Good weather, including warmth, according to my carer. Maybe we are going to have May after all.

   Knitting: I took that wretched Spalding sleeve back to the very beginning again, and this time I think I’ve got it. I understand what I’m doing. I can spot mistakes — at least minor ones — as they happen. Despite yesterday’s resolutions, I’m knitting in the round again. I think my dp’s are a bit too short but of course, knitting as I am from the shoulder down, the stitch count will soon diminish. The brioche decrease will be the next problem.

   Eileen, bless you (comment yesterday): I will join KD’s MKAL and we will have our own little club-within-a-club knitting it. I’ll tell you my colour choice soon. I’ve narrowed it down to a couple.

   Meanwhile, I’ve been reading “The China Governess”. I don’t think I’ve ever read it before, although the first violent scene in a London tower felt familiar, as did the news of Luke’s bereavement. Extraordinary that Allingham could have written two such weak novels — this one and “The Mind Readers” — on the heels of “Hide  My Eyes”. 

  Wordle:  back to a peaceful day or threes and fours. The threes were Rachel and Alexander and Roger.  Poor Ketki needed five.

   

 Thank you for your comments about buying more yarn. I could do with some . I’ve had a tough day with the Spalding sleeve and am tempted to throw it away in a fit of petulance.

  I corrected the original mistake (see yesterday) and was proceeding happily on my way, indeed mentally drafting a message to you about how I had solved the various problems of knitting half-brioche in the round on dp’s, when I realised I had done no such thing. I’ve taken it back, although have not yet fully recovered the stitches. When I succeed with that, I will do it back-and-forth on the too-long circular. Brioche prefers back-and-forth, I think. When I get to the cuffs, st st, I’ll switch back to the dp’s. That’s the plan.

   We’ve had a bright day, although still cold.

   I’ve finished reading Allingham’s last, “The Mind Readers”. Perhaps— nay, probably— I will go back now to the penultimate one, “The China Governess”. Might as well do this thoroughly. I am listening to slightly more weighty tomes as I nap. What one wants then is something interesting enough to think about, and boring enough to sleep to (and not to mind missing chunks when one actually falls asleep). Currently something about evolution. Perfect.

  Wordle: I had a happy hour this morning when I thought I might be the only cisAtlantic three. Alas, no.  Mark and Rachel joined me. Fours for the others. Theo had five — it was a tough one, despite all of our threes. Silence from Roger.

   

. 

 Serious sunshine today, although still seriously chilly. C. came in the morning.

   Knitting went well. I finished the collar of my Spalding sweater, and embarked on a sleeve. I did the first round wrong — knitting a round which I should have purled, after picking up the stitches. I am currently employed in unpicking my way around. Everything is harder than it used to be.

 Maureen (comments yesterday) I read Franklin every day on Youtube, and that’s where I saw  the picture of you and your husband. I probably saw  it on Monday.

   Speaking of comments, I was slightly disappointed that nobody lept in to tell me to buy one of KD’s MKAL kits. (Maureen had already advised me to do so, a quatr’ occhi as we say in Italian.) I still haven’t decided. It would be ridiculous.

   Wordle: we were back to the old threes and fours today. Except that my clever daughter Rachel scored a resounding two. Mark and Alexander were the threes. Four for everybody else, including the father-and-son pair in DC.

 A busy day. Sunshine and showers again.

   Maureen from Fargo came to see me this morning, on her way home after a successful knitting retreat on Shetland.  We have a history going back decades, and I hope there will be more episodes to come. She was wearing stunning Fair Isle of (of course) her own making. Franklin posted a resume of his knitting life recently — including a picture of Maureen and her husband.

   In the afternoon some lingots were delivered (at last) for my salad factory. I have planted chilli seeds. They’re awfully small, as I should have realised they would be after dealing with them on a daily basis in the kitchen. I’ll keep you posted.

   As for reading, I persevered with “The Mind Readers”. I still don’t think it’s very good. I’ll have to think of something else to read before KD’s club launches at the beginning of May.

   This time, for the first time, there is to be a KAL associated with the club, based somehow on “Hide My Eyes” (Allingham’s last seriously good thriller). Today we got the colours for the kits KD is selling, although she encourages us to dip into stash. I’m seriously tempted, although it would be a silly extravagance, now that I knit so little and so slowly. 

   KD promises to give us plenty of time between clues. The only other KAL I ever joined in on was one of Stephen West’s. That was exhausting. I reached the final clue more or less in time, but never finished the shawl. I’ll keep you posted on that idea, too.

  Wordle: another failure for me. And Roger: some consolation.Rachel scored a brilliant three. Theo and Thomas were the fours. Ketki six, Alexander and Mark five. 

 I’m back in the kitchen, poking with one finger. The day has been off-and-on, shadow and shade, yet again. Evening sun at the moment: that’s welcome. But no warmth. The long-range forecast offers no hope  much before  mid-May. If then.

   On the other hand, I had a delivery of cat-litter from Amazon today, and the carer didn’t spot it on the doorstep when she got back from her break. I looked at Amazon’s your-package-has-been-delivered, and there was a most glorious photograph of aubretia in bloom in my tripod. It’s not very good aubretia, colour-wise, but it’s having a wonderful time out there and I would never have known but for Amazon.

   Knitting has progressed, but I still haven’t finished that second collar.

   I’ve been reading Allingham’s “Mind Readers” — her last book. I must have read at least part of it before. It’s not terribly good, but it’s nice to hear the authentic voice one last time. Entry for KD’s club is closed, but we still have to wait a fortnight or so for any action.

   I’ve decided against Lourdes. I need too much intimate care.

   Wordle: even Queer Joe failed yesterday. Today we all picked up the load and started to trudge forward again.Two for Theo and Rachel. Three for Alexander and Mark and Ketki.  Four for me. Six for poor Thomas who got stuck with the middle letter missing. Silence, as often, from Roger. 

   . 

 

Here I am back in the computer room. I failed to turn the laptop off properly last time, with the happy result that it was remarkably quicker to boot. All well here. I have spent much of the day wondering whether I should apply for the diocesan pilgrimage to Lourdes. Would they be up for the amount of care I need?

C. came this morning. She is all for it. Helen is in Greece with her husband this week. I have run it past her by email. 

   I’ve been reading Allingham’s “Beloved Old Age” edited and augmented by Julia Jones' whom we will soon get to know as a contributor to Kate Davies’ new club. I’m afraid it’s boring. Old age is tough – no doubt about that. Both authors dance around the question; Do I invite them home, or do my best to make them happy and comfortable elsewhere? I have moved on to The Mind Readers, Allingham’s last thriller. Campion’s last outing. And I am not letting that awful man read it to me.

Wordle: Roger, Theo, Alexander, Ketki and I all failed today. Ending a streak of 49, in my case. It doesn’t look all that difficult a word, looking at it in the list. Thomas scraped home with six. Mark and Rachel were today’s luminaries, with fours.

 

  

 Brighter, warmer — although not what you’d call warm. A good day’s knitting. Another day might even finish that collar. I like the new carer. 

  And for reading, I went on with Allingham. I bought not one but two audio books to accompany knitting, and regret it. “Tiger in the Smoke” and “The China Governess”. They may even be read by the same man. Why didn’t I check?

   The trouble is, he’s proud of his accents. Inspector Luke speaks pure, unreconstructed London. Campion and his family speak posh. What I would enjoy would be if both spoke Standard English with just a trace of the originals. I’m sure Luke didn’t sound like that. 

   His rendition of women’s voices is also irritating. 

   Speaking of peevishness: the leading editorial in the Times today is headlined “National Malady”. The BBC in the early morning tells us what the newspapers think. Twice, the announcer pronounced it “ma-LAH-dy”. I thought maybe it was a joke I didn’t understand which would become clear when I read the actual newspaper over breakfast. Not so.   

   Wordle: pretty harmonious today. Mark and Thomas scored three; four for all the rest of us.

  My parish newsletter, which arrives every week, is advertising for cripples today, to be taken to Lourdes in July. I must check the dates and think seriously about it.

