First Views from an Autumnal Meadowplace

I woke up in the spare room this morning. A beautifully misty morn nearly compensated for a night of bed swapping. I live in hope that one of us will grow out of this soon!

You just can't see the golden sky. But it was golden! There's one little pear on the one little pear tree out there.

Conkers are starting to fall from the chestnut tree up in the corner. Mattman wants to line his windowsill with them, and Jo is filling a vase.

Same view from my room, when I had re-united myself therewith. Can you see the cows? They were very quiet this morning. Obviously also enjoying the bodings of a fine day.

This is Mattman's new school route. He cuts through the university campus just below us which joins a little lane down to his new school. I drove him to the lane this morning. Heavy bags after a week of new routine are starting to take their toll!

And this is part of my new-ish school route. Next month I will have been a classroom assistant for a whole year.

The view coming home. Where the leafy suburbs open out onto Belfast lough and you bask in the splendour of a genuinely hot and sunny day. I went for a walk to the post box when I got home. I wore my shorts and a summer top. It was a pretty exceptional way to start Autumn!

View from my keyboard

Sorry, Jane. I could have had a spectacular view of Belfast Lough under cold, fabulous winter skies today. Or a possibly last golden views of the most resilient autumn foliage outside. And one of these days I'll charge my little camera to have a spectacular view of Cave Hill from my new place of work.  But here it is. The dining room, again! Complete with laundry, vestiges of dinner, and an aspirational monument to ironing in the corner. Installation art, I like to think of it as.

Today I:

Got up, got boys out, got out. I'm getting better at this in week two of being back at work. I've got to Thursday before crying at the cold, dark monotony of getting out of bed early EVERY day. I know. Pathetic.

Went to work. Worked. Good grief, did I work today.

Came home from work to my glorious big son.

Took him with me to collect my glorious smaller son who been eco-clubbing in the school garden. Sounds like an environmentally-friendly version of going out and having a blast. They were out. And he did have a blast.

We went to the least swish of our three four Loughside cafes and watched dusk come down over Belfast Lough with a little plane bound for the airport.

When it was time to go to the solicitor's we walked through the cold village and Jo managed not to be knocked down.

I signed a very important legal document, and came one step further to being/having Power of Attorney along with my brother.

Got home to find my brother on the doorstep, and we had a needed debrief on being/having Power of Attorney. (I did bring him in off the doorstep.)

Made dinner whilst conducting a long telephone/text/facebook exchange with my friend and mother of my children's friends who keeps me sane in the realm of homeworks, preparations, and all things needing to be done that I may not be at all aware of.

Ate dinner with Prince Charming, allowing the boys to eat in the other room because they could NOT miss this episode of Scooby Doo Something. I know. Pathetic.

Left PC struggling manfully with aforementioned homeworks, preparations and all things needing to be done.

Took Dad to hospital to see Mum. She is poorly, at the minute, despite having made some wonderful progress from a Very Bad Thing that happened way back in August.

Took Dad home and made him dinner, at 9pm. He's still working on the mealtimes thing.

Came home. Boys in bed. I packed Mattman's PE bag and PC packed his sleeping bag and pillow for a relaxation time in school tomorrow. He has three big tests this month and school brings someone in to do candles and incense and the like to de-stress the poor souls. Mattman, however, appears less stressed than hugely excited at the prospect of candles and incense and our promised Subway lunches when he comes out of the tests.

November is racing by; I can hear it as it goes. It whistles softly in the wind sometimes very late at night, like now. I am not blogging daily this year, although I do miss that opportunity to savour every cold, clear, calm moment that November holds. I have finally worked out how to link to all the fabulous bloggistes who are blogging daily though. Do call round for tea and biscuits. MK might show you how to make a hat...

Hello!

Hello, kind folk! October is racing past with the rain storms this week. I do want to have beautifully golden capsules of life captured and held briefly. I do want to tell you all about the footpath, and my mum, and my new job, and the fact that I can get neither my hair cut nor my wing mirror fixed, and the two, yes TWO, things that I seem to have crocheted in a week.

But time is of the vanilla essence, which I really must put on next week's shopping list. For now I'll leave you in the capable hands of some minions. I do want to talk to you about those too...

Greatitudes 451- 470

Oh dear, 'twould seem 'twas November last when last I moved through blessings bestowed towards the one thousand goal. This is not good. And really I have a cosy home, a breath-taking family, interesting friends, much to do and the health with which to do it.

