Thoughts from the Washing Line... (Storytelling Sunday 2012)

So, yes, I know I haven't been around for a month.  A long time.  Lots of reasons why, which I won't detail here; I have just been so busy and I think that'll do.  However, I didn't want to miss Storytelling Sunday (even though I'm posting this on Monday evening!), so here's my effort for the month.

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This morning I was hanging up washing - on the outside washing line, which DS had put up for me specially - having taken it from the corner where it was stored "for the winter".  DH commented that I should take a photo of the washing out in the garden, as it was warm and sunshiney today, which he felt was unusual for a day in early January ( I didn't take that photo - I really should have!). 

It set me thinking about the winters we have had recently (or maybe I should say "endured", when thinking of the two most recent winters!). 

This year's winter has -so far - been so warm and windy, with a couple of very wet spells. 
Last year and the year before, we had some warm and wet weather, but there were spells in December when it snowed and snowed, with freezing temperatures - and the resulting disruptions to work and school days, transport, postal and goods deliveries, power supplies etc... 

December 22nd 2009 

December 22nd 2010

December 22nd 2011

Earlier I was reading an article about the winters of 1946/47 and 1962/63 (both of which happened before I was born), when all of Britain was plunged into periods of sub-zero temperatures, blizzards and deep, drifting snow.

1947

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1962/3

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1963 - Margate, the sea froze over

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The previous very cold winter that I do remember, was 1978, when all of Britain suffered with blizzards and heavy snow.  The South and East of England was spared the worst of the January weather, which hit northern areas just after Christmas/New Year.  However, we suffered badly during a big blizzard in mid-February.

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That winter, we were living in a cottage, on a farm at the top of a hill, in the middle of the Bedfordshire countryside. 

The journey to school, in the town of Bedford, was a 40-minute bus-ride, along the main road, a mile from our cottage; the village was a mile and a half away in the other direction.  The farm was across the road and we had a next-door neighbour in the adjoining cottage. Other than these neighbours, we were very isolated, perched at the very top of the hill.   We used to walk to the village quite regularly, as there was a shop there; in summer the local school opened their outdoor swimming pool - for the bargain price of 15p each, we could swim all afternoon; my sister had a school friend in the main village too, so we would go and visit her sometimes.  We also went to a nearby church, once a week,  to practise bell-ringing, with some locals and girls from a nearby boarding school.

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The cottage had no heating - just an open fire in the sitting room and a couple of electric heaters.  The kitchen was equipped with an electric cooker (but no gas),  the bathroom had an electric bar-heater at the top of the wall.  So, that winter it was almost as cold inside, as it was outdoors.  We woke to a layer of ice on the inside of the window-panes, a bedroom so cold that it was painful to get out of bed and dress. 

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A bath was out of the question, until the bathroom had been heated up, so it was a chilly wash every morning.   That winter, for the first (and last) time, I had chilblains on my feet and fingers (I have Reynauds syndrome, so it was very difficult when the weather was so cold). 

The blizzard hit us in mid-February, when we were just about thinking that winter was nearly over (!).  School half-term holiday was on the way and we were looking forward to a few days at home, relaxing by the fire, walking in the fields, perhaps visiting Grandma in town.  However, on February 14th or 15th, we woke to deep snow and white fields all around.  Our mother gave us a warm breakfast and sent us off, to walk down the hill to the bus-stop, in our school coats and gloves, scarves and knitted hats.  I think we probably wore wellington boots to walk in, carrying our school shoes. 

The snow was pretty deep and had frozen hard (already!).  In fact, I remember walking along the lane, which bordered a paddock on one side, looking at the hedge and wondering how it came to be so small.  We sometimes scrambled over the fence/hedge and ran across the paddock, since the road doubled back around the paddock, making the walk twice as far as if we took a short-cut through the paddock (this was fine until the time the farmer put three young bullocks in the paddock... long story, but basically, one of the bullocks trapped my sister against a tree and licked her face all over, until she stopped shrieking and giggled madly!).  The fence was invisible and the hedge looked about a foot high, under a deep drift of snow.  The paddock was also deep in snow and looked level with the top of the hedge in places.  We decided that it wasn't a good day to take a short-cut and went the long way round to the bus!

