Winter skies, bears and things..............

The beginning of a new week and lots of things to do.
As mentioned previously this square of houses has been empty for some time before being purchased by a developer and re-vamped for rental. The street lights do not work and it is quite dark at night as we are rather out in the country. This past week we had some half hearted workmen making an attempt to get the lights working. They would appear to have given up with some of them but this one which stands all on its own and nowhere near a house, is now permanently working. Megan pointed out that it looks rather like the lamp post at Lantern Waste in Narnia, sort of out in the middle of nowhere!

The days are getting shorter with icy cold winds blowing across the fens. The late afternoon sky and sunset are sometimes quite beautiful and I braved the arctic winds to take these pictures at the end of the road.


This is a very typical English winter countryside scene, green meadows with bare trees. With all the rain this past few week our back garden is even more like glue than ever, thank goodness we are not in a low lying section of the town, I noticed a lot of the meadows are quite under water. It is funny to see ducks swimming around in the deep puddles. We are feeling the cold a little more than the locals, most probably will take some time for our thin African blood to be able to withstand the cold here. However, we colonial types are after all, quite tough.
On Saturday night we once again braved the inclement weather and ventured into Ramsey for the official switching on of the Christmas lights. I think the entire town was there for the event which included a street market, funfair and a fireworks display!
Finally this is my completed Wyatt bear, dressed in his knitted combinations and holding his cardi. I used a mixture of yarns to make this outfit, fine wool in cream trimmed with blue flower thread. The flower thread is actually a little thinner possibly not a good choice to use with the other yarn but it turned out reasonably well and this little boy is now on e-bay.

Have a good week, more bears and pictures later in the week.
I almost forgot to share something I found on the internet (where else?). For those of us who studied Latin at school and for the over used credit cards at this time of the year

Veni, Vidi, Visa.................... I came, I saw, I purchased.

Winter came down to our home one night
Quietly pirouetting in on silvery-toed slippers of snow,
And we, we were children once again.
~Bill Morgan, Jr.

New Christmas Patterns

A short note today.
Megan has managed to complete two new Christmas patterns. Here is a preview picture of Holly the bear 3" and Mistletoe the rabbit, 3.25". The patterns will be available next week.......
My exquisite Raggedy Annie has arrived safely. Quite beautiful and something different in my collection. I love rag dolls and if there were more hours in the day, would love to get involved in creating soft sculpture dolls. I am one of those undisciplined people who would love to do everything but it is just not possible.
The latest little bear has his winter combinations on to keep warm, his cardi is complete, just waiting to be stitched together. I have added a tiny kitty face to one of the front sides, in that scale not easy to do and probably not that easy to see either!
Megan's finger has recovered from the squirrel bite but unfortunately we found the little creature under a tree, he must have suffered internal injuries. It is a long drop from the roof and the poor thing landed on the brick pavement. We now have two squirrels buried in our garden!
Christmas is less than a month away. Our furniture and belongings are supposedly arriving in the UK on 27th November, will then be unloaded from the container and hopefully will arrive in the first week of December. I can't wait to have my things around again and our wonderful collection of Christmas decorations will be put to good use in this house.

Never worry about the size of your Christmas tree. In the eyes of children, they are all 30 feet tall. ~Larry Wilde, The Merry Book of Christmas

A comatose squirrel and life....................

Thank you for all the comments and a special thank you to to Lynda (Granny K) for the excellent solution to warming the little greenhouse, have provided the man with the terracotta pot just need to get him a supply of tea lights or candles.
We do lead eventful lives. We had bears to post overseas today and on our return from the Post Office, Megan discovered a squirrel lying 'comatose' on the front path (or so she thought). She put her hand by its head and was bitten for her trouble. It would appear that the little beastie had slipped off the roof (they do live in our ceiling), landed on the pavement and was just stunned. Having grown up in Africa she should know better but being a soft touch she was worried that he was hurt. Obviously not!
Two bears are on their way to new homes in the States and we have to get working on those Christmas bears. I am busy knitting a romper suit and cardi for my latest bear, almost done then I can put a picture of him on the blog.
On Saturday we went to Peterborough and I, of course, had to visit the Cathedral and now for the history lesson, just think I am saving you all a lot of research time ......................
This magnificent Norman style building was built in its present form between 1118 and 1238 but has a history dating back some 1350 years. Katherine of Aragon is buried here as was Mary Queen of Scots but apparently her remains were moved to Westminster Abbey in 1612. Unfortunately as there was a service in progress we were only able to take a quick look inside. It has the most beautiful painted ceiling which is apparently unique in Britain and one of only four such ceilings in Europe. It was completed between 1230 and 1250 and has been over-painted only twice. I was struck with the similarity of this building to Ely Cathedral which also has a magnificent painted ceiling but in my research I discovered that this is Victorian! I did manage to get some pictures of the outside but hope to get to explore inside soon. This was also one of the many church buildings so tragically vandalised by Oliver Cromwell and his troops.
There was a small craft show being held in one of the Church buildings and I was delighted to discover teddy bear artist Christine Pike with some of her wonderful sculptures. It was interesting to find a 'beary' person at a different venue.
I know that it can be a little soul destroying sitting waiting to sell your crafts but I was a little disconcerted to walk into a tiny room with a lot of gloomy faces sitting behind tables. Times are hard financially for most of us but if you are trying to sell your handwork or art you need to promote it and that means putting on a smiling face even if you are exhausted and sales have not been good.
This is a picture taken from our workroom window of the sunset sky. It is a rather Halloween type of picture with the lights in the houses behind us and the bare branches on the trees.

