Nothing Much

For Gill and those who love Essie Summers, there is a Facebook group here who are all about Essie Summers in general and also the Kindle editions. Ken Pierce (who is amazingly awesome), is in touch with Essie Summer's family and has permission. He collects all the different editions, finds original sources for the quotations and everything. 

Today has been such a nothing sort of day that I'm completely fed up with myself. The only thing that I have to share is that it's day two of October and I have an old favourite of the Kane stories here. 

Hugs and good health to all. 

Catching Up with Lots of Writing Stuff

I meant to write a post on Friday but I was taking bear to a gig where his sweetheart was playing and didn't get back till late. Then I meant to post yesterday but we were moving things around and sorting stuff out and before I knew it I was shattered. So I'm writing now before I forget anything.

Bear was acting like a sort of roadie as the band his sweetheart is playing in had a gig in a pub. Fortunately the pub was nearby and only ten minutes away so I could go back home and catch up with stuff. I noticed that a self seeded sweet pea had grown up into the roses but I failed to get a decent pic. 

Bear seems happy with life in general. I can see me giving a lot of lifts in the future and I really don't mind. I'm proud of him. 

I'm sure that I did more than that on Friday but I can't remember it for the life of me!

Yesterday was 'moving furniture around' day and we got the third bookcase in place and it looks really good. I think that there's some more books to sort out, but we can do that in our own time. We moved the clock as well as the new position of the bookcase in the study mean that it didn't fit in it's usual place. We put it to the right time as it had been an hour and five minutes slow for the last sixth months. This clock had belonged to father and we noticed that there was a place for batteries for the chimes. DH put the batteries in at 1.25pm and it immediately loudly chimed nine times so we took them out again. They were not subtle chimes and heaven only knows what schedule they'd keep. And for some reason, the pendulum started working again. It hadn't moved in my memory but now it's swinging around hypnotically. 

DH and I went out for a hot chocolate, which was nice, and we did some serious hanging out in the room. 

Writing stuff - lots and lots of writing stuff. There are three posts that you may like on #HazardousToYourSanity - Why Serial Killers Don't Make Good Roomates by Abbye Kovacevic, my contribution on the superstitions around brambles, especially at this time of year, and an interesting piece on some of the misconceptions about Norse mythology by Salem Devina. Today I've also started October with revisiting the first of Kane's stories here to make sure that I keep up the ghostly feel for October.

This means that for the next month there's likely to be a lot of writing stuff being posted. I hope to share a lot of Kane's stories, mostly the older ones but I also plan to write some new stuff for October Frights Blog Hop 10th to 15th October, so brace yourself for lots of info. And speaking of October Frights, they have a giveaway on Story Origin here with some free reads. 

The most important bit of writing stuff is that A Place Called Paradise by Essie Summers has been published in Kindle format. Essie Summers was a New Zealand author and I've written about her here. The amazing Ken Pierce who is releasing Essie Summer's books (over fifty of them!) on Kindle got in touch and invited me to be part of the proofreading and checking group and I said yes! I was also invited to write the afterword for the Kindle version of A Place Called Paradise and I was nervous but said yes again. Essie Summers was my late mother's favourite author. I very rarely wish I could talk to my late mother again - our relationship was stormy at best - but I wish I could have shared that. 

And I think I've more or less caught up.

Hugs and good health to all. 

I May Have Shopped

I spent a fortune on candles.

But on the bright side, I should be fine for candles until well after Halloween, even though I almost always have a candle burning, especially if there is a chill in the air. I think there's a couple missing from the pic but I can't be sure. Homesense is usually good because it can have some quite expensive brands of candles that are marked down. I'm not sure about doing hauls, because if I need excuses to get out then just picking up one would be a better strategy. Mind you, I'll be picking my times because the car park was overflowing! Annoyingly, the only one where I was likely to keep the jar was the cauldron, and I chipped it on the way home.

I quite like the brass bowl and I may add that to the corner with the fruit. 

