Random Roundup

Fantastic Menagerie Tarot

I'm feeling a little low today, mainly because the half-term holiday is over - Mini Diva is back at school, Titch is back at work. I have only Destructo Boy to console me, and he is welded to his tablet and 'Clash of Clans'.

Wilhelmina passed her MOT, the kids' cousin D. came to stay, we went to the beach, the kids went swimming a couple of times (different leisure centres), there was a sleepover, they went to the funfair with my friend K. - it was Destructo Boy's first time as he is finally old/tall enough, and it turns out he is as fearless as Mini Diva. There has been cricket and tennis.

It was a week of weatherly contrasts, too. There was this:

And there was this:

Noah, Noah - what is a cubit ??

 But there was no football. The team Destructo Boy played for has fallen apart owing to adults behaving like toddlers - I am told there has been lots of stirring and back-biting, resulting in the main coach flouncing off resigning having cherry-picked the boys from his clique of favored parents. The squad has collapsed: what is left is being run by a couple of fathers who have some innovative ideas for training, but who lack experience and the ability to impose any kind of discipline. 

If I sound annoyed, it is because I am - Titch and I, as openly confessed non-football types, were not amongst the clique, and so Destructo Boy now has no team - we withdrew him from the ruins of the squad as he will have no opportunity to grow his skills.

I think what has amazed me the most is the behavior of the adults involved: parents of kids on the A team sneering at parents of kids on the B team, committee politics, lack of support from the main club - I am hoping that it is a football thing as opposed to a sport thing. On the plus side, now we have Friday evenings and Saturday mornings free to try other things which might actually set a good example for their youth sections.

Sorry about that - I am apparently not as over the whole thing as I thought I was.

So anyway. Our potatoes are planted, along with some peas, beans, sweetcorn, tomatoes, lettuce, strawberries and one solitary pumpkin plant. There had been 6 pepper plants, but snails reduced them to 0 overnight. I am awaiting delivery on 48 lavender plants ( a deal where they were free if you paid for delivery) which will form a nice scented hedgey thing in the front garden. All that I am on the look-out for now is a plum tree for planting in autumn. I need to mention that Titch has done most of the planting, nearly all of the watering, and all of the weeding. Yes, I know !

There has been knitting - I am taking part in a new MKAL by Kitman Figueroa, which should be even more interesting since I got the name muddled in my head, so I've been thinking of it as 'Summer Flowers'. When it should be, 'Wild Flowers'. So I may have chosen a totally inappropriate yarn .... but I am looking at that as part of the mystery: will it work, or not.

And now I must away, today's chore is to order Mini Diva's high school sweater and blouses so I can collect them at her 'Transition Day' in a month's time .... and hope they might still fit come September.

WIP Wednesday 153: Stripes But No Stars

Whimsical Tarot

Summer is here with a vengeance - so this is just a quick post in between bouts of slathering myself with vanilla body butter to try and offset the slight ... tan ... I got yesterday at Destructo Boy's Sports Day. I'll be fine though, I will soon go brown. Had it been my DH in the broiling sun for that length of time, he'd be setting off the smoke alarm just like his carbonized toast does.


While the Lee Target Vintage Cabled Baby Cardigan sulks in a corner ... Well actually no, you're totally right, it is me sulking, as the stallholder where I bought the yarn from is on holiday until next week meaning I cannot buy the yarn to complete the project.

But you'll be glad to hear that I have been sulking productively at least. Using King Cole Comfort Baby DK - which is super dooper soft and squooshy - I have got quite to the end of the stripey baby sweater:

Mini Diva thinks I should have used a paler/lighter/more pastel blue, but I quite like this. And I shall leave it to you to spot the mistake design feature:

Yes, I guess I could have frogged it and re-done it. But it is colorwork and I used like 4 separate balls of yarn in each row or something and so there are lots of joins of color and twists and things and OK I admit it, I am simply too lazy to cope with the hassle: bite me.

Pop on over to see rather more perfection at Tami's Amis .....



 

Springing Out

Yesterday night I cleaned house. This had 2 beneficial side effects: firstly, getting up to a spotless house is a great feeling; and secondly, I don't have to do it all today. Except to vacuum again - I don't know why the darn dog isn't bald, with the amount of fur he sheds.

This is a particular plus because the sun is out again and it is going to be a fabulous weather day; here are a couple of photos of what's on my patio right now - and how late too, as our daffodils and narcissi are usually out during February ...




The brightest of primulas:



And the wallflowers are just about bursting into flame ....


It is the last day of term, and the kids and I have been desperate for the holidays to start - we are all dragged down and out by the long grey cold winter; and my father will be back next week,which they are hugely excited about ....

Le Chat Persillade

Or, cat with a garnish of parsley ....