Tribute to my cousin.

In my last blog I mentioned the death of my American cousin, Pauline, what I couldn't tell you at the time was another paternal cousin died six days later. Keith's death was far more of a shock, he was only 75, but young for his age, had been in good health and it was a cut on his hand that lead to blood poisoning and his death.

Even now, over two weeks after a phone call from his wife asking us to include Keith in our prayers, we cannot believe what has happened. Keith has been there always, for us as family and for humanity for he saw good in everyone. At his Quaker funeral we were reminded or learnt of all he did as mourners were moved to speak. He and Diana moved from Surrey to North Wales when he took very early retirement, they had been very involved with Kingston Quakers this transferred to Bangor Meeting, amongst many other roles he was the Quaker representative for University chaplaincy; Churches Together; United Nations; a founder member of Bangor U3A; he had been a prison visitor and had prisoners to stay in his home; he ran the London marathon some 20 years ago for Intermediate Technology; he was a practical guy who kept the Meeting House (and its boiler) in good repair as well as his own home and that of others; he had two children and was grandfather to two boys. The younger 14 year old spoke at Meeting about Keith talking to him about Shakespeare, who he believed was from North Wales not Stratford. This resonated with me, I too was taken to the house where it was believed the writer lived.

Keith was very much aware of the wider Bailey family, his mother was my father's sister and he knew many of the extended family as he, his mother and our grandmother had been evacuated from Richmond to East Anglia to stay with our grandmother's family. I remember him helping my parents move house, there was a memorable journey in his Morris Minor van when he gave my parents, my sister and me a lift from Twickenham to Paddington Station for our first holiday at Dunster Beach. I think my father, sister and I sat on cushions in the back of the van, it did seem we travelled rather fast.

There are many other things I could add to record an event that many can still not believe.

Update

During my last ramblings I mentioned a forthcoming eye test, so to keep my readers up to date I have two new pairs of glasses, one for sunshine and one for most of the time. Of my previous specs, there were two problems with the rimless pair, the lens had become tilted, no wonder I thought my eyes had changed; the other thing there was a tiny crack where the arm is joined to the lens. Apparently the lens could have shattered at any time! So whilst awaiting my new frames I resorted to the heavier framed glasses and found my vision much improved whilst I consider I looked like the librarian that I was! 

New specs are a compromise, rimless at the lower edges of the lens with the frame extending from the arm to the nose clips. The sunglasses have heavier frames, in fact I need to go back and have them loosened for the arm is tight on my skull.  I should be used to these problems, I have worn specs since about the age of eight but rimless styles are a relatively recent choice for me since technology has made compatible  with a thicker lens.

This week I went off to London for lunch with librarians all of whom have worked at Ministry of Defence libraries, as I was a little early I sat in Whitehall Gardens. I was struck how much the area had changed, the gardens were much more colourful, not just municipal bushes but colourful displays.

Hungerford Bridge for pedestrians too has been rebuilt, it was on the eastern side of the railway bridge, very narrow, dingy, the new bridge is a great improvement. The views always made up for the shortcomings of the bridge, I used to think the Shell-Mex building looked like a giant 1930s fireplace with a clock on the mantlepiece.

Last Tuesday was one of those days when all felt right with the world, a feeling that didn't extend to the following day when I heard my American cousin, Pauline, had died.

Pauline was 89, had been ill for a while but she was part of my life and of the Bailey tribe, her mother was my father's older sister, at just 20 in 1944 she married George, an American she met at the Lyceum ballroom in the Strand. They were married for 65 years. The annual letter my parents sent each year with their Christmas card is a tradition we have continued, hers was usually the first Christmas card to arrive with her letter "the hardy annual" she called it. Gradually as air travel improved, she and George visited regularly to stay with her brother so we knew her well. She leaves a son and two grandchildren.

Just realised how late it is, so another day, another blog. may follow.

Challenges.

I am very pleased to announce that two hundred hexipuffs have been knitted, my target is 384 for a 3 x 4 foot quilt, very encouraging to me that I'm more than half way.

Here they are, filling up a very old shopping basket. The picture doesn't show the variety of colours, there are about 19 different yarns used, a few have a mixture of odds and ends of yarn that needed using up. The big challenge will come with joining them all together.

Faced a different challenge yesterday evening when we drove back from Sussex. We had driven down early, well early for us, in the morning in sunshine to daughter's home, not long after we arrived the rain started and never stopped. The reason for the visit was to transform the bathroom walls from bright blue to a subtle magnolia, which Ian did. Because he did the painting, and almost more important all the preparation of filling holes etc. beforehand, I took on the task of driving both ways.

By travelling early in the day we had hoped to be away before darkness but the paint tin said six hours between coats so it was almost dark when we left. The drive was so scary for us, rain, darkness, fog, roadworks, the coordination needed to switch from main beam to headlights when other vehicles approach, the deep puddles, unseen potholes, my lack of long distance driving practice made me fearful. Another problem is that the pain of the rotator cuff tear has returned so although I had the driving seat quite forward the bones in my right arm were hurting. It was agreed when we saw some where to stop safely Ian would take over, in the darkness and rain we never saw anywhere. Rather than face the narrow stretch of A24 we went via M23, M25 and M3, driving was easier on the motorways for by then it was spray rather than rain on the screen.

