New additions

Despite the ongoing difficulties that have been occurring these past few months, bits and bobs have nevertheless still been going on around here.

The lovely hare plaque, above, was a birthday gift from Sam and Beverly.  After languishing on the dining room table for a number of weeks, Adrian finally got it hung for me in the top section of the old arbour seat.  I do love hares 😍

We also have two new additions in the back garden, namely a couple of log stores.  Adrian eventually managed to get these delivered up here from a company on the mainland, via a company here on the island 😖 You wouldn't believe how difficult it's been to get such things delivered, especially considering they come flat-packed and not ready built!

They were pretty cheap 'n' cheerful but Adrian has bolstered them up considerably with additional pieces of wood, and given them a good three coats of wood stain as well, in the hope that they will last a tad longer than they might otherwise have done 🤞 He also added a coat of water sealant to the roofs for good measure.  This one is standing on the paved area near the craft room, and will be used for it original purpose of storing logs.....

 whereas the second store is up by the shed, where it is being used for storing bags of compost and bark chips.  They were previously stacked on pallets, covered with tarpaulins, but this wasn't terribly satisfactory to be honest.  Hopefully the bags will now be protected a little more from the worst excesses of the Orkney weather than was previously the case!

Peace...

www.allposters.co.uk

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)   

Crochet catch-up

It's a miracle ~ I've finally completed the guest bedroom blanket 😮 Clutching at the silver lining to the cloud that was gout, at least I was able to get some of my crochet WIPs/UFOs finished!  I'm glad it's done but must confess that it's not one of my most favourite things that I've ever made.  The pistachio green and raspberry shades are a little too dominant to my eyes, but it serves a purpose.  Of course, I now have yet more yarn to add to my leftovers stash 😏   

Talking of said stash, bonus blanket #3 is done.  I'm using it to keep my knees warm when using the computer as there can be a considerable draught when sitting there.

You may recall that I was plugging away at a Christmas gift blanket last year ~ needless to say, I didn't finish it!  Whilst I really loved the combination of colours and even the pattern that I had chosen, I was decidedly unhappy with the size of it.  I couldn't face frogging the bloody thing, so it's currently languishing in a corner waiting to be turned into a smaller lap blanket to keep for myself. 

I decided to start again using Sirdar Hayfield Bonus Aran Tweed which I bought from Wool Warehouse, my favourite wool supplier 😊 I chose the shades Honeycomb, Haze, Mill Blue, Light Natural, Green Heather, and Purple Heather, and decided that I would once again use my favourite chevron pattern from The Gentle Art of Knitting by Jane Brocket.  You can see the start of the blanket in the bottom right corner of the bonus blanket #3 photo.

Well, needless to say, once I'd crocheted a few rows it really wasn't calling to me ~ the colours just didn't seem to sit right together 😕  So yet again, I ended up frogging what I'd done and starting again.  This time I decided to order more of the shade Honeycomb (photo below) and crochet a very simple corner-to-corner blanket in a single colour.

image from Wool Warehouse

It's working up relatively quickly, I suppose because it's an Aran yarn as opposed to the double-knit that I usually use.  I've reached the width/length that I want the finished blanket to be, and am now working on the decreasing rows.  When it's finished I will be adding a border but at the moment can't decide whether to stay with Honeycomb or use a contrasting shade, perhaps the Mill Blue ~ oh well, I don't have to decide just yet!

I crocheted myself a little hen,

using two strands of double-knit from the leftovers yarn stash.  I was quite pleased with how she turned out, despite it being a tad tough-going using the two yarns together and a smallish hook to keep the stitches close 😄

And finally, I used more of the leftovers stash to crochet a corner-to-corner blanket for the sofa, as I've had a bit of a shuffling-about of the blankets in the house!  I used two strands of the double-knit held together and, I think, a 6mm hook.  It's a lovely cosy and squishy blanket, perfect for snuggling under when it's cold, wet, and windy outside 😊  

Reading round-up: September 2025

image from Clipart Library

So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish: Douglas Adams

Mostly Harmless: Douglas Adams

The Red Thumb Mark (a Dr Thorndyke novel -British Mysteries Collection): R. Austin Freeman

The Eye of Osiris (The Vanishing Man) (a Dr Thorndyke novel -British Mysteries Collection): R. Austin Freeman

The Mystery of 31 New Inn  (a Dr Thorndyke novel -British Mysteries Collection): R. Austin Freeman

The Silent Witness (a Dr Thorndyke novel -British Mysteries Collection): R. Austin Freeman

Helen Vardon's Confession (a Dr Thorndyke novel -British Mysteries Collection): R. Austin Freeman

The Cat's Eye (a Dr Thorndyke novel -British Mysteries Collection): R. Austin Freeman

The Mystery of Angelina Frood (a Dr Thorndyke novel -British Mysteries Collection): R. Austin Freeman

The Shadow of the Wolf (a Dr Thorndyke novel -British Mysteries Collection): R. Austin Freeman