 I got into the Catalogue Room this afternoon, where my laptop is. I wrote a blog entry for you. But where is it?  I’ll find it tomorrow and post it on. It’s been a tough day. Helen is in Thessaloniki.

 A straightforward day. A successful bath — that’s an event these days. Helen came in the morning and re-potted some more of my cactusses. (Goodness, is that how you spell it?) Archie came, and we scraped together a lunch for him. The weather, yet again, sunshine and shower and shadow. 

   The rest of the day has been spent reading Margery Allingham’s biography. I’m nearing the end. She’s desperately trying to keep up with the Income Tax in those austere years after the war. Evelyn Waugh had the same problem. Genius (and success) provided no escape.

   Anna (comment yesterday): I didn’t know/had completely forgotten that Dorothy Sayers had a husband. He seems to have appeared on the scene (Wikipedia) after the birth of her son, and was not his father. Allingham continues to have difficulties with hers. He earned his own living after the war, but did his living in London apart from his wife. The income tax situation was much complicated by the fact that they were married.

   Wordle: I think we’re on the same day. The members of my little group who live in DC always to be in sync. You’re right, Fiona, that when I refer to v. and c. I mean “vowel” and “consonant.” But your remark, Heather, is interesting and I wouldn’t entirely discount it.

   Again today I was entirely baffled after my starters, and resorted to a carefully-chosen Jean-word. It wasn’t much help, but some, and at least I managed a fully-qualified word for line four, and the right answer for five.

   Ketki was today’s solitary star with her three. Theo, Rachel and Alexander were the fours.Thomas and Mark joined me on five. Roger needed six. It wasn’t easy.

   

  

 Great excitement today. Somebody came to the door during the carer’s   break. She wasn’t even here. He was, fortunately, patient — and I, miraculously, got to the door. He was bringing a new, magic mattress which promises to be more comfortable. (Nights are tough.)

   Sunshine (quite a bit) and showers today. I’m told it’s still cold. Helen came and we ordered some pelargoniums for the front doorstep. I’d like “Lord Bute” from Sarah Raven — because we knew him, and because it looks like an interesting flower — but went instead for cheaper and more abundant from Thompson and Morgan.

   Otherwise not much. Some knitting, and I hope to do more this evening. I’ve gone on with Allingham’s biography, which is interesting. Maybe I’ll finish it and read the three more (besides “Sweet Danger”) pre-war books before the club starts. At the moment, poor Margery is sinking under the weight of life, writing rubbish for the women’s mags to keep the household in coal and cabbages, in between her real books with Campion in them.  Her husband was pretty well useless. And yet her best thrillers were still to come.

   I don’t think either Christie or Sayers, at the height of their careers, had a husband to support.

   The introduction to one of my reads, quite likely this biography, says that Campion had buck teeth. Rubbish. He had a famously vacant expression, misleading to friend and foe. But not buck teeth.

   Wordle: I found it enormously hard this morning. My starters gave me two greens, in the first and last positions, and two browns, a v. and a c. Easy, one might think, but I struggled and could think of nothing. I finally gave up and put in Jean-words, taking care at least that the browns were in new, possible positions. It took two goes of that, but I got it right in line five.

   Rachel and Mark had threes. Four for Alexander. Ketki scraped home with six — some comfort for me. Theo was another six. He had four lines, 2 through 5, in which the pattern was ???, grn, ???, ???, grn. No browns at all. Then he got it. Nothing from Roger yet

   

 Thank you for all your comments yesterday. I didn’t deserve them. I’m glad you saw the eclipse, Tamar. James went to see one once in China, and is eloquent about the effect it made, approaching over the desert. 

The closest I ever got was a partial eclipse here in Edinburgh, goodness knows when. I took a bucket of water out to the doorstep and saw reflected the sun with a bite out of it. It got just dark enough for the birds to start crying in anxiety. 

It has been another day of sunshine and shadow. No knitting, I am afraid. I am reading “The Adventures of Margery Allingham,” a biography. Its author will be contributing to KD’s club-book. I’ve got it here in my Kindle and must have read it before, although I don’t remember a syllable. Maybe I fast-forwarded through the early years.

  The club begins the first of May — with a knitting pattern.

   Wordle.  My starter words did most of the work for me, and I scored three. For a while I hoped I might be the only one — but then Alexander came along.Thomas, Ketki, Mark and Roger were the fours.  Five for Theo and Rachel. 

 A better day, although I have lost a temporary carer who had made herself very dear in only a few days. No knitting, because Perdita is lying on my work and has been there for hours and there’s no arguing with a cat. The weather is off-and-on — sunshine through the windows, much appreciated by me and the cat, but actual human beings who venture out say that the wind bites. 

I’ve finished listening to Allingham’s account of village life during the war, not without interest. And also finished reading “Sweet Danger”. I am now driven back on the biography, “The Adventures of Margery Allingham” but I hope KD will take over soon with the new club. I’ve been sent the dates but I’ve forgotten them.

Wordle: my starters served me well — two greens and a brown, and I remembered in time one of my few — perhaps my only — rules for Wordle, and got it in three. Thomas joined me there. Four for Alexander and Mark. Five for Rachel and Ketki. We haven’t heard from DC yet. I’ll try to remember to tell you my rule tomorrow.

Bedtime: a five for Theo. Silence still from Roger.

 Sorry about yesterday. I’m not doing very well. And I’m pretty droopy  again tonight.

   However, it’s been a brighter day. Knitting progresses — I’m creeping up the second collar, and it’s looking good. I’ve joined the second (and last) ball of contrast yarn. I think there’ll be enough to attempt the cuffs.

   I’ve finished Allingham’s “Sweet Danger”, the first title for the KD club. I’m tempted to go on, but I’ll resist. Campion and Amanda are introduced to each other, and clearly we’re going to see more of her. It’s in “Traitor’s Purse”, early in the war, that they finally get married. I’m looking forward to the essays — and, indeed, to the knitting patterns.

“  I’m listening to Allingham’s “The Oaken Heart”. It is autobiographical, about village life in the first couple of years of the war, written for an American magazine, I think, in the hopes of softening up the American public to the idea of joining the war. Mercifully Hirohito took over that project and succeeded brilliantly.

  For listening, as I doze or sleep or knit, I need a book interesting enough to hold my attention but not so interesting that I mind missing great swaths of it when I fall asleep. “The Oaken Heart” is perfect.

  Wordle: threes and fours; same yesterday.Today Mark, Thomas and Roger were the threes.Theo took five. 

 A mildly better day, again. Maybe we’ve turned the corner. The forecast is not very promising.

  A new carer today — not the usual handover day. Something about holidays. This one is just here for a long weekend; then we go back t o my two regulars. She is very agreeable; I could wish her part of the normal rota.

   Knitting has gone well. I’ve finished the first, left-side, collar and embarked on the second. There are differences in the way it is attached to the picked-up stitches, to accommodate the fact that it slopes in the other direction. I struggled, but I think I’ve nailed it. 

   I’m currently at a stage we would all recognise, when the first ball of contrast yarn goes on forever. I’m already into the third inch of the second collar.

   I’ve also had a good time with Margery Allingham and KD. Today we were introduced to her collaborators. One of them has written a biography, which I am glad to discover is the one I’ve already got in my Kindle. (All of MA’s books seem to be there, too — this is going to be cheaper than might otherwise have been the case. Perhaps I can use that as an excuse to join the KAL.) 

   Wordle: We were all threes and fours today, except for poor Thomas: five. I was one of the fours. Alexander and Theo and Ketki were the threes.

 A much better day, sunshine-wise. Maybe the worst is over.

   Helen came this morning and brought me a delicious purple globe artichoke, my very favourite thing after sweet corn. I’ve just had it for my tea.

   Otherwise, a fairly uneventful day. Archie dropped in and was persuaded to have lunch. I’ve made some progress with reading Allingham’s “Sweet Danger”, the first book on the list for KD’s new club. It’s an early one, and certainly doesn’t move as fast as “Hide My Eyes”. But it’s where Campion meets Amanda. 

