American Election

Is it just me, or has anyone else noticed how vehement the supporters and opposition of the two parties are?
For example, Donald Trump calling the re-election of Obama a travesty, not just in private, but on TV.  My friend, Blue, said she'd heard of one business man who was going to close down his business if Obama was reelected.
I'm sure no-one here is in the same class of nuttiness.
When our election comes around again, do you think there will be nutters coming out of the woodwork in support or against any of our potential PMs?  No, me neither.  After all to deserve such devotion, the person needs to be a strong character, and I don't think we've had one of those since Margaret Thatcher.  A "nice" persona seems to be the blueprint for our potential PM's.  Although I do think it would be fun if Boris Johnson decided to stand as an MP.  Just imagine what a field day the media would have, and Boris, I don't  think he'd mind.  Mind you, I would expect Boris Johnson to stand for the raving loony party, and not the conservatives.
(No disrespect to Boris, I admire the man.)  Plus could you imagine him having a regular audience with the Queen?  No, me neither.

Blue's visit [part 2 ]

On the 2nd of August, Blue returned from 13's home in Gloucester. I was to collect her from the railway station at 11.30pm, but I waited until everyone got off the train, and the platform was bare, apart from me and a railway employee. I texted 13 saying that she had not arrived, he texted back that she had been on the train. After an hour Blue arrived in a taxi from Preston, the train she'd been on had been delayed, and it missed the connection at Preston, apparently Preston is notorious for this. In fact I do remember having to collect friends of Sam's from Preston once, when they had missed their connection late at night.
Tuesday, the day was dull and wet, we had planned to go to the South Lakes Wildlife park, but as very little of it is undercover, we made alternate plans, and drove around Pendle, stopping to look at places connected to the Lancashire Witch story. (There are even little brown signs saying "Lancashire Witch Trail").
Wednesday we visited, Lakeside and Haverthwaite railway, so Blue could see a working British steam train, then onto Near Sawrey to visit Beatrix Potter's home, Hilltop, and the village. We had dinner in a pub that features in at least one of her stories, toured the house, gardens and village. we then went on to Hawkshead, which I wandered around whilst, Blue visited the Beatrix Potter gallery there. I found and excellent shop called Relish that sells all sorts pickles, chutneys, herbs, spices, etc. Blue bought a bottle of Hawkshead Beer to take back, as her family has a "Hawkshead" in it's past.
Thursday was a more laid back day, visiting Lancaster firstly, to visit Waterstones....of course! What else would we want to visit for...lol.
Then after some lunch we went to the market here in Morecambe. Blue bought gifts to take home with her. The evening was again restful as Blue had to pack, and as her train to the airport was early, we had an early night.
I had a holiday in Blue's company, without having to stay in a strange place over night, as many of the things we did, I probably wouldn't have done on my own, apart from visiting the bookshop and driving around Pendle.
There is a whole raft of things still to do, but we'll have to wait until Blue's next visit for those.

Blue's visit [part 1]

Blue landed in the UK on Friday 23rd of July, and arrived in Sunny Morecambe on 24th.
Most of the day we just spent relaxing, and she got to meet my "someone special", yes, he has a name, and she does know it. We had a relaxed day with a roast for tea.
Sunday, Blue and I went to have a belated birthday lunch, for me, at the Hest Bank Hotel, Oliver had come back from Manchester as well to join us. The rest of the day was spent relaxing, chatting and reading.
Monday I drove Blue up to Kirkby Stephen for her chauffeured motorcycle tour of the Dales. I'm so glad she didn't ask me to accompany her, the helmet would have scared me. we wandered around Kirkby Stephen when she returned, then drove home. After a Nice and Spicy for tea we watched Tv and chatted. At 11.30pm I went to Lancaster station to collect another friend, 13.
On the Tuesday we three went to the Falconry Centre near Skipton. The displays were amazing, I took the wrong camera, so didn't get any photos, but I did have a Barn Owl and a young Kestrel land on my hand. Whilst we were there a local Buzzard dropped in for a visit, apparently, it has figured out, if it comes close enough it will be rewarded for it's boldness. The young Kestrel was clearly ill at ease with it though.
Wednesday we explored locally, OK..we walked along the prom and looked at landmarks.
Thursday, I took Blue and 13 to St Patrick's Chapel, whilst I went to the doctor's, then we went into Lancaster, looked around, visited Waterstones, then just before 5pm I said goodbye to them as they both caught the train down to 13s home in Gloucester.

Catch up time

I suppose now...my summer break from work... is a good time to catch up on blogging?
I have a few weeks rough on the health front, and an extremely busy one this week.
My friend Blue is over from USA, and another friend, 13, came to stay on Monday evening, very late. I have driven further this week than I had in the previous 4 months! I do tend to walk when possible.I think Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday might be just as busy, so I should take this weekend to recharge my batteries, lol!
I'll blog more about the week's activities later.
I have catch ups on various other blogs to do as well. I have read 12 books since I last posted on BAA.

