the pleasant land of counterpane ...

...which i am inhabiting post a (mercifully short) indisposition, the gorier details of which i will spare you, save to say that it came on very suddenly, involved an horrendous drive home, as i was away babysitting the gorgeous grandson at the time, and has forced me into a day of bedrest, because i 'came over all dizzy like'! so as you can see, i am experimenting with the blog, because i want the text to be wider and therefore shorter. however, being not v au fait, am not getting other things right. heighho, win some lose some, as they say. i do really need to get a grip on this blogging thing, but where to find the time? :(

managed to leave some knitting behind - again, I hear you cry! Well, this time it's not lost, just left at my daughter's. and i was feeling distinctly poorly. moreover, it is not the christmas present knitting, which is finished, but which cannot be displayed as yet, because of christmas present secrecy! so i shall now start on my mother's stole/scarf, whilst awaiting the return of the errant shawl. further enquiry of the Berlin authorities have revealed no sign of my lost bee fields shawl KAL, but as i have now got replacement yarn, will soon have that back on the needles. and i have a picture of the original, at a very early stage.

am somewhat disappointed, because i was supposed to be out with my eldest daughter and granddaughter, who rarely grace London because their lives in Dorset are so full. but Maddie was picking Jessie, who is about to celebrate her eighteenth birthday, up from a brief holiday with her stepgrandma at her house in France, up from the airport which is local to us, so they broke their journey with an o'n stay here. Jessie is gorgeous and clever, and i know i am biased, but after the party in 10 days time i shall have the photos to prove the former, and her marks - often 100% prove the latter. they are spending the day looking at art, in preparation for her interview for a famous university, fingers crossed. she doesn't knit, but you can't have everything, and she appreciates the knitting i do for her, so that's good enough for me.

son Jos managed to arrive and depart in my absence, ostensibly for his grandfather's 82nd birthday party, altho i do sometimes wonder!! and hopefully i should see the younger of my gorgeous granddaughters tomorrow, as she is coming up with her mum to go to an exhibition on recycling all being well. that's almost a full house, one way and another. in fact the long-suffering Peter thinks it's almost too much of a full house anyway you look at it. but i tell him having young people about keeps you young. and anyway, they're all so gorgeous, and yes, i know i'm biased, but ... ;) e.g., see above for picture of 'happy-go-Luke-y'!! :)

in any case, i must prepare for my PhD upgrade viva voce next tuesday. not sure whether the butterflies are excitement or terror, but am pleased neverthless to have got this far at long last.

and to cap this posting, some pictures of mother russia, at long last!!! :) as you can see, there not entirely your conventional pix - the first a cossack who just happened to be passing, the second a scots guard bandsman, just what you expect to see in Moscow, not! they were performing in a military tattoo, and when i tell you that the scots girls were in tartan trews - goodness knows what the Russians made of it all!! Finally, Marshall Zhukov, great hero of WWII, maybe??? Well, make of all that what you will. the rest next time!!! ;)

all my ducks in a row ... almost!

still a bit behind with myself, but getting there, so am posting this photo, which gives an idea of where i'm at! ;)

it's actually a picture of my stepdaughter's duck keeping her ducklings in order, but i couldn't resist it, because it reminds of my ghastly ex, who says things like 'we must get all our ducks in a row', or worse, 'are we all singing from the same hymnsheet?' - a-a-a-r-g-h!!!

no, i haven't disappeared, but i have been travelling ...

i guess anybody who was ever interested in my blog has given up on me. in fact, i guess i am a very bad blogger :(. they say you find time to do the things you really want to do. but that's not entirely true, unless you take it to its most extreme. fact is, there are things which the life i have chosen impels me to do, like keep me, my home and my husband's life running (and before anyone raises the question, yes, he does his share, indeed, these days, with me away so much, or lost in work, probably more than his fair ... i am married to a saint, Peter is indeed my rock, and i love him dearly. he would say, very dearly, with my penchant for spending ;) but that's another blog entirely), ie, with clean, ironed clothes, food, a tidy home etc. plus my commitment to my immediate family, which now includes: 4 children, 3 grandchildren, husband, mother, sister, nephew. then there is the wider family, many of whom live abroad. not forgetting friends, tho some of them must think i HAVE forgotten them lately. and i have hardly seen my lovely grandchildren, who are getting on getting bigger. Ellie's walking, talking and turned into a real live toddler while i was away, and Luke's not far behind.

then there's the PhD! and yes, that has been full-on lately. i have submitted 2 major pieces of work, a chapter plan, a time plan and a working bibliography, in two copies and am to be viva'd on 30th to determine if it is ok to continue to a PhD! so no small matter, then.

then there's the knitting. which i fit into the spaces and interstices of my life, eg, if watching tv or travelling on buses, tubes and trains, or cars when other people are driving - no, i don't think it's a good idea to knit and drive ;) having lost my beautiful bee fields KAL shawl half-knitted in September on the Berlin transport system somewhere (no, no sign of it returning, hope it's gone to a good home!), i have got as far as edging the secret Christmas present shawl i am knitting, mostly done while travelling. but why, o why can't i knit on the plane? :( it's so mean, just think what i could get done in those wasted hours, not just on the plane itself, but in the time between check-in and travel. anyone for an airport knitting sit-down demo??? with bamboo or plastic needles, of course.

travel. yes, that's the main reason i have not posted, in addition to the PhD i mean. and even then, it's involved the PhD, as i attended another conference in Munich for it, and then spent 5 days buried in an archive there. a very fruitful trip, workwise. and the chance to catch up with some friends, the very lovely Uli and Toby, who kindly offered me bed and board, and whose company and friendship made this archive trip much nicer than those where i skulk in a lonely cheap hotel room in the evenings. i also did manage an afternoon's sightseeing in Munich while waiting to catch my plane.

all you blogging fanatics out there, how do you find enough time to do it, while doing such interesting things? i mean i find my days just whizz by, and i do need 8 hours' sleep, or i just go under, vitamin pills or not. i guess it's just what happens, getting older.

anyway, that's enough for now. those of you who are still interested in my feeble efforts, i shall make every effort to blog some pictures of travel and knitting very soon. life permitting, of course! ;)