   I was excited to learn (comments yesterday) that you know Tolleshunt d’Arcy, Shandy and Jane. Where Allingham lived and wrote.

   Wordle: my two starters left me with four greens this morning, the classic Wordle set-up for failure. Mercifully, I got it in five. Mark, another five, was the only other one with that configuration. Threes for Ketki, Alexander and Rachel. Fours for Roger and Theo and Thomas.

   

 Another grey day, with plenty of rain. This is getting tedious. There are farmers fearing no crops at all this year, as day after day of planting time slip by.

   C. came to see me this morning. Otherwise quiet. Very welcome, after all the recent excitement.

   Knitting has gone well. I should finish the first collar tomorrow.

   I’ve finished the (umpteenth) re-reading of “Hide My Eyes” and will leave the rest until KD’s new club actually starts. HME was Allingham’s last, I believe. Mr Campion scarcely figures in it. Club-wise, it is connected with the KAL I think. The main club will start at Allingham’s more cheerful but less exciting beginning. I needn’t worry, now that I know I can knock them off fast.

   Queer Joe and Franklin, both old cyber knitting friends, both post almost daily. Franklin has just come through a session of chemotherapy but otherwise remains happy in Paris. Joe’s life is more tranquil, looking forward to the next Men’s Knitting Retreat. I dearly love them both.

   Wordle: my starters pretty well solved it for me this morning — a quick three. For a long time I had hopes of being the day’s star, but Alexander has matched me. Four for Mark and Ketki. Five for Thomas, Theo and Rachel. Nothing from Roger again.

 More rain. Occasional glints of sunshine. But not what you’d call April.

   James and Cathy are gone, speeding southwards by rail if all has gone well. It was a good visit. I feel I could promise to come to see them in London soon. Not “denial” but — I can’t think of a word for it. A feeling that I’ll get better from this as from all other illnesses and misfortunes in life.

   Knitting has gone well. I have reached the marker I put in when picking up stitches, to separate the half-back-and-top-of-sleeve from the long slope down the front. When I reach the centre-back I pause and start the second half of the collar down at the bottom again.

   But my main source of vigour today has stemmed from Kate Davies’ Margery-Allingham-based knitting club. I’m even tempted to contemplate the KAL  especially as it’s based on the late novel — “Hide My Eyes” — which I had already started re-reading. I think Ive got them all in my Kindle.  Not that I don’t have plenty of knitting. Not that I need another shawl. But…

   Wordle: We found it hard. I was doing so badly, facing failure, indeed, that I typed in what I hoped was a rude word in French, for line four. Thinking of that VOILA the other day. Not only did Wordle accept it, but it gave me four greens. So five for me.

   Six for Theo and Mark. Ketki was with me on five.  Four for Thomas and Alexander. Rachel was today’s undoubted star, with three. Nothing from Roger yet.

   

 Sorry for absences. Everybody has gone away now except James and Cathy. 

   I am full of enthusiasm for Kate Davies’ new club. She has turned away from Scottish scenery/history in favour of Margery Allingham. A major change. KD is a great fan. So am I. I’m only sorry that the club will run over the summer. I like nothing better than a KD club to get me through the darkest days. Still, in any season, it will be fun re-reading those delicious books in company, with knitting somehow thrown in. 

I wish I knew which book we’ll be starting with. I’ve begun re-reading an old fave, but we’ll probably take them in order. Allingham got much better as time progressed. 

   My own knitting continues well. The Spalding collar is slow. I think I’ve sped up a bit, perhaps with the stimulus of the KD club looming. The end of the first collar — the centre-back point — now looms, but there’s still a long way to go. And then sleeves. I’ve got enough yarn for both collars; not necessarily for the cuffs.

   Wordle: you haven’t missed much in my absence. No failures. We were all very cross about VOILA yesterday.  (Why not VIOLA?) i scored a relatively distinguished four.

    Ketki and Roger and I had threes today. Everybody else scored four.

 We’re having a nice time. I’m not doing much if any better at keeping great-granddaughters distinct than I was last week, before I met them, but it’s nice to have them here.

  Knitting has progressed well. You’re right, Tamar, that the collar of my Spalding sweater lies flat. Perceptive of you. I’ve kept at it. It’s the same sort of pleasure as knitting a lacy edging onto a shawl — only one stitch taken in for every two knit, but eventually you get there. And it’s pleasant to take it up and knit two or four rows.

   I’ve clearly got enough contrast yarn for the collar. That leaves the question of the cuffs.

   Anonymous, you don’t have to buy the pattern. Perish the thought. Go to the Brooklyn Tweed website and ask for Spalding. I think all the features I mention will be obvious.

   Wordle:  We were much spread out today.i didn’t have a  single green until line four. Thomas scored two — today’s champion. Three for Roger, Mark, and Rachel. Four for Theo and Ketki. Five for me and Alexander.

 

Here I am back in the Catalogue Room. Bliss to type on a proper keyboard, agony to put up with the slow booting time. I think I had better buy a new basic laptop while I still  have some money left. I keep saying that. By the time I act, there’ll be no money.

    It has been another cool, grey, wet day. This is getting tedious. But thank you for the news, Lisa (comment yesterday), that I’d be no better off in Rome. The London crowd is expected tomorrow. That means I may not be here at all, blog-wise. There are moments when I am almost glad to be crippled: it will be grand to see them, and I can’t scurry around in preparation much as I want to.

    Knitting progressed very well. I finished picking up stitches around the neck edge of the Spalding sweater, and embarked on the collar. It attaches itself to the edge as I progress. The pattern, over 22 stitches, is k1, slip 1 wyif. At the inside edge, therefore every other row, you take in one from the picked-up stitches, and get rid of it with a k2tog at the beginning of the next row. I don’t think I’ve ever knit this particular stitch before. It makes a nice, dense rib. (I was expecting st st.) I’m getting a good line at both edges – that’s good, because both will be very visible on the finished article. I floundered at the beginning, and picked it back a couple of times, but I now think it’s tidy enough throughout. It remains only to see whether I have enough of the toning colour in which I’m knitting. There’s no turning back now. I’ll have to order more if I run out.

   I think Helen is back in Edinburgh, or soon will be. I’ll see her tomorrow, along with all these other people. Otherwise no news. I’ll face up to photography when I reappear, whether tomorrow or later.

   Wordle: We haven’t heard from Alexander or Rachel yet, so it’s hardly worth reporting. And at the moment, I can’t persuade the iPad to show me the DC scores. I got three, and was rather proud of it.  Mark and Ketki and Thomas had four. Theo – I think it was he – had a brilliant two, Roger another four. Or maybe it was the other way around, I’ll update you later if I can sort the iPad out.

 Grey and wet again. Weather like this in May is said to herald a good summer (and often does). But this isn’t May.

   However, Christiansen’s book on Shetland lace turned up as hoped. (I spelled her name wrong yesterday.) It’s very good. It is entirely devoted to pieces in the museum in Lerwick. Motifs are illustrated, charted, re-knit in modern lace-weight yarn (they look astonishingly different), and given their traditional name when possible. There are no patterns per se. You have to fit them together for yourself.

   I have learned that Shetland lace was almost never worn on Shetland — it was done to earn money. The skill of the spinners was even more extraordinary than that of the knitters. Starting with a sheep — the fine, soft wool under the chin is what was wanted — they plucked and cleaned it, and spun not only super-fine, but ideally, and often, all in one go.

   My own knitting advances slowly. I have finished the bottom hem and started picking up stitches for the collar. I’ve never been much good at picking up stitches. I’m halfway around. All the stitches are picked up at once, but are soon to be divided I gather as the two halves of the collar are knitted separately.

   Wordle:A green consonant this morning and two browns, one v. one c. Not easy, but not agonizingly hard either. I scored four. So did everybody else over here except for Thomas: five. Theo, in DC, another five and as often we’re still waiting for Roger.

   Later: Roger was another four. He and Thomas and Ketki and I approached the solution through the same grid.