I called in to see DH's aunt and had a nice chat. She's a lovely lady who has so many stories about DH's family and she adores bear. Perhaps that would be a good reason to go out - to call in for a chat. She's very elderly and almost housebound. Usually I just phone.

I really had to force myself out of the house this morning, but I did it and it will get easier with practice. Probably one of the next big expeditions will be getting bear a new desk. He has a desk in the living room that is away from things like computers so he can study in peace and without distractions, the corner I showed in this pic the other day.

However the desk wobbles. It's actually a folding table which is great at times like Christmas when it can be put in a corner and covered with treats, but it's not really sturdy. Between us, we've identified a desk at IKEA which costs very slightly more than my candle haul and which should be fine for him. 

The nights are definitely drawing in. I think it's a good chance to clear out stuff ready for the cosy winter nights. I think tomorrow may be a planning day - but we all know how I do with planning. 

Hugs and good health to all. 

I Have Concerns

I had planned to get out today. Storm Agnes was forecast to come through and I thought I would cheer myself up to sit in the car in the rain and knit. Things did not necessarily go to plan. The first issue was that I really had to force myself out of the house. Now I no longer need to take bear to and from school, it's hard to get through the front door. I could come up with a dozen reasons why I shouldn't go anywhere. I went in the end, but I'll admit to being concerned.

When I got to somewhere quiet to knit, Storm Agnes didn't turn up. She was busy causing havoc elsewhere. I sincerely feel for those who have been badly affected, but I felt let down. The flag was hanging down at Oakwell Hall.

But I enjoyed the beautiful flowers.

I parked up in my usual spot, and it looked like the hawthorn and acorns had been picked over. There was a little left, but I think that the wildlife had been busy.

But there were still plenty of hips on the wild rose, possibly because of the hairy bits inside. 

I'm going to have to try and get out regularly, even if it means using the car more. I'm actually quite worried. I think I'm going to have to be tactical about it and plan useful journeys. Still, at least I should get some decent pics out of it.

Tonight I have a drive for half an hour each way in the dark when the wind and rain should hit to collect bear from a friend's house. I am unimpressed.

Writing stuff - I've been writing about my plans for October here where the focus is going to be on my character Kane. On #HazardousToYourSanity, Brie has posted here about how horror movies can be good for you and given a suggested list to try - most of which I'm far too scared to try!

Hugs and good health to all. 

Bits and Pieces

It's been a fragmented sort of day and I haven't been able to settle to much. I had a delivery, and I noticed that Gladys is looking particularly fine.

There was a 'scene of crime' police van outside next door. I've no idea and I'm hiding from gossip.

The car needed a new tyre, and they were lovely. I don't know what I did to deserve how awesome they are.

DH is out at a thing and may not be in before midnight.

I picked bear up around 8pm and failed to interrogate him. Honestly, trying to find out anything about what he gets up to is a challenge. I'll have another go tomorrow when I pick him up around 11pm. All I want is a hint about who he's with and roughly what they're doing. I may have to get stern. From what I managed to squeeze out of him, he's been playing Uno and studying in the library. As the school still isn't finished and they are using classrooms in the University, he was in the University Library and thoroughly enjoying it - and he shared some of what he'd been studying and as it was maths, I'm completely baffled. As it's fresher's week, he was mistaken for a student a few times and shared the coupons he got for half price drinks at a few bars. He thought it was hilarious. 

And I just haven't settled to anything, but at least I got some knitting done while they were fixing the tyre.

Writing stuff - two things on #HazardousToYourSanity. There's a poem by Onyx here which I enjoyed and I wrote an article about the superstitions of Witch Balls here. 

Hugs and good health to all. 

Quiet Day

Bless mentioned decluttering the books. I've shared our method before, but I think it's worth sharing again as it's useful if there is more than one person using the bookcase. All the books get taken off, then we take turns putting books back on the shelf. We put back only the ones we want to keep and don't try and second guess if anyone else wants to keep them. It bypasses the 'but I thought that you wanted to keep it' moments.

