Be careful what you wish for

That's what they say, isn't it? My last post was wishing for warmer weather at the Equinox. We have now just passed midsummer, and had one heatwave and are promised at least another two...

Now I'll be glad for it to cool a little!

Past the Equinox

I suppose the days are getting warmer as well as longer, though I'm still wearing jumpers! I've been busy testing a new blanket, which has now gone to its recipient as an 'Easter Egg', so I can show it to you. I couldn't show anyone until the pattern was released - it's Skydance by CatsWhiskers Crochet and available on Ravelry if you follow the link.

I've also begun some socks for Mr Bufo, and am finishing a cardigan for him, so I'll show those in my next post - whenever that is!

Roll on summer!   

A New Year begins

 

Universe in Bloom  designed by Dedri Uys

So we are halfway through January and I can now show you the blanket I finished in time to hand over as a Christmas present, plus one of the two almost identical that I made earlier in the year. The centres of both were the same, but they had different borders, and a flowered cardigan made for a friend. 

Festival of Lights, designed by Jessica Wifall

Granny Meets Hippie (lengthened)
designed by Reimy Johanna

Candlemas (2 Feb), and longer days, will be with us soon, and meanwhile I'm testing yet another blanket - so no pics of that allowed publicly yet, though of course I'm recording progress, and can perhaps show you in the spring.

Season's Greetings

As usual at this time of year, we send greetings to everyone to whom we don't send a physical Christmas card, with a copy of the photos we use for it.

As has also become traditional, on the shortest day of the year I remind everyone of Susan Cooper's wonderful poem - 

The Shortest Day – Susan Cooper

So the shortest day came, and the year died,
And everywhere down the centuries of the snow-white world
Came people singing, dancing,
To drive the dark away.
They lighted candles in the winter trees;
They hung their homes with evergreen,
They burned beseeching fires all night long
To keep the year alive.
And when the new year's sunshine blazed awake
They shouted, revelling.
Through all the frosty ages you can hear them
Echoing, behind us — listen!
All the long echoes sing the same delight
This shortest day
As promise wakens in the sleeping land.
They carol, feast, give thanks,
And dearly love their friends, and hope for peace.
And so do we, here, now,
This year, and every year.
Welcome Yule!

It has been a mixed year with Mr Bufo's health, but it seems to have stabilised a bit, since a dip soon after the week of parties. Here again is the picture of the two of us, this time in the frame that was a gift for his birthday.

 

So we had a party...

 

We are having a week of parties and celebrations for Mr Bufo's 90th birthday on 20th. We started on Sunday with lunch for 23 of us who are family

Then more friends and neighbours joined us for tea, when the cake appeared.

But today a mysterious bunch of flowers was delivered, with a card thanking us, but no name! So thank you, whoever you are, 

from us both!

UPDATE - mystery solved and sender thanked in person.

We are having lunch out tomorrow, just the 2 of us, in the new Turkish restaurant, on the Day itself, and another family lunch on Friday - with another cake!

Heatwaves and holes in the ground

 

It's been too hot and sticky to think, let alone do any work, or very much crochet! Thankfully it has rained today, which makes it a little cooler, though I gather it has been torrential further east.

Not long ago, a hole appeared in the pavement outside our front wall. We knew our drainpipe to the main sewer was right underneath it, and there have been a few occasions when the drain has backed up, but that had been OK for a couple of months - and then suddenly the sinkhole.  

We didn't do anything immediately because of several recent blips with Mr Bufo's health, but on a recent Tuesday I spent what seemed like forever on a 'webchat' to Southern Water, including needing to send them a photo of the hole, which at least meant they gave us a 'job number' and said they would send someone within 72 hours. By 3pm that afternoon, someone had actually arrived, and did a bit of investigation down our manhole in the front garden. He put in a report and said someone would come the next day. 