We waited a very long time for our bus.  The main road was mostly clear (I suppose they had snow-plough lorries out), but the bus service had been very disrupted.  The bus did arrive eventually, but not before my Reynauds' had got the better of me.  Its arrival found me sitting on the edge of the kerb, with my head between my knees, no doubt very white in the face, dizzy and desperately cold.  My sister hailed the bus and explained the problem to the bus conductor - a lovely lady, who immediately took charge.  I was half-carried up to the top deck of the bus.  The kids sitting on the long front seat were unceremoniously kicked off, so that she could place me right in front of the heater, which was blasting out wonderful warm air.  By the time we reached school, I had thawed out (quite painfully!) and no longer felt faint. 

(the bus was like this one - photo by Boxley)

We stumbled into school, around an hour late.  About half the girls were missing - I suppose their homes were snowed in, or their parents didn't think they should risk the weather.  Lessons were not running as usual, since some staff had also been unable to make it to school, but we all struggled on, until a message came round, about 1130am, that the whole school was to assemble in the main hall.

My school - in summer!

We were told to go home; school was being closed and would re-open when the weather improved.  There was a long queue for the one school pay-phone and some of us were sent to the office, to borrow the secretary's phone. 

The bus usually came across town to pick us up at the end of the school day.  It left at 4:10pm - so obviously we couldn't expect it to be there for us at 12pm.  We all trudged across town to the bus station and were lucky to catch a bus that passed the end of our lane, as it went between Bedford and Luton, a very large town to the south of Bedfordshire.  The bus driver was kind and let us get off there, although it wasn't a normal stop; this saved us some of our walk home, for which we were very grateful, as it was snowing again.  I think our mother was relieved to see us and she soon had us warmed up again. 

I think we were off school for the rest of the week.  It was an unespected holiday and we made the most of it.  I remember going for a walk in the fields that surrounded our cottage.  They looked strange and unfamiliar, covered in snow and ice.  We could barely recognise our normal routes and made our own footpaths across the snowy fields.  Obviously some snowballs were thrown and I'm sure we talked about building a snowman in the garden of the cottage. 

It was an exciting walk; until my sister decided to jump into a snow-pile that she found.  A run-up, a jump - whooping with excitement.  She disappeared.  It wasn't just a snow-pile, it was a drift, which covered a deep water-filled ditch!  Obviously, once I'd fished her out, I had to walk her home very quickly - shivering, wet and a bit tearful.  Luckily the bathroom was warmed up, ready for us to have a bath on our return, so she was swiftly plunged into warm water and thawed out!  She didn't suffer any harm at all - not even a cold. 

I don't remember a lot more about that winter.  We were pretty much house-bound for a while, only venturing into the fields a couple of times (with more care of snow-drifts!),  enjoying our walks, but glad to be home again and warmed up. I'm sure we built some good snow-men (I remember being lent a hat and scarf by the neighbours and supplied with coal and carrots!).  Then the wind changed, the temperature rose and the snow melted.  We went back to school and life was back to normal. 

We've had three or four very cold winters since (1980/81 for example), but I remember that first one best, because after that we moved closer to town and had central heating; the chill and snow didn't seem so difficult with the advantages of modern technology (and friends whose mothers gave us lifts to school on snowy days).   

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This was my contribution to the first of Sian's Storytelling Sunday posts for 2012.  I hope it made you smile!

Next, Please! (and a Weather Report)

My Current Project




These three book-blocks will be diaries, which I am making as Christmas presents.


I have a lovely choice of fabrics!

The light-coloured sprigged fabric and the red, plus the William Morris to the right of it are cottons.
The remainder is a selection of amazing jewel-coloured silks. There are some dupion silk (one colour all through with a slight texture) and some great pieces of tussore/tussah silk (the warp is one colour and the weft another, giving a “shot silk” with a nice slubby texture).

You can’t really see the richness of those colours… they are just wonderful.

I am covering the diaries with fabric – two with the cottons and one with silk. Each will have a silk strip on the spine – like this :


This is a traditionally bound book I made last January, on my book-binding course.  My diaries will have a wrap-round spine that is a different colour, like this book.

I have just finished the first book, but it is drying under weights and I don’t want to mess about with it just yet.  You will have to wait, if you want to see the Finished Project!

But doesn’t it sound exciting? Go on, admit it!

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The Weather Report

Yesterday lunch time, it started to snow.  Big fat snowflakes, so that by 4pm it was like this:





By evening we had about 5 inches on the ground:




It looked rather magical by moonlight.

D. brought in a snowball, which Sherlock thought he should try:


The Snowball Tester

This is as close as he’s been to the snow so far.  He looks outside, shivers and walks away huffily! Of course, it is all My Fault!

