Where To Start?

 Hi Dear Folk,

I seem to have succumbed, morphed over to Instagram.  I'm not going to berate myself I'm too old for that.      2021, where to start?  What to say?  A word that comes to my mind is "Endurance", we've just got to keep on keeping on.

2020 was a year of change.  Mr. B. lost his one and only job contract, then when COVID hit lost his little part time job, we both opted to get our Social Security, now being income less, and we had that option.  Thank goodness for options, when so many fellow Americans do not.  Our son moved out in the Autumn and thus we did an internal decorating and switching of bedrooms.  We're happy for him and for us, because so many children are moving back in and not out in this time of pandemic.  He went in with some friends and found a house.  The Boy is picky, had to have a basement for his sound system, a garage for his Miata.  I said did he leave anything for the other two boys?  He has the smallest bedroom, well so he should.  

I do like to have a project in mind, just the thinking about it, I find can give joy.  We got an awful lot done around the house last year, both outside and inside;  which I've posted over the months on Instagram.  My next project is the one hundred year old bathroom, which still has the original bath, open on two sides and not so bad, the original tile work.  Actually for its age it could look worse.  It has that old white brick tile and black edging, so black and white.  I'm going to keep that colour scheme.  

Needs new plumbing for the bath and shower, new tile, I'm going with white brick tiles again, but I'm thinking of black grout, not set on that.  Refinish the bath, I cannot imagine trying to get it out, you'd probably need a crane. An oval shower rail to enclose you completely, and keep the water off the tile.  It is in need of a new floor and tile, maybe black and white, similar to what's there now and a new toilet, one that really works.  Keep the carrara marble sink top, but I do not like the base, so want the builder to come up with some kind of stand, and have open plumbing underneath.

Over the sink will be a nice large mirror, right down to the sink, because for the past twenty years, I have only been able to see from my eyes upwards in the original medicine cabinet mirror.  Obviously a six foot man put it in, as it's just the right height for my husband.  To replace the under sink storage, we just found an Eastlake hanging wall cupboard and shelves on FBM, so that will go up over the toilet.

I do love wallpaper, so I'm thinking a black and white forest scene with animals, I'll know it when I see it, and of course that may change.  Well that's my next project, we'll see if it comes to fruition.  2021 here I come, one hundred year old bathroom.

I do have a project that should be finished by next week, which involves the basement.  I view my basement as the many headed hydra that keeps rearing up and has to be slain.  Why?  However many times I sort and get rid of things, there is still more.

I want just a nice open flat service to be able to do projects on, spread out and have room.  I have two old desks down there, so I'm going to use those, to define the space and behind them I'm thinking of hanging fabric murals so I have something to look at, rather than a basement full of basement things.  I need to do some wall and floor painting.  I've almost finished the crochet red rug, which I've decided to use in the basement.  My that took some yarn, a good project for left overs, but I think I'm up to fourteen hanks, and I wouldn't consider the rug huge, fortunately I had all that old yarn, that belonged to my friend's mum, had to be from the seventies.

I got to sit down at my new vanity the other evening, in my new bedroom, feeling like the lady of the manor.  I was getting ready for a Zoom Meeting where I was giving a five minute discourse, so felt I had to try my best.  I bought my lighted German design vanity mirror on FBM, where a lady said she was getting rid of hers, because it showed up every wrinkle, I know the feeling.  

Of course a hope is that at some point we can travel, but I'm not counting on it.  I could see possibly taking the trip we had planned for this year, which was a cottage all on it's own up in Maine.  As to a trip to family in England, if at all it would be the end of the year, and there're so many factors that weigh in on that.

I count my blessings, and you know I sometimes don't like using that word or phrase, I wish there was another one in the English language, because if you're doing better than someone else it kind of denotes that they weren't blessed and you were, and I don't think that at all.  

2020 the lost year, the lost generation, who knows, time will tell.  Moving onwards.

