Tell the bees

I received some Scottish honey as a gift from Dancin' Fool, and the package contained this lovely piece of folk wisdom:

"Since ancient times, honey has been valuable to man. Such was the importance of this food, that when people learned how to keep bees in hives close to their homes, they sought to encourage them to stay, including them in their family by telling them any vital bits of domestic news, such as a new baby, a death or a marriage. Failure to pass on these messages would inevitably result in the bees becoming offended and flying off, thus depriving the family of one of nature's luxuries."

I liked this little story, and so I have decided to share with the bees the 10 highlights of my summer. This is also a way for me to reinforce the positive aspects of the summer, and create a happy memory of this time.

1. Exploring smugglers caves on the East Yorkshire coast and watching puffins fly overhead to and from their nesting places on the cliffs.

2. Playdates and daytrips with my little chap and his friends to Ashby Castle, Snibston discovery park, Tales of Robin Hood.

3. Watching little chap "drive" a tractor for the first time on his uncle's farm in Ireland.

4. Hearing of my step son's success in his GCSEs and knowing he can now go to college to do his chosen course.

5. Having picnic lunches in the garden under the apple tree with my little chap and taking it in turns to make up summer poems.

6. Watching little chap learn to ride his bike without his stabilisers, and then getting him a new bigger bike as a treat. Seeing his joy at this step in independence.

7. Feeling the love that my fella showed when he made a 200 mile round trip to be with me for an hour one evening when I had received bad news.

8. Being taken under the wing of the wife of one of our Irish cousins and having her take me out for a girly day.

9. "Being there" for my friend's family after their sudden bereavement, and showing them love and support.

10. Supporting two local 11 year old entrepreneurs who were offering a car wash and valeting service so that they could save up to attend a modellers' fare, and feeling impressed by their get up and go and determination.

On the craft side, I have almost completed the bag I am making for the Irish cousin's wife as a thankyou for the day out, I have also ordered some had spun and hand dyed silk yarn to make a scarf for a friend, and have begun a lacy mohair scarf for another of the Irish cousins to thank them for having us to stay. Pictures of these will follow soon.

I have also been tagged by Dancin' Fool, so I am about to follow that up and see what it involves.

It's good to blog again, I am glad I waited until it felt right.

And still it rained!

This is now our 8th week of rainy weather here... I know because we are going on holiday to Yorkshire on Saturday, and 7 weeks ago we we were having a wet time at the Lincolnshire coast after already having endured a wet week at home! So, you can imagine that packing is a conundrum: wellies and woollies or sunhat and suncream?


Last Saturday we had a wonderful time. Little chap was staying with his grandparents (an having a great time might I add. He could not wait to get rid of me!), and we saw an ad in the local paper for a show on at our local theatre... and so we went... and became acquainted with the Spooky Men...

In their own words:

" It is not possible to state when the existence of the Spooky Men first came to light . Early settlers in the Blue Mountains reported attacks on livestock and evidence of scats and the occasional pawprint. It is only in recent years that sceptics have been disabused of the notion that the Spooky Men's Chorale is the stuff of fanciful legend.


The Spooky Men come down from the Mountains like a wolf on the fold. Forged in the red-hot cauldron of Georgian table singing, where anvil strikes bread and like their brothers of old they raise the morning sun with uplifted arms, their ecumenical embrace now extends to songs Paulian and Johnian. They sing paeans in praise of hardware yet are unafraid to face the existential angst that stares up at them from the debris of breakfast. In confronting the big questions facing men today (are they not pretty enough?), the Spooky Men strike while the irony is hot."


They were brilliant! A 20 or so string band of Ozzy a cappella folk singers with the odd comical send up too! A great night out. You can hear some of their tracks on their website, and they are currently doing a UK tour - well worth trying to get along.


The stash busting continues, and the count of little woolly hats for the Big Knit challenge is growing. I have also made a neck warmer and 2 hats for the OCC boxes. I am pleased with this progress considering it is the school holidays. Today I took little chap to the park, and he has now mastered riding his bike including starting, stopping, turning corners, and rising at speed through muddy puddles! He is feeling very pleased with himself, and I am tempted to think that this milestone has been aided by a reverse Samson effect (i.e. I have cut off all his hair for a cooler, easier summertime coiffure).


