Stair rods, abomstrukkets, knitting and other oddities

The rain today, on the school run, was of biblical proportions. Now, sitting by the fire with the cats and my knitting (and a box of tissues) it is still raining - in stair rods.....

I only started using those words - stair rods - after I got to know Himself. I used them without realising their origin.  It was only after a few years of usage I actually investigated the meaning and discovered that stair rods are the little wooden or metal strips used to hold a carpet fast against the steps of a staircase. Today's rain is definitely stair-rodding it down - straight arrows of water directly downward.  (As an aside - I have just sneezed and startled the cat so much she went from a sleepy pile of fluff in to a rigid legged sharp backed hissing attack-cat, she has settled back down, albeit a little wary as she keeps one eye on me).

On the subjects of using words with out realising their true meanings - here is another one. As a child with an untidy room (still struggling with that demon) I would watch my mom stride in, despairing at the artfully arranged mess and say 'look at your room -'it looks like abomstrukket - tidy up now!'

I would dutifully shove all my toys and shoes and anything else on the floor under my bed or into my cupboards and my bedroom would look a little less like the fabled abomstrukket. For years and years I would accept and call any mess an abomstrukket without even questioning the meaning. Until when, as a teenager, my mom was still accusing my now even messier room as an abomstrukket, I actually registered what she was saying in her anguish at my 'nest', my 'den', my room. She was (and I am sure you will have already worked this out) she was saying.... 'your room looks like a-bomb-has-struck-it'......

My nose and throat are a little rough today, hence the tissue box and the cat-startling-sneeze. Definitely feeling sorry for myself. But, through the haze of coughing and nose blowing I actually heard Himself say to me, just take it easy today and knit with the cats by the fire - gasp - what a man! Who am I to refuse such a suggestion.

Playing (for medicinal purposes you understand) with a self striping ball of yarn. 

Making another (!) kerchief/shawlette.

Had fun making this lace pattern up - once you have the basics then it is just a matter of having a repeating pattern that fits in the number of stitches on your knitting pins. Easy! (said after several frogging sessions and a fair bit of knitting related cussing.....)

Before blocking.

Picture colour rather poor in this driech grey light and the flash just removes any last shreds of decent colour so just imagine the rich russetty hue of the shawlette and the vibrant cheer of the multicoloured ball of yarn.

Today day is tipping day - tipping us towards the weekend - enjoy your Wednesday and remember, when it rains - you can make your own sunshine :)

In which I waffle (a lot)

After the 'hurry up's and the 'get on's and the dashing about for the school run, I am home with just the radio, washing machine and two cats for company. The radio is a shade too loud but my mug of tea keeps me here.

A glance outside confirms that the weather hasn't improved since I sprinted from the car to the house. A menacing bruise-coloured cloud is still hanging just behind the wind-whipped trees. The seasons are moving on and our sporadic and brief summer seems to have slipped quietly out the back door while autumn has stormed in and taken centre stage.

It has been a funny year. In a not funny way.

I don't personally feel to achieved much. Surprisingly a number of friends and colleagues I have chatted to feel the same way. Hmmm - is just co-incidence or a weather induced melancholy or the world downturn? Who knows.

I couldn't bear it any longer - I had to turn the radio down to a less invasive level. An annoyingly condescending man was spouting on about aggressive take-over bids and how this would shake up the economy.
It went something like this - BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH  BLAH BLAH BLAH (ad infinitum)  blah blah blah blah..... That is better.

I am knitting again, at least this weather does bring out the crafter in me, I have almost finished the tea cosy I was making to learn how to decrease.....forgotten what type of decrease it was, my Mom did tell me! oops :)

I am also trying something else out - will show later.

I have just read back what I have written and realise what a waffling non-interesting post this is turning out to be. Will try harder.

I will share with you (coz it will make me feel better) some of our holiday. We had started off with a wonderful 8 days in Northumberland. The weather, although not non-stop sunshine, was enough to give us freckles and a warm honey-coloured glow. Then suddenly at the end of the week, rain and a change in the atmosphere on the campsite made us wonder whether to move on and discover a new delight for ourselves. Our personal idea of camping heaven is a field filled with nothing but wild flowers, trees and us.

