A day of what might be called mixed weather — sunshine and shade. That’s progress, I think.

  However, I haven’t time for such fripperies. Tomorrow Archie and his brother Fergus are coming to lunch and we’re eating wagyu. It has been delivered and disappoints slightly in the amount of marbling. We’re also having some nice cheese to finish with, and that has been delivered too. I have but to make a salad and cut up some potatoes for oven chips.

   I’m not making much progress with “Flowers for the Judge”. I  must press on. I have been listening to an Audible “Tiger in the Smoke” while napping, despite the reader’s irritating voices. It’s a good book.

  And knitting moves slowly forward. I have one more sleeve decrease to do, and then a certain amount of sleeve before the cuff. I may shorten it somewhat. But I still hope to have it finished before KD’s MKAL starts.

Wordle: three for me. My two starters yielded three v’s and a c. I stuck with it until I thought of a possible word, and it was right. Mark was the only other three. Fours for Alexander and Ketki. Five for Rachel.No news from Thomas yet.

   Similarly in DC -  nothing from Theo. Roger got four. 

   

   

 Another grey day. This is getting ridiculous.

   Several visitors this morning, including Helen. No knitting. Limpness this afternoon with the same result.

   I am sorry, Elaine and Anonymous (comment yesterday) that I spoiled “Traitor’s Purse” for you by revealing that Campion and Amanda wind up going off to get married. Don’t give up: there’s lots more in the book than that. I’ll make it worse: Campion, at the beginning, is in a hospital and can’t remember even who he is — no spoiler there; it’s right at the beginning. He has the sense that he has something important to do; that’s all.

At some point early on, the clouds part enough that he recognises her and knows her name. “Amanda”, he says. It is my favourite love scene in all of Eng Lit. That’s all there is to it: Amanda.

    But that still leaves the book, and its brilliant McGuffin. I’ve probably said here too often that Allingham was criticised for it  when the book was published, during the war, as being too far-fetched. And then afterwards it turned out that the Germans had the same idea. I don’t know why they failed.

Wordle: tough sgain.  I scored four. My starters gave me two v’s and a c, all brown. I struggled forcquite a while, and finally put a Jean-word in line three. That yielded another brown vowel, and useful information about where letters couldn’t go. But I was lucky to get it in four. There were other possibilities, Wordle-fashion. But mercifully I hit it.

   A spread of results elsewhere.  A brilliant two for Alexander. Three for Thomas. Four for Ketki.  Five for Rachel. Six for Mark — who got mired in the “other possibilities” I mentioned above. The DC contingent, Roger and Theo, both scored five.

   

 Grey, again — but the forecast is better. This is really a bit depressing.

   Lots of quiet event. Knitting went well. I’ve got two more decreases to do on the Spalding sleeve, and I’m halfway to the first of them. 

   KD’s club began as promised. The first pattern is a sweetie — a short-sleeved, short-waisted little loose-fitting jumper for popping on over a dress, or wearing over an impressive shirt, on a slightly-in-between summer’s day, of which we have many. Named for Amanda.

   I enjoyed the first essay, too, about the electric cars of the late 19th c.  Amanda had resurrected one when we first meet her, and was driving it about on power she generated at the family mill. 

  I’ve already re-read the second book, Death of a Ghost, and now feel free to embark on the third, Flowers for the Judge.

  I read an interview with JKRowling this morning. She had the relationship between Cameron Strike and what’s-her-name planned from the beginning. So must Allingham have done, to some extent, with Campion and Amanda. She appears in Sweet Danger and then disappears for a while, although a future alignment is clearly promised. Except  that no author could have anticipated WWII, the necessary background to Traitor’s Purse at the end of which they go off and get married.

   And, oh! I’ve had an email from Melanie Read, hoping that I read her article!

  Helen and David came this morning, on their way to the airport to send him back to Thessaloniki. He is getting pretty tired of this life but doesn’t want to retire while all three sons are relatively unsettled.

   Wordle: a Wordle classic today — four greens and you could keep guessing until the cows come home. Rachel and I failed; Ketki, Alexander and Mark scraped home with sixes; four for Thomas.

