This week

This was a slow and gentle start, but a good plot, I remember Richard Coles from the pop group Communards back in 80's with lead singer Jimmy Summerville, I've seen him on TV loads, so I was surprised when I found he had written a book. I enjoyed this gentle story around murder but would not seek another of his books. Book 5 read this year. 

Back in Feb 2020, I got 2 bunches of 'plastic' tulips, which I put out each year, they look and feel like real blooms, 1 bunch of red and 1 of white, so I was really happy to get these, they will look good with my existing tulips, I had always thought I needed a few more in the vase each year. I will pack away my poinsettia until December. Not cheap to buy, but over the years they become cost effective. 

I am still working mainly on this project, the top box has a very different top third, I decided to add my name and date, I normally don't do this, but thought it would be nice as I think this should be my last fine stitching of any huge size. I did jiggle the designs in the lower box, putting 3 sections together in this one box. The original design had 12 boxes, I will do a partial design next to the bottom box, but once I have finished the trunk of the tree, I will leave this section. 

I spent time sorting my memory box in our bedroom, we purchased it back in 2009, it was a woven box, which these days looks dusty and sagging, so after a long search I have a new unit. I have sorted all the things made for me and cards into plastic folders, much easier to store in the 2 boxes. Again so many cards thrown in the recycling bin, not the photo cards or the ones with big hand writing, I did use some of the many photo cards in this huge frame which still sits outside our bedroom door.  There were shelves in the middle section for shoe storage, I am looking for another basket to pop in there, another tidy area. 

We went to town on Monday, just a quick wander around a few shops, TK Max is always a favourite of mine, not the clothes, they always feel like a jumble sale, I do like the home section. I did not get any bread from the artisan market stall, hubby made a fresh loaf on Sunday and will make another focaccia on Wednesday, we have olives and sundried tomatoes to add flavour.

No sign group on Tuesday, Shelia called it off, a friend of hers died, so a morning at home, nothing much to do, I did spend time sorting my memory box in our bedroom. It felt a bit warmer, no frost for the first morning in ages, but no blue skies either.  

Wednesday after a morning at home we took the bus to town to watch The Way of Water, 2nd Avatar, it was in 3D, started at 3.30pm and was over 3 hours long. It was a brilliant film and was over so quickly, what made my trip was speaking to Matt, he checked our tickets and told us about the cinema and which screen and where to find it, a normal task, Matt has Downs Syndrome and was happy in his job, it made my day to see a disabled person working in mainstream. I told our daughter, Georges mum, she was so happy, our world is changing for the better. 

Thursday was a slow morning, I had my hair cut, I had a mad after noon and evening, hubby looked after George, I drove to school to pick up Will, we went to the park and then picked up Molly, I took both home until mummy and daddy came back, daddy had been to hospital for a removal of a mole. I went home to get ready for Pilates. 

Today we have George and Molly, mummy has a hospital appointment, so we get to play with them both, nothing else planned. I still have this awful cough, I wake up in the night coughing, so both hubby and I are suffering, I know it takes weeks for it to go. 

Hope

We, I do mean me, I looked at the gardening sections whilst recently out, the bulbs are for the old herb bed, now a flower garden, these should fill in the gaps. The solar lights are for the back fence, my other set were electric and plugged into the shed, which has now gone. I am thinking of starting these bulbs in small pots and when they have grown, plant them in gaps, as I can't remember what I planted in the new bed. 

 I have blooms on my Amaryllis, I planted my 3rd bulb, so there should be flowers for a few weeks, the final bulb should give us loads of colour. Every year at this time I look forward to these huge bulbs and their flowers, my house plants don't normally flower, and whilst my silk flowers always look as good as real flowers, it is lovely to watch these grow and open. My 1st bulb has a second flower stalk it's growing nicely, there is a 2nd bud on this flowering bulb, hopefully another bloom, both bulbs are giving 2 flower stalks, are you still with me. 

 I have been working on my 2020 book, on the long dull mornings, I find I can get a few pages done most days, the process is very manual, each photo I publish on my blog has to be saved to my computer before I can import them, the words I can copy and paste, but the page layout for the book is very different to my blog, I have to resize most photo's and work on the text to fit everything on 1 page, I often leave out a second photo on a topic if space is tight.

 The book cost is done by the quality of the materials used in publishing and the number of pages, in 2020 I had 195 post/ pages, most years I have about 20 extra pages, photo below shows the working page of the book and part of the same blog post. 

It's cold and frosty, no snow here, just heavy frost most mornings, so to go anywhere outside is a quick dash, when I am not crafting or reading, I am watching the garden, this time of year is always full of hope and plans. I purchase bulbs for summer flowers, I watch spring bulbs planted last year start to grow. I often read, to plant a seed is to believe in tomorrow, to plant a tree it's often said it's planted for the next generation, so a life of hope is good. We watch grandchildren grow from babies, to toddlers, to school children and become young adults, watching our own children become parents, wanting to suggest things, but knowing it's done differently than our ways, so much hope for future lives. So even if you are just planning for tomorrow, or for years ahead, have hope, plan but don't forget to enjoy today as well.

One of my favourite things to do this time of year is to look back on my blog, so my printed books are brilliant, I also look back at my summer garden and plants, in hope the warmer weather will get here and I can start being outside, where I feel the benefits of sunshine and the peace from our garden. 

Hope should be in our world, watching and waiting is a good thing, we don't need everything sorted in an instance, all our lives we have saved for things, we still do, anticipation is a good thing, I enjoy the time planning as much as doing and makes the finished thing so much better. I read so many blogs, where the author is planning and sorting, saving for that one thing they want most, they wait and enjoy the time lived whilst hoping for their final goal. 

