A Whiff of Autumn

Hello there. I hope September finds you all well and coping with whatever Coronavirus restrictions are in place near you at the moment. We are off for a few days this weekend, so I thought I'd grab a minute to unload my camera in preparation. L and J are coming to house and Hamish sit and to enjoy a few days outside  London. Their flat purchase went through smoothly and they have the keys. As the lease doesn't expire on their rental flat until the 30th, they have been taking the opportunity to do a bit of decorating before moving all their belongings across. A few days break will be welcomed by all after, what has been for everyone, a rather trying year. I'm hoping the weather lasts as, despite the leaves starting to change, it's gloriously warm and sunny here at the moment.

After 6 months of going practically nowhere, apart from our daily Government sanctioned exercise and the supermarket, the last few weeks have felt like a social whirl. I've started going swimming again - a slot booked beforehand and temperature checked on arrival. My pottery classes have resumed and I've managed socially distant meetings with many friends. All that and seeing L and J on Friday before a few days away - happy days! 

Here then are my uploaded photos. They have uploaded back to front, so rather than jiggling, I'll just do them in reverse!

A walk on Greenham Common. The site of the old airbase made famous during the protests in the 80s. The cows have a lovely life, wandering and grazing freely. 

Monument to the US airmen who were killed in WWII:

A discovery at the supermarket this week. Verdict? Houmous - nice, marmite - love it, marmite houmous - an acquired taste!

Walking the White Horse Trail again in Pewsey. It's a great spot for a picnic:

Loving the book that L lent me. She read it for her chambers' book group:

After about 15years, R finally got around to reinstalling our weather vane. It gives me happy Mary Poppins vibes whenever I look at it. Especially if the wind's in the East!

A trip to Basildon Park with my friend, C. We sat on tree stumps having our picnic and putting the world to rights! :O)

A circular walk in St. Mary Bourne, which sounds so much like St. Mary Mead that it always reminds me of Miss Marple! I love thatched cottages and the boxing hares also caught my eye:

The last of the greenhouse toms and bay leaves rescued after R pruned the tree:

To be honest, we've done so many walks that I can't recall where this photo was taken. I think it may be West Ilsley:

A trip to Westonbirt Arboretum to meet S and enjoy another picnic!

A trip in Bridget to Woodstock near Oxford:

There was a Dinosaur Garden near to the museum:

Visiting L and J to see their new flat. We had a takeaway supper from Wagamama's and were horrified by the amount of plastic involved!

Visiting a second hand bookshop that L recommended. It was lovely. I bought a copy of 'The 39 Steps' as a souvenir and we admired 'Popeye' the bookshop cat, so called because when he first wandered in off the street  he had an eye infection.

Popeye having a snooze:

Sadly, the seating area was roped off owing to the pandemic:

Popeye practising social distancing!

Finally, R had been repointing the patio. When he came in for a tea break, the ducks decided to leave their own mark. Louis was here! I hope it didn't cause too much difficulty when he tried to swim with his little concrete boots!

Well, that's all for now. Enjoy the sunny weather while it lasts. It will be mists and the first lighting of the stove of the season in no time! Take care.

Toodle pip for now. x. 

Stupid New Blogger!

Hello there! Not only is it far too hot and humid at the moment, I have just spent a frustrating hour trying to upload my photos to this new version of Blogger. I don't like change of any kind and that, combined with my palaeolithic technical abilities, mean that any change to my usual way of doing things on the computer sends me into meltdown. Consequently, you may or may not have any images attached to this post. If you do, it's only because I have walked away from my laptop and plan to try again tomorrow morning when, hopefully, both my computer and I are somewhat cooler! Even reverting to the old version doesn't help; when I try to add photos, all I get is a load of text and no image. If people are going to mess with something, they might take the time to make sure that what they're replacing it with actually works. Googling the problem, it seems I'm not the only one having trouble. Blogger tech team - if you're reading this - you suck!

Not much has happened around here. R is still working from home, E is still valiantly trying to finish her MPhil, despite closed libraries and archives, and I am now thoroughly fed up with this whole Coronavirus nonsense and just want everything to go back to the way it was. The only bright spot is that L and her boyfriend, J, have just completed on their first flat in London. They picked up the keys yesterday and have a month to do a bit of decorating before the lease on their current rental place expires. She gave us a virtual tour last night and it looks beautiful; all white walls, wooden floorboards and a roof terrace with lovely views. We're driving up at the weekend to see it in person and to help move some bits and pieces across. I'm desperately trying not to dwell on how much it all cost - London prices, phew! At least they are benefiting from the stamp duty changes at the moment.

Apart from that, there has been a bit of knitting, a lot of veg eating (I'm struggling to keep up with the courgettes and patty pan squash) and more walks than you can shake a stick at. I froze my gym membership for August and then had to get in touch with them this morning when we discovered that, despite sending an email confirming my frozen membership, they had still deducted the money from the account. I'm beginning to wonder whether anyone is capable of doing their job properly! Sorry, I'm in a bad mood. :O(

Here then (hopefully!) are some photos from the last month:

Rose City Roller socks made with Tencel yarn from the bark of the eucalyptus tree. These are for E who is more of a hard line vegan than the rest of us. I can't say that I enjoyed knitting these very much. They seemed quite open weave and I should probably have decreased my usual needle size.

