What a choice, for a mighty country — Biden or Trump! I am glad to be able to watch from a safe distance.

  I found that I, if pressed, could not snap back with the year my husband died. I remember day and month, and have worked out the answer so I’m ready with it now. (Oddly, no one has asked.) Now I need to figure out how old the cat is.

  I’ve done it. She moved in here in June 2015 and was presumably born in April. Coming up for her ninth birthday. Dear cat. Paradox was two years younger.

I did a pretty good evening’s-worth of knitting yesterday, and hope for the same again today. In the morning, when I finally attain my chair after the excitements of getting dressed and doing my exercises, I tend to drift off. Then, often, someone comes to see me (Helen, today). Then it’s nearly time to be transferred to the kitchen and start chopping something for lunch. Afternoon is carer’s-time-off when I try to sleep.

  Wordle: fours and fives today. The early reporters, including me, all got stuck with grn, grn, grn, ???, ???. Ketki, Rachel and I scored five. Alexander had four. Mark managed to achieve our configuration on line two, and scored a brilliant three. The late reporters all came at the answer differently and all scored four — that’s Thomas and the Americans, Roger and Theo. 

   

 Today we had a handover of carers. The current one is nicer, and at least I can feed my cat as much as she urgently wants. I think when we get things straightened out a bit I can also drink as much cider as I want — which is not that much. The current carer says that the alternate carer disapproves of her, too.

Neither of them is brilliant at housework. 

I’ve finished reading Anne Patchett’s “The Dutch House”. Recommended. I don’t know whether to go on to her recent book or turn elsewhere. I finished my Queen Mother book. Even the captious author couldn’t find much to complain of in her behaviour during the war. Even for royals — perhaps especially for royals — having young teenaged daughters must have made the fear of invasion that bit worse. 

No knitting so far today, but it’s early evening so far. I got a satisfactory amount done yesterday, and mean to start again soon.

Archie came today. We cooked lunch together. I didn’t care for it much, but he cleaned his plate. Eating with Archie is satisfactory that way, remembering restaurant meals in Italy. 

Wordle: I scored three! the first for a while. My starters gave me two green vowels. WordleBot says there were 20 possible answers at that point, but I guessed right. Everybody found it pretty easy.  Mark and Roger were the outliers with four, Thomas and Alexander (father and son) the stars with two. Threes for the rest of us.

 The downstairs lavatory is finished. It’s looking good.

I am sorry for my silence. Sheer sluggishness.

I am feeling sad and anxious about the king’s cancer diagnosis, as if he were a member of the family. How quaint of Mr Biden to think that a phone call from himself is what the king needs, whereas other world leaders contented themselves with good wishes and prayers. Biden who didn’t come to the Coronation and who prefers Ireland anyway.

I’ve done some knitting. The objective must be to finish the new ball next week — 10 days rather than a fortnight this time. My granddaughter Rachel — James’ and Cathy’s daughter — just sent me a picture of herself in a well-fitting sleeveless pullover — four days’ knitting, she says. She’s the one who now works at the Wallace Collection. She’s coming to Edinburgh soon.

I must get back to my laptop and send you some pictures. Work in the Downstairs Lavatory made access to that room difficult — plus, it’s cold in there. 

Wordle: my two starters yielded four browns today — the dreaded anagram! However, I solved it briskly and typed in my solution — a three at last! But no! It was wrong! I now had one green, anyway.  I solved it again. Four greens, but still wrong. I got it, on line five. The class dunce. The other British-based players had threes and fours. Father and son in DC, Roger and Theo, both scored four. 

 The downstairs lavatory is nearly finished, to the great relief of all. They have done so much cleaning up after themselves that I have done no knitting — the connection being that when they run their industrial hoover I can’t hear my iPad reading “The Dutch House” to me, which is how I like to knit at the moment.

  So I read a great deal of Lady Colin Campbell’s (hostile) book about the Queen Mother. I should be ashamed of myself. 

  Helen came, but I don’t think we achieved anything. 

   It’s time to plant some new lingots in my salad factory. They have at last produced empty lingots into which you can plant your own seeds — I’ve ordered two of those, for tomatoes and sweet peas. And two ordinary ones, lettuce and arugula (=rocket). And I’ve ordered tomato and sweet pea seed. 2024 is under way.

  Wordle: yet again, my starters produced two browns, one owel and one consonant. After a brief struggle I abandoned all my high principles and typed in a Jean-word (=couldn’t be right because it re-used one of the letters eliminated by my starters). It served brilliantly— I now had two greens and two browns, and romped home in line    four.

   Roger was today’s star with three. His son Theo was the class dunce with six.The British contingent were evenly divided between fours and fives.

 Sorry about yesterday. Six-Nations rugby is with us again, and that’s where I was. Wales were playing Scotland, in Wales.  We haven’t won there for a generation. Yesterday, they scored a moral victory and we had the win. 

   England beat Italy in Rome, but it was by no means the walkover one might have expected. Ireland beat France handily. Next weekend France will be here.

  Knitting has progressed. I’ve finished a ball of yarn, wound the next skein, but haven’t joined it in yet so probably shouldn’t report. The distance covered by this interminable brioche rib so far is about six inches. I need twelve.

   Comments: thank you for everything yesterday. I do think trusts are difficult here in the UK. I have updated my will since my husband died. Helen and Alexander — who currently have power of attorney — are the executors, so I hope things will go relatively smoothly. They are the two who live in Scotland. My four children get on well with each other, thank goodness. And I won’t be here to suffer the fuss.

   I would keenly like to know what’s wrong with the Princess of Wales, and can only admire the way royal insiders and hospital staff have refused to leak. The hospital was surrounded by journalists but they managed (apparently) to get her out unnoticed. I’ve seen a report that says she has gone home to her parents. That would make sense.

   The Times had a report yesterday that claims there was a news story on Spanish television saying that she was in an induced coma. But nobody has picked that up and run with it.

   Wordle: I won yesterday, so the winning streak is unbroken, entering the second month. Four was the base score today. Five for me and Alexander. Six for poor Mark. 

Groundhog Day

 It was bright this morning, but has been dull and rainy this afternoon. The groundhog could take his pick.

Today is Candlemas, the Feast of the Purification. There is an old English superstition that if the day is fair, spring is still six weeks away, whereas if gloomy, spring is here. Climate-wise, it makes more sense here. Groundhog Day is presumably a secularisation.

Helen came, and we made some progress with my financial affairs. Even if I went into care, she wouldn’t be spared that. She and Alexander have a lasting power of attorney which inspires me to sit back and disclaim all responsibility. 

Knitting progressed well as I listened to someone reading Ann Patchett’s “The Dutch House” to me. Two days at most will finish the current ball — well ahead of the fortnight I set myself. 

Wordle: not so bad today. My starters gave me two browns, consonant and vowel. It was hard, but not as hard as some recent days, to think of a qualifying word. (That’s the secret — hold out for a real possibility on line three.) It was wrong, but I got it in four.

Alexander and Roger were with me on four. All the others — all five of them — needed only three.

 I re-read  my blog posts from last summer, when I was staying at Cramond, to see if I could deduce anything about care homes. What I found was that I missed my cats — at the time I had two -  and, in one eloquent sentence somewhere, was afraid I wouldn’t recover from my lung infection in time to get home.

