I had Some Sad News

 It's a week now since I received the sad news that  my last surviving uncle had just died. 

To be honest it wasn't a total surprise. We had seen him at my aunt's 90th , (she was his sister, not his wife. His wife died some years ago and I wrote about that and how deeply it affected me  here ) and he looked very frail then. He had been slowly losing his sight over many years and two years ago was registered as blind. He coped with that with his usual determination to make the best of things, greatly helped by his love of music, but over the last couple of years his hearing had started to go too, so that even that consolation was gradually being closed to him. 

He was 92, which people generally refer to as a good innings; his side of my family certainly seem to have a gene forlong life. And it had been a largely happy life; a strong marriage, three sons and a multitude of interests. always curious about new things and ready to try them. I remember he was the first person I ever knew, when I was quite young, to have a cine camera. One of my favourite photographs of him is at my sisters first wedding, where he is standing in the grounds of the church holding the latest one and looking about.   In my photo album this this is captioned 'Now is there anyone here that I haven't got on my film' and the reason I called it that was  because , although he had the rest of the family there, he had somehow missed the OH and me. He and his wife were mortified, and very apologetic. One of those things that seem dreadful at the time but which, after years, are just either not important or funny. In fact  as far as I recall I found it funny at the time.He also had an a mazing sense of humour and a gift for telling stories; I can remember evenings in my teens  when we would all get together and the time was just full of hysterical laughter. As a  a huge music fan;he was also  one of the few members of the family 'grown up' with whom the OH and I could share our love of listening to singing. 

I am heartbroken that he has gone, while at the same time realising that his life had become so narrow that his passing may have been a blessing, although to be honest  I am very far from actually believing that.

As always English funerals take an age to sort so his is not until 12th May. It's going to be very sad and I'm dreading it. 

I made some cards

 This week was supposed to be all about paper crafting but somehow the week got away from me a bit and I didn't get as much done as I would have liked. That said, I did make some cards on Wednesday and here they are

For something so simple they took a remarkably long time to do, but then it's not the actual doing it's deciding what to use that takes the time. 

I'm reasonably pleased with them all, but the front two are my favourites.

The (Not So) Magic Flute

 

Another month, another ROH filmcast, this time The Magic Flute. 

Regular readers will be aware that I am not a huge fan of the plot of this opera, perverted and bonkers being about the best things I have to say about it. However I can often be reconciled to it because of the beauty of the music. It's also a huge favourite of the OH's, so when he pointed out there was an ROH filmcast at the Arts Centre at the University, given that he has recently gone to two operas on his own (Wagner, need I say more?) I felt sort of obliged to go with him. After all I reasoned, the music IS fantastic and it's Covent Garden so the cast and the playing will be great. 

Alas for such confidence. The cast was not great,and nor was the orchestra. The playing was mechanical and, bar the Queen of the Night who was excellent, the rest of the cast were either competent, uninspiring or underpowered. It was a revival of David McVicar's 2017 production and I can sort of see why people think it's wonderful; puppets, people with animal heads, a 12 section snake ( rather than a dragon!) to open. I wasn't charmed myself. They had also put in a lot of the spoken dialogue which is usually heavily cut ( and rightly so),  so it was l-o-n-g. 

No production I have ever seen has beaten Bergman's film, although the performance at Savonlinna a few years ago came close. We would have done better to stay at home and watch that instead. 

Never mind, it was a night out. Next month it's the Met's production of Evgeny Onegin and I'm hoping that will be really good. I was going to write 'hoping that will be better' but I can't see that it could be less enjoyable to be honest. 

Day 3 - Florence Reprise

 The day after Siena we were taken to Florence, a welcome return for the OH and me and a bit of an endurance task for some of the others if you listened to them afterwards. We started off with a guided walking tour of the centre and despite having done a lot of reading before we went last autumn we still learned a lot on this tour. It ended by the the Uffizi and the general plan was people had lunch nearby and then came back to visit the Gallery at the time on their pre-booked tickets. We'd already said we didn't want to go to the  Uffizi; it's not as though it isn't only six months since  we were last there, so we went off to do our own thing. 

Above - Dante's house, so they day. 