I have packed some yarn to take on holiday, and my paper and pencils, and a good book. However usually there is no time left for any of those pursuits. We are looking forward to visiting Dracula's landing place in the UK, some Moorland walking ("stick to the paths"), proper fish and chips, and a trip over the Humber Bridge on the way. "See" you when we get back!

Another hat

I have been busy knitting little woolly hats for the Big Knit challenge, and have also finished a full scale hat for myself. This is a felted cloche hat from a kit given to me by Monica as part of SP10. I'm really pleased with it... the colour, the shape and the overall amount of felting (quite lightly felted). Given the refusal of the British summer to arrive, I am looking forward to taking this on my holiday to Whitby in a couple of weeks.

In other parts of life... little chap has been in his first school play! He was a wiggly bee, with a very cute group song and dance routine. I have the play on video, so family members who read this can look forward to seeing the performance soon. He was very proud of his role and took it all very seriously. It was part of a key stage one (important newish UK teaching milestone) celebration day and the tone of the day was very nice. 3 years' pupils took part in the play (reception, year 1 and year 2) with the older pupils having the speaking parts and the younger ones singing, dancing and playing instruments. The play was called Honey and is about the workings of a hive, so it was educational too. I am very pleased that our school encourages all areas of development - there are lots of good lessons to be learned from working together to perform a play. This week the older years (key stage 2) do their play, including a performance to the senior citizens of the town who visit from a couple of the local day centres and care homes - so there is important community involvement too.

The school summer holidays start on Friday, so I am aware that my time for crafts and blogging might be hard to find for the next few weeks. Little chap and I have made a list of summer holiday activities we want to do, this includes learning a song on the recorder so that we can perform it by the end of the summer. Little chap is keen on putting on a "concert" for his Dad! I ordered a couple of recorders from Amazon, and was amazed to find they still sell the recorder book that I learned from at school back in 1972!!!!! I don't imagine we will set our sights much higher than twinkle twinkle little star, but I think it will be a good summer holiday achievement.

I have also finished sanding down the old oak stairs in our house, ready for the arrival of my newly ordered handwoven jute stair runner, which should come around the end of the month. The hall redecoration is now on the home stretch with the stairs sorted (pending fitting) and new (low energy) light fittings ordered. We have also hung or recently acquired collection of mirrors, and this weekend will also rehang other decorative pieces such as my collection of fish plates.

As I don't imagine I will get much painting done over the summer, I decided to unearth an old hobby and gave my clarinet an airing this morning. It took a while to get to grips with it again, and an effective and reliable embroucher still evades me, so I am prone to the odd ear piercing squeak. I have found a local teacher, however, so I shall enquire about some lessons for September time. A neighbour of mine plays the saxophone, and I hear him practising as I walk back from dropping little chap at school. At present he is trying to master Habanero, so as you can imagine, it puts a spring in my step!

I have just been given a leaflet for the knitting and stitching show at the NEC in September. I am very tempted to try to go. I'll look into it a bit more.

Can you guess what it is?

OK! Here is a bit of fun... this is a picture of what my two boys bought my husband for Father's Day. Can you guess what it is?

I will make a knitted flower brooch for the first complete, accurate and correct answer, or the most original and amusing suggestion received by Fri 29th June!

Black Dog

For the past month I seem to have been in a bit of a dark place. I have not felt at peace nor at full energy. I can't put my finger on it, and there is nothing tangibly wrong. As the feeling is not seeming to go away on its own, I have decided to grab the bull by the horns and focus on all the good things that have happened over the past month, and there have been quite a few! So, please excuse this somewhat indulgent post of personal newsy "stuff". One of the things that has helped shake me out of the doldrums has been some lovely comments I have received on my blog... words of encouragement and friendship. Thank you to Monika, Nephele, Dancin' Fool and Covered in Yarn.

