do you mind if i knit

Lets breathe.

Step away from the musty smells of piles of builders rubble................. and take a deep breath. Everywhere dull greys are brought to life by dazzling Spring green. If fresh Spring greens were a tonic, I'd drink cups of the stuff. Gulp it down........... This ivy makes me think of happy wedding parties, standing at the gates of a church, throwing confetti, and getting caught up in the joy of the newly-weds. And this makes me remember sunlight. Green is slowly pushing out grey, becoming the dominant colour.............. I had a breather last weekend, when I went on a course with Di Gilpin, in St.Andrew's, Scotland. The course was organised by Country Living Magazine. The course was a very generous Birthday gift from my family. It was a wonderful break from everything here at home................ lovely group of people, Di Gilpin and her adoring staff could not have been nicer, infact, they gave us all a most relaxing and fun time, and the food was excellent. I returned home revitalised........ to a nice surprise....... after a week of not seeing hide nor hair of the builders, they had turned up on the Saturday and laid a concrete floor......... at this moment in time, things like this make me very happy!

The window seat that was.

I promised in yesterday's post that I'd show you what happened to our window seat. This is what it was like at the very beginning................ ............This is the middle of the story.............. ............And this is the 'almost' end............ The joiner still has to put in the 'cheeks'. What-on-earth are the 'cheeks', you might wonder........? They are the 'side bits', but I think I prefer the joiner's terminology of cheeks. There's something quite charming about the window having cheeks......... don't you think.......?

Sentimental knitting.

When we had a window seat, in what was our kitchen, I used to sit on it, legs outstretched, and knit away happily, looking out on to the garden from time-to-time. This photograph was taken when the kitchen had been cleared of everything, including the window seat cushion, ready for the builders to wreak havoc. I just wanted one last knitting session, so I grabbed this cushion, and did a bit of symbolic knitting................ when you know something is going to be demolished, sentimentality can take over. In tomorrows post I'll show you what happened to the window seat.............

A brand new human being.

My friend Emily recently gave birth to a teeny tiny, incy wincy little girl........... and her name is Astrid, which I think is a splendid, elegant name. I say she's tiny, but she's 8lb something, which I understand is a good healthy size. When I see new borns, I always think......'so weeny, so..........leeeetle'............... and then I think about what it must be like to squeeze out something that size, and I think 'ouch'. Before I went to visit I painted a welcome, and congratulations card all-in-one. Surrounding the words of welcome I wrote words that I hope will be very much part of Astrid's world as she grows up. The last word I put down was 'patience'................ something that may be an underated element in some of our lives........ I know it's something I could have taken on board more over the years.............

The Details.

Sometimes, there can be beauty in the details.......... ........ You just have to look ........really..........really.........hard........... ..............Then again.......... ............This beauty thing........... ...........is............as they say, often............... .............In the eye of the beholder..............!

Closed doors.

This was the door into our t.v. room............, the room also had our computer in it........... .......... so we ended up spending a lot of our time there. It was the sort of room that should have been a store room, because it was a bit dark and dingy. By blocking up the door, and knocking down a wall, we're hoping this will make a great kitchen. The process of making this happen seemed painfully slow at the time............ but fascinating. Have you ever watched a wall being built? We did lots of staring, and marvelling........... and not only was it great watching that doorway being closed up, (also kind of weird), there was the added interest of a wall being knocked down............. double the fun! Life is just one excitement after another at the moment.................

Our boy.

Three times at the vets in the last three days................ Douglas is on a diet of delicate foods like scrambled egg and steamed chicken. When Hugo discovered Douglas had vomited blood, we thought a trip to the vets was in order. We still don't know what caused it all............ no doubt something he ate on a walk. While the vet was having a thoughtful feel of his tummy, she commented that he is very muscly............. I explained that we have Dachshund races on the beach with Ellie and Douglas, and Douglas is a very competitive little dog. Anyway, Douglas is on the mend, and enjoying his special diet.................and what does every Miniature wire-haired Dachshund need in his miniature life, when he's feeling a little under the weather? A Miniature hot water bottle of course.

Spot the prowler.

Can you see something small and furry, dwarfed in size by the builder's Nike rucksack? "Gotcha Douglas! I see your furry little face looking all inquisitive................ and no, you may not come in and browse amongst the rubble. What was that Douglas? I didn't quite catch what you muttered under your breath......."

Wall no.2.

So the time came when the builder was able to take out the second wall. It feels strange to see this photograph of how the kitchen used to look. The yellow that the previous owner of our home chose to paint the kitchen walls was revealed, when Hugo dismantled the kitchen units. Going, going................ ........Gone! I was in the house when the wall came down. There was a thunderous crashing thud........... and the whole house shook............... dramatic stuff. There was a lull in my blogging last week, because suddenly everything got much more complicated with the build......... something we had not anticipated. We had to call in a structural engineer, and he gave us bad news based on how this old Georgian house was built. We're still waiting for the full report. The problem can be solved, we think, the bad thing is that the works will be held up untill we know what the next step is, when we get the structural report. Hugo and I were outwardly very stoical about it all, but we felt as though the wind had been taken out of our sails.............. a side effect being that we both feel jaded and tired. Never mind, in the grand scheme of things, this is a very little happening............ and builds are always unpredictable.............

The battle of the slippery pond liner.

It's quite impressive when you don't know what it is................. Imagine receiving a gift this size.................. Except it's not a gift, it's a pile of heavy furniture and kitchen goods..............patiently waiting to return to their homes, inside the house. Oh, and if you've ever tried to cover a large pile of whatever with thick pond liner plastic, on your own, then you'll understand the small battle I had with the stuff........... it did not want to do what it was told to do......... it just slipped......... slippery slipped, slide slipped, slippery slippery, all over the place. In the end I subdued it and won the battle by holding it down with a victory chair, and three victorious plant pots. I won that battle.