Well, here I am, and the lungs — I had almost forgotten about them— are better. Maybe I should just be happy to stay here as long as I can afford it. I think live-in care costs about as much as top-end nursing home care, but as long as I am here I must also pay for Council Tax, food, heating and light, and cat food. But I’ve got my dear, irreplaceable cat, and my cider. 

Being in care would certainly be a different experience once it was permanent and they started to break up this dear house.

Helen came this morning and we struggled with finance. I have three accounts here in Edinburgh. Two of them are “frozen”. We made no progress with trying to unfreeze them. But we found some money that we were able to get hold of (we think) and pay into the one un-frozen account (we hope). Life used to be easier, in some respects.

There was once when a picture by Dav*d W*ilkie was being sold in London under a lesser name. My husband was an expert, and knew. We sent James and Alexander to the sale, lest my husband’s appearance there alert anyone to the truth. We arranged in advance with the Bank of Scotland, Blairgowrie, to honour Alexander’s cheque.

And we got the picture. And when the auctioneer rang Blairgowrie to verify the check, they confirmed it in a calm Scottish voice. And then whooped around the office, “The Mileses got the picture!”

It’s still here. But banks aren’t like that any more.

No knitting yet today. There’s still time.

Archie dropped in at lunchtime. I hadn’t seen him for a while. He was in Cairo last week with his parents, where he had a good time.

Wordle: not quite so hard, today. My starters gave me three vowels, no less — two browns and a green. I struggled for a while and then thought of a really good word, but it was wrong (that often happens). I got it on the next line — so, four.

We were spread all over the place today. Two for Mark — brilliant! Three for Roger and Rachel.  My fellow-fours were Alexander, Ketki, and Theo. Five for Thomas, today’s dunce. 

 Weavinfool — we call it the Downstairs Lavatory after the one we had in Birmingham for many years, which really was downstairs, and similarly small. You’re right — the living accommodation here is all on one level. Thank goodness.

Thinking about yesterday, I think that care home is out. for lack of a garden. The limited area surrounding it had grass and bushes and could be accessed with some difficulty through the demented section, but it wasn’t a garden. I probably should give more weight to the way people were sitting about talking to each other. 

And I mustn’t neglect giving weight to my cat and my cider, the one impossible, the other limited, in any care home.  I think I can stay here for much the same cost as a la-di-da care home, with my cat and my cider and some considerable choice of food and lots of visitors. And sit out on the step in good weather and garden in my pots.

I’m reading Ann Patchett’s “The Dutch House”. Recommended. I found I had credit available to buy the unabridged audible version for free, so I am also listening to it while I knit.

Wordle: another toughie. For the third day hand-running, my two starters yielded only one brown vowel. Admittedly, it was a different vowel today. I scraped home with five, and that’s January done. I failed both on the first and the second, so my winning streak is as long as the year, minus two. Having said which, i’ll probably fail tomorrow.

Rachel and Ketki and Roger and I were the fives; four elsewhere. 

 

 An exciting day — actually going out! The people-movers came first, of course, and bumped me down the steps in an ingenious machine. I After that it was the familiar wheelchair.

  The nursing home was interesting. It was pretty up-market but less so than Cramond (where I was in the summer) in various small ways: no television or telephones in the rooms; hairdressing and physiotherapy available but they cost extra; not really any garden belonging to the premises; no wine with your dinner. On the other hand the occupants seemed to be talking to each other. Cramond was awfully silent 

   The people-movers came back and got us home. I think I’ve seen their ingenious machine advertised. If so, not cheap, but it might be worth it if a single carer could operate.

   The cat was upset, but we never found out whether she was distressed by my unusual absence or cross because her lunch was late. She went on complaining after I got back and after she had lunch. She spent the afternoon napping on my tummy as I napped, and has, at least, stopped complaining.

   Helen continues to be pleased with progress in the Downstairs Lavatory.

  That was of course about it for today. I’ve knit a bit more. The ball of wool is undoubtedly smaller, and we haven’t quite finished week one. The object is to polish it off before the current carer’s tenure ends in the middle of next week.

Wordle: again my two starters yielded only one brown vowel. The same one as yesterday, at that. I stuck gamely to the principle of entering only possible winner-words, and scraped home in six, the class dunce.

Three for Roger, today’s star. Four for Ketki, Thomas and Theo. Five for Mark and Rachel. They both had my configuration — four greens with a blank to be filled in the middle. Like me, they guessed wrong the first time, but unlike me they had reached that point in only four lines. Uncharacteristic silence from Alexander so far. 

 Another lively day — Helen’s home. She had a good time, despite cutting her head open on the edge of a marble shelf in the cloakroom of a museum in Alexandria. 

She has now been introduced to all that has been going on in the Downstairs Lavatory here (nobody talks to me), and is pleased with it. We are going to visit a care home tomorrow.

Knitting has advanced, with no further visual effect on the ball of wool. 

My nephew Theo has nipped over to London and assembled a remarkable collection of his relatives for a pub lunch. He has posted a photograph of the assembly on Facebook, and Rachel has also sent me a copy. Someone — Rachel — must sit down and write an identifying memo of them all. It won’t be possible in 20 years, let alone 50. I count 21 or 22 of them — and at that Rachel and Ed’s younger son Joe, with his wife and two children, weren’t there because they had flu.

Wordle: I wasn’t entirely pleased with today’s word. I got it in five. Rachel joined me there. Everybody else managed four. Roger hasn’t been heard from yet. He clearly doesn’t do it first thing in the morning like most of the rest of us.

My two starters gave me one brown vowel. I was determined to think of a real entry for line three — not a Jean-word. It was surprisingly difficult — my starters had eliminated five useful consonants as well as the other vowels. I found one at last. It was virtually useless — another brown. Line four was better.

 

 

 A livelier day, with visitors. It makes all the difference. And we were spared plumbers. Helen is on her way home, may indeed be here by now. I had a message from Cairo airport. I’ll see her tomorrow. 

  And I knit on. The current ball looks slightly diminished.

   C. came this morning. No news. A local friend, with Perthshire connections, came this afternoon, bringing daffodils and some forsythia twigs for forcing. She says the situation with the Bridge at Bridge of Cally is dire and that it might be a good idea to approach Kirkmichael via Pitlochry for a while.

Kate Davis has a new book for us, Colour at Work, to be revealed this week. She is always particularly appreciated in these darkest days. She recommends a BBC series, available as podcasts, called Owning Colour. I’ve listened to one, and it was indeed good.

Wordle: a toughie today, or so many of us found it. I scored five, which almost counts as good. Except that Rachel skipped through with a three.

Alexander failed. Theo and Ketki had six. Thomas, Mark, and Roger were my fellow-fives.

 Another bright day. There’s no doubt, now, that there’s more light.

The central heating has been restored. Its failure was presumably connected with all this banging here in the Downstairs Lavatory, as you suggest, Tamar. And once informed, the plumbers fixed it. No, we have no building superintendent. We could all get together and hire a “factor” but that might be more trouble than it’s worth.

 Otherwise the day has been very long and not at all interesting. I’ve done some knitting. The new bit now measures about 5”. What was it the last time I reported?  4”?

Wordle: I had an easy three today. The day’s recurring pattern was grn, ???, grn, ???, grn.  Rachel and Roger both achieved that in line one, but only got the answer in line five. Alexander had a total blank in line one, the configuration just mentioned in line two, and the solution in three. Mark had the pattern in lines one and two, grn, grn, grn, ???, grn  in line three — nobody else had that pattern— and the answer in four. Thomas, Theo and Ketki all scored three.

