while you're ahead...

– 17 – poetry Tuesday

Monica Dunkley

February 7, 2017

Ok, I’ll admit it… I forgot about ‘poetry monday’ yesterday, but in my defence I was rushing to attend the fourth hockey tournament in 7 days (that is 14 games, folks… just saying…) …

Two out of the four competition were played and watched in the pouring rain, so a poem about rain seems appropriate, right?

“Last night the rain spoke to me” by Mary Oliver

Last night
the rain
spoke to me
slowly, saying,

what joy
to come falling
out of the brisk cloud,
to be happy again

in a new way
on the earth!
That’s what it said
as it dropped,

smelling of iron,
and vanished
like a dream of the ocean
into the branches

and the grass below.
Then it was over.
The sky cleared.
I was standing

under a tree.
The tree was a tree
with happy leaves,
and I was myself,

and there were stars in the sky
that were also themselves
at the moment
at which moment

my right hand
was holding my left hand
which was holding the tree
which was filled with stars

and the soft rain—
imagine! imagine!
the long and wondrous journeys
still to be ours.

Have a good week.

I don’t know what made me start on this project again… maybe the phone call from my dad, sad because his cousin had died before he could visit her again (the snow had made the journey impossible for him)… or maybe because Mr M’s mum is losing her stories and she’s had a most interesting life… or maybe it’s just a bit of melancholia about the crazy fast flowing of time… kids growing up fast, grey hair… this crazy world that seems so upside down at this present moment in history…

Who knows. It doesn’t really matter.

All the photos you see and many many more were given to me by my dad and are now safely scanned and inserted in the boys family tree which travels from the South of England to the North of England, to Scotland, to India… and then Italy of course, different regions, different stories… There are mysterious happenings in India, there are sniffs of ‘barons’ in Italy… all these need to be investigated.

They need to be fixed on paper or they’ll be lost. Already so many have been lost.

So it looks like I’m going to be going onto a metaphorical journey across Europe and beyond… fancy coming with me?

Who knows… we might even be related!

On a totally different note I have a cute thing for you. Are you familiar with the ‘seven degree of separation theory’? (“Six degrees of separation is the idea that all living things and everything else in the world is six or fewer steps away from each other so that a chain of “a friend of a friend” statements can be made to connect any two people in a maximum of six steps)

WELL, get ready for this…

On Friday night I met this very lovely girl called Fay who is the girlfriend of one of Mr M’s business partners.
Her son plays Polo with the top players in the world
one of his player friend is Nic Roldan
whose girlfriend is Jessica Springsteen
whose father is BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN

BANG.

How about that???

I doubt that if we invert those points the Boss will be as excited as me… but that’s a story for another day…

– 15 – random Friday

Monica Dunkley

3 comments

February 3, 2017

I took this photo yesterday afternoon on my when on ~~taxi duty~~ my way to pick up No 3.

HASHTAG NO FILTER.

The sky was this weird grey/yellow that, frankly, was a little spooky. My grandmother would have called it ‘earthquake sky’ based on no scientific reasons whatsoever. But then again she had a plethora of eccentric sayings like that one… if you couldn’t find something? “Look where there’s no snow“, if you left the door open? “where do you think you live, the Colosseum?“, if you drank a glass of water too quickly? “you’ll get frogs in your stomach“, (which, when you’re a child is mildly terrifying at best).

Yeah, she was something else.

(But the sky had a kind of post-apocalyptic hue… don’ you think?).

And then you read the news about Trump warning the North Koreans about their nuclear arsenal and the ancient fear about a nuclear war I used to have when I was ten bubbles up to the surface again… I’m 46… and when I was 13 the school made us watch “The day after” movie (not a Disney film…) and that was not that long after the Chernobyl disaster when we didn’t have milk and vegetables for a while and in my young mind… that was IT. We were all going to die a horrible radioactive death. Invisible killer radiation would have got us all.

I should have titled this post a sarcastic “cheerful Friday”.

And I’m probably on the CIA watchlist now having typed ‘Trump’ ‘North Korea’ ‘nuclear weapons’…

twice.