   

 We had a lovely, sunny Easter, which is more than they had in London. Helen came to lunch — “Christos anesti” “alethos anesti” — and we enjoyed the Nicoise salad, mostly made by C. who came earlier. 

   Knitting has gone well. I’ve finished binding off, at laborious last, and am hemming, which seems to be going well. The big knitting news, however, is “Shetland Fine Lace Knitting” by Carol Christianson. She is a Very Important Textile Person at the Shetland museum in Lerwick. The book was published last month (nobody told me). Jamieson & Smith is already announcing happily that they’ve got more stock in. I’ve ordered it from Amazon, I’m afraid — cheaper, quicker — and should be able to report on it to you tomorrow.

   I don’t suppose I’ll ever knit a lace project again. But I do want to keep up with the subject.

   All four of my children will be here next weekend. It’s not at all clear yet how much they will overlap, and rail strikes are threatened to complicate things.It would be nice if we could manage to eat together.

   Wordle: we got very close today to my dream score — when we all score the same. Poor Roger spoiled it, with a five. Otherwise, all fours. I found it very difficult. I now force myself — or try to — to enter a real suggestion, not a Jean-word, in line three

 I’m very sorry about yesterday. I actually forgot. Nothing happened, anyway. Nor did anything happen today. It was a bit brighter, and now the sun is shining. We’ve just put the clocks forward. It’s nice to know that the sun could be shining at 6pm tomorrow.

  Knitting: I’m slowly, slowly binding off the body stitches of my Spalding pullover. I hope to finish this evening. I hope it’ll go faster from now on — but I hope that every time I finish a section, and it’s never true.

   Thanks for your hemming tip, Chloe (comment Thursday). In this case there is a fold line — a whole, agonising round of purling — which should have somewhat the same effect, if I have counted the rows accurately since and before. 

   Helen was here at midday. She had ambitious plans for recording a Youtube video about some mosaic technique, but was seduced by sunshine into spending the time in her garden, weeding. She hopes to be here in good time tomorrow for our salade nicoise.  Then London, for her.

   I’ve been reading “The Secret of Cooking” by Bee Wilson. Recommended, on the whole. She mentions at one point the experience of lockdown, when one was forced back onto cooking with what one actually had. Lady, that’s what it’s like in the country, every day. With a table-ful of ravenous adolescents, perhaps, who haven’t had access to a corner shop or junk food all day.

   Wordle: another day of threes and fours (I think yesterday was much the same),  Over here in GB, Rachel and I were the fours. In DC, Roger was the three and Theo the four.

    My starters gave me two green vowels and one brown consonant. After a struggle I thought of a fully qualifying but rather peculiar word. It helped, I now had three greens, and got the answer in the next line. In my early Wordle days, I often used a jean-word in line three, and often scored five as a result. Four is much commoner now.

 The sun has come out, after a slow, cold, and very grey start. Feels good.

   Helen came again, and we got through some more chores. She is going to London on Sunday to see her oldest and dearest friend, briefly  here from France. On Wednesday Rachel and a modest selection of her descendants will arrive for a few days. Alexander and Ketki will come on Friday. Then next week when they’ve all gone away, James and Cathy will come. The mind boggles.

   Helen is going down on Sunday on a midday train. Nicole and I (the current carer) will make a Nicoise salad early in the day in the hopes that she will be able to rush in and eat a few mouthfuls before going to the station. Easter dinner.

   Knitting went well — so well that I am currently binding off the lower body. The pattern offers the option of hemming as you bind off, but I know from old experience that I would get that wrong. It starts off fine and then I find that the hem is more and more on a slant. And if that was true when I tried to do it 20 years ago…

   I spent a few moments over at the Schoolhouse Press today, as often, and learned that Meg has a new book coming out later this year. No subject mentioned. But exciting news.

   Wordle: everybody scored three or four today. Rachel and Thomas and I were the fours. 

    

 More grey, more rain. Not much hope for Easter, either.

   Helen is home after teaching mosaic-making down souff. She had a grand time, it would appear. I unloaded all my problems. She found the pepper-grinder right away. Some of the financial probs are going to take longer.

   Thanks, Mary Lou, for the reference  (comment yesterday) to the Smithsonian article about Galla Placidia. I haven’t pursued it yet. From the title it sounds as if it might amount to what my neighbour was saying — that GP was a thoroughly competent administrator in the midst of a lot of useless men.

   I got slightly more knitting done than usual today, and there’s still time for more. It seems endless, but in fact  a couple more days like today will see the hem finished. I’ll do the collar next, whatever the pattern says.

   I’m about to have asparagus for my supper, and am cross to discover that Waitrose sent me Mexican when I ordered British.

   Wordle: Rachel failed again — a most unusual two in a row. I did that at the New Year. It was another upsy-downsy day. Alexander and I had four, as did Theo and Roger in DC. Thomas and Ketki scored five, Mark snuck home with six.

   Roger had a distinguished three yesterday — see comments. 

   

 Another dull, grey day of non-accomplishment. Helen should be back tomorrow.

  A neighbour whom I hadn’t seen for a long time came to call this morning. It was delightful to see her. She spoke with great enthusiasm about Galla Placidia of whom I know nothing except a vague recognition of the name. Perhaps I should advance in that direction. She — my neighbour — was a lawyer/solicitor in active life, so 5th century Europe is home ground for her.

  Knitting has proceeded, slowly, slowly.

  Wordle: we were all over the place today. Five for me. The starters produced two vowels and a consonant, all brown. The guesses for lines three and four were both valid and both useful.

   Ketki and Thomas and Theo were fellow-fives. Rachel failed. Alexander and Mark  both had brilliant threes, although Mark appended a note suggesting that his was a lucky fluke. Silence so far from Roger. I’ll add him in if heard from before my early bedtime.

 Another quiet day, wet and dreary. I must plan in advance a good time to move into the Catalogue Room. After visitors-before lunch might do it. Four pm, after the carer’s afternoon break, is another possibility.

   Helen will head home tomorrow, I think, and I’ll see her on Wednesday.

   Catriona (comment yesterday) — there’s a phone number to ring on my Covid appt letter if mobility is limited. I’m hopeful that you’re right and it will be easy to book a house call. The appt is well in the future; I’m leaving that one for Helen like much else.

   Kirsten (another comment): James’ wife Cathy’s parents have recently had a lift put in to their house in Cheltenham. I gather it’s a success. Investigate that? He’s got dementia and she’s got bad knees. 

   Knitting has advanced, but all too slowly. I think I bought all the yarn the pattern wanted in the first colour, plus two more skeins in the contrast. I hope so. Today I switched back to the first colour, to finish off the hem. I think I’ll go on to do the collar next (contrast colour) and leave the sleeves to last. (Brooklyn Tweed Spalding)

  Wordle: Two browns today, consonant and vowel, from my starters. I got it in five. Rachel and Ketki also had fives. Thomas, Alexander and Theo four, Mark a distinguished three. Roger scraped home with a six. He was the only one who shared my configuration: grn, grn, grn, ???. ???. He guessed wrong three times, I only two. The others all approached the answer by different routes.

   

 

I’m laggard in commenting on the latest royal misfortune. The Princess’ cancer certainly explains the sense the whole nation has had — perhaps not too strong to say, the whole world — that there was something we weren’t being told. Their reason — that they didn’t want to tell the  children until the start of the Easter holiday — makes sense.  But my feeling is that (a)  children are usually pretty tough and (b) they, too, will have suffered from the feeling we have all been suffering under, that there was something they weren’t being told. 

   I will have to stay alive for several years, at least, to see how this all comes out.

   Not much else to report. It has been a bright, sunny day, but cold, I gather. No visitors. Helen is having a good time teaching mosaic-making down souff. She is much missed here, too but the list of things we need to consult her about grows by the hour. Where is my pepper-grinder? How does one charge the bath seat? What are we to do about my next covid injection if I still can’t get up and down the front steps? And there are more.

   Thank you for your comments lately about Finding Things..i’ll have to work out a system of some sort. 

  Wordle: I had a fairly easy three this morning — my starters gave me two vowels, one green, one brown. I struggled for a while to find any word. When I came up with one, it didn’t seem terribly likely but I typed it in and it was right.

