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– 186 – postcards from the Maldives

Monica Dunkley

December 30, 2017

Where to begin…

chronologically? bit boring but it’s the simpler way… I’m currently sitting in bed drinking coffee and facing the door to the outside of our villa. It’s open to the most luscious equatorial rain I’ve ever seen. It looks beautiful if you ignore the fact that … well… it’s a bit annoying to have rain in paradise when you’re only here for a few days.

(Not complaining… still rather be here… it’s warm and there are palm trees and yesterday we swam with turtles which was on my bucket list and was as amazing as I thought… maybe even more).

They gave us a quaint little certificate on the plane when we crossed the equator… so cute!We arrived two nights ago having had a journey slowed right down by snow at the departure end and unexplained delays in the middle. It took a loooooong time, but the happy faces on arrival say they didn’t care. They were dunking their feet in that warm water even before the suitcases arrived in the room!

The next morning we awoke to empty white sandy beaches and gently lapping waves… it feels so weird to me to be this warm at the end of December.. my brain can’t quite adjust…

We went snorkelling, saw beautiful things, got sun burned (no matter how much stuff I slap on it always happens), ate wonderful food, read books, the boys even did their revision without moaning… it was a very good day.

Our resort (Shangri Lah Villingili) is situated on the largest atoll of the Maldivian Archipelago … a whole 2.5km long (!!) which is probably why even at full capacity it feels quiet and you only tend to see people in the evening in the restaurants. Little golf buggies can take you around if you want but most people tend to use the free bikes each room/villa is allocated.

I took mine for a trip around the island yesterday and it’s gorgeous.

Flying foxes, banyan trees, old 2WW ruins, palms of all typed, hibiscus and orchids, dates falling on your head… (not coconuts, mercifully…)

And now on day two we have rain and the boys are still asleep jet-lagged and tired and we missed breakfast …

…but we don’t care…

– 185 –

Monica Dunkley

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December 21, 2017

The first thing I did when I got up this morning was painting my toe nails. Coral Pink. And I put on a layer of clear ‘gel’ to make it last longer too.

Why am I telling you this? I have no idea. Another early morning, another quiet morning if you don’t count the dog mauling her rubber big. This is becoming my favourite time of day. Good intentions and plans are still possible and the feeling of accomplishments is almost palpable. No curve balls yet. No unexpected emails or phone calls or spanners in the work.

All’s well.

So today’s list:

bake brownies
try not too eat too many brownies
find frame for MIL present
hoover house (urgh…)
don’t forget nephew’s birthday bash this afternoon
wash new fabric
iron’s Mr M shirts
contact dog sitter
water plants (there are soooooo many…. sigh)

From yesterday’s list

~~write a blog post (done!!)~~
laundry (yup still going)
~~Butcher with mum~~
~~Christmas cards for the neighbours~~
~~Convince~~ bribe any of the three offspring to deliver cards to the neighbours (might just do it myself)
~~wrap the last few presents~~
wrap the stockings little presents (in the vain hope it’ll get me longer time in bed
~~buy the last three gifts~~ ONLY ONE LEFT to get
~~drop No 3 to the cinema (must pick him up too)~~
Start thinking about packing (we’re going somewhere warm and blue…)
~~Carbonara for dinner~~ we had sausages instead (see butcher’s visit above)

Do you write lists?

I have lists of books I’d like to read, lists of books I’ve read. Lists of places I’d like to go, lists of recipe and products to try… lists of things to knit, lists of things to crochet and quilt and make… lists of things to finish too of course!

One thing ticked off a list was trying the new restaurant in town ‘The Ivy Brasserie“.

My friend H and I had our annual Christmas lunch there last Friday and it was gorgeous.

The food was pretty and tasty, the service very good… the bubbly had the right amount of bubbles… We had the set menu, I had crab to start, roasted salmon on kohlrabi salad for main and a superb creme caramel to finish it off.

Sorry no photos… I was too busy putting the world to right to remember to take photos…

The building is stunning… the central room is under a fabulous cupola and cleverly the round bar echoes it’s shape anchoring the space and filling it without denying it… if you know what I mean. It doesn’t feel empty or sparse, but bright and buzzy.. much better than when it was a dreary bank years ago.

