Spring

Pots outside the Front Door

Okay, it isn't Spring and it won't be for another month or two. But it is sunny out and not that cold and what is more the quality of light has changed, elusive and hard to define but it is there. Just as there is a change in the scent on the air. You can smell the earth warming up or perhaps it is the trees feeling the buds starting to form under winter bark. Either way I feel Spring in me too and I am delighted. I have been through a tough old battle lately with that wretched Black Dog and there were times in the past few weeks that I thought that the git might win. But indeed I feel as if I have come home at last and it is a relief to rest from heartache and anger.

And with that comes a new tide in spirit dancing. I have not danced in worship for a long time and even longer it has been since I danced with real joy. That is, I worshipped because God is worthy of praise no matter what we feel like, but like the song says - it is hard to dance with the devil on your back. And now things have changed, the winter is over and gone as it were. And I am glad.
This has happened just in time for the February conference in Ashburnham, near Hastings where the Welsh are pretty much in the forefront of the worship. The English are sweet but very reserved and it needs a bit of the mad Welsh hwyl to liven it up a bit. I was not looking forward to it but now I cannot wait.


To that end, the silk arrived today along with some dyes in vibrant hues of violet and emerald. The dyes are for the camel down but the pongee silk, delicate and fluttery, is destined for streamers, banners and a new dancing skirt. Out with the silk paints and away to go. I don't have much time, the conference is only a few weeks away, so I'll make a start this week. Pics soon.

Have a sunny, beautiful Springlike day.

For Pod with Love

moar funny pictures

Arrgh! It don't fit and I am a puter illiterate so I can't fix it.

It says
"Bring me Solo and the Wookie
They will all suffer for this outrage"

Insomnia means...

random blogstuff again! Yay!!

You Are a Powdered Devil's Food Donut

A total sweetheart on the outside, you love to fool people with your innocent image. On the inside you're a little darker, richer, and more complex. You're a hedonist who demands more than one pleasure at a time. Decadent and daring, you test the limits of human indulgence.

What Donut Are You?

Crafting is on hold until my dyes and silk get back from Fibrecrafts so it is either food or poetry until then. But for now...House MD is on call :)

Nos da cariad. Hope you are sleeping well.

Now what?

Rose is a darling. She is sweet, helpful and bright. She is also moody, manipulative and desperately cantankerous considering the hormone tidal wave is still some way off. She is also in a spot of difficulty in school and I need to consider some stuff. Consider it with me if you please, I need an objective eye.

In the last two months, two of Rose's best friends have moved away due to family work commitments. Since then she has been isolated in school from other girls in her year. I think this is due to groups having been formed already. Rose's group of three has been disbanded and only she is left. So she has taken to playing with girls a year younger than herself. Today she told me that some of the girls in her school circled round her , taunting her that she was out of the game that they were playing. Rose does not handle teasing at all well and promptly flew off the handle, shouting and crying and making a bad situation even worse. There was no hitting but apparently things got very loud.

I do not want to overreact and have not mentioned this to anyone yet. I was bullied only once in school and it was in a very different situation, but I remember watching a classmate go through years of social ostracism in much the same manner that Rose is experiencing now.
Mary (not her real name) brought it on herself to an extent - she was a tattletale and not much fun to be around... but there was also the element of the pack instinct. It was not done to be friends with Mary so we kept her out and when I look with adult eyes at our behaviour towards her, it was cruel and must have caused her great pain.

So there are two angles to this...
Either Rose is a pain in the backside to the other kids and now she is experiencing the consequences
Or the pack has found a weak pup and is turning on it.
What ever it is I cannot just ignore this. That is what Mary's mother did, thinking that it was just the way kids were. Well, that may be, but it doesn't make it right. I need to do something but I don't know what to do. Help me please. I need advice.

Pudding and the Pogues

Croissant and Butter Pudding
(PS. the pics were added 30th Jan. I just had to make this after posting the recipe up. It was delicious)
75 g unsalted butter
75g sultanas (these are optional - I never use them 'cos I think they look like bugs)
5 stale croissants, I tear them up to fit
3 tablespoons good quality apricot jam
4 egg yolks
1 egg
3 tablespoons caster sugar
700ml full cream milk (or 400 ml milk and 300 ml single cream if you want to play dice with your cholesterol count - I say life is too short to count your cholesterol but I suppose others think life is too short not to)
2 tablespoons demerara sugar

Preheat oven to 180 C

Grease a 1.5 litre dish with some of the butter. Spread the croissants liberally with butter and apricot jam; you should leave some of the butter to spread on the top later. Squish the croissants into the dish. Some people manage to do this artistically, I'm in too much of a greed induced hurry to get the thing cooked and eaten to bother. If you are using sultanas, now is the time to scatter them over.