This was basically to have lunch; the OH had decided it would be nice to revisit the place we had eaten on our first night in Florence, so we did that. It's not that we like ruts or anything 😄 but he had exactly the same meal as he had on our previous visit and I only varied mine by choosing  a different dessert, because, as I recalled it, their pannacotta had been just a tad on the rubbery side on our previous visit.

 

After that we went back to San Lorenzo to visit the Medici Chapel.Previously we'd only been to the Library and the Cloisters and we thought we might get into the church proper this time as well, but it turns out you buy a different ticket for that somewhere else, so we saved it for another time. The Medici Chapel is - well, shall I say overwhelming again? Jaw dropping but not what I would call tasteful. There again my taste doesn't run to green marble, but then I'm not an uber-wealthy Renaissance Duke. 

After we left he chapel I said to the OH he should see if he could find any wool shops in the vicinity and I honestly thought he was joking when he said; There's one a two minute walk away'. Despite being so close it was difficult to find, as Google directions can be a bit iffy when you get down to small distances. It was very nice but I didn't buy anything in there. Still it was fun to visit. And then we trooped back to the  group meeting point for the long walk back to the the coach park. 

I have to say that I thought Florence was crowded in September, but that was as nothing - as nothing I tell you!- to how it was in April. A thoroughly enjoyable day nonetheless ( for us. Some of the rest of the groups were less than enchanted by Florence.) Can't think why not

Tuscany Part 1 - Arrival and Siena

 We flew to London on Easter Sunday so we could catch our mid-morning flight to Rome on Monday. The hotel at terminal 5 obviously still had notes about our unfortunate previous  experience there and had upgraded us to a suite as a result, which was nice, but you know, for one night ....still it was a gesture. We had a room service meal and all I'm going to say about that is that I wouldn't do it again. 

There were a few hiccups at Heathrow, the procedure for checking in when you're on a group ticket is different to normal and no-one could be bothered to explain what was happening but you know; water, bridge. We arrived safely, our little group was gathered up, the person in charge of our coach transfer to Arezzo where we were staying for four nights admired my pink hair, so that was all good. 

The hotel in Arezzo was very nice and the staff were lovely. The restaurant, where we ate the first night was over priced and overhyped although my dessert was nice

Day 2 (since arrival day is Day 1 ) we had a trip to Siena. I have wanted to go to Siena for many years and I have to say that of all the places in Italy I have longed to visit and finally arrived at, Siena was the only one (so far) to disappoint. There's  nothing wrong with it, it's a small Tuscan city with a huge shell shaped square in the middle where they run the famous Palio, but it just didn't live up to my expectation. Possibly the main problem was that the free time we had there was ill judged. It gave us too long to see the Cathedral and have something to eat but not long enough to do anything else. Still that's not Siena's fault. It was rammed with people, but that was a recurring theme all holiday really.

Our guided walking tour took us first to the basilica of  San Bernadino. Since this holds the mummified head and an equally desiccated thumb reputed to belong to St Catherine  it was perhaps a shame that photography is forbidden. Who doesn't want to come back from holiday with a picture of a saint's mummified  thumb?

Our guide told us a a lot about the contrada, the city factions which run  The Palio and also, as far as we could tell, the lives of the people who belong to them. I expect they do a lot of good although her description made them sound like a cross between the mafia and the masons. It's obviously something everyone takes very seriously; you can even have a civil 'baptism' into a contrada if you're not a member by birth ( strict controls apply). 

The areas of the city controlled by each contrada are marked by small plaques like this on building walls, especially prevalent near borders between one contrada's territory and the next.

Next up was the square where the Palio is run -

difficult to take a good photograph - and then we went on to the site of the Duomo where our tour ended. We chose to go into it. I think overwhelming is the word

Once we came out we searched out some ice cream which did instead of lunch and wandered round some of the places our tour hadn't taken us to. 

So that was Siena; glad I've been, wouldn't rush back. 

I Went to a Wool Show

 and yes, I know I went to Tuscany as well, and reports on that will be forthcoming just as soon as my phone and laptop decide to talk to one another properly so that I can upload my photos all in one go. Meanwhile - the wool show

It was Woolly Good in Edinburgh. This is only the second year (I think) that it has been held and I didn't go last year, probably because we were  in the throes of moving and things like yarn shows just weren't on the radar. I probably wouldn't have gone this year either if a friend hadn't suggested we go together, but she did and I agreed. 