 The weather continues brighter and less windy, although pretty cold. My central heating, feeble at best, doesn’t seem to be working. Something to do with all these plumbers and all this banging? I’ll be glad when Helen is back to take charge of me 

  It’s an argument in favour of going to live in a care home — Helen wouldn't have to concern herself with some, at least, of the details of my life. Such as central heating. But, oh! my cat.

  The new light is beginning to creep in around the edges of the afternoon. It’s always a joy when that happens.

  Otherwise there is little or nothing to report. No one came to see me. I did a little knitting, but not nearly enough to achieve my new target of finishing a skein within a fortnight.

  Wordle: I had a titanic struggle this morning, and was pleased to get away with a five. Fours were predominant in the rest of the British team, except for Rachel who got three. Theo was another four. Nothing from Roger yet.

 The weather a bit better, I think, but mostly, here, it has been a day of plumbers banging in the Downstairs Lavatory, and carers handing over to each other. The current one is older and more severe.  Cider consumption will be reduced.

  Her arrival means that I’ve got to finish the newly-attached ball of yarn (see yesterday) within a fortnight. It gives me a target.

   Thank you, no, Mary Lou, I haven’t seen MDKnitting on the subject of hand-winding, and will seek it out. (Comment yesterday) Tamar, carers are meant to change places with each , other every two weeks as long as things go smoothly.

Wordle: threes and fours today — four for me. The threes were Ketki, Mark, and Alexander. Poor Rachel needed five. Different people got stuck in different scenarios. Rachel and I suffered from grn, grn, grn ???, ???, but Ketki had a grn, grn, ???, grn, grn and Thomas a ???, grn, grn, grn, grn. There is usually more symmetry when it gets to four greens.

 

 I’ve finished a ball of yarn! I pressed on hard today, feeling that that was an achievement I could achieve, whereas knitting round and round in brioche rib never seems to get me anywhere.

The last time I finished a ball, I sent my carer into the stash cupboard in search of the next one. When she succeeded, I asked her to leave the bag out to simplify further searches, but she refused, saying that she would know which one it was next time.

I was taken aback to discover  today  that that was a different carer — so the yarn I have just finished took more than a fortnight. I must speed things up.

The search was again difficult — oh! if I could walk across the room and look for myself! But we succeeded, after an interesting survey of my stash, and this time we did leave the bag out. The other carer will be coming back tomorrow. I have wound the new ball but not yet attached it.

Still cold. C. came to see me. All well in Cairo.

Wordle: Rachel and I scored three today (WordleBot was dismissive of my score — I was lucky, it said), Four for Ketki, Thomas and Mark; five for Alexander. They found it easier in DC — three for Roger, a brilliant two for Theo. 

 Storms rage — less perhaps in Edinburgh than in the rest of GB. 

A peaceful day. Good news from Helen, who’s enjoying Cairo, but bad news, too: she and Archie have colds. 

I knit onwards, and may yet get some more done this evening. In some ways it seems easier now that I have faced up to the truth of two-rounds-to-achieve-one.

I will enjoy listening to the outcome of the New Hampshire primary in my restless sleep tonight. I have never warmed to Mr. Biden, partly because of his Irish-based animus towards GB. But oh dear…  On the other hand, if you’re keen on democracy, ought you not to support its results? 

Wordle: I found it difficult again. WordleBot congratulated me on my four. On the other hand — with only Mark still unheard-from — everybody else, every single one of them, scored three. 

 The sun is back, looking very cheerful, but all reports from actual voyagers say that it is still very windy and cold, cold. We had a visit from a physiotherapist today, one of the voyagers. I have been fairly conscientious with my exercises lately, and was hoping that she could prescribe a couple more to get me moving again.

  Alas, no. My current exercises, if conscientiously executed, may prevent further decline, she said. Sort of depressing. 

  However, I got a fair amount of knitting done. I’ve done a generous 3” since I started knitting in the round — would that actually be 6” if I were knitting plain-vanilla rib instead of brioche?

 This morning I listened to I Vicere (in Italian) while knitting. I could roughly understand what was going on. I recently did an on-line test in the language which ranked me as “Dismal Intermediate”. I forget  exactly how it was phrased. 

  In the afternoon I listened to a recent episode of Fruity Knitting. It’s not as good as it was in Andrew’s lifetime, although I couldn’t say why.

   And I rejoice in Franklin’s news that he is finished with his cancer treatment. He is very brave to take on both Paris (as a permanent  residence) and cancer at once.

  Wordle: i found it very tough, and was more than satisfied with my five, scored late in the day.  Ketki and Rachel got three (however), Alexander and Mark four, Thomas five. Theo was another three, over there in DC, and we haven’t heard from his father Roger yet.

 The weather has broken. Now grey and wet and unpleasant, with storm forecast for tonight.

  Sharon and I have been making kimchi, always hard work. And in this case I fear it won’t succeed, because we have the wrong cabbage. But any cabbage should ferment — look at sauerkraut. And it looks beautiful. So we’ll see.

   Helen is having a nice time in Cairo. And, from my point of view, two days gone of the ten. 

   C. was here this morning. No real news.

   And I did some knitting. I am too exhausted by kimchi-making to hope for more this evening. 

  I am trying to learn to master the electric wheelchair, with only moderate results. It will turn on a dime, and I can do that. Going straight forward is the problem. Helen found it fully as difficult as I do. Alexander did rather better. 

   Wordle: another relatively easy one. Theo and Mark were today’s stars, with two; Rachel and I scored three . That leaves three others here in Britain, all fours, and poor Roger, in DC, who needed five. 

 Bright, cold. What’s new? We’re now in the fifth week post-solstice and I don’t see much in the way of more light, either.

   Helen, David and Archie are safely arrived in Cairo, where their son/brother Mungo is studying Arabic.

   Plumbers continue to bang mysteriously. Both bathrooms are now supplied with water.

   And I haven’t done any knitting. 

   Alexander and Ketki came to see me today. Both seem well. I forgot to ask what the weather was like underfoot on the shores of Loch Fyne. I think most of the really rough stuff, snow and ice, is confined to the upper left-hand corner of Scotland.

   Rachel is planning to come, with unimaginable quantities of great-grandchildren and a certain number of grandchildren to supervise, in the week after Easter. 

   Wordle: Rachel was today’s star, with two. The rest of us, on both sides of the sea, had threes and fours. Mine was a four, needless almost to mention.

 And yet another bright and cold day. Perhaps the coldest of all. Helen has gone off to Cairo, with Archie. They’ll be away for 10 days, much missed, for a holiday very much deserved. David will join them from Thessaloniki. Mungo is there already, studying Arabic.

  I felt dim this morning, but seem to have pulled round.

  I have been thinking with horror about my wealth. I have a state pension and a work pension, of course . Beyond that, our savings which include some shares my husband inherited. And beyond that, The American Money.

   The horror stems from the fact that the American Money seems to have overtaken our British savings, and our American Income likewise  to be more than our British “extra income.” It’s all properly declared and taxed. But I have always felt that the American Income was my “bit on the side” for knitting wool and cider and such. Now that I know the truth, it must be faced up to.

   Wordle: another fairly easy one, with a spread of scores.  Ketki was today’s star, with two. Rachel and the Americans, Roger and Theo, did it in three. The other four of us all scored four.