   Mark was another three. The rest of the British-based had fours. In DC Theo scored yet another three and Roger, as not infrequently, hasn’t been heard from.

 

 

 Quiet again. I must make a real effort to move into the Catalogue Room, which would mean I could use the laptop and show  you some pictures; and into the bedroom, to sort out some drawers. I discovered when dressing for my hospital appt this week, that one drawer, at least, was stuffed to the gills, with the contents in a totally unusable state.

  It is very disconcerting to be in one’s dear, familiar house and find everything different. Nicole and I — the current carer — couldn’t find a dear, familiar pan at lunchtime. We found something to cook the lunch in, but not that one, 

  It’s no use complaining.  I’m lucky to be here, I guess. 

  C. came this morning. No news. 

  Wordle: an easy four today. My starters gave me the whole word, in anagram form. Line three was a possible solution, but wrong — three greens and two browns, so all I had to do was reverse the position of the browns. Ketki and Mark had exactly the same grid, and same result. Rachel was another four, with a similar grid, but different browns to be reversed. Alexander was another four — totally different approach. 

   Roger scored six. Theo and Thomas both had brilliant twos. Theo had the same grid as me and Ketki and Mark, but he achieved it in line one. Thomas, indeed,  had the most brilliant grid I’ve ever seen — I wish there was some way to frame it. Line One was a total failure — no browns, no greens.  Line two was right.

   

 

 A spring day. Wind and rain, sunshine and showers. What am I going to do about Easter?

   Knitting moved forward. I am now worrying away about yarn. I’m knitting with Brooklyn Tweed’s Tones (I think) with two skeins of the lighter, toning colour meant to be used for the waist and the substantial collar. Then I didn’t use it for the waist entirely, because we won the Calcutta Cup so I stuck with the main colour and knit the Cup in the contrast.

   Now I’ve turned the knitting and am knitting the hem in the contrast. But I’m worrying about whether there’s going to be enough for that collar. I could switch back to the main colour once I’ve done a bit more wrong-side hem. I am more confident that I’ve got plenty of that.

   (This is Brooklyn Tweed’s Spalding pattern.)

   Nobody came to see us today. Helen is away teaching mosaic-making at a grand country-house venue down souff. 

   I am reading an interesting book about WWII propaganda and a propagandist I had never heard of called Sefton Delmer. They’re reading it aloud on the radio in the middle of the night. He was so convincing that Roosevelt’s people heard it and reported to the White House in 1940 or ‘41 that Germany was about to rise against Hitler so there was no point in the US joining the war.

   Churchill sent the Queen’s brother, Somebody Bowes-Lyon, to the White House to talk to Roosevelt alone and in confidence, to explain.

   Wordle: Four was the majority score today, including mine. Theo, Thomas and Mark scored three — all credit to them. All the rest of us had four.

 A good day. The hospital appt went well, I tried out a wheelchair and steered it with verve. The NHS is going to give me a lifetime loan of it. And the fortnightly changeover from one carer to the other also went well.

  I got a fair amount of knitting done. I have now done an agonising round of purling to mark the turn, and started knitting back up the underside of the hem, and it’s going fairly briskly. We need a pic.

   It was grand driving through Edinburgh to the hospital. Daffodils are out in full force in all the parks. Glorious!

   I had leftovers of yesterday’s cold chicken with a spicy Sechuan sauce for my lunch. I added some steamed vegetables — mange tout and carrot — but unfortunately they are underdone — not my fault. Tomorrow I may be ready to move on to Vegetarian Clay-Bowl ‘Chicken’.

   Wordle: it’s a stinker, a Wordle classic. I was overjoyed to score six. I had four greens, with the gap in 4th place. I still had two more letters to try when I struck lucky and got it right on the 6th line. Rachel and Mark failed. Ketki was another six, Thomas and Theo had five, Alexander and Roger four.

 I’m sorry about yesterday. But here I am today (on the equinox, I believe) and nothing much has happened on either day. Tomorrow I am going to a hospital to be assessed for and advised about a wheelchair. This is the appointment we had arranged once before and didn’t get to because the ambulance didn’t turn up to fetch me. This time we’ll pay for transport. 

   I cooked Cold Chicken with a Spicy Sechuan Sauce today. It was rather tasty. My mortar and pestle have disappeared. It is a very strange world, with strangers operating in one’s kitchen and nothing where I expect to find it. I needed to toast and then pulverise some Sechuan pepper.

   C. came today, but even she had no news. Helen, likewise. 

   Wordle: I scored four this morning, and for a long time thought that I would have the single best score of the day. Theo finally joined me — but at least nobody did better. We all clearly found it tough.  Mark, Ketki, Alexander and Roger were the fives. Six for Thomas and Mark. Neither C. nor I entirely approve of today’s word, either. 

 A quiet day — no one came to see us. And, again, a spring day. They’re having nice weather in Kirkmichael, too. Helen has sent a picture of our teeny tiny wellingtonia. It’s looking well. 

  I pressed on with knitting. I have finished the Calcutta Cup, and — because I positioned the Cup farther down than I meant to — I have almost finished the first half of the plain vanilla st st band at the waist. Within a couple of rounds, I must turn around and knit the same amount up again and join for a hem.

   But mostly, apart from dozing, I have pressed forward with Chinese cookery and my project of working my way through Fuchsia Dunlop’s “Every Grain of Rice”. I won’t be able to attempt the next recipe until I have a grocery delivery on Wednesday plus some more delicacies from Sous Chef. 

   Dunlop has a page early on called “magic ingredients”. If you have them in your larder, you can whip up a delicious Chinese meal in no time from the desiccated vegetables in the back of your refrigerator, or so it is claimed.  I am ordering ingredients as they crop up in recipes. No point in getting too far ahead of myself — I might lose interest. I sent for six items today; two or three last week. I haven’t got any of Fuchsia’s magic ingredients yet. My next recipe will be “Cold Chicken with a Spicy Sichuanese Sauce”.

  Wordle: Mark’s brilliant two was the scene-stealer today.  Thomas and Ketki and Theo were the threes. Alexander and Rachel and I came chugging up behind with fours. Nothing from Roger yet. It’s early. I may yet be able to record his score before I fold and go to bed. And I am able: it was a very creditable three, and I can still hold up for another ten minutes or so.  

 Many American holidays have insinuated themselves here, notably Christmas and Mother’s Day and evenThanksgiving. (All of those were known here, but in recent years the American form of observance  has taken over.) One outstanding exception is today. If you live in Ireland, you’re welcome to celebrate. If not, forget it. St Patrick was getting out of hand in the US when I was young, in the early 50’s. I rejoice annually in having escaped it.

  On the other hand, this has been a real first-day-of-spring sort of day. The light in the bedroom this morning seemed an hour brighter, although it couldn’t have been. The sun is shining. It’s warm.

   Scotland lost at rugby yesterday, but we didn’t disgrace ourselves. I didn’t watch either of the other matches — watching rugby is hard work. Both were thrilling. Italy beat Wales. They’ve had their best season ever.

   I made a Chinese lunch — “tofu bamboo with spring-onion flavoured oil”. It was really rather nice. I now have to pause for a few days and order some more ingredients.

  No knitting, though.

   Wordle: my two starters gave me all five browns today — I don’t think that has ever happened before. The struggle with the anagram wasn’t too bad — three for me. Alexander, Mark, Thomas, and Theo had threes as well. Four for Rachel. Five for Ketki and Roger. A lot pf people struggled with the second letter.

  

A bit better, today. The weather is a bit brighter. I got some knitting done — one more round will finish off the Calcutta Cup. I mean to do that this evening. The final Six Nations matches are tomorrow. Ireland v. Scotland is fairly late in the afternoon and we are very likely to lose. If you don’t hear from me, that’s why.

   David is coming from Thessaloniki tomorrow. He and Helen will stop here on their way to Strathardle.  I will re-emphasise the importance of a picture of our Wellingtonia.  

