oh dear, has it really been that long ... ??? !!!

Somehow the time has scampered past without my blogging for nearly a month! Not without my noticing, because I have certainly done that, but I have been much too busy to grab it, whether by the forelock, or the tail! Visiting grandchildren, helping my youngest daughter, who had to have a foot op. and can't drive her daughter to and from nursery. And so on and so forth.

It has often been my observation that one either has time to write and nothing to write about, because one is doing nothing much! Or, one is doing lots of interesting things which one hasn't got time to describe, because one is too busy doing them!

Knitting-wise, things are still coming on. I have finished my son's jumper, but omitted to photograph the finished product before I gave it to him, so it'll have to wait until I see him again. The Princess grows slowly, as I am still knitting the second lot of edging points. And my kimono-style jacket had to be completely ripped back because I was using too much yarn, even though I thought I had got the tension right. I have now finished the back on 3.5 mm instead of 4, and am halfway up a front.

In the meantime, spring has sprung, as I write I am looking at a beautiful forsythia in full fantastic yellow bloom in the garden next door to my daughter's. Although I like all the seasons, even winter, which I look on as a season of rest and recuperation, an indoor time to spend building up resources for the New Year, spring is undoubtedly my favourite, full of new life and hope. I should not like to live somewhere which did not have all four seasons, even if it were warmer than the British Isles. The constant variety and contrast is so delightful. Anything less would, I think, be boring.

So my 3 Beautiful Things for today are:-

the back of my Kimono-style Jacket:

the forsythia:

and these lovely celandines:

busy doing nothing ...

Spent the day running on slow, trying to catch up on my rest and laundry! The joy of idling in bed finishing my book - Parky, Michael Parkinson's autobiography. What a wonderful life he has had, what wonderful people he has met. Plus he comes from Yorkshire, so he's a good bloke anyway!

Today is Kathy's (my second daughter) birthday - Happy Birthday, Kathy!! I am always staggered to look back on the birthday of one of my children - much more than my own - and realise how far they, and I, have come since they were born. I recall the long and often difficult years I struggled to give them all a decent life and education. Now it's over to them, while I enjoy my place in the sun. Sometimes I still feel uncomfortable about the fact I am not tearing myself out of bed at silly o'clock to get children off to school and myself to work. Then I tell myself I've earned the right to relax, and take out my book or my knitting!

The upbringing I received implanted a permanent fear of idleness, of not doing enough, of not being useful. If I came home with full marks for a French test, I was admonished for 'not getting any marks for good handwriting', even though such were not available. Unqualified praise was deemed to risk spoiling a child, by making her big-headed. If you did well, it was taken as read. If you did badly, woe betide. Only now am I beginning to clear away all that corrosive fear, and give myself some credit for my achievements, not least of which, for me in any event, is my four beautiful children and their children. And they themselves have helped me in that, through their love. So once again, Happy Birthday, Kathy.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Having been berated by one of my daughters (she knows who she is ... =[ ) for the lack of blog, I guess I'd better start up again. Had a great Christmas in Singapore with my stepson and his family.

It was my first ever hot Christmas. Walking on a sandy beach in 34°C being serenaded by 'Sleighbells ring, snows a-glistening' was more than a bit weird.

Singapore seems to make even more of a (commercial) fuss about Christmas than we do.

The most amazing thing I saw was this Christmas 'tree', made of red, white and green teddy bears.

The Christmas trees generally were pretty gob-smacking!
















On Christmas day itself we went to the American Club and ate and drank ourselves silly from an immense buffet which in addition to traditional Christmas grub had several different roasts, as well as Chinese and Malay food, and a chocolate fountain. Then we repaired to someone's house for further celebrations, only going inside to be refreshed by the air-con, when it got too hot to stay outdoors, even in the shade! ;)


Another delight was our final two days at the Santoza resort hotel and spa. One morning we went for a walk down to the beach, then up to the Merlion, symbol of Singapore:

I then went for a fairly energetic swim in the spa pool. After a mudbath (mud imported specially from New Zealand) I put myself in the wonderful hands of a therapist for a two and a half hour massage which left me feeling so relaxed it was like having no bones. Then I ruined it all when we went to their gourmet restaurant for dinner!

