Knitting ::Nattering :: Photography

 Serendipity played a part this week and it all began with a quick instagram text chat with my friend Jacqui that then led to a planned WA video chat on Wednesday afternoon. 

 Jacqui lives in the Outer Hebrides on the Isle of Lewis (many moons ago Sara spent a week with Jacqui and her family)  and we sat in our respective homes with our knitting and coffee and had a lovely time sharing family news and attempting to put the world to rights!  Interestingly enough we had also both planned to make a Mediterranean lamb dish for tea.  Jacqui was working on a shawl for a friend and since I have finished my 'Travelling Woman' shawl I spent the afternoon finishing Sara's belated birthday present 😊

Some snippets from Sara's epic journey in March 2012 - a train to Inverness, a bus to Ullapool and then the ferry to Stornaway followed by a drive to Lewis:

Travelling Woman Shawl

I made this using one of my yarn purchases from this year's Yarndale festival:

The first shot is a truer version of the actual colour which was affectionately named 'soot on Santa's nose' Christmas colour-way 😊. We also enjoyed the yummy Mediterranean lamb tea complete with minimal carb and yeast free flat breads:

This morning I finally finished Sara's birthday present (9th November) - the Estelle cardigan by Melissa LaBarre, even the colour of her cardigan is the same as the design on the front cover of the pattern:

Not only did it fit beautifully Sara declared it was just her style and loved it; needless to say I was very happy 😃 

Close up of the Feather and Fan border design.

For lunch we had delicious burgers courtesy of Tom and a mixed salad:

Thanks to a lovely chronic illness community over on Instagram, I've decided to take part in the 30 days of morning light challenge.  The benefits of natural day light are well documented - improved mental well being, helping boost the immune system and help regulate the circadian rhythm. 

 In addition to sitting outside with my breakfast and coffee, I've also set myself an additional challenge and that is to use my proper camera - you know the one Dave bought for me for my 50th birthday which I hardly use!!  Not only do I get to try different settings, I also have peace and quiet as the family leave me alone, too cold for them!  It's a really lovely way to start my day - coffee, nature and chatting to God.  It will be interesting to see what tomorrow brings as it's currently blowing a hoolie out there 😂

First frost on the strawberries.

Blue skies looking to the left.

Lovely raindrops.

My favourite mug - I do love puffins ❤️

Menacing skies to the right.

There was however an object lesson in the two scenic images - I thought about the times in my life when I have focused on the difficulties and even allowed the darkness to hold sway.  In those moments I forget about the bits of blue sky that can even be found amongst the brokenness.  I kid you not, the dark sky lifted gradually and before long that same image was infused with the brightest blue, studded with the cutest, fluffiest clouds!  

"When the storm seems to overpower you, hold tight, for it is only passing."

Hiral Nagda

 

Saturday Work

It was a very productive day at number sixteen: I worked through my job list which included cleaning the bathrooms and checking off the newly arrived bank statement, I'm quite pleased with my finance progress and it is coming together nicely.  Pip made one of her epic doodles for Dave to provide some much needed colour in his day, Ben made a yummy melt in the mouth tart for tea as well as helping Mum prune the plum tree (that has yet to fruit), so all in all a good day.

Courgette, Leek and Cheese Tart

Outside card gaming

Tucking in

I tried every which way with exposure compensation but had real trouble with setting the lighting on the camera and yes, that is another steep learning curve!  I have finally to take as many photographs as I can using my lovely camera that Dave bought for my 50th so with a bit of luck and practice things should improve!

Beautiful bouquet from our lovely friends that visited on Friday, it was strange and sad not to hug goodbye but that's life at the moment :-)

That's Better

On a scale of 1-10 with 1 being horrendous and 10 being fabulous here are the following results for today:

Pain Levels 3      Happiness Levels 8 -)  

The trick was to get down to the playground first thing, we arrived just after nine and left just before ten.  Ironically I have met and spoke to more folk since social distancing, which sounds crazy but is true.  Everyday we are at the play park, the chidren's play zone has been cordoned off but we have access to the basketball/football court and we can walk around the track in the grounds.  We are the only family during our 'slot' but we wave to the two dog walkers and watched a chap clocking up laps whilst pushing his baby daughter in the pram.  Pip was itching for me to join in so knowing full well that there would be a pay back (increase in pain) I had a go in goals followed by shooting some hoops:

 I had to hitch up my skirt to play,lol!

 Once home Pip tackled her morning maths, Dave caught up with necessary admin and I had a facetime conversation with our family herbalist followed by a much needed lie down.  After lunch Pip enjoyed a Whatsapp chat with her best friend Beth and we have already devised a way for them to play snakes and ladders via the next video chat.  Whilst Pip was chatting, Dave, Ben and I sat in the front garden and cheered when Uncle Andrew appeared :-)  He was on his way South after having supported Mum H through cataract day surgery on Monday.  We practised social distancing and chatted over the garden wall and before waving goodbye he emptied his car full of goodies from Mum.

It was like Christmas!  Four bags of material for me for patchwork and dressmaking, a puzzle for the kids, a beautiful lap quilt, wrapping paper and items for making decorations, family memorabilia including birth cards celebrating Dave's birth, his first pair of shoes and a very scruffy much loved cuddly dog!  There was also four jars of yummy stewed apple and a bag of Tortilla chips. Little wonder there were smiles all round!

 This was only half the amount of fabric and Mum told me that she still has cupboards and drawers full of the stuff!!