So on Wednesday morning someone came and spent a while digging and not seeing anything, so he said someone would come with a camera the next day, as he couldn't see much wrong, and left a hole which he put barriers round. 

So on Thursday 2 blokes turned up and did a bit more digging. They eventually found the problem just under the front wall, where their pipe had slipped below our outlet - so our front garden had been getting a lot of extra fertilisation - but thankfully they 'owned' it rather than saying it was our problem, and replaced the faulty pipe, then someone came and started filling it all up, so the barriered area was smaller, and finally on the Friday another gang came along and tarmac-ed over the top. 

All very Flanders and Swann. 

I have nearly finished the second of two blankets for the granddaughters. This is the first, but the second has a slightly different arrangement of motifs, and a completely different border. If it cools off a bit I will get the second one finished soon, and you might even get a new post to celebrate the fact!

We Spring Forward

 

Spring seems to be here, and April is just around he corner We shall soon be making our regular spring visit to Somerset and Cleeve Abbey, and in the meantime the blackthorn on the corner of the road on the way to the paper shop is in full bloom again.

Last night the clocks went forward into Summer Time, so we look forward to brighter evenings and hope for a pleasant summer that isn't too hot - or too wet!

As the Days Lengthen

We are nearly at the end of January, and 1st February is the date that Miss Read tells us is the first time of the year that you can go for a walk after tea. Tea in this instance is 'four o'clock afternoon tea', not tea meaning dinner or supper. So as we are now out of the darkest 10 weeks of the winter, it is time to supersede the Shortest Day post and look forward to spring.

My snowdrops are not quite out yet, so here's a photo from February a few years ago - I'm sure they will be flowering before this post gets replaced! 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

 

Wishing you all the very best for the season! This picture was on the front of our Christmas card, It was taken at the Luttrell Arms Hotel in the autumn.

The photo at the very end of this post was inside our card, It was taken in our own garden.

This year our chosen charity in lieu of buying commercial cards is MDS UK - the support group for the condition that Mr Bufo has been diagnosed with.

Each year, and every year, I thank Susan Cooper for this poem:

The Shortest Day – Susan Cooper

So the shortest day came, and the year died,

And everywhere down the centuries of the snow-white world

Came people singing, dancing,

To drive the dark away.

They lighted candles in the winter trees;

They hung their homes with evergreen,

They burned beseeching fires all night long

To keep the year alive.

And when the new year's sunshine blazed awake

They shouted, revelling.

Through all the frosty ages you can hear them

Echoing, behind us — listen!

All the long echoes sing the same delight

This shortest day

As promise wakens in the sleeping land.

They carol, feast, give thanks,

And dearly love their friends, and hope for peace.

And so do we, here, now,

This year, and every year.

Welcome Yule!

How We Were Chuffed on Wednesday

You may remember that last year we had a steam train ride to Kingswear with Saphos Trains. We enjoyed it so much we booked again this year to go to Shrewsbury. It was an earlier start, as it is further to go, but we were at Romsey station in good time to catch the train at 6.50 a.m. The plan was for a diesel to take us to Bristol, where we would meet a steam locomotive to take us on to Shrewsbury and back.

We had a morning snack box, as before, though we didn't think there was quite the variety as last year's. 

But the coffee was fine, and 

the fizz, which arrived soon afterwards, was 'Pink Lady Pear Cider' - which I would call perry, but that's what the label said. Some people were disappointed that they weren't getting bucks fizz, but that didn't worry us. 

When we got to Bristol, it turned out that the steam engine, which we were supposed to meet there, was stuck at Taunton, on the far side of an 'incident', and not expected to get through in time to take us up to Shrewsbury. So the plan was changed, so that the diesel that had been on the back of the train (at Bristol you change direction) would take us up to Shrewsbury, and if the steamer could get through in time, it would meet us there, to bring us back.

