Free at Last! Free at Last!

Well not totally free, but allowed to get ourselves elsewhere in the car to get our daily exercise. It is one day short of seven weeks since we stopped ourselves going to Burwick for one of our favourite walks, having learned that police  in Orkney were cracking down on people driving elsewhere to take walks. Yesterday the First Minister lifted that restriction from today and I listened very carefully to what she said to see if there was a distance restriction on how far you could travel. She specifically said that they had decided not to put a distance limitation on it, which was excellent news and despite gloomy prognostications from the weather forecasters, today was beautiful. So we jumped in the car and went off to Burwick.

I took photos, even though I have dozens of pictures from when we've done that walk before and we saw flowers on the flax plants and lots of birds foot trefoil. We saw and heard skylarks and oyster catchers and eider ducks and in fact the only two things we expected and  didn't see much of were people and seals. We saw one man in the distance and passed another man who we actually know. The seals were not in evidence at all. This is odd as Burwick is usually a god place to see them and I have lots of photos of wide expanses of blue sea with small black dots, which really are seal heads, in them to prove it. Just not today.

We went a bit further than we usually do on this walk simply for the joy of being able to do it and enjoy a different view, and some sunshine, and my only regret really was that, given it was quite breezy I hadn't  taken an elastic thing to put my hair in.This is now long enough that we have managed to move on from bunches to a very short ponytail. Which is progress of a sort. 

Here's a selection of the pictures, many showing that normal tendency of all photos of Orkney to major on 'big sky'. 

Baking - But not out of the box!

One of the many, few,  er, probably one of two neglected  tasks we have undertaken during lock down has been a long overdue overhaul of the pull out larder n the kitchen. Amazing how much space you can create in something that is overfull. when you get rid of stuff that is well out of date, bought to cater to someone else and no longer needed, etc etc. Not to mention organising the shelves in a sensible manner. The italics are for the OH who displayed a distressing inability at the time of the tidy-up to see the logic of putting all the tins on the same shelf.

Anyway we discovered various things we had forgotten we had and it seemed sensible to use them up somehow. To this end we have had several trifles, both orange and strawberry, we have had a rhubarb crumble and yesterday, determined to use up a tin of peaches I had no recollection of ever buying and no idea what I could have bought it for, I made a peach upside down cake.

Et voila

I don;t normally post pictures of my baking unless it's the baking box which I like to keep a record of but I took a picture of this because I was really quite pleased with how the peach pattern turned out. Regular readers who know my lack of decorating/finishing off skills will I am sure understand and forgive this small vanity. 

It is delicious by the way and will last us most of the week. 

Dazzling Prospects

Yesterday our First Minister unveiled Scotland's four phase plan for coming out of Covid 19 lockdown. I've got quite comfortable how I am to be honest but I do realise that it's not all about me, also that the things I've enjoyed about lockdown can be carried through into what people will insist on calling the 'new normal'. 

In any case even I found my spirits lightened by two things announced for Phase 1 which, all other things being equal, start in the next couple of weeks. The first is the re-opening of recycling centres. The back hall of our house is currently a mountain range of cardboard making access to the back door and the coal bunker pretty difficult. At the best of times we seem to accumulate large amounts of cardboard; when you've had six or seven weeks when you can't get it out of the house, the pile threatens to spiral out of control. I know the first few day of the re-opening will be chaos, with long queues and rapidly filled skips but the thought of being able to get rid of the cardboard very soon is heartening. Who would ever have thought that being told the tip would be open soon would qualify as some of the best news you have heard in months! 

The second is is being able to drive to have exercise. Being unable to do this never made any sense to me in an Orkney context as, apart from anything else, we have to drive 15 miles to the supermarket. I may have mentioned here just once or twice  (!!) how sick I was of walking along the road in front of our house so the thought of being able to drive somewhere else to walk is really liberating. It will be wonderful to have a change of scene, and will also give me something to blog about other than knitting, reading and jigsaw puzzles.  

100 Books to Read Poster Number 11

Since I don't want to re-read the books from the poster that I actually own all at once (mainly because I don't want to go on a massive C19 novel reading jag) sourcing new books to read from the poster is quite difficult. I could of course just buy a kindle version of them all but then it would be a waste to buy books I turned out not to like. And, let's face it, the strike out rate is likely to be quite high. 

The Borrowbox app is great, and I've had a few enjoyable reads and listens,  but it's not really big on the sort of book that features on a 100 Books to Read poster. I was therefore highly delighted to find one, although rather dismayed by which one it was. 

I assumed I would hate it, basically because I assumed, largely from having seen the film they made of it * that it would be embarrassingly silly and a bit crass. Which just goes to show what a fool you can make of yourself when making assumptions, because I loved it. It was warm and touching and very very funny, and even though I don't think I cracked a single smile during the film, I smiled a lot when I listened to the book and even laughed out loud several times. 

* like Lawrence of Arabia, although I have seen all the film I have never seen it from beginning to end. I have seen bits of it on several occasions and all the bits  add up to having seen it all, just not all at once. 

