this and that on a Tuesday afternoon
I am making a start on this post on Monday morning - very tired after a night out for a friend's wedding. It was a lovely evening, I have to admit it. You see, I would have liked to stay at home, doing what I like doing most on a Sunday afternoon. It was an intercultural wedding and there was a mix of ceilidh dancing and bhangra dancing. Lots of gorgeous saris and colourful dresses to admire. Richard was dancing like he enjoyed it, which was a bit of a surprise. Ah well, there's always something ne to discover in a partner of 20 years.
Anyway, here I am, tired and not at all ready for a long working week. I have a couple of recordings scheduled but they can wait. Last week, I bored myself half to death while recording a lecture that was (shall we be kind) rather dry.
I noticed that commenting on blogs is a bit hit and miss at the moment. I have been unable to leave comments on all TypePad blogs and most WordPress blogs, as well as a few Blogger blogs. I know some of you are unable to leave comments on my blog, too. Thanks for taking the time to email me about this, it is good to hear that you are still out there. With blogging, I particularly enjoy the interactions with my readers or other bloggers by means of comments. It is a bit frustrating and it might be time to clear browser history and cookies, it sometimes helps. Fingers crossed.
By now we are halfway through Tuesday.... fully recovered from my late Sunday night. It is just beautiful outside. The green is so very intense, it almost hurts they eye. In a good way, I love the saturated greens of late spring and I long to spend more time outside. In the meantime, my office window opens up to a great expanse of green with lots of tall trees shrubs and meadow. The air is saturated with insects of all kinds buzzing from here to there, no air traffic control of any kind. I am easily distracted. I pushed my bike through the woods today to slow down and take in the colours and sounds. Lovely.
There is a promise of pears, apples, plums and possibly even quince on our fruit trees. The quince is in full bloom and the weather is kind enough for pollinators. I am hopeful for this new still tiny quince tree. It is a late flowering variety, which might increase the chance of producing fruit. It is in on of the more sheltered positions of our garden. Mind you, the winds in the West of Scotland are fierce and frequent.
Inside the house, pure chaos. Annie is on study leave but only has one exam left - in two weeks time. Sam has finished term, no exams and no daytime job (he works three long evening shifts as dishwasher). Two teenagers in the house and not one able to wipe up crumbs or other detritus.... I have written a list of chores this morning before heading off to work. There's to hope. I just heard that Annie has given the car a deep clean - for money of course. I don't care much for a clean car and my preference would be a deep cleaned kitchen but it is a beginning. It transpires that Richard had to give someone a lift last weekend, causing him great embarrassment.
I am completely obsessed with my postage stamp quilt and I am making time to sew one block a day. It is a bit ambitious but if I ignore the crumbs on the floor or outsource the hoovering, entirely do-able. Each block is composed of 32 squares (8x4). I need about thirty for a quilt that covers a single bed generously. I haven't actually measured anything, just eyeballed the bed and arranged blocks on the floor.
I am also completely obsessed by Our World in Data. I could spend hours and hours there and I am lucky enough that I can, for work.
Some challenging behaviour in the house. I can almost smell the surge of testosterone in my two youngest and random outbursts of anger are common. I am practicing stoicism. It is quite comical when a small person stands in front of you, arms crossed and glaring. I may change my mind about that once they tower over me....
Nothing else to report really, life is trundling along beautifully. Thanks for stopping by and saying hello (if your platform allows you to). xx
I was noticing your weather at the moment, hotter than anywhere else in the uk. Hope your week improves as well as commenting. Using my iPad I now only use the chrome browser to comment with as safari is very hit and miss. Good luck. B x
ReplyDeleteThe wedding sounds like a lot of fun, though I don't have many late nights these days, they wipe me out when I do. I know what you mean about all the zingy greenery at this time of year, it's wonderful to see everywhere looking lush, a different story towards the end of summer when the plants and trees are looking tired and frazzled. I hope Annie's exams are going well, Eleanor had a uni exam today, another two to go and then she's done. Her dissertation has been handed in and her presentation is over and done with, those last three years have whizzed by so quickly.
ReplyDeleteWhile I'm not sure if my comments are getting through, Christine, I have left some on recent posts. Your flowering plants look so much nicer than anything in our area right now. In fact, there was a prediction of light snow in some higher elevations in and around New England. I won't mind a bit of nicer weather soon and hopefully on our upcoming road trip.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a great wedding, what fun with the mix of dancing.The weather here is beautiful at the moment so lots of work outside getting done.
