Friday 30 October 2015

Feel-good Friday

Thursday 29 October 2015

The Thursday Poem

Potted Flowers with Books IV
Eric Barjot


From Hamlet
Act III Scene i

To be, or not to be: that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them?  To die: to sleep;
No more; and, by a sleep to say we end
The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish'd.  To die, to sleep;
To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub;
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause.  There's the respect
That makes calmity of so long life;
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,
The pangs of dispriz'd love, the law's delay,
The insolence of office, and the spurns
That patient merit of the unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin?  Who would fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death,
The undiscover'd country from whose bourn
No traveller returns, puzzles the will,
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all;
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought,
And enterprises of great pitch and moment
With this regard their currents turn awry,
And lose the name of action.

William Shakespeare
(23rd April 1564 - 23rd April 1616)

Wednesday 28 October 2015

Words on Wednesday

Alphabet Overlay 1


A man should always consider how much he has
more than he wants

Sunday 25 October 2015

The Sunday Prayer

Dove of Peace by Pablo Picasso


Father, Mother, God,

Thank you for your presence during the hard and mean days.
For then we have you to lean upon.

Thank you for your presence during the bright and sunny days.
For then we can share that which we have with those who have less.

And thank you for your presence during the Holy Days.
For then we are able to celebrate you and our families and our friends

For those who have no voice, we ask you to speak.

For those who feel unworthy, we ask you to pour your love out in waterfalls of tenderness.

For those who live in pain, we ask you to bathe them in the river of your healing.

For those who are lonely, we ask you to keep them company.

For those who are depressed, we ask you to shower upon them the light of hope.

Dear Creator, You, the borderless sea of substance, we ask you to give to all the world that which we need most.....PEACE.

Maya Angelou
(4th April 1928 - 28th May 2014)

Friday 23 October 2015

Feel-good Friday




Thursday 22 October 2015

The Thursday Poem

Potted Flowers with Books IV
Eric Barjot


Ode (We are the Music Makers)

We are the music-makers,
And we are the dreamers of dreams,
Wandering by lone sea-breakers,
And sitting by desolate streams;
World-losers and world forsakers,
On whom the pale moon gleams:
Yet we are the movers and shakers
Of the world for ever, it seems.

With wonderful deathless ditties
We build up the world's great cities.
And out of a fabulous story
We fashion an empire's glory;
One man with a dream, at pleasure,
Shall go forth and conquer a crown;
And three with a new song's measure
Can trample an empire down.

We, in the ages lying
In the buried past of the earth,
Built Nineveh with our sighing,
And Babel itself with our mirth;
And o'erthrew them with prophesying
To the old of the new world's worth;
For each age is a dream that is dying,
Or one that is coming to birth.

Arthur William Edgar O'Shaughnessy
(14th March 1844 - 30th January 1881)

Wednesday 21 October 2015

Words on Wednesday

Alphabet Overlay 1


Faith in oneself is the best and safest course

Monday 19 October 2015

Dieting Diary


start date: 21st September 2015
start weight: 23st 11.5lbs (333.5 pounds)
current weight: 23st 7.25lbs (329.25 pounds)
total loss to date: 4.25lbs
1st interim goal: 21st 7lbs (301 pounds)
date achieved: 

I haven't posted in my dieting diary since 29th September, so thought I'd better bring you up-to-date.  As you can see, I have put on 3/4 lb *sigh*

To be honest I have been struggling these past couple of weeks ~ well, I guess that would be rather an obvious statement!  I've found it difficult to concentrate on following the Slimming World plan because my back has been so painful, which in turn makes me feel rather low.  I had to admit defeat a couple of weeks ago and start taking the codeine medication again, which was a tad demoralising.  I have a lifelong habit of "medicating" myself with food when I feel depressed or unwell, something which is extremely difficult to stop doing.

Still, my back feels a little better again at the moment so I must press on with the eating plan once more ~ best make hay whilst the sun shines, eh!

