As Time Goes By

Last Wednesday evening the sky had this deep indigo blue/black colour and of course you know a storm is coming.  No thunder, just lightning, then rain.

I went out at night, consequently the night time photos after the storm passed, or so I thought and salvaged these daffodils, one last hurrah!

Spring is mostly yellow and that must be for a reason, we need cheering after a long grey winter.

Some of the broken ones in a little vase.

Mr. Bit Brit's creation, chocolate and cream cheese.  Did you get the idea that Mr. Bit Brit likes chocolate?

And just after I got back in the house with the daffs safely in hand, it started all over again.  Here Tink and I a tucked up in the Simla Room, just having quiet time, with a mug of Chai Latte.

Hyacinths from the garden along with left over purple flowers from the bunch of flowers Mr Brit Bit bought me weeks ago.  I like that colour combination of blue and purple, in fact I have a necklace I made from old glass blue beads along with chunk amethyst bought at a gem show.

My haul from Big Lots, never know what you'll find there.  The biscuits are made in Canada and quite good. I'm going to have another go at planting a raspberry bush my other one died.

When you have long hair you're always looking for different hair clips etc.  These crazy looking spirals work really well, I think I'm going to get some more.

A dear friend and her son with his wife who drove in from Minneapolis, MN with her husband, for her mother in laws funeral.  I had not seen them in twenty-five years, so it was lovely to see them again.  That's 1,200 miles and a twenty hour drive.  Flights at the last minute were far too expensive.

I also have an invite to go out to MN so think I will another year.  I've only been out to Waterloo, Iowa and that was in the middle of winter for a training session.  So would love to see that part of the country.

Got to spend time in my garden over the weekend, cleaning up my patio and planting seeds, these things make me happy.  I was fooled by the sun though, first thing in the morning it was very chilly, but by mid day it was nice.

Christy

The Studio

This is what I call The Studio, grand name for a small room.  It gets closed off in the winter as we heat the house with the wood stove, so it becomes a little bit of a dumping ground, but I was feeling energetic, so had a little spring clean.

The water colour painting far upper right, I found on Ebay it's entitled Carpenter's Brook above New Hope, by Hildegard M. Edwards 1947.  I bought it because I thought it was of New Hope, PA, but it turned out to be Carpenters Brook, New York State, not far from Carpenter's Falls, in the Finger Lake area.  At the Creamery Museum in Skaneatles they have some of her other paintings and when we were in the area we went to see them.  Not all of them were displayed but they took us upstairs in the attic area to show us what she had painted.  So was interesting to know a little of the history of this water colour.

It gets wonderful light in this room, so I've been enjoying it in the early morning listening to the dawn chorus and then in the evening.

This is one of the original IKEA Poem chairs.  I noticed that the newer ones are not as wide as this chair.  It also has a footstool that matches, but it makes it a little tight in this room to use it.

My latest reading from the library.  On a rug bought at Edinburgh Castle, it's the Gordon tartan, one of our family names. I really did like the Princess Di tartan, but stuck with family tradition.

I found the widow's mite, yes the long lamented attachment to my vacuum cleaner that went missing well over a year ago turned up.  I decided to move these shelves, and there it was.  I can tell you there was much rejoicing, as every time I used that cleaner I thought, if only I had that attachment.

And after all that rearranging and moving of the shelves, I decided they looked best were they were.  So at least some good came of all that work.

Some of Rob's artwork from High School.

One of my favourite thrift finds, the Roadrunner, with tree moss from Alaska.

The Tink on her very favourite chair. and she tells you that she's happy to be there, as she's only allowed in there when with someone and she knows that it's special, and animals can't talk.

The chair above was a $5.00 yard sale find, it was one of two, the other one was slightly broken, but I think it could easily have been repaired.  We just got this one, the coyote, the other was a rabbit.  You can't see it all in this photo. There's something special about this chair that we both enjoy.

I don't know about you but I love to have little different areas to sit and meditate and just have quiet time, so this is one of them.

Christy

Silly, Scary

Yes it is cold again.  Pouring with rain this morning, and the wind was howling, yes howling.  My goodness linen trousers one day, winter trousers the next.