For the past 5 weeks my elder (step) son has been doing his GCSEs (school leaving exams). He visits us every second weekend, and we have been rallying round to help him with his revision - taking turns to work through revision papers with him, and discussing various aspects of his subjects over dinner etc. This has been such a rewarding time, as we have seen him put immense effort in during these periods, and we have benefited from some moments of real closeness with him. A treasured memory for me will now always be the afternoon he and I spent studying poetry together, and discussing what we felt and perceived in the various passages he has had to study. His last exam is this coming Friday, and I look forward to seeing such a large weight lifted from him. He would like to go on to college to do an engineering based vocational course - something like car mechanics. I think a practical course such as this would suit him.

My little chap has also had some significant educational moments over the past month. We had his first formal school report, and a parents evening, and received glowing feedback about his personality, and his diligence in his studies. We also had sports day where he came 3rd in the running race, and also participated in the beanbag race and ball race. I am a very proud Mum! I was very impressed by how the school ran the sports day - all the children seemed genuinely pleased to take part, and there were lots and lots of parents there to cheer them on and support them. Given the worrying statistics on childhood obesity in the UK (currently 1 in 4 children classed as obese), I was very pleased to see how "lean" the school seemed, and this impression was backed up a few weeks ago when I volunteered to help out on a school trip, and so was able to see first hand what most children ate for their packed lunch. Although there were more crisps and sweets in many packed lunches, I was pleased at the healthy sandwiches I saw, and the amount of fresh fruit, and the healthy life style taught and encouraged by the school. I have a great interest in food, cooking and nutrition, and in some of my madder moments, I have considered putting together a healthy eating course aimed at parents of children under 11. I am lucky t have two boys who are very good eaters, and who are mostly happy to try new things and eat a good range of fruit and vegetables.

We also took part in little chap's school summer fete. This is the major fundraising event of the year, and all proceeds are currently going towards regenerating the school playgrounds with new sports court markings, game areas, play equipment, storage, seating, shelter and the like. We have a target of £10,000 and the fete raised £1400. We ran a stall at the fete. It was a bean bag target game. We made a large target with 5 holes and decorated it, and the children had to throw beanbags at it, and score more than 90 points to win a prize. We raised £48 which equates to 96 visits to our stall. We had the local radio station do a broadcast from the fete, and they sent their mascot "Oakey Bear" to open the fete and entertain the children. It was a lovely day, and the sun shone, and lots of fun was had by all.

In the middle of all this was my wedding anniversary. Somehow we didn't manage to get out together this year - first year that hasn't happened. One year for our wedding anniversary we booked a baby sitter and went and had a grown up picnic on a craggy hill, and one year my husband booked us back into the hotel where we had our wedding reception and we had a VERY POSH 7 course gourmet meal! So, not doing anything this year sounds bad, but we have booked two summer holidays - a week in Yorkshire in a cottage just a skip away from the cliffs and a lighthouse. I feel a few Bronte moments coming on! And the second holiday in Ireland (husband's homeland) as part of a family reunion. So we have special times coming up.

By now you must be wondering why I have been feeling down when life has been full of so many good things - and to be honest so have I. And it just gets better, as tomorrow I am going to the local art college degree show (fine art, ceramics, jewellery, furniture and textiles!!!) with two very good friends of mine. I cannot wait to immerse myself in the talent and beauty of the local art college and their students, and also spend time with good friends.

You know, I feel a lot better already. Counting your blessings may seem like a very old fashioned thing to do, but it's also a good barometer for life.

Everything stops for tea

... and the odd piece of freelance work. Last week flew by in a whirl as I was working on a user interface design project for an educational company I do work for every now and then. The project was to design a website that teachers could use to analyse and report on the results of class tests that they had set. It's a lot more interesting than it sounds, honestly... I really enjoyed the week, However, it meant there was little time for anything else, least of all blogging.


However, looking back on it, there has been a lot happening... and there is plenty to tell.


I'll start off by mentioning the trip on the local heritage steam railway that my extended family took the weekend before last. It was a great day to commemorate my Mum and Dad's Ruby wedding anniversary. 7 of us made the trip and then went for a leisurely meal. I could describe it in detail, but this has been done very well already by bowledover, with a beautiful picture supplied by dancinfool.


I have finished knitting (but not blocking or sewing up) the shrug from the Ironstone wool my secret pal sent me (thank you again secret pal). I have promised myself to finish it completely this weekend, but here is a sneak view of the colours.... lovely.



