Saturday 4 August 2018

Rendered in wool








We are filling our days with all the boy summer stuff, you know the kind of thing, anything involving sticks, ball games, dogs, trees and rivers. I am keeping a lazy eye on proceedings and reading and writing in the odd moments when my input isn't required.

I have lost the ability to make proper food and we are surviving on salad, picnics and pasta thrown together at the speed of light when it's too late to do real cooking. There are baked goods though, blueberry muffins, banana bars, cherry crumble and orange chocolate chip ricotta cookies. Now I've written it all down it doesn't sound like a particularly good balance I have to admit. Must try harder. But oh, it's so hard to find things that everyone likes. At the moment I've gone off food a bit, and I'd be quite happy having overnight oats (my breakfast of choice) every evening. I do sometimes, if I make a non-vegetarian thing.

In other news, the littlest boy and I found that our town has been rendered in wool. There's a fantastic display in a shop window, apologies for the slightly iffy photos, I used my little camera and there were lots of reflections, but you get the idea. He read out the sign: Created by the Knit and Natter Group, and told me I should join as I like to knit and natter. I do!

Look at the allotments. The cauliflowers!






It's brilliant, all the details really make it. And there's often lots of red, white and blue bunting about the town, for one thing or another, which makes it look quite pretty. They really did do a fantastic job of it all.

I am aiming for some more deck chair time tomorrow, ostensibly supervising stuff but really reading. I finished a book I enjoyed the other day, Burnt Paper Sky by Gilly MacMillan, set in my home town, and I can't settle to a new one at all. I must have started four and put them all down. Too twee, too agressive, too light, too dark. I feel like Goldilocks.

There's something about these perfect summer days that are demanding the perfect book to go along with them. Anyone reading anything good? I have a quite a pile here to choose from, but nothing is leaping out at me. Of course I really ought to be reading something useful, about SEO or marketing or something. You know I'm always blithering on about having no time, and here I am wasting it on dubious fiction. But, oh, it's summer. And not just summer, a perfect summer, like in the magazines. Well, if I half close my eyes and look from a distance. Hope you're all enjoying it too. CJ xx

27 comments:

  1. A wool town! How interesting. Thank you for sharing, I've never seen anything like that. I'm so glad to hear you're having a good summer. I am sure you aren't wasting it!

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  2. Just finished The Chilbury Ladies' Choir by Jennifer Ryan which I enjoyed, if you haven't already. About to embark on Ann Patchett. Envying your lovely summer, but noticing longer days, daffodils and magnolias here in NZ.

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  3. It can be difficult to follow a book that you really enjoy. I have a long list of Kindle books in my Amazon wishlist ready for winter reading.

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  4. Summer is the perfect time for lots of reading. When I'm heading to the beach I take old Fiona Walker and Catherine Alliot books to reread they always seem to suit my summer mood. The knitting looks quite amazing.

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  5. Those little guys look so cute in their cricket outfits! I love the knitted village.. what an amazing thing. Thank you for sharing. I'm popping in while I'm on vacation seeing my daughter and granddaughters. ((hugs)), Teresa :-)

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  6. I love your woolly town - such a lot of work and attention to detail. Your photos are lovely - you look like a sort of wood nymph in the top one. It's not a waste to enjoy our rare perfect summer - there will be plenty of time for work related stuff when the rain returns. Enjoy it with your lovely boys and the adorable Bertie while you can. Book wise, I've just finished 'Hag-Seed' by Margaret Atwood - L lent it to me and I thoroughly enjoyed it. xx

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  7. If you enjoyed "The trouble with goats and sheep" (I did), you would enjoy "She is not there" by Tamsin Grey. Hana (Czech rep.)

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  8. I am rereading the Angels Game by Carlos Luis Zafon. Really well written and intriguing, if slightly dark. I spent an afternoon in a garden chair yesterday with the papers and a large white wine spritzer. Just what I needed.

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  9. What a fantastic exhibition from your local Knit and Natter Group-they must be a talented bunch. I'm currently reading The Miniarurist by Jessie Burton. Not half way through yet but it's intriguing me. Set in Amsterdam in 1686. We go to Amsterdam again next month to visit Dutch friends so this book is timely.

