When men make plans...

...the gods laugh.  

So it was this weekend, when plans were in place for Sunday lunch; an opportunity to enjoy some company and lively conversation over a leisurely meal.  Good friends were spending the weekend with us and we take pleasure in gathering a few like-minded souls together around the table. Edward decided to come home for the weekend and join in the fun, lured by the company and the menu we'd planned!

A communication failure was the first hiccup when we discovered that our weekend guests were actually planning to drive home on Sunday morning not Monday, as we'd thought.  Next, one of the other couples telephoned to say he had the 'flu and didn't want to share. Finally, on Saturday evening, the dreaded lurgy befell another and we realised that we were going to have to rely on our own entertainment.

We had a great weekend nevertheless, spending Saturday morning at the Stroud Farmers market and bumping into friends here and there, Saturday night at the Stuart Singers concert in Cirencester - part of the Voices for Hospices event. 

As for Sunday lunch - well, we enjoyed the company of Our Boy and a hastily purchased rib of beef, having decided to put the planned fatted calf into the freezer for another day.

We even found plenty to talk about.

Like-minded

Heaven knows how anything serious would get done if I lived closer to my like-minded friends.  I spent yesterday chez Sue and in between all the chatter, Ravelry reading, show'n'tell and general enabling, I managed to finally put the final stitches into the crochet scarf I began at summer school.

I'm rather pleased to finish this since I was beginning to get a little bored with the pattern, now I've got the hang of it.  Isn't it always the same - as soon as the challenging becomes doable, it gets boring! 

I'm still a little confused as to my choice of colour for it, but am generally quite pleased with the finished scarf.  Might make it again at some point - not now, though.  I have other plans.  Added to which, the Forest Canopy shawl is nearing completion and I am anticipating a sprint to the finish!

During the last hour or so of the afternoon, Sue reminded me why I'd enlisted her support - I've had an Amy Butler bag pattern for ages and just couldn't get myself psyched up enough to start the thing.  I took along two lengths of cheap, flashy fabric bought years ago in Thailand - green for me, blue for Sue - and we cut out a bag each.  Quite how long mine will remain in the ziplock bag without my friend and enabler, who knows?  We will see!

Finally, how yummy is this?  I couldn't leave that skein of Misti Alpaca there any longer and simply had to wind it.  It's #11, FoxTail but in the best hand dye tradition, is somewhat different from the sample shown on the MistiAlpaca website.  I don't anticipate it will become anything just yet - I'm just going to enjoy it for a while!

For the first time in years, I'm giving the Knitting and Stitching show a miss today and looking forward to hearing all about it from friends instead.

Autumn

Though the evenings were drawing in and the temperatures really made wearing long sleeves sensible more than a week ago, we persevered in our lighter clothes until we'd been to LA.  Arriving home to no heating was a bit mean though, even if I am more than happy to wrap up a little warmer.

So today it was time to rediscover a few seasonal favourites and find a conker or two.  They've been in the news a fair bit since someone reported that they help keep the spiders away.  I can't resist picking them up when I see them (usually in the supermarket car park) but sadly, the house is as cobwebby as ever.

I love the silky smooth feel of the glossy brown surface and those delicate markings.

I especially like how the conker sits snug in the soft casing of the prickly shell.

Unusually, this conker is still attached to the twig so it sits nicely on my windowsill at this time of year.

Did you guess that it's not a real conker at all, but a marvellous piece of Penkridge ceramics?  There's another one on my photo of the day today, if you're interested.

Falling apart

Just before we went off to California, I had a phone call from my hairdresser - was everything ok?  For only the second time in twenty five years, I'd missed my appointment.  Of course, my computer had crashed, I'd lost my online diary and though I was feeling a little shaggy, I had forgotten.  She very kindly squeezed me into her busy schedule - I normally book months in advance - for yesterday afternoon.

Feeling a little chilly, I wore socks for the first time since May and had to pull out a pair of "proper" shoes - I grabbed a favourite pair of backless leather shoes, bought in Banana Republic a couple of years ago and hurried out the door, aware that I really needed to be there promptly.

As I walked through Cirencester Market Place however, I noticed something funny about my feet and looked down - perhaps the hems of my jeans were catching under my shoes, for they were a little long.  That wasn't the case though - the whole of the rubber sole on the right shoe had come off, was disintegrating into black rubbery bits and I was left with virtually nothing underfoot!  No time to do anything about it now - I headed for the hairdressers, leaving a trail of black bits behind me on their bright green stair carpet.  When I got there, I found the same thing happening to the left shoe as well - providing plenty of entertainment for all present!

An hour later, I had no choice but to step out (carefully) and make my way to the nearest shoe shop - Clarks - and buy replacements.  Needless to say, anything vaguely interesting in my size was not in stock and having tried all manner of boots and shoes, I was struggling to make any kind of sensible purchase.  I couldn't bring myself to buy something horrendous, however cheap and settled for a pair of flat ballet-type shoes, even though I already have a couple of similar pairs at home.

Arriving home, feeling miffed, one small feature brightened my day.

They have a very pretty sole!

Time to go home

A couple of fun days here is a real treat and we always want to maximise our time.  So, the morning of our flight home is a last opportunity to get out there and soak up the last bit of Californian goodness to keep us going till the next time.

 

This morning, we took a walk along Montana Avenue, Santa Monica, admiring the lush grassy verge, so well tended and setting this elegant street aside from the others.  Until Mark spotted the joins in the astroturf...

We smiled at the sign outside this store - apologies for the reflection.

Next stop was WildFiber, one of the best knitting stores I know and one where there is always a buzz of activity.  This morning was no exception!

Last stop - as seems to be our habit - is Century City, an outdoor shopping mall with distractions such as Apple, Eileen Fisher and the like, which keep us entertained until it's time to hit the freeway to LAX.

Once there, we had a fun surprise.  Virgin Atlantic share the lounge with Air New Zealand so we were able to enjoy a can of L&P ("World Famous in New Zealand") as we waited.  A short nine and a half hours flight, during which we slept, and we were home.

Though after all those 100F days, it was a bit cruel to find our central heating had broken...ho hum!