Little ones and little deers

Hello Dear Readers,

Two weekends ago I went up to see my friend Molly and her family in Cambridge.  We had a really nice, relaxed weekend.  I went up Thursday after work so that I could babysit Katelyn on Friday afternoon while Molly and George went for Molly's 20 week scan, another baby on the way!  Katelyn and I read the book I brought up, Aliens Love Underpants.  Ten. times.  And that was just after nap time!  It reminded me so much of when I used to read to my little brother, his favorite book was BIG RED the Fire Engine.  Go big red, go!

Next time I know to bring a few books up so at least I get some variety.  At least I am getting a really good preview of what life with Clara will be like in the future, potty training, learning to read, and, apparently, making bread!


Here is the whole family making dinner together, with Katelyn  learning how to knead bread dough.  George had the added excitement of getting a loaner piano while we were there!  As it happens, I have borrowed my friend Lauren's ukelele this week to learn to play, maybe next time I see them we can jam out a bit!  I'm getting fairly good I think, though I have to fight with Patrick over use of the uke, it's so fun!

I have also been very busy with some knitting....... A few weeks ago I went to hang out with my old knitting group at the Natural History Museum.  My friend Sarah told me that she was asked by the guy who she buys some of the books from if anyone would be interested in knitting  him an "ugly" Christmas sweater for his company's Ugly Christmas Sweater Party Competition.  Of course I would love to, and this is the design we decided on :

Now take a closer look at those reindeer, although readers of this blog should be familiar with that design. And that is James.  I hope he likes it!  I really wasn't sure about the fit, but better a little big than too small. Apparently the grand prize is a Caribbean cruise! If I had known that I would have taken a lot more care over the sweater, I thought he just got office bragging rights. I hope he wins and that he takes me with him on the trip.

The weather has been unseasonably warm this fall, which I am loving as it gives me more time to really get into my allotment.  I also volunteered to take care of the communal herb garden, oy vey!  I'm nothing if not busy, but you get out of life what you put in, and I'm getting a lot so I can't complain.

Hope everyone is enjoying fall as much as I am! Almost Halloween...... and I get to wear my Halloween socks now.  I wear them on the outside of my cycling pants so everyone can see.  Yup, I'm pretty cool.

Cheers!

Weekend at long last

Hello Dear Readers,

Last weekend I worked on Saturday at the Sewing Rooms all day then worked for the Architectural Open House weekend at Kew Gardens where I gave tours of the herbarium.  It's always really good to interact with the public who are all (except for one grumpy old man this year) very interested to peer behind the scenes on what I do.  It gives it all a fresh perspective, and several people asked me with real interest , "But what do YOU do here?"  I get so used to it I forget sometimes just how special my job is and it's great to do these things to remember, but it also meant that I had an 11 day work week last week, yikes!

Fortunately I took Friday off to go to Thorpe Park (again!) this time with Patrick (wow, a Patsquash sighting!) and some friends.  It was even less crowded than the last time we went, and I got to go on ALL the rides, two of them twice!

Here I am getting ready to ride the Colossus, which we all agreed was the best, and we rode it first thing and were on the last ride of the day which we RAN to get.  Success!!  Sigh, a great end to summer, as the weather has turned a bit chilly and overcast again.

The other cool thing that happened to me this week was that my number came up for an allotment at work.  These are communal gardens which you get a small plot for, and I am sharing mine with my friend Nina.  Ours also is adjacent to my friend Katherine's plot, of the epic 'Cycle to Brighton' fame almost exactly one year ago.  Saturday morning I weeded the plot and Chris dug it up (the weeds were as tall as I am) and we are going to plan this week all the delicious things we'll grow.  I'm especially excited about garlic, tomatoes and basil because those are expensive luxuries that I rarely buy for myself, but if I can grow them I can hopefully have more than I can ever use!

 On Sunday afternoon my friend Madeline, who I met in Texas but is English, came through on her way back to Minnasota where she flew out this morning at 11 am.  Monday while hanging out at home we waited for delivery of my brother's bed. She was even kind enough to help me put it together as I knew Patrick would never have the time between work and rowing.

Too bad my phone keeps unmounting my SD card for no reason and I didn't get any photos of her! But here I am with the finished project (left) and work in progress (below).

 It was really special to be able to spend a whole day chatting with an old friend, working on a project, walking through Barnes and having a leisurly coffee at the French Cafe down the street.  Such a relief from my 11 day week!!

 And of course you all need an obligatory photo of my little baby niece, has there ever been such a cute baby!?! She does look a bit chilly though, hmm, might have to knit her another sweater or three........

Hope October is treating you all well, I'm off to an early night, got to ease myself into the four day week.....


Cheers!