Yikes

I can hardly believe that it has been nearly a year since I last wrote a post. Where does the time go? What happened? New grandchildren, a wedding!!, new hens and ducks and........a builder!! In the village we started Zumba classes, got rid of the WI and started our own group - very topical, according to The Times and other press, met lots of new people, had illnesses, bereavements and continued with life as we do amidst snow and the trials of BT!!! (Unconnected with snow) 10days without a phone line in an area with no mobile signal and 15 days with no broadband......words fail me as to customer service - but that would take such a long blog - maybe one day.
Back now with building gems - stone lintels, fireplaces, dust......and other non related matters - if I could only figure how to add photos...

Back

To the past.

In recent months I have returned to the joys and frustrations of family History research. Our local WI set up a family History group and this prompted a resurgence of interest.

My main topic of recent research has been this rather colourful character - Harry Harris Davies, former American Consul to Wales and a distant cousin. More about him later.

In the meantime 2 granddaughters have arrived and additional hens and ducks. So overrun with grandchildren and eggs and yet no baking. Not great as a wedding cake to practise for a July wedding!

Runners

The highlight of the summer has been the arrival of 5 new ducks. The first three were inherited from a neighbour who was looking for better layers so we acquired a trio of Miniature Appleyards. Then, on the day of our village fete, the local farrier who has started a duck and hen business - or rather his wife has, arrived with two statuesque Indian runners - and can they run! 

I went along to the pick up with my son to help carry the new ducks, plus two new hens - Light Sussex, pretty but currently boring and one of the runners made a run for it. Eventually she was caught, just coming up to the neighbourhood alpacas who didn't seem at all interested, and we concluded that the best way to get them home was one under each of my arms with the dear son carrying the box with the hens.

The Appleyards were not impressed and, a month later, are still exerting dominance but the runners are superb. They seem to love the pond and it is great to see it being useful again. They have this amusing honk and are currently providing a good home security service. The younger grandson is smitten.

Oh, and a trip to Croatia

More

Where does the time go?

I rarely get a moment to sit and think, let alone write but, presumably, this is what life is meant to be like. Grandsons are now 7 and 1 and the 1 year old is just recovering from chickenpox. Childhood illnesses, nowadays, involve time off nursery and, as parents continue to need to work, grandparents spend time soothing spots in calamine lotion. Time away looking after grandchildren then results in gardens becoming ridiculously overgrown, rain doesn't help in the need to garden and makes matters worse by bringing on extra growth and then, when the sun finally arrives, it is just too hot to be outdoors!

However, for the past few days, it has been possible to:

A - not be called on to look after a sick child

B - spend considerable time in the garden

C - feel a sense of achievement in not leaving the curtillage and eking out meals from leftovers in the fridge and freezer.

One of the other inevitabilities in looking after grandchildren and not being home has been in the food we have been eating. Travelling, always seems to me, to bring on the unhealthy. Picking up a coffee and a pastry on the early morning drive to the kids' home. A sandwich from a supermarket for lunch or even fish and chips. Then, exhausted on the way home, an instant microwaveable meal from Waitrose. The past few days we have been eating:

Griddled courgettes from the garden

Greek salad with feta that has been sitting in the fridge for nearly too long

Salads with store cupboard essentials 

Lots of eggs from the chickens who seem happy to have us around again

Cakes from the freezer which weren't quite good enough for WI bakes but taste just fine

Tomatoes from the garden

Lots of herbs from the garden which make a difference to every meal.

As for knitting and crochet - I am doing bits in between childcare. Another set of hen party hens went off to Sussex recently and baby knits are coming on, slowly.

A return to knitting

I don't know where the past few months went. Life was taken over by a new grandson, a growing acquired grandson, a daughter having brain surgery!!!, the garden, the builder who sort of moved in, a family funeral...... Nowhere along the line did I manage to desist from adding to the stash but not a lot of knotting nor crocheting has been done for months. Then came the announcement of new babies for near friends and a daughter so the needles came out again and new items are coming thick and fast. A few crocheted blankets came off the needle first and now I am back to the knitting. As ever, I have found a couple of patterns that I like so we are into multiples again. Some 3 ply purchased many years ago has been brought back into action - unraveled a number of times and now becoming a c2c, I hope. Some more star blankets are inevitable and large granny squares. Nice bright cardigans are the order of the day too - oh, I am having fun!