I also assembled and posted my second parcel to my secret pal, which includes some lovely artisan spun and dyed wool and silk blend yarn with enticing names. I hope she likes it. I can't show pictures of that yet... but would love to.


In the evenings, I have been avidly reading Alan Alda's autobiography which my sister kindly send me as a surprise last month.




It's very entertaining, and reminds me fondly of the days when I loved to watch MASH, treating every line as deep insight into life, and hero worshipping the character Hawkeye Pierce. So, if you're looking, sis, this is for you:



...and this is for me ;-)




My little chap has made a new friend at school. The new friend (Harry) is round here tonight for tea, and the boys are playing happily with many giggles. Rather endearingly, they are taking it turns to pretend to be a dog in a pet shop, who the other comes and buys! Even sweeter, they were both caught calling me "Mrs. Mummy"!! It was Harry's birthday at the weekend, and he had a great 5 year olds' party including soft play area and face painting. Here's my little chap doing a great Tiger.



As if that weren't all, we are still decorating our hallway and stairs. The patterned wall paper is going up on the contrast walls. So 2 days this week have been dedicated to papering. Here's the paper. I love it. Bold yet simple and (hopefully) elegant. It makes the hall look so much wider and brighter (the main walls are plain cream).


Finally, everyone has a favourite portent of Spring, and mine is newly opened beech leaves. I love the fact that the tree keeps all its dead leaves all winter, and the one day they all drop off overnight, and the next day the beech buds are unfurling, all tender, furry and such a beautiful colour.

Rally thrill - 99/100!!

Aside from craft pursuits this Easter, yesterday I had a very exciting time going rally driving (a "red letter" experience day treat that I received for my birthday). It was GREAT!!! The event was really close to us at Prestwold Hall. We drove a subaru road car for the familiarisation laps, and then a truly awesome Mitsubishi 4WD Evolution V for the real laps. I had the most fabulous time, and my instructor scored me 99/100 on my score card and wrote "brilliant drive - excellent control and good speed." I am obviously quite thrilled at that.


It was such a great treat... I'd go again right now! I was really nervous the night before, and during the lining up and checking in, but then when I met the other people in my little group, we all got on really well. Our instructor (John) was very patient and made it clear that what he really wanted was for us all to enjoy the experience. He gave us instruction before the driving, and during it, as he sat next to each of us and gave us a running commentary, encouragement and instructions.


Here's a picture of my driver assessment card of which I am very proud (my husband, who is a 'see-a-bubble-pop-it' kind of guy, said that of course they mark everyone high to keep them happy... but even so I am happy!!!!!!).



The bottom box was the first drive I did (after the familiarisation laps driven by the instructor). This was in a Subaru Impreza (hubby was jealous at this point!). You drive 4 laps of a 1 1/2 mile track which has 32 bends per lap including 2 great chicanes!!


For this session my instructor wrote " Good drive. Nice control. Work on Acceleration:Deceleration all round. 96/100".


Then I got to drive 4 laps in the Mitsubishi 4WD Evolution V (see picture!!!!).





For this session (middle box) my instructor wrote: "Brilliant Drive. Good speed and control, working in line all round with braking. Clean Run. Well Done. 99/100"


It was absolutely great!!!!!!!! For anyone who might fancy trying this now... here is the link.

Mother's Day

Why 3 posts today? Because I can!!

I had a wonderful day on Sunday. My husband, step son and son all spoiled me for mother's day.
I was cooked a breakfast of smoked trout and scrambled egg on bagel.

I was given a picture of a vase of flowers and homemade pasta brooch from my 5 year old, a card and bunch of flowers from my 16 year old, and a Sanctuary incense set from my husband.

Then they took me to an art gallery to see an exhibition I had wanted to see: Matisse to Freud - A Critics Choice. This is the collection of film critic Alexander Walker from the London Evening Standard which he bequeathed to the British Museum, and which is currently touring the country. The collection is a series of modern prints and drawings reflecting the major tendencies of British and American art movements from the 1960s onwards, and contextualised by a small number of early 20th century modernist pieces by artists like Picasso and Matisse. I had a wonderful time looking at them, and found some to be very inspiring, while others were just baffling.

Then home for a roast lamb dinner cooked by my husband.