Take care, 

Christine

Make Do And Mend and Wear A Mask

 Hi Dear Folk,

With all this staying at home hunkering down and not traveling anywhere, it's rather taking me back to bygone days. I seem to be reverting back to a Make Do And Mend Era and Attitude.

I have been watching 1940s House and Wartime Farm, which if you've never watched them, you'll be in for a treat.  If you follow my Instagram which you can view on the sidebar, I've been using up odds and bods of yarn to crochet slippers, as gifts for friends.  

I also wanted to crochet a slip rug for either side of my bed in an off-white Aran, but after using one whole skein of yarn I realized how expensive these rugs might prove to be, so decided to use old 1970s red acrylic yarn which was destined for the thrift shop.  My friend gave it to me when her mum died.  It came from the old Korvette's Store.  I think I have enough for two rugs. I hope to be able to dye it with Rit DyeMore for synthetics, has anyone tried it?  I hope it works, as synthetics are almost impossible to dye.  I'm thinking some shade of green.  If they do not dye at all well, I will just use them in the basement.

I found this crochet stitch on You Tube.  Quite simple but thick and puffy for a rug. I love it.  Chain what ever width of rug you want, turn miss the first stitch.

Hook though loop pull up yarn, YO pull through 1 loop, 2 stitches on hook, hook through same stitch, pull up yarn and though 2 stitches on the hook.  I do not know what the stitch is call.  

On a more sober note I think at this stage there isn't anyone in the USA who does not know of a friend or relative who has not caught COVID or died from it.  My friend's husband died early on in the pandemic,  another whole family we know caught it in about May, and just last week our son caught it, but is OK.  He had a headache, fever and sore throat for a full day and then was feeling like he was getting better the next day.  

He felt ill on the Sunday, he had just come to visit us on the Saturday, the day before, as he moved out about two months ago and has been coming home to pick up odd and ends.  Obviously he was contagious, but when he came in the house we all wore masks.  He did have something to eat, just on his own, but we stayed at a distance and he didn't stay a long while, later going out to the garage to pick up different tools.

Rob phoned on Sunday to let us know, as he was concerned for us.  He was not able to get a test until the following Wednesday, when he was feeling much better.  I'm sure the wearing of masks saved us from getting ill, we never caught it.

As an older gentlemen in the Dakotas said it attacks your weak spot and of course when you're older you have a lot more to attack.  But still young people are dying, one must keep vigilant.  So really from our own experience we feel the wearing of a mask helps.  

Take care,

Christine  

 

Everyone Should Have A Moleskine

 Hi Dear Folk,

Well I guess Blogger went and did it, now you cannot even revert back to the old interface.  First of all my labels are gone and I guess I'll have to enter them back in manually, why have they always got to try and fix what was not broken, really.   Blah! Blah! Blah!

Do you have a Moleskine? I have one, it's small, red, has a ribbon marker and a wrap around elastic, where I write down all sorts of odd things, statistics, meanings of words, crochet patterns, what makeup to buy after watching one of those You Tube videos on how to do your makeup when you're older, and so on and so forth. I thought I'd share with you a few of the random things written in my Moleskine.

Crochet Japanese Flower Pattern

The Face of Age

Job 26:14  Look!  These are just the fringes of his ways:  Only a faint whisper has been heard of him!  So who can understand his mighty thunder?

Average age of a woman in USA 78, Man 71

Road to Hani.  Waianapanapa State Park.  Black Beach

If invited to a good meal.  Do we send a thank you note saying "Dear pots and pans, spaghetti and meatballs.  No, so where does our praise and thank you go?"

King Ferry, NY.  A Wobbly Reisling is good.

Shalwar kameez, Indian tunic and trousers.  Dupatta, head scarf

It's a pity the Hun prefers fighting to fun - Noel Coward

I refuse to join a club that would have me as it's member - Grocho Marx

Whether you think you can or you think you can't, you are right - Henry Ford

Daniel 5:24  Mene, Mene, Tekel and Parsin.  May have said mene twice to show the fall of both father and son - Nabonidus and Belshazzar.

