thank you

Thank you - your kind words, here and by email, both strengthened me and dissolved me to tears - I have had so many hugs from dog walkers who I don't know by name - only by the fellow-dog-walker nod - when they ask 'where's your dog?'. 

Being at work was hard - staff and volunteers seemed as stunned as I, visitors to the park and walled garden were too.  I still catch myself about to call her when I go out into the garden or get ready for work. 

She was a funny, silly, hair shedding, eye-rolling, waggy tailed, muddy footed gallumph who enriched my life and she will be forever missed. So, thank you - so so much for your thoughts xx❤️‍🩹

who you calling a muddy footed gallumph?

Stitching

 I have a shirt. 

A favourite shirt which I will reach for first nearly every time, it is a perfect partner to jeans and boots. It was a teenage cast-off from one of my boys and I suspect I have loved and lived in it for about nine or ten years. 

Suddenly it started to wear thin - first it was an elbow, so I trimmed the chest pocket and stitched the patch with the teeniest tiny stitches. I was rather pleased how I managed to colour and stripe match making the repair virtually invisible.

Then about six months later, my cuffs and the narrow placket down the front showed signs of wear. So this time I stitched a floral fabric along the wear marks and absolutely loved the contrast of the materials.

Then, last weekend after I'd worked on the Saturday, I changed out of my work duds and of course reached for my jeans, boots and fav shirt. I was horrified to see a huge tear on the back - the fabric has just worn thin with use and love. So reluctantly I had to put on my second favourite shirt (which is so not favourite at all in comparison!) However, the thought of adding patches of love and stitches rather excited me.

In a rather simplistic Boro mending style, I matched embroidery floss to both fabrics and quietly stitched rays of  sympathetic colour. I wanted to reinforce the material of the shirt as well as embellish the patch.

Feeling rather happy with my mending, I shook out the shirt to inspect and found that the other elbow was looking a little thin .... well that meant a bit more mending didn't it...?!

This time I tried a more 'organised' pattern and with a nod to Sashiko mending this time I made long waves of colour. I may be a teeny bit in love with this patch...

Mending my shirt was important - not just the act of making a favourite shirt last a little longer, not just a rebellious act against fast fashion and the throw away society, not just a process of creativity - in a strange small way - I was not just mending my shirt, it was my way of symbolically mending what is happening. 

A form of self care too.

Mending

 Slow stitching, walking miles, talking, gardening.  

'She was only a bloody cat'.

I miss her. Terribly.

All I want her to do is come home.

thank you to everyone who sent kind words and love, to all the emails and virtual hugs, I will get round to replying to you - thank you x

Land of the Big Sky

Tuesday saw the passing of a fellow blogger, someone I got to know through art and then over the last three years we chatted, and shared artistic ideas and our love of the sea.

Jill - I shall miss you, I shall miss your daily visits to the prom, the gull gang, the dogs going for their walks. I shall miss your dry sense of humour - Jill - The Land of the Big Sky, I shall miss you.

A quiet moment

Not all declarations of love are hearts and roses, 

sometimes they are quiet thoughts, 

quiet words and quiet deeds.

Last year, visiting the Llyn Peninsula on a chilly April day, we walked down on a rocky coast with it's gritty beaches tucked in between the hard rock. There were a few other hardy souls doing similar hunched head walks, you know the type I mean - when you are cold and wrapped up but the bitter wind still manages to find the gaps, so you hunch your shoulders up about your ears in the vain hope you will feel warmer ..... yeah, I've done that too.

Any hoo, as we walked along, watching the grey sea and sky merge into one, Eldest was picking up stones and skimming them on the restless water. He called me over ... he'd found this ...

Scratched into the soft stone was a sad little message of love and loss. 

We stood there, Eldest and I, and in the midst of the sounds of the sea, 

the wind, the screech of the gulls, 

it felt very quiet.

Don't forget to visit the other hearty marathoners - the link to their pages is on the right.

3rd Feb 2010 HERE

The next step.

In less five days, my eldest son who now can legally drive (congratulations my boy - the road is now yours - take it by the throat- but don't forget to indicate first...) will officially start uni.

Uni.

Just typing that word triggers an uncomfortable swell of apprehension and pride with the accompanying welling up of tears. A quick blink to wipe them away - I can't be seen to be a 'soggy eyed' mum now can I?

