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

Starting off 2021 My Word is Conversation

Hi Dear Folk,

Many folk put out a word each year and the one I've chosen is CONVERSATION.  Just make conversations with people.  That is hard right now because no one wants to make conversation because they don't want to spread the virus.  But there are other ways through your network of friends and over the phone.

It's called the art of conversation, because it is an art, one party has to listen while the other talks, it's an interchange of thoughts and ideas. 

con·ver·sa·tion

/ˌkänvərˈsāSH(ə)n/

Learn to pronounce

noun

1. a talk, especially an informal one, between two or more people, in which news and ideas are exchanged

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  

 

Take Time to Daydream - A Weekend of Daydreaming

 Hi Dear Folk,

How has your week been?

I've been thinking about daydreaming.  It's something one needs to do.  I heard that your mind is actually filing when you daydream, just as at night when you sleep and dream.  One could say the word "daydream" is quite appropriate.

With all that's going on around us in the world, I don't know about you, but I feel my mind is under constant assault.  It's tired of sorting all the clutter of lies and rhetoric.  So I'm giving myself license to just daydream.  A weekend of daydreaming.  Clear the clutter of the mind.

Sit and file the paperwork.  Some will go up in the attic, it means something to me, but not right now, to be reviewed again in a different light.  Maybe it will be kept, maybe at a later point thrown out.  One can't dictate what the mind keeps or throws out, that's the funny thing about the mind.  But maybe a little daydreaming will clear the decks for now.  I like my mind, it just works away in the background, silently sorting.

All the files have keys.  What key is found at what moment, to open what filing cabinet, is again not dictated  to but happens naturally.  One day you hear a sound and it brings back a memory from long ago.  A certain smell, a certain scene, a certain friend.  All these trigger the brain to go routing around and come out with a snippet of memory.  

Give your mind the time.

Have a Weekend of Daydreaming.

Christine

A Tale About A Clock and FBM

 Hi Dear Folk,

I am taking a cosmopolitan respite or my neurons will go into meltdown.  So I'm going to tell you a tale about a clock and FBM (Facebook Marketplace.)  

Once upon a time a lady saw a very pretty clock on FBM and decided that it might be a nice addition to her clock collection that had languished for many a year.  A price was negotiated and an agreed price set.  The clock in question that caught her attention was a Citizen clock, a good make, battery run but quite eye catching.  See said clock in question.

Pendulum, etched glass and quite appealing.

I could see that the person selling the clock was quite young, early twenties and I thought maybe she was selling it for her grandfather, possibly it had been a retirement clock, it seemed the type of clock you'd receive as a retirement clock, in the day.

We get the address give a time of arrival, I Google the address, I know it's in a pretty upscale area, Mr. B. drives and off we go, said cash in pocketbook (handbag.)  It's almost an hours drive but with the help of that wonderful technology GPS we find it quite easily.  Not a big thing these days, it's an event to go out.

Sharp little turn into the drive out in the country, but with houses around.  Typical old Pennsylvania stone house, with a big deep front porch.  Some barn buildings at the end of the drive and just a very nice house.  We go up on the porch and I see a package about the right size, but it turns out to be an old pair of sneakers in a box.  Nothing on the porch.  In this time of Covid, most things are contactless pickup and leave the money under the doormat.  

I walk up onto the porch and knock on the front door.  Big old heavy door knocker, where you know you will be heard.  A few minutes go by and a man comes to the door, he looks at me like who in the earth are you?  I said the address and the name of the contact person and he said, "Yes that's right." I said "I'm here to pick the clock up."

He turns shuts the door and I'm left standing there, wandering what to do.  A few minutes later a lady comes to the door, the man and woman were approximately both in their mid fifties and I guessed were probably the girl's parents.  She has the clock in her hands, hands me the clock, not packaged or anything, I give her the cash, she closes the door.

Mr. B. had been standing on the path between the front door and the car.  He said well we need to take the pendulum off and that's when I notice the clock had not been running because it was set to the same time as the photos on FBM, so I thought let me check the batteries and they were absolutely corroded, so I knew the clock had not been running for a while.

We got in the car and I said to Mr. B.  I don't want the clock if it's not running, because the girl said it had been running.  I get out of the car with the clock, knock on the front door, Bang, Bang, Bang, it was a very rewarding door knocker.  The man comes to the door again.  I say, the batteries are all corroded and I would like my money back please.  He takes the clock, shuts the door and I am left there for an age.  Back comes the woman with my money and the clock.

