Busy Last Few Days
Not sure what happened to the last week, it kind of just disappeared in a sea of activity. In no particular order things I need to blog :
Albinism : The White Noise Show is an exciting new podcast series by best buddies Kristina and Sara, "Kristina is one of those “stay at home mummy” types and Sara is a super-duper pediatric physiotherapist. We have known each other for a very long 12 years and felt it was about time the Albinism community had a voice. So, welcome to our show, sometimes slightly irreverent and sometimes serious. We hope it reflects the light-hearted, frustrating, funny and annoying aspects of living with Albinism NB Both Sara and Kristina have OCA1 and are legally blind." If you get a chance to have listen, please do, these ladies have done a fantastic job with their first podcast and I am very much looking forward to more.
Books : over the last month I have read / listened to : Farewell To The East End by Jennifer Worth, "This final book in Jennifer Worth's memories of her time as a midwife in London's East end brings her story full circle. As always there are heartbreaking stories such as the family devastated by tuberculosis and a ship's woman who 'serviced' the entire crew, as well as plenty of humour and warmth, such as the tale of two women who shared the same husband! Other stories cover backstreet abortions, the changing life of the docklands, infanticide, as well as the lives of the inhabitants of Nonnatus House. We discover what happens with the gauche debutant Chummy and her equally gauche policeman; will Sister Monica Joan continue her life of crime?; will Sister Evangelina ever crack a smile? And what of Jennifer herself? The book not only details the final years of the tenements but also of Jennifer's journey as she moves on from the close community of nuns, and her life takes a new path."
The Rise & Fall of the Third Reich by William L Shirer all 57 hours and 13 minutes worth! its a full and compelling history of Nazi Germany, bit heavy going at first but something kept me hooked to the end.
Castle In the Forest by Norman Mailer
The Fry Chronicles by Stephen Fry
Cooking : Angelica has been loving cooking more and more elaborate meals by herself, she has been a true godsend for me over the last few days as she has cooked the entire family meal two nights in a row which freed up my time to get on with listing unwanted things and grown out of clothing on ebay. Today I am cooking my own recipe for savoury minced beef, roast potatoes, sage and onion stuffing, broccoli and yorkshire puddings oh and onion gravy. Its all smelling really lovely in the kitchen which is wafting through the house as I type this.
Dyeing Fibres : still no corriedale from my usual supplier, but a giant parcel of falkland, shropshire, shetland, merino and bluefaced leicester did arrive a few days ago despite the bank holidays messing everything up with the postal service. So the girls and I have been making colours outside in the garden which should be ready to use tomorrow. Watch out for a MHE Shop update next week. Today in preparation for the storage space needed to house the new freshly dyed and dry fibres next week, I put a few items on sale in the shop so hopefully they will go over the weekend and Angelica and I can sort out our storage chest to make space for the new fibres after photographing them.
Garden : Joseph has been very busy in the garden too these last few days. The sunshine has continued making last month the hottest April since records began. Everywhere is all neat and tidy now, beds prepared for the seeds and saved cuttings to be planted over the weekend, cant wait to see this lot growing, we have about twenty different varieties of salad leaves and lettuce half for natural dyes and half for eating, tomatoes and cherry tomatoes, pak choi, spinach, radishes, white mooli radish, beetroots, twelve different herbs, marigolds, busy lizzies, begonias, nasturtums, strawberries, cherry tree, plus all the things we already had growing which we enjoy eating, the garden is going to be very busy this year I can tell.
Hair : Imogen's hair is responding well to intensive treatments each evening, its not so brittle now and is starting to look lovely and springy instead. Her afro was running wild before, constantly getting matted and hurting her, the scalp was sore and dry all the time too which didnt help. Now with the help of Soft'n'Free before long she will have a gorgeous head of hair in good condition. She has been using the carrot oil cream conditioner as well with great results.
Health : no real health news to talk about, spoke to my doctor yesterday, got repeat prescriptions but other than that still waiting on the spinal surgeon to call me in. I did complain about it yesterday but couldnt really be bothered to argue as that requires energy which I really dont want to waste on things like that. Next week apparently I am getting called in for tests. Hmmm.
Kids : breastfeeding has almost finished, Harvey has only been suckling for less than a minute every other day. He keeps on getting very upset then cuddling, then he remembers the breast so its been difficult as he's been cranky as hell too. The pain killers have been cut down in half, I have elected to rest a lot more instead which does seem to be having an effect on my back which is a good thing I think. Not sitting on it at all helps immensely but is impractical.
Knitting, Loom-Knitting and Spinning : almost finished two whole balls of Sirdar / Hayfield Bonus DK on the secret uni present for Joseph, the Loom-a-Long of my pattern Vive la Différence! (loom knitted airy lace with individuality) is in full swing, lots of people have bought the pattern and have cast on, some are waiting to finish other projects before starting theirs but bought the pattern anyway. Actually I have been overwhelmed at the support and encouragement of other top designers with this one, I hope it is a huge hit with everyone, I am excitedly waiting for the photographs to start appearing. Spinning has been going very very slowly, frustratingly so. I cant sit still so its saddening me thinking about all that lovely fibre I 'need' to spin. Well ok I dont 'need' to spin I just so want to and its that which is making me feel frustrated. I know I'll get there but just want it to be sooner rather than later as I now have two ladies jumper designs in a nice curvy larger plus size which I want to publish.