This morning, 8am sunrise:





The Boys had to go out for a Snowball fight.  I couldn’t join in, as my asthma was playing up (boo…), but I watched and took some photos:






They were attacked by some boys, from the other side of the garden wall!


All snowy!

Sadly the snow was too fluffy for good snowballs and they abandoned attempts to make a Snow-Bot, as they just couldn’t get it to stick together.

D. got some snow in his eyes, which scratched him and he had to give up and come inside.  Still, they had some fun before that and got some exercise too.

I enjoyed my role, as Official Snowtographer!

Whether the Weather...

The Weather:

It's a commonly held conception, all over the world, that the British - or at least the English - spend half our time in conversation about the Weather.

I suppose it's hardly surprising, when it is so very changeable, that we do really talk - and write - rather a lot about it!  

I mean, really, when it's like this one day...

then the next it's like this....

and this...

and you wake up and look out at a sky like this...

with the garden looking like this again...

and even the birds are fed up...

Is is any wonder we all Moan?

For several days, we've woken to snow and ice.  By 11am it's all been gone away. 

Except for today.  When we woke, it was snowing.  The kids went back to school, after their half-term holiday, getting snowed on and making bets that it would be gone by lunch time.

Today it wasn't. It snowed all morning. And half the afternoon. 

Problem was, it was only 0 degrees (c).  Which meant that the snow was just wet and sloppy.  Although it sat on the ground, the underneath layer got warm and melted, making piles of yukky slush. 

I had to go out to do my Monday jobs.  It involves driving to the village nearby, where my mum lives. I visit the Post Office, to collect her pension money, the doctors' to get her prescription, the lady who sells eggs, to get hers & her neighbours' eggs, then her house, delivering all the above, plus her weekly shopping which was delivered here first thing in the morning (along with mine!).

I have to walk: from the car to the post office (not far), from the post office to the dr (not far), from there to the car, from the car park to the egg-lady's house (not far), then back, from the car to my mum's (really not far!) and back....

Not a lot of walking.  Just a few yards really.

So, why were my feet soaking wet?!

After lunch, the snow finally stopped.  By 3pm, when the mums went to get the littlies from school, it was all gone away.  J. walked home in the dry, though he went out in the wet.

My boots were finally dry, but I won't wear them in the snow again - not if it's going to be slushy.  From now on, it'll be waterproof boots to and from the car!

FED UP WITH THE WEATHER!

Giveaway Reminder

Remember that, if you would like a chance to win the little pink sock-bunny from the Sock Rabbit tutorial, you need to leave me a comment after last Wednesday's post (just below actually!). I will use a random number generator to select a winner and will publish the winning person's name this Wednesday evening, some time after 8pm.

Made, Listed, Sold - all in one day!

Well! Talk about speedy turn-round! I made the second of my funky "Nonsense" paper mini-books this morning.  After lunch I set up my little white photo-box and took pictures of it, then I listed it on my Etsy shop in the afternoon.  I spent some time updating photos in my shop, as some were really rather rubbish and my new box means I can replace the bad ones with better quality images (yay!).

I went down for tea at about 6pm, with 29 items for sale in my shop.  When I came back and logged on to see my e-mails at 7pm - the book was Sold! Amazing! That is definitely my quickest sale ever.  It's really rather exciting.  So I now have to package it nicely and head for the post office, to send it on its way to Wyoming in U.S.A. I hope its new owner will be very pleased with her purchase (as pleased as I am to sell it to her!). Cheers, lovely customer!

I think I will make another of these tonight. I still have enough papers to make at least one more, with a few modifications to the original design.  The nice thing about making books is that each one is different, even when I make several "the same"!  Every person who gets one of my books has a unique item.  I really like to think about that - it makes me feel special! I also love to give my books to people, especially ones I have designed and made specially for that person.  I made several as presents last year and it gives me a great feeling to make someone a special item, just for them. I get the same feeling if I make someone a scrap album or layout too.

I need to get organised, as I have loads of book ideas buzzing round my head! I'm also going on a course in 2 weekends' time. I need to sort out what I want to take with me, in terms of materials to create my book. It's so exciting!

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Other Stuff from Today

I was logging on with the intention of posting about my day.  I took a couple of photos of the garden birds, which are quite nice, so I will post those. 

Our garden has been thronged with birds this week.  We put out seed, mealworms and fresh water, which they appreciate very much.  Yesterday and today I also grated a chunk of cheese (cheap cheese!) and put that out as well, to give the poor chilly birds a bit of energy value. 