Imposter - from the Latin impose

Gutsy Gorgeous.

People are as happy as they make up their minds to be - Abraham Lincoln

Learned behavior - 

1.  Identify the thought that produces negative thinking

2.  Talk back rationally

3.  Short circuit thought

4.  Consciously replace bad thought

Miss Grief, cost $15.99 left out in the rain.  Pay the library.

Evolution - Irreducible complexity, cannot come about in a gradual manner, useless unless all in place.

PNES Psychogenic seizures.  Stress, Anxiety, trauma, depression.

NES Nonpilectic seizures.  

Progress and Poverty by Henry George

To give birth in Italian, to give to the light.  Clare alla luce.

Longly School of Music Project, BC, Canada.  1978  Kids singing, Hans Fenger, teacher, recorded his students.

Evil in the absence of empathy.

Irish Gaelic - Senility - duino le dia.  A person of God.

Lord Vestey, who's estate was just down the road from where I grew up, owned huge holdings of land in Australia.  Who knew.

Life is freedom, dying is a denial of freedom.  Vasily Grossman

Seersuckeer, from the Persian, milk and sugar

Crochet, Bonni Lass Capelet

Tour of British Museum, 2 Kings 10:31 -32 Assyrian King Shalmanezar III, 2nd panel, man bowing, Jehu son of Israel.

Mosquito yard spray

Old age like being increasingly penalized for a crime you never committed.

Herd Immunity, 60% of world 4.7 billion people out of 8 billion would need vacination.  Have only ever made 100s of millions of vaccinations, over decades of time.

Russia's economy the size of Texas.

COVID in USA has killed twice as many people as have been killed in the Korean War and all the wars that American has been in since then.

Abrunt, one whose behavior departs substantially from the norm of a group.

Regiments No 166409 N Somerset Yeoman, private Henry Reginald Sansom

The Body Keeps the Score, by Bessel Van Der Kolk

Passing of time should not be detrimental to the solving of crime.

French say, not a cat in sight - pas un amerce de chat

Fibula - Latin, means to fasten.  Tunisian Berber Fibula

Object Trouve - A natural or discarded object found by chance and held to have aesthetic value.

Rising tide carries all ships.  When things go up all rise.

Love makes the world go round, hatred stops it dead in it's tracks.

Just a cross section of my Molskine.  Now you have a cross section of my brain under the microscope.

Take care, Christine

PS I found my labels, hurrah!!!

Crochet and Commenting

Hi Dear Folk,

Thank you for leaving comments on my Blog, for some reason I can only publish them, but cannot reply to them, not sure what is happening there.

In anywise Cynthia asked me about the crochet shawl I'm working on, which is The Lace Diamond Shawl.  I am crocheting this in a Noro Kirameki Yarn probably discontinued as I bought the yarn on a clearance sale.  This I call my Sunset Shawl because of the deep pinks, oranges and blues.  This is not a hard pattern and Fiber Spider gives a great tutorial on how to crochet it.

The other shawl I just finished is my Butterfly Prayer Shawl, maybe a tad harder to crochet but not much.  I did this in the Noro Kirameki Yarn too, and this is in predominantly greens and I call this my Spring shawl.

Just a note the Lace Diamond Shawl grows quicker in width than length, but the Butterfly Shawl grows quicker in length than width, so on the Butterfly Shawl I had to keep on crocheting to get the width I wanted and thus is is quite long, but with this yarn being so fine it drapes beautifully and I just fold it over and drape it around my shoulders, I love it.  So if you wanted more width than length I would go with the Lace Diamond Shawl.

In the previous two blogs I've posted the You Tube videos on these tutorials, I think you'll like them I've had great fun crocheting them.  Also just posted my Sunset Shawl on Instagram to see.

Have a great day, keep safe, be good and keep on crocheting.