"Here," she says "Take the money and take the clock."  I said no "I just want the money."  She said you wanted the clock didn't you?"  I said "Yes"  "Then take the clock, I don't want the clock, take the clock."  So I took the clock.

It was all most bizarre, I was trying to work out a number of scenarios as to how the daughter came to be selling the clock, which I feel was her parent's clock.  None of them were a totally satisfying answer.  

When we got home Mr. B. took out the old batteries cleaned the area and put in new batteries and it's been running like a top ever since and I do like it.

Unbelievably the clock is still up for sale on FBM, they have never taken it off.  I never sent any messages to the girl, she never sent any to me and that's where I left it, the least said the better.

And that's my peculiar tale.

I have another FBM tale, but it is not to do with the purchase just the journey.

My concluding remarks to you all are breath deeply, have a lovely cup of tea and stay calm, as we Brits say.

Christine

PS:  Thank you for all the lovely comments left about my Mum's cookbook.  I will be revisiting that.

Driech Day and Pandemic Life

 Hi Dear Folk,

Cup of tea and raisin and lemon scones on a driech day.  Along with mascarpone cheese, which I think tastes most like clotted cream here in the USA, unless you want to go to a specialty store and my cherry conserve.  It is so tasty and apart from having to take out all the stones is very easy to make.

Long time no see.  It's pouring with rain today and is meant to tomorrow, I think it's the remains of hurricane Zeta that hit New Orleans.  It's been a busy day already and it's only noon.  We are eight months into this pandemic and as a couple of retired people, well I was and Mr. B. lost a contract at the beginning of the year before COVID hit and then lost his second job when COVID hit and did not return because he had too much contact with the public.  So eight months of both being home and I don't know where the time goes.

We had planned a trip to Maine in September but cancelled that, so here we are.  In September we started in earnest on getting some outside work done on the house.  Painting which we have done, and contractors will be here next week to cover some of the top soffit and roof rakes.

It's been a lot of work, but I do feel some kind of accomplishment that at sixty-six years old I can still climb up a ladder, I painted a lot of our sunroom exterior, Mr.B. did the prep work, I hate prep work, sanding and cleaning.  We are working our way across the front of the house.  Weather has been good to us up until now, and it may become too cold to paint.  Still I feel we have broken the back of it.  Our summers are just so hot and humid you almost seem on hold until the cooler summer days hit in September.

Our dear Tuppy died, our cat. We had been thinking of having her put to sleep as she was almost twenty years old and had some problems, but we were working with her medication and I cooked all her food for her.  She had always been an indoor and outdoor cat, but had taken to wandering and had become afraid of nothing, so unfortunately she was killed on the road in front of our house, our neighbor found her and picked her up for us so I didn't see it, which was very kind of him.  It's very hard to make that decision with a beloved pet.  We had spoken for a while about having her put to sleep.  With our other cat Tinkerbell she had a stroke so no decision there, it was the kindest thing to do.  In hindsight with Tuppy I think we should have had her put to sleep sooner, but Mr. B. disagrees, it's a hard call.  The Boy and the Mr. buried her together, in a corner area of our back garden, near my shed, where Baggy and Tinkerbell are buried.  There will only be three cats there as I'm not getting anymore pets, as much as I love a cat around.  All my cats seem to live to an old age.  Baggy was twenty and Tinkerbell my Himalayan was at least seventeen, I got her from the SPCA as a lost adult cat.  So I'm thinking that a cat at this point could actually outlive me.  Every time I open a tin of tuna fish or go out the back door, I think she'll be waiting there, it's so funny how the brain works.

Part of our spruce up of the house, is that Mr. B.  replaced two screens on the bedroom windows above the sunporch as Tuppy used to sprint up the pine tree, not when she was older, and would claw at the screens on Rob's bedroom windows to be let in.  And then as she got older she'd spy me in my Simla/sunroom and claw on the door screen there.  Obviously while she was still around we were not going to replace them.

This is rather a dry report of my life, but as long as you can keep mobile and ones brain is too, it's good.  Our Boy moved out a few weeks ago and just the aftermath of that is a chore.  I said to Mr. B. it's a good job he moved out now or I'd be too old to do the clean up.  He had the large bedroom which was used as a kind of audio room and TV room for him and his dad, so now we're making some changes.  The couch was listed on FBM (Facebook Marketplace) for free and went out the door the next day.  We also sold his bed on FBM, that went out the door today.  So now Mr. B. has moved his leather recliner to a central position for maximum surround sound experience, and it looks like grandpa's mission control, with all the left over cushions from the couch on it.  