I let go of a lot of books that had been there for a while. I got rid of books that I felt that I ought to read or that I had been given. It's like I took a moment to give myself permission to let someone else enjoy them. It felt like I'd had some sort of breakthrough or epiphany. By the way, that bookcase looks unnaturally neat. It will have double stacked books and junk all over by Christmas.

This morning I went to the nearest Aldi to pick up some salad for DH. Look what I resisted!

I feel very proud of myself. Of course, then I see a pattern for a shrug that I fancy and I'm tempted to go back but I'll be strong. 

I didn't enjoy the drive. I could tell that it was a little off and I had to go on the ring road which scares me. I managed fine and I'll be at the garage tomorrow, so that should sort it all out. I also need to be a little more mindful of where I park. It was only when I got back to the car that I noticed that there was a dangling branch. 

That was right over the car. I couldn't see any cracks, but I think I ought to be more careful in future.

Writing stuff - The next instalment of Invitation Accepted is here. I can't believe that it's now twenty three chapters and over 58k words. 

Hugs and good health to all. 

We Found Power Outlets

I think it's the dust that's been raised, but I can't stop sneezing and sniffing. This means that this post may be more haphazard than normal.

We moved two of the three bookcases and found a double power outlet. I couldn't believe it! I mean, who can ignore power outlets these days? As I explained to bear, when we moved in, nearly thirty years ago and put in the three bookcases, we had one computer and that was an Amiga 500. That wasn't a bad bit of kit for the time, but it was very different from now. Neither DH or I had mobile phones then, so the other power outlets easily dealt with the lamp, Amiga and electric heater or fan. I can't believe how much things have changed. I'm looking around and this room normally holds a lamp, a laptop, an electric fire, a PC, an Xbox, a printer, a steering wheel/gearbox/pedals for one of bear's games and chargers for phones, headphones, consoles etc. There are also fairy lights. How things have changed! 

That's a very shadowy pic of the outlet that time forgot. Interestingly, there wasn't any sort of fade on the wallpaper. You can't tell which has been in the air for thirty years and which has been behind a bookcase. 

It's more obvious in other places because psycho cat scratched things up. That darker band is due to the trick of the lampshade, there's no difference. One good thing is that bear has a cosy study area without electronics.

Which he is using remarkably regularly. Yesterday DH and I went out to leave him to it. 

Well, when I say that, we decided to go through the books and get rid of a load of them. This produced around half a dozen bags for life full of books and we wanted to donate them. The first choice was the Salvation Army, but that was unexpectedly closed. There was no parking near the closest charity shops to that so, after some thought and discussion, we dumped several hundred books on the small charity bookshelf at Tesco. I daren't show my face in there for a while! I know that we could have sold them, but we really wanted them out of the house so some poor customer service rep at Tesco is faced with our overflow. I have some more stuff to donate, but that will have to wait until after the car has been fixed (again). But we found a nice place to have a hot chocolate on the way back, so that was something.

The tyre pressure light came on again today. It had been fine for a while, but I suspect that there's a slow puncture somewhere. It may be that we need a new tyre or that we can patch this up. 

I really need to sort the garden out as well. The side honeysuckle is still going.

That honeysuckle plant is subtle, but it's been flowering for months now. The least I could do is give it a decent feed. 

Hugs and good health to all

Some Productivity

I am a little worried about Red. My car is driving a lot faster. I joked about one tank of Shell petrol and she thinks that she's a Ferrari, but she's definitely moving faster. There is some grumbling as well when the engine is idling and I suspect that what she really needs is a long, fast run. What I don't feel able to do is take her on a long, fast run. I took her to the garage, however, and while there is a little give in the steering, it's nothing significant and they couldn't find anything wrong.

So I'm going to give a shout out to In 'n' Out in Pudsey, Leeds, because they could have made something up or charged for things that didn't need doing and they didn't - they are awesome.