Anyway you'll all be desperate now to know the name of this gem and it was 

Honestly, no-one more surprised than me! 

Lockdown: Some Books Wot I have Read (2) Crime

Crime fiction has for so long been my non-study staple that I am rather dismayed to find that so much of what I have read in this genre recently has proved a disappointment.

Luckily The Long Call by Ann Cleeves was an exception to the disappointment rule. I opened this with some trepidation. Cleeves has two long standing series; one is set in the north east of England and features a detective called Vera Stanhope, and generally speaking I don't enjoy them much. The other is set in Shetland and features a detective with the unlikely name of Jimmy Perez and generally those I do enjoy. So she and I were playing a score draw when up she came with a new series set in Devon and I didn't know whether it would be a hit or a miss. In the event it was a hit. This opener for the series was clever, involving, and had a sympathetic lead detective, back in Devon after some time away. I was listening to something yesterday where someone said 'All fictional detectives have to have a thing don't they?', and the main character here has two things; he is gay, and he has been ostracised from the extreme Christian sect in which he was bought up. The ostracism stems from his loudly proclaimed loss of faith, which is what came first, but I daresay he would have been ostracised for being gay as well. Unless they had tried to 'cure him', which I understand is favoured in some quarters. Anyway I am looking forward to the next in the series and hoping that I will enjoy that just as much. 

I read Kate Atkinson's Case Histories years ago and was left feeling fairly 'meh' about it, but have since heard people rave so much about Jackson Brodie novels, that I took the opportunity of having it available from our library on Borrowbox to re read it, having convinced myself in the interim that I must be missing something. Well if so, I still am. So many loose ends, so many unpleasant people. Not my cup of tea. In fact I don't think I have enjoyed anything of Atkinson's since Behind the Scenes at The Museum, but as I have read very few that's not intended as a ringing dismissal. 

Finally The Girl in the Woods by Patricia MacDonald is the current Saturday Slaughters choice and we are, much excitement, going to try out a virtual meeting via Skype to discuss it in a week's time. This got off to a very very slow start and I almost gave up on it, but I persevered and in the end quite enjoyed it. About two thirds of the way through the plot took a rather sudden swerve and I was sitting there saying 'What? Where did that come from?' but in fact it was very neatly tied in to what had seemed to be the main plot and I was impressed. MacDonald is no great writer, stylistically, but I have encountered a lot worse recently, and at least she reads as though English is her first language. I don't know that I would rush to read anything else by her, but if I were marooned somewhere and the choice was another book by her or say, a copy of Tatler I'd go with the book. 

More small knitting projects

So here are the two things I finished over the weekend. First up the mitts to go with the hat and cowl previously displayed

In theory I had enough of the multi-coloured wool to do the mitts in it completely. but it didn't look like I had enough when I cast the first one on so I chickened out and did the hand sections in a toning dark blue. I think they look really good. I wore the complete set yesterday when out for my walk since it is still very cold here and it was cosy warm. 

Secondly a doll dress made from the leftovers from my Herbst socks

I finished knitting this ages ago and it has been kicking about ever since waiting for me to sew it up and put on the buttons. When people ask me why I like to knit socks I never say 'because they don't need sewing up or buttons' but I suspect there might be a lot of that in there!

I am working on two bigger knitting projects as well (monogamy, except in marriage, never having been my strong suit); details will doubtless trickle trough to the blog in due course.  

And here is today's ....

This is what our weather looked like when I got  up this morning.

Mo chreach! as they say in places where they talk Gaelic, and wish to express dismay.

I wouldn't mind so much if it wasn't mid-May!

And here is yesteday's post ....

...which I was too poorly to actually write yesterday.

I had a very constructive weekend and was very proud of myself for finishing all the following:

one physical book
one audiobook
one e-book
one jigsaw puzzle
two small knitting projects (and I made a lot of progress on two others)

(Photos/reports of all these to come over the next few days)

In addition to this I did two lots of washing and drying and finally unpacked a huge box of china which we bought about a year ago and which has since languished in the box in my craft room, basically because unpacking it meant facing the problem of where to put it and neither of us was really up to that. We ran it through the dishwasher and we've been using it, but the old stuff (wedding presents, so almost 40 years old) is now hanging around on a stretch of kitchen bench which isn't really spare. We're not quite sure what to do with it. You would think that after 40 years there wouldn't be very much of it left but as far as I recall we have chipped one medium sized plate and broken one lid from a vegetable dish. My thrifty soul rather recoils from the fact that we bought the new (to us)  stuff, but we got it in a charity shop and it was a bargain. And beautiful. 

Gordon Bennett - bunches!

Last week sometime I took the plunge and trimmed my own fringe. I was very cautious and reasonably successful and I will do it again if I have to. What I cannot contemplate doing is cutting the rest of my hair; or letting the OH loose on it. But when we go out for walks, or I do my streamed exercise class (with Scottish ballet, Mon-Fri, get me! ) I do find it whips about a bit and blows in my eyes and round my face and generally gets very annoying. So earlier this week I gave in to the inevitable, dug out some elastics, tried a ponytail for which it is still too short and put my hair in bunches. There is even photographic proof.