Whisk the egg yolks and egg together with the caster sugar and pour in the cream and milk. Leave to soak for about ten minutes. Spread any sticky out bits with remaining butter and sprinkle the demerara sugar over all.

Pop the pudding dish on a baking sheet and cook for about 45 min. Let it sit for a little while for the puffiness to subside and spoon into bowls.

Apparently this can be eaten with custard. I never bother as it is quite rich enough.

And for dessert...

The deeply untasty Pogues with an annoying vid. Ignore that 'cos the song is a favourite of mine...

Another Meme

Four jobs I have held

1. Sheltered housing warden
2. Life model
3. Creative writing tutor
4. Factory worker
   

Four movies I watch over and over and over

1. Breakfast at Tiffanys
2. The Enchanted April
3. The Princess Bride
4. Brief Encounter

Four places I have been

1. Aberdeen (furthest North)
2. Cape Town (furthest South)
3. Rome (furthest East)
4. Huntsville, Alabama (furthest West)
   

Four places I have lived

1. Berkhamsted, England
   
2. Carmarthen, Wales
   
3. Larkhall, Scotland
4. Blantyre, Malawi
   

Four people who e-mail me regularly

1. Dizzy
2. Amazon uk
   
3. People who tell me that my male bits need enhancing
4. Poem of the Day
   

Four favourite foods

1. Homemade vegetable soup
2. Fresh bread (as in still steaming from the oven) and butter
3. Medium rare steak and salad
   
4. Bread and butter pudding - only instead of bread I use croissants and add apricot conserve as well as butter. It is rich, terribly fattening and a thing of joy.
   

Four places I'd rather be

1. I am really quite happy here with my cup of coffee and the Pogues playing Old Irish in the kitchen.
2. However, I can always be at Ffald Y Brenin anytime of the day or night
3. Failing that, Sugar Beach in Alabama breathing warm air and paddling in the warm sea.
   
4. Or, the Arctic Circle watching the Aurora Borealis
   

Four things I am looking forward to

1. April, Faith's baby being born
2. May, when I am next off to Ffald y Brenin (yes I know I am boring about this place but most of you reading this haven't been there and don't realise how dreamlike this place is)
3. Spring in general
4. The trip to the Artic Circle, three years from now. It is going to take us that long to save for it! But it will happen.

Thanks for that Pilgrim. I tag Pippa again, Dizzy, The Sheriff to get her back for the book meme :) and I think I might tag Hedgewizard if I am not too shy to ask him.

I'm back!

Hiya.
It was good to get away and it is good to be home, even though it is always a struggle leaving Ffald yr Brenin. There is something about that place that gets under your skin. I took my camera to show you some pics. It was lovely weather, soft and spring like, but my batteries had died. I was annoyed at my stupidity because the place is just stunning and at its best under a clear blue sky. Anyway, I had a lovely time and indeed have come back more grounded and at peace. I hope I stay this way. I like feeling like this!

Posted up the Sheriff's meme, which I had completed before I left but lost the links and didn't have time to restore them. Will do Pilgrim's meme tomorrow. I am off to check up on what you lot have been doing while I was away

Me! Me!

I am a sucker for memes. I love 'em and I try not to think why that is. Anyway, The Sheriff has tagged me for a book meme and here it is.

Go to the current book you are reading, on page 161, and copy down the 5th sentence:
"It [magic] was the pulse and vibration of their world and, like harpists plucking strings, they could make it sing."

From: Faeries of Dreamdark by Laini Taylor. A tale of faeries, djinn, creation, destruction, bravery and magic...oh and the crows are way cool. Laini Taylor is one of the creators of Sunday Scribblings btw and her blog is fun, bright and very creative. I lurk there every day.

I tag Pippa, Jessica, Pilgrim, Dizzy and the Bookwyrm if she is still around that is...

