Mat Reg

My recent post about Robert Curthose prompted me to find out a little about him and as my knowledge of history is minimal, I was pleased to discover a link to something - or rather, someone - I already knew: Robert's Mother, Matilda.

Tonight, I'll go to my monthly WI meeting in Avening, where the church was consecrated on the 14th September in 1080,  having been commisioned by none other than Matilda herself.   

Avening itself celebrates Matilda's role in its history by an unusual feast : Pig Face Day.  Matilda's legacy to the village is also commemorated on the coat of arms, which bears the motto Mat Reg.

Knowing as little as I do about medieval history, then, you can imagine how pleased I was to discover that link and to find two pieces of the vast historical jigsaw that actually fit together!

Home from the North

We've just got back from a lovely weekend up in Yorkshire, where "home" was The Pheasant, in Harome, near Helmsley.

We'd had the idea to stay at The Star, so we could sample the delights of Andrew Pern's cooking but though we secured a dinner reservation, all accommodation was fully booked.  Our timing was spot on, however, for the Perns had just taken over The Pheasant Hotel, just along the way in Harome.  The refurbishment was underway and so we reserved our room trusting all would be complete by the time we arrived.  As a result, not only did we get to enjoy dinner at The Star, there was the added bonus of an altogether different (but equally exciting) dining experience at The Pheasant.  Wow.  Are we going to have to watch those calories this week to make up for it!

We spent Saturday in Whitby, where we pottered about, peered into jewellers windows surveying the jet and generally enjoyed the fresh air.

I love this coast, especially on a day like this, when the tide is out and hardly a soul is brave enough to wander onto the sand.  After a walk around the Abbey ruins, we drove on to Robin Hoods Bay and then to Ravenscar taking the opportunity to walk up and down all those steps to build up an appetite!

Yesterday, Sunday, we walked the first part of the Cleveland Way, from Helmsley to Rievaulx Abbey.  We were lucky with the weather and stayed dry into the afternoon, when we drove on to Mount Grace Priory, though once or twice, the clouds looked threateningly dark.

Today, we made our way home again with a bit of treasure in our bag.

Calorie counting begins (again) tomorrow.

Iced ruffles

The ruffle cardi is now sitting in the freezer, alongside the Aunt Bessies Yorkshire Puddings*, a bag of frozen turmeric root and some indigo bark brought back from the dye workshop in Luang Prabang last year.

Defrosting something for lunch in this household can be a risky experience.

* Yes, even though I'm a Yorkshire girl, Aunt Bessies Yorkshire Puddings are so good that it's not worth bothering with all the hot fat to make my own.  Even my Mum bought them, after years of practice meant that in our family, hers were the gold standard.  She'd have been 84 yesterday, incidentally.  Bless her.

light and colour

We've almost completed the current decorating project - the guest room. 

Remember this palette? 

These were the colour samples for the music room, recently completed.  As soon as we painted the walls that bold turquoise blue, we knew it was spot on and loved it.  The woodwork colour was a little more tricky to choose and our initial choice of that medium taupe in the photograph simply didn't work and we evenutally worked our way towards a dark milk chocolate and the end result is just as we wanted.

It's a dark and gloomy room even on a sunny day, so these deep colours work well and the end result is calm and comforting.  For our adjacent guest room, however we wanted something lighter, cooler, more contemporary. 

Of course, we had that large tin of lightish taupe paint which we hadn't used...perfect starting point.  We went out and bought a tin of the lighter shade for the walls and Mark set to with the paintbrush.

He stood back and gave me a call.

It's pink.

No, it's grey.

It looks lilac to me.

It's the light.  Let's wait a bit and see how it dries.

Is it brown?

Whatever shade it is, it's anything but the colour we imagined and making choices for the rest of the furnishings has been very difficult.  Clearly, it's not grey and certainly has a definite pinkish hue in certain light conditions.  But we keep telling ourselves it's brown and sometime, perhaps, we'll believe it.

Today, I've done my best to boost the UK economy by supporting John Lewis and Marks and Spencer in equal amounts.  Did a bit for Sweden whilst I was in IKEA and came home with a car full of bedding, all of which needs washing and ironing before use. 

What did we choose?

Marks and Spencer Autograph plain white satin stitch sheets, duvet cover and pillowcases.  Interestingly, on the website, a thread count of 500 is claimed, though on the box, it's only 400.  Can I claim the extra 100 threads do you think?  With a 20%  discount offer on all the Autograph bedlinen on at the moment, sad to say that the gorgeous - but full price - White Company bedding didn't really factor in.

John Lewis Peonie cushions in eau-de-nil, picking up the colour of the carpet, which we haven't replaced.  These will sit on top of John Lewis Mocca silk cushions because, it would seem, there's no such thing as too many cushions!  A JL Pintuck taffeta bedspread will be artfully draped across the foot of the bed in "Earth", to pick up the brown (yes!) in the curtains - VillaNova Aristo in "fossil".

Furniture is IKEA Hemnes in black brown.

Tomorrow, it will all come together (I hope) when we put all the furniture back and make up the bed.  Sadly, curtains won't be delivered for another week or two, but hopefully well in time to spare the blushes of the first of our visitors - we have quite a busy summer coming up!

Ruffled

Whilst in London for the conference in February, I dropped into Banana Republic and bought a couple of treasures.  One,a silky top which I've worn several times and feel really comfy in, the other a creamy cap sleeve ruffle-edged cardigan in a merino-cotton mix which I thought would be perfect for a chilly summer evening.  Because we were nowhere near cap-sleeve cardigan weather, I put it away and brought it out to wear for the first time on Friday evening.

My cardigan is cream and I chose to wear it unbelted over black top and trousers.

When I got home, to my horror, I discovered three small holes in my lovely new cardi.  The only explanation could be that the moths had been having a feast.  Not a happy bunny, I can tell you. 

Fortunately, Banana Republic are one of the companies who continue to offer spare buttons and, in this case, a card of mending yarn.  Also, fortunate that I am the kind of person who squirrels these things away in case of such disasters, so I was well equipped to tackle the challenge.

I'm also quite proud of my ability to darn.  When a UK magazine relaunched a couple of years ago and included a "how to" feature, they consulted me for darning advice, no less! So, feeling relatively optimistic, I set to and armed with my magnifying lamp, I carefully mended five holes, because when I looked more closely, I found another two.

I did a quick check afterwards and discovered another couple.  Then redid one which didn't meet my own standards and did a better job.

Found another hole as I finished that one.

Checked it over and thought that I'd give it a cool rinse through in some gentle wool wash before putting it away.  I might consider putting it in a ziplock bag and freezing it before I do.  That should get rid of any of the little blighters who fancy another feast.

I gently squeezed the rinsing water out of it before reshaping it to dry and you can imagine what I found.  Yes, another hole.

This afternoon, as I took the dry cardigan to sort out that last hole, I found another four, making a total of thirteen holes.

I've now carefully pressed the cardigan and feel sure I got them all now.  It's going in a bag and into the freezer before another hole appears

But every cloud has a silver lining and my dear friend Mary has taken her personal shopping responsibilities very seriously indeed and has tracked down a replacement cardigan for me in a Los Angeles branch of Banana Republic.  It's black, not cream, so my repairs have not been in vain either.

Any tips and hints for foolproof moth protection gratefully received.  I really don't need any more darning practice.