wishing you a sweet and happy new year...

a colleague of mine introduced me to the Jewish tradition of apples dipped in honey at Rosh Hashanah in order to symbolically invite sweet things for the year to come. Being a bit of a magpie when it comes to appealing customs and rituals I brought this one home and shared it with the kids and Mr G way back then (October, was it?). When it came to the recent New Year's Eve Ms Reva, she of the amazing memory and attention to detail not to mention adoration of all things ritualistic (now, where could she get that from I wonder?) asked when we would be doing the apple and honey thang. With yours truly around she didn't need to ask twice.

There being no reason not to we adopted it in for our (non-Jewish New Year) New Year's Day brunch. We wished for sweet things for 2009 and that's my wish for you too. Have a great 2009, wherever you are. Honey coated or not.

(The brunch was great too...apples and honey, home made pancakes, scrambled eggs, smoked salmon, bagels, cream cheese, croissants, bonne maman jam, lashings of tea and copious amounts of coffee from Mr G's xmas pressie espresso maker. Mmmm, now that's a custom that has taken firm root chez milkwood...)

I've been absent a lot of late. Real life has got me in its grips and is squeezing me tight. Work is busier than ever, the kids are growing and seem to need more rather than less of me. It's ok, it's just taken me a bit by surprise. Ms Bester starts nursery at BIG SCHOOL next week and I can feel her quiet trepidation. Ms Reva is back to school tomorrow after an illness blighted Xmas and I can hear her not-so-quiet feelings on the subject!

I did quite a bit of knitting coming up to December 25th though, some of which has been passed to its recipients and can be shown.

My dad had some health issues last year, which he has met head on (as he does everything in life, amazing chap my dad) and now walks an hour or so early each morning. I walked his daily route with him on my last visit, riverside in Co. Cork. Every day I think of him taking his constitutional and so this Xmas when faced with the dilemma of what to get the man who needs nothing and wants less I decided to knit him a scarf to wear while walking. A multi-directional diagonal scarf to be precise. There were a couple of nerve wracking days waiting for the sumptuous Noro Silk Garden to arrive but arrive it did and soon those needles were clicking and clacking on the bus, in the doctors waiting room, at Ms Reva's Xmas carol concert, on my bike (oh no, actually I didn't go quite that far) and he received his parcel a little after the big day (I blame the Irish Post!).



That Noro Silk Garden is a lovely yarn, and I like these manly colours, very suitable for my dear dad. They match exactly the colours he likes to wear. I hope he has many many hours of warm walking and feels the love in every stitch. (Shame I don't have a photo of dad wearing it on his walk, maybe he'll send me one...hint, hint)

The aforementioned colleague (with the apples and honey) has recently taken to knitting after a 26 year hiatus. A rekindled passion responsibility for which she lays squarely at my door. I am happy with this and am quietly hoping to recruit more workmates to the dark art. They are mostly male software engineers more interested in World of Warcraft and techno-gadgetry but I hold out a glimmer of hope. Mia knit lots of hats for Xmas and helping her find a pattern on ravelry we came across this particularly fetching ribbed beanie which I surreptitiously managed to knit up for Mr G for his stocking.
The yarn is Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran and it's lovely. Amazingly I knit most of it while sitting watching TV with him and he was still overcome with surprise when he unwrapped it. All I can assume is that he thought I was knitting yet another tea cosy.

Speaking of tea cosies, there were a few of those on the needles too. One for Jane which I forgot to take a photo of but which I hope will keep her tea toasty warm while she is recovering from her leg operation on Wednesday and not wanting to have to make the trip to the kettle too often. And one for an undisclosable recipient who hasn't yet received it. Ooooh, nothing like leaving on a note of mystery eh?...

stories from Hibernia...

apologies for the long absence...I was trapped like a spider by the the mist and rain of Ireland...they diluted my brain to such an extent that I was rendered incapable of writing. But I've recovered now. I arrived to find some wonderful packages from various people, but that will have to be the subject of another post as my laptop won't allow me to upload any new photos at the moment...however I do have some images of Ireland to share, if you can bear to browse through random holiday snaps...

We went up a mountain to visit the Staigue Fort which is fairly randomly located in the middle of some farmer's field, surrounded by sheep, and mountains. Very beautiful, although extremely misty the day we went. Could have been built anytime from 1st century BC to around the 4th century AD. You can just wander in and have a bit of a gander...

we got down the mountain and found a lovely old pub in which to dry ourselves off and drink some Guinness. That Ms Bester looks like she has her eye on mine!

Lord Dunraven's Summer House - at the start of the walk

we did our favourite walk in Kerry, across an old "mass path" hewn out of rocks along the coastline beneath the eyes of the Cromwellian forces who were tasked with enforcing the ban on Catholicism in Ireland in the seventeenth century

People would take this route to the "mass rock" on which a priest would preach mass secretly, out of doors, in all weathers. It's a fabulous walk from Derrynane to Bunavalla, with some absolutely amazing scenery along the way. Ms Reva generally leads us, her being of the mountainy goat persuasion.

a random sighting en route - one spade is turned around differently to the others - was it a sign? there was no-one for miles to ask...


we did have some sunshine...and a barbeque on the beach at which Mr. G taught my best friend's son how to play beach volleyball...



while myself and Katie turned our ingenuity to the matter of keeping wine chilled in the absence of the silver buckets we are more accustomed to (ahem)...


and her hubby tried to catch us some dinner...



but the rain returned as we left "the kingdom" (as the county of Kerry is fondly known) and our August drive across the border felt like it could have been in midwinter...

Le Crotoy...moules and tea...and a petite giveaway

just back from a magical short break in Picardy...Le Crotoy to be precise

the moules were fabulous, as anticipated...

the town was lovely in a quiet way...had that wonderful salted weathered air that I love so much

...ramshackle peeling buildings

...aged colours

...shutters and "shutter keepers" no idea what these are really called but they are beautiful in their detail
indispensable in a country that relies so heavily on its shutterage to keep that which must be denied access out

...wonderful light, which I was keen to let in

...and a hotel which served the most divine afternoon tea...

my new flavour of choice is thé de Chine à la rose, très délicieux...

while pondering the deliciousness of our beverages my companion in the act of "taking tea" and I did decide that these beautiful and delicate teas are probably best appreciated in a gorgeous French coastal salon with a decided lack of smallfry in attendance...

something that can be tricky to recreate at home...

the children had a ball too of course...

now, it has just come to my attention that this is my 50th post (how did that happen?) so to celebrate I am going to do a very petite giveaway...leave me a comment telling me your favourite thing to eat when by the seaside (moules for me) and I will enter you in the draw to receive a little handmade lavender sachet...


these are made from the very pretty Alexander Henry cho cho (butterfly) fabric and will be finished off as soon as I relocate my pinking shears, which seem to have taken a little holiday of their own...