6 December: Silver (well, more skewbald*) surfers

My brain hurts.

My Dear Husband has got a new laptop, and we have been learning lots about transferring files and applications. And there's a lot to learn about asking the right question - tricky when you only have a vague idea of what you want to do, and not the correct words for it in computer-speak.

Although we have a big fat instruction book about the OS, it is still very difficult to find the bit that refers to the problem you are trying to solve. And of course, there's the side-tracking; like the hour or so spent trying to find out why the book refers to, and illustrates, a mailbox called "Junk", and there isn't one on our computer. And, apparently, no way of finding out why.

He's got the laptop connected to the Internet OK, but there's still the problem of how to use it to access the e-mails that are on the desktop computer.

Anyway, in the end we got the Family History programme onto the laptop, along with the file of his FamHist. And I managed to retrieve several weeks' worth of work on my own FamHist file from the Trash .....


(*one grey head, one brown.)

31 December: Irresolute

A White Christmas - snow fell on 17 December and is still here; there have been a few starts at a thaw, but never enough to clear the packed and frozen snow before more has fallen again. The only consolation of a fresh fall of another inch of snow this evening is that it reduces the chances of being woken in the middle of the night by post-pub fireworks.

Now that neither of us has to go to work (we stay at home and they just pop the money into the bank for us), we have a whole fresh New Year ahead, full of all sorts of possibilities. My Dear Husband has found a new interest, and who knows where that will lead; I have just turned 21 again, and have a list of things to try out at least as long as my arm.

But no New Year resolutions. That's just courting disappointment. Hope for the best, expect the worst, and life is full of delightful little surprises.

28 June: Something entirely different

A clip of Michael Jackson's act shows him doing a sort of jerky backwards walk (this may be the "moondance" thing?) - but Wilson, Keppel and Betty did exactly the same moves many years ago, and were much funnier.

Oh, and this tickled me as well: To err is human, to arr is pirate.

Edit : To arr could also be yokel.

10 March: Reliability of cars

It's a good job DH is now retired; no loss of working time taking his car back to the garage. And back again.

Last month there was a problem with the fuel leaking - a seal was replaced, but the fuel pump was mentioned. A couple of weeks ago, after coughing intermittently for for some days, the car simply stalled in the middle of the road, and wouldn't start again; the RAC had to tow it to the dealership, where the fuel pump was replaced.

Yesterday on the motorway it started to cough again. So it has gone back to the dealership again. How fortunate that I still have my little car! It's over 6 years old now, compared with the 15 months of DH's car, and I was thinking that we had no real use for it now, but perhaps that's not right. It's awfully handy for ferrying him to and fro to drop off and pick up his car.

12 February: Still no snow photos

Happy (significant) Birthday, DD!

Just when it had thawed a bit yesterday, today it snowed constantly all day. DH, extremely glad he didn't have to go out, spent the day moving bits of furniture round, and setting up his hi-fi system in his new playroom study.

And for our tea we had comfort food - chips with our omelette, and then a tin of fruit cocktail. Do you remember when a tin of fruit cocktail was a touch of luxury?

And here are a couple of photos as a reminder that sometimes the sun shines warmly and the flowers bloom:

10 February: No snow photos

Well, I haven't had a minute.

It's not that life has gone into slow motion; more that now there's two of us doing not very much, it seems to take twice as long! (And getting at the computer during the day is now half as likely.)

And all this snow doesn't help. Living above the snow-line as we do, the street in front of the house has been thick with ice for what seems like weeks - in the shadow of the houses it takes ages to melt. The main roads, of course, are clear, but local pavements are still treacherous, and as a visit to A & E is unappealing any foray out of the house has to be carefully negotiated.

In fact I am thoroughly fed up with the snow and ice hampering everything we want to do, and would be most grateful if it would just go away.

2 February: 2 Pensioners

DH has now finished work, and we have been busy all weekend with making a start on re-organising the house. As I have a room for all my fibre stuff, it's only fair that he should have a room to potter about in as well. And there are only the 2 of us in this 4-bedroomed house.