I've done a little more on that scarf.

We're moving furniture around. It's been a long time coming as the chairs ended up in front of the bookcases which made it hard to get at books and lots of things got lost or forgotten. And there are lots of times when I would have liked a book to read but couldn't get at it because of the chair in the way. However this means emptying the bookcases which are the tall IKEA Billy bookcases and then moving them. They have stood in that position since 1994. It's going to be a shock seeing what's behind it - mainly cobwebs, I suspect. We've already emptied one bookcase and I've found a load of books that I really want to read now and disturbed a lot of dust, although DH was doing most of the moving stuff around. Once it's done, however, it will really improve things. One bookcase is going in the living room next to where bear has set up a desk. The idea is to leave a few shelves clear for him to use for his files of schoolwork. 

Writing stuff - today's post from Hazardous To Your Sanity isn't from me, but it's on a subject that would of course catch my imagination - the Salem Witch Trials. It must have been a terrible thing to live through. 

Hugs and good health to all. 

Somewhat Dazed

I had a delivery today and took a pic of Gladys. It's not the usual angle, but the flowers are pretty and she is now almost as big as she was this time last year.

I've decided that I'm only doing some minor tidying in the garden, and that will have to wait until the weekend. I finished up a lot of different writing stuff today and tomorrow is booked. You see, it goes like this. The men at the garage are absolutely lovely, very understanding of a dippy old girl and tolerant of my knitting. The one on the desk always asks me for a cardigan. I don't think that I can manage a cardigan, but I hope to finish a scarf before I get to the appointment at 1pm tomorrow. It's the one row scarf and if I manage to finish, I'll take a pic. 

Bear is stressed at the moment about maths stuff. He's putting himself under a lot of pressure to excel and I just wish I could help him. All I can do is keep him fed, watered, reassured and listened to. He stayed late tonight to study at the library and I suspect that will be happening a lot. 

Writing Stuff - I wrote a lot of stuff that I can't share yet, but it was so many words over so many projects that I feel like my mind has switched off and all I'm getting is static. You can read my post on #HazardousToYourSanity on the Folklore about Gabble Ratchets here and you can read my grumble about my lack of organisational ability on my writing blog here although it's nothing that will surprise anyone on here. The next big thing for me is the October Frights and after the garage I'm going to be setting up for that. 

Hugs and good health to all. 

I Need a New Carpet

When I say that a new carpet is a good idea, I'm not exaggerating. The carpet you see in the background is desperately in need of a vacuum, a clean and a respectful disposal. It was here when we moved in in 1994 and I don't think it was that new then. 

First pic - I finished my shawl! I shall definitely be putting it around my shoulders as we go into the cooler weather.

I put the big scissors in for scale. I suppose I could have made it larger, but I think it will be good as an extra layer over the shoulders and back and the stitches were starting to bunch up on the needles. 

The second pics, well, I lapsed into a 'I can just...' moment. If you remember, I have a chest of drawers and I would quite like a runner on it. 

I bought some fabric but it frayed like crazy and was really tricky to sew as a double hem as the fabric was quite robust. 

It's stout upholstery material and it frays like a demon so a single hem seemed out of the question. I thought that I could do one of those self binding thingies (like this one here) with a thin backing. I wouldn't have to worry too much about enclosing the fray monster and it wasn't like it was going to be washed a lot. I imagine that it would be good for an occasional swish in cool or cold water but if it got stained or seriously dirty then the fabric was completely inexpensive so I could replace easily enough. So I went on Temu and bought some fake satin stuff at a low price along with some iron on fusible interfacing to give the thing a little body underneath the fruit bowls. This was not a good idea.

I found the fabric on Temu at something like £1.50 for half a metre, so I bought three pieces, thinking that would be more than enough. When I've bought fabric by the metre from anywhere else it's come in a continuous piece. This did not come in a continuous piece. It came as three separate pieces. The pieces are not wide enough.

