Down the Rabbit Hole

So I am plummeting through January. Even at weekends I barely touch the sides before being whisked into Monday again. Time. I have calculated that if I can make it to July I can use my annual leave to work three days a week until the end of the year. I think I prefer that to taking a week or two at a time. IF I can make it...

I am on the second sleeve of my Devil's Beeftub Chickadee cardigan. I had a few lunchtime trips to John Lewis and these purple wooden buttons were the ones that were calling to me the most. So I bought them.

But in the meantime these blue on blue mittens were also calling me. Usually I go for high contrast colours, but I think these are really effective, and I'm enjoying knitting mittens again.

When I photographed them by the window today Marlena, one of our chickens, jumped up hoping I was going to throw food out. This is one of the things I want to get round to soon - moving the chickens back to their original hen house so we can get the garden back to looking good. We are taking tiny steps in that direction.

My visits to my Dad have dropped to every second week now. I wish he lived five minutes away, but he lives an hour and forty minutes away. And though I love the drive and the landscape, I find it incredibly tiring after a busy week at work. It's the concentration, and the sheer time it takes out of my week. Keeping on top of housework, and clean clothes, and even just washing the dishes sometimes is a mammoth task. And then there's socialising with friends, and what I'm left with is - usually not even the time to read a book! Knitting I do when watching TV in the evening (I usually watch something with my husband for an hour). There are other things I want to achieve. So I will have to keep working on time distribution to all the tasks that need my attention. The balance has to be better. 

Last Friday (a home day) I had the urge to go sledging first thing in the morning. So I went off by myself and did three runs. It was exhilarating. I love being outside. I love the countryside and fresh air and any sign of birds or animals. This felt far away from people and was just FUN.

I love crashing through the long grasses to stop when I reach the bottom.

We have been getting a slight increase in egg production recently so I made a batch of meringues dipped in Green and Blacks dark cooking chocolate to take to our friends' house for Sausage Sunday. They went down very well.

One thing I've realised I enjoy recently is taking group selfies. It's a similar thing to my Kitchen Table Microcosm photos. A snapshot of everyone together. This was in Wagamama's when two Mikes were in town. We haven't seen our London friend Mike for ages. We spent some time trying to persuade him to move to Edinburgh, which is where his new-ish girlfriend is from. I think we are halfway there. 

And today my great-niece and great-nephew visited with my sister and brother-in-law. They are great kids. I've come to the conclusion that all kids these days exude crumbs and are constantly covered in mud. And never stop talking. I don't remember being like that when I was a kid. I remember reading books and playing cleanly outside. :)