The front of the restaurant is more cozy and has lower ceilings and the walls have been completely filled with gorgeous posters/paintings that make it look very warm and inviting. I was really impressed.

Definitively one to add to the ‘must go again’ list.

Sigh…

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– 184 – recap

Monica Dunkley

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December 20, 2017

As I’m writing it’s still dark outside and the boys, already on holiday are still asleep. Mr M has left for work and the dog is looking at me wondering why I won’t let her out. She’ll bark and annoy the neighbours so I’m trying to wait till at least 8am. She doesn’t like it.

Dogs’ stare can be quite unnerving.

I have coffee and I lit a candle.

I honestly don’t know how time is disappearing so fast. I write myself a list everyday and I delude myself to be on top… but there are always items to add and I feel I’ll never be able to catch up. Ever.

The snow didn’t de-rail us too much. We live in town, it soon turned to brown slush.

My parents have now been resident in the UK for three weeks are are settling in nicely.

No 2’s U16 team qualified the National finals in indoor hockey. Very exciting. No 1’s team missed out for one goal difference. Very frustrating. I’m so proud of my boys.

I had this vague notion of being able to spend some time in my studio this week, now that the boys are at home… ha… what a joke. It’s been taking over by wrapped presents and boxes and the table is full of paper and ribbons… a total chaos but you know what ? I’m strangely ok with that. “It is what it is” to use a phrase loved by my lovely mother in law…

(Presents wrapped in wallpaper remnants make me happy.

So on today’s list I have:

write a blog post (done!!)
laundry (ongoing battle)
Butcher with mum
Christmas cards for the neighbours
~~Convince~~ bribe any of the three offspring to deliver cards to the neighbours
wrap the last few prensents
wrap the stockings little presents (in the vain hope it’ll get me longer time in bed
buy the last three gifts
drop No 3 to the cinema (must pick him up too)
Start thinking about packing (we’re going somewhere warm and blue…)
Carbonara for dinner

Totally do-able. It’s the curve balls that always threw me though. The cinema trip? it’ll take a couple of hours off the day. Maybe more. Driving parking walking there and back… of course he couldn’t go to the cinema that’s walking distance from our house, right? Why making it easy?

Anyway, I hope you’re well and not too snotty (I’m surrounded by people with colds)

– 183 – must read

Monica Dunkley

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December 12, 2017

The coldest morning of the year so far.

Hand knitted socks, Lotta tunic in Nani Iro and big cardigan. Scarf.

Before I get started with today’s list I must tell you about the latest book I read: ‘The Essex Serpent”.

My sister in law passed it to me because she didn’t get on with it so it languished in the never diminishing pile by my bed for almost a year. I heard all the hype about it and that kind of put me off more than anything…

WHAT WAS I THINKING!!??

Silly me.

I just couldn’t put it down. It shot up to the top ten books I’ve ever read without a backward glance. Don’t ask me to give you my top ten list… I couldn’t, suffice to say this is brilliant.

A Victorian, slightly gothic, elegiac novel with great characters you actually get to know and a good story line with a beginning a middle and an end. Recently widowed, eccentric Victorian lady moved to Essex looking for the mythical Essex Serpent. Here she meets country country vicar. It’s about science and religion, about women’s conditions, about medicine and superstitions, rich and poor… town and country… people… landscape…

If I want to be totally fussy there are a few ‘slow’ pages in the middle here and there… but still the language is beautiful and keeps your attention. This is a book to savour and read slowly to really taste the words and let them dance in your head. I don’t normally like descriptions of landscapes and hedgerows and trees I can’t picture in my mind because I don’t know any trees/plant/grasses… (oak? pine? willow?… ahem….), but Sarah Perry really makes you see the places she describes. She’s brilliant at atmosphere and landscapes.

Seriously, indulge yourself and read it. Take your time, get yourself a blanket, a big sofa and a large cup of tea.

You can thank me later.