This is the fabric that turned up.

The black satin type stuff isn't bad for £1.50 per half metre, but a metre and a half would have been better than three lots of half a metre. I think I am going to have to rethink my options.

This is after the issue with the car. Yesterday I took the car to have the 'tyre light' checked out. One tyre was low on pressure but they weren't sure if there was a slow puncture. They reset everything and told me to keep an eye on things (and didn't charge me for that). However the lovely man said that when he brought the car around he felt that the steering was off. I was not happy about that, as my car has been running 'out of character'. This may sound a strange thing to say, but the steering has felt a little soft (I wondered if I had been imagining it) and she's been running faster than normal. I was joking to myself that after one tank of Shell petrol my little citroen thought she was a Ferrari. I arranged to take her in on Friday and then picked up bear. On the way home, bear turned to me and confirmed that the engine was making a funny noise. It isn't a knocking or grinding, but it's definitely off. I really hope that it isn't expensive. 

Writing stuff - I've been doing a lot behind the scenes but nothing to share today. On Hazardous to Your Sanity there was a post yesterday here about marketing a book, which is interesting if you're a writer. Today's is a bit more spicy about choices of men's underwear, so you can have a rummage if you want to. 

Hugs and good health to all. 

Well That Was A Fail

I had plans for today. I was going to sort out the ironing, clear out kitchen cupboards and stuff the freezer with apple crumble filling and discounted onions. However there is a very small leak in a corner that is becoming a little less small so I need to get a plumber. Before I get the plumber I need to sort out the midden that is the room. It's full of knitting stuff and bits of this and that and general mess. My very small dent filled two bin bags and a bag for life donation bag. I'll have to have another go tomorrow. I also have sciatica. It's more like a twinge at the moment, but going up and down stairs is an issue. I need to move more, but it's problematic.

I have also made a booking for an audiology appointment for what I think is tinnatus (November), booked the car in for tomorrow as the car 'check tyre pressure' is on again. It's probably nothing but I can't rule it out. I've also finished off some writing stuff, cleared out a load of emails and done some knitting. Having been fighting with excess yarn, I need to get more projects finished. 

Bear is currently doing maths homework with what I consider unnatural glee. 

Writing stuff - today's offering on Hazardous To Your Sanity isn't one of mine, but it's a playlist for autumn. I'm intrigued by the selection as I love some of the tunes but have reservations about others. I don't know if you want to click it, but I'm considering making my own playlist, which is likely to be considerably less imaginative but perhaps cosier.

Hugs and good health to all. 

Cooking Success

Yesterday I had a little sit in a car park with knitting. I very much enjoyed it but went home fairly early to sit with the men. 

Bless - the acorns are growing well, but because it was windy, I didn't get a decent pic.

I got a better pick of some brambles though, and the squirrels are bound to take advantage of those.

I feel good about dinner today. First of all, we had a sort of chicken casserole. I had a huge bag of frozen veg from ages ago when I got a marked down pack of casserole veg and prepared and froze it. I also had a pack of diced chicken that I had got fresh a while ago but plans had changed so I had frozen that and yesterday I remembered to take it out to defrost. Then I added some seasoning, some shredded pickled onions that I had got cheap from Aldi, a packet of chicken cuppa soup, some scoops of rice and a lot of water. The men practically inhaled it and there was enough left over for me for at least two lunches. This is mainly veg and starch over protein as the pack of chicken was around 650g or a pound and a half, and the men had decent portions.

Then, at the request of the men, I made apple crumble. The crumble was easy enough and the apple part was from some apples that had been marked down in store. I left plenty but still brought home a few packs. I made the crumble with plenty of raisins and spice (whoever sources Tesco's Mixed Spice is very confident with nutmeg) and a little sugar and I also made one pack of apple crumble filling mix to put in the freezer and I'll finish off tomorrow and get the rest of it put up. 

I've seen recipes for jelly and syrup made from apple cores and peelings. I am not attempting those. 