   Thank you for your food comment, Lisa. I found smoked tofu with celery boring. Not enough chilli sauce? No peanuts? Should I have fried the Tofu? I will press on — the next recipe is Tofu Bamboo with Spring Onion Flavoured Oil, and for that I have to wait until some tofu bamboo and Sichuanese pickled chilli is delivered from London.

   AA Gill, of whom I was a great fan, said once that if you want to be a good cook, the trick is not to cook ten things, but to cook one thing ten times (and get it right). Perhaps when I get to a recipe that nearly pleases, I’ll pause and try it that way. My mother (who loved them) was violently allergic to nuts. I’ve never had such a reaction, but I don’t much like them and tend to avoid.

356    Wordle:  Mysteriously, Thomas says he scored four today — but Wordle says he failed, and set his  356 day streak back to 0. Maybe you’re not allowed more than a year? 

   I, too, scored four, as did Rachel, Theo and Roger. Mark scored three, and the husband-and-wife team of Alexander and Ketki were the stars with two each (but different grids). 

 

 

 Gloom reappeared, weather-wise. And there is little else to report. I haven’t done any knitting at all — not illness or even decline, I don’t think, just disinclination to having to push the stitches around that slightly-too-small needle (see yesterday). I am about to attempt smoked tofu with celery and peanuts from”Every Grain of Rice” for my supper, because it’s next in the book. I may leave the peanuts out.

   What I neglected to mention yesterday is that there has been an article in a horticultural/scientific journal about Wellingtonias. Apparently there are far more in GB than in California. They were brought here in the mid-nineteenth century. The one in the youthful Agatha Christie’s garden (as mentioned here recently) will have been an early specimen. It grows quickly, and, in maturity, is the largest living thing on earth.

   The article apparently doesn’t mention that Mrs Miles of Strathardle put one in recently. I’ll have Helen photograph ours when she is next there.

   Wordle: My starters gave me three browns and a green. I hate anagrams. But all my entries were real guesses — no Jean-words. I scored a very undistinguished five. So did Roger in DC; some comfort.  My nephew Theo, his son, also in DC, scored a brilliant two.

Everybody else scored either three or four. Alexander and his son Thomas, to be specific, were the threes, with identical grids.

The sun came out, late this afternoon. It’s extraordinary the extent to which it raises the spirits.

Not much knitting. I thought  that perhaps now I have identified the problem — that knitting the welt on a smaller-gauge needle is tight and slightly unpleasant — it would be easier to plow on, but it isn’t. Fairly soon I’ll have done my three inches (fairly soon, at least, if I can persuade myself to do any knitting). Then I turn it inside out and knit another three. Do I dare go up a needle size? No, surely not.

   C. came this morning, all well. No news. 

   Anonymous, I hope you enjoy Every Grain of Rice. Some years ago, when I could walk, I started working my way through it systematically. I got up as far as “silken tofu with avocado” on page 42 (not  very far) on 4/1/19 — my note is “dull, even with wasabi”.

   Today, I decided to resume the practice. I have a grocery order coming tomorrow anyway. I added the few extra things I would need for the next two recipes, and off we go.

   Wordle: I had a tough time today, and was pleased not to fail. The starters afforded two vowels, a green and a brown. I used a Jean-word in line three, which gave me a second green vowel.  I finally thought of a word that fit — wrong but useful. I got it in line five. 

   Alexander joined me there. Rachel had a four. The other three Brits scored three. In DC, both Roger and Theo scored four.

 

 A grey and relatively uneventful day. Helen came late (=just now) after a busy day preparing for a teaching session next week. We had a nice time (Helen, me, carer) talking about. The Royal Family. I thought it was just me who had an unhealthy interest.

  Knitting has progressed somewhat. I am knitting a broad st st band at the bottom of the sweater (which I am knitting top down). I have gone down a needle size, as instructed, and the result is that knitting is not so pleasant or easy as I expected. 

   I’ve been thinking about Chinese food (of all things). I find it I have the audio version of Fuchsia Dunlop’s “Invitation to a Banquet”. I’m sure I’ve got the book — I read it last summer when I was in Cramond. But A) I can’t find it now and B) I’m equally sure I never bought the audio book.

  Still, here it is, and I’ve been enjoying it. Fuchsia herself is the reader. Nice voice. I think I’ll have another look at her “Every Grain of Rice”. I can’t cook, since I can’t walk, but I can boss carers about fairly successfully.

 Wordle: I scored a not-entirely-disgraceful three. Alexander joined me there. Ketki, Mark and Rachel had four, Thomas five. However, the really interesting score came from further away. 

  Theo had four, nothing interesting about that. Roger’s first row was ???, ???, grn, ???, grn. So was his second row, and third, and fourth, and fifth, and sixth.  I’ve never seen anything like it. No browns in the mixture at all.Tomorrow when I am somewhat more alert (perhaps) I will try to think what some of his guesses might have been

 Another day of non-achievement. There’s still time for a bit of knitting. Grey and cold.

   Mysteriouser and mysteriouser, when it comes to the Royal Family. Or is it just that they’ve got accessibility wrong? I wasn’t happy with that now-infamous Mother ‘s Day picture from the beginning, not for any of the real reasons but because it looked to me as if mother and children were smiling on different occasions. That could have been because she is a grown-up (and not very well). It’s encouraging, I guess, that she feels well enough to take on some photo-shopping.

   Wordle: I struggled this morning, resorted to a Jean-word (= couldn’t possibly be right) for line four, got it in five. All the other players on this side of the pond scored four. In DC, Theo was another four and Roger, as often, hasn’t been heard from yet. Whatever he regularly does first thing in the morning, it isn’t Wordle.

   

 Yesterday was rugby again, as you may well have guessed. Scotland were beaten by Italy in Rome. An exciting match, and a victory it was difficult to begrudge them. England beat Ireland in London, another thriller. They are surely the only two of the Six Nations who have fired real bullets at each other in relatively recent years.

  The other Nations are Scotland, Wales, France and Italy.

   Today’s match was France against Wales, in Wales. France won. That was a good one, too, until France pulled away in the last ten minutes.

   Next weekend we play Ireland and are very likely to get beaten. Then it’s over for another year. 

   Helen came to lunch. Fortunately I had a Mindful Chef vegetarian number on hand.

   Knitting progressed somewhat, but much of the time was spent winding the next ball. Still, that’s progress.

   Wordle: We were spread about a bit today.  Thomas and Rachel were the stars, with two.  Roger, Alexander and Mark scored three. Theo and I had fours. Poor Ketki crept home with a five.

   One mildly interesting thing is that Thomas and Ketki and I had no browns, throughout the game. I don’t remember that ever happening before.

 Another grey, chill day. The knitting has advanced. I’m pretty sure the Calcutta Cup bit is somehow reversed. Helen thinks so, at first glance. (When she is designing a mosaic, she uses a transparent paper. When the design is ready, she can just turn it over.)

  But she also thought I could just go ahead. She thinks the result will be rather entertaining. I still don’t know what I expect. The Cup will be OK — it’s symmetrical, as rendered in knitting. And everything will be the right way up. Mirror-image? for the numbers. I’ll keep you posted.

Hilde (comment yesterday) : That’s what I’m doing, knitting the usual Calcutta Cup pattern upside down. I don’t at all understand where the difficulty comes from. 

 I spent some time on a grocery order. Waitrose is out of globe artichokes! Springtime couldn’t be over in the Mediterranean quite yet!

Commenters asked yesterday about the change of carers. That’s the way this firm does it, two weeks on and two weeks off for everybody. It makes sense, and I like both of my two. I miss Wafa — she and I were working on a system where she could stay here most of the time. But everybody else thought she was encroaching too much and moved in without my prior knowledge to send her away. 

Wordle:  Most of us had four today. I scored a doltish five, Rachel a smart three.Theo, in DC, was another three and, as not infrequently, we haven’t heard from his father Roger yet. 

 I did at least some knitting. I became completely convinced that the Calcutta Cup was backwards — although not upside down. Could it just remain backwards? Not if the digits in “24” were reversed. I was on the point of ripping back when I began to doubt myself. I’ll tackle it in the morning tomorrow, when I’m brighter, and I’ll also ask Helen who must encounter analogous problems in mosaic-making.

