# Wordless Wednesday
Maybe they should have gone to Spec Savers……
So what am I going to do….
It was a beautiful sunny day last Friday so B and I had coffee outside a local cafe and ‘caught up’ with things we hadn’t spoken about on the phone. It always amazes me that we can talk on the phone quite frequently and still find things to discuss in person 😊
‘So what am I going to do’ I asked her.
‘It’s been a b*gger of a week’ I said!
Just one of those weeks when it seemed as though the whole world was out to get me……one tiny piece at a time.
The internet has been playing up – it’s been so slow it’s obviously playing somewhere but definitely not in our house. The ISP says they don’t know what the problem is, maybe changing to the NBN might help except The Golfer is still holding out on that one.
The ironing board wouldn’t stay up so I had to resort to doing a few necessary bits Mother in Law style on the kitchen bench.
The Golfers mother always ironed on the table – using a thick blanket, the sheets she’d laundered that week with a very large piece of towelling on the top. Back then she ironed everything – including my F in Laws white cotton Y fronts!
We couldn’t remember the last time we’d had so much summer rain – the promised La Niña has been making itself known with flooding in states north of Victoria….the rivers are certainly running up there. In Melbourne we’ve had lots of wet days – some very humid – along with some rather nice ones (hot even) but not enough to say it’s the way summer usually is. The BOM is suggesting it’s reached its peak but it’s still going to be wet for the rest of the season over here in the east of Australia. With nearly 6 weeks of summer gone I suppose all we can hope for is a lovely sunny dry Autumn come March.
And that’s the reason for the white fly I discovered on one of the Fuchsias ☹️
As I’m not a pesticide user it means treating with diluted dishwashing liquid.
Which meant another trip to the big green barn for a new spray bottle.
And then there was the embarrassment (annoyance more like) of discovering after sewing two ‘side seams’ I’d actually sewn a sleeve to the back of a little cardigan…..something I don’t ever remember doing before. I did wonder why there were more rows of green above the last white stripe but thought …..maybe I’d miscounted the rows and knit a couple more than needed. Rustle around in the bag for the next piece and out popped the front and not the expected sleeve. Grrr!
‘Come on B help me out here’ was my plea.
‘My usual relaxation isn’t working……the lie down, tense and release each part of the body, quieten the mind and then breathe one. The one from old yoga days. I need something else.’
I’ll have to admit I have never practiced meditation but B has suggested something called ‘loving kindness meditation’. She ‘thinks’ a lot of my irritability/stress is to do with my sister’s illness and basically by quietly sending/reinforcing loving thoughts to her and myself things should in time get better.
And now here…as I’m enjoying an early cup of tea…..is where I have a question for you.
Have any of you had experience with this practice?
is it as simple a process as she suggested or is it difficult to accomplish?
I can see lots of reading and y/tube watching coming up as I consider it but look, any recommendations from you are welcome. Help me out readers please
Joining Corinne for this weeks Monday Musings – sharing thoughts with others.
Joining Denyse for the latest edition of Life this Week.
Joining Esme at her Senior Salon
When our boys were little
They slept in bunk beds like these.
Plain and simple with a ladder at one end
No modular rounded corners.
No, you go this way and I’ll go that way
No drawers, book shelves or boxy steps
No roofs (rooves ?) on top or make believe houses
And definitely no playground equipment
Cute as they may look…..no barn doors – gates – or windows complete with greenery
BECAUSE.
There’s no way Catherine could have made up the top bunk.
As it was I struggled
Resorting to standing on the lower bed heads then lifting the mattress to hook the fitted sheets over the ends. Whichever boy was on top that night lugged their doona up with them
Short of having hired help do it for them
Could somebody tell me
How on earth normal people (aka mothers) change those sheets?
(Click/tap on the photos to enlarge for a better view)
Fun Friday – the day you forget the worries of the week.
I think we all deserve a smile at the moment 😊
Down the rabbit hole….
I know what started it……middle of last year (2020), little internet messages between sisters. ‘Do you remember this….when we did this’ backed up by photos floating through the airwaves (or whatever you call what the internet runs on). Thoughts on what we inherited from our mum….I got the knitting gene…..middle sister got the sewing machine gene….and little sister joked and said, all she gave me was her arthritis. Which sent us into fits of ‘LOLs’ because we all inherited it in one place or another. Them in both hips, me in my spine and little brother in his knees.
