A coffee and a chocolate biscuit

That's a very dark picture.

So we're five days into January and I'm clutching at straws here but, dammit, I'm going to enjoy that coffee!

There are other things making January bearable but I keep forgetting to photograph them in daylight - daylight being in short supply at the moment. And anyway the antibiotics I'm taking have dire warnings on the packaging about avoiding daylight, even on overcast days - apparently they've turned me into a vampire. I'm not sure what'll happen if I do go into the sunlight but I'm imagining some Buffy-like crumbling into dust. Or perhaps not. So perhaps the dark, mysterious picture of my coffee is entirely appropriate!

Throw Another Log on the Fire

We don't have an open fire or a wood-burning stove. Or even one of those gas fake fires. But we have a Youtube video of a burning fireplace and a spare television. So our cats do get to curl up in front of the fire!

Our favourite video has just the right balance of crackling and burning sounds and the odd spitting log, and it's all very restful - and no ashes to clean out either. Alas, of course, no actual heat, but that's probably just as well given how close Boycat is to the 'flames'!

Without any real intention, this is turning into a series of 'things to make January bearable' posts. It's no secret (i.e. I whinge about this every year) that I always find January a bit of a slog, and at the moment I'm on a second course of antibiotics for a chest infection so obviously it's my least healthy time of the year as well (last year it was 'flu, the year before it was conjunctivitis and an ear infection..). The obvious answer to this is to make December less frenetic and look after myself better next year (and I'm typing this partly as reminder to the me of Autumn 2017), but for now I'm just aiming to enjoy what I can out of January.  Even if it's just the little things, like a pretend logfire.

Wool and books

We wound another ball of wool today - this is one of my home-dyed efforts (anthemis tinctoria).

And I'm reading The Tempest, which I haven't read for years.

Also I've pulled muscle and it hurts too much to type, so a short post it is!

January and Jigsaws

We have a jigsaw on the go for idle moments. Miss M got the current one for Christmas and was a bit confused about the Christmas tree in the water. It turns out that the painting is of Bourton on the Water in the Cotswolds, where they do in fact put a Christmas tree in the middle of the river. I don't know how - a crane perhaps? So we've learned something new, if completely useless. The jigsaw itself is surprisingly tough (for a 500-piece jigsaw) because there are so many similar patches of snow, patches of river and patches of sky. If it were a 1000-piece jigsaw I'd be crying into my coffee by now.

Before we did the Bourton at Christmas one we did the books one in the middle of the picture.  That was brilliant - so much colour, and interesting without being too frustrating. We'll probably do the top one next - that's a portion of Benozzo Gozzoli's Procession of the Magi, and is great because there's so much detail. Also because I have soft spot for Renaissance art. And then I'll dig out the 1000-piece jigsaws...

A New Year's Day walk

The wind finally dropped and the rain finally stopped (it feels as if it's been wet and windy for weeks), and although there was a frost this morning it had gone by lunchtime. So the Boychild and I went for a walk in the mid-afternoon. He's a good companion for a walk - not chatty, but quite happy to be wander peacefully and enjoy the scenery and weather. And patient when I stop to take pictures. These were all taken with my 'phone, so I didn't have much control over how they turned out, but they're okay I think.

I never did get any knitting done last night. We all sat around reading until midnight, at which point fireworks went off in various directions and bagpipes resounded (not kidding - the boy over the road plays the pipes and did a quick rendition of Scotland the Brave as midnight struck). Miss M and I wrapped ourselves in a blanket and watched the fireworks from her bedroom window. The gentlemen of the house are largely disinterested in fireworks but Miss M and I like sparkly stuff. And then we all went to sleep, even the cats.

A Hogmanay post. Contains wool.

 From this...

 .. to this..

..via this!

Thanks to my parents, who gave me some money for Christmas, my new toy is a ball-winder! (I'm sure I've spent Hogmanay winding wool before; slight deja vu here.) I have a nostepinne but I can never wind a ball evenly, so the ball-winder is fantastic! And so quick.... Plus it entertained the kids. And the little cat was fascinated too.. No pouncing though, thank goodness.The bigger cat is more inclined to pounce on things like that but he's asleep upstairs.

We're at home for New Year this year, for the first time in about seven years I think. It feels a bit strange. In fact I don't even know what happens at midnight here though we've heard a few fireworks so I'm expecting more later on. We're usually in the Highlands staying with my parents (watching the village's organised firework display from the upstairs landing at midnight), but I left it too late booking the cattery, so here we are. However as I've had a chest infection and Miss M has a cough it's possibly just as well.  We've spent the last few days generally doing as little as possible, which has been nice but I've been losing track of the days a bit. I'm sure I'm not the only one.

I have no idea what I'll knit with that newly-wound ball of wool. I picked the skein from my stash more or less at random (it's Malabrigo Sock in Primavera) just to test-drive the ball-winder, but it's so lovely and soft I kind of want to cast on now. I have a cowl to finish first though, so I think I'll go on with that this evening. The kids are deciding whether they want to stay up until 'the bells' (it's 9.55pm now, past their usual bedtime, though not necessarily their usual sleep time). To be honest I'm pretty tired myself so I'm not that fussed about it. But happy 2017 to everyone!

Time travel

Hello world, I'm still here! And enjoying a few lazy days after a hectic couple of months.

Dad was getting rid of some books a while back, so I acquired a vintage 60s Penguin copy of The Divine Comedy, Part 3, i.e. Paradiso. I'd read bits of the others but never this, and I've got to say it's hard going. I'm just dipping in and out really.  But aside from that, it was interesting to find Dad's bookmark from when he was reading it - a Sainsbury's receipt.  Instant time travel to Croydon, 1965! How exotic..

Using the power of Google I've discovered that that address is still a supermarket, but it's a Waitrose now. Which isn't what you'd call stunningly interesting, I must admit! But one of the pleasures of second-hand books is finding tiny snippets of social history in the form of random improvised bookmarks.

I'm trying to write this while the kids are watching television so my mind is wandering rather a lot, so I'll just wish you a happy New Year in case I don't manage the Hogmanay post I'm planning!