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  10. I’d like to see your real town having now seen it in wool. How pretty and clever. Woods and streams and sticks. Perfect. I’m into very, very light weight fiction at the moment, all my addled, overheated brain can cope with. Just finished a Joanna Trollope but I have to say I wanted to give them all a good slap at the end! Off food here as well, all such an effort in the heat. Paella for lunch, although that might cause a riot with my meat eating youngest son. Hey Ho. Enjoy your deck chair time :) B x

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  11. Hi CJ, it sounds like the perfect summer holidays. Not much cooking going on here, either. My elder son was particularly put out last night when we had salad again for the second dinner in a row when he'd been hoping for a curry... The wool town looks amazing, particularly the allotments. I read The Lark by E Nesbitt on holiday (among other things) and loved it. Very of its time but beautiful turns of phrase and very undemanding. Perfect for a long hot summer. Sam x

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  12. Do tell me where the knitted village is. I live in the Cotswolds and, as a knitter, would love to see it. I assume you saw the 'Knitted Bristol' a few years back - I thought that was wonderful.

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  13. A delightful post and lovely pictures. That river looks so inviting for a paddle and splash about. Making and eating proper food is a bit of an effort when the weather is like this.
    I hope that you find a good book to read, I've had the same problem lately with a run of so-so ones. xx

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  14. Just finished The Salt Path by Ray Wynn, walking the sw coastal path under difficult circumstances, and, A Place Called Winter by Patrick Gale, set in homesteading Canada early 20th century, both excellent reads.

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  15. I love the knitted town. How many hours must have gone into making it. It certainly is a perfect summer for boys outdoors.

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  16. The river looks the place to be in this heat, lovely for a paddle. I find I'm not very hungry in the heat so am trying to get away with salads and pasta - it sometimes works. I've even taken 'healthy eating' books out of the library to inspire me recently so I'm afraid fiction is on the back burner for now. Hope you find a good book soon.

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  17. Summer should be all about fiction I think, it is good to give your mind a break with a book you can dive into. I have recently read 10% Happier by Dan Harris, about meditation. I swear I laughed out loud several times. I have been trying to meditate more so this book was especially helpful to me to know I am not alone in thinking it is hard. Rest and relax, that is what summer should be about.

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  18. I think it must be the weather because I'm the same, having read several good books recently I can't settle to anything at the moment but have picked up another Anne Tyler from the charity shop that looks promising. I'm the same with food at the moment too. Far too many baked goods because they are easy to eat when you don't feel like cooking. The knitted town is fabulous. Such amazing detail!

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  19. The wool is fabulous. We decorate posts in our town with it. I love it. So clever. Have you read the latest elly griffiths? Xx

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  20. The knitted town is something else! Wonderful work. That stream looks lovely, I used to spend lots of time as a kid in streams.

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  21. I wonder if you have ever read anything by Eileen Gouge, as she is from England. I'm reading an older one, The Scent of Water. I read Garden of Lies when I was very young, I know there is a sequel but I'm not sure if I can remember everything from the first one.

    The orange ricotta cookies sound delish, can you post a recipe?

    The shop window is really delightful. Makes me wish I could crochet or knit.

    I'm just getting back into the swing of things as it looks like lake life will be put aside until our exterior work is finished. It's always something there...

    Jane

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    1. I've added a link to the recipe Jane, hope you enjoy them. I'm off to investigate Eileen Gouge now, thanks for the suggestion. CJ xx

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  22. The knitting town is simply amazing. Those little cauliflowers!! Makes me a bit hungry for veggies. LOL

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  23. Those wool creations look amazing especially the allotment there is so much detail! It is hard after reading a really good book to find another to match it, hope it doesn't take you too long. Sarah x

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  24. I just finished reading Twelve Years a Slave. I highly recommend it. It is a personal account written by a man from New York in the 1850s. Couldn't put it down.
    Myra, from Winnipeg, Canada

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  25. Ooooh! A wooly town!! People are so clever and talented, aren't they?

    I'm reading a series of mysteries which, while possibly of dubious literary merit (although I'm not prone to literary snobbery, I've winced one or two times ), are light but clever and entertaining and precisely what my brain has needed....M.C. Beaton...there are two series but I prefer the Hamish MacBeth ones. The added bonus is that my library has all of them.

    Never underestimate the value of deckchair time. xoxo

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  26. You are definitely NOT wasting your summer CJ, you are for once pausing and recharging your batteries. I am in love with that knitted town. Oh my god the vegetable patches. I'm dying.

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