   Otherwise there is little to report. We had the fortnightly carer turnover. It went peacefully. But still made the day a bit stressful.

   Helen was here this morning, tidying up after recent mosaic-making. The vital delete key on her laptop computer seems to have put itself right (see Tuesday). She is trying to organise my well-meaning but somewhat feckless carers into taking better care of the house. They ought to, for what we pay. They take good care of me — no difficulty there. 

  Wordle: another day without much spread. Here in Britain, Thomas scored a dazzling two. Alexander, Mark, Rachel and I had three. Four for Ketki.  In DC, Theo had another three, and Roger another dazzling two. 

 

Grey, chilly. I got a bit of knitting done, and continue to be satisfied that I’ve got the Calcutta Cup the right way around. Another day’s work should make it certain, if I can ever persuade myself to do another day’s work. 

Thanks for interesting remarks about. wellingtonias. I assume they’re called that here in honour of the greatest 19th century Englishman. I was particularly interested in your news, Mary Lou, that they won’t “do” where you are. Strathardle is pretty cold, but the show garden attached to a big house further up the glen (=colder) has a successful one. So does the Edinburgh Botanic Gardens. Ours has only been in a year, and is very happy, I think. I’ll get Helen to take a picture the next time she is there.

   You suggest an interesting addition to my food list of yesterday, Tamar: namely rhubarb. I love it. How did I ever taste it? We never had it at home, nor at Oberlin, and I sailed off to Glasgow assuming it was a rare and expensive growth like artichokes. (It grows almost like a weed.) 

   I don’t eat it nowadays because I try to avoid sugar. And for 2024 I fear I have already missed its best moment — the forced rhubarb of Jan and Feb. It will be available here in some form all year round, always pretty cheap. I was interested in your remark that it is not always available in US supermarkets.

  Wordle: The British contingent was evenly split between threes and fours — I was a three. In DC, Theo was another four, and his father Roger flattened us all with a two. 

 Bright and sunny but still cold. Helen has finished her mosaic but now finds that the Delete key on her portable computer doesn’t work so she has rushed up the hill to Apple in the hopes of being able to deal with some of the administration that has been piling up while she made the mosaic.

   I haven’t done any more knitting. This is bad.

   I have been thinking about the delicious things that go in and out of season, especially this time of year, and are so easily overlooked when you shop on-line.

   1) marmalade oranges. I think I’ve missed them for this year. I don’t want to make marmalade but I would like to use the juice instead of lemon juice for a happy week or two.

   2) globe artichokes.They are currently in season around the Mediterranean and I love them above all else.

   3) local asparagus. It will be with us in a moment. It grew abundantly in the grandparents’ gardens of my childhood and was cooked to death and I never suspected that there was anything special about it until middle age was fairly advanced.

   4) sweet corn. I mention this simply honoris causa. I will never taste it again, as it should be, within hours of picking. The last time I was in the US, for nephew Theo’s wonderful wedding, Hellie Ogden and I got there fairly late after a long hard day. I don’t remember why I should have been helping in the kitchen, but I do remember that the outside rubbish bin was nearly full of corn husks — from the day before. I got that close. 

  Wordle: I got a creditable four. Roger and Theo both failed, stuck as I was two days ago with four greens and the first letter to be filled in and too many possibilities. 

   Mark and Rachel had six, Ketki five, same problem. Alexander and Thomas had four, like me, and like me came at the problem from a different direction. My starters gave me a green in the first position so I was spared that hopeless guessing. 

 

 I think I feel a bit better today — and I have started the long climb back towards my Wordle winning streak. The next excitement will be in May, if I get that far. See below.

  I’ve started knitting the Calcutta Cup, and so far I think I’m knitting it the right way up and the right way around.

  Helen has been working here all day again. She says she is getting on well. Through her agency, a device for getting a wheelchair up and down our outdoor stairs (of which we have six) will be demonstrated to us on Wednesday. That’s an exciting prospect, as the days lengthen.

  I am reading Lucy Worsley’s biography of Agatha Christie, and would recommend it. One of the ladies who came to tea last Friday (was it?) brought it to me. I was interested to learn that there was a Wellingtonia in the garden where she grew up. I am devoted to that tree and have recently had one planted in Kirkmichael. The first seeds were brought to GB in the mid-nineteenth century, so little Agatha’s tree may have been one of the very first crop. Lucy W. went to the spot where the house had been — it is safe to deduce that there is no Wellingtonia there now. (Wellingtonia = California redwood)

   Wordle: I scored four. My starters gave me two green vowels. My first guess — line three — made it four greens and I thought, here we go again. But perhaps there were fewer options today. At any event, line four was right.

  The rest of us were spread all over the place. Roger was the only other four. Theo, Mark, Alexander and Ketki scored threes — the majority score. Poor Rachel took five, and today’s genius (as often) was Thomas with two.

 I failed at Wordle today. Details below.

 I continue to feel somewhat subdued (although I think the failure at Wordle was just bad luck). 

  I got a bit of knitting done, but have paused. I’m knitting top-down, as you know, and trying to insert the Calcutta Cup and the date into a broad st st panel at navel height in the Spalding pattern. Once I get the pattern correctly established, the rest will be straightforward. But I’m not at all sure I have done that. It not only has to be the right way up, but also the right way around. See the baby blanket above for the parameters of the problem. 

  C. came to see me this morning. 

  Wordle: Lying in bed last night, I had a premonition of how my winning streak would end — and sure enough, I was right. My starters gave me two greens and two browns. My line three turned the browns green. Line four, line five and even line six went on guessing that fourth letter in vain.

   Theo, Ketki and Thomas all had similar difficulty, but weren’t nearly as inventive as I was — or much luckier — and escaped with fives.  Alexander was there too but managed a four. Mark was another five, but his problem was the second letter, not the fourth. 

   Roger did it in three, and Rachel — how  on earth? — in only two.

 I’m feeling a bit subdued, as for the last couple of days. No symptoms, no excuse. No knitting, either. I have always rejoiced in having a hobby that could follow me so far along the downward slope. I hope this doesn’t mean I’ve hit bottom.  I’m ready to start knitting the Calcutta Cup into the Spalding sweater.  Chart updated, stitches counted.

    Helen has been here again, and got some indoor gardening done. The  sweet peas in my salad machine were already getting too tall and floppy. They each now have their own pot.  Helen hopes to grow them to maturity indoors. She says our sunny doorstep is too windy. I’m dubious.

   Wordle: a three for me at last. I’ve now got a winning streak of 60 in pursuit of a maximum streak of 67. Getting scary.

   Four was the majority score today —  Mark and Theo joined me with 3; Rachel needed 5

 Not time for much. We’ve had visitors. I’m exhausted.

 Thomas Kingston committed suicide. There were hints in some of yesterday’s reports.

  I was going to suggest to you that Israel seems to be working for Trump’s re-election. Then today I read that Trump and Netanyahu are pals. Maybe it’s true. Maybe Netanyahu is pushing Biden for every bullet and drone he can get, in the happy knowledge that he is making his re-election ever less certain. 

  Mostly threes and fours for Wordle today. Ketki and I both scored five. I found it very difficult and was delighted with my five. 

   

I’m back in the sitting room, poking away with one finger again. I’ve been sleepy.

   Happy Leap Day to us all!

   The newspapers are full of reports of Tom Kingston’s sudden and unexpected death (husband of minor Royal Lady Gabriella, daughter of Prince and Princess Michael of Kent). Presumably we will know more eventually. One source — I’ve now forgotten which — specifically said that Prince William’s sudden and unexpected withdrawal from his godfather’s memorial service yesterday was not linked.

   Otherwise I have little to report. Archie came to see me. Helen has been here. My watch gave up the ghost and my current carer went down to Tesco to buy a new battery for it. It was so expensive that I fear we are approaching the moment when we throw away a watch that needs a new battery. I can remember the days when an electronic watch with 100% accuracy (with an honest Arabic face) — which is what I wear — cost rather a lot. There was something called an Accutron.