NaNoWriMo

NaNoWriMo started at a minute past midnight...this morning.
I spent quite a bit of the day doing my usual delaying tactics. Eventually I settled down and wrote. I have just typed it up, and have only written 953 words so far, but I have been "flying by the seat of my pants" I started with a basic idea, and have been developing a plot as I have been writing.
I haven't spoken to Blue today, so don't know if she has made a start on hers.
When I wrote essays for uni, I always started slow, then picked up pace as I warmed to my subject, and usually ended up writing more than I needed to. I hope the same happens here. I might post a snippet on Random Scribbling when I'm happy. But please remember the idea is to reach 50000 words, re-drafting and editing are not important at the moment, so it will be a quite rough part of a first draft.

Mind gone off at a tangent....again!

Right, I'm sat here knitting and chatting to my friend, Blue, in the USA. She left a BRB message. I carried on knitting, and my mind wandered. I'm knitting an amigurumi. [Note to self, put spelling right on Fidgetty Fingers.] but I digress.
The one I'm making is a common octopus. You work the legs first, or as some corrected me the other day, the tentacles. I have just started the 8th one and I thought I would let Edwin know that I had finished the tentacles. My brain asked me...."why aren't they octuples?" after all there are 8 of them, not 10. I answered myself...nope then they would be dectuples...or however you wanted to spell it.
So, I reached for my dictionary, and looked up what TENTACLE means.
Tentacle noun. slender flexible appendage of animal, used for feeling, grasping or moving.

So...it doesn't have a numerical meaning. I should have known that after all ten is not a Latin root.
Perhaps this is why I'm comfortable with my own company, I can entertain myself quite easily when my mind takes a wander.

Blue's happy

I got an e-mail this morning from my friend, Blue, in the USA.
The gist of it is that she is happy, she's dog sitting for her cousin. Her cousin has digital cable TV, so can receive the USA channels that air the stuff that is shown on Dave TV in the UK.
Whilst she was here last January we watched a fair bit of Dave as I had only just had an operation on my ankle in December, Blue enjoyed it.

Midori gone to be fixed

Midori is the name of my car, she's was picked up by the accident and repair people yesterday. [She's an MGZR 2ltr diesel turbo, Midori is Japanese for green.]
They left me with a courtesy car, have been told by someone that is a like for like courtesy car, but I don't like it. Blue told me off for complaining about it. I don't like it for one aesthetic reason, it's ugly, but more importantly there are at least two practical reasons I don't like it. The first being the siting of the clutch pedal, the car must be designed for people with small feet as it makes my ankle ache after driving 5 miles, and as I had an operation on my left ankle I think this is an important problem for me. The other thing that I find peculiar is, yes, the car is a five seater, and the rear seat has three full seat belts instead of a lap belt in the centre, and two full ones. But the anchor point for the third one is situated just above the rear screen, to me partially blocking the rear view, and if the rear head restraints are up, they partially block the rear view as well.
I did promise Blue I would try to find some positive things to say about this car, and I will. Cos Blue pointed out, it is a temporary car, and I should be getting Midori back again.
I have already found one positive thing to say about this car. It's really easy to park, but as the wheels are almost at the corners of the car itself, rather than set back down the wing a little, it's hardly surprising. It also has a digital speedometer, which means you can keep a very accurate eye on the speed you are travelling at.

OK! after a drive to have my hair done and legs waxed, I have found something else I quite like about the car. It tells you how economically you are driving, with a MPG readout on the digital display. Plus the "cabin" area is quite roomy, or perhaps that is just one of those things, as the interior is pale grey which could make it feel roomier. The boot space however is very small, although there is a lift up section, with more space beneath.....perhaps the spare wheel is one of the "space saver" ones.

Tying up loose ends

Oliver has gone down to Glastonbury this morning, Sam's already there. Must ring her tomorrow to wish her Happy Birthday. Edwin and Becki took their last exams, and it's two years since they started seeing each other. They are celebrating later on in the week though.

I parcelled up the things I have been making for Blue and sent them with the little man in the rowing boat. There are no books this time so perhaps he won't take as long?

I also filled in an application form for a job. All I have to do now is wait, see what comes of it, if anything.
So really I have spent the day tying up loose ends.

I did find time to finish the book that I had only just started though as well. It was one of those books that you just have to keep going back to and read a little bit more.
It's really quiet here, so am sat here listening to Greenday's newest album, to make it noisy .

Lots to be proud of!

I came across this article, while trying to tell Blue about a very special cafe where I live. Apparently it is an experience you won't forget in a hurry when you go there. The cafe is number 98 on the list. I was surprised that there was so much "to be proud of" in the immediate area.

Another scarf in the making

I finished making Blue's backpack, and now am onto the other things I said I would make with the fabric.

I have also started another scarf from Lynne Barr's book. I forget the name of this one at the moment. In the book it is done in greys, black and white, but I thought it would lend itself to being a rainbow, this means a few more colours on it, but I'm sure it will look just as I want it to when I have finished.