We plan to move our bedroom back into the big bedroom and the medium bedroom will Mr. B's TV and audio room, of course lots of painting to do in both rooms.  So this quasi lock down thing has enabled us to focus on some much needed jobs around the house.

Some of Rob's things have left the basement, but not all.  Before he came back from college I had that basement all sorted and then he came back and stuff got dumped there, certain car work was done down there and hence was invaded and has never been the same since.  So I've been working on that and I'm still not done.

A lot of stuff is being listed on FBM.  You know the funny thing is you can never tell what will sell.  So I had fifteen plastic shoe boxes stacked, I washed them, listed them for $10, heck they only sell new for about a $1.  Do you know I had way over 200 views and at least 15 people contact me within one hour to buy them.  The thing is they could buy them on Amazon for not that much more.  All the antique furniture, that we collected in the eighties era ie. Eastlake style, clawfeet tables etc., you can't hardly give that stuff away.  But MCM (Mid Century Modern)  which of course The Boy wants for his place, well you had better be pretty quick to the draw on that.  It comes around and goes around, the thing is you have to live long enough to see it happen.

This morning the lady picked up the shoe boxes, then the bed went out the door.  Then a friend in our congregation delivered boxed food, all part of the feed America program, you know to keep the farmers working and paid, which of course they should be and I never say no because every little bit helps.  The one gallon of milk I received came all the way from Johnstown, PA.  All this while following COVID guidelines, it just makes ones head spin.

So then I felt a great need to bake, so I made raison scones and added lemon zest and juice which I'd had a hankering to do.  I used my tried and true recipe from here.  I'm looking forward to a nice pot of tea and a scone this afternoon, by the stove in my Simla Room where I hang out for now.

I have a bizarre if not funny story about a clock purchased on FBM, but will leave that for another time.  The trouble is the more you get on to sell, the more you see to buy, one needs to keep blinkers on and not to become side tracked.

As I said I don't know where the time goes, busy, busy, busy, even though I hardly leave the premises.  My creative endeavors have been on the back burner for a bit, just getting all this other stuff done.  But I have set the stage with the sorting and organizing of all my yarn stash, so I'm ready to go.

Have read some good books from the library, one of which I will give special mention to, The Convert, by Stefan Hertmans, probably I should do a review on that.  He's a Flemish author and a professor at The Royal Academy of Fine Arts, in Ghent.

The Convert is based on a true account, which history only gives us the bare bones of and the author fleshes that out into a wonderful story, set in France, a thousand years ago, the time of the crusades.  I will leave it there for now, but will try and write a review.  If you like history and learning history while reading a good story, then you'll really like this.

Well will close for now friends.  Hope all is well for you.

Keep safe, 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!!!

In the Fog as to what is a Blog, Vlog, Podcast, Video Podcast

Hi Dear Folk,

Thank you for all those who left comments on this subject in my previous post.  As always I love to hear everyones comments.  Thank you for taking the time.

So on doing a little further research I think this is the best definition I can come up with.

So we all know what a Blog is because we are doing it here.

A Vlog I have concluded is like a diary only as a video log of daily things, also can be weekly, or monthly.  Everything you want to record that's happening in your life.  Your Blog in Video.

Podcast is just audio.

The Video Podcast is different.  It is like a podcast; which is audio, but with video too.  The major difference I think is that of having a theme, and can include guests.  Also another key is, that it provides some information for the audience.  So content informative.

I have come to the conclusion that what I have been watching are Video Podcasts, but they just refer to them as Podcasts.

Glad I've got that straight, in my mind.  Do hate to be in the fog.

Take care, have a great weekend.

Christine

P.S.  If you disagree with that or want to add to that please leave a comment.

Technical Question - Podcast or Vlog?

Hi Dear Folk,

I have a technical question to ask.  I showed my son a You Tube video of a person I subscribe to on You Tube and said how much I like the way she presents her podcasts.  In fact in the title it calls the program a podcast.

Now my son said strictly speaking that is not a Podcast but a Vlog because it is visual and audio, podcasts are only audio.  But I have noticed that a number of people on You Tube, call it and have it in their very title that it is a podcast.

So what is the consensus?  Is it strictly speaking as my son says a Vlog, or is it a Podcast or can one loosely call it a podcast, or does it matter?