We have watched in amazement, this last week to 10 days, as the number of Blackbirds in the garden has gone up, and up, and up... Usually, the most Blackbirds you'll see in the garden will be two, except when there are fledglings being fed in Summer.  They are very, very terratorial and will chase other blackbirds - in fact any other birds at times - and even fight them, to preserve their territory.  They will only tolerate a mate, during the time they are starting and raising a family. Then they go back to the "one bird per territory" rule!

Well... about 2 weeks ago, Mr. Blackbird began to court a lady Blackbird.  She was a bit unsure at first, but soon came round to the idea that he might be her Ideal Husband.  She was further convinced when a couple of other females came hopping around and chased Her Mr Blackbird round the garden! She chased them away very fiercely.  We watched all this with amusement. 

So 10 days ago, there were up to 4 blackbirds in our garden - three females and one very harrassed male! 

Then it snowed. More birds came to the garden to feed and we put out more food for them.  More blackbirds appeared - mostly females - and were chased by Mr. & Mrs. Blackbird.  However, they stayed around and Mr & Mrs were a bit more tolerant.  It's interesting that the birds do share more when the weather is bad - so long as there is plenty to eat anyway!

Gradually, over the last week, the number of Blackbirds has gone up... two, four, six, seven, nine... yesterday there were 10 and we were amazed. 

Today I counted 18 blackbirds, of both sexes, eating seed and drinking water, in our garden!  It's almost as if the local Blackbirds have decided to host their annual conference on our lawn! We are gobsmacked! 

Sadly, I haven't been able to photograph this amazing thing. Firstly, my camera battery ran out when I did try.  Secondly, they just don't keep still!  They hop and flap all over the place, chasing each other away and dodging about.  They sit in the trees, watching for a chance to nip down and snatch a quick snack..  But they do not all sit nicely, waiting for me to say "Now then, Group Shot, please.  Say 'Birdseeeeeed'!" 

Maybe they will tomorrow.... Meanwhile -

A starling and a greenfinch snatching a few snacks at our seed feeder.

These two lovely goldfinches were eating Niger (thistle seeds) as fast as they could, before the starlings chased them away.

We are so lucky with our bird visitors.  Yesterday there was a Blackcap in the garden! We have never seen one before.  We think it has come South because it's so cold further North just now. Or else it lives quite happily in some local woodland, but was hoping to find a few snacks in the village gardens.  They do live all over Britain - according to our RSPB Birds book - but we have never seen any before.  There was also a Pied Wagtail (one of those cute little black, grey & white birds, with long white-barred tails, that they waggle up & down).  They don't come very often either.

The Redwings are still regular visitors.  There are usually four now, who we think must have decided to stick around for the winter. I did take a couple of photos, but they never come close enough to the house and the photos are too blurry to bother with really.  Just a brownish blob on the grass or tree!

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J's school was closed again today.  He was less pleased about this when we got a text message from school, to say the children could pick up some Maths, English and Science work from school, or the school website!  He was quite good about trying to do some work this morning though, then he went out to play snowballs with some friends.  He came back for lunch, then was off again, with his sledge.  Later on he turned up, all tearful.  It seems that he and the other boys had piled snowballs up on the sledge, but some other boys had ambushed them, stolen the sledge and thrown all the snowballs at them.  J. was pretty miserable about it, as they were hurting him and wouldn't stop.  He had managed to retrieve his sledge, but obviously felt that home was the best idea.  Poor man! I gave him a warm drink and a pep-talk and he was soon okay again.  His dad was home by that time too - supposed to go to a meeting in London, but no trains for his colleague and ours were all delayed. Dad gave J. some moral support and he's fine now.  I suppose the other boys were a bit over-excited.  They probably didn't mean to hurt anyone, but it was a bit much for J. to handle. His two friends arrived to check he was okay and then they went off home too (D. had bumped his nose on the slide - unrelated incident - and it was growing a fine bruise. I sent them in search of a parent with an ice-pack!).  So, J. and his friends have all had an exciting sort of day!

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Sherlock thought his day was looking up too....

"You got a new Cat-Tent!"

I had to tell him, kindly, that this was not his new bed, but an Important New Piece of Business Equipment.  He wasn't impressed by that - cats don't care about business. He doesn't even care that I sold a book today, in record time. But we love him anyway.

He has just come into my room, to ask what I'm doing... he has found the photo-box, partly folded, under the desk and has sniffed it hopefully... Now he's having a wash - I expect he'll settle down on my "guest chair" and go to sleep.  Love that daft old cat!

