Pictures

On 16th June to celebrate our thirty sixth wedding anniversary we went to the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, after lunch at Cote in St Martin's Lane. We like Cote, the lunchtime menu is good value with not enormous quantities, the food is straightforward, recognisable and seasonable, also there is fish on the menu which we enjoy, also the chocolate pots have good dark chocolate, not sweet milk flavours. 

There are still traditional secondhand book shops in the courts between Charing Cross Road and St Martin's Lane so of course we just had to have a browse, this was the result:-

Just in case it isn't clear it is Lucia van dear Post's book, William Morris and Morris & Co which was bought from Bookends for £5.00, the original was £20.00 in 2003. It is in excellent condition, hardly read, links with our visit to The Red House a week or two ago as it is featured. 

At the Royal Academy we were greeted by the much publicised, highly coloured staircase, showing signs of wear too, not sure whether I liked it but the colours reminded me of efforts to produce cheerful and bright coloured crochet throws and blankets, must be all the bright reds and yellows. 

We went round the ‘wrong’ way or backwards, don’t think it mattered, meant we weren’t with the same cohort as we moved around. Bit naughty, but sometimes the people were as fascinating as the exhibits. 

The three photos above are exhibits that had a knitting or crochet element, should have recorded the numbers. Will ask DH to look them up, he is a member and will be able to find them online.

If anyone else is going to the RA may we recommend the gluten free chocolate cake , ideal to face the journey home. Fortunately and as usual I was offered a seat straight away on the crowded Piccadilly and District lines so was able to crochet all the way home.       

Thinking about how often I am offered a seat on buses, trains and the underground, I was still bemused, and very slightly hurt when at my daughter's new home a couple of days ago, her next door neighbour asked me to pass a message on my granddaughter!  I know my daughter looks young for her age, I have done the arithmetic, if there had been teenage pregnancies if would be possible, however I was in my thirties when I had my family, as was my mother, her mother and my great grandmother was 27 when she had her first child. Anyway, I'm not even a grandmother yet, I know it is silly to find this unthinking remark ageist, instead I will delight in daughter's youthfulness. 

Saturday afternoon.

There was a choice of what to do on Saturday afternoon, we could stay home, if we went out do we jump in a car and go to a fair in Hampton or do we go one stop by train to Twickenham where there is a festival. Sounds very grand, but the festival is a series of events, including  school fetes or fairs. What is the difference between fairs and fetes?

In the end Twickenham won, no car meant no parking hassles, we would have freedom to return another way, also a chance to pop into our pharmacy to collect the corticosteroid cream to complete the prescription for medication to treat the  ezcema on my hands and to collect Ian's prescriptions too. 

Onwards towards the river and we encountered a dragon boat race, photograph taken by Ian on his phone. 

Eel Pie Island is in the background, famous in the 60s for the Rolling Stones, Yardbirds and other groups playing there, now the residence of Trevor Bayliss whom we saw with his cars on The Embankment, near where this photo was taken. 

Feeling like tourists in our own town we discovered Morris dancers outside the Barmy Arms pub. 

The sign at the back says Spring Grove of Kingston upon Thames, so a local group from across the river. 

More touristy stuff, we just had time to inspect the book stall at the church fair, I found a 1976 knitting book, The Art of Knitting by Anne Gordon.  Very interesting history of the craft at the beginning, then instructions given for adapting very old pieces of work to mid-seventies designs and materials. Some have worn better than others. The other book I found was Joanna Trollope's Daughters of Britannia so bought that too. 

One final thought, we walked further along towards Orleans House Gallery, thence to the Old Stables where there is a cafe, but there is no service after four o'clock. In such a tourist area, at Summer weekends especially why cannot cafes offer tea and cakes later in the afternoon?  This is the town that is welcoming the rugby world to its doorstep in September and October, tourism is a major industry. 

We went to The Crown, a pub/restaurant where we had a very good pot of Earl Grey tea but there were no cakes. 

At least we weren't far from home, it wasn't a long wait for  the London omnibus, not a grand vehicle, single decker,  very rattley with quite a fast driver. 

Coincidence

In my teens my father recommended I read Howard Spring's novels, it was a good suggestion I devoured them, even then aware of unlikely coincidences.  Today, maybe inspired by the six degrees of separation I am not so sure about unlikely. 

Threè recent events have brought this to mind. When in Malvern we went to the theatre, needless to say we all changed for the theatre and dinner.  It was only when M. and I had taken our coats off whilst the men went to sort out for and drink that we realised we were wearing identical cardigans from White Stuff in marina blue colour. Of course our husbands didn't notice, that gave us much amusement. 