So I'm feeling vaguely connected to housewifery and somewhat thrifty and the men are apparently very satisfied and looking forward to the same again next Sunday. I'm considering my options and I think I'll have a raid on the marked down stuff again this week. 

Hugs and good health to all. 

Bear is Having an Amazing Time

I'm tired. I've had a run of bad nights and then I was out of the house driving bear to Leeds University at 6am. Bear has a trip today with college. It's an all expenses paid trip to Oxford University for an Open Day. I had to provide lunch and that was all. I got bear safely there, but I'm worried about my driving on the way back. I was so lost that I should invent a new word to describe it and wandered all over North West Leeds before getting onto Kirkstall Road. It was a path full of bus lanes and speed cameras and while I would normally describe myself as incredibly law abiding, I'm worried that I'll end up with so many penalty points that I'll lose the license because I missed something or clipped the bus lane on unfamiliar roads. I got home around 7.30am and I was flattened. Part of it was the stress of driving through Leeds Centre. Fortunately DH is brave enough to go to pick bear up around 8pm. I'll update anything interesting tomorrow.

There are a few of these trips coming up, and I am fascinated to hear about it. He's also really enthusiastic about the studying and what's happening. He keeps explaining things to me and I love hearing it, even if I don't understand it.

I spent a significant part of today sorting out our broadband. I'm getting rid of the landline and upgrading the speed of the broadband which will be brilliant for DH and bear. 

Writing stuff - nothing that I've written, but Hazardous To Your Sanity has a couple of posts, including a nice retelling of a fairy tale about the moon caught in a pond.

Hugs and good health to all. 

It's Only Wednesday

It's felt like a very long day today. It's been sort of productive, but sort of not. I'll be glad to start again tomorrow.

One thing that I'm now aware of is that I need to move a lot more. When I was whizzing up and down with bear and stopping off all the time at Tesco, I was getting a lot more steps in. Today I probably have barely done a thousand steps and I'm stiffening up. It doesn't help that my back keeps knotting up so I don't feel like going for any sort of walk. I'm going to have to bite the bullet. As it is, I'm waddling around like a constipated penguin.

I had a Tesco order today and it was a lot smaller than it could have been. I had a coupon for money off towels and a coupon for money off candles. I don't need towels and though I was tempted by some bath towels reduced to £1.50, I didn't get them. I don't need them and I don't need to spend the money. I always want candles, but I'm not ready to stock up with candles at the moment. That will be next month when I will buy a ridiculous amount from Home Sense. I'll get quite fancy candles for a lot less. I feel very proud that I didn't weaken. 

I didn't sleep well last night and I'm currently exhausted. I tried to nap but I have too much on my mind. I'll be picking bear up at around 10.30pm and then I think I'll just collapse when I get home. 

Writing stuff - I didn't write today's #HazardousToYourSanity's post but I may be using it as suggestions for books to read on the run up to Halloween. It's a list of books with a witchy character and I look forward to rummaging through it.

I've also been involved in proof reading for the kindle edition of A Place Called Paradise by Essie Summers. I feel completely honoured to be even remotely included as Essie Summers was not only an incredibly successful author but my late mother was also a serious admirer of her books. There hasn't been much to pick up and I'm about a third of the way through, but it reminded me of all the other typos that I see when I'm reading. I always feel a little stumble in my reading when I spot a typo which slows me down and it's a sort of pin prick of irritation and then I remember how many typos I make and how many errors show up in my work and I feel ashamed of myself for feeling irritated when it's so hard to pick up every mistake. So I wrote a quick blog post about typos here. 

Image from Unsplash, taken by Karina Vorozheeva and which has nothing to do with the article at all. However it came up when I searched for ‘reference’ and I couldn’t resist it

I'm having a think about the next blog post about Research and the Author. I need to stress that I'm far pickier about my own work than anyone else's. 

Hugs and good health to all. 