The other week I was called back for a second mammogram, how scary is that?  I'm sure it happens quite often, I have myself one other time been called back a second time.

However this time being older and having not been every year, in fact leaving it for two and a half years, really gave me some food for thought and worry.  Up until now I've been faithfully going every year, but when hubby lost his job, we of course lost our health coverage.  So not only do you have less money but now anything medical has to be paid for out of pocket, I know even with medical insurance you still have out of pocket.  So double whammy.

I'm glad to say nothing major just watch and go again in six months to see if any changes.

But with that kind of medical system you can certainly see how things get neglected and happen and one can truly pay for it with ones life.

I had a friend in Kentucky who did not have health insurance, so she did not go to the doctor for a colonoscopy check up and didn't even go when she had some issues which she put down to something most people get now and again.  Unfortunately it was very serious and she died.

There's something wrong with a system when you have this sort of crazy medical coverage/non-coverage.

Christy

P.S.  On a less sombre note I have something to share with you which I am so excited about.

Kitchen Rugs

I bought some kitchen rugs about a year and a half ago, not super expensive, but not cheap either.  I always buy rugs for the kitchen that will wash up.

Oh Yes!  the girls are about.

You can just see in the above picture the rugs I did have in the kitchen and no they did not wash up.  When you put them in the washing machine, although you could, they would just not come clean.  My husband said they were too stiff not flexible enough.

So this time I bought bathroom rugs, which I don't think look too bad.  I like the light colour, but now I'm double guessing myself and maybe think I should have gone with a darker colour.  But since these were much less expensive I shall not worry about them, just use wash and enjoy.

Christy

Daffs & Dreams

Just a little catching up.  Why do you wake up one morning and it is 30 degrees warmer than the morning before?  The micro-plush sheets are possitively too much and the cotton ones need to be put on the bed ASAP.

These were my first daffs from the garden before the weather warmed up, you can see that there is a wood fire in the background.  This winter has been very grey so we are looking forward to sunny days.

Look what I found at the thrift last Saturday, isn't it lovely?  When I was in England with my sister BB we had been talking about the modern/old idea of covering sofas with knitted Aran style covers made to fit.  She had been requested by a lady to knit a bed cover in Aran style.

This is of course crochet, done in the plain ivory colour; which I really like.  Wouldn't the back cushions look lovely with crochet covers and then throws to go over the arms?  And of course complimentary throw cushions to match.  Am I that ambitious?  I don't even know what the crochet stitch is, but I could try and look it up.  It wouldn't even have to be the same stitch, just complimentary and try closely to match the yarn.  Um!  Well let me have a little dream on that one.

What a lot of work and yarn went into this.  It's hard to see how people just give up such things which obviously a lot of work and love went into.

It was a little more than I usually pay for things, and no 25% coupon ouch, but I just couldn't pass it by and I'm glad I didn't.  The lady next to me said your regret it if you don't get it.

Times are busy, but aren't we always.  I'll be glad when the last of three cars passes its' inspection, it's been nothing but cars recently, another very big ouch.  Now every car in our household is 2002, so all rather on the old side.

I changed my banner out but could not find anything from my archives for Spring, although they are filed somewhere, so I need to get out and take some up to date photos.

Hope things are good with you.

Christy

The Village by Marghanita Laski

The Village by Marghanita Laski is a special read.  She is fast becoming one of my favourite authors.

Wendy Trevor and Edith Wilson on duty at the Red Cross post as usual, it is the very last day of World War II.  They are sharing intimacies of their life's that they would never dreamed of sharing together before the war.  As Wendy Trevor lives at the top of the hill and is considered middle class and Edith Wilson lives at the bottom of the hill and is considered working class.

"There's a lot of us will miss it, "  Edith said  "We're all of us felt at times, you know, how nice it was, like you and me being able to be together and friendly, just as if we were the same sort, if you know what I mean."

They talk about their families, Wendy has two children Sheila and Margaret, Edith has three children, Edie, Maureen and Roy.  They confide that they both lost a child in death, Wendy when her and the Major farmed for a while in Kenya and lost a little boy and Edith confides that she had a little girl who died.  They have become very close.