But I am.

I am compensating for that impending leaving-of-the-nest-by-the-first-born by frantically getting everything ready for him. He rolls his eyes when, for the hundredth time, I ask if he has packed this or packed that. He sighs loudly when I insist he jumps in the car to purchase last minute thisiese and thatsisies. But - bless him - he humours me and we get on with my demands.  He has matured so much this last year and is happily ready for the next step.

I shall miss him. We all will.

I also had a need to give him something from me that he'd use ... so these last few evenings I have been knitting like a demon possessed. He now had a reversible beanie - dark charcoal grey one side and olive green with charcoal stripes on the other.

He put it on straight away and grinned at me - phew.

I have one more secret little thing for him to take away to uni,

but like you - he shall have to wait until I complete it :)

Excuse me - I feel the need to dab my eyes again.

Rain rain go away...

We have had a little rain...

Fortunately  - so far - the river,s although almost at breaking point, seem to be containing the water, however, the villages all around us have drenched roads, burst banks and flooded houses.

This is one of the roads I use to get to work... The residents along the river's edge must be worried.

I have a precious friend who lives alongside this maelstrom. She assures me she is fine, but I still worry.

 

We are lucky that we live on the side of a hill.

Lets hope the rain, promised for overnight, is light and brief and the waters can begin to recede.

Carleton in Craven is virtually cut off and, as I was taking these pictures, a dog walker stopped to chat. She said that she had never seen the water this high before and her husband who was 'bred-n-born' in the village had never in his memory known floods like these.

We walked around our village this afternoon and discovered that even the tops of the hills are flooding, icy icy cold water is bubbling out of the sodden earth and pooling in every dip.

And as I type this - I can hear the rain hammering down on the roof - so very very glad I am not working tomorrow, I would find it virtually impossible to get there in a 'straight line'. My heart goes out to those who are listening to the rain and wondering when the water will burst through their door or up through their floor boards :(

Knitting vs the world in random bite sized pieces

In between studying, working, life and well....everything else that happens.... 

I am trying to knit - to stay sane! 

The change in the clocks has really messed me around. 

I hate the sudden darkness in the evenings when I leave work.

I feel - very very tired. 

 Gah.

Brain feels like mushed up cardboard at the moment 

and I need it to be super absorbent and super sharp. 

Not a chance, think will go back to knitting. 

I came across 'Star Wolf and Rabbit Girl' and instantly fell in love - strange and otherworldly however, the images by Chiara Bautista hit a chord and in particular - this one...........

When you knit something for some one you love - it comes from the heart.

Things will improve - I know they will,

I am an eternal optimist.

The book I am knitting from.

A mixture of art and artistry.

Maths and logical thinking.

Difficult for me to make

my butterfly mind 

fly in straight lines.

But, my hat grows :)

May be if I study 

solidly for one more hour

I can treat myself

with a row or two.

shhhhh - better get back to work.

xxxxxxx

Autumn equinox

A shift happens for us in the northern hemisphere today - the sun seems to be quietly leaving us for southern skies.

There is definitely an autumnal nip in the air and the duvet in the morning seems more and more reluctant to let me leave it's warm and snuggly embrace.

The drive to work through the country lanes has changed from summer greens to hues of russet, orange and brown. I find it a mixture of melancholy and earthly decay. There is definitely a subtle crispness to the morning air.

Our summer this year, although not particularly wet, wasn't particularly warm and sunny either, has slipped away.  I hope that autumn will not follow suit but will sparkle and fizz and inject the final part of this year with something special.

On a more positive note it does mean an excuse to wear scarves and mittens and wrap myself in woolly goodness. It means boots and jeans and long socks. It means walks in marmalade and pickle coloured woodlands. It means lighting the fire and watching the cats gently melt in the warmth as they lie in front of the fire. It means lighting of candles and switching on of lights.  All ingredients needed to make a magic potion to keep me happy:)

And you?

What do you do to keep the doldrums away?

How do you keep your spirits us as the sun slips away?

What magic do you spin?

Autumnal musings

I am sitting alone (with you) while the rest watch 'Gravity' the film.

It seems to have been a long week since I last posted.