Anniversary flowers from R, along with some Booja Booja truffles!

Fawley Church in the North Wessex Downs. Fawley was the home of Thomas Hardy's grandmother. He based the village Marygreen in 'Jude the Obscure' on Fawley and gave Jude the surname Fawley too.

Burrushi!

Meeting L and J for a picnic on Clapham Common:

The lake on the common:

I can recommend the Covent Garden courgette and tarragon soup recipe for those with a glut!

Painting the old Wendy house on a hot day. It took 3 coats, but I was plugged into Audible and it was bliss!

Headless bird! :O)

Present from J and B for cat sitting:

Watching a socially distant outdoor screening of the film '1917' at Shaw House. We took a picnic and it was very cosy under the umbrella when it started to rain!

The harvest is bountiful!

Mason bees taking up residence in the bee hostel that L made for our 2nd hand/homemade Christmas last year:

A walk around the grounds of Ashdown House:

Winding yarn for the 'Weekender Sweater' by Andrea Mowry:

Blocking my 'Nurmilintu Shawl'. The yarn was a present from my friend, W. I'm glad that I put a lifeline in before each lace section as it appears that I don't have the concentration to follow a pattern properly!

Well, that's it for this month. Tonight we are taking Rishi up on his offer to 'Eat Out to Help Out', so I don't have to worry about what to cook for dinner - result! I hope you are well, my friends. I'm just off for a calming cup of tea to recover from the trauma of uploading photos!  Enjoy the sunny weather whilst it lasts - they have promised me thunderstorms for this afternoon; I can't wait!

Toodle pip for now. x

So, that was June.

Hello there. Again, it has been over a month since my last post. The hiatus is probably due to a combination of not much happening during lockdown and an absence of blogging mojo. R had most of the month off. He is an IT contractor and his previous contract finished at the end of May. Having secured a new position, he had to wait a few weeks for his security clearance to come through - this, despite the fact that he was actually returning to the same Government department as before! Still, it gave him a nice break and allowed him to finish off a few DIY jobs that had been on the 'To Do' list. The patio is now re-pointed and the garage door frame repaired and in the process of being painted. 

We've been on some lovely walks, I've done lots of gardening and finished off a few craft projects and the Friday family quiz nights are still ongoing. Incidentally, the answer to the Dingbat in my last post (for those who may have been wondering!) was 'Feeling under the weather'. Any ideas for pub quiz rounds would be gratefully received!

Here then, are a few photos from June 2020:

Finishing and blocking my Rosemont Cardigan. It is a lovely, big, slouchy pattern and I look forward to wearing it during the colder months:

 A walk at Coombe Gibbet near Inkpen:

 It's a perfect place for hang gliding:

 Spending a happy morning sewing face masks. I made no attempt to match up the pattern - I'm certainly no Sewing Bee candidate! I find them surprisingly cosy and comforting to wear, although if you're wearing glasses, they have a tendency to steam up!

 A trip to Bampton in Oxfordshire. This is a lovely village which might look familiar to fans of 'Downton Abbey' as it doubles as the fictional Yorkshire village, Downton. There is a lovely circular walk and we had a coffee from an independent coffee shop - our first for many months in a cup that wasn't ours!

This is the village library that doubles as the hospital in the series:

Another of the jobs that R has ticked off the list this month was to cut down the huge conifer at the front of our house. He has always hated it and even I eventually had to admit that it was getting well out of hand. We popped into the Bampton garden centre and bought a climbing rose to cover the now bare wall. I have named it 'Carson' to remind me where we bought it - I think the lockdown might be having a detrimental effect on my mental health! 

 More ducklings coming to be fed:

 This cottage took my fancy on a walk round Leckhamstead and Peasemore:

 A yarn bombed postbox in Ashbury. Sadly, I don't think it is still in use:

 A walk along the Ridgeway to Wayland's Smithy, a chambered long barrow built in the 36th century BC:

 R's attempt at constructing a house martin's nest. He followed some online instructions, cutting an old rubber ball found in the garden in half and then covering it in a sand/cement combination. The jury is still out! :O)

 Taking L's inflatable kayak for a paddle. We took a picnic and ate it whilst drifting slowly along the Kennet and Avon canal. Carrying it around 4 locks was less fun!

 Finishing quilting and binding my 'Quarantine Quilt'. All it needed was a label to make it my own personal bit of history. 

 The veggies are coming along a treat. I think it may be courgette and chard gratin for dinner!

Well, that's all for June. I hope you are all well and looking forward to lockdown easing. I doubt very much that we will be rushing to the pub when they open this weekend. It is, however, our anniversary in a couple of weeks, so a nice meal out wouldn't go amiss - social distancing and corona-safe restaurant permitting, of course! Stay well, my friends.

Toodle pip for now. x