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– 182 – Poetry Monday

Monica Dunkley

1 comment

December 11, 2017

One of my favourite:

Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening (by Robert Frost)

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village, though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound’s the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

– 181 – mariner’s compass quilt

Monica Dunkley

3 comments

December 8, 2017

This one… is an old one. I must have started this quilt at least 13 years ago which means that my taste hasn’t changed that much because I still like it (worth sticking to the classics) and that is worth keeping hold of things. (It could also mean it looks terribly old fashioned and should have been chucked years ago… mmmhhhh)

I don’t know why I picked it up this morning… I was in my study trying to summon the desire to do some present wrapping when I suddenly found myself quilting this baby. It’ll be Christmas present for someone who’s always admired it so I guess I don’t need to feel guilty for having wrapped the huge number of zero Christmas presents this morning and written exactly zero Christmas cards.

I don’t know where the time has gone. At 9.40am I was really ahead of myself, beds made, laundry sorted, I’d filled the school secret survey, paid bills, written emails that needed to be written, the dishwasher was going… suddenly it’s 2pm and I haven’t been food shopping, I don’t know what to wear to this party thing tonight and I haven’t done my nails.

Pants.

But I MADE A PRESENT PEOPLE!! I MADE A PRESENT!!

Anyway, the mariner’s compass is one of my favourite pattern … but let’s be frank… it’s a bit scary for everyday sewing. Like wearing sequin trousers to go grocery shopping… it can be done… you just don’t do it.

I can’t even remember the fabric. I’d like to say shot cotton by Kaffe Fassett… but I could be wrong.

For the first time ever I used the ‘fold over binding’ technique and I must say it’s unbelievably quick. Probably wouldn’t last too long on a utilitarian quilt, but this is more of a square table top thingy and it should be just fine… look at that mitred corner… it’s a thing of beauty!

Yes, I’m standing on a chair (and the angle makes me feel like I’m 8ft tall (trust me… I’m not) but it gives you an idea of the whole piece.

(Should have put the chairs level… it’s very annoying how they’re not)

It’s going to be quite hard to give it away.

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– 180 – too big maybe?

Monica Dunkley

1 comment

December 7, 2017

First thing first…

I’m having a terrible hair day. No, I’m serious, it looks like a cheap wig. I haven’t any idea why… I haven’t done anything different in my routine. (Joking, I don’t have a ‘routine’… it gets washed, it gets dried… end of).

Back to today’s agenda. (Joking… I didn’t have ‘agendas’ in the 80s, the age of filofaxes and giant shoulder pads.. why would I have one now?)…

Last week no 2 asked me to make him a pencil case for all his art material. WHAT??? me? asked to make something? not me making something and then forcing it on them? Well I never..

I got to work immediately lest he changed his mind. He gave me his current pencil case as a size guide and I added a few inches here and a few more there…

I quilted the fabric… I chose my favourite, a gorgeous mustard linen mix and combined it with a red zipper for a retro 70s vibe…

…and doesn’t it look great?

… subtle quilting lines, sturdy natural fabric… spacious..

Yeah… about the ‘spacious’… it turned out a tad too big.

A lot actually.

Here’s a shot of the crochet cover (16″ x 16″ to give you an idea) fitting nicely inside. Not even that snuggly.

Let’s just say it could easily accommodate No 2’s rugby boots – size UK 11 (US 12). Easily.

Let’s just say you could use it as a weekend bag.

Let’s just say No 2 rejected it.

Sigh.

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– 179 –

Monica Dunkley

2 comments

December 6, 2017

I always hit a bit of a mental slump this time of the year. Maybe it’s because of the heightened level of commitments, maybe it the early sunsets and long period of darkness, maybe it’s simply that there are so many ‘things’ to do that I feel slightly claustrophobic. Is there such thing as ‘commitment claustrophobia’? If there is … I have it.

