Lovely

I don't normally cross post to both here and my photo a day blog but perhaps today you'll indulge me if I post ever so slightly similar pictures in both places.  The thing is, how lovely are these tins of pilchards?

 I'm sure the folks in Waitrose this morning thought me strange as I stood ogling the delightful paintings on the three varieties.  Even more strange when I lined up the tins, making sure they were all upright and pushing a bit of stray polythene a bit further down the tray of red cans.  But no-one tapped me on the shoulder, no-one queried my motive as I clicked.

And having clicked, I had to share.

Oh, and yes, of course I bought some.  But will we open them or just keep them because they're so pretty?  Not many places where you can get a lovely piece of art for £1.29, are there?

Who would have thought pilchards and pretty would be used in the same blog post?

Everything you wanted to know about Cornish Pilchards can be read here

Buttons

My button box is of only moderate size so it was especially surprising to find not only one perfect match of a button, but two!  The photo doesn't show the colour to best effect - you'll have to believe me when I say that the irridescent shine picks up the black and deep turquoise perfectly.

What's more, I found a willing (and able) model.

 

 Thanks, Henry.

Good grief, she knits

Such a dark and dreary day today and my generally cheerful and sunny mood is threatened by all manner of challenges including one transaction with a railway ticket clerk which lasts fifteen minutes and during which time he utters just three words to me: "sixty five pounds". Nothing more.

Since I spent the rest of the morning trying to finish some work I've been doing which will qualify me as a professional something-or-other, I feel that I have earned a reward in the form of an afternoon of fun.  I think colour will be involved.  Yay!!

 (picture of blankets on the fence, taken the Sunday before last in Sintra and reminding me of warm sunny days in Canyon Road Santa Fe!)

Not only that, but the knitting mojo has returned...sort of. 

Last September, in New York with Jordi, I found this gorgeous yarn in Purl.  So expensive, I felt I had to limit myself to two skeins and had no idea what I'd do with it (simply pet it from time to time, maybe?)  When I opened the Interweave Knits Holiday Gift special and spotted this neck warmer, knitted from two skeins of the same yarn, I thought it was meant to be.  On this dull day, the actual colour is impossible to show - it's called Lapis but is really a deep turquoise blue.

Hardly a BAP (thanks Della) but nevertheless, a step in the right creative direction. 

And the label is inspiration in itself.

Weather

Listening to the radio at lunchtime, we heard that people in our part of the country might be noticing an unusual daytime weather phenomenon - hoar frost.  We looked outside and sure enough, there it was.  This morning there had been no sign of frost first thing, but gradually the shrubs in the garden frosted over when we weren't looking.

 It's still really cold here and there's no sign of warming up yet.  But whilst outside looking at the frost, I noticed a small flock of goldfinches in the old apple tree which was a cheery sight.

And joy of joys, our new garage door motor is fitted which means there'll be no more bad backs and rain running down a sleeve as we struggle to lift the heavy wooden door to get the car out.

A great start

First WI meeting of the year tonight and one of the most interesting speakers I've heard.  This was WI at its best - lots of news to catch up on with friends, a birthday to celebrate (yes, cake....) and the most charming speaker in the form of a local farrier.  Well, not just any blacksmith of course, but one of the most highly regarded, this being horse country par excellence - Bernie Tidmarsh was born and bred in the forge which had been in his family for 400 years and the stories he told of a country childhood and 47 years of working 7 days a week kept us all enthralled.