   My starters gave me three browns and a green. I easily thought of a possible — I  now had four greens and a blank. I got my four (obviously) on the next line. I still think — but this often happens — that line three was a better answer (except for being wrong).

  

 Cold, bright weather continues. Our plumbers have gone off leaving us with neither lavatory functioning (although we have water in the kitchen.) I am afraid to turn the heating on.

 A physiotherapist came, and offered but little hope of a system for getting down the front steps. Our accountant came this morning and we paid a lot of tax. She is Kate Davies’ accountant and was wearing a nice sweater she said KD had given her — a trial for one of her patterns, although I didn’t recognise it. 

  Otherwise, zilch. No knitting. 

  Wordle: Mark and Ketki needed four. Otherwise it was threes all round. Everybody has been heard from. My starters yielded a green and three browns. I think WordleBot said there were  four possible answers at that point. I was pleased to think of one of them. 

 Bright and cold again. Plumbers have arrived to re-make the (infamous) downstairs lavatory. It will have a shower. 

Two weeks in hospital? Off work until after Easter? I hope our famously intrusive gutter press will be able to tell us what’s wrong with the Princess of Wales. She’s too thin, that’s one thing.

I have made some progress with the ever-slow knitting.

C. came this morning, but I don’t think she had any news. 

I’ve also got an electric-powered wheelchair to try. It’s good fun, but…At lunchtime, trying to stand up from it, I thought my hip had taken the dreaded Next Lurch Downwards. I am more hopeful now, sitting in the kitchen in the old wheelchair, thinking about supper. I can return to the excitement tomorrow.

Wordle: clearly an easy. My starters produced two browns and two greens. A bit of a struggle, even so, before I landed my three. Thomas, Roger and Mark were the other threes. Everybody else scored two — including C. 

 Bright and cold again.

Knitting progressed, slowly as always. The heart of the trouble is that in brioche knitting one knits two rows for every one achieved. It would take some effort to work it out, but I am beginning to wonder if that is perhaps just as true for half-brioche as for the Full Monty.

Helen came and we had a session with a woman from Edinburgh Council who may be able to facilitate my problem of how to get down the front steps. She was pleasant, anyway.

I spent some time this afternoon working on a completely unnecessary problem involving my great wealth: how do you calculate what percentage something is of something else? Ask Google, is of course the answer. I got it in the end, and was surprised to find how valuable still (proportionally) was a gift my grandfather made me in the cold winter of ‘62-‘63, if not then, somewhere thereabout.

It may all soon be swept downstream to pay for my care. But it wouldn’t have done that in ‘62. My grandfather, too, needed live-in care at the end, and what he got wasn’t very good.

Wordle: All threes and fours today, except for Mark, of all people, who took five. I was a four. Ketki and Rachel and the two Americans were the threes.

My two starters gave me two browns, a vowel and a consonant. Couldn’t be worse, nor could I think of anything. (My starters use all the vowels except Y, and five common consonants. Sometimes, as this morning, that doesn’t seem to leave much room to manoeuvre.) Finally I entered a Jean-word (=couldn’t be right). It was useful, as often — three greens. And I got it on the next line.

 Another sparkling, bitter-cold day. Quiet here.

I made some progress with knitting, including counting stitches. The overall count is nearly right. I’m inclined to leave it be, retaining my notes. Brioche stitch under whatever name is a bit tricky count-wise.

  Wordle: we were spread all over the place today. Two for Ketki, three for Thomas and Mark, four for me and Rachel, five for Alexander. Theo and Roger in DC were three and four respectively.

I am sorry to be so brief. Helen has just been here and we paid some bills. It’s late and very dark. 

 

 And more sunshine today, although bitter cold.

Helen is safely back from Kirkmichael. That’s about it, for event. C. came this morning. She has had a busy week looking after her grandsons while her daughter and son-in-law move house. The move is done, the little boys happily installed in their new bedrooms.

 Thank you for comments, again. We are proceeding as you suggest, Shandy and others — concentrating on a wheelchair at first. We are going to hire one for a week to see what difference it makes. I think there’s a lot in what you say, Rebecca, in getting a physio of some sort in to advise on the mechanics of getting about. My right leg is still fairly sound. There must be some solution to the problem of those six steps. I’m not absolutely sure I couldn’t manage with two carers, one on each side; just walk down.

  Not much knitting. The cat continues to impede.

  We have cancelled an appt for tomorrow for a hip xray. I feared that the whole day would have been devoted to those six steps, with little result. Once we’ve cracked that problem I can turn up at a hospital whenever they bid me.

Wordle: many of us found it tougher today. Five for me, where I was joined by Roger, Theo and Thomas. All of us got bogged down in the search for the first letter, with four greens to follow. Everyone else scored four.

 We had some sunshine today, a rare sight. But very cold. Helen came by briefly with her dog Farouk, on their way to Kirkmichael. If all is well there, she will still be very much colder. She wanted to check up on everything after their recent rushed departure —with no heat, no light.

  I’ve had a dull, low-spirited day. Again, I am very grateful for your comments. Yes, I had lung trouble last year and the anaesthetist was unhappy about surgery. I’ve been better for several months. If we could figure out a way to get me up and down the six steps at the door, I could be ported over to Drummond Place Gardens from time to time. And if the wheelchair could be mechanised I could get about the house somewhat. Those two sources of relief might suffice.

   Not much knitting. I started on it bravely after I finished my morning exercises, but the cat jumped on my lap and after she left I dozed a bit and then Helen came…and there’s another day gone.

   I am worrying about the world like everyone else, hoping at least to improve my grasp of Middle Eastern geography before things settle down. Oman? Yemin? Helen and David and Archie are going to Cairo next week, a rather alarming prospect.

   She and Archie went to a rather wonderful-sounding Macbeth last night. 

   Wordle: easy-peasy again. Every single one of us — and all have been heard from — scored three today, except for poor Thomas who crept home with five.

 All well. I like the new carer, and so far she has shewn no wish to leave. Helen came round and we had a jolly lunch together, all three.

  Thank you very much for your messages about my future. It sounds as if there is more variety in British retirement living than I had thought. When my husband died, I briefly considered some retirement flats in Blairgowrie — I could live in one of them in the winter, I thought, and in our dear house in Kirkmichael in the more clement months.

   Little did I anticipate how soon this crippling hip would affect me.  I have long believed that the US served better those who came in independently on their own feet and later needed care. But anyway those flats offered no communal dining room nor any other form of communal life. What I need now is constant and intimate care and whatever niceties of life may prove to be possible on top. Maybe I should push for hip replacement? Death being preferable to the status quo?

  I am sorry to be so gloomy. Knitting progresses slowly. 

   Wordle: stunningly easy today. My starters gave me three greens and two browns. I got it in three. So did everybody else today, on whichever side of the sea, except for Rachel and Ketki, who both scored two.

 All well, more or less. We are in the throes of handing over from one carer to another. The one assigned here can’t stand my cold, cavernous house so she is going away and we are sitting here waiting for someone else. It’s a pity, as the one who’s leaving seems congenial.

  Knitting progresses, still very slowly.

  Thank you for your comments. You’re right that food is important, and right in your guess that I won’t have a microwave. I have started making lists, so far without much success. The balance seems in favour of staying here, especially because CAT weighs heavily on that side. As well as food.

  Helen and I are planning to visit a care home at the end of the month, delayed by the need for transportation to get me down the external stairs. It takes two men. I keep looking at websites. The trouble is, as I think I’ve said, that they are all or mostly skewed towards dementia.