I guess I am simply not very good with pressure… I like a steady flow and what I have is tides… madly busy… hardly anything… then bonkers busy again… then calm…. My strategy to fight this flaw of mine is to fight back with a deliberate and constant ‘state of busy’. If I’m busy I don’t have time to think too much about how much I have to do, if I keep ‘at it’ sooner or later it will all get done… in my own time, which it might not be everybody else’s time frame or priority list.

But it gets done.

It’s about mindfulness, I guess. Each minute counts. The here and now.

When it works.

Other times it all goes to pot, I lose my grip and I rant like a demented banshee and feel that if I see another shoe NOT in the shoe cupboard the world will come to an end and we’ll all die. Tell me you’ve been there too.

I’m a Gemini, what can I say… nobody ever stated we’re stable people!

AAAAAaanyway, my latest read was all about mindfulness in knitting which is something I hadn’t really thought about it.

It’s a really pretty book to look at (which is nice, let’s not deny it…) and I enjoyed reading it even if at times … it gets a little too deep and tries to find meaning when … I mean, does everything need to have a deeper meaning? Can I just like knitting/crochet… ‘just because’? Does this make me superficial?

Is knitting really like a type of yoga?

On the the hand I agree when it says what a great icebreaker knitting is, how calming it is, how gifting knitted items can be more rewarding for the knitter than the receiver (made me chuckle)…

I give it a 6 1/2 out of ten.

Annoyingly though, it has made me itch to start another knitting project which totally doesn’t help considered what I wrote at the start AND with the fact I’ve started a mammoth crochet project.

Sigh.

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– 178 – another crochet cushion

Monica Dunkley

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December 5, 2017

… the problem with technology is that if you lose something you normally rely on…you’re totally stuck. I’ve been wanting to ‘talk’ to you guys for a week, but I just couldn’t find the ‘doodah’ to download the photos onto the computer (dongle? sounds rude) so in the end, No 1 man child remembered not to take his one to school it was radio silence.

So, HELLOOOOO, how are you all? December you say? Get lost!! Not even remotely ready.

This other cushion was made with another couple of vintage squares like the previous one, this time with a white border.

I think i like it even more than the previous one

The two sides are have a different arrangement of the same yarn colours and I really wish I knew who made them because I love her taste (… I assume it was a ‘she’… but who knows).

I keep changing my mind about which one I prefer, this one?

or this one?

I have a couple more squares but I need to buy yarn to join them… as someone said once… “I’ll be back”.

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– 177 – crochet cushion

Monica Dunkley

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November 28, 2017

… a few years ago I was given a a whole bunch of crochet squares by a friend who found them abandoned in a house she was renting. I am not sure when they were made… probably in the 70s/early 80s judging from the yarn and at some point they also got washed in too hot a water because they were slightly felted too. BUT, they were fab, they possessed a sort of authenticity and so I kept them and kept them…

A few of them were already half joined to make a rectangular cushion so that was a no brainer at the time, the other ones were left languishing in one of the many baskets in my room.

Till I got ‘the itch’. If you like making stuff you know about ‘the itch’… when you have to make something RIGHT NOW, forget the rest of your busy life… and ‘the itch’ always strikes when you are at your busiest too…

Anyway, this time it all started when I decided to move all the furniture around in my study (another type of urge that assails me every once in a while; it’s a faulty gene this one, No 2 has it too and his bedroom is in a constant state of flux) and I stumbled upon an orange ball of acrylic yarn bought to make crochet pumpkin and thought lost forever.

Needles to say the pumpkins didn’t get crocheted but I noticed that it was an almost perfect match to the outside edge of a couple of the granny squares in the aforementioned basked. I literally was walking around the room trying to find a place for the yarn whilst kicking the basket to make room for the sofa…

Lighting striked.

Like the apple that fell on Newton’s head when he worked out what gravity was all about… only much less dramatic and life changing.

… a few rounds of trebles later…

… and we have a perfectly formed cushion/pillow whatever you like to call it.

It happened that I had serendipitously bought a couple of big cushion inserts so I didn’t even had to go out and buy one which would have meant months of delay because that is just the way life is, right?

… no it was fate, all stars aligned and conspired to give me this gorgeous cushion in only a couple of days.

Fate, people, it was fate.

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