Sunday 18 October 2015

The Sunday Prayer

Dove of Peace by Pablo Picasso


Father, Mother, God,

Thank you for your presence during the hard and mean days.
For then we have you to lean upon.

Thank you for your presence during the bright and sunny days.
For then we can share that which we have with those who have less.

And thank you for your presence during the Holy Days.
For then we are able to celebrate you and our families and our friends

For those who have no voice, we ask you to speak.

For those who feel unworthy, we ask you to pour your love out in waterfalls of tenderness.

For those who live in pain, we ask you to bathe them in the river of your healing.

For those who are lonely, we ask you to keep them company.

For those who are depressed, we ask you to shower upon them the light of hope.

Dear Creator, You, the borderless sea of substance, we ask you to give to all the world that which we need most.....PEACE.

Maya Angelou
(4th April 1928 - 28th May 2014)

Saturday 17 October 2015

Friday 16 October 2015

Feel-good Friday




Thursday 15 October 2015

Spice of Life CAL Part Three

Cherry Heart Spice of Life Crochet Along
I'm running somewhat behind the pattern releases for the CAL but I've got Part Three done on all three blankets now!

The photo below is blanket number one, which I was originally making for myself but have now decided will be a gift for my mother-in-law, either for this coming Christmas or Mother's Day next year :-)  Making this first blanket has been a wee bit of a learning experience ~ as you can see, it has something of a "waist" but I'm hoping it will straighten out once it's finished and blocked.  I am now crocheting the "pattern" sections using a slightly larger hook, which seems to have helped considerably.


Blanket number two is somewhat less "waisted" ~ I changed to a larger hook on the patterned sections earlier than I did on blanket one.  This, too, is going to be a Christmas gift :-)


And finally, blanket number three.  I have been using the larger hook for the patterns all the way through making this blanket and as you can see, it looks much neater than one and two.  Again, this is to be a gift.


I suppose if I were a perfectionist I would have frogged blankets one and two, but I just didn't have the heart to do so!  Fingers crossed that once the edging is done and they are both blocked, they will look okay!  I really do like this design and have it in mind to make a couple more blanket gifts using it.  I already have the yarn for those so there will be no financial outlay LOL    

I have already started on yet another blanket, although not using this pattern.  It is a second one for MIL, this time a bed-sized blanket.  I am using Tif's (aka Dottie Angel) pattern for her ordinarily extraordinary blanket, and I am using up yarn from my stash to make it a multi-coloured patchwork.  I am still working down the first column at the moment, but when I have started on the next one I will take a photo to share with you :-)

All-in-all, methinks I have plenty on the go to keep me out of mischief for a while ;-) 

The Thursday Poem

Potted Flowers with Books IV
Eric Barjot


Binsey Poplars
felled 1879

My aspens dear, whose airy cages quelled,
Quelled or quenched in leaves the leaping sun,
All felled, felled, all are felled;
Of a fresh and following folded rank
Not spared, not one
That dandled a sandalled
Shadow that swam or sank
On meadow and river and wind-wandering
wood-winding bank.

O if we but knew what we do
When we delve or hew -
Hack and rack the growing green!
Since country is so tender
To touch, her being so slender,
That, like this sleek and seeing ball
But a prick will make no eye at all,
Where we, even where we mean
To mend her we end her,
When we hew or delve:
After-comers cannot guess the beauty been.
Ten or twelve, only ten or twelve
Strokes of havoc unselve
The sweet especial scene,
Rural scene, a rural scene,
Sweet especial rural scene.

Gerard Manley Hopkins
(28th July 1844 - 8th June 1889)

Wednesday 14 October 2015

Words on Wednesday

Alphabet Overlay 1



If you have knowledge, let others light their candles at it

Sunday 11 October 2015

The Sunday Prayer

Dove of Peace by Pablo Picasso



Father, Mother, God,

Thank you for your presence during the hard and mean days.
For then we have you to lean upon.

Thank you for your presence during the bright and sunny days.
For then we can share that which we have with those who have less.

