Sorry About Wandering Away

Ruth - thank you for the hug. I'm sorry that I've not been updating. Part of it is there's not much to write, but also there's loads. 

I went with DH to feed the crows last Saturday. It was a glorious day and the crows, magpies and squirrel were very appreciative.

We had some snow. Bear was watching it obsessively and hoping for a snow day. Before bed, the road looked like this and it was snowing hard.

It was lovely and clear the next morning so bear dragged himself to college.

I've been baking and the Ginger, Date and Oat Cake was a great success. It doesn't have any refined sugar but is sweetened by fresh ginger, lots of dates and two tablespoons of honey. The next attempt was a nice Bara Brith which turned out lovely. This had more sugar in but was very low in fat. If I bake tomorrow, I promise that I'll share.

There have been a few problems at bear's college. One of the teachers has left under something of a cloud and bear said that he'd been told to teach himself two of the modules. I'm fuming, but bear is doing okay so I'm keeping quiet and taking my lead from him.

To be fair, I'm not in a good place for sensible decisions as I had the flu and covid shot yesterday and I'm getting the usual kickback - which is still much better than the actual illness. 

Writing stuff - I posted a story for the White Hart on the 11th November here. 

Hugs and good health to all. 

Not My Best Work

I found the most amazing scarf pattern on Ravelry here. I really, really, really want to make it. However I have too many things already on the go, so I've decided that not only am I absolutely going to use yarn that I already own, but I can have a go only when I've finished the multicoloured blanket I started months ago and the baby blanket I started last week. I plan to look at the pattern every day to give me an incentive to get knitting. I hope to be able to sell the baby blanket, and I was planning to donate the multicoloured blanket, but the multicoloured blanket isn't really good enough. It's been years since I knit something so shaky.

It's supposed to be a column of stocking stitch with most of the blanket in plain knitting. It looks more like a cable in the way it's twisting all over, and blocking is unlikely to help because it's 100% acrylic. I've even got a hole!

And I have no idea how I managed that. I'm usually good at avoiding holes. But I've got maybe a quarter to a third done.

It's around 50 inches across and around 20 inches long at the moment. By the way, the combination of the camera on my phone and the lighting doesn't show the colours well. From the bottom, the colours are red, purple, bright orange and teal at the top.

Anyway, although it's not fit to either sell or donate, it's light, soft and surprisingly warm, so it will be lovely here and I'll work out a different blanket to donate. 

Hugs and good health to all. 

Fireworks

Photo by Vin Jack on Unsplash

I didn't take any pics today so used a pic from Unsplash - a site which doesn't seem to show sad roman candles in small, weedy gardens so it's a fancy pic. It was all rather dull until we decided to set off the fireworks tonight rather than Tuesday. Bear was going over what he needed to study and when, and decided that tonight was a better night for him. 

Normally we get an inexpensive assortment from a supermarket but this time I think DH went to a specialist place. This may have been a tactical error. Two of the fireworks fell over, and it was a very small assortment. There were sparks and flashes everywhere! The men took it in their stride but I was a nervous wreck. Tomorrow I'll have to pick up all the unexploded bits and check for scorch marks. 

I'm kind of glad that we're unlikely to have fireworks next year. 

Hugs and good health to all. 

A Little Limp

We didn't do much for Halloween. We were all too caught up in bear's exams, but I managed to peg a few bats onto the string lights. 

They're suprisingly sturdy and would probably hold a heavy load on the washing line. 

It's just been... limp. I've not decorated much, I've not shone at housewifery and it's all been a little... wilted. The highlight of the last two days is when DH unblocked the bathroom sink. 

But October is over. I always feel under pressure to write more, so that's gone. Now I'm starting the run up to Christmas. I had a Tesco delivery on Friday that started the stock up for Christmas. I save my Clubcard points up for this time of year and as I had a coupon for double Clubcard points, I picked up a few small gift items and some candles and used some vouchers to cover them. I need to get the freezer a lot emptier ready for the big day, and I'm absolutely not picking up anything too perishable yet. The coupon allows double points on a second shop, though, and I think the next run should include the extra pickles and relishes that we all like at Christmas. 

The fireworks have been really loud today. This morning, around 10am, it sounded like a load of roman candles being set off in a steel drum. We have some in, which we'll set off on November 5th. Father always set them off with a great deal of ceremony, so our small assortment has become a way of remembering him. It will probably be the last time we light them, though. Bear will almost certainly be at university next year, and we never bothered for just me and DH. I'm going to miss remembering father, but I'm becoming less and less thrilled about how animals must be reacting. 

Hugs and good health to all. 

Happy Halloween

It's been pretty lowkey here. Bear had the maths entrance exam for Oxford today. He thought he did okay and is cautiously optimistic. DH and I are just so proud that he's in a place where he could even apply to sit that exam. 

I bought some new mugs last week after DH's favourite was unfortunately dropped and shattered. They look awesome, they're a nice size and they're easy to wash. I still may have made a mistake.

The inside of the mug is a matt black. The mug is mostly used for black coffee. Making sure that they're clean when washing up is a trial! But they are quite nice. I'm just going to give them a good scrub and hope for the best. Also, perhaps look for some other, less dramatic, mugs. 

Writing stuff - I wanted to write a huge and wonderful Kane story, but it got stuck. The characters weren't behaving and I decided that I didn't have time to sort them out so I republished Good Things which is one of my favourite stories. I'm going to continue battle with the Kane story and perhaps I can publish it on Christmas Eve, which is another traditional time for ghost stories.

Hugs and good health to all. 

Good News

I called into the garage as the steering in the car felt off. Bless them, they took the car for a test drive, put it up on the lift and didn't find anything, but they did sort out tyre pressure and took it for another test drive and it was a lot easier. And they didn't mind me knitting while I waited. 

I called into Aldi on the way back. I wanted to pick up some almond milk, and I successfully avoided the yarn. However I picked up some books.

DH has friends in the Netherlands who read English books to their little girl. This is a good fit for her, and they were lovely and inexpensive. 

Otherwise it's been pretty quiet here.

Writing stuff - last but one day of the Kane festival and a new story is here. It's so fun revisiting this character.  

Hugs and good health to all. 

Small Successes

I went to the Post Office. I'll be honest, I managed a few yards to the car, a few yards from the car to the Post Office and then I staggered back to the car. It was painful. But I did it. And there was a fun decoration at the entrance.

I had forgotten that we were so close to Halloween. But I managed to sell a couple of things on eBay. I didn't get much, but I got more than nothing, and I'll take that as a win.

I need to drag out the Halloween decorations, but most of it will have to wait until the weekend - after Halloween. Bear is armpit deep in revision for the various exams he has. To be honest, I'm losing track. All I can do is keep being there for him. I'm stocking his favourite snacks and keeping an eye on him, but he seems to be doing okay. 

We already have the fireworks for Bonfire Night. Father used to be the one that set off all the fireworks and supervised the explosions. He was meticulous. During his time in the army, he was in the Royal Engineers and stationed in Egypt in the 1950s. He was with those who were blowing up the arms dumps in the desert after WWII. He said that when he was training, they started by blowing up tree trunks and worked up. We were all happy to delegate the explosions to him. Now we like to celebrate Bonfire Night to remember him. Besides, this is likely the last Bonfire Night that we'll get with bear, so we may as well enjoy it.

When I was little, I remember my father trying to light sparklers on an electric stove top. It was a new cooker and he bent one of the heating elements as he tried to get the sparklers hot enough to light. My mother was unimpressed. 

Writing stuff - there's another new Kane story here. I'm having far too much fun.

Hugs and good health to all.