weekend round-up of "news"

Jack's birthday dog biscuits, made by Annie

I don't often bring flowers in from the garden but there are so many of those that I don't mind missing a few outside

I have been wearing my big rings more often. This is one of my favourites.

Annie came home with this bunch of gerbera for me. Not sure how I deserve these but they were gratefully received. 

Standing on my quilt top. It is going to be absolutely amazing I think

I started knitting a pair of socks, it is this time of the year

The weekend passed way too quickly for my liking. I was working like someone possessed last week, barely taking breaks. Unfortunately, I am behind schedule with lecture recording and I haven't even started editing the howls of frustration and dog barks out of the audio. The weekend was very welcome indeed. It wasn't an exiting kind of weekend, but a quiet, slow kind of weekend.

On Saturday, I took Alistair to football first thing. Only football was not on and we walked back home, having a pleasant chat about nothing very much. I then set off for my Saturday walk with a friend and our dogs. I enjoy these Saturday walks. We always walk the same route and always meet the same people. It is a comforting routine. After the walk, I sat with a cup of coffee for a long while, thinking about life and stuff. Nothing earth shattering, just enjoying the moment really. I spent some time doing chores, cleaning the girls bathroom (despite its label boys are allowed to use it), hoovering here and there and laundry. The little creatures were happy pottering about, not needing my attention. I took the opportunity to sew on my new quilt. I sewed for several hours, until at about nine pm, the quilt top was finished. All the while, I was listening to an audio book, one of my favourite crime authors, Caro Ramsay. Her crime novels are set in Glasgow, which I love. Richard is out on his bike all day every Saturday but he usually does the shopping and cooks dinner when get gets back. He made pizzas for us.

I found a warmish coffee on my bedside table when I woke up on Sunday. Richard had left it there before going out on his bike again, this time with friends that were coming for lunch later. I must have been soundly asleep. I prefer my coffee not too hot so all was good. I spent the rest of the morning making a Swiss onion tart (you can find the recipe here) and folding up clothes. Richard got back in time to light the BBQ and we enjoyed a nice late lunch with friends. There was the onion tart, couscous salad, fresh bread, a selection of barbecued meats and gigantic mushrooms stuffed with garlic butter. I really enjoyed both food and company.
Richard took the boys and Jack for a long walk later in the day and I tidied up the kitchen. I then sat down with my knitting project. I need new woolly socks and I decided to make another pair of these. You can download the pattern on my sock pattern page if you like. I ordered the Addi sock wonder circular needles, which are very small and have different needle length, the left is shorter than the right. I find them really uncomfortable at the moment but maybe once I have knitted a sock it will be better. I am used to knitting socks with  double pointed needles and I am not entirely sure why I ordered the new circular needles. I guess they pack away smaller and are less prone to break than my wooden sock needles.

I went to bed early and was soundly asleep just after 10 pm.

I haven't really mentioned what the kids were up to but rest assured, they were busy and relatively happy. Sam maybe not so much, on the scale of teenage unpleasantness he is scoring high at the moment and we've had some words. I trust this will pass but it is tiresome at the moment.

I hope you all had a lovely weekend? Thanks for stopping by and saying hello