The D'Arblay Mystery (a Dr Thorndyke novel -British Mysteries Collection): R. Austin Freeman

A Certain Dr Thorndyke (a Dr Thorndyke novel -British Mysteries Collection): R. Austin Freeman

As a Thief in the Night (a Dr Thorndyke novel -British Mysteries Collection): R. Austin Freeman

Despite my admonitions to myself back in May to do better with my reading in June, I failed to achieve any goals in June, July and August *slaps self on the wrist* 😉 I really have no excuse, especially in early August as I could have easily done some reading ~ after all, I wasn't able to do much else whilst the gout was in full progress!  Oh well, I think I made up for it during September ~ one benefit of long hours spent travelling 😏

As you can see, I pushed on through the last two books in The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: The Complete Trilogy in Five Parts by Douglas Adams.  I really can't say that I particularly enjoyed any of the books in said "trilogy" ~ no doubt jaws are dropping in disbelief, my lovelies 😄 ~ but it would be a sad old world if we all liked exactly the same things.  At least I can now say that I have read the books!

I confess that I have read the British Mysteries Collection before ~ I actually purchased the book, on Kindle, way back in 2016.  When I replaced my old device, I migrated all the books over to the new one but they were no longer sorted out like I had had them previously.  I decided to just leave them be and work my way through them all again, sorting into appropriate categories as I read (or re-read) each book.  The stories start with the "crime" and to quote Wikipedia:

Nowadays, the inverted detective story, where we first witness the crime and then watch the attempt to solve it, is commonplace. For example, this is the format of almost every episode of the television detective series Columbo starring Peter Falk. However, this approach was an innovation in November 1910 when Freeman's "Oscar Brodski" appeared in Pearson's Magazine.[45] and immediately attracted attention. The Northern Whig said that "Oscar Brodski" was "one of the most powerful detective stories we have ever read".[46] Bleiler said that this story "has always been considered one of the landmarks in the history of the detective story".[47]

In his essay The Art of the Detective Story Freeman wrote that in the inverted story: "The reader had seen the crime committed, knew all about the criminal, and was in possession of all the facts. It would have seemed that there was nothing left to tell, but I calculated that the reader would be so occupied with the crime that he would overlook the evidence. And so it turned out. The second part, which described the investigation of the crime, had to most readers the effect of new matter."[48] However, Binyon notes that Freeman is being too modest here, and that it was Freeman's art that kept the reader's attention in the second part.[47]

Reviewers approved of Freeman's inverted tales. The Scotsman said that Freeman had "... proved that a tale which tells the story of the crime first, leaving us to follow the sleuth as he tracks the criminal down, may be at least as absorbing as the old yarns which left us in the dark until the end".[49] Rodgers noted that "Great narrative skill is needed in order to keep the reader's interest" in a story where the crime if revealed at that start and that there have been imitators "Freeman alone stands as not only the originator, but as the most successful proponent of this form of detective fiction"

As I say, I enjoy these stories but feel I must point out that the earlier ones in particular are definitely not "politically correct", especially with regard to racial stereotyping.  I realise that for a lot of folk this aspect alone would preclude them from reading the stories, quite apart Freeman's own unsavoury political views.  Whilst I have found those traits extremely unpleasant, nevertheless I realise that he was very much a product of the times he lived in (1862 - 1943) and as such I have chosen to concentrate simply on the "detective" aspect of the stories.  And once again to quote Wikipedia:

Such offensive representations of Jews in fiction were typical of the time. Rubinstein and Jolles note that while the work of many of the leading detective story writers, such as Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, and Freeman, featured many gratuitously negative depictions of stereotyped Jewish characters, this ended with the rise of Hitler, and they then portrayed Jews and Jewish refugees in a sympathetic light.^[33] Thus with Freeman, the later novels no longer present such gratuitously offensive racial stereotypes, but present Jews much more positively.

Little words of wisdom

 

Another month and yet more tales of woe!

image from Clipart Library

Here we are, already in October and my posting has not improved at all I'm afraid ~ sorry about that 😉  Once again I've been struggling somewhat with health issues, this time whilst visiting family south.

We decided to cut out part of the journey by flying to Aberdeen, where we stopped overnight.  The next day we got a train to take us all the way to Leeds ~ a good 6.5 hours 😳  With the benefit of hindsight this was, of course, a bit of a mistake to be sitting on a train for so long ~ when we got to Leeds my back was not happy at all!  After three nights sleeping on the rather firm mattress in the hotel we were staying in my poor hips decided to join in solidarity with my back ~ I was not a happy bunny, as I'm sure you can imagine!  From Leeds we travelled further south down to Stevenage on an LNER service, then just one stop back to Hitchin on the local service where my Dad picked us up from the station.

