Off on a Spree

Magnus can tell that something is up. There are piles to be sorted and passports to be located.  You see,  I'm off on a spree, visiting an old friend in Boston and then meeting up with Mary Jane for a mini road trip and some serious knitting time.  Although I can't wait to go, I do have some questions:


 1. Can you ever take too much knitting on holiday?

2. Am I being paranoid to want to take pictures of my socks before I go in case they get lost over the Atlantic and I have to claim BIG on the insurance?

3. Could I put my socks in my hand luggage? All of them? Where would I put my books, my wallet, my passport?

4. Why is the cat sitting on my travel insurance documents? What does he know about the risk to my socks?

5. Where is my passport?

March sunshine.

I've just finished closing all the windows in the house which is an unlikely cause for celebration. But the windows have been open all day and I have  been sitting in the garden in what I seem to remember is called sunshine. Today is the first of March and spring has arrived. Hopefully it will stick around.

Last Friday saw me make my not-quite-acting debut.  I have been knitting a jumper for a film called Dummy Jim and Matt the director and his trusty cameraman Ian came along to document my part in the story. Everything was going so well until  Magnus showed his photogenic side and upstaged me. My knitting will still appear but there is a chance it will be joined by some feline filming. Typical!

Quick! Catch Up.

I am horribly behind with the blog. Things happen and I make a mental note to write about them here and then the mental note disappears along with the memory of whatever it was inspired me to make a mental note in the first place. Thank goodness I take pictures.

Here are a few of them. I promise to have something interesting to say next time.

I remembered something! I remembered how confused everyone was when I listed the Spug on my birdcount. Thankfully I took a photograph of the elusive bird.

Trying.

I'm trying new things. After seeing Jane's blog this week with its beautiful big pictures, I thought I'd have a go at growing my images. Like many things it is not as easy as it looks. I'll practise a bit and who knows what wonders will appear. Or not.  Don't panic if the blog changes a couple of times, I'm not the most technical of souls and it might take a while for things to work.


                         
I found this knitting pattern last time I was in the shop. With all the chatter in the UK about Royal Weddings it might be time to bring this one back out. I love the note at the bottom which says adaptable to your own romance. You can adapt romance? What an odd thought.

 In other news, this weekend is the annual RSPB Birdwatch where volunteers sit for an hour watching their gardens and counting how many visitors fly in. I found myself at the kitchen window with a cup of coffee and a small friend for company. So I took a picture, which it got me thinking - imagine what would happen if Amazon sold birds and Magnus got to make a wishlist.......

The joy of eggs.

I often have big plans to write wonderful insightful blog posts. This week I've been thinking about mudita which as far as I can make out is the Buddhist practise of  finding joy in the joy of others. Sort of an antidote to envy.  Mudita would have come in handy this weekend when I found myself under the duvet instead of around a friend's table. My first cancellation of 2011. Thankfully my chums delivered a large piece of chocolate cake ( and the accompanying orange ) to me later on, so I didn't miss out completely.

 

As usual, I strayed onto smaller but no less satifying things. This morning I learned how to tell if an egg was fresh. Somehow we had built up quite a collection of eggs in the fridge and there was a box of six which was older than it should be. All I needed was a bowl of water - fresh eggs sink and the ones you really don't want to use float to the top. My dodgy half dozen all sat at the bottom of the bowl and despite being at least a week past their sell by date shed their shells and became a tortilla which I'm planning to have for my dinner along with the bread I made this afternoon. I had a lovely peaceful time watching the birds from my kitchen window while I waited for the dough to rise.  There was a cake too, really simple and filled with apricots and nuts. I based it on a recipe from Jon and Sarah.  Hopefully it will bring some joy to everyone who gets a slice.

edited to add an answer to Michelle's question - the bird in the reflection is my cut out bird that I've stuck on the window to stop the real ones bashing into the glass!

Happy New Year.

Tonight I'm going to stay on the settee with a good book and some bread and cheese. The cat is on the window ledge and the man is on his way home. I have some lovely festive memories and no expectations of what 2011 will bring. I'm just going to wait and be surprised when it happens.

Merry Christmas

 

I'm grabbing a few minutes before the festive chaos takes hold to share a few pictures with you. All is quiet for now with an almost full moon shining on the white fields around the village. The snow is beautiful but painful on the paws, as Magnus found out.

 

When the weather is cold  all I want to do is stay at home and keep warm and my newly found obsession with all things yeasty has been perfect for days such as these. I'm still learning though,  today I had to leap out of the bath when I realised that I'd mixed up a huge batch of dough and left it to rise but forgotten to add any yeast. Thankfully it turned out well in the end.

Whatever you do and however you celebrate at this time of the year,  I wish you every happiness.