  Wordle: a funny one today. Either you got it or you didn’t. I needed five, and was joined at that score by Thomas and Mark, the cleverest of the clever. Rachel needed six. Roger, Theo and Ketki, on the other hand, came home with threes. We haven’t heard from Alexander yet.

  

 All well. I am very grateful for your thoughtful comments on my state-of-life predicament — going into care. It used to be that all comments showed up amongst my emails. That suddenly changed, through no act of mine. Now I have to log on to Blogger and read them like everybody else. I do it every day or so, but it isn’t as satisfactory a system. 

  I don’t think care homes here take cats (Janet and JennyS),  and I don’t think my dear cat would benefit from (or welcome) the restriction. She would live with Helen, of course. I could visit occasionally. But, goodness, I would miss my cat. 

  Jenny S (again): I think your suggestion of employing the old-fashioned system of writing down pros and cons is an excellent one.

   Knitting: I have moved a bit forward. The new ball is wound and employed. I am afraid I am finding it all a bit boring. What a thought! Should I have started at the bottom and knit upwards as in the old days? 

   Helen came this morning and we struggled onwards with my financial probs. One of my accounts is blocked because I forgot the PIN. Endless telephone time has so far failed to resolve the problem. Oh, for a good, old-fashioned bank manager!

  Wordle: four for me today. My starters gave me a green consonant and three further browns. I struggled mightily and found a qualifying word for line three, but it was wrong. Later WordleBot told me that after line two I had only one choice. But they were wrong.  That has happened before.

 Alexander and Mark and Roger scored the three that eluded me. Thomas and Ketki joined me with fours. Rachel and Theo needed five. It was a tricky one.

  

 

I guess I’m moving forward. Helen has booked the people who can get me out of here for a soon-day, and ensured that we can visit our target care home on the same day. I have got a fistful of questions for them – such as, how do they feel about Weston’s Vintage Cider? – and have started choosing a select bookshelf. Most of it goes back to Oberlin.  I have already chosen pictures. It would be – will be – beyond painful to leave my cat, but old age isn’t meant to be fun, and care homes can’t be expected to do cats.

 

I am in touch with my sister, who approves of moving.

 

The current carer tells me, now that it’s a crisis, that we need more plastic bags for disposing of cat litter. That wouldn’t have happened if I had been able to move around the kitchen. I’ll order some tonight.

 

I’ve done vary little knitting in the last 24 hours, but at a bit, at least, and hope for more this evening. I haven’t even wound the next skein yet.

 

Helen and I got a bit further forward with finance this morning. She agrees, at least, that I need a new computer.

 

Wordle: I did well today – a three, shared by Mark and Theo. My starters gave me four browns, two vowels, two consonants. I am not keen on anagrams, but I struggled mightily until at last I thought of a qualifying word. And it was right, which I didn’t expect. Four for Ketki and Thomas. Five for Roger, Alexander and Rachel.

 

 

Helen came this morning and we made a tentative start on the Elephant in the Room: the question of what is to become of me. There is not all that much point in staying here when I can’t walk. And we seem to have more or less decided against surgical hip replacement.

 Cramond, where I was before, is a bit inconveniently located and not a bundle of laughs. We are going to start by investigating a place recommended by a friend whose mother lives there. Perdita would have to go back to living with Helen and her family. 

  But, oh dear. I keep feeling, as I’ve probably already said, that I’ll be better soon. And of course I won’t. This time it’s different. But we must also press on with the notion of a motorised wheelchair. That might make a big difference.

  Knitting progressed slightly. I’m nearly finished with the current ball of yarn — the third? Or only second? Your comment worries me, Mary Lou. This thing doesn’t have a button band, of course, but it does have prominent st st welts at cuff and waist and especially collar. I’ve got two whole skeins of toning yarn for those. The pattern calls for a change of needle size. They certainly mustn’t be allowed to droop. 

   Wordle: Four was the predominant score today — me, Thomas, Alexander, Roger and Theo. Ketki had five, Mark a brilliant two; most uncharacteristic silence from Rachel.

  

 I am sorry about the gaps. All is well, essentially. And here we are with the “back end” behind us, and 2024 in all its glory, stretching ahead. I am going to have a lot of trouble remembering that number.

  C. was here this morning and we packed the Christmas decorations away. Her family — Christina and Manaba and two little boys — are in the iron grip of a house move. C. is much involved. Vans tomorrow.

  The knitting progresses. There is going to be a visible line where one system hands over to the other (back-and-forth to in-the-round) and it is going to be particularly conspicuous on one of the fronts where there is a mistake in that row as well. And there’s nothing to be done about it.

  Wordle: there may be gaps in the blog, but I never fail to attempt Wordle first thing in the morning. And today I scored 2024’s first (for me) three! (Fours on each of the missing days, I think.)  Mark and Theo and Roger were fellow threes. Thomas, Alexander and Ketki needed four, and Rachel trailed home with five.

  

 A bit blowy, but not distressingly cold. David and Helen are successfully back from their visit south. They found David’s mother well, successfully moved into her retirement community. I was sorry to learn that the someone-to-call,  is not on the premisses. I am greatly comforted, both here at home and at Cramond, to know that care is close at hand. I’ve not yet ever called for it, but the day will come.

  Knitting has progressed. I am sort of disappointed to discover that I am not progressing with tremendous speed even though I have joined the stitches into a cylinder and have nothing to worry about until I reach the hem. I mentioned yesterday that there are some “wrong” stitches in what is presumably the first round of the new cylinder. Now I think that the stitches post-join are a wee bit bigger and looser-looking than the earlier ones.

   Same needle, of course. But when I was knitting the earlier stitches, things felt tight. Did I even consider employing a larger needle? Whereas now it feels comfortable. I can only go on.

   Wordle: unbelievable. EVERYBODY else scored three. I scored four. There is nothing else to say.

 Not a bad day. The storm seems confined to England this time. C. came to see me, along with Joy whom we met on our first joint cruise. She is off to India for a wee holiday any moment now. 

A doctor also came to see me. I don’t know quite how that got organised. He seemed to think a fresh X-ray might be informative. Would it be worth the fuss involved in getting me there and back?  

Otherwise, it has been a day spent in dozing and knitting. I’ve now mastered half-brioche-in-the-round. “Mastered” doesn’t mean that I understand how it works. And, worse, there is a patch along what will be the left front (I think) which can’t be considered a “feature”. It’s a mistake. A series of YO’s have got themselves left behind, and lie across the knit stitches, conspicuously visible. 

I’m pretty sure that I would make a far worse mess if I tried to rip back to that point — it was presumably the first round after joining the whole for circular knitting. I’m certainly not going to start again from the beginning. Maybe it won’t look so conspicuous when surrounded by more or less correct ribbing. Maybe it’ll just have to be a “feature”. I’ll keep you posted.

And must take a picture for you soon.

Wordle: at least I didn’t fail again. I scored four. I abandoned all my good resolutions of yesterday and used a Jean-word in line three, one that couldn’t have been right. It was, however, helpful. 

Alexander joined me with four. Thomas and Rachel scored five, and Ketki and Mark and Theo were today’s brightest and best with threes. No news from Roger yet. He keeps getting left out by not doing it first thing in the morning,  DC time.

