hazeljoy

twice / no further on

 

 

 

 

 

ps. still on with the challenge. not bought a notion, a pattern or scrap of fabric since before christmas last year

stripe.

somewhere.

...

today has smelled of bonfires.

i can't seem to settle

october is in full swing. it's my favourite month. this year, though, it appears to have come on out of nowhere. it crept up silently following in august's shadow and jumped out from behind september's shoulder without warning. "rarrrrrrgh. i'm here!" well, hello october.

and in with it, october has brought the chill. dipping temperatures, darker days, rainy times. all cosy times, all times that remind me, with all the subtlety of a brick in the face, that i'm on my own. meh. double meh.
but i'm alright.

the speed at which things are changing this year struck me on sunday. driving up and down the m1, to and from my parents' house, i see a lot of the same countryside. the same tree lined sections of motorway that were once green and growing are now orange and falling. a little over a week ago, i made the same journey and it seemed that all the leaves were waving, enjoying the brightness of the light. now they lie by the roadside, nesting together.

cold and cosy equal one thing to me, and that's sleep. and wanting, nay, needing, to sleep is my excuse for not doing anything. i'm behind with work, my house isn't coming along very quickly and i have a very "blah" attitude towards it all. worse still, i have a dress to make. a dress for a wedding. this wedding, in fact. motivation's what i need (that and a lack of distraction, hmm). someone to stand over me and cheer me on. to make sure i'm doing it. give me a gentle jab in the side when i get off track. anyone interested in the role? i'll make you hot beverages as payment.. (what an offer, eh?)

and soon, soon it'll be november. october will have been and gone for another year, skulking out as quickly as it crept in. and then, that's when the fun will really begin. 

need to make another quilt. and a curtain.

and onwards to autumn..

yikes
the year is really flying by. much like the days of the summer holiday did, the weeks of this year are speeding past at a rate of knots.

i still haven't purchased any fabric. i must confess that i have been given just a small amount, but this doesn't really break the rules i don't think (it was inherited when my parents' friend passed away), but you can be the judge of that.

i have decided on purple/grey tiles for my kitchen. and tiles aside, it is completely finished. at last. and i love it. i love how well it has been designed and how much care went into its installation (thank you, dad). i love how much it is mine, all mine. it feels great.
i don't love having to do all the washing up, mind you... 

the other day (in an effort to avoid work) i painted a wall in my living room. gooseberry fool number 5, in case you were wondering. it's very grey/green and very neutral. in the light it takes on mellow, warm tones. in the shade it becomes tranquil and soft. perfect.
what is not perfect, is that i think my sofa aggravates my asthma. any suggestions.. would a cover help?

my garden is getting there too. the passionflowers continue to bloom and the fruit continues to grow. other plants get taller and fatter, appreciative of the rain. my hanging baskets show the signs of my excellent summer, though, and have suffered from neglect. maybe now is the time to replant, what shall i put in for autumn?

well hello

alright? how are you?

the return to school is taking it right out of me right now. which is not really a surprise - i'm done with the quinsy (and the antibiotics!), but they said it would take a couple of months to feel normal again. what is normal? full energy.. the ability to concentrate.. feeling motivated.. i guess that's what they mean. maybe i'll get to posting here more too. who knows?

i've noticed this time of year has hit quite a few people in a similar way - the weather, a new school run, the lack of light.. i could go on, but you lovelies know who you are. it makes me want to hibernate, to dress for the winter, to stay indoors and to wrap up warm. and to help me with that, i have ordered these from this lovely lady - i'll be toasty-warm before you know it..

but then, the other evening, i saw this and it made me feel a little brighter..

stunning / ATTENTION ALL KNITTERS

i opened up flickr today and saw this in the 'my contacts' section. 

stunning, yes?

do check out these photos - they look amazing, especially at large size. ah, the beautifully captured golden light... i love the way the appearance of the clouds is altered by the changing light as the sun sets.

(all images by tilly flop)

ps. ATTENTION ALL KNITTERS - check out these very clever cards..

i say yo so much more than i really should (i am not fifteen, and nor is it the 1980s), maybe instead now i should say yarn over..

gratefully received.

i have been ill. really ill. apparently, i had tonsillitis around 2 weeks ago (i say apparently, because i thought i had a very sore throat). last sunday, it started to get a bit worse.

i went to school for the training day on tuesday, and did struggle a little. at the doctors that afternoon, the doctor said it was "possibly tonsillitis, but probably glandular fever" and "take these antibiotics and plenty of pain relief". great. 

wednesday, i was sent home from school before the day even started. thursday i didn't go in. by friday morning, i was ready to donate myself to help doctors practise euthanasia. seriously. my throat was swollen. talking was nearly impossible. i couldn't drink, and hardly could eat (i managed half a muller rice on thursday). i could barely get the antibiotics and painkillers down my throat.

then sarah came. and she saved my little life. she brought me supplies, she rang the doctors, accompanied me there and, later, to the hospital (the doctor's words after looking in my mouth were 'ah, yeah, you need an operation. you're going to the hospital. now.') and then she made sure i got home*.

anyhow, the point of telling you all this (before i got all rambling) was to tell you how i distracted myself throughout the pain. i thought of words. 'word pairs' that sound the same, but are spelt differently. words like 'thrown' and 'throne', 'bare' and 'bear', 'heel' and 'heal', 'pair' and 'pear'... you get the idea. 

i thought of as many as i could, and i wrote them all down. and i only got to 86 word pairs. now, this bothers me because we had to do this very task for homework when i was at school, and in one evening i got over 120 word pairs. my brain power must be diminishing. 

and because this is exactly the sort of geeky activity i like, i'm carrying on until i get past 120. and if you wanted to help, i wouldn't say no..

*turns out i didn't need an operation, because my quinsy randomly popped in my mouth whilst i was at the hospital. not a detail any of you needed, nor wanted i'm sure, but a detail none the less.