Being Mrs C

Tales from the Green Valley

 

If you enjoyed Victorian Farm like I did then make sure you catch Tales From The Green Valley as well. I have to admit that I'd not heard of this series before and it was pure fluke that I turned on the TV tonight and caught the last ten minutes of what was unfortunately the penultimate in the series. 

Very much in the same vein as Victorian Farm, Tales from The Green Valley the team worked on a farm for a year as they would have had to have done in the times of James I (i.e. the 17th Century for those of you whose history isn't up to scratch!) This isn't a time that I know much about, but the small segment I saw in which the women were tackling the washing. Watching them beat the washing in a stream with sticks like cricket bats to get the dirt out and then using an upright pole to wring out the garments before laying them out to dry on the grass was fascinating.

The DVD may well have to go on my Christmas wish list!

A busy ten days

A wet November day at Cragside

The only "problem" with having time off work is that I manage to fill my days such that there's no time left for blogging. The last ten days have seen Mr C and I travel to Scotland and back, spending a lovely few days with my family to celebrate my sister's birthday. We've found the time to walk on beaches and through forests, to curl up in front of a real fire reading and playing scrabble, as well as time at home with the never-ending jobs to keep turning this house into a home.

Time has also been found to finally finish a piece of embroidery, pick up some bargains at the wonderful Barter Books, continue with my sock knitting and take a trip to the Country LIving Christmas Fair in London. The latter provides heaps of inspiration, as well as plenty of opportunities to blow all my savings on beautiful things!

Sadly tomorrow means a return to the daily commute into London, but at least it's not for too much longer!

Scott's View

There is something quite magical about the Scottish Borders and I think that this panorama from Scott's View gives a fantastic example. With the Cheviot Hills in the background and the River Tweed running through the valley there is no wonder that this was Sir Walter Scott's favourite view. When ever he passed along the road he always stopped his horses so that he could take in the view. 

The story goes that his funeral procession also passed this way and that the horses stopped of their own accord to allow their master one final look.

Up and Down in the Dales - Gervase Phinn

 

I have simply loved all of Gervase Phinn's other books and Up and Down in the Dales is no different.

Gervase is back as the school inspector working in God's own county and encountering the "delightful" children that the region's schools are trying to educate. This time round though he is acutely aware of the impact of a child's home-life on how they perform at school. Gervase's wife Christine is expecting their first child and he is determined to make sure that this child has every possible head start when he or she enters the education system.

As ever the book is filled with delightful Yorkshire characters and the tales that some of them come out with are quite simply priceless! I will warn you though that some knowledge of Yorkshire dialect is required to ensure that you get all of the jokes in the book. Maybe it's a sign that I've been down south too long when one of the punchlines went straight over my head...

A start on Jemima

Not much to show so far, but I've made a start on Jemima and I'm hoping that now I've cut out everything for the doll itself I should be able to complete that this week. The clothes may take a while longer though. Fingers crossed.  

Autumn oranges

Looking around the garden at the end of October there ere numerous different shades of orange to give it a very autumnal feel.

 

 

 

Just a shame that yesterday's autumn weather seems to have been replaced by the depths of winter today. Torrential rain and gale-force winds. Hope it isn't a sign of what's to come over the next couple of months.

Growing slowly

It's taking time (and I do have a small blister on my finger!) but the socks are growing. Just in time for the cold weather which is likely to return very soon. Now on to the difficult bit...

Make do and mend - updated

I wrote previously about the press coverage of John Lewis' updated version of Make do and mend, and I'm not delighted to say that I managed to pick up a copy when I was in my local store recently. I was delighted to find that they are selling copies for just £3 each. Admittedly it's only a small book, but one packed full of valuable tips and hints and in my opinion would make an excellent stocking filler at Christmas for anyone who is keen to save a few pennies.

The book starts with some traditional "home truths"; those handy little hints about how to solve household problems like cleaning smears off aluminium and other metals and removing the smell of onion from your hands after chopping them. It them moves on to cover how make your clothes last longer and right through to protecting the screen of your MP3 player. To anyone who is already clued up as to how to make things last they will probably be nodding along with most of the things in the book, but may still find something useful themselves. I'm guessing that there may well be plenty of other people to whom it would be a complete revelation and dare I suggest that they may be the ones more in need of it.

The JL version is only available from John Lewis themselves, but there are various versions of the original available from amazon.

Wogan's Twelve - Terry Wogan

 

Terry Wogan's a bit like marmite really: people either love him or hate him. If you're in the latter category then to be honest there's probably no point in reading Wogan's Twelve as you'll probably dislike it as much as the man himself. However, if you're someone who looks forward to turning Radio 2 on at 7.30am on a weekday morning then you're in for a treat!

Written in a diary style this book gives a year long insight into Terry's life. Not only do we hear about the radio shows and his interactions with his beloved TOGs, but also the books signings, Eurovision appearances and family events. Written in Terry's unique style there's a great mix of humour and sensitivity. The entry covering the untimely death of Paul Walters brought tears to my eyes and a lump to my throat. 

Definitely worth a read even if just to satisfy the small bit of TOG inside you!

Time without a laptop

For a variety of reasons I've had some time without my laptop this week. I'm not at all sure as to whether or not it was a good thing though. I missed being able to look things up when I wanted to know them. I missed popping in to read other people's blogs and get that insight into their lives. I missed chatting with friends in forums as well. On the flip side though I did get so much more time to do other things. For the first time since we moved here I got to knit properly for long periods of time. The amount of reading I did also went through the roof.

Possibly I just need to be a bit better at time management. In December I am leaving my job. There are a several reasons behind this decision and I don't as yet have anywhere new to go to in January. I am looking, but no successful applications yet. Whilst the idea of some time at home is a fantastic one, I need to really make sure that I don't just fritter my time away. I'm yet to find a way of paying the mortgage whilst just staying at home doing the things I enjoy (although any suggestions as to how to make this work will be gratefully accepted!) Discipline and structure will need to become part of my daily routine yet this may be easier said than done unless I start thinking about it now.

So 2010 is likely to be a year of change, but looking out of the window there's a fair chunk of winter to get through until we're there. One of my knitting projects has been to get into the swing with a pair of new socks using yarn I picked up at the Knitting and Stitching show earlier in the month.

 

The yarn is Regia silk color in shade 0189 (nairobi color). I fell in love with the colours as they felt so warm and autumnal without being the traditional shades of orange, despite the name actually suggesting that they are more African. I think Regia silk is new and it certainly feels lovely to knit with, much softer than the 100% cotton sock yarn I've used before. The addition of 20% silk makes a huge difference. Unfortunately I am so out of practice with the knitting that this first attempt had to be frogged, but luckily after doing so I'm now back to where I was before and loving being back in the knitting rhythm!