Christine

Covid-19 Virus Diary of a Mad Woman

Well, Well Dear Folk,

What did it take to get me back to blogging, a Pandemic.  After Hennypenny posted on my Instagram, why was I planting bittercress in pots?  That I certainly must have turned a corner into madness, because then I realized that later in the summer it turns into this wiry weed that takes over the lawn, I will be out there tout suite and rip it out, thank you Hennypenny.

How has everyone been?  I think a lot of spring and summer plans have come to disappointment.  I personally was planning a trip back to see family and friends in the UK, but will put that on hold for now.

We have been hunkering down.  Actually I find it to be a guilt free time.  One can positively stay at home with no guilty conscience and with that comes a certain freedom.  I am so happy that I got my she shed built last year and I can take a wander down to the bottom of the garden and escape.  As a child I remember that feeling of running out the back door at the end of a school day, across the lawn and turning the corner into the wilderness of "the bottom of the garden."  It truly was a wilderness down there.  A giant old cooking apple tree, very large apples but sharp, great for pies.  Loads of blackberry brambles and stinging nettles in profusion, with dock leaves their remedy.  We had a shack in the middle and a stream that ran by at the edge, with willow trees, we thought it was the greatest place on earth.  So I always think of my she shed as a trip to the bottom of the garden.  I've named it "Deux Portes Francaises" due to the fact that it has two sets of French doors, I hope that is the correct French.

I send Mr. B. out on food foraging trips, as little as possible and make a list.  We had, to a certain extent seen this coming so had a little reserve, but there's always those everyday things, like milk.  Rob our son is still working so we feel he is the weak link in the dyke and since he's already out in the world of coronavirus, I will get him to stop off for milk or odds.  It's all a gamble.

I have Netflix, Prime and Acorn, all those platforms must be holding people over and everyone wishing they'd invested in them instead of other things on their 401K which took a dive, as we all know.  Of course if it takes another twelve years as it has from the last dive of 2008 to recover, I may not be around to see that, or be too old in life to even worry.  The world is a roller coaster these days and it's not the tranquil little mouse ride that I'd take Rob on, at Bush Gardens as a boy, but the neck breaking sort of rides I avoided.  Of course if we'd have known what the CEO of the owner of the New York Stock exchange and his senator wife knew back in January, we could have jumped ship too, unfortunately we are just the pions of this world.  I wasn't going to get on this tack so let me reign it in.

I've been working on my crochet Sunset Shawl in the very fine Noro yarn, you need a lot of time to make it grow and I have that.  Finding the Great British Sewing Bee on You Tube and then the Great Pottery Throw Down held me over for a bit, although that might have been earlier before we really had to lock down.  Have found some quite good Icelandic series and watched Gracepoint the American version of Broadchurch, which does follow it quite closely, except for the ending, but shall I say it, yes I will because I'm in that mood, it was not as good, what are your thoughts?

Reading, oh my, what an escape reading can be, it is almost like going back to ones childhood years, reading was an escape then and it can be now.  I'm re-reading Rilla of Ingleside by L.M. Montgomery, that story was set during WWI and Montgomery dedicates it to her cousin Frederica Campbell MacFarlane who died January 1919 of Spanish Influenza, which of course brings you right down to earth and you think of people not just as statistics, but lives and families and hope.

It has been a mixed bag for us.  Mr. B. had two part time jobs, one he lost a contract on earlier in the year, not due to the pandemic and then he lost the second one due to the pandemic.  After Mr. B. lost the first job we decided he would collect his Social Security early and I would collect mine at 66, but since he lost the second job I moved my Social Security up to collect it earlier.  We are only too grateful to shuffle these resources around as many people are not in that position and I feel for them.  I think he should also be able to collect some unemployment, not sure how that works really.  Since the government has promised some money for each family, that should certainly help.  Not quite sure what that will work out to be.