The Trevor's returned from Kenya before they lost all their money and bought an old house with a small holding chicken farm, their income is about six pounds per week.  Edith confides that when her Roy comes back from the war he will pick up his old job as a printer, his apprenticeship having been finished and he will make ten pounds per week.  Edith used to be Wendy's day lady, cleaning and cooking for her, but since they had to use all her income on the private schooling of their girls, there is just no money for a daily.  The Major is a disaster at business, being born in the era when landed gentry did not have to work and their private incomes where never going to end, but of course all this changed.

"Then they parted, Mrs Trevor going up the road to Wood View on Priory Hill where the gentry lived and Mrs Wilson going downhill on the other side, down Station Road among the working class."

Wendy dispares of her eldest daughter.

"She looked at Margaret ... her soft brown hair caught back with a slide from her sweet but oh, so uninteresting face. ... thoughts of contrast between the life she had once known and the one she was living now."

If her sister had lived and not died in the car accident, it might have been different as she had married money, her girls now had no hope of coming out in London and being presented at the Court Debutante Ball.

Gerald Wendy's husband and ex-Major says to Daisy a neighbour and friend.

"You look as enchanting as ever,"  said Gerald, falling happily into the roll of gallant young officer with an eye for the ladies."

There is to be a village dance to celebrate the end of the war all will be there.  Margaret does not want to go she thinks.

"There was something wrong with herself, that made Roger Gregory, the only young man of her own sort in the village, dance with her only as a duty and escape as quickly as he could."

She returns to help in the kitchens and comes out, standing along the side of the Village Hall, a young man comes over and asks her to dance, she remembers him, from her child hood days as being Ron Wilson, who she used to play with, while his mother Edith was working at their house.

"Somebody nearly bumped into them, but he tightened his grip on her waist and drew her deftly away from the impending collision.  she looked up at him and thought, in a confused kind of way, that he looked as if he'd always be able to manage things, grinning away with that cheerful confident way he had, as if he was still someone people could be all right in trusting."

Ron and Margaret win the Spot Dance and now all eyes are on them.

"Good-bye Roy." ... "That young man's getting a bit too big for his boots.  A pity, because his mother's such a decent woman."

"What can Margaret be trained for?"

She is not at all academic like her younger sister and certainly will not win a scholarship which is so badly needed in the Trevor family as there is no money for further education without it.

"Margaret saw herself being married."

Margaret ends up with a mind boring job at the Hospital which their friend the Doctor suggested.

"... the only thing they've got to hang on to is that they belong to the so called upper class, and even that doesn't cut the ice it used to any more."

One day Margaret makes arrangements to meet her old school friend Jill Morton at the pictures, but she doesn't turn up and there is Roy Wilson waiting for someone who also does not turn up, they decide to make the most of being there and see the film together, with a bite to eat afterwards, thus begins their budding romance.

"I'd like to very much,"  she said, Roy's whole face wrinkled with sudden pleasure."

Margaret's mum Wendy becomes quite ill from nervous exhaustion and Margaret stays at home to look after her.  She does not mind because unlike her mum she very much enjoys looking after the house and cooking. Mrs Wilson comes up to offer her services and it is agreed that she will do the laundry while Mrs Trevor is ill.

"Maureen ... nudged Margaret in the ribs and said "The trouble with you, Miss Margaret, is that you've got no sense of class."

There are many other characters in The Village that enforce the class differences of the time.  It is a truly delightful read and catches that era so well.

Christy

Romans Chapter 12 Verse 12

Romans 12:12

Rejoice in the hope.

Endure under tribulation.

Persevere in prayer.

Brook Evans by Susan Glaspell

The setting for Brook Evans is Normal, Illinois in 1888.  When I first picked the book up I thought it was going to be about a man, but Brook Evans is the daughter of Naomi Kellogg.

Naomi is in love with Joe Copeland who is the only son of a widow and works their farm which adjoins the Kellogg farm.  His mother thinks she's a cut above everyone else and nobody is good enough for her son, so secretly, Naomi and Joe meet under the willow tree near a Brook, hence the name Brook for their daughter.