The last weekend in May we were in East Anglia, on the Sunday we joined my cousin and her husband for lunch at their home in Suffolk. (To be strictly genealogically correct, Judy's late father was my cousin, he was the eldest of the paternal cousins, Judy is a little older than me, our fathers were more like brothers than uncle and nephew as they were close in age).  Judy's husband Dave was in the services so they moved around the country, Judy worked as a District Nurse, after discussion it turned out she had worked from the practice where my daughter has recently registered in Dorset, knew where daughter is living as this was part of her round. There was no link, daughter was 12 the one time she met Judy. 

Last Saturday daughter and I grabbed a black cab taxi to Waterloo rather than face Oxford Circus tube, the driver was delightful, chatting to us, telling us about his teenage daughters, how he and his wife were bringing the girls up, their values etc. We were asked where we live, apparently his school playing fields were nearby, I mentioned the name of his sports teacher, I was right, Patrick Cross who lived across the road from me in my teens, also his son, Martin Cross, the Olympic rower had taken his medals into taxi driver's school. Martin Cross had taught my son history.

Nothing to do with coincidence but this lovely taxi driver, who apologised for the heavy traffic as if it were his fault, also stressed the problem of non licensed minicar drivers using an app to attract passengers. Many of these undercut the professional Hackney cab drivers who still have to have The Knowledge, be insured and regulated. So if anyone who reads this and needs a cab in London please use the traditional taxis, after all there is much more passenger space, a comfortable ride plus an entertaining and interesting driver. 

No photos to show concerning these coincidences, but this is what daughter and I had been doing. 

A hen do, a first for me, it was  afternoon tea with a theme of Alice in Wonderland. 

Carry on blogging

Plenty has been happening including a discussion why so many bloggers seem to have stopped, so I have decided to make a positive effort to continue this mix of a diary, non-controversial observations and knitting record. 

So to start with knitting, here is the completed puerperium cardigan for Cygnet. This has been an exciting project, I have learnt long tail cast on and experienced top down knitting, hence the garment has no seams. 

Now for something completely different.  It is a plea to all hoteliers, B&Bs, in fact any accommodation, please provide adequate lighting so one can read in the bedroom, either in the single armchair or in bed. Far more important than a TV.  My second gripe is about taps. Please would you ensure that all taps are wrist action, these shown below are impossible to turn off with wet hands or to use with even the mildest of arthritis where it is difficult to obtain a grip. 

Back to the positive. When we moved into Pixie Towers there were two electric meters, day and night, we continued with this assuming we were thrifty is doing so, indeed the washing machine and dishwasher were set to run at night when we were a household of four. At some point earlier this year I read that we may not have been so thrifty as the day rate was considerably higher to compensate for the night rate. We checked up, calculations were done, phone calls made and our meters changed from a distance. At one point Ian was out, I took the call from our electricity supplier, even though I had the codes was not allowed to discuss the account as my name wasn't on it. That problem has now been rectified, we are checking that all our household accounts are in joint names. 

Additionally, if there was an emergency we would be priority on my health grounds, didn't know about this special scheme so felt is was considerate of BG to mention it.  

Old post.

http://pixie-mum.tumblr.com/

Last year I was struggling with Blogger on my iPad and moved across to tumblr but it didn't really work for me, so have transferred it here and hope you can read it. 

Will be back with ramblings at some point, this week has been busy with meeting up with past colleagues and friends, with lots of crochet whilst on the Underground and buses. 

May time

    Life has seen quite a whirlwind of changes since my last postings, one item on our action list that has been taking much time and thought is updating Pixie Towers so we are going ahead with replacing our kitchen units, just an L shaped run is required as we have a beautiful Tardis like dresser along one wall, another wall houses a larder and the fridge freezer. 

Our cupboards are Shaker Cream, we are keeping to the same but the new ones have so much better innards so will hold more, also instead of a Formica type top we are having real oak as we consider it fits the Art and Crafts style of our 1934 property. 

Our downstairs cloakroom is going to expand outwards to include a shower, the area is at the back of the garage so the pedestrian door will be moved to the side and the back of the utility room which will require a window to be blocked up. What has amazed me is the plethora of rules and regulations this has entailed, our property's original foundations were at most 2'6", the new foundations would have to be at least a metre of solid concrete just for five feet of single storey wall. Planning permission has been obtained, not essential but very important if we ever decided to sell, building regulations have been approved, now being changed as the building surveyor has suggested a beam across rather than the metre of concrete. This beam apparently negates the need for us to pay for a party wall surveyor for us and for our neighbours. We still have to make a decision as to which firm of builders we employ, the work must start by beginning of November. When the work is at its most dusty I shall decamp to family around the country. 

