One day at a time

MWNN taking tea in the garden with his sister, just two weeks after major surgery.

Exercise is confined to the house and garden (when it's fine) for the next few days.

Making Progress

My Sis-in-Law is staying with me while MWNN is in the London Clinic.

We were both in need of some relaxation so I'm teaching her to knit a triangular shoulder shawl.

It's a Miss Marple Shawl in Posh Yarn Daisy

She's doing remarkably well - another convert to Posh Yarn and to Ravelry.

Thought for the day

Mock Orange, Clematis, Euonymus, from the garden

Courage is like love; it must have hope for nourishment. ~ Napoleon Bonaparte

Trains and boats and ..... Meccano

Celebrating Frank Hornby, born in Liverpool, 15th May 1863.

http://www.frankhornby.com/

Eventful Weekend

On Saturday, MWNN had surgery that lasted almost seven hours. He had encouraged me to remain in place as Team Leader on that day for Hitchin Stitchin's stall at Hatfield House's Living Crafts Festival.

Our stall looked wonderful

We had many compliments about the items members of the group had knitted for the display and the workshop table was very busy.

The leader of a  neighbouring group, Hearts and Crafters, manned the workshop table all day (and on Sunday, too) and helped many people (including a pair of youngsters who are brother and sister) to begin knitting or gave advice to anyone who wanted help with techniques.






At about 2.30pm, news came through that MWNN's operation had gone well (was shorter than had been expected) and the he was in recovery. I asked MWNN's sister, who was at home with Ron, to put the pink champagne in the fridge.

I think sis-in-law could get used to this

Later that evening, we celebrated with pink champagne and rose and violent cremes.

Setting Up

Yesterday was spent at Hatfield House, setting up Hitchin Stitchin's area at the Festival of Living Crafts.

It took three of us (Sue, Helen and me) four hours to turn three tables and three display boards into this.

As you enter Marquee A, we are the second stall on the right. You approach our area via this double-sided display board.

The other side of the board reveals this corner of our area.

The opposite corner of our area contains a worktable for 'Learn to Knit' and 'Learn to Crochet' session. Chalkboards will indicate when workshops are available.

Front view of Hitchin Stitchin's area. The table, left-front of the picture, is the beginning of the Quilter's Guild area.

We didn't put out any of the table displays. They are stored underneath for each day's Team Leader to select what they would like from a variety of items.

Our neighbours, the Quilter's Guild, setting up their display.

Sue and I got lost on the way back to her car. We finally found it by navigating via the toadstools.






The Festival runs from today to the 5pm Sunday. Why not visit for a great day out, and pop in and see us in Marquee A.

That walk

On the final day in Great Steeping,  MWNN and I took Ron for a walk. We headed towards what we  thought was the junction of Lady Wath's Beck  and the River Steeping (Lymn). It soon became clear that we had taken the wrong track out of the camp site.

After ploughing round the edge of the fields alongside the Beck, we veered away from the water and came to a main road. Across the Road was the RAF Spilsby War Memorial.

There was a moving tribute to the crew of a Lancaster bomber shot down in April 1944

Having made this fortunate mistake of walking in the opposite direction to our proposed walk, we re-traced our steps and began the three mile walk to Little Steeping.

Our first stop was the medieval church of All Saints, a gift to the Parish from William of Gaunt.

The peaceful churchyard offered a bench on which to sit and rest before moving on to our destination. The fields were full of sheep with their lambs, testimony to the very late Spring this year.

Another two miles along Lady Wath's Beck, brought us to the confluence of the two waterways and a view of St Andrews', Little Steeping.

Our way across the River Steeping was via a series of footbridges, and then running the gauntlet of a large flock of sheep with their lambs (very good training for Ron-the-sheep-chaser-of-old).

As always, the route home seemed much shorter than the outward journey even allowing MWNN to retrieve his Raybans from the bench in All Saints' Churchyard

Then we headed back home, footsore and tired, for a well deserved afternoon tea.

Lincolnshire Villages

The next two nights of our motorhome experiment were spent in Great Steeping at a simple but rather lovely site on the edge of the village.

We moored beside the ornamental pond, next to another motorhome.

The weather was so beautiful, we could set up chairs and table outside for afternoon tea.

I woke at dawn on the first morning and looked out to see a pair of Canada geese 'dancing' on the pond.

