thoroughly recommend making a note of the hours of daylight and checking them regularly - there is something undeniably geekish about it, but I also find it a huge comfort to see the daylight increasing on a regular weekly basis.