Normal life!
Back home again, life continues in a bit of a blur. Catching up is always a bit of a challenge; getting back into the swing of things rather pleasing, in a funny kind of way. I always come home eager to refresh and revitalise a house which has stood closed up for a couple of weeks, wanting to throw open the windows, get some air in the place and get it all shipshape again.
This time, I really couldn’t wait to open the windows, because once again, our (spare) freezer let us down. Thankfully, it wasn’t the freezer in the kitchen, which has our main stockpile, but the fridge freezer downstairs in our storeroom, which failed earlier in the year when we were on our cruise. As a result, it wasn’t jam-packed, thankfully. But it did have one or two larger pieces of meat in there, plus a few other bits we’d put in there as our confidence in the repair man’s work grew.
And of course, it takes only one large joint of pork to defrost and …well, I’ll let you imagine.
Yuk.
The repairman is coming this morning and we’ll give it another try, but I’m loathe to put anything in it which I care about until hopefully, our confidence is (again) restored or, more likely, we replace it!
As we drove home along the M4, I’d listened to Pete Wilson’s Sunday programme on BBC Radio Gloucestershire on my phone and once at home, was pleased to be able to listen again on a proper radio. A couple of weeks ago, Marion and I met Pete at the Folk Museum in Gloucester, to talk about the WI Centenary exhibition. Though I know Pete well enough to trust him to put together something good, nevertheless, there was that small niggle in the back of my mind that I might have said something daft, incomprehensible or simply been too relaxed to put on my best performance. You know how it is.
Thankfully, the end result was respectable! I think Marion and I gave a good account of ourselves and hopefully, our enthusiasm came through enough to tempt people to go along and see for themselves. I believe it’ll be possible to listen again for the next four weeks if you missed it so far (but I don’t know if that link works outside the UK, sorry).
Not all surprises on our return were nasty ones, thank goodness. One nice one was a box of goodies from Citrus Twist following an email conversation I’d had with their owner whilst we were away. For several years now, I’ve subscribed to a monthly kit for my Project Life from Studio Calico, who have recently changed their policies in a way I didn’t care for. As a result, I cancelled my sub and moved my allegiance. I’m now going to have fun with some new and fresh designs and think that perhaps SC did me a favour
One thing we miss whilst we are away is the occasional chatter from Edward, updating us with what’s going on in the world of our government affairs professional. A recent source of much delight has been the publication of one of his books in Kindle format, the more so since it has been so well received. Edward has always been a writer and enjoyed creating alternative history scenarios since he was at school, but so far, has restricted his publishing to an online forum and a few self published books for family and friends. However, a group of like minded writers have got together and created a collection of their work and have started to market it under the Sealion Press imprint, with great results.
OK. I know, proud Mummy speaking here, but those rankings are pretty amazing, don’t you think? (And not only did I not write the stonking 5* review, I didn’t pay anyone to write it either!) Bravo Edward!
Today, I’m at home, hoping to catch up (and maybe finish?) my American Road Trip journal. I really wanted to finish it before we overlaid those experience with Irish ones, but you know what happens to good intentions? My only commitment this week was a meeting at Denman College yesterday, where as I sat chatting over lunch I caught sight of a(nother) familiar, friendly face. Claire Muir was teaching her Beautiful Butterflies and of course, having caught up with the gossip, I had to go over and see what her class was up to. Such things always make me want to come straight home and get my machine purring away…but must get those journals done first!
I’d already bumped into Janice, a GFWI colleague, who was honing her Jacobean embroidery skills in a class with Julie Walsby. Sight of such things always reminds me of my C&G tutor’s comment regarding my own sub-optimal efforts at the technique: “not really your strong point, is it?” Of course, Julie’s work is breathtaking and actually, that of her class pretty stunning too.
So, no time for mischief around here, then? hmmm…
Back in the groove, I was mulling over the clothes I tried on in the Eileen Fisher store in Chicago and one item in particular stuck in my mind. I kind of regretted not buying a long, sleeveless shirt kind of thing, thinking that it’d be ideal as another layer in this funny, chilly weather we’ve been having. I went to look on the .uk website to see if it was available here but as I did, my eyes fell upon something else…
Now, the internet is a wonderful thing and yes, I could have bought this lovely boiled wool sleeveless coat immediately and had it delivered to me here at home – at a price. But friends and honorary sisters are even better, especially when their plans for the day not only include passing an Eileen Fisher store but their travel plans include coming here in the next couple of weeks. Time zones and suchlike meant that my late afternoon web surfing worked well with Mary’s early morning online reading and within hours, the deed was done. My pocket money spent.
Yes, indeed, life is good.
With a working freezer, it will be even better