I have to admit to not wanting to share our holiday freedom and space with other campers who prefer noisy and jolly party type get-aways. They obviously enjoy their time and I am fine with that, what I don't appreciate is when their holiday invades mine. As we paid up and left to explore further, the campsite owner apologised for the antics of the apparently unbooked and unexpected jolly camping party - I felt sorry for him, he was about to ask them to leave and he was only a little bloke.

We travelled up towards Edinburgh then across to Glasgow. As we drove through the rain sodden countryside the skies began to lighten as did our moods. It was like a whole new holiday.

After negotiating the busy roads of Glasgow and crossing the Erskine Bridge, Himself and I consulted a rather old map and discussed the route. We were about to come to a large spit of land - with lochs either side and the road split at the bottom and joined again at the top. Looking at the map (printed in the early 1980s) both roads were given equal status in size and quality. So we plumped for the one on the left, my reasoning it was nearer the sea and our destination and just because I rather fancied it......oops.


 The *wonderfully*winding*narrow*road was tacked lightly against the sheer cliff edge just above the dark and choppy loch waters. Himself gritted his teeth and clenched his hands till his knuckles went white as he drove us along a single width road whilst towing the caravan....... oops again.

I kept up a hopefully cheerful and happy commentary about the view and the fact the sun was shining and we were going up a lovely part of the countryside yadda yadda yadda and the boys did the same only theirs was interjected with -
Holy COW - have you seen the drop!
..and............ Wowser Dad - that was CLOSE!!!!
.......and.............
This is EX-CI-TING Dad can we do it again!?!?!? -

 and.........this is JUST LIKE a ROLLER COASTER!!!

(Gee thanks boys for the support and help)

Any hoo, after a rather steep downhill (cue hot brake smell)  then an equally steep climb (cue hot engine smell) I spotted a picnic stop which Himself quite happily pulled into. It was nearly 5pm and we were all starving so I turned the caravan into a chuck-wagon, Himself consulted his maps, the boys claimed a picnic bench and the dog rolled around in glee on the grass.

We sat and ate looking over Gare Loch and all the excitement and tension of the drive began to fade. In a mile or two we would be joining back onto the main road up at Garelochheid and we could carry on in a less 'fly by the seat of your pants' fashion. Phew.

On our return journey, after our holiday - we chose NOT to do this road, preferring the other one on the map which was a wide many-laned thing. Easier to drive but far far less fun and adventurous.

But life is like that - choose the unknown path and take what comes or choose the well trodden path and find nothing new.....................

Rain rain go away - I am beginning to rust!!

How wet is too wet? At what point do you decide that despite the several layers of waterproofs that the rain has seeped through and you would probably be drier in the bath??

Well, this walk certainly had me pondering these little quandaries - that and thinking dark thoughts at our walk leader (who I do dearly love but occasionally wish for a more gentle pursuit of the great outdoors on days like these...)

Yes we are standing on the footpath .....

I had rain running down my nose when I took this picture. It hadn't started out this wet I have to admit, it was quite cool and cloudy and we were well wrapped up but from out of nowhere (well ok, the clouds) came this torrential rain!

We were up in the hills and it was beautiful wild scenery with mysterious lochs and brooding rocks.  

The boys, in particular Eldest absolutely loved the wildness of it all, he strode out ahead, shouldering his haversack while I struggled with my stupid knee. 

We sheltered in the lee of a stone wall for a much wanted tea and managed to eat our lunch before it was dissolved by the rain. 

Time to return to the car - head back to the carry-van to dry off and have a steaming pot of tea and cake - yum!

All this divided York and Lancaster..." William Shakespeare, Richard III

What a grey day! Again! I know that we are all 'desperate' for rain and that we are under a hosepipe ban in parts of the country and I know, I know that the ground water is still low and all this rain is very necessary to raise the levels - but I-a-m-h-e-a-r-t-i-l-y-s-i-c-k of the ****** stuff - gah. When I grew up in Africa, rain was seen as a gift......

I have found that my crafting mojo is in a bit of a lull at the moment. Several have done projects languish on my desk. Each one has a fairly plausible excuse for its unfinished state but I feel quite uninspired to actually surmount these rather small blocks. Hmm - note to self - *get on with it!*

On the positive front, our feline family are handling each other's presence so so much better. My mom came up with a brilliant analogy. She calls their hissing and spitting 'The War of the Roses' Which appropriately enough has the red rose of Lancashire warring against the white rose of York for the English throne in the mid to late 1400s.