I was alerted to the fact that sometimes an unsolicited advert would pop up on my blog. I have been doing a little research along with a good bloggy friend and we have discovered that the common denominator seems that the un-invited adverts and pop-ups occur on hand-held devices rather than laptops or tabletop computers. What I could not find (yet) is why or how to stop it - if anyone out there knows the secret - please do tell!!

I have still many stories about Skye to share as well as some of Galloway (two of my favourite places) but life seems to have got in the way recently.

Has anyone else noticed the change in the seasons?
The change in the colours of the hills and the trees?
Does anyone else feel that tinge of sadness at the ending of the summer?
That hollow quietness?

I try very hard each year to see the positivity in autumn and the beauty in winter and although my three boys love this time of the year and actively wish winter's arrival, I drag my feet and dream of the summer to come and dwell on the summer past.

However, there are some moments of pure delight that help me.

Like being able to pick an unexpected riotously sweetly scented fistful of flowers.

 

Which fill the room with a delicate reminder of summer. 

The return of our autumnal knitterly gathering. 

 Finding a kitten 

(well.... an oversized lump of a cat who still thinks she is a kitten) 

curled up 'lightly pressing' my knitting.

Finding pleasure in an improved skill - baking with yeast.

Cinnamon and sultana rolls and chocolate chip rolls, both with lemon zest drizzle icing - they didn't last long :) 

Oh well, autumn. 

A season for study and impending exams.

A Levels and GCSEs on the horizon.

Thank goodness for walking and knitting!

February - almost gone...

I have written (in my head) at least three posts, only when I start typing - the words fail to come to life.

At the moment thoughts do not transfer themselves from my imagination, through my fingers, onto the keyboard and finally on to the screen. Suspect it is coz I am tired, coz my head is so full that it is difficult to separate out stories from guff, coz I seem to have a lot going on and just, well just coz...

Good stuff.
Walking, breathing bracing air, drinking tea on the side of a hill.

Not so good.
Losing a furry walking friend after years of companionship - it has hit me harder than I thought.

Making and baking.
Carrot cake, sticky malt loaf, Swedish sticky cake, creamy salmon curry (can't find the link for it sorry) and Brioche bread and butter pudding, they are my February five new recipes.

 Sticky malt loaf

Brioche bread and butter pud

Knitting.
After a month or two of knitting this.......

I'd completed the back and had almost finished the front when in a moment of realisation of how much I hated what I was creating - I frogged the whole thing in a flash.  It made me feel so much better.  The green has been stashed for another day and the heather wool plus a saved cream wild silk yarn is growing into this....

Mittens, with a nordic star just beginning to appear. I feel soothed as it grows, even when I'd miscalculated and had to frog back several rows - I still feel happy.

Grateful.
For all the wishes and hugs, the comments and thoughts and the friendship over the net. Thank you.

Planning.
Eldest's 17th birthday (Seventeen...!) Where has the time gone?  We are going to celebrate with a fondue, something I remember from my childhood fondly and with the help of Lovely Lady from Threads Through My Life and my Jak, my Mom, we have three fondue pots to share between nine hungry tummies - think it's going to be a lot of fun!

Tidying.
Hitting a room at a time and completely removing a section, only returning what we want, really really want to stay.  The rest being recycled, rehomed or thrown away.  Today was the turn of the kitchen and it has been stripped of all the things we've collected, not tidied away or just not need and I feel exhausted!! but satisfied :)

Lost.
My cell phone. Originally thought to be languishing out on the hills since our last walk.

Found.
My cell phone. Correctly found languishing in a pocket at home a week later.

Sigh.

How was your February?
What did you get up to?
What did you find after you thought you'd lost it forever?
Are you ready for March?

Go on, spill the beans - what exciting things have you got planned?

xxxxxx

RIP Cleggy

Today our dear little stinky dog aka Giddy Dog and latterly Geriatric Dog - Cleggy was put to sleep.

She suffered a stroke and very quickly deteriorated. We take comfort in the fact she was fit (albeit a little doddery) and loving her walks on the hills right to the last.

She gave us nearly 15 years worth of walks and holidays, posed for silly photos, ran around and around and around with Youngest and gave us her 'special-to-us' giddy dog moments.

We shall miss you xx