Month: April 2020

April (Fool?)-ing

Is there a bright side to Lockdown (‘confinement’ in France!) ? Could be just having more time for all of this:

Spinn-ing: some art yarns from my batts – natural dyed stuff from France (goodness knows when we’ll get back there) – mostly lichens and mosses – and madder, of course.

Gloat-ing  (again!) over my indigo stash. I can’t set the indigo bath up very often, so my projects have to be chosen with care. Further sneak peek:

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Knitt-ing: This w(ork) i(n) p(rogress) is for me. Mostly alpaca! It will be some form of log cabin blanket – just to prove I can do neutrals…

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Classic BSJ (Elizabeth Zimmerman’s Baby Surprise Jacket) for new grandson:

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Winter stock (and lots of it) for my Etsy shop:

 

And – of course – Egg, tomato, lettuce, and Swiss cheese sandwich (!) for 4 year old granddaughter:

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Crochet-ing: Apparently you need sun shades for this one – a baby blanket:

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And another wip all for me, and in my colours – a Spice of Life blanket from Sandra Paul of  CherryHeart .   Really enjoying this one – AND – a first –  threading in the ends as I go (well, more or less).

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Bak-ing: Is there anyone in Blogland who hasn’t made Lucy’s oat pancakes yet? Well worth a go – thank you, Attic24! I also managed a batch of her oat cookies, which seemed to vanish overnight. Just added loads of seeds, so they look a bit different – but basically Lucy‘s recipe again!

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Finish-ing Rachel Cusk’s trilogy. I’m very impressed with her writing and the issues stay with me, though I have trouble recalling the detail…maybe go back and start again, it’s worth it. AND I’ve got time….!

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Visit Brighton

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But NOT right now. It is not itself (and, of course, we all know why).

I love this city – my home for nearly half a century.  Normally so tolerant and accepting, there is now an edge of suspicion. We are forced to be unwelcoming  – I do understand why we turn away tourists at the station. There are unsettling incidents  – I don’t understand why we need three police ( two clearly NOT socially distanced!) to move on one lone adult sitting by himself on a deserted sea front….we are not talking Bank Holiday crowds here…

I think of myself as a very law-abiding citizen. But I have never felt more like marching onto the (totally empty) beach and sitting down on the pebbles. Just because.

I won’t. I’ll watch the sea from my windows. I’ll be grateful for the private gardens we are so privileged to access.

And look forward to this!IMG_5639

Winter (2)

Montreal – such fun! Climbing Mont Réal, queuing for Poutine, not to mention the queues de castors….

The main purpose of our recent trip to North America was to visit daughter number 4, currently living in Canada (*waves* – could be some while till we meet again!). We had the choice of March or May. I badly wanted to see a real Winter (and we did!!) – but how lucky was that…we just missed the travel ban, quite by serendipity and my enthusiasm for snow.

A warm welcome from some Canadian relatives in Kingston – fabulous views over Lake Ontario, and three colours of squirrel. This is the black one, which I didn’t know existed. The red and the grey are smaller and kept their distance. I wanted a shot of all three together, but they weren’t up for co-operating.

Mont Tremblant, where SOME of us went skiing. The rest (me) wandered around the Disney-like little winter sports village. All very cute and pretty but not real. I wished I’d brought my Thomas Mann Magic Mountain, which I last read in the Alps – but way too heavy for the plane journey.

Ottawa  – frozen rivers and canals, as far as you can see… definitely magic. The second picture was taken outside the Canadian Museum of History in Gatineau – beautifully laid out, really interesting and on a manageable human scale.

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Finally – no prizes for guessing the last stop! Niagara, on the way back to Toronto airport. Terrifying force – and such a noise of rushing water. You can only stand and stare.  Literally awesome. I haven’t upgraded this blog to accept video – so you’re spared that!

Winter (1)

This is so striking. We came across it on the way out of the Met. and it caught my eye because it looked like a modern sculpture, down amongst the Greek and Roman exhibits. It turns out it is by Jean-Antoine Houdon, called ‘La Frileuse’ (but known as ‘Winter’) and dates from the late eighteenth century.  I can’t believe I had never come across it before – it’s probably famous. We just walked round and round it. Stunningly powerful.

(Much better photos than these on the internet, sorry about mine!)

 

 

Those were the days….

Of transatlantic flights, that is. About three weeks ago actually. Unbelievable.

Fabulous variety of food. Crazy, vibrant fun city.

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It will be back.

Yarn addicts will note there was a pilgrimage to Purl to check out the artyarn handspun. (Bit disappointing actually – not a lot of choice and definitely no better than my own – at  over double the price!)