    In DC, it was five for Theo and a totally brilliant three for Roger. Everybody except Theo wound up with my conundrum: four greens, and the fourth slot empty. 

 Grey again, although there are gleams of sunshine this evening as the day subsides. We need a bit more May.

   The Alexander Mileses came to see me. Ketki left her husband here and went on to St Andrews to fetch Jade. They were back in good order as a unexpected amount of cleaning and packing had been done before Ketki got there.

   Knitting progressed well, including another decrease round. I began to feel for the first time that I will finish this sleeve. If so, I’ll finish the sweater. I have never suffered from Second Sleeve/Sock Syndrome. I’m glad I knit the somewhat tedious collar first. The pattern does it the other way around.

   KD’s new club is scheduled to begin tomorrow — at last — with a pattern. The first MKAL clue won’t be until Wednesday of the following week. I suspect my yarn will have been delivered by then. And also that that first sleeve (see above) might be finished.

   Wordle: the usual struggle today, although fairly brisk. My starters yielded only two brown vowels (horror, horror). However, a relatively brief struggle produced a possible word — harder than it might sound — which, although wrong, turned one of the vowels green and yielded two brown consonants. I got it from there: four.

    Alexander and Theo were tops, with three. Thomas, Ketki and Rachel joined me with four. Mark and Roger needed five.

 A good day, although grey. Helen and David came and we got over to the garden again. It looked as though the gardener was about to cover the paths with loose stones. If it happens, it would prevent my going there. There was no gardener about to remonstrate with, just sacks of pebbles.  A few had already been deployed in a particularly damp patch.

   Mild excitement: I emailed my favourite columnist a few days ago. She is in a wheelchair since falling from her horse ten years or so ago. Melanie Read. I asked her to write about fashion for the wheelchair-user, or at least advice on what-to-buy. “I have been asked by some readers…” she says today, followed by a most useful article, with addresses, which I have saved of course and will re-read carefully and often. It is in the Magazine section of today’s Times.

   I think she is slightly more mobile than I am, but has the use of only one hand.

   I’ve got two, and got knitting to the very verge of the next decrease round. Each such round eliminates four stitches and their lack is beginning to be felt.

   It can’t be long now until Kate Davies’ club actually starts. I am keeping myself going by reading Tom Lake by Ann Patchett and by listening to Avocado Anxiety by Louise Grey as I nap or knit.

   Wordle: another five for me. My starters landed me with three vowels, two browns and a green. I was completely baffled. I resorted to Jean-words for both line three (omitting one of the vowels) and line four — this time everybody was there, but one of the brown vowels hadn’t changed position. Jean-words aren’t entirely useless when I’m desperate.

   Mark got three (that counts as brilliant, today). Rachel. Thomas, Roger and Ketki were fours. Alexander and Theo joined me on five.

   

 The foray into the outside world went well. Our new machiine does its job well, getting me up and down the six stone steps between our front door and the pavement.

   There were some unforeseen difficulties, starting with the step between the front hall and the front step. Once that has been surmounted and I am on the pavement in a wheelchair, next is the problem of how to get across to the garden. The road is cobbled. So is the pavement on the garden side. So it makes sense to stay on this side until one is opposite the garden gate. But if you do that, there is no easy way to get down or up the curb.

   And the garden itself is, so to speak, tipped, so that the simplest circuit involves an appreciable uphill bit.

  My carers surmounted all this. All I had to do was sit there. But it has left me exhausted.

  Knitting has progressed. I’ve done another decrease round on the first sleeve. This pattern looks easy (Brooklyn Tweed’s Spalding) but it isn’t. I would almost say that it’s too much for me in my old age.  I hope KD is planning something really easy for our MKAL.

  Thank you for your comments yesterday. I am sure my children like having me around, too. But money would be nice for them as well. 

  Wordle: five again for me. The starters produced three browns, two v.’s and a c. I struggled for quite a while and then made a mistake in line 3 — it was fine except that one of the browns was still in its original position. It didn’t help much either. Line four was much better.

   Roger shared my five. Theo and Rachel and Alexander were the fours. Three for Ketki and Mark. A most uncharacteristic silence from Thomas.

