Good Morning to you,
George has been poorly this week.
He has caught one of the illnesses, which seems to be affecting so many people at the moment, cough, cold and chest infection.
.... and normally, trying to keep him in bed when he is poorly, is neigh on impossible, but this week he has given in, and stayed in bed and that is an indication of how unwell he is.
So today, I have no recipes to offer you. The reason is George's appetite has been very poor, so I did not cook any suppers or bake any cakes. Instead I decided to encourage him to eat some of the soups, which I had stored in my freezer, which as you know, is the easiest thing to eat, if you are suffering with a sore throat.
I have to say, it was very strange not cooking. I suppose I could have cooked for myself, but on the other hand, it did free me, to catch up with things I wanted to do.... plus the added attraction was, there was very little washing up to do.
Of course, I kept a good eye on George and I was amazed to see how many of my daily, 10,000 steps I was able to achieve, running up and down the stairs.
So I hope you are not too disappointed, but instead of a recipe, I thought I would share with you, little snippets from my week.
.... and while I was thinking which bits to share, the sun shone through the kitchen window, which I have to tell you is a rarity these days.
.... and of course, as you know, when the sunshine arrives, it has a habit of showing up those little nooks and crannies which have not been dusted as thoroughly as you thought.
So armed with my feather duster, I stood in my kitchen and looked upwards, as that is where the culprits usually hide.... and there, on my chandelier I noticed a tiny cobweb.
I dispatched the cobweb with a quick flick of the feather duster. I then checked my other chandeliers, and right enough, they needed a quick flick as well.
I am not very tall, so I could not see if the shelf above my cooker needed to be cleaned, so I collected my stepladder from the garage and low and behold,
yes it did. Where on earth does the dust come from. My windows aren't opened for very long during winter time, although I do try to open them once a day.... yes even when it is cold, just to circulate the air. This is something Phyllis swears by. She feels too much warm air in the house, is a breeding ground for germs... although having said that, George is poorly at the moment, but in truth, he could have caught this illness anywhere, I think it was probably at the swimming pool. The simple truth is I love fresh air in the house. I love the smell of cooking, on the day of cooking, but I don't want the smell permeating the air the following day.
So, with George upstairs, I opened my kitchen windows, but first I removed my orchids from the window sill, as orchids hate the cold and they certainly hate drafts.
I then decided to take down my Blue Willow plates and my French/German containers.... I'm not sure if they are French or German, as the design is similar to some German plates I once owned, but I have seen these containers with French words written on them, such as Sucre for Sugar, so I am a little confused about their origin. You will notice some of the containers have lost their lids, I am keeping my eyes open for some new lids.... you never know, someone might have broken a container and have a lid which is no longer of use to them.... and hopefully I will be the lucky recipient.
The final things to be removed from the shelf were the Spode spice jars. Everything was then gently washed in soapy water and dried, ready to resume its rightful place on the shelf.
As I was returning everything to its rightful place, I played with the idea of removing the red bows and the sparkly lights, as they were a remnant from Christmas, which I had missed when I took down my Christmas decorations, but I decided, as the weather is still cold, they added a dash of warmth, to my kitchen, so I replaced them.... and if I am being honest, I love how the lights twinkle in the evening.
I repeated the process on the other side of the shelf. With everything spick and span, I felt very happy.... and as Prunella Pepperpot mentioned in her comment last week "You definitely feel you have achieved something once the job is done".... don't you just love the name of this blog.
... and as always happens, when you start cleaning, one thing, leads to another and so I decided,
to remove my Spode plate from the wall and give it a clean. Let me introduce you to 'May' from the Spode, Blue Room Collection.... isn't she gorgeous.
Of course, when you clean one, you clean another and so it was the turn of my Blue Delft or to give the plate its correct name Delftsblauw.
and another Delft plate, but this time a winter scene. All of these plates are quite large, as they are 12 inches in width, so, in terms of size, these photographs don't really do them justice.
and I went on to wash another 15 plates, this being the final one.
After I had finished dusting, I re-arranged my roses and Alstroemeria, I gave them a fresh drink of water and set about removing the flowers which were a little sad.... all in all, a good days work.
As you know, I do love a good book and the week before last, I discovered this book in a second hand book shop. The title attracted me to the book, The Happiest People on Earth and I have to say, I have no idea who Demos Shakarian is, but I feel sure this book will be an interesting read.
This is the second book I bought, 'Ten Things I've Learnt About Love'. Again it was the title which attracted me and when I read the book jacket,
'Heart wrenching and life affirming, this is
a unique story of love lost and found,
of rootlessness and homecoming and
the power of the ties that bind. It is
a story for fathers and daughters everywhere.'
I just knew this book was for me. Interestingly, this was a brand new book and whoever bought it did not read it, which I thought was a shame.
I cannot decide which book to read first, but before I can read either, I need to finish my current book, The Diary of a Provincial Lady written by E.M. Delafield (born Edmee Elizabeth Monica de la Pasture in 1890). It's written in the form of a diary by a long suffering Devonshire lady in the 1930s, who tries so hard to keep her ramshackled, upperclass household from falling into chaos.
I have read the first 20 pages and I am enjoying this book very much.
Whilst George has been sleeping, I have been crocheting, so I thought I would show you my attempts at crochet. It has been years and years since I crocheted. I remember the first thing I ever made in the 1970s was a doily and then I moved onto something much, much larger.... a poncho, using rows of different colours. Do you remember when crocheted ponchos were the thing to wear?
This blanket started out life as a practise piece, to test my skills and to see how much I remembered, but when I showed it to Natasha, she loved it so much, that it is now, neatly folded and put away in my sewing room, waiting for Natasha to collect it, the next time she comes home.
.... and a closer look at the edging. I love how the pink stands out.
I of course, have two daughters, so I am currently crocheting a blanket for Danielle. I am using the same colours, but Danielle's has a twist to it. I will show you when I have moved on a little more with it.
.... and after that, I am going to attempt a crochet fish tail blanket, which seems to be all the rage on Pinterest at the moment. I have a certain little girl in mind, who I know will love it, especially as I am going to crochet the fish tail in various colours of pink.... her favourite colour.
After all that activity, a cup of coffee and a sit down was needed... I know the words say 'tea cup' but for me the cup is too large for tea, but it's the perfect size, for a cup of coffee.
So with my coffee on the table beside me and my new crochet project on the other side of me, it's time,
to put my feet up, sit back and relax and watch 'The African Queen'.... don't you just love old films.
Take care and I will see you next Thursday when I hope George will be well and things will be back to normal.
This week I will be joining,
As Always,