"... her hand was on moss deeper and smoother than velvet, ..."

Resting in her bedroom which was always very special to Naomi, just thinking about Joe.

"The magazine lay under her hand, drowsily she thought of Italy, a land of romance.  The perfume of roses came in through her window, there was that good smell of drying hay - full clear song of the thrush.  The water of the brook - waters of Venice.  Ardent whispers, through the centuries.  She was close to Joe.  His eyes were loving her.  His voice whispered."

Unfortunately Joe dies unexpectedly when he is hit by the thrashing arms of his new combine harvester.  This is a tragedy not only for Naomi but the family an unwed mum.

"If you would and for my sake - stand a little disgrace?"  she asked timidly.  "Mostly it would be for just me. Then I would go away and make my living for my child.  O father, I would like that so much better."

"...and words Mrs Copeland and her father had used ... they were like rats."

 In comes Caleb Evans who has always liked Naomi and says he will marry her, even with the child.  They do so and move to Colorado farming country, east of the Rockies.

Caleb is very religious, he is good in his pious way, but Naomi never loved him and she never grows to love where she is, her only love is Brook and Brook is closer to her father not knowing that she is not his daughter.

Brook is invited to a dance by Tony Ross a  part Indian mostly Italian boy.  Her mum makes her a most beautiful dress in a pale yellow, Brook looks lovely in it.  Against her father's wishes with her mothers push she goes to the dance.

"This boy would not be riding to this love had there not been Joe, it was almost as if he were Joe, thus riding through the light sent down from Big Chief."

I think here Naomi equates Tony, of Italian heritage, with that long ago day of dreaming in her bedroom, of romance and Italy.

Joe, aided by Naomi, secretly courts Brook.

Caleb says:

"Turned from her he ventured:  "Well maybe you and Brook'll have a good time here together.  Kind of like a visit just you two."

Tears surprised her; even though he had not turned to her she turned back.  Words she so sorely needed - but could not accept from him."

Sylvia Waite is a missionary back for a while to visit with her mother before going off again, they all attend the same chapel.

"Outside she could hear Sylvia Waite's voice and Brook's acquiescence.  She moved nearer the dress twisted marked with tears.  She put her own hand upon it, as if seeking strength for what she had to do."

"Oh, there must be that little girl - sweet baby voice - not barren years with Caleb Evans."

While Caleb is away she knows that Tony is planning to ask Brook to elope with him, she approves of this, although Brook doesn't know she knows.  Brook leaves the house this will be the last time she sees her, as Tony is planning to take her to California and get married.  This is Naomi's sacrifice for her daughter's happiness.

"What would happen if every one were to give up what there was between what they were supposed to know and think, and what they really did know and think?"

There is a terrible twist in these events, which leads Brook to go off with Sylvia Waite on her missionary endeavors to Turkey, and her father signs the papers needed for her to leave the country.

The bitterness of this for Naomi, it is too much, she never sees her daughter again as she also has never returned home to see her family.

In Turkey Brook meets an English officer Bert Leonard and marries him, they have a son together Evan.  Time passes WWI comes and Bert is severely injured.  For a long while Brook nurses him, he dies and she decides to go and live in France.  Where she is courted by her husband's Colonel, Colonel Fowler, who all think she will marry.

Over the years her mother's family have written to her and she to them, they let her know that her aging father Caleb is living with them in Normal, her mother long since dead and will she come home to see him?

By chance at a party a friend is giving, she meets Eric Helge.

While in Paris:

"Ici!  she called rapping.  In this window was one dress.  Yellow you would call it, only it was more like light than like any color, unless it was like champagne ..."

Evan asks:

"For whom then?" he demanded."

"For my mother", she said, and he had never seen her face like this."

"Oh, you are lovely, Mother,"  her boy cried (Oh, you are lovely, darling!"  she heard the other voice, the voice she had not heard for twenty years."

Thus after all these years she understands, she is reconciled to her mother.

More happens, the book has an interesting ending it seems to come full circle.

