a couple of mysteries to solve

I have no new photos to share, so here a few from back in May, taken on a market in Paris. 

Annie moved to Aberdeen last weekend. I am happy for her to have a what sounds like an exciting job and a flat to move into but I am also a little bit sad because she has now flown the nest properly. During her studies, it didn't feel like she had moved out. This was different with Sam, who moved out after first year at uni and passed on his room to James, who up to then had to share with the youngest of them all. Alas, two down, two to go. 

I also made a dress last weekend. I really need to catch you all up on my sewing adventures. Well, maybe you are not interested but you can always skip sewing project posts if you are not. I think I'll do a modelling session on Sunday for photographs, then use my time on trains next week to write a few posts. Anyway, the dress I made is simple and stylish, the Assembly Line Cuff Dress. I used a pink linen fabric from my fabric stash, which is perfect. It is a pink with a mauve tinge, quite difficult to describe. I think it might be a chambray weave actually. This means that the warp and weft yarn are different colours, usually a dyed yarn for the warp and white for the weft. And for context, the warp yarn is what is fixed on the loom, the weft yarn is what is weaved through. 

Our resident teens are driving me up the wall. Ok, I know they are teenagers.... and driving their parents crazy is par for the course. I’ll spare you the details of our long, long summer full of worries. One may never be able to lead an independent life, the other is in love with someone who is at best described as scary. However, maybe you can help me solve a mystery. This is the mystery of the always full laundry basket. I’d confirm under oath that every week, pretty much the entire wardrobe of both teens is in their, waiting to be washed. The mystery is that: Rarely do they change clothes. Usually, a scruffy hoodie over a scruffier t-shirt, both with a biofilm under the armpits that is just about sentient. It seems to be a trend with all teenagers that move through our lives, a whiff of unwashed follows them around. Faithfully. I am silently screaming but holding it together admirably outwardly. Well, most of the time. I think I am gong to stop paying for their phones. They never answer it anyway. Also, they drunk all our wine, bar one bottle. Seriously, they did. I was looking for bottle of red wine to use for cooking the other day and found an empty wine rack. This is tucked away in our understairs cupboard, which I avoid opening because it also contains a lot of mess. My two small Prosecco bottles vanished, too. Iris owned up immediately but James blamed the dog, who admittedly is clever but without opposing thumbs is not able to open a bottle. It is not clear why James lies when the evidence is as strong as it is. I assume Annie and Sam also helped themselves to our wine and spirits but they were more subtle, for sure. A slug of vodka here, a single bottle of wine there. In fact, Sam confirmed this the other day.

Another mystery that puzzles me is how Josie the cat activates Robbie the robot vacuum cleaner. Every now and then, it starts a cleaning job when I didn't tell it to. Josie is found near the base where the robot sleeps when this happens. While correlation is not causation, the evidence is compelling, although not strong enough to draw a firm conclusion. I need to take a photo to share of Josie. She is unusually long and thin. Her tail is the longest I have ever seen on a cat. She is very sweet but exceptionally annoying at 4 am in the morning, when she demands attention. My sleep has been disrupted too much lately, either by the cat or a teenager. 

Richard’s brother and his kids were staying with us for a few days. They are the same ages as our teenagers but they barely know each other because we very rarely meet up. It is a shame but life is busy and time passes quickly. It was nice to have them stay.

I am finally back to volunteering. Our Saturday group was on hold because our team leader was on long term sick leave. Now he is back. I missed the physical work in the woodlands and along the river, and the company, too. I joined the week day group a few times but it is difficult to arrange with a full time job. Today, we spent most of our time clearing rhododendron, an aggressive invasive here in Scotland. I don’t mind it confined to gardens but out in the woods, it outcompetes native plants and reduces biodiversity. There were some very tall ones. We also cleared Himalayan Balsam but it is late in the season, so seed pods are close to popping. We have to cut the flower heads carefully over a bucket to avoid the seeds spreading. Then pull the plant up. I got to use my favourite saw, an extendable pole saw. This was to cut some overhanging branches of a dead tree. I like using it, a good workout. I felt my bingo wings jiggle. A lot. It must be good, like callisthenics. I also used a bow saw, and hand saw and a pruning saw. A good day of hard work. I am however exhausted. 

Now I am just about to roll out dough for a pizza and pour myself a glass of white wine. Thanks for visiting 😊