    No knitting. But a new needle has arrived in the post. I had the right gauge in one that was uncomfortably long and one that was uncomfortably short. I hope I’ve got it right this time.

  Wordle: a three, at last, for me. And for Alexander and for Mark and for Theo. Four for Rachel and Roger. Five for Ketki. Uncharacteristic silence for Thomas.

 

This is a departure. I’m back in the Catalogue Room, trying to write to you on my aged mobile computer. After all these weeks, it seems slower and stiffer even than I am, and (so far) I can’t load Freecell. I always liked to start with a couple of hands of that. It’s bliss to be back to an actual keyboard.

      Not much to report, either. I’ve successfully plotted “TheCalcuttaCup ‘24” and done a bit more knitting. I think I’m nearly ready to plunge in, and have decided to knit the motif only once, and to keep the knitting circular by cutting the contrast yarn after every row.

     I’m feeling a certain amount of mental sludge. Hard to express, but a sudden awareness of diminishing acuity.

    Comments: You may well be right, Catdownunder, that Prince William was absent from his godfather’ memorial service because of the sudden death of Thomas Kingston. How is he (Prince William) related to Lady Gabriella? (This will sound like gibberish. See yesterday’s comment for a starter.) My mother was brilliant at relationships and could spot a second cousin twice removed at fifty paces. I enjoy it, but can’t, in this case, be bothered to figure out exactly where Prince and Princess Michael of Kent fit into the scheme of things.

    The whole point of being back here in the catalogue room is to show you pictures. I’ll skip great-grandchildren for the moment to show you snowdrops from Helen’s recent visit to Burnside.

   And a picture of Paradox having a nap in her new home in the south of England. There is no doubt that both she and Perdita are much happier cats now that there are hundreds of miles between them.

   Wordle: another day of predominantly fours. Alexander had a five (I didn’t think it was all that easy, either) and Mark a three. Theo was another four, in DC, and, as has happened before, we haven’t heard from Roger yet.

 Helen is working here again today. We had lunch together and discussed, as one does, Prince William’s last-minute withdrawal from his godfather’s memorial service. Royals don’t do that sort of thing. Helen didn’t know, not being interested in rugby, that Princess Anne had missed the Calcutta Cup.

  We were alarmed. On the other hand both Princess Anne and the Queen were present at the memorial service, so there is probably no alarming conclusion to be drawn.

  Helen took me on a wheelchair tour of the house this morning. I didn’t find “the book I think I need” (see yesterday) but I did find a book of knitting-shaped graph paper, and my chart for 2004, which gave me a needed 2. Nowadays I do the date in the form ‘24 and so forth, so recent 2’s were in short supply. I could wing it, for 4.

   (That doesn't entirely make sense. But I couldn’t find my charts from any of the last three years.)

   So this year’s chart is ready. I’ll do a bit more round-and-round st st and then launch into it.

   Wordle: Roger scored five today. Everybody else had four. We are getting more uniform, lłl

 I was puzzled about Princess Anne too, Chloe (comment yesterday). She was presumably kept away from the Calcutta Cup match by family or general royal duties. Or maybe she just had a cold. We’ll never know. I know she will have been sorry not to be there.

  If you’re at all interested, follow up Maureen in Fargo’s comment yesterday, pointing to the blog entry where there is a picture of me holding up my knitting to the Cup Itself and also other Cup-related and  knitting-related pictures. Thanks, Maureen.

  For ‘24, I plan to put the Cup and date in that navel-level stretch of plain vanilla st st which I have just reached in the Spalding sweater (Brooklyn Tweed) (which is knit top-down). I have been much frustrated today in not being able to WALK around the house to find the book I think I need to make a chart for “ ‘24”. I know what it looks like. I know where it should be. I can’t remember what it’s called. Appreciate walking while you can, those of you who can still do it.

Wordle: I cancelled my NYT subscription yesterday — WordleBot wasn’t worth it. I was anxious lest they would strip me of my winning streak. But they didn’t. I am currently 55, hoping to get past my all-time-high of 67. 

  Threes and fours today. I was a three, I am pleased to report. In DC, it  was three for Theo and four for his father Roger. Over here, Ketki and I were the threes. Thomas hasn’t been heard from yet.

 Princess Anne wasn’t there yesterday, to see Scotland win a 4th successive Calcutta Cup. She is patron of Scottish rugby, and a most devoted and enthusiastic one over many years. She wouldn’t have stayed away in favour of toasted cheese by the fire.

Since  I am being so feeble about illustration, please look the Cup up in Wikipedia or somewhere. It’s rather beautiful. It is close to being the oldest sporting trophy in circulation. It was made in Calcutta of silver melted down from rupees remaining to a British regimental rugby club, and has been awarded to England or Scotland, as appropriate, after the annual match ever since.

I went to see it once, taking a tour of Murrayfield while it was here. Somewhere there is a picture of me holding up some of my Calcutta Cup knitting next to the Real Thing. I sought in vain for that picture this morning. Nowadays there is a duplicate cup which lives at the loser’s stadium. When we were being shewn around at Murrayfield we were told that the only perceptible difference is the slightly darker colour of the Real Thing.

I first incorporated it into knitting into a Christening shawl for Kirsty Miles, James’ and Cathy’s daughter. That was for a great triumph, in the year 2000. Scotland had lost every game, even against Italy. England had won all of hers. A former Scotland coach, Ian McGheechan, remarked at the time, “They won the Six Nations. We won the Calcutta Cup. Everybody’s happy.”

And I’ve knit it ever since. You can see last year’s effort in the picture above. I’ll hope to tell you about this year’s tomorrow. But I never expected victories to come so thick and fast. 

Wordle: ALL six British-based scored four today. Theo had three, and we haven’t heard from Roger.  My winning streak is up to 54. My max was 67. So it’s getting scary. 

 We won. I think I heard the television say that the last time Scotland won four Calcutta Cups in a row was in the late 19th century. I’ll try to tell you more about it tomorrow, including plans for the knitting.

 Cold out there. We have had a peaceful day, Helen toiling away in the study. She brought me two delicious purple artichokes from Valvona and Crolla this morning. Both have been consumed.

   Attention is being given to access and to aching hip. Thank you for your comments. I think I’ll tell Archie to bring me some gummies.

   No knitting so far, and no reading even.  What have I been doing all day? Dozing. 

   Wordle: threes and fours today. The British contingent divided on gender lines — that was neat. Threes for Thomas, Alexander and Mark. Fours for the rest of us. In DC, Theo was the three and Roger the four.

 It’s still a bit too cold to venture back into the Catalogue Room. Maybe someone younger, indeed, could teach me to move pics from here on the iPad to here on the blog. Helen sent a beautiful one this morning, of snowdrops abundantly blooming and daffodils pushing forward in the lawn in front of our house in Kirkmichael. 

  (Step inside the fence in the picture to the right, angle the camera a bit more to the left, cutting out the house. Trees and sunshine and snowdrops.)

  The carer and I have had a good day recovering equilibrium. The trouble with yesterday, apart from disappointment, is that we were instructed to be ready three hours before the appointment hour. Since the appt was for 3 p.m., that spoiled lunchtime. At one point during the afternoon Helen got them on the phone and they said they were 10 minutes away. I put my coat on and got into my wheelchair.

  Today Archie came and I fed him lunch. He was a bit low. I have passed on your comments about “gummies” (blog and comments yesterday). We’ve sort of concluded that I must ask my GP. 

  Knitting progresses. I have wound the new ball, for the waistband, and found a circular needle of the right size. There are still a few more stitches to do before launching into it. What if I don’t have enough of the toning shade?

  Wordle: my starters gave me two greens and a brown. Looking at my grid now, in the shades of evening, it’s hard to see why I didn’t score three. But I managed to think of an odd word which qualified butcwas wrong, Four for me.

  Ketki and Thomas joined me there. Threes for Rachel and Alexander and Mark. Roger and Theo both posted four. That’s some comfort.