It's done

I've worked on this project over the past few days and nothing else, I needed to sort this left side, after finishing the box outlines, I could then see how much space I had, I wanted to have a nice neat line and decided to do half of the design, it fitted in well, I stitched the navy, pale blue and yellow design down to fill any gaps. Then because I love the design I stitched the boat in the top box, I have the sea to stitch below and there should be a sampler ABC above, but I have an idea.

Hubby was bored on Friday, so he made garlic and rosemary focaccia, he forgot to allow a second rise, so it is a bit flat, but it did not take away from the taste, next time we go shopping we will get sundried tomatoes and olives, he is going to make this again. We both loved it, but he will split the mixture to allow me to add cheese to one, which he does not eat.

The photo of the garden was taken a 3pm on Friday, still lovely blue skies, looks nice but bitterly cold, we popped some washing one the line, did not dry, but smelt much better for being out in the fresh air. I'm thinking more and more about the garden, it's still too early, hopefully the spring bulbs will make a show and keep me happy for longer. I'm always the same at this time of year, but I have learnt to wait. 

Grace spends most of the day sleeping in her basket and most of the evenings sleeping on my lap, she is 18 years old in a few months, still very well, just looking older, Purdy is in her basket, she was outside in the garden for ages, checking every space to ensure all is well, Purdy is a female cat, without any internal female organs, but she shows behaviour of a male cat, and our garden is her patch. Purdy is very protective of Grace outside, inside they do occasionally hiss at each other, getting too close in their personal space, they mix which basket they will sleep in without a problem.  

We were home most of Friday, just a quick pop out to The Range for more cat food, the brand we wanted was cheaper there, I have always loved a wander around the store, but this time it was a messy and hard to understand layout, they now have an Iceland section. We looked at the reduced Christmas items, just in case they had something special, but I got frustrated as some items were not in the sale and others had 50% or 75% off, badly signed and difficult to work out. In the craft section none of the Christmas stuff was reduced, it felt expensive in there, we got the cat food and left. We have been going to Home Bargains more and the prices there are much cheaper, it's a shame with The Range, because the store always have departments to suit my hobbies. 

Saturday, was a cleaning day, we need to stay in because the fruit and veg man  delivered an order, they contacted us to see if we wanted anything, so hubby placed an order, their son has a stall for fruit and veg on a Friday in a village local to daughters house, so next week we will pop there and use him until mum and dad are back in Fareham on a Monday. 

Today another day at home, I can always find plenty to do, hubby does get bored, he does read loads, more than me. This evening TV is always fun, we both enjoy watching Pottery throw-down, and Happy Valley. We watch Call the Midwife on catch up on a Monday evening. At least it's dry and we can go for a walk. 

Oh no

I finished knitting this jumper in February 2021, it's a really warm jumper, so only worn 2 maybe 3 months each year, so how disappointed am I, I noticed this hole when wearing it this week, I did not catch the jumper on anything and it's not where I join the different colours, it was OK when I put it on, the hole is in the front, so I would have noticed it. The yarn was a good quality, I am thinking about unpicking it and reusing the yarn. 

Chatting to a lady I know, she gave me a few tips on how to keep a circular crochet base flat, it took me a couple goes, but I was pleased this was attempt, BUT I've unpicked it as it could still be better. I will try again this evening, I going to find an online instruction to help me. I would like to crochet things other than blankets, even in this cold weather, there are only so many blankets you require. I'm happy to work at this and improve, who knows I make make something useful. 

Youngest daughter gave me 2 books to read, I enjoyed the plot, it's a modern twist, looking back over a period of time when you think you know someone, but is he a monster, the courts say yes, but is he? Now years later he wants you to visit him in prison, because he is dying, is he? will I go. Book 4 read this year.

Not the best photo, but I have started sketching my January section of the wheel, I have put the flight of Cosmic girl, even though it was not a success, it did take to the skies. My hexagon flowers and cross stitch had to have a place, I will record my average steps each month, and a book with how many I read that month as well. An Amaryllis bulb should feature as they are present in our home this month. There is still space for the rest of the month, I will add some weather icons. Once I have the completed section, I will use my light box to transfer onto the canvas to sew. 

Wednesday I popped to youngest daughters house, we had planned to visit Gunwharf Quays, on the waterfront in Portsmouth, but both agreed it was probably better to leave the visit to warmer times. Will was at school, George at Nursery, so just Molly at home, at lunch time we drove to a local village centre with a artisan café for lunch,  Molly ate more of my lunch than hers, which is OK with me, it was lovely to spend quality time together, after lunch Molly went for her nap, daughter was tired, so I left her to rest and came home a bit earlier. The rest of the day was crafting at home, and reading in the evening.

Thursday, was another cold day, still no snow just loads of frost, it was a busier day, we had a man come to measure our windows again, and check all the details for the renewal of both front huge windows, they are now ordered and we are waiting for an installation date. Later I popped again to daughters, I did the bedtime routine for George and Molly, daughter took Will back to school for a reading experience. 

Hubby found our local arts centre does a monthly induction class for pottery, and has booked us both for a session, it's not to March, but something to look forward to, we are hoping to have an activity day once a month together, hoping to use local people. Trying to get out more and do new things, I suggested pottery as we both love the pottery throwdown on TV, I am hoping hubby suggest a few things, but I have a couple more which should work for the both of us. 

Somerset has been in the news twice this week, the bus overturned, just outside of my childhood village, none of my family were involved, my younger brother works at Hinkley Point at station 2, the workers on the bus were going to an early shift at station 3, the village was cut off most of the day. The Somerset flats around Glastonbury are again under water, it was flooded for weeks 9 years ago, my niece still lives on the edge, they are again moving everything up to their bedrooms, last time they were lucky and the water missed their home, this time the water is rising faster, we watch and hope all the homes stay safe.