A Heavenly Gift.

These nights, the sky has been a carpet of Milky-way and stars that take your breath away.

Our house is cold.
And in the night, in the darkness, I find
a tiny hand that somehow escaped the warmth, that crept out from beneath the bedclothes,
a tiny frozen ice-pop!

And as I lie in the dark, little mitt tucked under my arm to thaw,
I think about the darkness, the vast clear coldness that stretches out above this little house of ours,

My mind expanding,
I think about what we saw there tonight.

The Moon. And Venus. And Jupiter.

Held in the skies, so bright
the stars around them retreated out of deep admiration,
I fancy.


Picture from BBC  News in Pictures.


Oh my heart...

Did you see it?

A Week Of Pictures.

Moomin-Stitches.

Well, I received a lovely email from Rima, so it arrived safe and sound before they took to the road.
So, here it is. My first attempt at Redwork. Not traditional I know. Red thread on a piece of softest wool blanket. I took my inspiration from Tove Jansson's Moomintroll. Somehow these little creatures just scuttled into my head and would not hear of leaving. Persistent I think was the word I used.

(Apologies for the dodgey quality of the photos. Cliona? Jeannie? We need to talk!)



I can safely say, I am a convert. At any given moment of non-activity I am rummaging in my enormous and bottomless bag for my little tin and away I go, needle creeping in and out, slowly making a new little world,



Last night Jay stopped and looked at me curled up on the red couch, stitching away on the next piece under the light of the lamp, a big blanket over my legs.
He said: I love the way you are sewing what is covering you!
Yes, there, at the end of the blanket, a big gaping square has been cut out!



And then I remembered. The five of us fighting over who got to sit on the couch with Mum, snuggled under whatever quilt she was working on. And the groan's and mutterings when we had to move it as she stitched her way around it...

Seven Random Facts

I've been tagged. Thank you Karen. I have seen this particular one doing the rounds, and it's a bit of fun so here goes.

The Rules:

Link to your Tagger
Share 7 facts about yourself ( random or unusual)
Tag 7 other people at the end of the post and leave them a comment to let them know they have been tagged.

The Facts:

1) I have always loved music, and I get quite intense with something new that I love and have it on loop for weeks. As a result, I often find it hard to go back and listen to something from my past. It can be a physical pain in my heart. A little espresso shot of a moment that is gone forever.

2) Staying with music. Since having children, and my mind is filled with the practicalities of life-with-four-children, I find it difficult to switch on my creative brain when I want to. But I find that listening to piano music gets things flowing. Poetry in motion...

3) The 'Dancing Queen' scene in Mamma Mia always makes me cry... (That's more of a confession than a random fact!)

4) Since the first time I saw Chitty Chitty Bang Bang I have always wanted to live in a windmill. This followed closely by the desire to live on a canal barge.

5) I once played in a Samba band...

6) I think Jane Austen is probably my hero, for too many reasons to write here. But suffice to say I read (and watch) Pride and Prejudice at least once a year. (The BBC version. Though I do admit to loving the more recent version for it's visual beauty. And the music...)

7) People aside, beauty is the most important thing.


And now, the difficult bit. Who to tag?
Lisa?
Cliona?
Valerie?
Pamela?
Marta?
(I have a feeling some of you may have done this one already so ignore it if you have!)

Oh...and any of you out there who fancy doing it. You can say I tagged you! Let me know and I'll sneak your name in here.

And now, some pictures to end the week with...

A Week Of Pictures.