And so there has been much moving about of furniture, clothes, junk, papers, and general stuff, of which we seem to have a huge amount. Some of it has been moved to the tip, and there's a big stack of stuff to go to charity shops.

This morning we woke to snow again, but of course nobody had to struggle through it to get to work [ :) ], so after a second cup of coffee we did some more sorting out of old papers, and some re-constructing of old photo albums.

Knitting continues, and the current project is well advanced, and a photo has been taken for its Ravelry project page. The recently spun wool/silk batt is slowly becoming a top-down raglan cardigan, following Barbara Walker's recipe.

And a few pairs of old hand-knitted socks have been tossed onto the "out" pile, so there's a bit of space in the sock drawer. And we all know nature hates empty space.

26 October: Funny how time slips away

Writing a shopping list is always helpful, even if you arrive at the shops and the list is still on the kitchen table.

So I was checking the fridge and then the cupboard for what was missing, and found that the top shelf had collapsed. One of those little doofers that plug into the side and the shelf rests on had broken - plastic fatigue, probably.

All the stuff from the shelf had to be rescued, then the search for a replacement doofer began. Surely we had some in the drawer. Well, the kitchen drawers and the garage shelves have been tidied up in recent months, so nothing was where it was expected to be (I had a terrible job finding a trowel the other day when I wanted to re-point the garden path before the frosts, and it turned up in the box of wallpaper-hanging stuff).

Having failed to find a fresh doofer, the only alternative was B&Q's late night opening. Unsure where to start looking, we asked a homely body who knew exactly what we meant - she had some in her own cupboard; unfortunately she was new in the store, and wasn't quite certain where they were. Eventually we located what we wanted, after much comparison of size and shape with the sample we had brought with us and the transparent items in the sealed bag. Much wonderment at some of the other products on sale - why is it that when you want a particular item, and having searched fruitlessly, then bodged up some sort of substitute, then 3 weeks later, B&Q have precisely what would have done the job, which is now not going to be done again. The exact case with our rainwater butts - but I digress.

Home with the doofers, then faced with the problem of removing the snapped-off end of the old one before the new one could be fitted and the shelf restored to its former glory (and how I loathe that cliche).

So then there was all this stuff to put back into the cupboard. Bags of flour bought recently for more adventurous bread-making, little drums of herbs and spices, some sugar, a small bottle of beer - hang on a minute, we've been teetotal for 13 or 14 years, what's this doing in there? But no, DH wants to keep it; perhaps he plans to sell it one day on eB*y to supplement his pension, as it's a special brew of something. Bottles of vinegar - keep the ones I use for dyeing, but the dusty one that smells dreadful can be poured away. A small box with an exotic mix of spices - the best before date is only July this year, so that goes back on the shelf. A large bottle of soy sauce - that'll be OK, a splash gets used regularly every week or two. Hang on, what does that best before date say? June 2000? How did that escape notice when we moved in 2002?

Is there some sort of wormhole in time accessible only from the back of the shelf? What's going on?

3 August: Old, but still useful

Steaming something - remembered that a pinch of cream of tartar in the boiling water stops the pan turning black (Mrs Beeton?).

Knew there was a little container of it in the top cupboard, with the flour and baking powder, as it used to go into an excellent recipe for scones, which has not been made for a while, because of the amount of butter needed on a fresh scone. And when you make a dozen, they all have to be eaten while they're fresh, don't they?

Found the little drum, put in the pinch of powder, went to return it to the shelf, noticed the "Best Before" date.

When we moved, five years ago, didn't we check all the stuff coming out of the old kitchen and going into the new one? Really is it so long since I used to do home-made scones? Have I gone back to hoarding stale ingredients?

It was dated Feb 98.

The new container I bought this morning is dated Aug 08. You never need more than a teaspoonful in a recipe, but I don't suppose it will get used up any quicker than the last one. Unless I start baking scones again ......