And finally this is Raggedy Annie, my e-bay purchase. Saw this little doll some days ago and just had to have her, she is in the post and cannot wait for her to arrive. I think she might look nice sitting by my two vintage bears but she looks so pristine and new. Will have to wait until she arrives before I decide but I think she is quite exquisite.
Have a good week....................


I like the silence of a church, before the service begins better than any preaching. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

A new bear................................

A short update today and something to share.
I have finally completed a new bear. Mignon is a slightly different pattern which I have not used for some time. I have trimmed her dress with fine vintage French lace and with the embroidery detail it looks very pretty. After three attempts I almost managed to achieve the hat I was looking for. The crochet flower trim and the little Dorothy bag add just the right finishing touch. She is now listed on e-bay and I hope she finds a new home.......
I will now have to get working on my Christmas creations as time is just flying past. I do have some ideas thanks to Megan!
Today we went to a garden centre just up the road to get some paving slabs for Mervyn's greenhouse and for the area of the garden just by the French door. The soil here is clay or more like glue, it attaches itself to my shoes in layers. As the grass is now looking very sad with the winter weather and there is mud everywhere, the paving slabs will help a little. The greenhouse is a rather different story. Mervyn is very bored with little to do so in my wisdom I suggested to Austin that an early Christmas present of a little plastic greenhouse might just keep him occupied. Great idea we all thought and the greenhouse duly arrived and was set up in the corner of the garden. I then realised that it would be too cold for most plants at this time of the year so the greenhouse would most probably need a heater. Oh well it is the thought that counts I suppose. I can use it for my more vulnerable plants this winter, it will protect them from the frost. With the extremely strong winds this past week we have been rather anxiously checking each morning that the little plastic structure is still in our garden!
Finally I would like to share something Megan discovered whilst going through some of her books. She had taken the time to write it out some time ago and it is rather special:

To live content with small means
To seek elegance rather than luxury and refinement rather than fashion;
To be worthy, not respectable;
and wealthy, not rich;
To study hard,
think quietly,
talk gently,
act frankly;
To listen to stars and birds,
to babes and sages with an open heart,
to bear all cheerfully,
do all bravely,
await occasions,
hurry never
To let the spiritual, unbidden and unconscious, grow up through the common
This is to be my symphony.

~My Symphony by Wm Henry Channing, 19th century clergyman

Pictures of autumn and other things........

Autumn is drawing to a close and it will shortly be winter. We have already had some violent storms and over the weekend the wind blowing across the fields and onto the side of our house sounded rather like a steam train. Perhaps it is fortunate that I became used to strong winds whilst living in Cape Town. Most of the trees are now totally stripped of leaves and they have a surreal beauty all of their own at this time of the year.



The birds visiting our feeders are increasing in numbers daily, presumably as food is now in short supply. There is one little dove who visits all on his own and a variety of smaller birds. This is a picture of the rookery in the trees across the road from our house. Now that all the leaves are off the trees I was amazed to see all the nests 'tho the birds apparently only start breeding in March. Rooks are very much farmland birds and there are a large number around this area.

Leila has blossomed over the past few weeks, gaining in confidence and becoming rather a flirt. When we are working she comes and 'talks' to us and loves to play. The older boys are rather mean and not interested in her at all, thinks she needs a younger companion! I took this picture of her sleeping on my bed totally oblivious of her surroundings, quite a contrast to earlier years when she was always on the defensive. My little orphan angel kitty has finally come into her own.
I have actually managed to finish a bear this week. Having a definite idea for a hat and no pattern, I searched the internet to find a crochet cloche style hat. The first attempt was a total disaster as was the second but third time lucky I now have a cute little hat. With a pretty crochet flower trim it is almost complete, just the clothing to do. Hopefully a picture of the completed bear in my next blog. Busy thinking up ideas for Christmas bears and patterns.
I have also been trying to work on some beading. I am learning the hard way that it is not sensible to visit bead shops and buy small quantities of beads. I have several beautiful beaded cabochons which need to be put on necklaces and after sitting for several hours going through beads, matching colours etc I found that I do not have sufficient for my projects. I am now putting together a journal of ideas with pictures and bead samples, which I will carry around with me.
I have taken to enter competitions in the hope of winning something, sometime in my life. I was quite thrilled to receive a parcel from a UK bead shop, my winnings from a give-away in one of the nicest English bead magazines on the market. The best part of the prize was eight little flocked triangular beading trays but the four spools of Beadalon Wildfire will come in most handy.
The middle of another week and lots of work to do and I need some calmness in my life. This part of the journey of my life has had many downs and a few ups and I am finding it hard to set aside time for myself, for meditation and just to be alone and away from worries and problems. Hopefully I can find some way around this in the not too distant future.

