Decamped To The Fire

Hi Dear Folk,

I think winter is setting in on us.  I have decamped to the sitting room where the wood fire is.  The Simla room takes a while to heat with the gas stove and has no other heating, it's much cozier here.

Mr. B. has been off work with a bad cold.  So bad that all the bed linens were soaked and I had to strip the bed and wash them all.  Now I have a terrible head, so maybe it's on it's rounds.

I have got a few things done around the house and that has made me feel good.  Not much on the cooking front except a pot of soup.

I did hang up a four season picture that I had in my other house over fifteen years ago, but never found the right place for it in this house.  The pictures are all matted with an embossed surround and they are quintessentially England; that's why I could never part with it.  It is now hung in my bedroom, and the picture that was there, that had been Mr. B's mum's, I will hang on the wall where our headboard is.  Must of those are all gold framed pictures.  I am just enjoying that so.

Also I'm enjoying the changes I've made in the bedroom.  Sat in bed this morning with a nice cup of tea reading Kingdom By The Sea, by Paul Theroux.  It was published I think around 1986 and he starting his travels during the Falkland War, that's a few wars ago.  It makes his writings over thirty five years old.  I've had this book for a while and wanted to read it decades before now.  My is it dated.  Of course in the eighties, no computers, no cell phones, it was the dying end of an era and as you read one really feels this.  The England that was the late sixties to the late eighties.

He talks about beach front places and properties being run down, that now you couldn't afford for love nor money.  It is interesting because I came to the States in the seventies and thought how vibrant it was.  People looked west across the pond, now it seems more up to date in Europe than here.

Have been buying giant Ziplock bags and bag sorting.  I have a lot to put in a yard sale.  Also sorted three crochets blankets and put them in a giant zip up bag for storing, which has freed up my linen closet.  Although I did have a giant sort out about a year ago on that front and donated a ton of stuff to the thrift shop.  Including pretty lace curtains which I later thought I should have kept, but you know how that goes.

I'm trying to whittle down this huge wood debrit pile that I have in the back yard under the oak tree.  The oak tree is always dropping branches.  Then The Boy chopped the apple tree down, which never produced apples and was to big by the garage door, so all the odds from that are on the pile.  At a box a day and very time intensive I may be able to burn it all on the fire before winter ends.

I found one of those pretty carved candles at the thrift, brand new, so I just lit that this evening, they are lovely.

Both boys want holes in their trouser pockets mended so will have to get going on that.  Of course when I decamp to this room I have to bring my magnifying light with me, or else nothing gets done on the crochet and mending front.

Hope your evening is good.

Christine

PS:  Unrelated photo taken Longwood Gardens.