After more than two years of deliberating we have changed our car, we had experienced travelling in a Qashqai, liked the ride and the toys on the dashboard, in April we found ourselves at a local dealers, a week later we drove away a 360 in battleship grey, the colour was a compromise as I would have liked a bright cheery red, now both our cars are grey, the previous two were silvery grey. Talking of previous cars, the Citroen went to cousin who had had our previous car ten years ago, that has now gone to cousin's sister.  Nearly 30 years ago their parents had one of our cars, a bright red Ford Escort Ghia, one of those lovely cars that just go and go for ever. 

Of course when one has a new toy it has to be tried out so after voting on 7th May we drove to Malvern, meeting up with second cousins (from maternal side of my family) to visit the RHS Malvern Spring show on the Friday. Even though I had my camera and camera phone I never took any pictures, instead here is the hydrangea we bought. 

The following morning was spent around Malvern, admiring the views from the hills, lunching in the town and purchasing yarn in The Knitting Parlour, a delightful yarn shop. Had good advice and assistance, bought the pattern for Elizabeth Zimmerman's Baby Surprise Jacket, this yarn to make it

My other purchase was sock yarn to make socks for Ian, here's the yarn for these:- 

In the afternoon we visited Elgar's birthplace, as seems usual for me in museums I take far too long going around especially one as interesting as this. It is not only the music but the social history behind the life, the material at the museum reflected this very well. No photos but I am sure there is plenty at the official website. The volunteers are friendly and keen to chat, I think we could have spent so much longer there but we had tickets for Rebecca at the theatre in Malvern and needed to eat beforehand. 

I have finished the Puerperium cardigan, photos will follow when I have blocked it and sewn on the buttons, meanwhile I am working on the second sock, some ripping back has been done. The photo shows the pair I made for Martha in the same yarn.

In between I have started the book group's current read, The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, have just finished Part 1, so will comment later. 

As the cake I have made for a May Fair is now cooked, I will stop, prepare for an early night for tomorrow morning I am collecting for Christian Aid outside the local railway station.  When did railway station become train station? 

A host of daffodils

'A few weeks ago I received an email from the chairman of the local floral club inviting me to a St George's Day event in aid of Help for Heroes. Not only did the afternoon include demonstrations of flower arranging but also afternoon tea. Flower arranging is a subject about which I know absolutely nothing, tried once at a church many years ago, my inexperienced efforts were criticised even though it was known it was the first time I I had put stalks into soggy oasis, so no way I would have joined a flower arranging rota there. 

I took some time before I replied to the invitation, I am a great procrastinator, wondered who else should be attending, would it be a friendly occasion. To my great delight whilst I was signing in, B. from knitting group spotted me, indicated a seat at her table and told me she had noticed my name on the email and had hoped I was coming. I was so surprised and delighted, meant I didn't have to find and seat or be rebuffed if I asked to join a table. 

Putting the flowers Ian buys me into vases is the extent of my floral arts, I know now no leaves in the water, to cut the ends of the stems, and to top up the water each day, just hope that I can recall the other  hints that Dennis gave in his talk. His beautiful arrangements were raffled, I was fortunate to win 100 daffodils, they had been bound together and stood upright in a shallow dish. Needless to say this was not replicated when I was home. It looked as if the hundred were in one bunch but at home discovered there were ten bunches so I was able to share with my friend and a neighbour. If I had realised this before I left the venue I would have given some bunches to B., she deserved them. 

We were shown how to fold aspidistra leaves so have tried this, think the process is more for use in hiding edges of an oasis arrangement, so what, it was fun trying something new. There is a thought about considering joining the Floral Club, I cannot keep up with all my other activities, family history, local history for there is still some research I would like to do, I haven't completed indexing local history publications so felt very guilty about this when asked at the last meeting how this was going. Also, Summer is coming, we need to go out to play in the fresh air. 

Did I mention the knitting and crochet progress? Have done about 112 crochet granny patchwork squares, none are joined as I want the squares all mixed. Knitting has progressed, friend's granddaughter is wearing this cardigan now.  The little girl for whom this was made is tiny, usually wears 3 to 6 month clothes, the Joseph cardigan was made to fit 12 to 18 month girl yet apart from the long sleeves it fits her. 

Now I thought I had knitted too tightly, or had wrong sized needles, the size markings had worn off my Knit Pro circulars yet I measured them and they are 4mm. It wasn't until I read other comments on Ravelry about this pattern that I realised other knitters had found the pattern came up small.

Thank goodness for Ravelry, so much to learn from other knitters, for my latest project I have compared other reviews for difficulties but have found none for the Puerperium cardigan - just useful advice.