Just Mooching

Hello there; long time, no see! It's been a while since my last post - they seem to have been few and far between recently. I hope you all enjoyed the Easter holidays. I was spoilt by having both girls home again. L, just for the bank holiday weekend, and E for about 3 weeks as it was uni end of term. 

E was snowed under with work, unfortunately. Her dissertation deadline was noon on May 2nd and she eventually submitted it at 11:20am on that date. I was more stressed than she was. If you are 1 second over the deadline, you are automatically docked 10%, and I think it increases the longer you miss it by. R was telling horror stories of a colleague's son who left his dissertation submission to the last minute. There was a computer glitch and it was sent 15 seconds too late with the resulting automatic penalty. Our internet is hit and miss at the best of times, so I was more than a little relieved when it was finally sent off. She had 'pulled an all nighter' in order to get it finished, so had a celebratory G&T in the bath and then crashed out! She's now back in Bristol working hard for her finals. 

Aside from my role providing reassurance, calming thoughts and endless meals and snacks, there have been a few happies throughout April. Here are just a few of them:

Walking back from town one day, I passed a flyer for a 'learn to meditate' workshop at our local Elizabethan manor house. Run by a Buddhist Nun (who knew?), it sounded fun, so I bought tickets for R and myself. Needless to say, on the night, R got on the wrong train from London, ended up in Didcot and missed the whole thing (if I were the suspicious sort, I'd say he did it deliberately!). Luckily, there was someone there that I vaguely knew, so I sat with her instead. It was very relaxing. On the few occasions that I have tried meditation in the past, I have failed dismally, my mind monkeying around thinking about what to make for dinner etc. This time I was fine initially, but for a first session it went on a little too long for me and I got a bit fidgety towards the end. The talk was good though. She had a very relaxing voice, and I considered it worth the £10 ticket price ........ possibly not the £20 though!

Coming out of the workshop, I saw an advert for their food and craft fair. R and I went along at the weekend and it was quite fun.There were various animals - kune kune piglets, donkeys and the like, which were very cute. We also bought a few plants and a small pot of wood 'butter' for oiling dried out wooden spoons etc. My kitchenware is now more moisturised than my face!

One of the craftsmen was advertising his copper foiling workshops. I signed up for one and went along a couple of weeks ago. I had expected more people to be attending but, weirdly, it was just him and me. Still, one to one tuition isn't bad and it was great fun. Here are my attempts:

 

 

It was a really quick and easy technique - much easier than the leading that I have done in the past.

I had a pair of jeans that were getting rather worn out at the knee - not designer tears,  just worn out! I thought I'd try sashiko darning and I'm rather pleased with how they turned out. R looked askance at them when I planned to wear them out in public but I have no shame!

Attending a joint dog and garden show at the showground. There were 2 queues to get in - the garden one, which we wanted, being £2 cheaper than the dog show entry price. Strangely, once you got in, the 2 were mixed together. It worked out rather well; the garden bit was a tad disappointing, but the dog show was great fun. You could 'hug a rescued pug' in a tent. Myrtle with a sticky out tongue stole my heart. The nicest bit was that the dogs were all having so much fun. They all seemed thrilled to see each other and could enter pens where they could bounce all over hay bales etc. I had to look twice at this particular one - initially, I thought it just had a strange fur do!

 Blossom and blue sky - one of my favourite sights:

 

Pre-slug hostas:

I do love a nice skip (the rubbish containing kind, not the method of locomotion!) I'll always have a nosy if we happen to pass one and one of my favourite finds was a small table in a skip outside L's college in Oxford. It's referred to as the 'Merton table' and is a nice memento of her time there. A couple of weeks ago, I happened to notice the bedside table below dumped by a bin close to our house. The bin was in someone's garden and we were on our way somewhere, so I didn't think too much about it. Forward a week and L and I were popping to the shop to buy emergency ketchup for a BBQ. I mentioned that our walk would take us by the garden where I'd spotted the bedside table (L being in need of one). It was still there, but as it was 9am on a Saturday morning, I thought it would be a little thoughtless to knock on someone's door so early. We returned at 11, and the lady said she had put it there whilst it was waiting to be taken to the dump and we were welcome to it if we wanted it. Result! I carried the drawer and L carried the rest -  fair division of labour! I had thought that she might want it painted, but after we had dried it out in the sun for 2 days (it had been left out in the rain for a week) and sanded it to get rid of some felt tip marks, she decided that she would like it waxed. Some Briwax and elbow grease later and she has a 'new' bedside table. Admittedly, it is currently cluttering up our hall. She came home by train and didn't fancy the return journey with a rather hefty piece of furniture, so we will take it when we go to London in a couple of weeks.