 Helen and David and their son Mungo were here briefly this morning, on their way souff to visit David’s mother. She has either just moved in to a retirement community or is just about to. I haven’t done or attempted much today.

So I still can’t tell you whether I solved yesterday’s knitting conundrum. 

I did have a Zoom meeting with my sister in DC. That was very pleasant. She seems to be (she’s a doctor) on the side of my struggling on like this with better wheelchairs, rather than pressing for a hip replacement.

Wordle: a second consecutive failure for me. I don’t think that’s ever happened before. I was careless yesterday, two Jean-words I think. Much more careful today, to no avail. 

   Rachel got five today, Ketki struggled home with six. Both of them shared my difficulty — they had everything except the second letter. In DC Theo was another six — that blasted second letter again — and Roger hasn’t appeared yet. He looked fine on Zoom this morning. 

   Alexander and his friend Mark were today’s fours. Thomas eclipsed us all with a three. 

 A brighter day. We saw in 2024 — how on earth am I going to remember that number? — with a little coffee party this morning— Helen and David, Christina and Manaba (and their small sons Hamish and Quinn), and C. All well. Helen and David are now going to drive south to spend a couple of days with his mother.

Something is wrong with the knitting. The two rounds of half-brioche-in-the-round are meant to be BRK, purl one; and S1-YO, purl one. I have just finished a whole round of the latter, and find that all my YO’s lie across purl stitches, hardly suitable for BRK.

In the earlier, flat bit I sometimes found that the rib seemed to have gone wrong, and think I found that if I maintained what looked like a rib, the result would pass the galloping horse test. I hope that’s going to work here. I’m doing BRP, knit 1 and hoping for the best. I’ll face up to the problem at the end of the round.

I’ve got the promised pic of myself being hoisted down the steps on Christmas day, but I am lazily punching this out on the iPad and don’t know how to send pictures from here.

I’m nearly finished with “The Secret of Cooking”, skipping a little — such as recipes for dishes I knew I’d never eat. It continues very good. I’ll miss it. Perhaps I should have a look at her other books.

Wordle: I failed — the perfect day for it. Thomas scored three, the other four British-based were all four, as was Theo. Roger scraped home with six, having been stuck for a while in the morass that brought me down: ???, grn, grn, grn, grn.

.

Another day more or less accounted for -- and we’re more than a week past the darkest day! It’s easy when you try. A very happy new year to you all, when it comes, and happy celebrations tonight if that’s what you choose. I think Edinburgh’s street party has been fully restored post-COVID and if so I will probably wake up to hear the fireworks and see a few of the highest of them, above the trees in Drummond Place Gardens.

 

I used to have a copy of Lotus Organiser (this is an old computer) which I kept for knitting, and especially for this time of year when I record what I had accomplished in the year just past [not much, in this case, as you can see in the sidebar], and what I hoped to do in the New Year, and what the first two radio headlines were on 1/1/????. So far this evening I can’t figure out/remember how to load it. Perhaps I should just launch a new copy tomorrow.

 

Not much knitting, but some. C. came and we had a nice time as always. She will come back tomorrow with various people to welcome in 2024.

 

Wordle: We found it fairly easy on the whole. Half of us on this side of the pond scored four, including me. The outliers were Rachel, with 6 – she got stuck on Grn, Grn, ???, ???, grn for three guesses. Alexander did it in three, Mark in two, Over there in DC it was two for Roger -- !!! – and three for Theo.

 

 I‘m beginning to be afraid that I haven’t got the picture of me being carried down the steps. I’ll have to get it from Helen.

 

Knitting: I think I neglected to report on that at all yesterday. I haven’t done much lately. I have, however, left the sleeves behind on waste yarn and assumed the rest into a cylinder. I’m fond of fisherman’s rib. I knit a whole dress in it from a VKB when I was young, and never wore it but once because it instantly stretched to ankle-length or beyond. In my middle years I knit a two-colour half-brioche sweater for myself twice. I loved them dearly until the moths got them. Two-colour half-brioche is easy: you use a dp and slide the work back and forth when necessary.

 

I was a bit taken aback last night to discover that single-colour half-brioche – which is what is required for the Spalding – is not quite as easy as I assumed it would be. You’ve got to remember how to move the yarn back and forth with every stitch. It’s not quite as obvious or as easy as k1, p1. There are two separate pattern-rows, too.  Full-scale fisherman’s, however, can be done from one side only, I think, by alternating k1 and k1below. I should be able to do a bit more this evening and report more fully tomorrow.

 

It has been a quiet day here, dark and cold. We even had a brief bit of slushy snow. Helen came, and we advanced life a wee bit. The current carer has been a short-order cook in her day. The professional touch lingers and is very welcome. I had been losing appetite with the stress of recent days. I begin every day with wilted spinach upon which is poached an egg, With Abiola, the egg is poached to perfection and – even more welcome – the spinach is not served in a little pool of water.

 

“The Secret of Cooking” (see yesterday) continues well. I’ve just hit a patch of delicious-sounding salad recipes. Which reminds me that I have recently signed up for a Substack (new word) called The Department of Salad by Emily Nunn. That’s recommended too, if you like Substacks and like salads.

 

Wordle: Another pretty easy one. I scored four, but that was because I got line three wrong, by sheer bad luck, as often happens. (Good luck often happens, too.) My line three was grn, grn, brn, brn, grn. All I had to do was reverse the two browns, and I did that, of course, in line 4. Mark, Thomas and Ketki also scored four; three for Alexander and Rachel.  Four for Roger, three for Theo.

Here I am back in the catalogue room with my laptop computer. I can still type with both hands. I seem to be connected to the world , but I’m not sure, and I haven’t yet been able to play a reassuring hand of Freecell. People have been messing around in here since I last sat at this desk.

 

   Here are some pictures to be going on with. I can’t remember whether I have shewn you Paradox in her new home:

 She is clearly a happy cat. Below, you see my two newest great-grandchildren, Rachel’s two newest grandchildren, both boys after seven girls. The grownups are the latest parents, Lizzie and Dan -- Dan is holding their son Lennie. And Rachel, who has got her slightly older grandson Freddie.

 

And Freecell seems to be in operation. I have been thinking for some time of replacing this computer – it’s out-o-date and desperately slow. And money is haemorrhaging forth at an alarming rate on my care and the re-constitution of the downstairs lavatory. Maybe I’ve better spend it while I’ve got it.

 

We’ve had a jolly Christmas, as I hope have all of you. Helen solved the problem of access by finding a sling arrangement which allowed two of her sons to carry me down the stairs, and eventually back up. That will be a picture for tomorrow. Life has been somewhat stressful. Wafa is gone, and much missed.  We parted in mutual tears. My current carer is named Abby. She comes from Nairobi and is a better cook than I have had so far.

 

I gave two people on my list Bee Wilson’s “The Secret of Cooking” for Christmas, and on the recommendation of one of them have bought it for myself. I am enjoying it. Recommended.

A bit of knitting, but not much. I had better return to that subject tomorrow, too.

 Wordle: I’ve done it every day. No failures. My current winning streak is 32 – nearly up to half of my maximum streak. In fact, the level has been rather low (=easy) lately. Today was mostly threes, except that Thomas had 2 and Theo 4.

  

 I’m sorry about the gap. All’s well, but Christmas presses, even in my reduced state. Maybe it would be better to log off now until sometime next week. Merry Christmas to all. 

