Tuesday, November 05, 2013

Feels like zilch, today.

I inched forward on all three projects again yesterday. That was good. The rams of the second rank are finished on the Rams & Yowes blankie, and a fourth piece of the Silly Christmas Project. The next two (identical) pieces are a bit bigger and more complicated. Then begins assembly and fiddliness. I was up at St James Centre yesterday – grand for my pedometer score – and bought the acetate sheet for stiffening. Alas, I had to buy a packet of acetate sheets. This thing is turning out not only silly but expensive.

Soon I'll have to go back and buy some embroidery thread, if I don't give up in disgust.

Milano keeps getting put back until the end of the evening, where I’m happy to have it remain forever. I’ve passed the halfway point on the underarm increases.

I’m worried about this Shetland Textile book (I wonder if it’ll arrive today). I really don’t think I have a duplicate. Now I want to buy an armload of them to distribute to you.

Non-knit & miscellaneous

 -- Rachel had a reunion lunch the other day with eight contemporaries from her old school in Birmingham – women (it is a girls’ school) of Rachel’s age (55) now settled in London and detached from Birmingham. She was surprised and rather alarmed to discover that she was the only one of the nine to have two parents living – never mind whether they were living with each other.

That seems a bit unlucky. Both my parents were alive when I was Rachel’s age. 

 -- My new credit card turned up yesterday. The old one expires at the end of this month. Three years ago, as I remember, the replacement arrived in the hands of a nice FedEx man, after dark on the 30th. I was just beginning to get into gear for worrying about this one, and it’s particularly nice not to have to. One needs one’s credit card, this time of year. The telephone call to activate it was tedious but eventually successful (I hope).

 -- My husband said the other day that it’s time we went to Strathardle. Should I tell him I’m really scared? Let things drift on until it’s too cold and snowy to go? Or just go? I would like to consult my sharp-witted and sharp-tongued sister-in-law, now in her third year of being dead, if only to do the opposite of what she advises. But I can’t even hear her voice in my head any more.


We have arranged to go to Loch Fyne for a weekend later this month. That will be fun, and good for my husband. And we can catch up with the news of William the Duck. 

7 comments:

  1. I wish I had never said I would take the duplicate book - if that is what it turned out to be! Just ignore me.
    It is a very lonely stage of life when the people you could turn to for advice are no longer around to be ignored. It is as good a way as any other I know to come to a decision.

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  2. I seem to have come to a point (57) where I ask people if both of their parents are still living. We were talking about this in my knitting class last night with a range of ages and parents. I was the only orphan, so that must be good news for the longevity predictions.

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  3. Anonymous1:28 PM

    Both my mother and her mother were dead at 57......my mom died when I was 36. Needless to say, I held my breath the whole year I was 57, then breathed deeply when I turned 58 and retired from my job so I could happily enjoy however much came next, I am now 66 and feel as though every day is a bonus. Not a bad way to live!

    I hope you enjoy the Shetland book when it arrives. I bought mine the day I was there at the museum last May. Reading about your trip was also a bonus, as it reminded me of so many of my favorite things.


    Barbara M. In NH

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  4. Hope I can remember that phrase " now in her third year of being dead". Apt.

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  5. Re Strathardle. Does your husband not have any qualms himself about medical aid being harder to access while there? Is there one of your children, or their spouses, that he is more likely to discuss this with?

    I always think that there must be a practical solution to problems when I know that anxieties are not always amenable to solutions.

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  6. Today you sound as though you need a hug, if that is not presumptuous of me. November can be that sort of month. Do look after yourself.

    As to parents, some people can be very unlucky, one of my school friends was orphaned at 19.

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  7. I agree with Shandy, and suggest another option. Would it be possible to hire someone in the neighborhood of Strathardle who could be there when you arrive to help with opening the house, turning on the water, carrying luggage and general settling-in? He/she would be on call to help with situations require unexpected heavy lifting (non-injury fall, for example) or other situations which would ease you, and return to help with closing the house. This would preserve your privacy, and make it easier for you if you are still willing to drive there.

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