It's been a bit busy around here of late. R's mother is unwell, so there has been a lot of to and froing up North to visit her. In addition, L's roof terrace had a deck which needed replacing, so a few weekends were spent in London, helping to clear the old stuff and building the struts to support the new timber. As I write this, she has sent me a photo of the just delivered new decking boards, all stacked on her landing and waiting to be fitted. It will look lovely when it's done and cocktails on the terrace have been promised at some point!
In between, there have been a few day trips out, a bit of time pootling in the kitchen and a few trips to the theatre. As usual, there are some photos which I forgot to rotate - my excuse is that it's much trickier with my 'new' laptop - truth be told, I've had it for over a year and I still haven't got to grips with it!
Here then are a few happies from the last couple of months:
The sock yarn that I bought in Budapest but have failed to do anything with so far. I'm still knitting on my Kerr Sweater and have now got distracted by making a new hat for L:
Inter Alia - a National Theatre Live production shown at the cinema. Rosamund Pike starred and she was absolutely brilliant:
A spontaneous bunch of flowers from my neighbour. Her daughter is a florist and these were left over from a wedding:
This one's for you, Barbara! A Peacock butterfly on my duvet cover, drying on the washing line.
A New Era Theatre production of Alan Bennett's play. How can I put this politely? ..... It was dire! The acting wasn't too bad (although the prompter was needed in parts), it was just a very tedious play. Not one of Bennett's best. The man sitting behind us fell asleep during the first act, and his wife had to keep digging him in the ribs when his snoring became too intrusive. They actually left during the interval and didn't return. I've just booked tickets for their Christmas production, 'Night Must Fall', which I hope will be better.
Harvesting my Munchkin Pumpkins - they are very nice stuffed and roasted. I also have 7 absolutely enormous butternut squash, which will take us a while to get through.
Finishing my 'Tranquility Totem'. Each of the sunflowers has a calming quotation on the reverse side, which I can read when feeling anxious about things. It seems to help, although I find being in the garden calming anyway, so who knows:
We did one of the circular walks from the Oxfordshire walks book that we bought at Nuffield Place. It took us by St. Martin's Church in Bladon, where Sir Winston Churchill and his wife, Clementine, are buried. Just outside Blenheim Palace grounds, it is a very unostentatious grave for such a great man, but picturesque and peaceful:
The service was held at St. Paul's Cathedral but the burial, by contrast, was attended by only close relatives and friends.
Watching a magpie pecking at a deer's back in the garden. Apparently, it's a common symbiotic relationship - the magpie removes parasites such as ticks from the deer and in return has a useful food source. Both seemed very happy with the arrangement:
Making crab-apple jelly:
A brilliant production of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein at the Arlington Arts Centre, complete with papier mache creature. It was really good and actually quite scary in parts:
Going to see a friend in a production of Sister Act at the Corn Exchange. For an amateur production, it was excellent - completely joyous and with some singers that wouldn't be out of place on a West End stage!
Making fig chutney - not my favourite but it was a shame to waste them:
A walk and picnic in the Savernake Forest:
A flask of borscht made with some of my veggie patch beetroot:
There were shrooms aplenty, but I'm never confident enough to forage them:
We did, however, forage lots of sweet chestnuts. We may have got carried away! I roasted some as I had the oven on to make dinner - they were lovely:
Lastly, meeting my friend, S, at Stourhead National Trust for a dog walk:
It was the first time that I had met her rescue dog, A, so I had bought her a squeaky broccoli toy - vegan dog treats were thin on the ground at the supermarket. Mr. Broccoli was a big hit - so much so that he has since been confiscated as A was a little overkeen! S plans to bring him out when guests are overstaying their welcome! :O)