How are you all doing?  I'm thinking and praying in particular for my very dear friends in New York.  I had a lovely Whatsapp chat with Dorina on last Friday and even got to say "Hi" and wave to her husband Greg, who like many is now working from home.  Speaking of Whatsapp our daughter Kathryn set up a family group chat and we have shared photos, thoughts and in Sara and Ben's case whacky videos; those two might be fourteen years apart but they share the same bonkers sense of humour!  There videos have kept Kath entertained and my Mum utterly confused :-) 

 

Week-ending

This lovely lad has kept the kitchen running this week whilst Dave chased an online delivery slot and I attempted to keep the home fires burning.  On Friday evening we had a dance party in the kitchen followed by 'The Proms' re-run celebrating the music of John Williams from Jaws to Star Wars and everything in between :-)

We have managed two trips to the village playing fields and on both occasions the park has been empty, phew!

 A precious card from a friend who left some school supplies for Pip as well as some hama beads to play with.

 So grateful for the local farm shop making home deliveries:  a large veg box, a big sack of potatoes and two big bags of mulch for the back garden.

 Mother's Day tulips and an easter bunny plus other goodies from St Thomas' church.

Pip's granny stripe blanket is finally finished, I just have a few ends to weave in.

A well deserved sit down in the sunshine after working on the front garden with Ben.  I tackled the weeds and he neatened the edges of the small lawn.  It was also nice to chat (at some distance!) with a lady walking her dog.  We commented on the stupidity of some folk, apparantly the beaches and the lake district have been heaving with tourists :-(  It will only be a matter of time before the army are deployed and folk are forced to stay within the boundaries of their own home.

It it wasn't so crazy it looks to be quite idyllic and dare I say 'normal.' Thankfully I have finally ceased waking and thinking that it was all some terrible nightmare but most days I still feel like I am wading through  treacle.  It's the Christmas disorientation without the fun of seeing family or watching an inordinate amount of Television!  My to-do list seems to be ever growing and as fast as I tick off one job another appears.  I'll admit tempers have been frayed, tears of frustration have been shed (not mine, I hasten to add) and I have awful contact dermititis on my hands/wrists and an allergy to my current shampoo!  Given time things will pass and whilst I'm waiting I hold on to St Julian of Norwich's words:

" All will be well, all will be well, all manner of things shall be well."

Stay safe, stay well, hang in there :-)

Paper Box People

Pip spent yesterday afternoon with a fellow altar server from church.  The girls spent the afternoon crafting these paper box people, followed by painting their hair with washable pink and blue hair chalk and playing with Lego.  It was the first time that both girls had spent some time together outside of church and they got on really well.  

 Dave devised the hat for E's model apparently he is wearing a 'stove pipe hat' ala the iconic civil engineer, I K Brunel

Pip just loves blue hair!

We are in the throws of crazy politics and even crazier weather :-)  I love the heat but the humidity and temperature today has been quite a challenge.  It has been too hot to knit so I have been sewing instead, if all goes well I should have a new top to wear quite soon :-)

December Photo Project: St Nicholas Drawing And Gifts

Pip had fun drawing St Nicholas and writing a note for her best buddy Beth :-)  I am sure she will love to open her package on St Nicholas Day:

 

Finally Recovering :-)

Since my last post which seems aeons ago, I was struck down with a nasty bacterial infection.  The cause was a Klebsiella bacteria that normally resides in the gut, but decided in my case to go walk about :-(  It took three courses of antibiotics to get it under control and then ten days later I was back at the emergency GP with similar symptoms.  In fairness to her she thought that the original bacteria had not completely cleared, since it is known as a super bug and is antibiotic resistant, so I left with another course of heavy duty antibiotics.  Little did we know that in fact my symptoms were due to a rampant systemic candida/yeast infection and it was only when I spoke with another GP that we were able to pinpoint the cause.  At that point I had already begun an anti candida diet and had just started a different set of herbal anti bacterial tinctures.  Within 24 hours the tinctures were doing their job and I had a horrendous herxheimer (candida die off) reaction: nausea, weakness, hypoglycaemia and a heart rate that was utterly bonkers!  Still the side effects proved that I was on the right track and that knowledge alone kept me going. My body has been clearing the candida infection but there were still a few issues earlier this week, so I decided to take a pharmalogical oral anti-fungal and the last remaining issues are slowly resolving, yay!

The kids have done an amazing job helping around the home but even they began to crumble when I wasn't improving, so Pip stopped with some home school friends for a while and Ben had a weekend with Sara, Tom and Oliver.  Sadly he missed five weeks of college as I was unable to get him there and Dave is no longer able to drive.  The college were really understanding and because he was up to speed with all his work, he only had a few loose ends to tie up.  Thankfully I was able to get him into college last Thursday.

We have had other local friends that have either taken the kids for a day or have ferried me to the GP surgery, several have seen me really sick and at a very low point.  One weekend the pain was so bad that I only slept four hours out of the 48.  Looking back the most frightening moments were when I was in a really dark place but literally by the grace of God, He pulled me through.  I couldn't think straight to pray but I found some amazing praise and worship music on YouTube and just listening to the words and humming along kept me sane.

I am so grateful that I am on the right side of recovery and being so sick certainly focuses your mind on being extremely appreciative of even the smallest things!  With that in mind I will leave you with some happy pictures from the past few weeks:

 My Birthday

 I had a reprieve on my birthday and was actually well enough to enjoy the day.  Ben made a lovely birthday breakfast and we also spent the day with Mary whilst Kath was at work.

 

Uncle Ben making himself useful :-)

Ben's Birthday

 Fr L not only came to visit Ben but he also brought the sacrament of the sick for me, for which I was truly grateful.

 Ben's T-Shirt reads:  I never got my acceptance letter from Hogwarts, so I'm leaving the shire to become a Jedi!

Poppy Cat

 

 Who needs a conventional cat bowl when you can drink from a bucket instead :-)

Thanks for reading and I hope to pop by soon xx