We take few long car journeys, so apart from the heavy rain and darkness much of the journey's problem was I was out of practice so it was good that I met the challenge rather than us sharing driving. I had anticipated a different problem that morning and had ensured my prescription sunglasses were on the dashboard on our way south.

To keep myself and everyone else out of danger on the road I have an appointment to discuss shoulder with Doctor and an appointment for an eye test. Should I risk updating prescription sunglasses in preparation for the Summer?

Mirror mirror on the wall

In my previous blog I mentioned the mirror that my Mother made, well not the glass, the design in hammered pewter was hers.

Charged up the camera battery and took a couple of photos.

Bit difficult to take picture as the mirror is convex but this should give an idea, below I have attempted to capture more of the detail.

Another talent was her ability to carry a colour in her head, is this unusual? 

One thing leads to another . . .

This morning I decided that it was time I attacked the mending pile, well it is not very big, just a couple of items that have become unstitched at the seams. Also, there's an old shirt of Ian's so I will take the buttons off from that to rebuild up my button collection. At one time I had a large tin of buttons then there was a Freecycle appeal for buttons wanted to be used in a craft project so I gave them away. At that time I had abandoned knitting, also didn't sew much either anymore so no need to have a collection of buttons.

Back to the mending, searching in my sewing basket for navy blue thread was nearly impossible as the ends of thread from reels had joined together so the only thing was to tidy up the basket. Some of the reels must be over 40 years old, dating back to my dressmaking days, I can remember the garments I made and wore with pride. Other memories emerged from the chaos, Cash's name tapes, a blue gingham needle case I made at junior school, a felt pincushion made by son, 8 pairs of scissors, a darning mushroom. There's an index card on which my mother had written instructions for crocheting an American square. I have other examples of her handwriting, but this recalls when we went to Evening Classes together to learn to crochet. She was brilliant at handcrafts, embroidered, made beautiful lampshades,  I prize the mirror edged with hammered pewter in her design of oak leaves. Needless to say she knitted, I remember her knitting an outfit for a doll for my sister and admitting she had to stay up very late on Christmas Eve to finish it. One of the last items she embroidered before Parkinsons robbed her of her skills was an Irish linen tablecloth for our first wedding anniversary present. It is in use on a table in our lounge, still in use of course.

So back to the sewing box, there was no navy blue thread so this has been purchased and I need to sew a fine seam.

Here's the chaos whilst I was searching for the right colour, on the left is the tangle which will be used to stuff

a hexipuff,below one can see the white card with the crochet instructions.

Another view of the box shows the gingham needle holder with red embroidery stitches. Anyone else around who went to Latchmere Road School in Kingston?

Knitting again

Just a mini posting to show you all the completed second Forest Canopy shawl using a random sock yarn so the colour pattern is rather strange! Livens up the grey sweater dress but this yarn doesn't drape as well as that used for the first shawl.

Working backwards, here's the shawl being blocked, hi tech stuff this pinning it out through a towel on carpet, but hey, it worked and the pointy bits show!

Finally, the yarn before I started to knit,

It is Aviemore 4 ply from Stylecraft Yarns, 75% superwash wool and 25% nylon bought for £6.00 for 100 grams from Squires Garden Centre. There is a little yarn over so that will be used for hexipuffs. Total is 189.

April Fools' Day

The cold weather has kept us indoors, oh how I long to tidy up the garden but it must wait until the wind drops and temperatures creep up a little.

Of course we haven't been in all the time since my last ramblings, last Monday was special,  we ventured to town for Ian's birthday lunch at Simpson's in the Strand. We like presents like that, experiences rather than dust collectors. The lunch lasted about three hours before we grabbed a taxi to Tate Modern for the Lichtenstein retrospective.

Simpson's was fascinating, it was some time since I was there, this time we were downstairs, not in one of the famous chess booths - rather enormous for the two of us - but at the back near the magnificent fireplace so I could people watch. One of my (many) idiosyncrasies is that I like to be at the edge of a room, especially when the room or venue is large, so I don't have people behind me but so I'm on the periphery and it was so at Simpson's.

Whilst viewing the other diners I as surprised how dress standards have changed. There were quite a few wearing jeans, not even with smart tops, one diner looked dressed for light gardening, there were shorts worn, fortunately with thick tights under given the bitterly cold weather but a very scruffy top. To balance, there was one table of city gent types, all in suits and ties, bar one open neck shirt. I'm very old fashioned but I still consider one should dress to reflect the environment but this does make me worry at times when I think I'm not correctly attired.

Many years ago a friend took me to the smart London restaurants, like Café Royal, Simpsons, Stone's Chop House and my Mother, bless her, insisted that I bought some smart outfits so I would feel comfortable and at home in these august surroundings and so I would not let my friend down.

To continue the foody theme, for the first time I have made a Simnel cake, here it is browning the marzipan under the grill,

then the finished cake. Having tasted it a few minutes ago I am mighty pleased, although I think perhaps a few minutes less cooking would have been fine as it is slightly dark under the marzipan but it is not dry.

Not evenly browned, but still tasted fine so if any of my readers are nearby we can offer cake made by me, bread pudding and bread made by Ian. Sorry, all the hot cross buns Ian made have been eaten!