February, the second week

Another good week for de-cluttering, with a pile of 8 items to be given to various family members, 7 items bagged up for the charity shop as well as the brand new kitchen slicer - I wanted a chipper but I bought this food slicer instead. It's basically cheap rubbish that's not fit for purpose, so someone else might be able to make use of it, and I'll buy a proper chipper, which is what I wanted in the first place. And who else remembers Milly Molly Mandy? I loved those books as a young reader. I hope GD7, in her first year at school, will enjoy them as much as I did, although they are very old-fashioned now.

 

It has been another very wet week, with little bits of sunshine here and there. The ground is now so saturated that there's nowhere for any more water to go. This is just a little example in the town park.

 

As I don't have a proper greenhouse, my pelagoniums spend the colder months indoors on the lounge windowsill, where they seem quite happy.

 

Signs of spring are beginning to appear outside, some mini irises are hiding in amongst some other greenery

 

Should I be ashamed to admit that I haven't had a haircut for nearly three years? I had an uncomfortable few months back along, when one of my dear GDs kindly shared her headlice with me, and in the end the only way I could rid myself of them was to go drastic and shave my head. So this is 2 years and 9 months worth of greying growth, which I usually tie up into a ponytail or a plait.

 I am making very slow inroads into the yarn stash, here's what 2 x 100 gram balls look like knitted into the back and one sleeve of a cardigan (by the way I did not knit the green cardigan in the photo above, that's way beyond my CBA quotient)

 I've bought this to use for doing my jigsaw puzzles, so that I can move it off my desk if I want to use the space for something else - much cheaper than a special jigsaw puzzle tilted board, I just have a thick piece of timber from GM's stash in the garage to put behind it so it's tilted.

 And finally, here is this week's Herbword

 

How has your week been?

February, the first week.

GM and I became a "thing" on February 3rd 1987, so this is the day we celebrate each year, instead of February 14th like everyone else. It's not our wedding anniversary, that comes later in the year, it's the anniversary of the day I moved in with him, when we were both young(er) and charming.

 

One of our neighbours is having some building work done - I saw this and it made me giggle

 

It seems as if it's been raining forever here, so what an absolute delight to have a brief bit of sunshine,

 followed the next day by the rain again.

 I've discovered a new hobby. It's called herbword.

 How was your week?

Decluttering

Having read on another blog (I'll get the link if I can remember whose it was) about decluttering, and knowing full well that I have far too much stuff, I decided that if I could offload one item per day for the whole year, that would be 365 items. Obviously I have a bit of catching-up to do as I've only just started, but here are my first 18 items

Five ancient feather cushions with crocheted covers, the cushions have been moulting feathers for ages, the crocheted covers weren't clean and weren't even finished off properly, so these went straight into the dustbin.

 

Four books, which will be donated to family members on my up-coming next trip

 

and a bag for the charity shop with one dress, never worn and still with a label attached, a hand-knitted scarf, two jigsaw puzzles, and 5 hats - a couple of winters ago I had a real thing for hats, and bought loads (mostly second-hand, but some new), then last winter and this current winter I've just been wearing two or three of my favourites, so the rest can go elsewhere.

 I have a few ideas about where to look for more things I don't want or need. 

A New Photo Hunt

While scrolling through the blogs I follow (I've been finding lots of new ones this year), I came across a new to me page https://citydailyphoto.org  so I've signed up. This is my entry for February 1st's theme of DOUBLE. It's DOUBLE RIB knitted with DOUBLE KNITTING YARN.

 

 

Not very exciting for a first entry, but it's all I could manage in the time slot. Next month's theme is WHITE, so I have plenty of time to find something more interesting.

January, a round-up

It's been a very wet month, and I don't mind admitting that I'm pleased to see the back of it.

This year I've decided to follow a tree, it's not far from home so I'll be able to get to it quite easily, this is how it looks in January

 I've managed to remember to do the Woodoku Daily puzzle every day this month

 

I usually aim to walk 1000 miles each year, but I'm not setting that as a specific target this year. However I still like to keep track of my monthly totals, January wasn't as bad as it might have been, given how wet it's been this month, as on a few days I used my treadmill and walked to YouTube videos. Let's just say that when I was at school back in the middle of the last century, most of my school reports said "Could try harder"!

 

The highlight of the last week was another birthday, this time it was GO' Ginger One, who was 37. Here he is with his halo shining

 My heart is always gratified to see how well the three cousins get on together

 

I always enjoy having one or more of the girls to stay, this time it was GD5 who shared my room.

 

Happy February, everyone.

 

 

January Photo Challenge : Begins with A

I love a photo challenge, Eileen sets one each month and January's subject was Begins with A.

Here are mine :

Abbot Ale (my favourite) 

 Adventure, my first trip of the year up to London to meet PJ for his 60th birthday

 Afternoon tea, our joint Christmas jigsaw puzzle, part way through and finished

 

Agapanthus : in the pot and in the box

 

Air fryer

 Aluminium

 Annie Martha, our grandmother clock

 Apollo

 April

 Armchair

 Ashwagandha

 Astra (mine)

Atlas

 Atrixo

August

 Auris (his)

 Avocado, tree and fruit

 

Thanks Eileen, looking forward to February's subject.

If anyone knows of any other photo challenges, please comment below. 

January, less than a week left now.

GM is always telling me that I shouldn't wish my life away, and actually, he's quite right. BUT I am pleased that we're getting towards the end of January.

Last week Ben came round to cut back the overhang from the conifers, OK it's not pretty, but it does mean more light will make it into the yarden during the growing season, and that's more important to me.

 

In an attempt to reduce my yarn stash, I've made a start on a cardigan for myself. The pattern is one I've had for a while, and looks a bit old fashioned, but I really don't care. I've knitted it up before and it's relatively easy, meaning I can knit while watching TV. The lovely bag was a birthday present from GD5 last year.

 

Just a little whimsy on my part

 

Once a year, usually starting on Boxing day, GM and I do a joint jigsaw puzzle, this one was actually harder than it looked, we finished it last Thursday January 22nd, so it took us almost 4 weeks!

 

The first 4 squares of my book cover challenge are completed, they will eventually be finished off  and joined with white (which I may have to buy!!), so the disparity in size is not a problem - double knitting yarn these days varies quite a lot in thickness.

 

Just a little bit of stash-busting fun.

See you again soon.