I will end on a gardening note.  I am so thankful to have a garden, I have pretty much finished with the big clean up from the giant oak tree, which as my neighbor put it so succinctly "the gift that keeps on giving."  If I gave someone a million dollars they could never collect up every oak leaf that arrives down in my garden.

As you might have seen on my Instagram I made another little patio area to sit and enjoy.  The bistro table and chairs date back to our very first house, almost forty years ago.  Originally they were white, then blue and now black.  I have other garden furniture that all needs a lick of paint, but will have to wait as I'm not going out for that.  I need to name the patio, any ideas?

Daffodils, forsythia, crocus, celandines are blooming along with primulas and Virginia bluebells are coming up. Yes spring is here waiting to burst forth.  I will end with some poignant passages from Rilla of Ingleside:

"How can spring come and be beautiful in such a horror," wrote Rilla in her diary.  "When the sun shines and the fluffy yellow catkins are coming out on the willow-trees down by the brook, ..."

"We never do," said Miss Oliver "That is why we are not left to chose our own means and measures of development, I suppose.  No matter how much we value what our lessons have brought us we don't want to go on with the bitter schooling."

Take care dear folk, keep safe, self isolate and be good.

Christine

Yippee Shed Is Approved By Borough

Hi Dear Folk,

Spring is in the air, but not today, raining and cold.  I'm making the most of the tail end of winter to sit by the fire which I felt was needed and to drink tea and eat muffins, these are oatmeal, honey and date.

My newest book from the library, "Orient Express."  Some lovely illustrations of all the different carriages and advertising, visually interesting.

I've just finished reading "Tony's Wife" by Adriana Trigiani.  It was a good read, not deep but a nice style of writing.  She must be doing something right, she's a prolific screen writer, playwright and author, I think she never stops.  I watched Big Stone Gap on You Tube which is a good film.  She wrote the book and then had the movie produced.  Tony's Wife was our read for the library book club read.  I went last Saturday, I haven't joined in for quite a few years.

Our read for next month is "Seeds, The Triumph of Seeds:  How Grains, Nuts, Kernels, Pulses, and Pips Conquered The Plant Kingdom and Shaped Human History."  Rather a long title.  It's also the Longwood Garden read and a bonus was the library book club coordinator gave out free passes for Longwood Gardens.  I have a pass for four people, which we will use and enjoy.

I'm using my Flam Railway bag to tote my library books in.

I started off the week with a message on my phone Invalid Sim Card, what!  Of course until the problem was resolved I could not phone or text.  I contacted Tracfone and in about thirty minutes had it sorted.  They gave me a very long access code and two other codes, the phone shutdown and then rebooted and I was up and running again.

I spoke with a friend and he said it happened to him and he landed up getting a new phone, I think his other one was old.  But needless to say I was a happy camper and give Tracfone 100% for customer service.  I don't use my phone a lot, it costs me about $12.00 a month which I think is good value.

Happy news I received my shed building permit and met with the builder to go over plans and fine tune exactly what I want.  I might scale down the porch size, I wanted 9 ft X 9 ft but he said maybe scale it back to 6 ft x 9 ft, which I think I will.  What do you think of a loft shelf for storage and possibly a sleeping place, could come in handy?

Just want to get out in the garden, although I have made good use of a couple of nice days and did some garden clean up.  The big thing now is to clean up the area where the shed is to be built, which unfortunately means moving all those breeze blocks that I laid last year, oh well!.  Lots of big pots to move and patio pavers, also two forsythia bushes to cut down, don't know if I can somehow dig some root up and replant them, I'm going to give it a go.

The builder says he can start the beginning of April.  I do wish the sun would come out and things would dry up a bit.

Almost finished with Medicare sign up, but have not done my taxes, I just want them off my plate.  I think I dealt with so much paperwork and emails for years, that I have a total aversion to it now.

My glass collection, I do like the cranberry and rose glass, plus my Langham Glass Factory vase, the colored one below.  Living happy memories of when I visited the glass works in Norfolk with my sister, we did have fun.  I washed all this glass and now we have a nice sparkle, if only it would stay that way.