All Going Well

Bear said that he had a good day yesterday and seemed very enthusiastic. Afterwards there was a parent webinar thingy where DH and I listened to the teachers explaining what is going on, what the basic rules were and what they expected. It took over an hour. I couldn't find the sparkly scarf knitting so I started something new and managed this amount of knitting.

I hope to have a shawl for Halloween. 

I got quite a lot of little bits done yesterday, including arranging the fruit.

But I had a shocking night last night and got very little done today. It included collecting bear from a friend's house, which I didn't mind, but now I'm about to crawl off to bed.

Writing stuff - Chapter Twenty Two of Invitation Accepted is here. The latest post of Hazardous to Your Sanity, here, was contributed by me and is another post about British folklore and how it could end up in fiction. 

Hugs and good health to all. 

Too Much Weather

I forgot to post yesterday, partly because I spent a lot of time listening to bear. He explains a lot of things to me. I sort of understand in the moment, and it helps him get it straight in his head. We saw a lot of lightning last night which was incredibly bright and vivid, but there was no thunder or rain. The weather forecast was hinting extremely clearly at thunderstorms, and we are in the area at highest risk of thunderstorms according to a Met Office weather warning and there hasn't been a peep of one. I've been reduced to watching a live lightning weather map and there's been no trace of a sizzle. I'm feeling a little desperate as I can't wait for the weather to break, but I can't help wondering how much I'll be complaining about the cold in a few months time. I'm never satisfied.

I was looking at the garden, which I really need to sort out if I want to get autumn bedding in. It shamefully looks like this.

I think that these white flowers are feverfew. Gladys is once again the size of a small car.

It's not exactly a place of serene beauty, but there is a lot going on. I've spotted loads of bees, including what I think are honey bees, as well as bumble bees and hover flies. There are butterflies as well and what I think of as miscellaneous flying insects and miscellaneous scuttling insects. I'm wondering if it would be the right thing to clear it. Obviously I lack a lot of motivation, but this seems to be a happy place for insects. I am not necessarily enthusiastic about it but it has to mean something, right?

Tomorrow is bear's first day at LMAS. I'm looking forward to hearing all about it. As for tomorrow, it's the start of a new phase in my life and I have no idea what I'm going to do. I'll share when I find out.

Hugs and good health to all. 

Far Too Hot

It's currently ridiculously warm. I am not doing well at all. Anyone from warm areas would snigger at me complaining about having temperatures of 27C (around 80F) but I'm not impressed at all.

What is worse, all my joints are complaining. I can barely move at the moment. I think that tomorrow will be a 'stay at home and knit' day as I won't be able to do much more. Mind you, I have to get out earlier. The clothes airer that I had ignored is now shedding weird white powder after being left outside for a while, so I'm going to replace it. DH will be glad of something to take to the tip. He took a car full of bin bags to the tip Tuesday and again tonight, but he does like to visit the tip as part of his Sunday routine. I've got some stuff to donate that I can drop off when I shop, but I need a few bits of fruit as well as the new airer. 

Most of today's trip came from bear's room. Bear came back from the intake day a little out of sorts but had a power nap, took on a load of maths puzzles and then was so buzzed with excitement that he cleaned his room. Today we went into town to sort out bear's bank account (which we could have done over the phone, apparently, but we were given the wrong advice when we rang up) and the bus was so jolting, bouncing along on its brakes, that all my joints started hurting. They weren't in a good place anyway, so I'm now in agony. Still, I got to take some pics of Gladys on the way back into the house. There were so many bees and bugs.

I'll be glad when this all cools down.

Hugs and good health to all. 

It Was All Fine

Bear's friend came round and they were lovely (if you're seeing this - you are awesome and always welcome!)

The house is still a disaster zone but it's less of a disaster zone, and the garden continues wild.

Bear had an induction day today and found it stressful as he was only twenty minutes early. It seems to have gone well, though, and he's happy enough. He'll be starting every Monday with Further Maths which he sees as a bonus. 