Close-up of rabbit

The site was home to many rabbits, which Ron studiously ignored. He was so well-behaved, he came immediately to MWNN's call after seeing a cat hunting on the bank of the pond.

Great Steeping Church

We spent the first day pottering about, exploring the site (there were fishing lakes in the next field) and ended the day with a walk through the village. There were no shops and the nearest 'Eating House' was three miles away (another disadvantage of the motorhome).

Down on the Farm

Our first night away was spent on a small site near Lincoln.

Some of these chooks were in danger of ending up in the pot. They settled down underneath the van while I spoke to our landlord.

Our landlord provided us with some wonderful, golden-yolked  free-range eggs that had been laid that morning.

We also bought some well-hung Limosin filet steaks.









MWNN spoke to the other 'tenant' on site - a touring-caravan owner who advised against taking the motorhome into Lincoln.

The main disadvantage of our hired van was that it was very difficult to find parking space big enough when we stopped to shop at the supermarket, and, later in the week, when we pulled in for a pub lunch.

There was very little floor space so we had to put Ron's crate underneath the table (restricting legroom) or up on the dining bunk (reducing seating space).

Good Morning

Little Steeping Lamb

People are not disturbed by things, but by the view they take of them. ~ Epictetus (AD 55-135)

Temporarily Closed for a week's R&R

Work in progress (WIP)

This morning is the last meeting of the knitting group before the Festival of Living Crafts at Hatfield House.

Hickory Dickory Dock

One of the few remaining tasks is to build a cardboard version of Gatwards Clock on which to display the group's first attempt at Guerilla Knitting.


This will not be done at today's  meeting, which will be used to distribute Festival Passes and collect finished objects (FO)  for exhibiting on the tables.



There may even be time to do a little knitting.

Maths in nature

MWNN and I had some Romanesco  cauliflower we bought in the market. It's like nothing we've ever tasted before. We won't be repeating the experience.

http://www.fourmilab.ch/images/Romanesco/

The Market

Yesterday, MWNN and I went into town to buy some pelargoniums from the market. It being St George's Day, we expected Hitchin to be celebrating.

No Cross of St George on the church flagpole

People are enjoying the St George's Day weather in front of St Mary's.

So, what's wrong with this picture?

The market was very sparse for Market Day. Did I mention it was St Gerorge's Day?

 The market traders told us that vegetables were four weeks late this year.  English asparagus is very expensive as there is so little available.

We didn't find any pelargoniums, so bought provisions for lunch from Halseys.

Yes, the sky really was that blue.

It was a glorious day. Cherry blossom is just appearing.

St George's Day

Join the campaign to request that St George's Day  be made a public holiday in England so that it can be recognised and celebrated as it should be.

Cry God for Harry, England and St George!

Spring

And the Spring arose on the garden fair,              

Like the Spirit of Love felt everywhere;

And each flower and herb on Earth's dark breast

Rose from the dreams of its wintry rest.

Percy Bysshe Shelley

Thought for today's London Marathon

Thought for the day

The Arts are

alive and well in North Herts.

Recent success

Another win for Hitchin Band

Upcoming events include

Exhibition of Ronnie Wood's paintings in Letchworth on Saturday and Sunday at Gallery 1066

The chance to sing Nabucco with Placido

New territory

for our walk yesterderday.  MWNN wanted to try the walk in Weston Woods.

We let Ron off the lead for the whole of the walk. He had a great time. By the end of the 45min stroll, he was still chipper with not a sign of a limp.

A wide, well-signed, hard-surfaced track with benches on which to rest, runs through the middle of the wood.

Benches marked in red, information signs in blue.

In order to walk a 'loop', we had to take a slightly narrower track leading up to Gibbet Hill and alongside  the chalk grasslands at the top.  Plans are underway to re-introduce English Longhorn cattle onto the grassland. There was evidence of more fencing with 'kissing gates' to prevent the cattle straying onto the steep slopes of the woods, and water-troughs are already in place.

This track was very steep at times (MWNN said a few degrees more and we would need climbing ropes).

Then it was back, via a connecting track, to the main path.

The newly-created nature reseve is certainly a place to consider walking on a hot summer's day. Yesterday, there was quite a stiff breeze but it was mild and the woods provided plenty of shelter.