  Rachel came and went from/to London yesterday. She had trouble with delayed trains — much stress but fortunately not too much delay. Essentially she was here for a long lunch. C. and Helen came. We had kedgeree and a green salad. At the end, Mungo joined us, home from Cairo for the Christmas holiday, looking well. Wafa says his spoken Arabic is remarkably good. He doesn't know what he wants to do with it.

  Virtually no knitting, always a bad sign, but I am nevertheless only one wrong-side row short of the point where I leave the sleeve stitches behind. 

   And it’s less than 48 hours until the solstice.

   Wordle: lots of threes and fours lately. Today over here there were two twos, Mark and Thomas; two threes, Alexander and Rachel; and two fours, me and Ketki. In DC, a distinguished three for Roger and a most uncharacteristic five for Theo.

  

  

 The weather is still deficient, but we had a pretty good day otherwise. C. came. Christmas seems to be largely in hand. I think Monday is a pretty convenient day for it to fall on.  We looked out but didn’t deploy my few ornaments. The one thing absolutely fixed about Christmas is to decorate while listening (live) to the carol service from King’s  College Cambridge.

  It begins with a stunning unaccompanied solo of the first  verse of “Once in Royal David’s City” by a boy soprano. After that first verse the organ and the rest of the choir chime in, and Christmas starts. I have always understood that until the BBC green light goes on and the choirmaster points at one of them, the boys themselves don’t know which one it will be. And we still won’t know for a few heartbeats longer, whether he can hit and hold with ease the high note on “MAR-y was that mother mild”. 

  I heard one such boy, now grown to man’s estate, reminiscing about the experience on a television programme once. He said that when the finger pointed at him, there was a brief and terrifying moment when he couldn’t remember the words.

   No doubt in a year or two they’ll have girls in the King’s College choir and the fun will be over.

   Rachel will make a flying visit to Edinburgh on Tuesday. C. will join us for lunch, and Helen I hope. Kedgeree? 

   Wordle: Roger, Theo, Thomas, Rachel and Mark were today’s fours. Three for the rest — Ketki, Alexander and I. 

  

 James is gone. Much missed. Wafa and I have had a quiet day. There were faint shafts of sunshine this morning, but the weather has reverted to horrible.

  Thank you for your suggestions about getting out of here. I am very much taken with yours, Rebecca, of going down sideways. We may have a trial run of that one tomorrow. I may not have made it sufficiently clear that these steps are (a) cement and (b) external. I don’t think going down on one’s bottom would be feasible although otherwise it would be a brilliant idea. Standing up again at the bottom might be hard. And what about getting up the stairs later on?

  A permanent ramp might disfigure Drummond Place. Ketki is investigating long-term solutions of that nature. But nothing could be ready for Christmas. 

  I’ve knit a bit further. The second ball of yarn is looking subdued. The work is looking very good.

  Wordle: I was the first to report this morning, with a perfectly creditable three. Or so I thought, until Mark, Alexander and Ketki reported twos one after another. Eventually Rachel joined me with another three, Thomas and Roger had four, Theo five.

  

  

 I’m sorry about the gap. The cause was nothing more serious than James’ arrival. We’re having a nice time, in a quiet way. Alexander and Ketki are coming tomorrow.

Anonymous, I was desperately pleased by your comment — you remembered that I start Wordle every day with TRAIN and HOUSE.  TRAIN won ages ago, probably years. After that happened, I switched the order so that HOUSE would be in position when its day came. And now it has! I shall revert to the former order which seems more natural and feels more useful although that is absurd.

You’re right about not taking the cat along for Christmas dinner, assuming I manage to get down those steps. She deserves some pussy cat down time, as James rightly says.

That much I composed for you yesterday, but didn’t post. Now it’s Thursday…

Alexander and Ketki and Helen and Archie came for a takeaway lunch. 

We practised getting me out and down the six steps at the front door, without much success. In June or so I could go to Mass with C. by holding on to our railing with one hand and to her with the other. That no longer works.

The party then tried carrying James down the stairs in our smaller wheelchair. Much laughter but something approaching success. The alternative will be for me and Wafa to cook the bird and Helen and her family to arrive midmorning with everything else, already cooked.

The odd thing about this situation is that I still feel, as throughout life, that I will soon be better.

Wordle: five for me yesterday. I got stuck with four greens and a missing second letter. Rachel had one of those today, with the first letter missing. She scraped home with six. Alexander and I scored three — the day’s best. Fours largely elsewhere, including both Theo and Roger. Thomas was an undistinguished, and unchacteristic, five.

 More dreadful weather, with still more forecast. But the winter solstice is now within sight. (Friday the 22nd at 3:27, in GB) Again, the day seemed busy and no knitting got done in the morning. Helen came.  A physiotherapist came. James himself will be here tomorrow for a few days’ Christmas visit. 

  I’ve finished that “rows 1-4 six more times” section in the yoke of the Spalding, and made a few modest adjustments to the stitch count. There’ll be a chance to adjust again when I actually leave the sleeve stitches behind. I have at last more or less mastered what is required. It goes a bit faster now that I don’t have to peer at the pattern for every row.

  Wafa thinks we should take the cat along to Helen’s house for Christmas dinner. On the other hand, nobody much — including the physiotherapist who was here this morning — seems to think I can be safely got there myself. The alternative is to eat here, and I suppose we should make tentative plans.

  Wordle: singularly easy today. Thomas and Roger were the laggards, with four. Theo, Alexander, Mark and Rachel got three. Ketki would normally have carried away the palm with her distinguished two — except that I scored one.

 Filthy weather continues. C. came to see me. Christmas has reached the slightly silly stage when no expense seems too great. Does Thanksgiving save you from that in the US? 

Knitting progresses. I did four long, long rows today without looking at the pattern. The difficulty being that there are several forms of the right-side-increase row. I’m in a section for which the instruction is “repeat rows 1-4 six times”. I’ve done five of them, and I think it would be just as well to count stitches before I proceed. After that there will be 16 more rows until the happy instruction to “ Proceed to all sizes resume..”

Comments yesterday: Tamar, Wafa has already found the four copies of Knitter’s Magazine from the turn of the millennium, where Meg expands on and elucidates the EPS. They are safely back on the shelf where they belong. A great relief.Gretchen, I don’t know exactly where she found the key to the carriage clock — it was on the shelf of a bookcase at the far end of the corridor: completely impossible.

Wordle: my starters did all the work. An easy three for me. Rachel and Mark and Thomas also got three. Alexander and Ketki both needed four, with identical grids consisting only of greens. In DC, Roger had three and Theo four. I think C. said she got it in three, but without being able to refer to her score in Signal I can’t entirely trust my memory.

 Filthy weather, spitting sleet at the windows. However, it was perhaps a degree or two warmer and I may be an inch or two better, despite the lack of new medication.

   Knitting went well. I have finished the first ball of yarn — measurable progress. The row is now very long, but  it is a considerable comfort that nothing will have to be repeated — I am knitting the whole thing, neck down. And the bit where I leave the shoulder/sleeve stitches behind is now within sight. And the dropped shoulders are pretty low. Lots to be cheerful about.

  Anonymous (yesterday): C. Is my niece Clare. My husband’s niece, strictly — his only sister’s daughter. She has been as a daughter to me since her mother died, a good many years ago now.

  Have I told you about our carriage clock? Wafa found the key. Many years ago, when we lived in Birmingham, we had a bad burglary. That clock went, although the key was left behind. Many months later I saw it in the window of a jeweller in the city centre.