These Japanese flowers have been crocheted in to several scarfs, unpicked and put into something else, but this is the last go around with them, no more faffing about.  I still have to finish the edging and think I will need another ball of red yarn to do so.

Well that's my catch up on a rainy day.  Lunch with a friend tomorrow and Tea and Art, Van Gogh,  on Saturday at a friend's house, happy events.  I'm going to take a Mexican Salad.

Take care, have a great week.

Christine

I'm Shoveling Snow?

Hi Dear Folk,

I did finish my patchwork and crochet curtains and I'm pleased with them.  I gave them a nice starch and an iron, which the crochet at the bottom especially needed because it was curving in, but after a good iron and starch it straightened out.

I think this fabric must have came from an old tablecloth.

Hanging in my hallway.

I used the pattern from this old seventies crochet book.

Two men in the house and I'm out shoveling the sidewalk.  Of course The Boy was at work and Mr. B. hurt his back shoveling the previous snowstorm, so who does that leave but the woman in the household stepping up to the plate as we so often do.  And of course who is in the house taking photos.  Yes you can guess.

The garden is nada on the flower front because of all this snow and cold weather, so I have been filling this void with some bought flowers and plants.  Tulips which when first put in water drank up almost the entire vase, they were so thirsty.

A miniature rose bush for a little peep into what summer will bring.

This little arrangement is still going.

I cleared up a counter top in my kitchen, where we kept papers and pens and things.  Now that's cleaned off I have another work counter which was needed.  I moved all the papers into the vestibule area by the back door, because we still need to keep these things for easy access in the kitchen.  It looks so much less cluttered.

I cleaned the top of my fridge and all the kitchen cabinets.  What a lot of up and down, I was exhausted.

The square tin with Nelson's column on the front was a yard sale find up in Canada.  As soon as I saw it I knew I would add it to my collection, mum had this tin, which originally of course had sorted biscuits in, but then was used for cakes and other goodies.  Each side has a different London scene on.

I was able to add my picnic basket up here, got rid of some things and just generally sort things out.

I love these little palm creations, that were given to me by a basket vendor in Maui.

A hummingbird and a fish.

I've kept some things up here, but later on I think they will go out in a yard sale.

I have plans for these three picture frames.  I liked these teacup card prints, but they have been up here for years and faded out, so time for a change.

I bought this little recipe book in England, more for the pictures than the recipes, although they are nice.  I'm going to cut three out and frame them.  These two pictures for sure and one more.

Christine

The Week That Was and Other Mundane Matters

Hi Dear folk,

Snow storm is in full swing and the way it's coming down I think it will be a big one.  All these pictures are from the past week not today.  Still spring is sitting dormant these buds on the rhododendron have been waiting for a while.

Our neighborhood is from the 1920's and I think when they built these houses they did certain plantings of shrubbery with them, and I do think the purple rhododendrons were part of that.  A neighbor has an absolutely huge one, although mine would be that big if we did not cut it back.

What have I been up to?  Well life isn't all glitz and glamor it's the every day small stitches of life that hold it together, all those mundane things that keep the boat afloat.

Mr. B. bought me this lovely bouquet and after trying several vases I eventually put them in a vase I inherited from his mum.  His mum died when he was four, really hard for him.  In any case his dad and step mom had kept a number items from their marriage stored in a barrel under the stairs, and this was one.

It was a wedding present in 1945, but I think dates back further than that, I would say what they call depression rose glass.  I appreciated having it.

Mr. B's parents were married in August 1945 between being sent back from England, where he was a flight engineer in B26 Bombers, and before he was meant to be deployed in the Pacific.  He was on his way across the country when the war ended.

Before being sent out to England he worked in Baltimore at the Martin Marietta plant and one of the planes they made was the B26 Marauder, where he worked on the engines, so not at all surprising that he was assigned as flight engineer on B26, The Widowmaker.

