calm before storm

it's sunday afternoon. the weather is - if not hot, certainly acceptable. we have just finished an epic 5 hour very lazy bbq. the sort where we cook something, then eat it, then cook something else, then replenish the coals because we have taken so long the fire will go out, then repeat and repeat and repeat. everything is green and the trees are full of birds and squirrels and i am full to the brim with prawns and sea bass and lamb chops and asparagus. and wine :)

the plan is to have a lazy afternoon bbq then go in and get sorted for we leave on saturday for our triennial pilgrimage to the old (new) country. n has gone inside - i can hear him rustling about in the kitchen. i need to go in and help him. there are dishes to wash, a table to clear (it is more a magnet for detritus than anything else), a new work week to prep for - and if we get on with it and sort it out then we can lounge about watching telly and eating popcorn.

but - it is so lovely out here. and one of my favourite songs has come on the shuffle player. i don't want to go in.

oh god he's washing the dishes. i can hear them clinking.

there's nothing for it i'm going to have to go in and (shudder) tidy up.

happy weekend. may your dishes be done quickly and your bbqs stretch into infinity x

more running

today's run did not start out well. it took me about an hour to get changed and put on my shoes and i dithered and sulked for most of that. i surfed the net and generally pissed about until even n was getting annoyed. are you running or not? he asked pointedly.

the wind was cold. there were a lot of cars on the first stretch. i passed a thuggish looking young man and thought to myself hmph. tracksuit bottoms. how classy. (keep in mind at this point i  am wearing what could only be considered an unflattering sausage casing of purple lycra).

i rounded the bend. there was a small village church, flowers blooming, sun shining against the stone. behind it a rapeseed field in full bright yellow bloom. i rounded the next bend heading up water lane hill and all of the hedgerows were green and alive with birds and rabbits. the branches of the trees met over the road and it was so beautiful it almost made me cry. oh how awful your life is, i thought to myself, that you are forced - FORCED to go out and be a part of such an incredible landscape. that you can move and run and breath and experience all of this beauty just outside your door.

that is why i run. i will try to remember that from the beginning next time.

clearly mad

i ran my 2nd ever 10k race this morning - the whitstable 10k. it seemed like a good idea a few months ago when it was all far flung and esoteric. it's amazing how proximity changes your view on things.

however, run i did - and i shaved 4 minutes off of my last 10k which is none-too-shabby-if-i-do-say-myself.

then all the runners from faversham running club headed to the pub to celebrate, and celebrate the first year of the clubs' existence. "just one," i thought.

4 pints of oyster stout later.

it's true. we really are a drinking club with a running problem. it's nice to find your people.

pre-stout

good friends

me: i just worry that i'll end up old and broke and eating cat food
helen: no that will never happen. cat food is really expensive. you wouldn't be able to afford cat food.

the tankerton arms

 the tankerton arms is a micropub - no more than a room really. this has become a bit of a thing in kent lately - micropubs serving only real ale, cider, and a local wine. there is even one in faversham, but the tankerton arms in tankerton is my favourite by a country mile.

it's not just that they serve great beer (they do), it's not just that everyone talks to each other (they do), or that everyone seems to have a witty comment (they really do). it's not just the recent addition of a piano and an impromptu 4 hand rendition of  heart and soul (ahem. i can only apologise for two of the hands).

it's the loo.

the loo is tiny. there's not enough room to even see if it is occupied or not so when you go in you hit a switch that turns an outside light from green to red, thus saving both embarrassment and a door-to-the-nose.

the walls of the loo are lined with the pictures of patrons dogs, all named, all framed. it's a loo of love.

we met a friend of ours walking his dog in the park today as we were coming home from the market. he was asking when we were getting another dog, and when we hemmed and hawed, he told us that they had waited 18 months after their first dog had died before they got another one. they thought they'd like the freedom, and they did, a bit. but when they got their next dog it just felt like they had wasted 18 months.

we've been talking about dogs again - we just couldn't face it right away - humph still has a rather large chunk of my heart sewn up - but maybe our friend is right.

we'll see.

and they call it lopi looooovvvveeeee

ps isn't he handsome?!

ps lopi mania

young felix loved the easter egg hunt, brunch was fabulous, and i've spent the rest of the afternoon and evening  knitting (it is blowing a gale and pouring with rain so this is sensible. ahem.) i'm in the heady yoke section of n's lopi and i think i may even finish tomorrow. the magic of watching the pattern emerge is 

so. much. fun.

it ees maaggiiiicccccc!

i think my hands are going to fall off.

hoppy easter!

it's the calm before the storm. in about twenty minutes felix and his parents and grandparents will arrive and all hell will break loose (in the best possible way). we've made an easter egg hunt with rhyming clues (and far far too much chocolate) so hopefully young felix will be entertained. i don't know if he'll have the attention span for it - we'll see how it goes. doesn't matter really - n and i had a blast making it all up so there's already been good entertainment value. we're having a brunch of hot crossed buns, smoked salmon, scrambled eggs, feta and hard boiled eggs.

i tried to make natural easter egg dyes this year (6 of them are ok but the other 6 look like something that survived the plague). the dyes were fine - red onion skins for pink, yellow onion skins for orange, red cabbage for blue. however i forgot that all our eggs here are brown so the pink ones look like burnished wood (interesting but not particularly appetising), the orange ones are ok, and the less said about the blue ones the better.

i'm starving. i might need to sample one or two of those mini eggs. you know - just to make sure they're ok :)

happy easter!

change of plan

we were supposed to be driving up to winchcombe in the cotswalds this weekend to visit n's uncle but we've been derailed by a nasty cold that has left us spluttering with phlegm and cursing the heavens (quietly - it also comes with a very sore throat).  germs not being the hostess gift we had in mind, we've rebooked and now have an unexpected free weekend in which to recover (and knit! and read!) so i have gotten over my disappointment rather quickly.

i am still obsessed by lopi jumpers - i am halfway up the body on n's already. they knit up so fast and i love how the interesting bit at the yoke is last so you always have something to look forward to. i think at this rate (and especially after this weekend) i should be at the yoke in another week. whoohoo! no one ever tells you how exciting knitting can be. i still remember the first time i figured out cables. i thought that the lopi shade card would help me pick what colour i want my next one to be but it has had pretty much the opposite effect as i now want them all. well maybe not the pink but pretty much everything else. colour junkie.

n's still in bed and as there is no way i'm going for a run this morning (my throat has nearly exited my body at the very thought) it seems like there is nothing for it but to laze on the sofa with a cup of coffee and my kindle. oh the horror! (grin)

happy weekend everybody

ooooh pretty...