Albinism : The White Noise Show is an exciting new podcast series by best buddies Kristina and Sara, "Kristina is one of those “stay at home mummy” types and Sara is a super-duper pediatric physiotherapist. We have known each other for a very long 12 years and felt it was about time the Albinism community had a voice. So, welcome to our show, sometimes slightly irreverent and sometimes serious. We hope it reflects the light-hearted, frustrating, funny and annoying aspects of living with Albinism NB Both Sara and Kristina have OCA1 and are legally blind." If you get a chance to have listen, please do, these ladies have done a fantastic job with their first podcast and I am very much looking forward to more.
Books : over the last month I have read / listened to : Farewell To The East End by Jennifer Worth, "This final book in Jennifer Worth's memories of her time as a midwife in London's East end brings her story full circle. As always there are heartbreaking stories such as the family devastated by tuberculosis and a ship's woman who 'serviced' the entire crew, as well as plenty of humour and warmth, such as the tale of two women who shared the same husband! Other stories cover backstreet abortions, the changing life of the docklands, infanticide, as well as the lives of the inhabitants of Nonnatus House. We discover what happens with the gauche debutant Chummy and her equally gauche policeman; will Sister Monica Joan continue her life of crime?; will Sister Evangelina ever crack a smile? And what of Jennifer herself? The book not only details the final years of the tenements but also of Jennifer's journey as she moves on from the close community of nuns, and her life takes a new path."
The Rise & Fall of the Third Reich by William L Shirer all 57 hours and 13 minutes worth! its a full and compelling history of Nazi Germany, bit heavy going at first but something kept me hooked to the end.
Castle In the Forest by Norman Mailer
The Fry Chronicles by Stephen Fry
Cooking : Angelica has been loving cooking more and more elaborate meals by herself, she has been a true godsend for me over the last few days as she has cooked the entire family meal two nights in a row which freed up my time to get on with listing unwanted things and grown out of clothing on ebay. Today I am cooking my own recipe for savoury minced beef, roast potatoes, sage and onion stuffing, broccoli and yorkshire puddings oh and onion gravy. Its all smelling really lovely in the kitchen which is wafting through the house as I type this.
Dyeing Fibres : still no corriedale from my usual supplier, but a giant parcel of falkland, shropshire, shetland, merino and bluefaced leicester did arrive a few days ago despite the bank holidays messing everything up with the postal service. So the girls and I have been making colours outside in the garden which should be ready to use tomorrow. Watch out for a MHE Shop update next week. Today in preparation for the storage space needed to house the new freshly dyed and dry fibres next week, I put a few items on sale in the shop so hopefully they will go over the weekend and Angelica and I can sort out our storage chest to make space for the new fibres after photographing them.
Garden : Joseph has been very busy in the garden too these last few days. The sunshine has continued making last month the hottest April since records began. Everywhere is all neat and tidy now, beds prepared for the seeds and saved cuttings to be planted over the weekend, cant wait to see this lot growing, we have about twenty different varieties of salad leaves and lettuce half for natural dyes and half for eating, tomatoes and cherry tomatoes, pak choi, spinach, radishes, white mooli radish, beetroots, twelve different herbs, marigolds, busy lizzies, begonias, nasturtums, strawberries, cherry tree, plus all the things we already had growing which we enjoy eating, the garden is going to be very busy this year I can tell.
Hair : Imogen's hair is responding well to intensive treatments each evening, its not so brittle now and is starting to look lovely and springy instead. Her afro was running wild before, constantly getting matted and hurting her, the scalp was sore and dry all the time too which didnt help. Now with the help of Soft'n'Free before long she will have a gorgeous head of hair in good condition. She has been using the carrot oil cream conditioner as well with great results.
Health : no real health news to talk about, spoke to my doctor yesterday, got repeat prescriptions but other than that still waiting on the spinal surgeon to call me in. I did complain about it yesterday but couldnt really be bothered to argue as that requires energy which I really dont want to waste on things like that. Next week apparently I am getting called in for tests. Hmmm.
Kids : breastfeeding has almost finished, Harvey has only been suckling for less than a minute every other day. He keeps on getting very upset then cuddling, then he remembers the breast so its been difficult as he's been cranky as hell too. The pain killers have been cut down in half, I have elected to rest a lot more instead which does seem to be having an effect on my back which is a good thing I think. Not sitting on it at all helps immensely but is impractical.
Knitting, Loom-Knitting and Spinning : almost finished two whole balls of Sirdar / Hayfield Bonus DK on the secret uni present for Joseph, the Loom-a-Long of my pattern Vive la Différence! (loom knitted airy lace with individuality) is in full swing, lots of people have bought the pattern and have cast on, some are waiting to finish other projects before starting theirs but bought the pattern anyway. Actually I have been overwhelmed at the support and encouragement of other top designers with this one, I hope it is a huge hit with everyone, I am excitedly waiting for the photographs to start appearing. Spinning has been going very very slowly, frustratingly so. I cant sit still so its saddening me thinking about all that lovely fibre I 'need' to spin. Well ok I dont 'need' to spin I just so want to and its that which is making me feel frustrated. I know I'll get there but just want it to be sooner rather than later as I now have two ladies jumper designs in a nice curvy larger plus size which I want to publish.