I'm Off!

Ffald yr Brenin here I come. The noiseless valley, the call of the kites, the sound of the wind and nothing else. Maybe the whirr of the spinning wheel too, but I have to say I am a bit low right now so maybe not.
Still, at least it is sunny. I might pot up some primroses this afternoon. I am sure the marauding sheep will enjoy a bit of variety in their diet. Sedge grass must get a bit boring for them.

I think I need this time away as it has been a tiring time of late and the old batteries need a bit of a charge. So...I'll see you in a few days.
Nos da cariad, take care.

More Music to Spin To

Finished project - Mobius collar

Christmas yarn leftovers.

This is a very chunky jacob plied with finer merino. It is incredibly warm but not really suitable for next to skin wear as the jacob is a bit coarse. Anyway, there was not enough left after Christmas gifts to make even a scarf but I don't like just leaving tiny skeins lying around, they just get in the way. So a mobius collar it is. I wear it when gardening or chopping wood as there are no ends to get untucked and trail in the way.

One Deep Breath - Vision

Rainbows can't compare
to the breathless, vivid beauty
that I see in you.

I know, I know - eight syllables in the second line. But I like the line more than I care about sticking to the rules.

For more visions check out ODB
Picture credit: Inspirational rainbows. R Brown.

Roly Poly

12 oz self raising flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
6 oz butter
2 tablespoons castor sugar
pinch of salt
7fl oz milk
3 or 4 tablespoons jam

Sieve the baking powder and flour together. Rub the fat into the flour. Add sugar and salt. Mix to a soft dough with the milk.
Roll the dough into a rectangle 12 x 8 inches. Spread with jam - I used blueberry. Leave a good margin on the sides (1") or else there is a sticky over flow when cooking. Brush margin with water and fold the dough over a little to seal the jam inside. Roll the dough up like a swiss roll. Wrap in foil, leave a bit of room for it to expand but make sure the foil edges are well sealed too.

Here's the good bit. Fill a large roasting tray half full with water, place a rack on top to fit. Carefully place the roll on the rack, then cover the whole thing with a tent of foil. Place in a preheated oven for an hour. (190 C/ 375 F)
You must serve this with custard. Don't try and fancy it up with cream or ice cream - this is stick to the ribs comfort food. Though if you wish you can swirl a few ounces of single cream through the custard to make it good and rich. Hey, it's been raining for a solid week here but this will cheer you up.
Nos da cariad, sleep tight.

On the Wheel Today

Camel Down

When John the Baptist was preaching in the desert, this was not the stuff he was wearing. This gorgeous, light fluffy stuff has the nasty, rough, hairy itchys all removed and what is left is the downy underfur that keeps camels cosy through chilly desert nights. This is beautiful to spin. It is quite a short fibre so isn't really suitable for a beginner, but if the yarn is wrapped around the flyer it slows the pull of the wheel down which makes it easier to spin. Wake up! It has the same feel as cashmere (about 17 microns where as cashmere is 15 microns and those two microns make no difference at all to me) but is under half the price.

It is a rather distressing shade of brown but I am going to have a bash at dying it after it is spun and plied. I am hoping that I will be able to take it to a purple or a red. But even if I can only take it to a reddish shade of brown it will be an improvement. The good news is that camel down is unfeltable so it wont turn into a terrible claggy lump after washing.

Sunday Scribblings - Fellow Travellers

It takes a bit to get my dad to tell stories. More than a pint or two. But after a while if you nudge him, he'll start to think and then, if you stay quiet, he'll start to talk. This is one of my favourites. The story of my dad and his fellow traveller in a brief but heart stopping journey.

We were on patrol, looking for rebels. There were five of us. I was in the lead. It was hard going through virgin jungle, maybe three or four miles was all you could do in a day.
There were no tracks, just dense green. It was quiet but not silent, there were the birds and frogs and insects. Spiders as big as your hand and you could not see the webs until you had walked into them. They stuck to your face.
There were no paths, there were just spaces between the trees, but it opened out suddenly into a clearing. There was a pool and plenty of space. A good spot for all kinds of trouble. I stopped and looked around as best I could. I couldn't hear anything unusual.
Then into the clearing walked a tiger. It stared at me, slowly walked towards the pool and took a long drink. It stared at me the whole time. Then it turned around and in two feet I couldn't see it anymore.
I had been in the jungle for a long time and I had been in all kinds of danger, but I had never hugged my gun so tight as when I was sharing that clearing with that tiger.