(I still can't  get over the fact that I can get to Edinburgh and back on the train for a fraction over £8. It's surreal) 

So first of all let me show you what I bought. 

A sock project bag from Wildwood Stitches Readers may remember I bought one of her sweater size project bags back at the East Neuk Show last November. The only problem I have with these is choosing as they are all lovely.  I'm very pleased with this bag and I was also impressed that the vendor remembered me from East Neuk; I'd like to think it wasn't only because I had decided against a puffin themed bag on the grounds that it reminded me of Orkney, although she certainly did remember that! 

This notions pouch is a Christmas present for a friend who loves African waxed fabric. The business that makes them is called Soft Accents  and they are all beautiful bags and the vendors are really nice too. The website is definitely worth a look and if you aren't into knitting or crochet and therefore don't need project bags they do packs of fabric scraps for patchwork too and they come with a pattern if you want one. The pin and stitch markers at the front came from Marna at An Caitin Beag - the go-to place for all cat themed knitting related things. 

Obviously I can't go to a wool show without buying sock yarn for the OH; at East Neuk he picked his own skein from this vendor - The Woolchemist. Of these two that I bought from her yesterday the one on the right was for the OH. The other one is for me; it's not as pink as it looks in the photograph and I'm a sucker for dark reds, grey and black in combination. Not sure if I'll make socks with it, we'll see. 

And finally, this is what I mainly went for. It's some DK to knit myself a cardigan from one of my Knitted Kalevala books. Do not hold your collective breaths; it's knitted in the round and then the front is steeked! Eek! and the wool was expensive so I need to take it very slowly and ensure it's a good fit. 

Obviously the stash stats for April are going to look a bit sad ... but as long as I'm  kitting up or otherwise disposing of yarn faster than I'm acquiring it overall then that's  progress. 

As for the show overall it was very much a case of the Curate's Egg. Upside, lots of vendors, some of whom were new to me, or that I only know from on-line/You Tube. I was delighted to have a brief chat with the very talented Tara from Irish Artisan Yarn and to see Skein and the Stitch who , as far as I know, haven't ever come north of the border before. Equally some of my favourite dyers weren't there, which was a shame. The catering, as I seem to be forever saying with regard to yarn shows, was lacking. The main hall, where you could buy light snacks,  didn't have hot drinks, only cold ones,  which seemed ridiculous. It also had live music which I could have done without.. Why on earth would anyone think that was a good idea, when it's somewhere ( in fact the only place) where people could  sit and chat, and make plans about who to see next or display their purchases? Other than that as far as I could see there was a van outside selling bao buns and that was that. The venue was a school and many of the vendors were in classrooms; sometimes four to a room, which wasn't fair either to them or the customers. We deliberately chose to go on Friday because we thought it would be less busy than Saturday, and I'm sure we were right about that,  and we arrived about 30 minutes after the show opened and the place was already rammed. There were many stands where I just couldn't get close enough to the  merchandise to see if I wanted to buy anything. I appreciate it can be a risky thing committing to a larger, and more expensive, venue, but really, if it went well enough last year for a repeat performance  then the organisers must have known there would be more people attending when they did it again and could have planned accordingly. 

Would I go again? If they change the venue, probably yes, but not otherwise. But it was an enjoyable day. 

Not a WiP, but a finished object nonetheless

 

Most of my wips seem to be things that take some concentration - more than I can spare when I'm at Knit Group or tired in the evenings anyway, so inevitably there are going to be a few things made this year that can be done on autopilot. The sweater for The Irresistible Bear was the first of them and here's the second; a pair of socks for the OH. West Yorkshire Spinners Seascape is the yarn and they took about a week. 

While I had hoped to do the reading round up for March before I went away, on the grounds that there will be more exciting things to write about when we get back, that's not happening. I am suffering from my usual pre-holiday mega stress, which should miraculously disappear once we're underway to the airport in about 45 minutes, but I don't need to add to it wondering if I have time to finish a blog post about books that I can just as easily do once we're home. 

Back in about ten days with, I hope, some amazing photos and interesting tales to tell.