Reader of this blog, be warned: I might not make a lot of sense right now, for I have a migraine (throb behind my right eye) and, much as I would like to work, I’m finding myself unproductive as f…. despite having taken my meds and having had 2 coffees and lots of water already.
So, a rambling little catching up blog post seems in order – after all, it’s a writing exercise too, and those are always beneficiary for my line of work.
Hope you had yourself a merry little Christmas and a cool start to the New Year.
Ours was mostly quiet and uneventful. We spent a lot of time at home, recovering (husband had a hip replacement after Thanksgiving and may now be addressed as ‚Bionic Man‘), regrouping (bad news about taxes that is throwing us back a couple months, ugh) and sleeping in big time (much needed after a couple intense weeks at school and work following our transatlantic travels).
There was cooking, baking, knitting and making good use of our Netflix account. There was quiet reading, listening to music, many hours of playing board games and also some me time, which is always welcome. Oh, and I stumbled across an intriguing cultural phenomenon from Norway, the remarkable 2016 (or 2017?) TV show SKAM. Check it out if you’re into Young Adults stuff, and let yourself be wrapped up in the lives of a group of lovable highschoolers played by amazingly talented, really young Norwegian actors. I leave it to you to guess who my favorite characters were ;-).
Since the weather has been like this mostly ever since we’ve been back from California, it was a bit of a stretch to actually get my butt out there and take walks, but I went anyway, as often as I could make myself. Funny how important lux is, after all we’re not plants, and can survive just fine without sunshine (as people in Norway and Finland and Iceland can testify to). But I’ve missed it, so much, and getting out of bed to do the school morning routine for my brood in the pitch dark has been challenging.
My latest translation project was a heaven-sent serendipity, as it’s a cookbook on the cuisine of the sunny, tropical islands in the Indian Ocean (Mauritius, Seychelles and such). Beautiful pictures, yummy recipes with a zing of curry, chili and lime, and quick and easy work to boot. A good way to kick off the work year, for sure – so thank you Ms. H. at Dorling Kindersley :-).
Crafts-wise, I designed a pair of wrist-warmers before the holidays. After some trying and unraveling and trying again, I had worked out the pattern, and even though I already managed to ruin the prototype
in the wash (pics were taken before, when they were still soft and pretty), I’ve made a couple more pairs in the meantime. Making wrist warmers is perfect if you have leftover yarn from some other project, and Lord knows I have those in spades in most colors of the rainbow. On the back of the hand, I’ve used a relatively simple lace pattern from one of my ancient knitting books:
From all the pics you can probably see it best on the red pair. I think it’s lovely, and the wrist warmers are keeping me cozy as I type away on my cookbook manuscript, and I’ve already made two pairs as birthday gifts to my sweet friends N. and M.
The photo story above is a nice way to wrap up – and also a very personal homage to a charming, grumpy old lady of a cat. There’s actually few man foods she finds even remotely appealing, and butter is probably her favorite, smart animal. It was French master chef Auguste Escoffier who replied, when asked about the secrets of great cooking: „Il y en a trois: du beurre, du beurre et du beurre.“ Cats are so wise, aren’t they?
And now, back to my manuscript. It’s been a very nice way to spend my lunch break, as always. Have a lovely weekend, everyone!
A Stitch is a stitch 