I last wore my hair like this at school and, despite the fact that they look quite titchy and cute I am well aware that I am decades too old for this! 

My hair is sadly two-tone, and will need seeing to as soon as I can get an appointment with the hairdresser when we are finally allowed out and up close again. If that glad day ever dawns.

Meanwhile, a bit further up the hill we came across these two

Such lovely cheerful piggies. They did make us smile. 

Box Sets - Are you over them?

I've seen various references in the press and on social media to people complaining that they are 'totally over the box set thing', which I take to mean they have now watched all the box sets of programs which appeal to them and are now rather mardy about having 'nothing to do'. I may  be wrong, they may just have got fed up with sitting on the couch and are now looking for something else to do. Which, given how long we have been in lock down, would not be surprising. 

But what I want to know is - where have they found the time? In all these weeks I have managed to watch just one 'box set', and that wasn't streaming a multi season show, it was watching  DVDs of a thing called Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. This was made in 2006 and ran for one season only, so 22 episodes in total. It was created by Aaron Sorkin of The West Wing fame and starred Matthew Perry and Bradley Whitford. It was very very funny and I enjoyed watching it again. Since it was about a topical sketch show it has aged, but the central relationships and the wit still shone sharp and clear. I doubt if it is available to stream anywhere though. 

I suppose if the current situation goes on much longer  I might find time to learn how to stream and finally catch up with The West Wing itself, which people have been telling me for years was brilliant. Or I may just do a lot more reading. Time will tell. 

Lockdown Knitting - Small Things.

I have naturally been dong a lot of knitting in lockdown. There have been two large projects, both ongoing for different reasons and I'll maybe talk about those another day. But I find that what suits me just now is doing small things; using up wool and getting stuff finished. Here's a quick gallop round what I've made since the beginning of March.

This will go off to Knitting for Peace or the shoebox appeal at some stage. I can't believe how long I have had this wool in my stash. It came with us to Orkney in 2005, I know that much. 

The left overs were used for hats for Bonnie babies and a prem baby cannula sleeve .....

And having found some odd bits of blue cream and grey DK they became BB hats and cannula sleeves as well

I did nine of these red hats but forgot to take a picture of the other seven! It doesn't matter, as they all looked exactly the same. 

This was meant to use up some wool I bought in Australia many years ago. I'm pleased with how the hat came out, but wasn't so pleased that it only used 60% of the ball. I will have to do a smaller version to use up the rest at some stage. 

This hat and cowl set is for me and uses up some beautiful Malabrigo worsted weight sent to me by a friend in America. I am working on a pair of fingerless mitts to go with them to use up every last scrap. I never met a skein of Malabrigo yarn that I didn't like and their worsted is so soft and buttery, I love working with it. 

Random picture of one of the cats just to break it up for non-knitting readers! 

I picked up this ball of wool meaning to knit a pair of charity socks but then decided they would do for son no 1 at Christmas. Unlike his father and brother he does not like bright socks, but I decided these, even with the purple, would be sombre enough, especially as he is getting a bit Goth-y thes edays. 

This as also using up wool sent from America, and I cast it on when I needed something mindless to knit because other stuff was a bit too complex for doing in front of the TV. Again it didn't use up all the available yarn and I will do another in due course. 

And finally, for now, no prizes for guessing these were for the OH. 

There's also a baby jacket on the blocking boards, so all in all I don't think I've done so badly. 

One Stays, One Goes.

Doing jigsaw puzzles is a therapeutic thing for me. When there are too many things going on around me which I can't control then dong a jigsaw puzzle is great, because I am imposing order on chaos. Not surprising then that I've been turning to jigsaws more over the past few weeks. 

I have long thought that I should cull my collection and then impose a 'one in: one out' rule, because they are large and bulky things to store and if I don't do something I will run out of places to put them. Many of them I will never do again and so they could go either to our library, which recently established a collection of jigsaws to borrow, or to local charity shops. 

Lockdown seems a good time to make a start, and here are my two latest finished puzzles.

I finished this one in very little time yesterday. It's fun and it's staying. 

This one, on the other hand, is not fun and is not staying. When I got it out a couple of weeks ago the OH said 'You've done that one before' to which I replied 'I started it once before but gave up. This time I'm going to finish it'. (Because nothing says failure quite like being defeated by 1000 small pieces of cardboard)

And as you see I did finish it. It was a bit of a struggle and it has already gone to live in the spare room with some other things that are destined to be given away the moment life gets underway again. 

100 books to read poster Number 10

This.   Was.   Awful.

Really. Just don't go there. I lost about eight hours of my life listening to this garbage so that you wouldn't have to. What it is  doing on a 'books you should read list' I have no idea.

Tomorrow we'll aim for some positivity.