I got two rows of the Stillness Shawl border done again today. The long, long purl rows seem even more tedious than they used to be. The right-side pattern rows are almost a pleasure. The one comfort s that the pattern finishes (oddly?) with a right-side row, and does the stretchy bind-off on the wrong side.

 

You’ll be glad to hear (see yesterday for context) that the Old Military Road past – rather than over – Rest and Be Thankful is open again. Better than nothing. Certainly better than a 70-mile detour. Perhaps the Old Military Men had the right idea, putting the road down there rather than going nearer the top.

 

My Italian tutor and her fidanzato are in Berlin for a month, something to do with his work, so we had a lesson from there this morning. And I baked my sourdough successfully. I dreamt last night that it came out flat as a pancake, but it didn’t. This one is for C., who will be coming tomorrow to take me for a walk.

 

So next is kimchi. Will I be energetic enough to do some vegetable-chopping this evening in preparation? I watched Brad Leone’s YouTube kimchi again – that’s more or less the recipe I follow, minus the oyster – and discovered that he has done some lockdown sessions from his own kitchen in New Jersey, complete with children underfoot. I was mildly tempted by Brussels sprout kimchi but it would be safer to stick with Napa/Chinese cabbage, after what happened last time. (wrong cabbage; didn't work)

 

Reading

 

Shandy, I finished my re-reading of A Suitable Boy, and rather miss it. Mr Modi’s trip to Ayodhya this week to inaugurate the building of a temple to Ram might have come straight from its pages. The Raja of Marh would have been pleased.

 

I’ve finished the new Simon Serrailler, too; a bit gentler than the last. I read that one when I was in the north of England for Thomas’ and Lucy’s wedding. They now have two daughters, so that must be some time ago. I have reverted to Trollope, faute de mieux.