 The ketchup came in very handy for the first BBQ of the season:

 The Easter weekend was glorious and even E was persuaded into the garden for a change of scene. You can study just as well in a hammock!

 We also went for a picnic by the river and a walk in the woods to see the bluebells:

 I find that they never show up very well on photos:

 When we were looking at houses to buy many years ago, the thing that swung this one was that it backed onto  a river. When we walked to the end of the garden there was a duck and some ducklings sitting on the lawn. The girls immediately wanted 'the duck house' and every year since then we have been lucky enough to have ducklings coming up to the back door to be fed. It can be heart breaking at times though as they are vulnerable to all sorts of predators - the neighbours' cats being top of the list! Some ducks make better mothers than others. The one below is, sadly, down to 1 duckling as she seems to be in her own little world, forgetting that they are there, flying off with the male, and eating most of the food provided.

An evening at the theatre. Based along similar lines to the old television programme 'Whose Line is it Anyway?', it was an impressive and very funny evening's entertainment:

 Getting my Green Man back after its fiiring: 

 Finally, the 'Crafty Craft' Race. A local, traditional event held annually on the first bank holiday Monday in May. Teams raise money for charity by racing homemade craft along the Kennet and Avon canal. They have to pick it up and carry it round whenever they reach a lock.

Well, that's all for this week. The weather is supposed to be rainy for the rest of the week, so I'm just off to plant out my cavolo nero and chard whilst it's still fine. Enjoy the rest of the week.

Toodle pip for now.x 

Tyntesfield

A couple of weekends ago, my friend, S, and I met up at the National Trust property Tyntesfield. Tyntesfield is a Victorian Gothic Revival house in North Somerset. Bought by William Gibbs in 1844 as a family home, he had the exterior remodeled and the interior decorated by the country's leading craftsmen. He also commissioned the building of a chapel there in 1873. As well as the stunning buildings, Tyntesfield also has spectacular views, gardens and parkland ....... and, most importantly, a very nice tearoom! 

Here are some photos of our day out:

The Cow Barn Restaurant. You could sit inside in one of the beautifully furnished cow stalls, or outside in the March sunshine.

 The back of the chapel:

 The main entrance with the chapel off to the right:

 The library:

I loved the rocking horse:

 Dining Room:

 The Butler's Room. Sadly, we weren't allowed access to the kitchens which are usually one of my favourite places to visit in an NT property:

 Part of the gardens. My favourite bits were the kitchen gardens, although there wasn't much to see at the end of March. There were perfectly positioned benches everywhere though and we pottered slowly from one to the next!

 Other recent happies:

Learning how to do foundation piecing:

 Making 'proper' bread again - ie. not with the breadmaker:

On Saturday, I was on my hands and knees weeding my veggie patch (inspired by the perfect ones at Tyntesfield!), when I looked up and L and E were standing there. They had come on a surprise visit for Mother's Day and you could probably have heard my squeals of delight in Oxford! It was such a wonderful surprise. R had been in on the secret and had managed not to give the game away.

Someone was a very happy bunny: 

 We went for a Japanese meal on the Saturday, then on Sunday we went bowling:

 ..... and took a picnic to our local lake for a walk:

 

Their presence would have been more than enough, but they also bought me a new travel wallet to replace the one that was stolen in Seville (now all I need is a new passport!), and a new mug as my precious Mummy mug had been broken in the dishwasher recently. I had been so upset. R managed to glue it, but I thought there would probably come a point when I would be left holding just a handle and wearing the tea. I've put it aside, along with a broken robin mug, in case I ever try my hand at candle making.

Anyway, that's me all caught up. I'm off to peg the washing out and then I need to pop into town for a few errands. Wishing you all a happy week.

