I have been busy...
Aug. 7th, 2017 05:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pensnestA long update, with illustrations! I've been mentally writing it for several days, but then got busy on house stuff—much furniture shuffling, hoovering and what not—and didn't get round to sorting out the photos.
My chorus—a subset, anyway—went for a walk around Whitlingham Broad, and had a meal and a mardle (that's Norfolk for natter) afterwards at a local pub. Very pleasant, and although my phone threatened a 90% chance of rain during our stroll, the precipitation kindly held off until we were back at the pub.
*
I wanted to go into the city for the Pride parade and attendant shenanigans, but what with producing the weekly newsletter and having to provide FIL's lunch, it didn't work out. A pity, because the place seems to have been buzzing with activity! Oh well, next year.
*
Then, there was Fibre East, the annual yarn marketplace in Ampthill, which meant a rather early start on a Sunday morning. But I had company, in the form of one of the people from my Biddy's knitting group, and we got there nicely for a good parking space on the hardstanding instead of the field, and were first in.
I got my peacock yarns! Lots of yummy colours… which do not, and this is a pity, involve silk in any way, but should make a pretty spiffing peacock shawl, n'est-ce pas? (The interloper is a really pretty sock yarn which I couldn't resist.) The lightest yarn is also sparkly. Of course it is.
I'm currently working on a sweater, probably for my nephew, involving yarn I had left over from the previous sweater (this includes some of the lovely yarnsturlough sent me a while back), so I have time to ponder the possibilities and pick the right pattern.
*
Rainbow Unicorn Afternoon Tea! This was on at the Assembly House for Pride Week (why Norwich celebrates Pride a month after everyone else I do not know), and Beast and I went for lunch. I wore my orange and pink fascinator, because when you have an orange and pink fascinator, you find occasions to wear it.
Okay, so this is not a picture of my orange and pink fascinator. But—giant rainbow unicorn cake!
Tasty little sandwiches (which we ate before I remembered to take any pictures, but eh, sandwiches, not that photogenic), a little cornet of smoked salmon mousse, a brioche bun filled with egg mayonnaise (*shrug*), two scones, one cheese and mustard and the other a fruit one with cream and strawberry jam, though I forgot to note whether the jam was actually sparkly as claimed. Then a madeleine with a large horn, a little macaron arrangement like a miniature pink Cogsworth, a rainbow-coloured opera cake, and posset (delicious!) topped with a glittery fondant unicorn head.
Duelling unicorns!
Quality wise, not the very best Afternoon Tea I have ever eaten—I don't think anything will surpass the offering from Chatsworth—but pretty good, and delightfully themed.
*
Momentous development in the house front: we are at long last able to use our ensuite bathroom. The garage having been demolished, the drains could be installed several days ago. Yay for going to the loo in the early morning without having to enswathe myself in a dressing gown so as not to frighten FIL. The glass screens for both showers have now been put in place, but Beast is waiting to peel off the protective film on the shower tray until one of us has touched up the paint on the ceiling. Still. It all looks very grand.
*
The Chaps are steamrollering on, building a new roof to the little stub of house where once a garage was. Our footprint is going to be very different! Also, the third spare bedroom has been painted, and the study has been painted. We have given FIL the study to use as a sitting room, and moved his TV in there a couple of days ago. There's still furniture switching to be done, as the room will accommodate the sofa bed—in case we run out of guest bedrooms and need to use it as an extra—and his newly-ordered fancy chair wot operates with electricity. I was going to put 'electric chair' but that might have given the wrong impression. He's not that irritating.
On Wednesday, the chaps will repaint FIL's kitchen, but sadly as we are still waiting for news of the putting-right of our new kitchen, we still have to cook in the old kitchen. Our kettle died just this week, so we have been putting the boiling water tap to excellent use.
*
And I have met the bees! There was a cloud of them hovering over the hive a few days ago, and we called our Dave-the-bees in a bit of a panic in case they were preparing to leave. He came over pretty promptly, but they'd calmed down already so he did an inspection and lent me the spare bee tunic so that I could see what was inside. Most interesting. They are busily making honey upstairs, and the queen is obviously hard at work creating more bees downstairs—there were lots of white grubs curled up in cells, and also tiny white specks of eggs, and differently coloured cells full of pollen. And bees carting pollen about. Dave-the-bees actually got stung, much to his surprise, and was muttering about getting a more docile queen in next year, but we'll see. Anyway. The bees are well.
My chorus—a subset, anyway—went for a walk around Whitlingham Broad, and had a meal and a mardle (that's Norfolk for natter) afterwards at a local pub. Very pleasant, and although my phone threatened a 90% chance of rain during our stroll, the precipitation kindly held off until we were back at the pub.
*
I wanted to go into the city for the Pride parade and attendant shenanigans, but what with producing the weekly newsletter and having to provide FIL's lunch, it didn't work out. A pity, because the place seems to have been buzzing with activity! Oh well, next year.
*
Then, there was Fibre East, the annual yarn marketplace in Ampthill, which meant a rather early start on a Sunday morning. But I had company, in the form of one of the people from my Biddy's knitting group, and we got there nicely for a good parking space on the hardstanding instead of the field, and were first in.
I got my peacock yarns! Lots of yummy colours… which do not, and this is a pity, involve silk in any way, but should make a pretty spiffing peacock shawl, n'est-ce pas? (The interloper is a really pretty sock yarn which I couldn't resist.) The lightest yarn is also sparkly. Of course it is.