I finished the one patchwork curtain, trimmed in crochet and I am working on the second one for the other window.  It's hard to take a good photo when they are up at the window.  I used a new kebab skewer to hold them up, it works well and just slips in the hooks I already had up.  Threaded through the crochet at the top.

I found a nice edging crochet pattern for the bottom.  Mr. B.  said the hallway is darker with them.  Before I had wax paper up with pressed flowers in between, but they were old.  I had made them out of dried pressed flowers I collected in PEI and that's BFR (before Rob) so old.

Have you ever tried that for a window?  Taking pressed dried flowers and ironing them between wax paper, it is I think a lovely window treatment for a smaller window.

Enjoying the meter of my day.  Coffee and croissant by the fire, reading Expiation by Elizabeth Von Arnim; which is due to be released by Persephone Books next October.  As always I have the original first American edition from my local library.  They all know me, I'm the one who pulls old books out of unused shelving which exists on the top floor of the library, and someone has to be sent in to find it.  Love that they have them there, so special.

My little mug bought in Amsterdam, it reminds me of my paternal grandad working around his market garden and chicken farm.  He always looked like that with his trousers and braces and the other side has chickens on which you can just see in the picture above this one.

My boys have given me a pile of mending which I have procrastinated on, must get to that.

I have one project on the burner, but I don't want to count my chickens before they're hatched.  I filled out all the paperwork to apply to the local borough to build a garden shed.  I have a rough quote on it and will have it built from scratch, as it has to fit into a certain area and be in compliance with local ordinance.  I wished we lived somewhere where that didn't matter, are there places like that?  I assume so.

I went to the offices to submit them and pay the fee but they are closed until Friday for training, oh well!  I hope I don't get turned down because the fee to re submit is $550.00, and I don't think I'd contest it.

I'm not going to talk about my plans and ideas until I know that it is a done deal.  Well maybe a little.  I have old windows I want to use in the project that I've collected over the years.  Three circular columns that came off the house porch when we enclosed it and two sets of French door wood screen doors that came off also.  They are the original 1920's wood doors with windows that can be taken out and screens put in of which I have everything stored in the rafters of the garage.  Hope my vision comes to fruition.

Well that's the week that was and a little of what is.

Have a wonderful week.

Christine

Craft, Comfort, Colour and Crises

Hi Dear Folk,

I've been taking a little break from being online.  It's nice to step back and hibernate and go with the rhythm of the season.  Just posting a few things on Instagram.  If so you'll know the story of my roses just found outside my house last Saturday on the grass verge.  Someone wasn't happy with the apology.

Cooking hearty soups with dumplings.  Enjoying Trader Joes spiced coffee, which reminds me of the film Chocolat.  Gradually working on those cleaning jobs that need to be done, ticking jobs off the list.

Gifts from friends in the UK.  A tea infuser I named Oscar, I think he already looks a little inebriated  he probably needs a little tea to bring him round.  A lovely wall hanging from Gujarat.

Colours to cheer the soul in the middle of winter, bright oranges and reds along with deep burgundies.

Today was sunny, cold and still.  No wind just a beautiful quiet day.  It was good to get out, walk and breath in the cold fresh air.

To see sunlight and shadows on the dappled snow.

Hedgerows with hidden critters, waiting for spring.

Working on a little patchwork project, curtains for my front door side panel windows.  I am going to edge them in crochet, at least that's the plan in my mind.  I had some pieces a friend gave to me that were already cut out, so thought might as well use those.  The comfort of crafting is therapeutic and calming in a world of crises.

I've been listening to classical music more and more, I just don't want to listen to the news, and like the calming effect, not that all classical music is calming. So I've been keeping the Internet and Media at bay.

Although I have been viewing a few documentaries.  Such as DuPont Teflon poisoning in Parkersburg WV.  Did you know that 90% of the people in this world tested for Teflon come up positive.  They had to go all the way back to the Korean War and compare blood samples taken and kept from the soldiers back then, to get clean samples.  We are all unknowing guinea pigs.