Meanwhile, here's a work-in-progress picture of it. It's a bit squashed

up as it supposed to be knitted on a long circular needle. It will look ok when I have cast it off.

Week off

So, it's Wednesday of the week off, and what have I done so far apart from go to the fantastic Jean Michel Jarre concert?
Answer, not an awful lot.
Yesterday I went to be tortured and pampered, then went into Lancaster on the way back for some essential bits , and ..as usual - a visit to the bookshop.
While buying cord to finish off the backpack I am making for Blue, I found some really nice patchwork cotton fabric, it was actually already patchworked on the reduced shelf, so I bought enough for a skirt. Had to buy coconut milk from Mung Mee the Thai food "supermarket"...they sell it at considerably less than Asda. And yes, I bought books, including a dictionary, German, for Sam, she's teaching herself German, and an OS map for Blue.
Today I had to wait in for a parcel to be delivered, so had a relaxing day, and made Kedgeree for dinner. This is something I have long thought I'd make, but never actually got around to making it, thinking it would take ages to make. It doesn't, and it is quite a filling "light meal". I can see why it used to be served for breakfast in posh houses, in times gone by. One recipe I looked at also said it was great for the morning after a heavy night out.
The parcel was a book on keeping sketchbooks, which I think will come in for both Edwin and myself, as I have decided I should keep a record of hand made projects I tackle, especially if I intend to give the results away.

"wow"

That was Blue's comment when she saw the photo of the first scarf from Knitting New Scarves.

I picked the one I think is the simplest, Tilted Blocks, to get to grips with the USA terminology. The scarf is by no means finished yet, but it won't take long, and at long last I have found something that the yarn I'm using actually works with. [Yarn is a J C Brett yarn that is discontinued, called Funky Chunky.] I have a feeling it was designed to be used to knit accessories rather than garments, because despite it being described as "Chunky" it would not knit up to any of the chunky patterns I tried.

Ah, well....someone will be getting a very nice scarf, dunno who as yet, but I have enough wool to make at least two of the little darlings.

Just random stuff

The bookshop I go to has a loyalty card scheme, every pound you spend you get 3 loyalty points. If you don't take a carrier bag, and use your own you get another 5 points. Some of the books even clock up double points. Another "perk" of this scheme is that you are given, or can take a free copy of their magazine. [Oh! and the points build up and you can take them as cash against a purchase.]
Anyway, I was reading the last magazine earlier on today, when I came across an article I found surprising. It was about a group that campaigns to have "bad books" removed from school libraries.

"Sadly, it's not aimed at teachers to dump ragged old tomes in the bin and buy new editions: the aim of their campaign is to root out subject matter they feel is 'sensitive, controversial and inappropriate'. " [Quote from Waterstones Quarterly Magazine, issue 31/2009]

After reading the article, I mentally added a few more that they would probably object to. But the real thing that bothered me is.........just WHO ploughs through the books...and finds the 'sensitive, controversial and inappropriate' subject matter. And after looking at the group's website I felt quite sorry for these people. As they must have pretty mucky minds. As they list the "rogue" passages on their website.
One other thought crossed my mind, would they rather their children experienced some of the situations first hand?
Then my mind did it's usually tangential thing, and thought of Alison Lurie, and how she has written at least one book on the subversive nature of children's literature.
As a parent you do wish to protect your children from harmful influences, but there is protecting, and then there is wrapping up in cotton wool.
Yes, the group I have talked about is American, which then tangentially leads me onto a question Blue asked me. She asked, in a nutshell, what it meant to be British, to me. And to consider aspects such as religion, politics, sexual preference, employment, education, etc.
I gave her a one word answer, and the word was FREEDOM. We have the freedom to vote as we see fit politically, worship in whatever fashion we want to, so long as we are "of age" sexual preference is not dictated, so long as it is between consenting adults, most jobs are open to people of both genders, education is there for all up to the age of 16, soon to be 17, rising to 18. Yes, we do have laws, but within those laws, and so long as you keep them, I would say that your average Brit is fairly free.

Oh!!!! yes, and one last point...being British means it is your patriotic duty to discuss the weather with total strangers. Can you think of a better way to start up a conversation with a total stranger?

How do you know when?

Ok, first, sorry haven't posted for a while. Been very busy, and so much has been going on, and a lot I haven't wanted to post about, cos it just upset me.
Nuff of that though.

Last night in chatting with Blue, she asked me, had I brought up the subject of religion, or lack of it with the man I am chatting to. The reason for this didn't need any talking about, as we are both of a like mind on that subject.
I don't think it will be a problem for various reasons, but how do you tell someone you are pagan, or "heathen"? (as the Romans used to call the original Britons.)
Perhaps, the first time I meet the man in question, I should wear a pentacle, of some description, mind you, most of my jewellery is pagan/ Celtic/ animal symbol type, and the crystal cage I nearly always wear is a bit of a give away as well.

Talking about crystals, I found a lovely piece of rose quartz on the market yesterday, I need to find it a home yet. She also had a wonderful wind chime, but where would I put it, already have quite a few.