Hi there spy guys, want to learn to quilt?

Oh well, who wants a boring life, eh?

On a completely different subject I watched 8 games of hockey so far this week. Two more tomorrow, plus a rugby match and another hockey tournament on Sunday. I deserve a medal. Boys did great though, both No 1 and No 2 school teams made it through to the regional phase of the school cup having come second in the county.

As a prize to myself (of course) I ordered a whole box of hand warmers (great to stick inside your mittens) but also some feet warmers. Those are new to me and will report on their effectiveness, apparently they’re thin adhesive heating pads you stick to your feet…. I’m hoping for a life-changing discovery.

– 14 – reversible cowl

Monica Dunkley

no comments

February 2, 2017

Last time Mr M was in New York for business he popped into Purl Soho (yes, I married a good one) and bought a couple of beautiful skeins of merino line weight in the most delicate colours.

There are plenty of patterns to knit in this yarn on their website and after months of indecision I finally settled for the ‘reversible cowl‘ and I’m totally delighted by it.

It’s the sort of understated accessory that immediately becomes a staple piece in your wardrobe because it’s easy to wear, it doesn’t take too much room in a bag or pockets AND most of all… it is unbelievably warm.

I had my doubt when I started knitting because the yarn is really thin… BUT it has a fuzziness to it that it’s brilliant at trapping air and creating this lovely butter softness and because the cowl it’s in actual fact double layered… nothing gets through. It’s merino after all, this stuff is legit! (just writing this to make my children cringe… it’s fun!)

This is me last Tuesday when I christened it with 5 hours of outdoor hockey watching in the rain. It was a god send. (Although if you keep your nose inside… your glasses steam up… doh!)

But you can also wear it slightly more stylishly rolling it down a little..

Voila’.

The two skeins are good enough for two cowls OR… a cowl and a hat…

I think I have my next travelling project…

– 13 – mended basket

Monica Dunkley

1 comment

January 31, 2017

I have a thing for baskets… ask Ali (she’s like the basket police… I’m sure she’s getting paid by my husband to stop me from buying anymore)…

Anyway, because I like old baskets they tend to fall apart quickly on me; this one had an annoying unravelling handle and it almost went into the wooden stove.

Till..

a genius idea entered my head…

ta daaaaa….

the unravelling part in well and truly trapped underneath a thick layer of pink cotton in double crochet.

Sorted.

We’re back in business.

Applause, please.

– 12 – poetry Monday

Monica Dunkley

7 comments

January 30, 2017

“Anything can happen” by Seamus Heaney.

Anything can happen. You know how Jupiter
Will mostly wait for clouds to gather head
Before he hurls the lightning? Well, just now
He galloped his thunder cart and his horses

Across a clear blue sky. It shook the earth
And the clogged underearth, the River Styx,
The winding streams, the Atlantic shore itself.
Anything can happen, the tallest towers

Be overturned, those in high places daunted,
Those overlooked regarded. Stropped-beak Fortune
Swoops, making the air gasp, tearing the crest off one,
Setting it down bleeding on the next.

Ground gives. The heaven’s weight
Lifts up off Atlas like a kettle-lid.
Capstones shift, nothing resettles right.
Telluric ash and fire-spores boil away.

And one more

“Refugees” by Brian Bilston

They have no need of our help
So do not tell me
These haggard faces could belong to you or me
Should life have dealt a different hand
We need to see them for who they really are
Chancers and scroungers
Layabouts and loungers
With bombs up their sleeves
Cut-throats and thieves
They are not
Welcome here
We should make them
Go back to where they came from
They cannot
Share our food
Share our homes
Share our countries
Instead let us
Build a wall to keep them out
It is not okay to say
These are people just like us
A place should only belong to those who are born there
Do not be so stupid to think that
The world can be looked at another way

(now read from bottom to top)

Quite something eh?

– 11 – lost property

Monica Dunkley

3 comments

January 26, 2017

Walking the dog everyday for the past 9 years I’ve become totally fascinated with the amount of lost items I see lying around.