And thank you for your presence during the Holy Days.
For then we are able to celebrate you and our families and our friends

For those who have no voice, we ask you to speak.

For those who feel unworthy, we ask you to pour your love out in waterfalls of tenderness.

For those who live in pain, we ask you to bathe them in the river of your healing.

For those who are lonely, we ask you to keep them company.

For those who are depressed, we ask you to shower upon them the light of hope.

Dear Creator, You, the borderless sea of substance, we ask you to give to all the world that which we need most.....PEACE.

Maya Angelou
(4th April 1928 - 28th May 2014)

Friday 9 October 2015

Feel-good Friday




Thursday 8 October 2015

The Thursday Poem

Potted Flowers with Books IV
Eric Barjot


To Daffodils

Fair daffodils, we weep to see
You haste away so soon:
As yet the early-rising sun
Has not attained his noon
Stay, stay,
Until the hasting day
Has run
But to the evensong;
And, having prayed together, we
Will go with you along.

We have short time to stay as you;
We have as short a spring;
As quick a growth to meet decay,
As you or anything.
We die,
As your hours do, and dry
Away
Like to the summer's rain;
Or as the pearls of morning's dew,
Ne'er to be found again.

Robert Herrick
(24th August 1591 - 15th October 1674)

Wednesday 7 October 2015

Words on Wednesday

Alphabet Overlay 1


The optimist invents the aeroplane
and the pessimist the parachute.

Sunday 4 October 2015

The Sunday Prayer

Dove of Peace by Pablo Picasso


Father, Mother, God,

Thank you for your presence during the hard and mean days.
For then we have you to lean upon.

Thank you for your presence during the bright and sunny days.
For then we can share that which we have with those who have less.

And thank you for your presence during the Holy Days.
For then we are able to celebrate you and our families and our friends

For those who have no voice, we ask you to speak.

For those who feel unworthy, we ask you to pour your love out in waterfalls of tenderness.

For those who live in pain, we ask you to bathe them in the river of your healing.

For those who are lonely, we ask you to keep them company.

For those who are depressed, we ask you to shower upon them the light of hope.

Dear Creator, You, the borderless sea of substance, we ask you to give to all the world that which we need most.....PEACE.

Maya Angelou
(4th April 1928 - 28th May 2014)

Friday 2 October 2015

Feel-good Friday




Thursday 1 October 2015

National Black Dog Day....

Spice of Life CAL ~ blanket number three!


Cherry Heart Spice of Life Crochet Along
As I mentioned previously, whilst looking through my yarn stash I found an unopened parcel ~ and this is the other yarn that was in there.  It's West Yorkshire Spinners Aire Valley DK.  I've ordered a couple more balls (in wine and pink) as there was only 600g altogether, which I don't think will be quite enough.  I think the colours are rather autumnal, and I have someone in mind for the finished blanket :-)


So here is the first section finished ~ I decided to make this one in blocks of colour.  It's amazing how different all these blankets look, even though everyone in the CAL is following the same pattern.  The Facebook page for the group is filled with wonderful photos!


The second part of the pattern was released on Tuesday and I have made a good start on blanket number one ~ photos will follow soon!

The Thursday Poem

Potted Flowers with Books IV
Eric Barjot


Say not the Struggle Nought Availeth

Say not the struggle nought availeth,
The labour and the wounds are vain,
The enemy faints not, nor faileth,
And as things have been, things remain.

If hopes were dupes, fears may be liars;
It may be, in yon smoke concealed,
Your comrades chase e'en now the fliers,
And, but for you, possess the field.

For while the tired waves, vainly breaking,
Seem here no painful inch to gain,
Far back through creeks and inlets making
Comes, silent, flooding in, the main,

And not by eastern windows only,
When daylight comes, comes in the light,
In front the sun climbs slow, how slowly,
But westward, look, the land is bright.

Arthur Hugh Clough
(1st January 1819 - 13th November 1861)