Thankfully, after a few nights at Dad's, my back and hips started to feel somewhat easier.  Amanda and Liz came down on the Sunday, and we all went out for lunch ~ it was lovely to spend time with them again 😊

Alas, my lovelies, I was being lulled into a false sense of security!  I woke up on the Tuesday and the big toe on my right foot was once again feeling very stiff ~ yup, the gout had flared up again😒  I couldn't believe that it had returned so soon.  We had been due to go over to Hitchin for a couple of days to catch up with Adrian's sister and her partner, as well as old friends, but with my foot being so sore and swollen we ended up cancelling that part of our visit south, staying a couple more days with Dad instead.  Elaine and Martin still came to see us, though, just coming a bit further to Bedfordshire rather than going to Hitchin.  Dad enjoyed seeing them, too, as they hadn't seen each other since Adrian's Mum's funeral a number of years ago.

Thankfully the gout flare-up, although still painful and uncomfortable, wasn't as bad as that first time.  After a few days resting my foot at Dad's, I felt able to start the journey back home again.  My criteria for travelling was whether or not I could get my Crocs on, so I was relieved that by the Friday I was indeed able to do that.  I decided that I could make the journey but Adrian did build in some extra contingency in case we had to break the journey more than we had originally planned.  Dad took us to Hitchin very early on the Friday so we could get the local service (as planned) to Peterborough, where we caught the LNER train to Edinburgh.  I felt able to stick with our original plan to then get a ScotRail train to Inverness to keep us to our original schedule.

This train, as always seems to be the case these days, was very crowded, and the ScotRail trains are not as spacious as the LNER ones are.  There was a young American couple sitting opposite us, and the husband was a rather large chap with pretty long legs.  He looked uncomfortable throughout the journey, and I was very conscious of trying to keep my legs tucked well in to try to protect my poor toe!  By the time we arrived at Inverness, where we were spending the night, I had developed a pain in the calf muscle of my right leg because of the way I had been sitting I guess.  The next day both Adrian and I had discomfort in the back of our thigh muscles, but at least the train from Inverness to Thurso wasn't crowded so we could stretch out more comfortably.  From Thurso it was a short taxi ride to the harbour at Scrabster, where we were very relieved to get the ferry home to Stromness as I'm sure you can imagine!

It was so good to finally sleep in our own bed, but my back and hips were once again aching, and to put the icing on the cake my body wasn't quite done with tormenting me ~ I woke up the next morning with a very uncomfortable feeling at the back of my right heel, in the Achilles tendon area, to add to the other leg muscle discomforts 😒  Still, at least we had made it back home again!    

Although it was nice to spend a little extra time with Dad, I was quite anxious to get home as I had an appointment with my GP on the Tuesday that I really didn't want to have to reschedule if at all possible.  What I haven't mentioned up to this point is that a couple of months ago I received a citation to attend for jury service.  I had a prolapsed disc back in 2008 and my back has never been the same since.  It's something that I have just learnt to deal with over the years, trying to be sensible in what I do and resting/taking pain killers if I find I've pushed things more than I should have done.  Now, when I received said citation it didn't even enter my head that my back issues could be a problem.  The flare-up of pain and discomfort following the train journey to Leeds, though, brought home to me just how difficult it was going to be to fulfill juror duties.  I would have to be sitting for considerable periods of time on seating that may very well not be as comfortable and supportive as my chair at home, and I would not able to just get up and move about if I needed to, or go and lay on my bed for a while like I can (and do) at home.  So, while we were in Leeds, I phoned and made an appointment to see my GP to discuss the situation.

I hobbled down to see my GP on the Tuesday ~ well, I hobbled to and from the bus stop, to be slightly more accurate, as I definitely couldn't manage the relatively short walk from our house to the surgery.  Obviously the first thing I raised with her was the issue of my back.  She agreed that it was not going to be possible for me to undertake juror duties, and was happy to write an excusal letter to the Court which was duly accepted by the Clerk.

We then had quite a long discussion about my other health issues.  She thinks that it is quite likely that the blood pressure medication that I take has caused the gout to put in an appearance ~ said medication, by the way, is doing it's job as my blood pressure was very good when I saw my regular Nurse Practitioner before my appointment with the GP.  Going back to the gout, my GP suspects that this second flare-up was because the original attack at the beginning of August hadn't quite cleared up when we went south, and the long hours travelling kicked it off again.  She prescribed another short course of Colchicine because my toe and the joint still weren't back to normal when I saw her last week.

We then talked about the health issues that had come up earlier this year.  You may recall my earlier post where I told you about the changes I was making, and how difficult it was to balance the dietary advice for those issues with the advice for gout!  My GP has told me that she wants me to concentrate on managing the more important issue of prediabetes.  The gout, though unpleasant and painful, can be managed if necessary with a preventative medication.  It's much more important not to tip over into actual diabetes as there are so many other health risks associated with it.

So that's where I am at the moment, making the dietary changes to manage the pre-diabetes and hoping that the gout doesn't flare up again any time soon!

Peace...

www.allposters.co.uk

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)   

Little words of wisdom