I'm still not sure about the dratted scarf. So far it looks like this.

I don't like the way that it's curling at the edges and as it's completely acrylic I'm not sure how blocking and pressing would work. I can see me starting again.

Writing stuff - if you are interested in writing this article on Hazardous to Your Sanity may be useful. I found it encouraging. I also had a post on my writing blog here that's about characters who do their own thing - my characters never listen to me at all. 

I'll be linking to loads of posts on Hazardous to Your Sanity, most of which won't be mine, but it may be fun to dip in. I'm also making plans for October which means that there's likely to be loads of posts on my blog then, but I'll keep you posted. 

Hugs and good health to all. 

Major Absolute Complete and Utter Panic

I kind of like how this looks but I'm not sure if I should cut it back. It may die down with the weather forecast to be warm and dry for a change.

It looks a little 'haunted house' or Victorian gothic (not very, but a little) and the bees are loving the flowers. 

Anyway I'll have to do something as bear has someone coming around to visit the day after tomorrow and there may be a romantic interest. The house is a wreck. It is a complete chaotic mess. The garden is 'ecological resource' rather than looked after. The visitor comes from somewhere lovely. 

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaghhhhhhhhhhh

On the bright side, the house will be cleaner afterwards.

I'll probably be back on Thursday. 

Writing stuff - two bits of writing stuff. The 'Hazardous to Your Sanity Post' for today isn't one of mine and is about advertising on Twitter. It's interesting to see a little insight so if you fancy looking, the article is here. There are likely to be a few about writing, which I'll share but only click if you are interested. Actually, even if it's something of mine, only click if you're interested. 

And speaking of something of mine, the latest chapter of Invitation Accepted is here. Only click if you are interested, but I hope that if you are following this then you will enjoy it. 

Hugs and good health to all. 

Too Quiet

For Bless - the acorns are developing but not there yet. 

There are plenty of hawthorn berries and rose hips around so I'm sure that there is food, and the conkers, the horse chestnuts, seem plentiful. I'll post more pics if I go back. 

I dropped bear off around 5pm yesterday. I'm picking him up around 10pm tonight. I hope that the friends he stays with are fine with that, and, more importantly, the parents don't mind. To be fair, I've always fed and watered any of bear's friends that turned up, but none have stayed over. I suppose I would have just expected them to show up for food and not upset the neighbours. 

Writing stuff - I had an article published on a blog here. It's about superstitions and there are a lot of interesting posts coming up, roughly one a day going forward. I should mention that some of the articles are what I consider very adult themed, and as I write stuff that's so vanilla it could go in an ice cream cone, I won't be sharing those posts, but I'll be linking to the others. 

I sometimes wonder about writing steamy stuff. I'm not exactly shy with my husband - but I've been very loyal to him and we've been married for over thirty years. I'm probably outdated. If I do write something racy (which may actually make money) I'll do it under a different pen name. 

Hugs and good health to all. 

Knitting Has Happened

I went out to do some knitting in the car park. I wasn't happy with the scarf.

The side was turning in and it seemed too thin.

I looked at it and decided that I didn't want to keep going, so I unravelled it and started knitting with 3x3 rib.

But it seemed very thin and scrunched up. I didn't want to be blocking it as it was all acrylic so I wasn't sure that it would be any good. So I cast on one less stitch and tried broken rib (one row knit, one row 1x1 knit) and it looks so much wider and flatter.

I had a nice time. Here is a pic of what it looked like just after a squirrel passed through.

It raced through with a massive conker in its mouth and a furtive expression. 

I also had a very little walk. I found this path.

I nearly fell going down here. There were steps and one step was about twice as deep as the others - I grabbed the handrail just in time. And there has been some storms, though nothing like they've seen in the USA.

And here is the view about thirty seconds after a squirrel passed through with a sense of urgency.

The squirrels were looking quite slim. I hope that they'll be okay as autumn is coming up. 

Hugs and good health to all.