You may still be wondering at the connection here - so here goes, Lily (red) was born and bred in Lancashire and Pan (predominantly white) was found in a shed in Yorkshire. Brilliant!

But, unlike the war of the roses, our little furry dispute seems to be receding, with only the occasional spat.  I know that food and play is a great leveller and the tastiest treats and the most exciting games soon break down barriers.

Easter Break review in photos

Visiting......

...A vintage vehicle rally in Kirby Stephen.

Knitting.......

...my sky scarf and my first mitten on dpn needles

Walking................

....on high wild hills, over farm land, through isolated villages.

We celebrated Easter.....

.....with cheese rolling down a wet and windy hill...

                                   ....eating chocolate for breakfast!

I took inspiration from......

.....lichens on stone walls, carvings from ruined buildings, fungus on rotten trunks, flowers, stones and sky.

We had a lovely time, may be a little wet and a little cold at times, but these small discomforts were far outweighed by the beauty of the wilderness we camped in.

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Again I have to say thank you for all your wonderful thoughts and kind words. We are really touched by the response - thank you very much xx

Birds, beads, bells, buttons, bag and brooch

Thank you everyone for your encouraging and kind thoughts about my knackered knee. A part of me is relieved at the knowledge of the actual injury and a part of me is scared witless!! Never mind, the next step (sic) is my pre-op appointment but until then.......

What a miserable and soggy weekend? Did you have one of those too? I felt sorry for the boys - it was their last-weekend-before-going-back-to-sshhhhhh (school) and it was pretty low key and wet. Eldest's laptop joined in the misery and had to be carted off to the computer shop - he is bereft! 

So...what to do, what to do..... crafting of course (silly me).

Did you in your past ever have those fabric birds on a cord with bells and beads?

Remember the type? Mine must be about 20 years old, a faded reminder of a semi-feral youth living in a static caravan on a farm in Devon. Surrounded by 300 year old woodland and within walking distance of the sea. These birds have travelled with me from home to home, between the UK and Africa and back again. Now the birds, like me, are showing their age, the beads and bells however are still fine. 

Well - I hate throwing things away when I can recycle them and I have a crochet hook and am not afraid to use it! 

I had happy hooky-time and made 6 birds. It was wonderful fettling through my buttons collection (I was lucky lucky lucky to receive some beautiful buttons for chrimblymas pressies) for the bird's eyes and the boys 'helped' as did the kittlings (sigh) to make the cord for the birds to hang from.

They are now hanging up and I smile each time I see them - I wonder if they will still be around for the next twenty years? *probably not - the kittlings have just noticed them and are trying to leap up and catch them...........grrrrrrrr

Remember I posted about receiving some lovely string as a gift? I was given two gifts of beautiful garden twine. I must have had my crafting head on rather than my gardening one coz I instantly though of a bag!

Ooh it was tough stuff to work with, my left thumb felt like it had been through a mangle after a crafting session, but I persisted coz I could see what was coming off the hook and I was so in  L*O*V*E with it!

Again, with the boys and kittlings' help, I made the twisted rope handles. I had to use forceps (a relic from my veterinary nursing days) to stitch the handles on.

All that is left to do is to line the bag, think it needs a pretty flowery fabric.

Then, fairly late last night, I had an urge - a crafting one! So started a button brooch for someone who is off to hospital today and I want give it to her before she goes - so better finish it and stop waffling! 

Hope you all had a lovely weekend 

and wishing you all a Happy Monday!

Baking by us (3), Himself goes up in the world and finally some precious crochet time❤

Do you ever get those moments, when having idly looked at a rather yummy recipe feel really inspired to do it?
Yes?
Do you ever, having been inspired, print the recipe out in a dash at work, stuff it in a convenient bag/pocket/drawer to retrieve at a more kitchen appropriate moment?
Yes?
Do you, then having been inspired, stuffed recipe away safely, got home and cast your eye over the baking the cupboard and decided that you have enough or nearly enough or similar or alternative items to do said baking?
Yes??
Do you then, having been inspired, printed the recipe, sort of confirmed ingredients then have to wait several days to the weekend to actually make said recipe
Yes? Yes??
Do you then find when the weekend actually arrives you have lost your cooking mojo but in a slip of concentration actually mention the words baking/weekend/new recipe to your children who  yell back at you...
YES!!

