Saturday 4th May

There's not a lot to post...

I went into the garden (like I do nearly every day) to see what's new;

Something is going on in the cardoons, in the centre of the photograph 

I wasn't expecting to see a flower on the hot lips salvia just yet

One album is out

And something very weird is emerging from the walking onion flowers (are they even flowers?)

You can see how one of the stems is searching for a new place to grow. I'll replace those empty spare pots with one filled with earth and see what happens next.

Otherwise, more crosstitching... I'm on track at the moment, finishing the lettering at the bottom today. Tomorrow I'll start on the lettering across the top.

More reading. 

So far this month I have finished 'Dancers in Mourning' - Margery Allingham 'Smallbone Deceased' - Michael Gilbert and 'Death of an Author' - ECR Lorac'. I've got 'Traitor's Purse' - Margery Allingham and 'The Wedding Dress Repair Shop' - Trisha Ashley on the go, and I've nearly finished listening to 'Death in the Parish' written and read by Richard Coles. And it's only the fourth of May!

Friday 3rd May

 We went out for a stroll up and down our road today. It was a grey and chilly morning, but I was determined to start walking again. I say 'we' because Best Beloved carried the little Inogen oxygen machine. It only weighs about 2.2 kg, but that's enough to slow me down! 

It was lovely to look at the plants growing in the front gardens. I spotted Lilies and weigelia (I think) in flower, as well as the usual forget-me-nots etc.

After lunch I was busy doing this and that; paying bills and writing up a piano lesson I taught yesterday. Then I set the laptop aside and got on with cross stitching. Yesterday I was sitting on the settee with the magnifier precariously balanced on the arm of the settee. We sent off yesterday for what looked like an ingenious (and very cheap) table to fit over the arm, and it arrived later in the day;

It is pretty good; the sides are slats all stuck to a fabric base, making them flexible and non-slip.

I couldn't understand why I was finding organising needle, fabric, stitching and using the magnifier so awkward... then the penny dropped... I'm left handed! So I rearranged things

I moved the little table so it was draped over the red sewing tin, and then I had no trouble. 

It's going to take at least 7 more days to stitch the rest of the text in the borders on all four sides, and then another 6 for the cross stitched border and a day for the back stitching. A minimum of 14 more days to finish... I might, just, perhaps, possibly finish it for Pentecost on the 19th May. That's the plan, anyway!

The little wooden box I ordered at the beginning of the week arrived. The idea is that we fix it to this trolley so the little oxygen machine (the one I used for this morning's walk) can sit inside. Then I'll be able to tow it around, or just park it beside me when I'm using it around the house and garden or going for a walk.

It will need a bit of fettling, but Best Beloved is excellent at finding ingenious solutions. 

He's measured and checked and considered various ways of solving the problem. 

Thursday 2nd May

 Snippets...

I did some cross stitch, so I can start on the lettering tomorrow. That feels like progress. 

The family opposite have managed to train the toddler twins to stagger along in a close approximation to a straight line - I love watching them! They seem to have got the idea of walking as a means of reaching a destination,  as opposed to just staggering around as their arms, legs and sense of balance directed!

I haven't been putting out pebbles for some weeks. This afternoon the little girl who used to collect them carefully placed a snail on the wall. Was that a hint?

We ate the bean sprouts in a stir fry. Very enjoyable!  I'll get the next lot going soon.