In the meantime I continue to knit. Have nearly finished the cap shawl, but no photos right now, because my camera is sulking. Maybe tomorrow.

don't feel much like ...

blogging, because: the rainy, dull weather I see through my study window echoes the rainy dull weather in my head. However, I determined some time ago that I would concentrate on recording only the good things, because I need that reassurance, so I shall simply do three beautiful things, and hope for more!

On Wednesday we spent the day in Cambridge; a beautiful, crisply sunny autumnal day. The cold air brought colours sharply into focus, as I took several photos on the backs, and the seasonal soft shapes and colours were in striking contrast to the stark lines of the stowed punts.

Although this one's ready to go at any moment ... I think ...

One picture alone could be my three beautiful things: this line of three wonderful shaped box bushes really took my fancy:

Friday was my day for looking after my grandson, Luke. We went for a lovely long walk, this time in Surrey, in similar weather. I was amazed how far his little legs could stagger, as long as we went at his pace!! And when his mum, Kathy came home, we shared some hallowe'en fun. Although Luke looks a bit aback at his mother's altered appearance:

Oh well, perhaps it really is mum, after all!! After all, I'm an altered image too, in my pumpkin suit!!!

Kathy, queen of the apple-bobbers,

On the knitting front, I have been working away at a Christmas present scarf, of which more, including pix, tomorrow.

climbing slowly ...

I think I may have turned a corner! I find myself able - indeed wanting - to do more and more. The knitting is still my therapy of choice, but I have repotted plants, tidying the balcony of dead leaves and detritus, and galvanised myself sufficiently to go to the library and find some amusing books. Instead of feeling totally destroyed by the financial mayhem reported on the news, I find myself amused in a slightly cynical, world-weary sort of way. Gradually I am gaining confidence that my children have the strength to deal with the problems it may cause them. For me, a result!

The knitting too is a definite result. I am halfway up the back of the Rowan Tank Top:

Here in close-up:

And here is the Princess swatch. It's not blocked, because it's still on the needle. But I can report that I am loving the knitting of it, and can't wait to tackle the real thing!

Clearly Voltaire was right: il faut cultiver son jardin!

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!!! ;)

Moth - or as Inspecteur Clouseau would say: meurth ...

this summer in England has, apparently, been very good - or very bad, if you are a lace knitter - for meurth. :( seemingly the warmer weather, and especially the lack of cold winters to kill off the little blighters, has led to them breeding in ever greater numbers, needing ever more supplies of food - and guess where they find it? :/ this has reached such a pitch that even no less hallowed a source than The Times featured the problem this week. i actually already knew about this, because my youngest daughter (mother of ellie, and knitted textiles BA student at Central St Martin's) had a mega-infestation in her (also mega-, but she's got a better excuse that me ;) ) stash earlier this year. she spent a long time picking out the good stuff from the bad and deep-freezing it, whilst cleaning out all the horrible little blighters and their leavings. - heartbreaking ;(

anyway, as i have caught two of the wretched little things in the past two days, this has led to me waging a great campaign to have all our sweaters, suits, jackets, etc, and especially my precious stash, out to check, clean and put back (at great expense, according to Peter, as we had to buy cedar thingies, until i pointed out the comparative cost of replacing even one of his lovely handmade suits!). we are using lavender, cedar balls and hanging cedar blocks. anybody else out there had this problem and/or got a patent remedy? all the dreadful chemicals that were so effective have now seemingly been banned. and a good thing too, i dare say. in any case they were a) smelly, and b) dangerous.

my second daughter once (aged 5), annoyed because all the attention was being centred on my newish boyfriend's 21st birthday, went upstairs, found a mothball (not easy, because i had hidden them really well, i thought), and ate it. she came downstairs spitting wildly because it tasted awful. nonetheless, we felt it prudent to take her to the hospital, where she was fed ipecacuhana and kept in overnight, resulting in our spending the rest of the birthday in casualty - result (for her!) but not for us, because the gourmet dinner i had planned in celebration was ruined - not the wine, though. so we drowned our sorrow! ;)

on a happier note, my Sarah Don, The Art of Shetland Lace turned up today. i am saving it to read on the very long car journey to Ullswater tomorrow. we are off for a few days R&R. i must say, i am seriously impressed with Lacis, from whom i ordered it only last week, result - for me! ;)