  

 A busy day, learning how to get me up and down the front steps with our new magic wheelchair.  I didn’t participate. I’ll have a go tomorrow if the weather holds — for we have had something like a May day and it would be grand to visit Drummond Place Gardens if that happens again. 

  Knitting went forward well. I haven’t reached the next sleeve decrease, but I”m not far off. I now know how to start a new needle with a sl1 yo without either winding the yarn round and round the needle or not winding it at all or purling the stitch. Slip the stitch purlwise, and finish that manoeuvre completely before putting the yarn over, is the answer which all of you probably know anyway.

   We’ve been having a lot of agitation here recently about assisted dying. I feel sad and uneasy because I have reached a pretty thoroughly useless stage of life and am spending a great deal of money I would rather leave to my children, on my care. But what I want to say at this point is that I am old enough to remember when abortion was legalised and then, too, we were assured about safeguards and two doctors being involved and such. It doesn’t last.

   Wordle: five for me today. It was exactly as I told you yesterday. My starters gave me a green vowel and two browns — a v. and a c. A brief struggle, a perfectly plausible word — but it was wrong. It did provide four greens, however. I guessed wrong for the missing letter (in the fourth position) on line four. Rachel was another five, with the same configuration.

   Roget and Theo had it, too, but were luckier. Three for Roger, four for Theo. Meanwhile, over here, Alexander scored a brilliant two, Thomas and Mark were threes, Ketki a four.

 

  

 May Day. Grey and dull. Will this never end? Tomorrow we are going to have a lesson in getting up and down the six front steps in my new, expensive magic stair-climbing wheelchair. Once that has been achieved I can go across to the garden.

Not much knitting. Such as there was, straightforward. I finished reading “Death of a Ghost” and now must switch to something completely different until KD’s club actually starts.

Helen came for a while this morning. It’s wonderful having her back from Kirkmichael. She couldn’t find the trowel to perform a necessary operation on the doorstep, namely potting on some sweet peas that I’ve grown indoors. Home looks familiar, as I sit here in my wheelchair, but other people are operating it and I don’t know where they have put my trowel.

Another thing I have grown indoors is tomatoes. They are coming into flower. The RHS and Alexander agree that I don’t have to worry about pollinating them. I have recently started some chilli seeds in my salad factory but they are disappointingly slow to do anything.

Wordle: three for me. The procedure is the same every day. My two starters, TRAIN and HOUSE. Then an agonising struggle, usually, to think of any word that fits the result. I don’t allow myself a Jean-word unless it’s getting near lunch-time and I’m desperate. Sometimes, like today, line three is right. More often it isn’t. Today I had the glory of being the only cis-Atlantic three. Four for Ketki, Rachel and Mark; five for Alexander and his son Thomas. C. was here this morning — she was another three, and we enjoyed feeling a bit smug together.

  Now Roger has logged in from DC with yet another three. No news from Theo.

‘ 

 Kate Davies has had a great rush on her MKAL kits. Her husband has been pressed into service in the mail room. They are starting with New Zealand and working inwards.

   This couldn’t be (entirely) because of a groundswell of enthusiasm for Margery Allingham. In that case, they would have noticed the unusual number of subscriptions to the club.But KD has never done an MKAL before, that I remember.

   I have knit resolutely on. Maybe I should resolve to reach a new decrease round every day? (Sleeve, top down from dropped shoulder.) I think I have resigned myself to coping with four dp’s. 

  Comments yesterday: Maureen, it would seem very likely indeed that it was Jeanette’s shop we went to. Shandy, thank you for the news of her BEM. 

  Wordle: another five for me, and again I don’t care: I got it. I try very hard not to use Jean-words, and again today managed to confine myself to genuine guesses. Theo was my only companion at that lofty score. Ketki and Mark were the threes. Fours everywhere else.

 Grey, rainy. It’s brightening up a bit as the day draws in.

I’ve progressed somewhat with the Spalding sleeve, but there’s a long way to go — and after that, another sleeve. I’ve never cared for the “magic loop” but maybe I had better face up to it. I don’t think a teeny tiny circular would help — hard on the wrists. Longer dp’s, perhaps. And I could shorten the sleeve somewhat.

