Wednesday, May 16, 2012


We’re back. As ever, I suppose, we got some things done but not as much as needed doing.

The weather wasn’t too bad, but unconscionably cold for the time of year. I like to work in my vegetable patch first thing in the morning, while my porridge cooks. I would come in after half an hour with my fingers burning with cold. The soil warms up during the day, and is quite comfortable to work in the afternoon. But those poor little seeds have to manage out there 24/7.

My husband had some muscular trouble with his right leg, and was able to do even less than usual. It was fearful to see him so reduced.

But he picked a lot of dandelions, a favourite project this time of year.


And I planted potatoes, broad beans, and peas, and set out my plug plants, beetroot and climbing beans. I expect nothing at all of the latter, in this weather, so the only possible surprise will be a pleasant one.

Greek Helen phoned. She is keeping the car topped up with petrol, and laying in a good supply of lentils and candles. They are just back from a holiday in the Peloponnese



And now we are back to the Dining Room Problem. My husband has begun to wonder – and the notion had flickered across my own mind, but I hadn’t mentioned it to him – whether we could take a chance and leave the ceiling up there. Mr ChemDry is coming this morning. We want him to lift the Upstairs floorboards and tell us what he thinks of things from that viewpoint.

Meanwhile (my husband doesn’t know this yet) Upstairs’ insurers have turned down our request for compensation for damage to our furniture and books. I expected this, and will phone our nice solicitor this morning. His field of expertise is agricultural law. He would be more in his comfort zone if Upstairs had let sheep into the dining room.

So what about knitting?

Snoodknitter, it was wonderful to hear from you. I never did solve the problem of how to leave comments of my own on individual comments – so can only answer you this way. It would be great to meet – and compare snoods! – if we ever get to London again.

While we were away, I made a bit of progress with the Japanese shirt. I’ve put in a third one-row buttonhole. I’m getting better at it. Here, I’m knitting the foot of Lizzie’s second sock. A bit of progress there, too.

This is interesting, about the two sorts of Zauberball being made of two sorts of yarn, plyed and unplyed. An argument against on-line shopping? Except that I didn’t notice the unplyed state of the plain-vanilla Zauberballs when they arrived, and probably wouldn’t have spotted it in a shop. Now I’ll just have to go ahead and knit my sister’s cranberry socks with unplyed yarn and see what I think. 

7 comments:

  1. JennyS10:07 AM

    My understanding is that not all home insurance policies cover damage to the property of third parties - perhaps this is the case here? I'm not sure how one would proceed in this instance but perhaps your own insurance poeple could give you a suggestion if you called them? Good luck with it all

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  2. Gerri2:46 PM

    Can you put some twist in that Zauberball as you knit, to add some strength?

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  3. Are you eating those dandelions?

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  4. I wondered as well about whether (and how) you are eating the dandelion blossoms.
    When my children were young, I used to make dandelion wine (also elderflower wine) from just the flowers, not the green bitter bits.
    Nowadays, we get organic tender young dandelion leaves from the Farmers Market and I add them to soups, salads, smoothies etc.

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  5. I am wondering the same thing as Mary Lou and cat mum - did you eat the dandelions?

    It sounds like you got a lot of gardening done during your stay. I hope this year's crop brings you nothing but good surprises. :-)

    The bit about the upstairs people's insurance saying they wouldn't cover the damage to your things had me sputtering in outrage. It was good I wasn't drinking tea at the time or I might have choked to death.

    I have been wondering about your daughter, and how things are for them in Greece. It must be a very stressful time for everyone there. Waiting for the country to default and not knowing if it will be today, tomorrow or next month must be incredibly stressful.

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  6. My thoughts, although I am not a lawywer:
    If upstairs are responsible for the ceiling, they must also be responsible for the goods and chattels beneath thst ceiling - the two cannot be separated. If it were on your insurance it would be separated into building, and contents, but only if you were responsible for the damage. They are responsible whether by deliberate fault or by failure to prevent by neglecting to turn the tap off. If their insurers say no, then the people themselves are liable. I suspect their insurers of trying to wriggle - they should be challenged.

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  7. =Tamar7:00 AM

    I believe that Elizabeth Zimmermann used to knit all sorts of things out of unspun yarn, though her favorite yarn was thicker. Possibly the socks will be just fine.

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