I can’t just leave them be, I must take a picture. (Be warned… if you do that, people will give you funny look and cross the road to keep away from you. True.)

Also I have had my fair share of items dropped from prams, fallen out of pockets or left on benches, I kind of sympathise with these lost objects.

Winter is a real gold mine for this sort of things and to be fair it has made me more careful with my things.

There’s a touch of irony in that, I guess.

Recently I stumbled upon Tom Hanks’ account on Instagram (here)… what can I say… great minds think alike.

– 10 – cream

Monica Dunkley

4 comments

January 24, 2017

First pattern from the gorgeous Laine magazine. (I got my copy from Ysolda btw)

It goes without saying that I didn’t have the exact same yarn that the pattern suggested so I had to improvise with my stash… bring on Manos del Uruguay ‘Silk Blend’ in a lovely ice grey.

I also had to adjust the gauge and go up a whole needle size or this would have turned out a grapefruit warmer instead of a hat.

Yes, my head is of average size. In case you’re wondering.

It also goes without saying that I got distracted during the first episode of the new series of Homeland (… they have a woman president in it… guess the election result took the screenwriters by surprise too!) and the body of the hat has a slouch that wasn’t present in the original pattern…

Oops.

Oh well.

(Lilli the ferocious dog is patiently waiting to go for a walk.)

Will I wear it? oh yes.

Super warm and super soft it will be of great service during the 390587698540385768 hockey matches I’ll be attending this school term.

Do you think I’m exaggerating?

– 9 – B is for Buck, Pearl S Buck

Monica Dunkley

3 comments

January 23, 2017

What a surprise of a book. I only picked it because I needed an author beginning with the letter ‘B’ this time and it was the first one I came across on my kindle.

I just couldn’t put it down.

It’s a family saga, it’s a wonderful portrait of a woman, it’s a snapshot of a different culture, it’s about human nature and love and honour and responsibilities and the role in society… and it’s really really fascinating and thought provoking.

Madam W turns 40 and on that day she decides that she’s dedicated enough of her life to her husband and her family and now it’s her time. She arranges for a concubine for her husband and withdraws to her ‘court’ and her books whilst of course still keeping the extended family and the affair all in order. It’s her time to be herself now… But it’s not as simple as that of course.

You won’t be disappointed.

Pearl S Buck was the daughter of American missionaries in China where she grew up and returned to live after her studies. Her most famous novel ‘The Good Earth’ won the Pulitzer Prize and in 1938 she won the Nobel Prize for Literature.

Go on, read it!

– 8 – forgiveness cookies

Monica Dunkley

2 comments

January 22, 2017

So… I might have sent Mr M and No 2 off to a hockey game at the wrong time today.

Like an hour earlier kind of time.

Yup.

My bad.

And the game is far away. And today is very cold.

I felt the need to bake cookies to atone myself with them… although if it’s true that the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach… I’m not sure these are going to do the trick.

No 3 and I decided to make ‘Chocolate Crinkle Cookies’ (recipe found here), but something along the way didn’t go quite right and they don’t look quite like the picture. Not sure why. Sometimes I think that when you use British rather than American ingredients things can go a little astray. And I’ve checked other recipes and all seem to have some kind of oil in them whilst mine didn’t. The dough was very dry I guess.

We followed the recipe to the letter – we’re a very conscientious team me and him –

and great fun was had with icing sugar … (yeah….)

but our cookies stayed rather like balls… didn’t flop down into a cookie position… if you see what I mean.

And they’re a little dry.

VERY CHOCOLATEY though… so I know they’ll get eaten. With a glass of milk they will be splendid.

I might not be forgiven as quickly as I liked though..

Doh.

while you're ahead…

– 17 – poetry Tuesday

– 16 – family tree

– 15 – random Friday

– 14 – reversible cowl

– 13 – mended basket

– 12 – poetry Monday

– 11 – lost property

– 10 – cream

– 9 – B is for Buck, Pearl S Buck

– 8 – forgiveness cookies