Another fact is that Teflon is even used on some dental floss, the one I like the best.  Ease of use is not always the best for you.

Maybe I should just listen to the classical music.

Hope your weekend is good.

Christine

Snow, Rain, Plummeting Temps

Hi Dear Folk,

It's freezing snow and cold today, they say some rain then a freeze up, not my favorite, I prefer straight snow.

That cold I got last week didn't seem so bad but left me from day to day saying I think I'm better, then, no I'm not better and a total depletion of energy.

I have done some fun lunches with friends over the past week.  A friend had me over to lunch and gave me some beautiful sage green toile fabric, two different patterns. I love it. Also a beautiful scarf she bought for me while on vacation.

I took another friend J. to the doctor's that's about an hours drive each way, after that we went out to Red Robin for lunch, got to chat and catch up with each other.

I've also been planning with a friend a 60th Anniversary for older friends who are originally from what was Rhodesia and South Africa. They spent their honeymoon near Victoria Falls, how romantic is that? The dinner is  being held at a restaurant, so about 48 people.  We've been sending out invitations and working on that.  Tuesday we visited the Country Club and went over the details with the events coordinator.  Pretty laid back and easy which is what I like and while we were there we had lunch.

I've been working on a simple shawl, just crocheted with odds from my yarn collection, something to throw over your shoulders in the evening and keep warm.  Not too complicated.  Just love the rhythm of sitting crocheting by the fire.  I'll use my Celtic shawl clasp.  It is very much Joseph's coat of many colours.  When one gets older you become what you always said or thought you wouldn't.

The Philadelphia Flower Show is in March and I've been thinking about attending that.  This year's theme is Flower Power.  Also a show that comes to Philadelphia each year is Shen Yun and I would like to see that.  It looks most colorful and that is needed right now in the depths of winter.

The Boy asked me, "How's retirement mum?  What are you doing with your time?"  I found it a hard question to answer.  I think the hardest thing for me in retirement is not feeling guilty for not having to account to someone for every minute of the day.  On the other hand I do like to look back on myself and feel I have accomplished things with my time.  Finding the balance and especially in the winter months when you quite feel like hibernating.

I did clean out one cabinet in the kitchen that held the meds and vitamins etc.  So much was old, really old and out of date, that I've got two totally empty shelves and one sparse shelf, if you knew my house you'd know that never happens.  My sister said somehow she landed up taking some old meds and got really sick from it, that was a motivating factor.  I put it in the trash, but Mr. B. said your not allowed to do that and pulled them out. I guess they have to be returned to a pharmacy.

Now I'm determined to use everything up as I go along before I add more. Plus medications are so stinking expensive over here I'm not wasting a thing.  For instance the doctor prescribed me a nasal spray to help with my sinuses, that was $129, fortunately I only paid $15 with my prescription plan.  But this year I have a terrible health plan, #45 made all sorts of cut backs on the Federal assistance to health medical insurance.  (Friends of mine call him that #45 and I thought that works for me.) So when the pharmacy phoned and said we have your prescription ready for pickup, a refill on the nasal spray I had to say sorry you'll have to re shelf it, I can't afford $129.  Plus I do have some left.

That medication really helps me, with my allergies and sinuses, but I'll just have to wait until May, when I go on Medicare.  I feel like everyone in the States just cobbles their health care together in what ever works for that year, because next year it's all changed yet again.

I received one pot of the French ink that I ordered but for some reason the second pot I ordered has not arrived.  It has a pen stand indented in the glass bottle, I've never seen that before.  I'm looking forward to writing with this fun colour.  I think it's meant to be the oldest company still making ink.

I also received my icing nozzles.  I succumbed to pure Instagram advertising, of an item promoted by the Shark's, lets's hope it lives up to expectations.  Now to make cupcakes and icing and have a go.

Have a great weekend.
Christine