My son majored in photography, film and visual media, so I feel technically he is right.  But if the majority of people call it a podcast then by doing so that becomes the predominant way of referring to such a media.

For example in the UK we never say I'm going to Vacuum the house, we say I'm going to Hoover the house.  If one was being truly technical Vacuum would be the correct terminology.

So this is my conundrum of word usage.  Please give me your input.  I would like your thoughts.

Thank you,
Christine

Ants !!!

Hi Dear Folk,

Well it's been a long time.  I'm just going to blame Instagram, fulfiller of the quick fix need.  But maybe I'm in more of a longer contemplative mood today.

I have been waging war with tiny ants in my kitchen.  We are loath to spray but these troop brigades are relentless, their sorties ongoing.  It has made me super vigilant even a crumb of food left anywhere brings out a long trail of workers.  You have to admire them.  Cat food left on the ground for any longer than it takes Tuppy to eat it is an absolute no, no.  They also seem to like water and I will find a number in and out of the kitchen sink.  It's driving me crazy.

We think we've found where they are coming in and obviously we will have to put something down out there, because the war is full on.  Of course maybe it's hypersensitivity during lockdown madness.

"The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry."  The summer that was, but was not and for some it never will be again.  So I keep that in mind and stay close to home, which is basically pottering around in my garden.

Will one ever need to buy another piece of clothing?   And I'm certainly not bothering to dye my hair, I have not done so since last February.  I'm going to go with the gray trend , well it's certainly easier and who really sees you, except for Zoom Meetings.

I had planned to visit my sister in England, but of course early on I knew that was all off.  In anywise who's going to let anybody out of America when we are 22% of the cases of Covid in the world.  We are now locked in, we can't go out to play, just like the naughty children we are here in the USA.  Unless we change our behavior we're never be let out.

So what keeps you sane and happy?  I do like my garden and my crochet.  Reading a book under my giant oak tree can be quite satisfying.

I think compared to so many in this giant land I am most fortunate and count my blessings, when so many others are not doing well.

Take care, keep safe.

Christine

Day What?

Hi Dear Folk,

We are on day 96 of this pseudo lockdown state.  We are back to green but with the use of masks strongly suggested, which of course we adhere to.  I take a one time look at the data every day.  Mr. B. was called back to work, but we made the choice not to do so, we are both in that higher risk age group.  We follow the statistics to see if in our area since opening up, is it still tailing down, staying level or going up.  The truth is it is beginning to rise mildly, and we're in a North Eastern State, not a Southern State where it seems out of control.  We want it to go down for all, and then Mr. B. will go back to work.

If you look at the scenarios that they run, projections of how many people will get Covid, how many people will die and they run this with are people wearing masks or are people not wearing masks, and the truth is if you wear a mask less people will die.  Doesn't seem a hard choice, it's like wearing a seatbelt.  Less people die in an accident if they wear a seatbelt, it is mandatory, it safes lives.

I have been able to connect on a regular bases with my aunt Joan and it has been so good, such fun and she is a wealth of information, things my mother never told us.  One story was this, she said she still has a guilty conscience over.  She was staying with my mum, aunt Joan is the younger sister by five years, I was a little girl and a huge spider was on the staircase, they were both scared of it.  I had a little toy dust pan and brush and they sent me up to scoop and brush the spider into my pan, of course, it ran, I ran and they ran, when they came back it had disappeared.  They were naughty sisters, obviously the trauma could not had been too bad, because I do not remember.

This time has given me a lot of time to reflect on just all sorts of things, as I think it has many others. It's like being in the Eye of a Hurricane, total calmness but all sorts of cyclones are going on around you.

I have enjoyed my garden.  Mr. B got an extender for our Wi Fi router to reach the far end of the garden, down to my shed, and that has been great.  It has meant I can sit under the oak tree and be online if I desire to do so.  It was actually The Boy who suggested it, he wanted to be able to use his laptop and tune his new engine and for that he needed Wi Fi in the garage.  I ask the question, why we didn't think of doing this for ourselves, we probably benefit more from it.  But when the children ask, we jump, even now.

If you follow my Instagram you know that Rob has installed a new Honda K engine into his 1997 Miata.  He's pretty much ripped the whole car apart and put it back together.  That's kept him busy all winter he started I think about last October time.