All the way up to Shrewsbury there were photographers waiting for the train, and we wondered if they had known that we wouldn't have the steam engine on, or that it might be worthwhile waiting around until the engine came through later. We therefore arrived in Shrewsbury about an hour earlier that originally planned, so had longer there than scheduled.

We had a pleasant wander round, and a cool drink in a cafe with an outdoor area overlooking the river.

Then we made our way back to the station, and sat around for a bit until the steam engine arrived (see main picture for unobstructed view)

We had ordered an afternoon tea, and when we we finally able to board the train, after several others (going to various places in Wales, Birmingham, and Manchester) had gone through our platform, we found the stand set up at our table with two little jars of strawberry jam all ready.

Later we were brought a selection of sandwiches - here are Mr Bufo's

and these were mine. They had taken proper note of my food intolerances, which was nice

Along came some sparkling English wine - which wasn't wonderful, but not too awful, and we shared one can and brought the other home, and there was tea and coffee ad lib.

And then the cakes arrived 

And the cream, swiftly followed by the scones - although there was only one each, and they were fruit ones, which I never feel are correct with jam and cream.

We thought it was a bit off that we didn't get an afternoon snack box this year - we had paid (or rather it was paid by Mr B's elder daughter as a birthday present) quite a lot extra for the tea, and if we hadn't done so we'd have had the snack box as everyone else did. We had thought the tea was an extra, rather than instead.

But all in all it was a very pleasant day out, and we'll be looking to see where they might be running one next year that we can get to.

75 - How did that happen?

Having reached such a venerable age(!) I thought a family party would be fun, so 40 or so family, including 10 children, plus 3 friends, gathered at the Field Restaurant at Udder Farm for a spread. 

The children could play outside as it was a beautiful day, and we had a section of the restaurant partitioned off so the rest of us could mingle and chat.

It was lovely to see cousins from both sides of the family, and I think a good time was had by all. No photos of the children here of course, though some were taken and will be sent to their parents.

Mr Bufo and I felt very pleased with the day!

Everyone's going to the Moon

Today we went to the moon! Or, rather more prosaically, we saw the moon art installation at Winchester Cathedral. We were in plenty of time for the bus to Winchester - which was, of course, late - and as we so often do, got off at West Gate and walked down. The advantage of this is that Warrens the stationers - appropriately just below Staple Gardens (although I am sure that is named from the Wool Staple rather than the office type of staple) - was able to sell us some bulldog paper clips and some rather good cards for upcoming birthdays.

It was a treat to see the cathedral nave without its chairs. I know they clear it every year, but I've never managed to visit at the right time before.

The moon installation is most impressive, and we sat and looked at it for quite a while. They use NASA images and it is remarkably accurate and 'lifelike'.

While we were there the choir began a practice, which was an added bonus, starting with a run-through of 'Dear Lord and Father of Mankind' - probably to warm themselves up - and then a Kyrie, and some other pieces they were obviously still learning. They were still singing when we had walked all round the east end ambulatory and down the south aisle to the exit door.  

I was sad the crypt isn't open at the moment, as I always like to pay my respects to the Anthony Gormley man standing down there. My late friend Nicky and I always went to say hello to him if we went into the cathedral on our regular coffee/lunch meetings. But apparently the recent wet weather means the crypt is too deeply under water to allow people in, so the door was firmly shut. (Adding later that I may have mistaken the door, and didn't investigate further because I had read the FB post about flooding closing the crypt).

We also went into M&S, where I didn't see anything I wanted, but Mr Bufo found something he needed, which was useful as he had a £10 voucher, and we bought some of their bread. Then we went to Robert Dyas, who couldn't provide what we wanted, and a hardware store in George Street, that did have it.

A bit of a pull up the hill then to Jewry Street, where we had booked lunch for 12.30 at Brasserie Blanc. We were a bit early, but our table was available. Very good lunch on their 'half price mains' offer and because we were a bit early starting, we were out in time for the 14.05 bus back to Romsey, rather than having to wait for the 14.50, which is always full of schoolchildren. The bus stop is conveniently just a few yards along Jewry Street from the restaurant.

