Tea and Cakes

Above is the fireplace display in the dining room at my mum’s home. I’ll be destroying it later as there are pomegranetes in it and I realy love them. The lounge fireplace is full of a fire, and I’ve spent the last couple of days sitting in the rocking chair next to it, frantically trying to finish squares for a blanket for my grandma’s christmas present. (6 1/2 of 9 done so far).

Christmas was great, and I am now the very proud owner of a sewing machine, so before we flew to England I finished off this crazy patchwork bag, started by hand at a class at the knitting and stitching show.

~~
Now, on to the gifts I gave:

A hat knit in secret for D – it used about 1 1/2 balls of Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran (sooooo soft) and 5mm needles in a 4×2 rib – I made it up as I went along really.

Not strictly knitted this, but crafted. This was a kit from the The Calico Basket – it came with a large length of wool felt and some Collinette Point 5, which gets sewn through the felt. It’s a really simple idea and looked lovely when it was finished.

And finally…

A clapotis for my mum’s birthday. It’s taken me months. It’s knit in some random coloured 4 ply yarn that I bought loads of in Birmingham. I can’t remember the needle size but it’s one that worked with the yarn. I really loved the Clapotis pattern – it was so easy to adapt size wise.
I kept to the pattern for most of it, as I was happy with the width, but I did 19 repeats of the main part of the pattern to get the length that I needed.

Just the blanket for Nanny and a manly scarf to finish (the scarf was gifted half finished) and I’m done. Phew.

Another holiday read, and one that leant itself well to lazy hot summer days lying on the grass outside the cottage in Sweden.

Some of these stories I loved. More than a few of them left me feeling strangely disappointed. It’s a shame that there were so many unfinished short stories – I would have loved to know where she was going with some of them.
The characters are so clearly realised, and the situations so well described that you feel as though you are there, experiencing everything, but with a greater understanding of the overall situation than the protagonists themselves.

Right, lets get some books posted – I’m about 6 months behind on them. Although I’ve for some reason been reading less in these last 6 months there are still quite a few books to post.

Kafka on the Shore was one of my summer holiday reads. I’m a fan of Murakami, but at times when I’m reading his books I wonder why – they can be quite bleak at times. Once I’ve finished them though they stay with me as books I really enjoyed. Weird.
This was lighter than The Wind Up Bird Chronicle and Norwegian Wood (the others I’ve read), and would make a good introduction to him.
The characters are odd, but you really get into their heads, and the story itself is a little bizarre but nice too.

I think I’m winning.

The presents are bought (1 point Teaandcakes)
The tree is decorated (2 points Teaandcakes – 1 for buying it, 1 for decorating)
The knitting isn’t finished (1 point Christmas)
The apartment is a mess (1 point Christmas)
I’ve finished work (1 point Teaandcakes)
I’m at the tail end of a migraine (1 point to each for deliverance of such and beating it)

Flickr fiction will be late. I may post about some books later on. Right now I’m going to drink tea, eat hot buttered crumpets, enjoy looking at the tree, and get on with the knitting.

ok, Cheryl tagged me with the meme that’s been going around the knitting blogs, for a list of 6 weird things about me.

For the record, I don’t like meme’s on the whole, so I will generally ignore them. However, I don’t mind this one so much, and I like what Cheryl wrote on her blog: that she finds my outlook on life quite atypical. So, here goes. 6 Weird things about me:

(in no particular order)

1. Following on from the above, I like that I’m perhaps a tiny bit eccentric.

2. Only yesterday the difference between a saloon car and hatchback car had to be explained to me again. I feel strongly that they are the wrong way around. To me, a hatchback should be the one with the separate boot at the back that opens up like a hatch, while a saloon should be the one where the boot opens up into the car like it was one big room. Apparently I’m wrong though, and it’s the other way around, although I’m yet to hear a decent explanation for this.

3. I like french fries dipped in vanilla ice cream or thick milkshakes. I don’t eat this much any more, as I stopped eating in fast food restaurants places, so rarely have both near me at the same time.

4. After 5 years living with The Gurrier I find I’ve caught some of his verbal ticks, so that there are times when the two of us are making beeping noises along with the radio station (newstalk), or repeating certain phrases or singing theme tunes. We do a particularly good rendition of the University Challenge theme tune. I’m sure the neighbours must think we’re nuts.

5. Popeye freaks me out.

6. I categorize my books. Right now it’s by genre, but it’s previously been by publisher and edition. I don’t really like alphabetically. I like being able to find the small editions of contemporary classics that penguin put out all in the same place. Genre caused a few difficulties – should Maeve Binchey be under trashy mindless novels hidden away on the bottom shelf behind the chair, or in the Irish section on the nice bookshelf in the hallway?

Now I’m supposed to tag 6 more people with this, but I’m not going to. If you’ve read this and would like to join in then consider yourself tagged, and leave me a comment so I’ll come and read yours.

See! There’s some wool up there. Lovely Kilcarra donegal tweed.
Ok, so I know it’s just in a ball there, but that was on Saturday morning, and some of it has become something now.
The trouble with christmas knitting is that I can’t post any of it up here yet, except for the blanket for my grandma, but I haven’t been working on that.