It's truer than ever that you need to enjoy the day to day activities of life, live in the moment and make it the best you can.  Books are a great comfort and I found two lovely ones at Ollies, which is a discount store, buying out lots that don't sell elsewhere.  The Shepherd's View, by James Rebanks.  I instantly knew who it was because I had listened to him reading his book, The Shepherd's Life on BBC Radio 4 and was absolutely inthralled with it.  Lots of wonderful pictures of the Lake District Fell lands and the Herdwick sheep so suited to their environment.  Herdwick comes from the Nordic word Herdvyck which means sheep pasture and these sheep do have Nordic relatives.

I love their Heaf instinct passed down from generation to generation of sheep.  Fell famers have access to Common Land which has ancient grazing rights that go back for generations, in fact many back to the Doomsday Book.  The cottage I grew up in was very old and had grazing rights that went with our cottage, on the heath land, Patmore Heath in front of our house.  The newer built properties did not.  I remember that my mum and dad filed legal documents to make sure that this was passed down with the cottage and so did our neighbor.  Well it was a good job we did because a number of years later a whizz kid builder came along and tried to grab that Common Land to build on, plus he seemed to be in with the local authorities, but the locals were able to stop him, after a big fight.  Not only that Patmore Heath was a biological sight of specific scientific interest, but where money is concerned who cares.

Going back to Heaf instinct of these Herdwick sheep, they know exactly what is the pasturage that goes with their little farm on the fells, they do not wander off, even though there are no fences or outward signs of where one area of farm grazing rights starts and stops.  Thus a herd of Herdwick must be sold with the farm, poor things would become confused.

The other little gem I found, and tied in so well with what my sister and I had just been talking about was Chinese, Celtic and Ornamental Knots, by Suzen Milodot. My sister BB, said she had great grandmas, old wood bead necklace from WWI when the disabled soldiers came back from the war, I think it was the blind soldiers that made wood beads.  The beads needed restringing and to do that one would need to know how to knot between each bead.

I'm happy with the results of repainting a lot of our garden furniture, more to do but we've done a lot. Photos can be seen if you go to my Instagram account on the side bar.  I have a little ongoing project involving an old mirror, I'm hoping shabby chic but who knows.  It all happened because of a bit of a faux pas.  I had an old wood bathroom medicine cabinet, probably about 100 years old, I put it up for sale on Face Book Market Place and it didn't sell.  I had tried to fit it into my shed but it was too big.  I mentioned to the Mr. that maybe if we cut the front from the back I could use the mirror door, and then maybe the shelves inside separately.  He did this quiet promptly, of course didn't someone message me, and somehow I didn't get them until two days later, my lack of technology know how, and of course the deed was done, even though I had taken the post down.  So now I have to follow through, lots of sanding.

Another little joy was the small harvest off my cherry tree, from which I was able to make a number of jars of cherry conserve and a tasty cherry crumble.  An additional fun project has been the making of elderflower cordial and elderflower champagne, which reminds me I need some gin.  Both have turned out to be quite refreshing.

I can say for June the weather has been unbelievably delightful, blue skies, a breeze and more often than not low humidity, it does make this lockdown period more bearable, today is positively windy and my wind chimes under the oak tree are really chiming away.

We have been graced with no less than three bird nests in our garden, we have, a cardinal nesting right by our kitchen window, she seems to always face inward and you see her tail sticking out at the back.  I left that thorn bush just for the birds, because this would be the thorn bush that they made Jesus crown of thorns from, they are deadly and I've had many a nasty encounter with it.   What we do for the little dears.  The other two nests are gray catbird nests in our hedge.  I always think of birds nesting earlier than June, but I guess not, although cardinals have two lots of eggs one earlier March/April and the other later May/June.

My crochet has been sidelined a bit, although I do have a Harvest Shawlette on the go with a cake ball of yarn in variegated colours, its a lot of backwards and forwards, crocheting in the front loops and the back loops.  I think I will like the finished article.  Some more creative crochet is calling me, like the basket I covered in crochet and flowers.

Yesterday we took a picnic to the park, back to our favorite spot by the cabin, I love the wide open vista there.  A little reading, a little crochet and a little nap.  Just what the doctor ordered.

Well I'm not climbing Mount Everest or have found the code for a break through vaccine, but I am being a responsible citizen for humanity and my neighbors.

Take care, keep safe, be good.

Christine

Posting Comments

Hi Dear Folk,

Just wanted to say, I have tried to leave comments on numerous Blogs that I follow, but there is a problem all the time.  Not sure if I can sort it on my end, something to do with Cache. I do follow along on ones I have read over the years, but I've been muted on what I can post on their Blogs and comments, which is very frustrating.  So girls I have tried.