Oh... only me then - *sigh*

May I present to you............Baking by us (three) while Himself goes up in the world.

1. Windfalls, lightly cooked, chopped then tossed in cinnamon and sugar (thank you Eldest)

2. Pastry rolled and 30 mini pie bases cut ( Eldest)

3. Mini bases after chilling (Photo thanks to Youngest)

4. Pie base, with added apple and now topped with another disc and crimped (Youngest)

5. Pies - glazed with milk and sprinkled with sugar, ready for the oven (Photo thanks to Eldest)

6. Ready little pies, still steaming  from the oven (I'd tried holding one to photograph and burnt my fingers)

7. & 8. Cool enough (just) to eat and the last time you'll ever see them!!

Follow the link for the proper grown up recipe that - if I had read properly - I may not have done. Above  is our simplified-boys-and-mum-on-a-Saturday-afternoon-cooking version. The original look soo elegant and were probably made under ideal conditions - either way - ours tasted yummy❤❤, kept the boys very entertained and fed Himself - a win win situation :)

We've had a bit of a long standing niggling problem with our bathroom leaking when it rains - not every time it rains, just occasionally and when the east wind blows. Himself has been up several times and with this type of DIY, it can only be tested - when it rains.....

The repair some times lasts for months even years before it starts again.

Well, while we were away in Galloway - it rained and rained and RAINED at home - both outside the house and ..... inside the bathroom. Himself once again gritted his teeth but this time he decided to DO SOMETHING MAJOR..... no patching or re-tarring but A RE-ROOFING type mission was planned.

This entailed the purchase thereof HUGE ladders (something he's hankered after anyway so not a difficult task) it involved ripping off ENORMOUS chunks of roofing felt, TONNES of gravel (why on EARTH do you put gravel on a roof???) Years of layers of old tar and pitch which, despite being up there for ages, some of the tar was still sticky.....his trousers and hands are visual proof of the stickiness. Urgh.

With offers of many reviving cups of workman like tea, little apple pies and support from 2 boys and me, he ripped off the roof, re-pitched with thick stinky gloopy black tar from a bucket then lay down layer after layer of roofing felt.

And  did it pass the Rain-Test? On Sunday night - it hammered it down....but was it the right kind of rain? Well..... the bathroom didn't leak! So hopefully his hard weekend paid off - any way he's gone back to work for a rest!


Still surprised by the fact we all like ❤love❤ my blooming flower cushion, I wanted to try something else. Not as 'girly' a bit more edgy but still with ruffles and sporting different colours. I found my inspiration from Made in K-town. So, casting my mini-bunting aside (it is still in progress, I have just run out of cotton yarn) I have started this......

Not finished yet and still an experiment, I do *L*O*V*E the way it is going. I started with straight ruffly-wiggly diagonal lines then got bored and allowed my hook to take me where ever 'it' wanted and now I have a wonderful fracture line running right through it - causing all sorts of interesting movement.

I have a long way to go and it doesn't look anything as neat and as pretty as the original inspiration but I am still loving❤❤ the way it is developing. I will keep adding the stripes and accentuating the fracture line - watch this space!❤❤

Well, that is a small snippet of our weekend and as usual it has flown by and we are back to the beginning of a brand new week full on things to happen - bring it on!

❤❤❤❤❤❤❤Hope you all have a wonderful Monday :)❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

stories from a soggy carryvan

Rain? did any one notice the rain, or was it just me? 

Oh, phew, you did too, so it wasn't just me.

Actually, now that we are back (earlier than planned) and dried off, 

I can now look back 

and see that despite the rain 

we did have some really good moments.

We walked some wonderful walks. We were amazed and humbled by the height of the trees, at the base are my boys - can you see them?


We followed overgrown grassy paths as we wandered through these giants.  Littered along the pathways were mushrooms of all shapes and sizes, from 'traditional' pixie homes to huge wild sturdy fungi.  Huge glossy black slugs gorged themselves on the forest floor feast.

(enbiggen the picture if you can't see the boys) 

We managed to picnic with a fantastic view over Lindesfarne, the Farne islands and towards Bamburgh. As we sat on slightly damp grass and munched, we decided that the usual occupants of this field (the sheep) probably didn't appreciate their view but we certainly did.

There were conveniently placed trees for climbing, specially added muddy puddles for splashing in, perfectly placed stones for jumping over, ideal streams and creeks for the dog to dip her tongue and her toes into.
All in all a really good walk.........