   What I did successfully do was order yarn for KD’s MKAL. I went for Jeanette Sloan’s colourway. She used to have a yarn store here in Edinburgh, over on the other side. Always fun to go in and talk to her. Then she wrote for Knitting magazine for a while, answering people’s questions. I don’t know what she does now, other than collaborate with KD. However it was not past acquaintance that prompted my choice, but a liking for her bright colours. 

   Shandy (comment yesterday): I went back, on your advice, and re-read the appendix to Jones’ biography of Allingham. Extraordinary, indeed. Especially, perhaps, in conjunction with “The China Governess” which I have now finished reading and which greatly concerns lost or overlooked sons who nevertheless take after the fathers they have never seen. (Mothers scarcely figure.)  Allingham must have had some sense of what was going on. 

   I’ve now given up and started reading “Death of a Ghost”. No extravagance, here. I’ve got them all on my Kindle. “Sweet Danger” is the first title in the club — not long to go, now — and I’ve re-read that. I didn’t want to burden my failing memory with another but finally decided I’d have to risk it. It seems to me, from the first few pages, as if she’s really hit her stride here. It was published the year after “Sweet Danger”.

   Wordle: five for me again, after something of a struggle. I don’t care. As I said yesterday, all I want is a winning streak. Roger was another five. Ketki had a brilliant two. Alexander and Thomas and Theo were the threes, Rachel and Mark the fours.

 Pale sunshine, much grey. Cold. But the spring flowers are forward as usual, indefatigable.  Helen has sent me pictures of curry dumplings (primula denticulata) and primroses and daffodils — for which we’re famous — from Burnside.

   C. came this morning. No new news. She has a busy spring ahead, including 10 days or so in Sicily, happy woman.

   I haven’t done much.  No knitting yet. I’m reading Allingham’s “The China Governess”, now nearing the end. I’m having trouble keeping characters and their relationships straight. I don’t know whether to blame Allingham or my own senility. It turns on blood lines and inheritances, and I keep feeling sorry for her, for having no children.

‘   I haven’t ordered yarn for KD’s MKAL, as I promised I would have done by now. I’m still promising.

   Wordle: three for me this morning. My two starters served me well. For a while I hoped to be the day’s best, but eventually Thomas and Mark logged in with fellow threes. Pretty well everyone else scored four, including the DC pair, but excepting poor Ketki who got five.

  All I really care about is my winning streak.It’s currently 5. My max was 67, back in the days when I used Jean-words shamelessly and scored five more often than not. I haven’t got near that since. My last failure was at 49.

   

 The weather is improving. Sunny, dry, even a bit warmer. Helen and David — safely back from Thessaloniki — were here this morning, on their way to Kirkmichael. Back on Tuesday.

   And knitting has progressed. No more disasters. One thing to be said for sleeves is that the diameter is a good deal smaller than that for bodies. I’ve reached and successfully navigated the first decrease round (sleeve being knitted from top down). Still a long way to go.

   I continue reading “The China Governess”. Yours is an inter3sting theory, Tamar, (comment yestetday) that these last two bools were earlier mss which Allingham only sent off in late life, ill and tired. I doubt if that would do for “The Mind Readers”. I think that there she was gambling on the idea that there would be mileage in Extra-Sensory Perception. You might be right about “The China Governess”. But the references to 1939 sound absolutely right, and consonant with Allingham’s own experience of that year. And the action of the book has to take place 20 years later. She always did root her books very firmly in their soil.

   Eileen, comment yesterday, I haven’t ordered my MKAL yarn from KD yet, and I am impressed by the flair with which you have chosen a set of colours for yourself. I’ll do it this evening, and report tomorrow. Promise. 

   Wordle: All I care about is not failing. I got stuck on ???, grn, grn, grn, ??? today. Ketki had one such line. Poor Theo had three. But we all got through.

   Three for Thomas, Ketki, Mark, Rachel and Roger. Four for Alexander. Five for me and Theo. 

     

 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.