Do take care in these times.  Be discerning and use ones common sense, because there's a lot of stupidity out there.

Christine

Planning The Great Escape; While Living Life

Hi Dear Folk,

How is your day?  Just wanting to reach out and touch the world, hugs to all.  I always liked what John Lennon said "Life is what happens while you're busy making other plans." I'm sure I've quoted it several times over the years on my Blog.

Days are merging together, but I think it's Wednesday.  I woke up to dull skies and quite chilly.  Last night I even turned my stove on in the Simla room/sunporch.  To counteract the grayness of the weather I've put on a bright pinky peach jumper with black leggings, one thing for warmth and the other to have some colour.

That's where I am now in the Simla Room, because even though it's dull out there, still a lot of light in here.  I listened to an interview with Tim Gunn and he said that he had been slumming around in PJ bottoms, T-shirt and a robe, if you can imagine that of Tim Gunn who is always so immaculately dressed. I don't feel so bad after hearing him say that.  Prime is now airing all the shows of Making The Cut, which I have enjoyed, all that creativity and design.

It got me to thinking about this moment in time and how we have bought clothes.  Mostly one buys clothes to go out, and to be around the house, well! One just wants, easy and comfortable.  But is easy and comfortable stylish?  I do think you can make it so by what you were with it; which led me on to the thought, if I made a piece of clothing just for home, what would that be?

Thinking back to the fifties my mum never wore trousers, so all housework was done in a dress, over which she wore, what we called an overall, that may have had long sleeves even, or a pinafore that covered everything but no sleeves.  Now thinking to my stash of patterns, I do think I have a vintage pattern for making one of those old pinafores, and I that's what I'm going to do.

Going back to my heading Planning The Great Escape.  Isn't it the most ironic thing that there is no Great Escape.  Could I buy a little cottage in rural France, plan a trip to PEI, or my dream vacation New Zealand and Australia.  I heard it will be a long time before they let flights and people in from the USA, because we are the worst hit in the world, not per thousand, but overall.  I'm going to live life, a combination of cleaning, clearing and creativity.  The cleaning is not inspiring me, the clearing is lightening my soul, but the creativity feeds it.

On the cleaning front I cleaned out under the kitchen sink at 3:00 am the wee hours of the morning. Actually I've been sleeping quite well, so that was a bit of an anomaly, although I hear many people are not.  Also big change around of my glass and cottage ware in the dining room, plus a purge of some glassware, I did post photos on my Instagram.  I want to put things on Facebook Marketplace, now I've figured out how simple it is to do that, but this is probably not the best time to do porch pickup, no indeed not, although my neighbor seems to be busy that way.  On the other hand if people are not working and have limited resources one cannot judge.  Think about contact guidelines, which I'm sure will be in practice for a long while.  Tim Gunn did mention he was on a clothes purge, which is what I am planning, I have already done some of that.

Mr. B. put up some lattice work for me, four panels above our already existing fence, along the top.  I had one panel up, and it's been up so long ivy is growing all though it and give us wonderful privacy, so I think the other panels will do so too.  I plan to plant clematis and other climbers.  Mr. B. mentioned trumpet vines and wisteria, but I said no, because they become so woody and can pull down what they climb on, and I don't want my fence pulled down.  Any suggestions on flowering climbers?  I stained one panel, but have three more to do.  I am a slow painter, but meticulous, so it took a while, and I was frozen through by the time I finished and could not get warm for the better part of the evening even with the stove on.

Later today more crochet on my lace diamond shawl and watch Maudie.

Stay safe, be good, keep well,
Christine

New Normal or New Abnormal?

Hi Dear Folk,

A phrase that has been coined in recent years is "The New Normal."  My thought is are we really living the New Normal, or the New Abnormal.  A pandemic that only has an equal of the Spanish Influenza which happened 100 years ago, must make the pandemic not the new normal, but the new abnormal.  We are living through abnormal times and live in hope that somewhere down the tunnel which is longggg...  we will get to a place that will be a New Normal, because the Old Normal is not going to come back.  Decisions we make now will decide what the new normal is for us.

On a lighter note the word abnormal always makes me think of Young Frankenstein and the brain of Abby Normal.  I've just posted the clip from the movie.

Take care, keep safe in the new abnormal.

Christine

Pink Moon April 8th 2020

Hi Dear Folk,

Was able to get out and take this shot of the Pink Moon last night, as it rises past my she shed,  deux portes Francaises looking through my oak tree.