The pastry in the picture was a bit hard. Not great.
The latte was good though – with a large shot of gingerbread syrup in it. This morning I had a cappucino with the same and boy was that a great start to the day.

That was at the knitting group on Saturday. I wasn’t able to stay long unfortunately, but for the time I was there it was lovely – a select few of us escaping the hectic responsibilities of the season for a couple of hours of quiet knitting.

… even when sometimes you might be happier not knowing.

I’d in all honesty never given any thought to what bus drivers do when they have to pee. If I’d had to guess I would probably have said that they wait until they’re back at the terminus. Now I know different.

When I got to the bus stop the bus was waiting but I couldn’t see the driver. ‘oh, he must be checking the bus for litter’, I thought.

Nope.

The doors to the bus opened and the driver leaned out, holding a water bottle that had the top cut off. He then emptied the yellow liquid out on to the ground. At this point I still didn’t twig. I thought someone had left their drink on the bus, and that he’d be putting the bottle in the bin that was next to me.

Then I realised from the way if was holding it that it was probably urine, and felt sorry for him, having to clean that up.

Then, when he shook the container out very thoroughly and put it back into the bus in the cupboard they have for their personal belongings, it all became clear. Horribly, horribly clear.

And I had to share.

Christmas is coming, the goose is already fat
The presents aren’t bought: all I can find is tat

Carol singers are on the streets, droning Christmas cheer
It’s coming up too quickly, all I feel is fear

The fridge is almost empty, the apartment is a mess
And I’ve had a week of sleepless nights, caused by all the stress

Christmas is here, and the sleigh bells are ringing,
And down in the town carol singers still singing

The baubles are all on the tree, the cards are on the shelves
Santy’s all prepared all right, but he has help from elves

The sleigh just landed on the roof, the reindeer flew it well,
And I’d be able to get some sleep, if it wasn’t for those dumb bells

~~~

Inspired by This picture taken by Madeira from Flickr.

Written for Flickr Fiction Friday. Other Flickr Fictioners who may have written about the same picture are: Donal,Elimare, Tadamack, Aquafortis, HeavySigh, Chris, Valsha, and Neil.

ok, I’m really sorry for the bad pun. I just had no ideas from that picture.

Yesterday was a day of minor frustrations and bad decisions.

I had the day all planned. Drive across the city to drop the blanket the knitting groups put together for the electric picnic down to the place it’s being donated to, then hit the big shopping centre nearby to get my christmas presents bought, then head home for some tidying, to make dinner, and get on with some knitting.

Instead, my car broke. I think the handbrake isn’t disengaging.(Minor frustration #1) Panic. Ring garage. They can take in in Monday but won’t be able to look at it until late next week.(Minor frustration #2)

Re-evaluate day: Dropping the blanket off would now involve getting the bus or train into the city, then getting another bus or the luas (Dublin’s tram system) out of the city, and a 15 minute walk in the rain. Not going to happen. Ring the people who are expecting it. They are nice but I feel bad. (Minor frustration #3)

Now. What I should have decided at this point was to stay at home and knit. Instead, I decided to go into the city to get my Christmas shopping done. (Bad decision #1) I couldn’t find anything. I bought 2 presents in 3 hours. (Minor frustration #4)I got wet. Very very wet. When I decided to cut my losses and head for home I called into Lush to buy myself a bath bomb. The assistants looked terrified as I approached the bath bomb section, no doubt concerned that I’d set them all off. “You’re very wet!” one of them perkily exclaimed.
“Yes. Yes I am.” Grit teeth. Ignore assistant.
I wanted the Tea and Sympathy bath bomb, but there weren’t any, so I went for a Ne Worry Pas instead, and very nice it was too. All violetty smelling.

I took the bus home. (Bad decision #2) It took an hour and 15 minutes.
My other option would have been to stay in the city for a couple more hours and knit in a cafe and wait for a lift home. Man, I so should have done that.

I got home cold and wet and feeling sick from the bus, to discover that a parcel that I think is some presents I’ve ordered had an attempted delivery 10 minutes after I left the house. (Minor frustration #543)

However, I was restored by a Ne Worry Pas filled hot bath, some tea and some knitting (not all together, if I could figure out how to knit in the bath I’d never get out).

Today I’m not making that mistake again. I have to go to the city later to meet people, but until then wild horses wouldn’t drag me outside.

*Flickr fiction may come soon, it may not.

So, to contrast with the post below, some photographs from last weekend in Leitrim, a small and wet county in the middle of Ireland, to show why I love living here. The weather prevented us doing much more than sitting by the fire knitting, which was fine by me. However, we saw the countryside from the car, and from the window, and it was beautiful.

I’m not a good enough photographer to really capture the earthy colours in the landscape. The rain seemed to bring the colours up, and slate grey of the sky stood in contrast to the deep reds, browns and greens of the fields below, and the steely blue of Lough Allen.

No trip around Ireland is complete with out a black and white picture of a ruined abbey, and this was no exception.

It was a brief visit, but one I’d like to repeat. I’d like to be able to see some more of the landscape, and spend some more time by the fire with family too.