ReplyDeleteOh the glaring, I have that too. I was looking at the start of the apples and pears earlier today, it's all looking promising. The peach tree is an absolute horror though, a pitiful looking thing, covered in peach leaf curl. It will have to go, but what to replace it with? I agree about the very greenness of it all at the moment, completely mesmerising. Hope the rest of the week goes well. CJ xx
ReplyDeleteBeautiful photos. I agree, everything does look very lush at the moment. I envy you your quince tree and that wedding sounds fantastic. Good luck with the Paddington hard stares! xx
ReplyDeleteYou ever get a vocab word stuck in your head for a few weeks and endlessly use it in repetition without meaning to? Well, DETRITUS has been stuck in my head for WEEKS... and I've used it way more times than it's meant to be used in one fortnight... hahahaha then it appears in your blog. SO FUNNY. And likewise on the green outside (eastern USA) but a mess inside... I had to empty my ENTIRE attic from 20 years of DETRITUS so the roofers could replace the 30-something year old roof. Now my inside house is dressed in attic décor.
ReplyDeleteIt is still Tuesday, here in Texas..I've just finished writing my post for tomorrow and decided to click on your blog before my bedtime...I found it so entertaining and laughed about the children. Mine are all grown up now, but I can still remember having the same problems. So, thank you for your lovely post and photos....
ReplyDeleteI've found that crumbs are very easy to ignore when there's crafting to be done. Unfortunately the crumbs are very patient, waiting for me to clean them up as nobody else seems to see them. Sounds like a fun wedding and your photos are lovely. xx Susan
ReplyDeleteDear Christina, I do remember the stirrings of testosterone and other hormones at our house many years ago. The female hormones were too much when it came to shoes. We banned her shoes from the house - they smelt so much! Shoes were kept on the verandah....... She smells so delightful now and the male aggression has turned to kindness and love of his parents. Recently I bought a small hand held vacuum cleaner and it is super for small clean up jobs. Saves getting out the large hose for our indoor vacuum cleaner as it collects it all downstairs and I don't have to drag a machine after me. However, the hose can trip you up as it has to cover a large area of the house, so a small hand held vacuum cleaner is rather nice and quick to use. Enjoy the rest of your week. Regards, Robyn
ReplyDeleteI keep reading about comments not appearing on blogs and wondering how often this occurs. Of the approval comment blogs - not every blogger replies, so I don't return to see their reply or if my comment got through.
ReplyDeleteEnjoy your post Christina, very entertaining - sorry you have to endure hormonal youngsters. Sometimes I wonder where did our sweet boys go... Ok I love that they're growing to be more independent and to do that they need to grow 'away' from us - but the rudeness, ridicule, trying to control us at times - is too much. I just won't have it!
Your flowers are beautiful, you just have to smile at those. Take care and glad you enjoyed the wedding. Cx
I've often wondered about this - I try to reply to comments on my blog as often as I can but it can be days later and if someone hasn't required a specific answer to something, I do wonder if they ever see it. I think you get a notification if you sign up to receive comment updates but then you see everybody's comments on the post which can be a LOT of notifications! On balance, I think I'd still rather try to reply even if I know someone isn't going to see it as it makes me feel that I'm able to have a conversation (of sorts) and also if someone has taken the time to write to me then it's the polite thing to do :) xx
DeleteYes I often click the notification button but like you say, you are inundated with emails. Note to self - delete emails... again lol, better still straight after reading. I think it's polite to answer and I do try to. Ha ha my last post was written by my cat QT, all the comments were written to him, so he had to answer them too!
DeletePs I know it's not really him before anybody sends round the people in white coats, Cx
Hi Christina I remember the teenage years with my older three and smile as I always used to say the youngest was going to be the worst by far as he is so like his father and so at times its like having two teenagers locking horns and neither one thinking they are in the wrong. Its so nice to be able to go and work out in the garden in this nice weather and I'm afraid I too am ignoring the crumbs that appear that nobody in the household is responsible for so it must be Walter the ghost.
ReplyDeleteMitzi
Your description of the day, mid Tuesday, is really good.
ReplyDeleteMy platform allows me. :-) I know the feeling about wanting to skip an event but going anyway and being tired. My whole month of May has seemed like that. Have fun with your houseful of young ones. ((hugs)), Teresa :-)
ReplyDeleteLaughing at annoyed small people isn’t recommended is it? But quite hard to resist sometimes. I agree about the loveliness of spring and getting outside to enjoy it. Hope the quilting goes well xx
ReplyDeleteThere is still a great deal of testosterone in my house, I am the only female, even the dogs are male. I find even the older boys need to puff out their chests and raises their voices sometimes. It sort of remind me of a young lion starting to take on the older one to rule the pride. Ah well, motherhood is not easy is it?
ReplyDeleteThanks for publishing the link to Our World in Data - I can see that there's going to be a lot less cleaning done in our house now too (as if I needed another excuse!) :) Teenagers are flighty creatures, I think; here for such a short time in the scheme of things and then they emerge as adults with a greater understanding of the world and other people's feelings (if you're lucky) - and always grateful for your boundaries although they may not tell you that! :) xx
ReplyDeleteSuch wonderful plants! I've just been to the local plant nursery to buy some plants to spruce up the garden.
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