I'm currently working on a sweater, probably for my nephew, involving yarn I had left over from the previous sweater (this includes some of the lovely yarns
turlough sent me a while back), so I have time to ponder the possibilities and pick the right pattern.*
Rainbow Unicorn Afternoon Tea! This was on at the Assembly House for Pride Week (why Norwich celebrates Pride a month after everyone else I do not know), and Beast and I went for lunch. I wore my orange and pink fascinator, because when you have an orange and pink fascinator, you find occasions to wear it.
Okay, so this is not a picture of my orange and pink fascinator. But—giant rainbow unicorn cake!
Tasty little sandwiches (which we ate before I remembered to take any pictures, but eh, sandwiches, not that photogenic), a little cornet of smoked salmon mousse, a brioche bun filled with egg mayonnaise (*shrug*), two scones, one cheese and mustard and the other a fruit one with cream and strawberry jam, though I forgot to note whether the jam was actually sparkly as claimed. Then a madeleine with a large horn, a little macaron arrangement like a miniature pink Cogsworth, a rainbow-coloured opera cake, and posset (delicious!) topped with a glittery fondant unicorn head.
Duelling unicorns!
Quality wise, not the very best Afternoon Tea I have ever eaten—I don't think anything will surpass the offering from Chatsworth—but pretty good, and delightfully themed.
*
Momentous development in the house front: we are at long last able to use our ensuite bathroom. The garage having been demolished, the drains could be installed several days ago. Yay for going to the loo in the early morning without having to enswathe myself in a dressing gown so as not to frighten FIL. The glass screens for both showers have now been put in place, but Beast is waiting to peel off the protective film on the shower tray until one of us has touched up the paint on the ceiling. Still. It all looks very grand.
*
The Chaps are steamrollering on, building a new roof to the little stub of house where once a garage was. Our footprint is going to be very different! Also, the third spare bedroom has been painted, and the study has been painted. We have given FIL the study to use as a sitting room, and moved his TV in there a couple of days ago. There's still furniture switching to be done, as the room will accommodate the sofa bed—in case we run out of guest bedrooms and need to use it as an extra—and his newly-ordered fancy chair wot operates with electricity. I was going to put 'electric chair' but that might have given the wrong impression. He's not that irritating.
On Wednesday, the chaps will repaint FIL's kitchen, but sadly as we are still waiting for news of the putting-right of our new kitchen, we still have to cook in the old kitchen. Our kettle died just this week, so we have been putting the boiling water tap to excellent use.
*
And I have met the bees! There was a cloud of them hovering over the hive a few days ago, and we called our Dave-the-bees in a bit of a panic in case they were preparing to leave. He came over pretty promptly, but they'd calmed down already so he did an inspection and lent me the spare bee tunic so that I could see what was inside. Most interesting. They are busily making honey upstairs, and the queen is obviously hard at work creating more bees downstairs—there were lots of white grubs curled up in cells, and also tiny white specks of eggs, and differently coloured cells full of pollen. And bees carting pollen about. Dave-the-bees actually got stung, much to his surprise, and was muttering about getting a more docile queen in next year, but we'll see. Anyway. The bees are well.
no subject
Date: 2017-08-07 07:12 pm (UTC)it's good to hear things are coming together with your ensuite and the rest of the alterations; your house should be stellar once all's done! and you have bees. that's just awesome, I'm glad they weren't preparing to leave, and the queen's been busy, so there are more on the way
no subject
Date: 2017-08-08 10:59 am (UTC)http://pen-robinson.dreamwidth.org/34788.html#comments
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Date: 2017-08-07 08:07 pm (UTC)And how cool that you got to take a closer look at the bees!
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Date: 2017-08-08 11:00 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-08-08 07:55 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-08-08 11:00 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-08-08 09:48 am (UTC)Do Different :-)
I was at UEA. I love the fact that it says this on my degree certificate.
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Date: 2017-08-08 11:01 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-08-08 10:53 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-08-08 11:02 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-08-08 01:54 pm (UTC)It sounds like you're doing a lot, I bet the house is going to be amazing when you're all done. :))
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Date: 2017-08-10 08:39 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-08-08 07:13 pm (UTC)What a splendidly colourful tea!
Good to hear things are progressing with your house. (But, no kettle! How do you survive?! Boiling water from a tap doesn't sound like the same thing at all :-)
Your bees sound fascinating. I'm looking forward to making their acquaintance before Camp.
no subject
Date: 2017-08-11 02:56 pm (UTC)I look forward to showing you my house! But sadly, the kitchen probably won't be finished—woe—because we've just heard that the replacement parts will be done probably at the beginning of the week of Camp, and we don't yet know when the fitter will be available. *grump* Never mind, you will get a picture of the fabulousness-to-come from seeing what is currently in there.
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Date: 2017-08-08 09:40 pm (UTC)Damn straight you do!
Everything about that unicorn tea looks glorious. And your yarn! Such a beautiful array of blues!
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Date: 2017-08-10 08:40 am (UTC)I seem to be a serial purchaser of peacocky blue yarns, but this time I really do expect to make the peacock shawl.
no subject
Date: 2017-08-09 11:55 am (UTC)HOORAY! for things moving forward on the house. A massive list sounds both intimidating and hopeful.
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Date: 2017-08-10 08:40 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-08-09 05:03 pm (UTC)You have a boiling water tap. I have envy. It's good to hear things are moving on nicely.
no subject
Date: 2017-08-10 08:42 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-08-12 04:42 am (UTC)Also, yay for the ensuite and the rest of the progress! And the bees sound fascinating. I'm glad you didn't get stung yourself.(*Can* one just replace the queen? I would have thought that would cause upset in the hive.)
no subject
Date: 2017-08-12 11:10 pm (UTC)And sparkly unicorn deliciousness, and *substantial progress* - all very excellent things!