What a wonderful day. I am very lucky.

Half term mayhem

This week has been half term... and it has been mad! Little chap started his week off from school with 2 1/2 days soaring temperature and non-descript virus type symptoms. We spent time doing art and craft projects, including some plaster of paris moulds of "monster trucks" which he painted, and attached to friction drive wheel bases.... lots of fun.

When he felt a bit better we went to a local theme park for the under 12s. It's a great place, not least because there are plenty of opportunities for parents to be big kids too. Our favourite ride is the bumper boats. These are like huge tractor tyres with an out-board motor that you ride on a boating lake. The aim of the game is to bump each other, and if you get the bow wave just right, give each other a good splash! The best thing is that for the 10 minutes that you are out on the lake, everyone becomes playground pals, and there is fun, laughter and banter freely flowing between dads, mums, sons, daughters and across all different ages. It is completely rejuvenating.

We also went to a local museum, where there was a temporary exhibition on the holocaust, persecution and genocide. I know it doesn't sound like a place to take a 5 year old, but there were beautiful, if haunting, pictures of people of all races, creeds and social situation, along with slogans promoting understanding and condemning prejudice. So my little chap and I sat on the bench and talked about not being fearful of people who seem different, but taking the opportunity to get to know them and understand the things that are different between their lives and ours. So it turned into a lovely positive moment, aided by a beautiful picture of an African boy of 4 or 5 years in age pulling a toy string on a car ... something boys across the world love to do.

I have not done much in the way of art or craft this week. Despite having a mega Amazon session and buying "one skein wonders", "Yeah, I made it myself" AND "alternacrafts"... so inspiration abounds, and I am looking forward to some "caged minutes" next week. This will, however, have to do battle with the need to finish some painting (of the redecorating kind) in the hallway, this quarter's VAT return, and another practice run at book keeping with the ultimate aim of producing a perfectly formed Trial Balance!!!! Oh! And Spring is coming, so the garden beckons with increasing urgency!

2006 reviewed

I was transferring birthday dates and other important stuff from lat year's calendar to this year's and had the idea of picking out a few key happenings from each month of 2006. It gave me an interesting perspective on last year:

January
Mum came to stay for a few days - first opportunity for her to spend any length of time with her grandson since she retired.
Birthday meal out at a local swanky restaurant (Gray Lady) - very difficult to find your way through the forest in fog!
Participated in a 2 week radio listening survey.
Commenced 3rd year of volunteering for local toy library.

February
2nd course of MMR imms for little boy - and same old worries about reactions.
Took little boy to local magic lantern show - old photos of local scenes.
Attended consulting course in Berkshire - remembered what my old life used to be like.

March
Joined the committee of the PTA for my little boy's school.
Took son and step-son for professional photographs in local photographer's studio (to commemorate the year of starting school and also GCSE year) - very pleased with result.
Little chap stopped attending day nursery (1 day a week).

April
Family holiday in Jersey.
Little boy started school part time.

May
Helped out at plant sale at school.
Attended Oaks country fair (annual tradition) - held in beautiful series of fields on a hillside - closest thing I have come to "Little House on the Prairie".

June
Manned the "pick a pot" stall at school summer fete.
Attended school sports day (did not take part in the mothers' race!).
Held a book party.
Launched blog site.
Small work project with educational software company.

July
Local carnival.
Mother, son and Aunty seaside holiday in caravan in Mablethorpe Lincolnshire.

August
Major design project for educational software company.
Attended local summer event including excavating dinosaur bones from giant sandpits.
Father taken seriously ill and in hospital for 1 week.
Husband and step-son on 2 week scientific expedition to Slovakia.

September
Grandmother dies - attend funeral.
Little chap starts school full time (difficult first couple of weeks).

October
Family trip to Legoland.
Small scale reunion with 2 old work chums.
Attended fashion and embroidery exhibition in Harrogate.

November
Little chap attends first school-chum birthday party.
Take son and friend to local church Christmas Fair.
Fireworks at local pub as community event not held this year.

December
Parents evening - good feedback on little chap's progress.
Small design project for educational software company.
Community carol service.
Family Christmas party.
Short break in Chester including a sunny hour on the beach in Prestatyn.