Super Pink Moon, the biggest and brightest of 2020, this full moon appears larger and brighter than usual because the moon was at perigee, or the closest point to Earth in its elliptical orbit.

I got outside for a bit today in the sun, crocheting and listening to a Tea and Tattle podcast, then the wind came up dark clouds came over rain and hail fell.  It is still windy now,  it's more like March in April.

I have a book that if a word, a phrase a thought, anything of interest I jot down in there.  One that caught my eye today was "No society can function unless people follow the rules."

Take care,
Christine

Day 28 of Social Distancing

Hi Dear Folk,

I was watching a movie, they're driving along Route 66 and stop off at a Diner and order a cheese burger and fries.  Who would have thought that just such a simple picture would conjure up such longing.  The thought of ones big escape and the simplicity of just eating at a Diner, yes we all took that for granted, who could have pictured this day, except for on a movie.  All the brave health workers and volunteers brings a tear to your eye.  I hope they get all the protective gear they need.

I made some face masks the other day and will make some more.  You are meant to have at least two one in the wash and one out.  I posted my pictures on Instagram and have linked the video below for the pattern that I used.  I had rather a thick fabric so I hand sewed the side pleats in.  Used a coffee filter in the pocket and folded up foil for the nose piece, which works well.  Mr. B. tried it out today and he says he can hardly breath in it, so I guess it is not porous, which is what you want.

Going back to my love of words.  The word Influenza sounds like the word Influence, and is from the Italian, where it derived from the Medieval Latin word influentia.  People attributed the disease to the influence of the stars.

With all this time at home I want to increase my skills.  One is I want to relearn knitting, as you know I crochet and absolutely love it, but have thought that I would love to learn to knit.  The way I was taught was the English way of knitting, but since I've got to relearn, I am going to train my fingers to knit the Continental way, which I think will be easier for me, as I already hold my yarn for crochet on my left index finger and I've heard it's quicker, not that that's a problem with all the time we have on our hands.

The other thing I want to master is my camera.  I do have a really nice one Mr. B. treated me to a Sony 6000 mirrorless, which even my son has taken on some jobs he's shot.  The thing is you are not using it to its full potential if you don't spend the time to learn how to use it.  Also since I got my iPhone I've become rather lazy camera wise and I never was before.

So two things I'm going to work on.  Plus I have several crochet projects on the go.  Two shawls in different colour yarns and a capelet pattern I want to try.  Plus my UFO (unfinished object) or PHD (projects half done) a felted hat I never finished from last winter, that's on the back burner though.  Also have a crochet bag I've finished and need to line.

I am going to post the video on how to breath if you catch the Covid-19 virus, comes from Queen's Hospital, Romford, UK.  You never know you may need it and it could help save your life.  J.K. Rowling used this technique and it helped her.

Keep well.

Christine

Stir-crazy

Hi Dear Folk,

I looked up the definition of Stir-crazy; which is psychologically disturbed because of being confined or imprisoned, seems an appropriate definition, I think that is how some folk are feeling, so I wanted to share with my readers some fun British series that I have been able to watch on You Tube and thought you might enjoy too.

The Great Pottery Throw Down and The Great British Sewing Bee see below for my blogged links to the first episodes on these shows, you can take it from there.

I was so happy to find them, because for a long while you did not have access via You Tube to The Great British Sewing Bee, although I did know about that show.

Hope you are all well.  I feel lighter as just completed getting our taxes done, although I know they extended the deadline to July 15th, but at least that's off my plate.  Signed them remotely which I've never done, all new to me.

The sun is out today blue skies, although chilly.  Now for a little crochet and a cup of tea before I tackle cleaning the glass front on our wood stove, closing that up for the winter as all the wood is finished.

We are still on quarantine.  I looked up the definition of isolate and quarantine.

Isolation - Separates sick people with a contagious disease from those who are not sick, even within the same household.

Quarantine:  Separates and restricts the movement of people who were exposed to a contagious disease to see if they become sick.  These people may have been exposed to a disease and do not know it, or the may have the disease but do not show symptoms.  Or may not want to catch it.

Personally I always though the definition was visa versa.

While I'm on words which I do love, I was watching an Icelandic show with English subtitles and I caught the Icelandic word for disgrace or shame which is skomm and that made me think of the English word scum, when a person has done something really disgraceful you say they are scum, it sounds almost identical. It is interesting to see how different words have been added into the English language from so many other derivations.  Hope I haven't bored you with my love of words.