I read half the book as it is divided by being marked as four books with chapters.  I read two and then put it down for a while, picked it up again with a fresh eye and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Christy

My Sunday

The beastly Amending of the Taxes has been done, that was like a mountain in my mind.

This was my Sunday, some reading, some writing of letters using my new fine nib fountain pen and some Blogging.  Plus a little knitting on my loom.

I am enjoying reading The Winds of Heaven by Monica Dickens.  If you are in your fifties I think you will love this book.  Even though it is written in the fifties and the views are of those times, it is a great read, for a woman of a certain age.

Non of this, was poor, became rich, lives in high society, just a down to earth very real story.  A Persephone read, but mine again old shelving at the library, it had not been taken out for the last seven years.

I also rearranged my flowers, pulling out the dead ones and giving a bouquet of flowers a little extended life, isn't that what we all need?

And my little Shakespeare notebook is where I write my notes for my book reviews, I enjoy doing this.

Daffs in the garden just waiting to bloom, but it's been so cold and meant to snow again tomorrow, enough  Some years at this time we have been basking in eighty degree weather.

If Tuppy could only open that back door with the power of thought it would be swinging open off it's hinges, if only.

Hope you enjoyed your Sunday.

Christy.

Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner 3/3

Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner 2/3

Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner 1/3

I think you will enjoy watching these, the traditions of the British Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner

Keyhole Garden Uganda

I think I'm going to make one of these gardens this spring a Keyhole Garden with the composter in the middle.  Just link here to see numbers of variations on a Keyhole Garden, what about the one with the bottles?  Or the one with the round black composter in the middle, I have one of those, but I think that I like the more natural look for a garden.  Do you think I could use bamboo for the central frame?  I have some lengths of that.

Martha Stewart Loom A Weekend To Weekend

The weather has been cold, rainy, sleeting some hail and not much of Spring in sight, so flowers are very much needed to lift ones spirits.  My loo roll seedlings are coming along and I do see that the daffs are trying, but it's to cold.

So two weekends ago Mr Bit Brit bought me a lovely bunch of flowers and I still have them.

As I mentioned I was in need of a little Springtime yellow, he also picked me a little bunch of flowers.

Which I put in a vase my grandma gave me many a year ago.  It's just right for those tiny delicate flowers, that hardly stand on their own.

Then I saw the sun very briefly and grabbed the camera.

I'll get you all excited by saying that I bought this Martha Stewart loom set.

As you can see here I'm also working on another fishnet ruffle scarf.  Only this time I am knitting it.  I was so fed up with using long knitting needles, that I took a pair of circular bamboo needles and cut the circular part and made them into two short knitting needles.  I know that's desecration, but you only cast on about six stitches for the ruffle scarf and it works for me.

I have a friend who wears a lot of those Autumn colours, so will give the scarf to her when it is finished.  They really are her colours. I hope she'll like it.

I started using the Martha Stewart Looms, and after much thought decided that the kit really did not have enough circular looms or options, which I think is a shame because the kit and the idea of the way it clicks together is really nice.

Another reason I decided to return it was because one peg on the circular loom kept coming out and I thought if that comes out every time I go around it will drive me crazy.

I found this lovely yarn on clearance reduced from $7.00 to $3.00 per ball, it's cuddly soft with 22% wool content and I always like some natural fibre in my yarn.

 Aren't these colours lovely?

 

So this is the much cheaper little circular loom that I bought.  It feels much more solid and more comfortable in my hand, and the pegs are rigid which means they will not become loose and come out.  I may buy another one in a larger size.

Will keep you posted on how this turns out.  I have in mind to make a scarf with a matching hat.

On a more sober note it was a very hard week and weekend for us to get through, especially for Rob.  The Memorial Service for Mike was on Saturday and the actual Funeral was today.

Rob cancelled quite a few classes at College and now has a lot to catch up, fortunately he is coming into Spring Break.  He just couldn't focus.  It's been very hard to wrap one's mind around, when someone dies so young.

Very hard for Rob.  As my husband and I discussed we never went through one of our friends dying when we were young.  And what pains your children, pains you.

Christy