  It was all rather like the evidences for God in Newman’s Grammar of Assent. I couldn’t prove it was our clock. But it said “Edinburgh” on the front — my husband had inherited it from his Edinburgh grandfather. And it had a  honest Arabic face — the vast majority of such clocks have Roman numerals.

  And the clincher was when I went in and bought it. It had been supplied with a clumsy modern key, which I left behind in the shop, knowing that the key left behind by the burglars would fit. So I was particularly distressed recently when the key couldn’t be found, and particularly pleased the other day when Wafa found it. 

  Wordle: I was the only three. No glory in that — Alexander scored two. Thomas and his mother Ketki and Rachel had fours. Mark lagged behind with five. Roger and Theo in DC were both four. (C. is a fairly faithful Wordle-doer but not  member of our little group.)

  

 C. came this morning and wrapped up some xmas presents for me. They look very well. I have sent Helen home with presents for herself and David, to keep things as simple as possible here. I calculated that if I still gave presents on my former principle, to all my blood descendants, the number would be above 30. 

  I mustn't forget that C’s own present is still to be wrapped, even though she is not related in blood.

 I continued to feel not-quite this morning. C. called a doctor. A pleasant young woman actually came and measured vital signs and said I have some crackle in the lungs — fluid or infection. She didn’t prescribe anything. I was glad about that. I’m still not-quite.

  I got a couple of rows of knitting done. The rows are so long these days that that is almost a creditable achievement. 

  Wordle: my starters almost solved it themselves this morning — an easy three. That was a popular score — but Ketki did it in two and Alexander needed four. Theo and Roger in DC both took four. 

 

 Wind, rain, cold. I tried to adopt your excellent suggestion of wearing a hat, Tamar, but to my embarrassment nothing very suitable could be found. Should I abandon all this ridiculous knitting and knit myself a hat? 

I am sorry for two days of silence. All is well, except that, perhaps, I have a bit of a cold. The dr said recently that I must let him know at the first sign of a lung infection so that an antibiotic can be started promptly. But if this is just a cold, an antibiotic won’t help and it will harm the microbiome. There’s no cough, let alone a productive one. No knitting yesterday — that’s a bad sign.

Helen was here briefly this morning on her way to Kirkmichael, to meet a man who was going to value the house, her thought being to buy out the other three and live there. I have given her my 1/6 and my busband’s so she now owns half (if my arithmetic suffices) but I have to live for quite a while for the value of the gift to be entirely removed from my estate for inheritance tax purposes. I’m not sure I’m up to it.

Random thot: there seems to be a lot of volcanic activity in the world all of a sudden. Indonesia and Mount Etna and cracks opening up in Iceland to the extent that they have emptied a whole village. 

Wordle:  It took Wafa to crack it (in four) yesterday: I had three greens but was totally baffled. The word was WOMAN. Today the cisAtlantic team all got four except for Ketki who scored three. There’s no news from Mark. In DC Theo was another four and his father Roger a brilliant two. 

 Still seriously cold. Maybe when it warms up a bit, I’ll venture into the catalogue room (so-called) and write you a proper message on my computer, with pictures. For the time being I huddle in the sitting room  under a heated blankie and pick out words with one finger on my iPad.

  Helen came to see us. The first of the presents I ordered yesterday turned up.

   Knitting continued to advance, slow but steady. I’m knitting (Brooklyn Tweed’s Spalding pattern) from the top down. There are 62 rows, or thereabouts, before I leave stitches behind for the sleeves. I’ve knit 20. It’s a start.

   Mary Lou, I hope your yarn turned up, and that you like it. It’s one of life’s better experiences.

   Wordle:  not much difficulty today. My starters gave me two greens and two browns. I scored an easy three.  Mark , Theo, Rachel and Ketki shared that score. Roger and Alexander were the fours, Thomas the lonely outlier with five.

 Bitter, bitter cold. The winter of 1962-3, when Helen was born, was one of the bitterest in recent memory — and it started early. 

  I pretty well finished all the Christmas shopping I intend to do. So that’s something. 

  C. came to see me, with her friend Ian, the man to whom we are both forever grateful for driving us to and from Oban for both of our cruises in 2021.

  Knitting continued well. I did only three rows which doesn’t sound like much. But I must remember that although I cast on only 55, and that number remained fairly constant through all those false starts, it is now increasing by rapid, irregular amounts. It is looking well. 

  I finished The Running Grave. I would have enjoyed the denouement more if I had had the characters straighter in my head. I wonder if they’ll televise this one? 

  Wordle: I was today’s dunce with 5. There were 4’s for Alexander, Thomas and Ketki. Mark and Rachel distinguished themselves with 3’s. In DC, Roger was another 4 and Theo is so far silent.

 Still cold, but perhaps a little less so. We’ve had a quiet day, briefly visited by Helen. They’re having open days at the studios amongst which is the one where she makes mosaics (when she can escape from family responsibilities).

   The Downstairs Lavatory is back in action. Amazing.

   Knitting has progressed peacefully. This thing (Brooklyn Tweed “Spalding”) begins at the neck and is knit downwards. The shoulder shaping is slightly fancy — hence the initial difficulty.

   And I’ve read a lot more of The Running Grave. It has picked up speed since the mid-book slump, without exactly introducing any rabbits or hats. I can’t keep all the names straight and have given up trying. The overall effect is somewhat depressing — or maybe I am feeling low because of immobility and darkness and my old friend’s death. 

   Somewhere — the BBC website, I think — I’ve seen pages of pictures of the Christmas decorations at the White House. I did not notice any hint of ox or ass or even sheep. Is the President’s Catholicism entirely a matter of anti-Englishness?

   Wordle: Ketki and Mark and Roger were the stars today, with three. Alexander and Rachel and I scored four. Thomas and Theo needed five.

 Bitter cold. All’s well. I think we’ve got a functioning downstairs lavatory. Plumbers have been banging away in there all day, and hopeful messages have emerged. Helen has been here all day, too, supervising and encouraging.

  The knitting has gone well. I’m definitely getting the hang of it. The problem is going to be keeping track of which row I’m on. I am determined to be very careful. 

   And I have continued to read The Running Grave. No hats, no rabbits, increasing gloom, but increasing interest as well. Still a long way to go. 

  Wordle: Silence from Alexander today. That’s unusual. Two from Mark, three from me, four for the other Brits. In DC, four for Theo and five for Roger. I have something to say about today’s word but will probably have forgotten by tomorrow. 

 52% — still no sign of a rabbit. (A reference to JKRowling and The Running Grave and yesterday’s message here.)

   Wafa and I have had a busy-feeling day. The one long-lasting result has been the cranberry sauce. Should I worry about whether it will keep that long? Nobody came to see us.

   Not much knitting, either, because our busy-ness kept us in the kitchen all morning. But I’ve done a bit more. I think I’m past the point of no return. I’ve reached the point, to put it another way, where the knitting itself begins to guide my steps. The instructions remain labyrinthine — “work row 1 of yoke increase row A” and that in turn consists largely of “row 1 of half brioche stitch (flat)”. I think they could have been simplified.

  Wordle: it didn’t seem very easy to me, but we all found it so. My starters gave me two greens. and three browns — a complete anagram

  There were four threes and two fours for the British team. The fours were Alexander and Ketki. In DC Roger swelled the ranks of the threes, and Theo posted a stunning two.