When babies look beyond you and giggle, maybe they're seeing angels. ~Quoted in The Angels' Little Instruction Book

Flowers, bears and birds.....................

Lots of pics today and other things to share.
I was given a bunch of tiger lilies for my birthday. They were tightly closed but are now fully open and are quite beautiful. As we are still living like 'travellers' until our belongings arrive sometime at the end of November, I have a make do arrangement of shelves in the corner of the dining room. On this I have placed some special things collected whilst in Brittany, fir cones, shells, a interesting piece of quartz and of course the old wooden shoe which came with a vintage chair, see a very old blog listing if you are interested in that story! The drawers were in a skip from one of the nearby houses so I carried them home, gave them a good scrubbing and made some cubic shelves.

My purple orchid has taken the transition from Brittany very happily and is now in flower again. So beautiful in a most unusual shade of purple..

As mentioned before the birds have found our 'restaurant' and with the colder weather and lack of food, we have a busy back garden. We discovered that the shy birds such as robins do not like the hanging feeder so we visited B&Q to buy this little feeder with a roof. It is very basic and we will have to redo the roof next year as I am sure the birds will love the covering for their nests! The feeder was sold as a self assembly unit, supposed to be quite easy to put together. Well if we did not have a man in the house with sandpaper and electric drill, it would still be in pieces. Megan phoned the suppliers and they were quite surprised and asked why we just did not take it back. Hardly worth while with the cost of driving there but they did apologise and sent us an enormous bag of bird seed for our trouble. It does pay to complain. The picture quality is not too good as it is through the upstairs window but we have a regular visitor, a great spotted woodpecker. He seemed to find the upright post quite interesting, fortunately he did not peck any holes in it.

I have managed to complete some bears. Webster with his little elephant friend Stanley are all ready to head off on their travels with the little ultrasuede rucksack. The set is now listed on e-bay.

This is still a work in progress. After my previous disaster with the sweater that would not go over this little boy's head I managed to knit up another one. I had to stitch the final seam on the bear but it worked out so nicely this time. I just love the short top and the 'furry' tum showing. The little duck is waiting for his sweater which is almost complete. This companion set is waiting for their suitcase, journal and whatever else they will need for their exciting journey. The background to the pic is my latest cross stitch offering of a small cat pillow soon to be put on Etsy.


People from a planet without flowers would think we must be mad with joy the whole time to have such things about us. ~Iris Murdoch

Remembrance Sunday...............

Yesterday was one of those poignant days in England, Remembrance Sunday. My son Austin is an officer in the Territorial Army and we drove to London to watch his regiments' annual parade and attend the church service.
As a newcomer to this area I allowed a good two hours to get to north London, a journey which usually takes about one and a half hours. We set off on our journey following the satnav's instructions and all was going well until after driving for some 40 minutes we came to St Neots and discovered a deviation as road works were taking place. This meant virtually returning to Huntingdon and then taking an alternative route to pick up the highway. Most annoying and a hard lesson learned as next time I will do some research before driving anywhere on a Sunday to check whether there are any road closures. This meant that we were rather late and just made it to the church for the service and found a parking before the road was closed to traffic!
Austin was a very happy soul as he had just received a promotion to Lieutenant hence the big smile in the following picture.
On Saturday we went to a craft fair held in a town not too far away from our home. The main theme was bobbin lace making but Megan found a good selection of interesting threads for her tatting and I came home with some beads.
Although I did have to learn to re-fuel in my car whilst we were holidaying in the States and apart from forgetting to put the petrol cap back on one expensive occasion in France, I was of the opinion that I was coping quite well even managing with my dear daughters' assistance to put air in the tyres. Until today that is, stopped at my usual garage but at a different pump. Just could not understand why the pump would not work until a dear man asked me if I needed help and pointed out that I was trying to fill my car with diesel! Thank heavens it did not work but was I mortified at this blonde moment. Really need to concentrate on what I am doing and not go off into some creative space when doing mundane tasks such as this, could have been a very expensive mistake.
I have always been fascinated by the 'honesty box' system in London where you can buy your newspaper at W H Smith and just put the money in a box if you are in a hurry. I have discovered a similar system exists in the countryside. In my travels I have passed several little tables with a selection of vegetables all priced and a box for payment. I have been buying the most amazing free range eggs from a farm just up the road with a similar system, a room with the usual little box for payment, the eggs all waiting in their cartons and a place for returned containers. The chickens are very obviously free range, sharing a field with a small herd of Highland cattle who by the way, have some delightful little furry calves.
It seems hard to believe that Christmas is just a short few weeks away. We have patterns to design and bears to make, I seem to have been very slack lately and have not achieved much completed work. So this is the week when it will (hopefully) all happen................

Life is the art of drawing without an eraser. ~John Gardner