Toodle pip for now. x

Displacement Activities

I've been thinking a lot about my Aunt H recently. Both my parents came from large families, so there were plenty of aunts and uncles about in my childhood; Auntie H was my favourite though. She and my mother were very close, so she was a frequent visitor. I can remember being shocked when she announced that she no longer watched/listened to/read the news. 'Didn't she want to keep abreast of World events?' my 16 year old self asked. 'It's never good news' was her reply. As I get older, I'm beginning to see what she meant.

Yesterday evening for instance: we had the usual Brexit shenanigans; the devastation caused by the cyclone in Mozambique; an update on the shootings in Christchurch (is everyone else incredibly impressed by Jacinda Ardern? I think she's doing an amazing job); the identification of Libby Squire's body; and the sentencing of a 16 year old for the abduction, rape and murder of a 6 year old girl. By the end of it I was heartbroken. I don't think last night was particularly unusual either, it seems to have been horror after horror recently. I thought of Auntie H going through life, happily doing her knitting and listening to opera. Maybe she had a point after all.

Here then are a few of my recent attempts to distract myself from 'real life':

A belated Valentine's Day present from R. It's a swift box. I didn't like to point out that, as they are colony birds, we may need more than one, so it's now up at the back of the house and I'm being hopeful. Maybe we can add to it gradually, but I think it was quite pricey so it may take a while.

 Re-knitting my Hipster Shawl after R felted my previous one:

An evening of comedy and magic at our local theatre. When I booked the tickets, the lady asked if we would like to be on the front row. Thinking (quite rightly!) that front row audience members would probably be picked on, I asked to sit further back and in the middle so that we were hemmed in. Come the night, there were 2 empty seats next to R and, after I helpfully pointed out that the spaces drew the eye nicely, he spent the show terrified of being chosen!.He wasn't, but I can understand his concern - he was once dragged up on stage to dance at a pantomime and has never fully recovered! I really enjoyed it though and it made a nice change from watching a play.

Attending a 'Make Your Own Green Man' workshop at our local museum. I LOVED this! Here are a few that were provided as inspiration:

 ........ and here is mine:

 It still needs to be glazed and fired, so I'll show the finished article when I collect it in a few weeks.

Enjoying my Mother's Day Narcissi from a few years ago:

 Glad to see my Camellia in bloom again. In fact, it's nice to be able to get outside generally. I've just cut the grass for the first time this year and it looks so much better.

 Finishing my Christmas Eve cast on socks - finally! They have been my travel knitting, so have taken a while.

A few months ago, I bought a footstool at a car boot sale. I had signed up for a 1 day upcycling course and needed a small object to work on. Naturally, as soon as I found said object, the course was cancelled! I thought I'd give it a coat of paint anyway:

Here it is after 2 coats of Annie Sloan, a coat of wax and a bit of distressing. I'm in 2 minds about the fabric - I nearly bought some upholstery fabric at the Knitting and Stitching show, but thought I'd see what it looked like painted first. I don't know about the apples (or are they cherries?), what does everyone else think?

 

When L graduated, I made her a 'Graduation Quilt'. With E in her final year at uni, I asked if she would like one too. She wasn't entirely sure, but I could imagine the accusations of favouritism if I didn't! So, I thought I would compromise and make a 'throw'. It's quite a large throw - she can 'throw' it on the foot of her bed, 'throw' it on the chair in her student room (she's hoping to stay on for a Master's Degree), or even 'throw' it on the wall as a hanging. E is my 'hippy girl', so I thought she'd quite like these Indian block prints. I've finished the top and bought the wadding, so now I just need to sandwich it all together and quilt it. She can always 'throw' it away if she hates it!

 R and I took a trip into London to see L. We decided to visit Brick Lane as R and I had never been:

This is where we stopped for lunch:

 

 We had a combination of Ethiopian and Turkish food which we shared. It was delicious and very filling. We were planning to have an Indian meal later at one of the many restaurants claiming to serve 'the best Indian food in Brick Lane', but none of us were hungry. Next time!

  Finally, I had half a ball of yarn left over from making my Hipster Shawl, so made a quick pair of fingerless mitts - you can never have too many. The mitten blockers are the ones I bought at Yarnporium last year.

Well, that's all for this week. I'm off to channel Auntie H by listening to some opera whilst I start preparing dinner. Wishing you all a wonderful weekend and may all your news be good news.

Toodle pip for now. x