This is Meg asleep this afternoon. Just hanging off the end of the couch. She slept like that for about 20 minutes.
This afternoon I had the kitchen door open and was sitting reading and eating lunch at the table when I heard a scuffle and then a scream from the bushes. I went out and Meg looked all innocent. I never found what poor creature she'd been torturing.
It's almost 1am and I'm just about to drive into town to pick Hagos up from the station. His flight was late getting into Heathrow so he made the last train out of London. I'd better go.
I had a perfect day yesterday. Since I dropped to working part-time I've been feeling a bit isolated at home and have felt the need to get out often and see people, which is all very good, but it's important to appreciate and feel happy at home too. So yesterday (after dropping Hagos at the bus station at 1.30am so he could get an overnight bus to T5 for a flight to Hungary for the weekend) I went into town fairly early to do a few essential things: taking library books back, buying wool, buying salad and pitta for lunch, and returned home before midday. And I was really happy to know I was going to be at home, by myself, for the rest of the day. So I pottered around, ate a lovely leisurely lunch, read, and then in the afternoon I went for a walk, because I was suddenly determined that this year I'm going to make bramble jam, as I've been promising every year since we moved here and never have.I noticed the small bramble bush at the end of my drive had fairly ripe brambles on it so I thought the brambles down the lane would be ready but they're not quite. It's a shame because I thought it would have been funny to have presented Hagos with bramble jam on his return home from Hungary tonight. He says I always say I'm going to make jam and never do.There should be quite a lot of brambles once they do ripen though so perhaps next weekend or the weekend after I'll be able to collect some.I finally decided to buy wool for new winter accessories. I couldn't stop thinking about the Rowan cocoon. It's so lovely and soft and luxurious to feel. I considered copying my current purple and blue scarf pattern that I got from Vintage Knits, as I do really like the effect, but I wanted something different and decided on a cable pattern for the ends, then a 1x1 rib for the middle section. I got the cable pattern out of my Good Housekeeping Knitting book that I got at a coffee morning years ago. I also chose this cable pattern because the it's very similar to my silver necklace I lost last year. I wasn't sure about buying the wool because I'm saving money and because I know that knitting can take over and I get nothing else done while I'm working on a garment. But I decided I really do need a new scarf, hat and mittens, and I'll confine my knitting to when I'm watching telly, which is usually an hour before I go to bed. And actually the scarf so far has knitted up incredibly quickly. I should have it finished in two more sittings. The hat will knit up in one sitting, it's just the mittens that will take longer.
So, I had a very happy day indeed.
It was Thursday night when Hagos and I unearthed our potatoes. I was very excited. It's been years since we lived in a house that grew potatoes. Janie said to throw away any that were green, but there weren't any, so we got almost the entire pot-full, we only lost three potatoes to worms.
I know all vegetables grow like this, but it somehow impressed me more when we'd grown our own. It was like, WOW! I really wish we'd done tomatoes now too. Next year for sure. The chilli plant is still growing and growing but no sign of any chillies. Most disappointing.
Hagos had this weekend at home, which was incredibly nice. We met our friend Vicky (above) in a newly-renovated Ha Ha's for lunch, then went to Cinema City to see Hellboy II. It's not my usual kind of film, but the other two were keen and Vicky had already seen it the week before. I had very low expectations so it passed pleasantly enough, helped by the comfy seats at CC. Between Ha Ha's and the cinema we had an hour to pass, so went into Waterstones. I settled myself on the couch with The Suspicions of Mr Whicher again, and when it was time to leave went looking for Vicky and found her staring at the Superhero comics! She just can't get enough Superhero action.
Sunday Hagos and I seemed to have a bit of a bug and slept until very late morning, then I went to the gym, and we had roast chicken in the evening. I have more energy today so I intend reviewing and prepping this morning, gym this afternoon. I feel better in myself but I'd really hoped to have lost more weight by now. I lost half a stone and now I've plateaued. I know I just have to keep going but it feels like a long slog sometimes! And I'm so in the mood for a little celebratory party with birthday cake and Champagne. Just have to find something to celebrate!
It's been chillier and raining a lot this last week. Summer is definitely turning to autumn and I've been considering what colour to knit my new winter accessories this year (hat, scarf, mittens). For some reason I can't get white and green out of my head and today I went into John Lewis to look for wool. The Rowan Cocoon is absolutely the more gorgeous wool I've ever felt. So I'm thinking of doing a hat in mostly white with green accents using Rowan Big Wool, a scarf the same design as my current purple and blue scarf, using Rowan Cocoon, and mittens using 4-ply white with possibly green Kidsilk Haze. My winter coats are pea-green and rust, so I hope the green and white will sit well with the rust coat!I met my friend Vicky for lunch today in Pulse, a vege cafe. And afterwards I went to the bookshop again and looked at these two books, again.My friend Bev recommended A Thousand Splendid Suns to me, and I noticed The Suspicions of Mr Whicher while I was in the bookshop because I liked the cover. It's a well-researched account of a murder that took place in the 19th Century and the detective who was in charge of the case.
Both books are £12 each and even in the 3 for 2 deal it's rather a lot of money, so I'm planning to see if I can get them both cheaper online. I'd like to read The Suspicions of Mr Whicher first. As I was bookless last night I began to read In Cold Blood. I'll see how far I get. A third of my book reading is done in bed and I don't expect it will be a great bedtime book so I may have to substitute an Enid Blyton at bedtime, especially when Hagos is away.