Grey...and a bit blue

Working in the YMCA, people are coming in shaking off their umbrellas and exclaiming at the weather as if it is my fault.
"Oh, it is filthy out there!"
"Brrrr, yuk. What a night!"
...and words to that effect
They don't get much sympathy from me (after all I have just had to lug a spinning wheel through the torrent and will have to again at nine o' clock - the things I will do to stave of boredom)
"Blooming heck," I reply. "It might almost be Wales in January."

But the British obsession with weather aside, it is manking out there. You know the white outs you get in blizzards? Well as I write there is a grey out in the valley. I cannot see anything beyond the first bend in the road down the hill. It is starting to get me down a bit. Can't get out in the garden. Well, I suppose I could but to what end?

Still, I have Dizzy and Uncle Daisy coming round for coffee now, hurrah for nursery education that allow frazzled parents chill out time. So I had better get my grumpy butt in gear and get going with the chocolate brownies. It is nice to have the scent of baking goodies inside when it is so miserable out.

Hope you have a coffee and chocolate scented day too. And take a brolly if you're going anywhere, it is a bit damp out.

This Week I am Mostly Reading

A Dyer's Garden by Rita Buchanan

This is an extremely neat little book. The information is plentiful. How to plan and design a dyers garden; the plants to put in it and their growing habits; how and when to harvest them when you are ready to use them and then the info on the actual dying bit. Mordants, recipies, proportions of dydstuff to fibre etc. It goes into a fair bit of detail too, with plentiful pictures but with all this, it retains a pleasingly compact form. Not too heavy for a bit of bedtime reading.

It leans toward the American, as in the zones and altitude that are best to grow the dye plants. Not really applicable to the UK, though of course if a plant can survive in the Rockies then you could guess that it will be up to anything a Welsh mountainside could throw at it. (Except maybe the astonishing rainfall we are getting right now.) And some of the plants are usually only found in the Americas. Mostly though, the plants are familiar and there is always the good old faithful onion skins.
There is not too much by way of anecdote and it is rather firm in tone. Personally, I like a chattier attitude in a how to/ craft book. But it is a fab little thing and a pleasure to have on the bookshelf.

Music to Spin to...

I was asked a little while ago if I listened to specific music when I spin. No - is the short answer but there is a type of music that makes for good spinning and that is relaxing with soft but persistent rhythm. This 2 CD album is full of fine examples of this. Some might find the music annoying and samey. I think you need to be in a certain kind of mood to listen to it but if you need something to take you away from it all for a bit, this CD's your bunny. If you click on the pic it will take you to amazon uk, but here are one or two of my faves from the album to give you a taste. Remember - spinning music - trancy and meditative, okay?

Oh My Gosh!

Check this out. Hobbit houses! Seriously and they are in Wales too!

On the Wheel Today

Lilac wool and silk carded blend
Luscious

This has all been spun up and today I plied it with some rather spiffy cream cashmere. I tried taking a pic but the fibre is too glossy. It was just a white blur with the flash on and a grey blob with the flash off. I'll have a go in natural light tomorrow.
I spun up the cashmere about a year ago and I thought it was okay really. But looking at it now I know that I was too inexperienced a spinner to even have considered spinning such a difficult fibre. It is quite wobbly... but good enough for fancy which is what this yarn and indeed most of my yarns if I am honest, turn into. I spin either perfectly gossamer fine or all over the bloody place.
Anyway, the yarn is yummy, so soft as one would expect a silk, wool and cashmere mix to be. Oh, I just love spinning. Where else, how else would I be able to afford a yarn like this otherwise? It is destined for a shrug for me! Yes! I was in Borders the other day and over a vanilla latte I decided to get a knitting book. Way too expensive in store but I promised myself to check it out on amazon and there it was second hand and a fraction of the cost. I will review it here with entranced glee as soon as it arrives and I have devoured it.

I am off now to hob-nob with House MD which I can now view on the new fancy pants posh non asthmatic lappie. I may be up all night. But at least now I have the lovely Mr Laurie to share the insomnia with.
Nos da cariad :) Sleep well.