Feeding the pigeons in Trafalgar Square 1954 – we ( just we three girls then plus mum….baby brother was there but not in person….yet) were on our way to Germany. Dad was there already, he’d been posted weeks before, so we made our way with lots of other service families on a very old ship across the North Sea from Harwich to Hook of Holland and then by train to RAF Wunstorf.
This photo of little sister’s beret shows mum’s love of fair isle knitting, something I enjoy as well. I’ve never attempted to knit a beret, wouldn’t it be a good project to take on I thought. Maybe even try to reproduce one like little sister’s. No pattern in my pile so off I go the source of all things knitting (preferably free if you know the right way to ask)…..yes, I changed my name to Alice…..which incidentally was my mother’s and my gt grandmother’s name, ……and made my way down the rabbit hole of the WWW.
I came up trumps with this pattern (pictured on the right) but it’s in 3ply so saved it for another day, however the site itself (Vintage Knitting Pattern Archive) is a fantastic source of free vintage patterns.
Another find was this picture of a very unhappy looking little boy wearing a really good looking fair isle style jumper/sweater similar to some I’d made for my children…….if you’re interested the pattern is here…. A Boys Jumper.
Look what came to light this past weekend when I sorted out some WsIP I’d tucked away in favour of doing something else. So enthused at the time by how easy the pattern ( as in the colour work stitches) appeared to be (and actually turned out to be) I’d started on it there and then, finishing the back and a sleeve before putting it to one side. Even though I like the distinct sharpness of the suggested red, white and blue on the cover and knowing I have no control of wherever it goes and to whom, I feel the softer colours will make it suitable for both girls and boys whatever their circumstances.
Looking at the wrong side you can see that like traditional fair isle there’s only two colours to each row, short breaks between each colour meaning short strands. And I tried to have the same colour on the top as I went along the row.
So when I get around to giving some attention to those half finished projects I think this little jumper will be the first cab off the rank.
First book for this year will be A Month of Sundays- Liz Byrski. Four women who have only seen each other on screen during their monthly online book club sessions decide to spend some time together …in person…at a property in the Blue Mountains. A soft read, with lots of tears, revelations and decisions coming up I think.
Unravelled Wednesday hosted by Kat is here at As Kat Knits. Lots of knitting and reading to see there.
When does it happen….
This is going to be a bit of a ramble so you’ll have to bear with me as I gather my thoughts together.
What I’m wondering is when do your children decide they are the parents and you are the child?
Did my daughters make a conscious decision to change roles…they were to be my surrogate mothers – I was now their daughter. How long did it take them to consider it. Did they have to think about it or has it been happening slowly …just below the surface ….and I’m only just noticing it.
Before Christmas we drove further east to Woori Yallock, to see a grandson’s ‘new’ house, his first house. One he’s saved hard for since he first started work, in fact right from his first ‘after school job’ in the local supermarket when he decided to deposit some of his pay into a designated ‘house account’ Now aged 25 that decision has paid off.
Anyway there were little ‘remarks’ from one of the girls as I went up to the high part of the back garden with its great view of the Yarra Ranges
“Be careful of the steps Mum, we don’t want you tripping.”
Someone called out to me while we were up…..of course I didn’t catch what they said.
”Mum, I reminded you to put your ‘ears’ in, did you do that.
Have you got your hearing aids in”
Then there were the ‘instructions ‘ on how to care for the lovely little succulent garden given to me at Christmas by the other girl. “They are so easy to look after Mum, especially for people of your age bracket”. “If you like I’ll explain slowly how you can get new plants from the older ones”
I was a little taken aback by that but did have a little smile at her new found hobby – role reversal of daughter talking to mother like you would a child…..didn’t like to remind her I’d been growing them for more years than I can remember and they’re not ‘just succulents’ but have names that I know ……..when I can remember them😊
(Of course, thinking about how hard a year it was for us all, maybe my girls had been good at covering up their feelings but subconsciously became tetchy with everyone …..including me.)
I mentioned the other day I had no ‘word ‘ chosen for this New Year……at the moment I’m seriously thinking about using consider – to think about. Thinking about it there’s lots of things I have to consider this year – so much to deliberate on – talk about- but as it’s only the first Monday of January I’ll reflect on it at another time.
First things first – I feel the need for another cup of tea coming on 😊
Have you come up with a word/ thought/saying to deliberate on…
Or is it all balderdash to you??
Joining Corinne for this weeks Monday Musings – sharing thoughts with others.
Joining Denyse for the latest edition of Life this Week
Still Waters 