Well now for tea.

Take care,
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

Posting Last Summer In The New Year

Hi Dear Folk,

Thank you for all you dear folk in blogland who welcomed me back, it has been a while.  Once you break a habit it's hard to return.  Instagram and a new iPhone might be the problem.  How fickle we are everything has to be more instantaneous.

Also last year made me less and less enamored with social media, and the manipulation of it, but Blogs are probably the least manipulated on social media.

Well 2019 went out with a bang but not a good bang.  Mr. B. lost his job and I found out I need yet another crown on a tooth, so not a good harbinger for 2020, of course things can only get better.  Life never stays the same, change will always come, sometimes good and sometimes bad and sometimes circumstances that just have to be worked out, which is where we are, thinking about our options.

Just sharing a little Pennsylvania summertime in the middle of winter.

I love these rolling farmlands.

I'm watching the new episodes of Anne with an E and enjoying those.  Lots of crochet has been going on.  I have plans to crochet a pinafore dress/jumper.  But at the moment 13 skeins of yarn might be a little out of the budget, still I have quite a stash and just need to carry on and use what I have.  I just don't have what I need for a crochet pinafore dress.

I like my Love Bird shawl that I crocheted, it was a fun artistic endeavor.  The good thing about a shawl like that is that you can use left over yarn.  I so enjoy creating and setting out on a new crochet project, plus finishing old ones like my three year old cardigan.  So I get to wear it this winter.

I was hoping 2020 would be a status quo year, but I guess that is not to be. Since retiring I have a great loathing of paperwork.

Have a happy year with family and friends.

Christine

Appeared First On. Read it First Here and Other Daily Thoughts

Hi Dear Folk,

Can someone explain to me the phrase that I am seeing more and more on Blogs, "Appeared first on." "Read it first here."  Is this some kind of laying hold of a right?  Is it connected with marketing a product?  I would really like to know.  Have you seen that?

I've spent three days in the garden.  I have tiny little sections that look cleaned up, but the overall effect is still a mess.  It rained so much last year and then the snow, if you step on a paver it squelches mud out of the side.  All my patios feel like they're floating on a sub strata.  The trees will have an extra wide band growth for this past year.

I did get a lot of paperwork done, but applications led to more action being needed.  Still a lot was accomplished.

I mentioned that I bought an old Coventry ceramic alarm clock from Shop Goodwill, I posted this on Instagram.  It works well and keeps perfect time, but had a slight continuous buzzing noise.  After the first night of setting it up and having it on my bedside table, I woke up the next morning with the most horrendous headache.  I don't know if it was the clock or just coincidence, but to me it's like Chinese water torture, so unfortunately it had to go.  I really liked it.  I replaced it with a neon pink cube from Walmart, which is small, silent, has big digital numbers and a snooze button.  The modern alternative but I quite like it, lights up in neon pink and that's great on a grey day.

Mr. B. told me that he read 40% of the members of Congress are millionaires.  The USA falls at a poverty level of 17.8% of the population, in an OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) county.  Denmark has the least at 5.5% of population and 98% of households with children 15 and under received financial assistance, so that people do not drop into poverty in the first place and to help the middle class out too, at 98% pretty much everyone must be getting a helping hand.

I have read that Denmark is the happiest nation of people, lots of Hygge there and no wonder when they receive such things as free college tuition and health care, job training, subsidized child care and more I could go on.

Believe it or not Mexico falls at 16.7% of their population lives in poverty less than the USA, now go figure that one.  Now where are the hordes coming from?  Maybe Brazil at 20%.

All this is in the January 2019 Fortune magazine "The Shrinking Middle Class"  Most interesting reading.

So I got online to set up for Medicare and a big stumper of a question was "What date did you become a naturalized citizen?" Looked in my paperwork file, could not find it there, although do remember receiving a letter from President Clinton.   Fortunately I had recently organized all my old diaries, it does come in handy sometimes, all that draw tidying.  I remembered that Rob was four, because I took him with me.  I thought he should attend that ceremony. So looked through my diary for 1998, and found my initial meeting with immigration but had to go through a second time to find my actual swearing in.  Thank goodness it was there and I found it.  It is now hi lighted in pink.  I should probably write it down somewhere else.  In all these years it has not come up before, maybe when I first applied for a USA passport, but that was probably right after, so fresh in my mind.

Now I'm going to see if my local library has any of the Persephone books that are on my must read list.  Need my mind transported.

Have a great day.

Christine