I'm off to cut the men's hair... D. starts his new job on Monday and wants to be presentable. Just now, if he's not careful, he bears rather a resemblance to the Boss in the old Dilbert cartoons!  (In case you don't know what I mean, you can see Dilbert and his Boss here). J's doing a good imitation of Cousin It just now too... so the clippers are comin' out! Bzzzzzzzzzzzzz...

Bye all! Mind the Snowballs!

Yaffle

Well, today we did get one of our parcel deliveries - the party presents arrived in a nice big box (much bigger than needed, but that was fun)!  Also a small present arrived for J. and two t-shirts that I forgot I had ordered for my niece's husband and my other niece's b.f.  Now we only need J's "Dad present" and all is set!

Walked to post office in the village just before lunch.  The day was much milder than yesterday and the snow showed signs of melting.  We wore walking boots anyway, as it was very slippy underfoot. I didn't want another fall-induced injury thanks! Posted our Important Letters and bought some mistletoe for over the fireplace.

On our return I started to make some sandwiches for lunch, but was very distracted by this:

This is Mrs Yaffle, who dropped into our garden for a snack!

She is a Green Woodpecker - the largest of the British Woodpeckers.  She must have been very hungry, as she dug a hole in the lawn - probably after insects or perhaps ants. 

The photos are not very good, as my camera is only a snapshot type.  I was so lucky to get any pictures at all really. I spent 20 minutes standing at my open bedroom window, with the camera poised, taking as many shots as I could. I had to be patient, as she flew off and came back several times, when the garden birds decided they had seen me moving. 

Green Woodpeckers are not that unusual in countryside gardens, but they are a bit rare in gardens that are in a more built-up area, like ours.  She must have flown over from one of the small copses or woods round the edge of the village. She certainly was lovely and I felt very privileged to see her! 

This is a pair of Goldfinches, who dropped in to eat seeds off the garden shrubs.  My patient waiting today certainly paid off. I saw about 12 different types of birds in the garden during that 20 minutes. They were all getting on with eating as much as possible. It was a lovely thing to see them all.

We do get a few unusual birds in the garden from time to time.  There have been a few Greater Spotted Woodpeckers, plenty of fnches etc, also a Treecreeper, going round our willow tree, looking for insects.  At our last house we had (as occasional visitors) Kestrels, Skylarks, Willow Tits, Grey Wagtails (which are, in fact, largely yellow!), Swallows, Swifts and House Martins, Fieldfares, Waxwings and also something we think was a Harrier of some kind, or perhaps a Red Kite.  Our garden backed onto open fields, which led down to the river, so we had a lovely view and very interesting birdlife. Where we are now is more urban, even though it's a village, so the birds are mainly "garden birds", but now and then we get the odd bonus visitor (like the heron who ate all our goldfish!).

While we had our lunch, I put the first part of "The Box of Delights" in the video player.  It is really starting to feel like Christmas Time!

Waiting for the Postman...

Today it's been so cold and icy! J is on school holiday now, so once the shopping had been delivered, he helped me de-ice the car, so we could take his Grandma her week's groceries.  The ground on the driveway was like glass and there was a large patch of ice right under the back wheels.  Of course, I hadn't thought to order salt with our groceries and we had about a 1/2" in the bottom of the container.  Sprinkled it under the wheels and luckily that was enough to give us grip and let us reverse slowly into the road.  I'm just thankful that our drive doesn't slope!

We had to drive so carefully along our street but, luckily, once we were out on the main village roads, it was almost clear and the trip across the river to Mum's was okay.  There's a steep hill the other side of the bridges, which I was worried about, but that was clear too.  We were able to get her prescription and pick up the eggs from the lady in the village, also post our parcels at the P.O.   Just as well, because it's been snowing fit to bust this evening.  D said to J at bed-time, "See you in the morning. I'm either going to work or I'm not." That just about sums it up!

However, one thing that did not happen today was a delivery of two parcels we are expecting.  They should both be here by now.  One has J's present for his dad and the other has little party-presents for Wednesday and, more importantly, stocking-fillers for J! He asked Santa for several things, which I ordered.  The shop's order system says the order is "Complete" but there is no sign of the stuff!!

Tomorrow I will be Waiting For the Postman!

Just a final thing - check out these photos, which Keri-Anne has added to her shop - aren't they fab?

A Milky Afternoon, by Keri-Anne Pink

Playing in Narnia, by Keri-Anne Pink

Her work gets better and better - I'm just so proud of her.