An afternoon with the girls

I spent this afternoon in the company of more than 700 ladies - all but nine of them had four legs! We'd been invited to go along to a local dairy farm to see what goes on and had a wonderfully interesting time. Who knew that cows wear pedometers?! (of course, I now notice that this particular one hasn't got her bracelet on....but believe me, all the others did!)

By the time we left, the herd was larger by one as this little calf was born in a quiet corner of the shed and we saw her take her first wobbly steps. What a privilege!

Seems we're not alone

"He’s not much over 5ft tall, thin as a rake, and could probably get away with paying half-fare on the bus."

This quote, pulled from an article in today's Times reveals that Richard Morrison shares our opinion of Gustavo Dudamel, having been to both CBSO concerts too.

"Da boy is da man"

They say is so eloquently in Orange County!

No idea when I'll use it, but.....

I think this is fun!

Waking up on a Gloucestershire morning

I was not the only one waking up slowly around 7am this morning. For at least half an hour before that, some little perisher was singing his heart out. Anyone would think it was Spring - but I don't think we're quite there yet even if it was a beautiful morning, as you can see.

I nipped downstairs and grabbed my ipod voice recorder to share the fun and leaned out of the window to take a photo at the same time. It's taken me all day to get this post together and only now do I realise that good old BBC Breakfast News is there in the background.

If you have any idea what bird has got that marvellous voice, I'd love to know so I can look out for him/her. And though it sounds like we live in the middle of the jungle, rest assured, this really is only deepest, darkest Gloucestershire!

Lunch in Cheltenham

We had lunch in Cheltenham the other day, at St Georges Church - sorry, no, at Zizzi's. What an interesting place to put a pizza oven.

Work begins

Whilst I promise not to bore you with step by step pictures of the building work, I thought this photo might amuse. Having left the builders all alone for the day, leaving them to get on with it, we couldn't wait for them to go home so that we could hurry downstairs to see what they'd been up to. I guess that 4.30pm came in mid-rip of a skirting board!

They are getting on nicely and there is visible progress, thank goodness.

February days

Seems to have been a busy weekend and yet I don't have a great deal to show for it!

On Saturday, we went to Symphony Hall to hear great music, conducted by our current favourite, Gustavo Dudamel. We especially loved the last movement of La Noche de los Mayas, by Revueltas, when a lively bunch of twelve percussionists banged, scraped, tinged and rattled away at the back of the orchestra in a superbly co-ordinated rhythmic climax with shouts, squeals and animal calls to boot. Brilliant stuff - perhaps not quite a CD to play on a relaxing afternoon at home, but for an occasion such as this, absolutely thrilling!

I am still trying to get myself going on a new knitting project. Had a false start with some ArtYarns merino which isn't quite enough for socks, so I thought I'd knit a pair of gloves, fingerless if necessary. However, after a few inches I realised that the yarn was pooling in stripes and did a quick bit of unknitting. I think Ene is calling me.

Oh, and the builders started work on the playroom - now to be named the studio (!) - this morning. The original estimate was two weeks work, which slipped a bit to three....and now possibly a month. I'm not holding my breath!

Done!

The room is empty, save for the sofas and the shelves, both awaiting collection from the recycling people. It was tough going towards the end, for we were both tired of feeling dusty and cobwebby and moving such a quantity of books is quite hard work!

Not only that, but I just finished binding off the edge of the Colinette shawl too. Thanks to Della I was tempted to order Lucy Neatby's Knitting DVDs, which arrived a couple of days ago. I have seen only part of one so far but have learned so much already and used Lucy's modified bind off to great effect - quick, neat and definitely the one to use on such a loosely knitted piece. I'm looking forward to watching some of Lucy's sock tricks now.

(The shawl measures about 50" square, btw, perfect for keeping someone's legs warm in the evening)

Can't decide what to cast on next - I think the Posh Socks yarn from this month is destined to be something other than a pair of socks. Any suggestions?

Are we nearly there yet?

Well, I suppose so...but there still seems a lot of books to be moved, mostly out of the picture. The sofas won't be collected by our recycling service until next Thursday.

Spent another hour or two sorting out the kit I'll be using in a workshop tomorrow - laptop, projector, docucam, cordless keyboard and mouse, speakers, mimio....have you any idea what a birdnest of cables that lot created?! And the heat generated from all that machinery purring away was enough to warm the kitchen to sub-tropical tempteratures. Fortunately it all behaved itself but in the true nature of a kit, once I'd got it all plugged in and working, I found I had a mystery power cable left over!

Anyway, having been good today, I allowed myself the delight of winding this month's Posh Yarns Sock Club yarn this afternoon, and very yummy it is too.