And then there was the rain..................

A bit of a routine began to occur, wake up to the sound of rain, have breakfast, peer through rain streaked windows, pack a car-nic, set off in the rain - get wet.


There were a couple of evenings that the rain relented and we rushed out - and the boys ....got wet.......

And me? 
Well, I took my camera and got lost in the beauty of the reflections of the sky and the sea..........

Not the usual colours of a summertime seaside holiday, however just breathing the salty air, watching the crashing waves and walking on the damp sands went a long long way in reviving a tired soul :)


It has been lovely sharing with you some of our soggy and not so soggy stories from our 'carryvan', and while the boys are still on their hols, both Himself and I are back to work, back to reality next week - oh well, it was fun while it lasted!


Wishing you lots of love and happy moments  xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx


PS Thank you for your lovely comments on both this and my  Kyōyū kyōyū blog, I shall be catching up with your happenings over the next couple of days as well as sharing with you The Next Big Step! (ssshhhh - all will be revealed soon :) )

Sunday round up

Today's heart 

is brought to you

 from one of my favourite pictures

a lovely play on words and a bicycle - excellent!

Picture supplied by a Sustrans booklet

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Sunday - so of course it was raining......... it's kinda what we've come to expect at the moment, and in order to keep us all entertained we did loads of bake and make.  

Eldest made the kitchen his own...............

Youngest raided my stash and started making a 2CV - carefully snipping and cutting small pieces of felt, pinning both the fabric and his fingers, stitching and cussing, cussing and stitching....................

Himself carried on (in the rain and the mud) and finished chickenham palace, they now have a 'pop-hole' complete with mini locking door, porch cover and a brick for a step up (nothing is too good for his girls!)

He tried to start measuring up for their nest boxes when one of the hens decided she couldn't wait any longer to lay and bustled him out,  so he put a couple of mushroom boxes in as a temporary nesting place, then Himself came back to the house for a brew and one of Eldest's biscuits. After what he considered enough time, he returned to find the first egg in chickenham palace. The girls obviously approve, just need to finish making the nesting boxes proper - oh for a longer weekend!

And me? 

Well, when I wasn't helping Youngest source suitable scissors, checking which felt he wanted to use, showing how to pin without stabbing himself, threading his needle - first with blue thread, then with red, then back to blue.... or when I wasn't reminding Eldest to put in the key ingredient into his PEANUT BUTTER biscuits mix.....or running out between the rain drops to see how Himself and the hens were.....I was trying out this..............

It is from one of our Orkney Isle holiday photos of some of the stones in the Ring of Brodgar.

I'm trying some fabric art - sort of collage in cloth! I am sure there is a proper technical name for this style of sewing,  all I know that I end up with lots and lots of snippity bits and thread on the floor and a smile on my face :)       

I'd tried something a little closer to home and a lot smaller - my first attempt - I know that in time I will look back and cringe that I showed these rather amateurish attempts but for the time being I'll share my tentative steps. (All in the name of the Revolution!)

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All for now, well that sort of sums up our weekend, a bit of sunshine a lot of rain, crafting, building, cooking and creating (a mess) - not bad really!  Once again it has been lovely sharing our weekend, hope your all had good weekends too xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

My cold black heart

Today's heart(s) 

are a selection of 

appropriately shaped stones,

collected over the year.

This black black heart shone out at me during a wet and blustery day as we walked along a rocky beach. Our heads were bent away from the stinging wind as we tried to keep out the cold and rain, so instead of looking at the far distant views of islands and horizons, we were focused on our immediate surroundings, our world has shrunk to the the area around feet. 

The wet stones looked lustrous and glossy in deep shades of quartz slashed burgundy, white and russets with the rare black pebble.

Then my eye fell upon this one, 

a black heart-shaped nugget with a thin drizzle of quartz mirroring it's outline.

I picked it up marveling at it's appearance and solid weight.

I felt it's icy wet  lobe-like structure and was delighted - what a treasure!

I placed it in my coat pocket and as we trudged back, still hunched against the weather, 

I could feel the black heart thumping against my leg.

And follow this link to see what hearty  hullabaloo happened on this date last year.

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Now, off to do some sewing - I'm trying something different! Might show you......might not! (Oooh what a tease :)!! )