New Year, New Post

- If only to get the 'Blogs I follow' list up the page a bit by hiding all of last year's posts!

Cold and sunshine today, so after half an hour trying to cut things back in the garden, about to sit with my crochet (see pic for current project) and watch the snooker final. Just a few more rows of the border to do, but waiting for another ball of one colour I have just run out of to be able to finish completely.

Season's Greetings

 It's time ...

To wish you all a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

This year our charity in lieu of sending commercial cards (we send a few we've printed out with this picture on) is Macmillan Cancer Support. The photo was taken by Mr Bufo in the Capability Brown Chapel at Compton Verney this year.

And Now we're past the Equinox

Autumn is upon us, and although I haven't done much blogging, I have been fairly busy. The 'Heirloom' blanket is finished, and another is being worked out.

Two more reprinted EJO books have been prepared for publication - one is already out and one currently at the printers, with more to do for next year, so no let-up on that front.

One of the summer highlights was a rail trip to Dartmouth. We joined the train at Romsey early one Saturday morning, and were diesel hauled to Taunton. Then 'Sir Nigel Gresley' took us to Kingswear via Exeter and Paignton, and our tickets included the ferry crossing to Dartmouth. We took a picnic lunch and were served fizz, unlimited coffees or teas, and a 'snack box' each both morning and afternoon. 

That was so generous that we almost could have managed without taking anything of our own, but Mr Bufo's quiches are well worth the carrying. We managed to park at Romsey station all day for just over £2, so when we were finally dropped off again at about 9.30 in the evening, it was just a quick drive home - and a lovely day!

We'll be doing our usual end of season trip to Cleeve Abbey soon, and the year will be over before we know it!

On the way to Summer

Part of the 'Making Mischief' folk costume exhibition

We have just returned from our first real expedition of the year. An attempt at a weekend away in April was marred as we arrived by Mr Bufo having as spectacular a fall as I had suffered in February, including an evening in A&E - this time in Taunton! 

So it was several weeks before we felt confident enough to attempt another foray. But the Folk costume exhibition we had wanted to see since it opened in February would be finishing on 11 June, so we had to do something about it. We had been to Compton Verney before, nearly 10 years ago, so knew it was worth a visit for its own sake, and found a nearby Mercure Hotel, Walton Hall, so that we could take a fairly gentle drive up on Wednesday afternoon, see the exhibition on Thursday morning, and come home that afternoon. All of which worked as planned, we also managed to see a friend who lives nearby for dinner at the hotel on the Wednesday evening, and although tired afterwards, we felt we'd had a good time. The exhibition was well worth the trip, but the restoration of the Georgian chapel, and the rehang of the permanent folk collections were also good to see.

Motif 3 (of 6 designs)

More crochet has been accomplished on the Heirloom blanket, but plenty more to do. I'm currently nearly finished all 8 of Motif 4, have done 8 Motif 1; 9 Motif 2; & 8 Motif 3 (shown here)

The latest flower delivery was peonies, which don't last long, but are lovely while they do.

And once again we have a good crop of strawberries; this was the first picking - about a week later than last year's.

We'll soon be off Somerset again for the last ever Cleeve weekend.

First Day of Spring?

Not a great deal to say - recovering from a rather spectacular fall on my face, which thankfully managed not to break my nose, or a tooth, or a wrist! but made a mess of my face for a while, though it has healed well. 

Was attracted to a new blanket, in hexagons, and have made a good start as can be seen above. There will be 8 of this design, and 8 or 9 each of several others, but so far I've nearly finished all of this type.

Trying to arrange the usual seasonal visits to Somerset and Sussex, but neither of us have been well enough for long enough to be confident about actually booking anything yet. The weather hasn't been great either, despite 'them' telling is it was the driest February in a long time. By contrast March has been quite wet.