And also. Over the last month, suddenly and slightly overwhelmingly, I have been asked to sub. In two schools over five weeks now, and I have even been able to choose how many days I want to do and which ones. I have turned days down, and still been rung again. This is more than I can comprehend, and to be honest it is certainly more than slightly stressful, but nonetheless, I have discovered that not only can I still speak French/understand Shakespeare/know a paragraph from a parenthesis, but also teach it, and I do not dissolve into water at just any blast of teenage hot air. Oh no, it takes more than one blast of that. I get wobbly after five...

So. There we go! I am deeply grateful to Angela for all encouraging advice on the life of the substitute teacher. I am deeply, deeply grateful for the procession of local friends who enthusiastically offer school runs and for the willingness of grandmothers to spend a whole hour toasting pancakes and resolving conflict. I am tearfully grateful for a Prince Charming who will leap into action as the phone rings and pick up the slack, and will appear unexpectedly at the leisure centre straight after the latest phone call just when the thought of organising logistics as well as sitting through a swimming lesson is just too much!

Back at the strawberry ranch I am grateful for the excitement of a new slow cooker toy with which admittedly I have played only once, for tulips from HB and a very cheery cherry cake, for a super night at Book Club last week that resulted in a great idea for next time (see next time), and a homework that called for strawberries.

Finally, do you still have snow? I am determined to be thankful that we haven't had to clear our paths, grit our drives, rush outside with sledges and tubs for snowfort bricks. I am trying hard to remember that my parents can get around safely, that roads are not treacherous, and that it is gorgeous to bask in warm sun in February. However, I am also very grateful that Jo has "In the snow" as one of his reading books this week. Living vicariously is better than living entirely without!

The Apple Cosy Collective Experiment III

We went to the wool shop today and bought: 2 more balls of our cotton DK, one in a pink that will hopefully be reasonably appropriate for Mise; 2 skeins of embroidery thread that is slightly thicker than last summer's hair braid thread that I have been using for daisy chain prototypes and may well therefore prolong my eyesight; 2 metres of ribbon to complete the paper bunting (that will be coming to you, Gretchen Joanna!); and two buzzy bees- well, the suns had been incrediby patient and it seemed like a small price to pay!

So, I planned to tell you all that I was retreating to the workhouse to make apple cosies, finish bunting, and maybe even fly on with the daisy chains (which are incidentally very exciting, if incredibly hard on the eyes!), but then I stumbled on the above.

Belfast City Workhouse mid-nineteenth century. Still standing in large part and amalgamated into Belfast City Hospital- its orange tower block is a big part of the wider Belfast skyline, and where my mother spent lots of time in the lachrymose year whence cometh fraise's name. Irish famine meets pre-gold rush underpopulation of Australia with disastrous consequences for many young girls sent forth from this densely over-crowded workhouse.

No joking, then, but there will be a buzzy bee period of Internet silence here! A hooky retreat- your last comment strangely appropriate, Angela, if you follow the link! I need addresses for most commenters on my last post- could you email them? And Gretchen Joanna too?

Happy strawberrying!

The Apple Cosy Collective Experiment II

If five or less of you would like an apple cosy:

Give £4.59 or equivalent to Christian Aid here and I will post you one!

If more than five of you want an apple cosy, those from six on can send me £4.59 (I have no idea how this would work from the States or France or New Zealand or Australia) and I will take out the postal charge and give the rest to Christian Aid.

If hundreds of cosyless apple eaters want one I shall open an etsy shop and make like a real crafter, with Paypal and everything, and Mise's magazine people will flock to my stall to source this new must-have commodity.

If no-one wants one I shall delete this post, slink away with the biscuit tin, and watch TV instead... (And put the ribbon on my paper bunting and finally sort out that giveaway before even thinking about doing another one!)

The Apple Cosy Collective Experiment

So. Last week Angela emails me a link to the fabulous http://www.clothkits.co.uk/ where they are selling OUR APPLE COSIES for £9.19. I know! (Click on the photo to proceed with clothkits, but you should probably read on first!)

So. What with the proliferation of cosies of all shapes and sizes for all types of fruit, I propose that you get yours right here or at Pom Pom's for half the price. Guaranteed!

Mine will shortly be sporting leaves as well, because I'm working on leaves for my daisy chain project. And Pom can obviously cater for the bespoke fruit market. Although, Mise, I'm still working on designs for the cherry cosies....

ps We are running into translation troubles, which appear to favour cozy in the Land of the Free and cosy in the Frozen North. Just to clarify!