Ziggy

We very recently lost our lovely whippet Ziggy. He was only seven and it was very unexpected.  It has been a horrible shock. As anyone who has lost a pet will know, the hole they leave in your lives is huge and it takes a while to get used to it. We miss the pitter-patter of his paws on the floor, the "thud" of him jumping off the bed upstairs when he heard a packet open, the way he always appeared whenever the coffee machine started up, eyeing the treat cupboard hopefully. We miss letting him out for a bedtime wee, standing outside, staring at the moon while waiting for him. We miss the way he would jump into our bed once he heard the alarm go off, knowing it was morning and "allowed", burying himself under the covers. We even miss the way he was hazardously underfoot during all food preparation, or how he'd sneak off his bed towards the end of a meal, hopefully resting his head on your thigh for a bit of leftover sausage. Bella always used to leave a little of the meat on her plate "for Ziggy". The sound of knives and forks being placed in the middle of a plate was his sign to start skulking under the table. We miss the routine of walking him, whether it was a short "pavement" walk locally or a longer stride through the countryside. The way, off the lead, he would linger behind sniffing then race on ahead of us. In short, we miss everything about having him in our lives. We were so lucky to share our home with him for so long: he brought us together as a family and made life better in so many ways. 

We have wonderful memories of him (and so many photos!) and have planned a few things to make us feel better. We are going to buy a silver birch tree and plant it where he always used to dig at the fence and bark at the neighbour's dog. We will print photos and display them around the house. We are walking his favourite walks and missing him but enjoying the walking. We still have his lead hanging on the hook by the front door. The house still feels horribly empty and quiet but being busy helps, as always.

Ziggy, you were the best dog. 

Autumn

Hello! Autumn has been slowly unfolding around us over the last few weeks, as we've all been busy back at school and college and work, revealing its layers in darker mornings and yellow leaves. 

We made a couple of changes to the house over the summer holidays and have been gradually catching up with all the little jobs that follow on from this. We used to have a large (almost four metre wide) window at the front of the living room, overlooking the front garden. It was old and very drafty. You could actually feel the fresh air blowing in on you if you sat next to it on a windy day. Under the window was a large uPVC panel, which I always hated. When we moved in we put plasterboard on the inside, as seen in the photo below, to make it look better and to insulate the room more. We always moaned about the heat we must lose through that huge window and panel.

In the photo below, taken just after we moved in in Spring 2015, you can see the panel under the window before we added plasterboard and a window sill.

Anyway, we finally got round to doing something about it. 

Plants were moved and bookcases were emptied. 

Builders took out the whole section, window and uPVC panel, and put bricks at the bottom and in a pillar up the middle, and we changed the one window for two. We have lost a tiny - tiny! - amount of light in a bright room. We have gained much better insulted windows and have already noticed how much warmer and quieter it is.

Breeze blocks were plastered.

Painted.

Curtain poles, curtains and skirting board were added.

Furniture was shuffled around into new positions.

I still need to hem the curtains and paint the skirting board - a half term job.

We also had a new front door fitted. Our previous front door was old and leaked quite badly when it rained. I have always disliked it and we put up with it for ten years (it was probably fitted twenty before that) before this one. Again, the difference in the level of insulation is amazing. Our hall is so warm now that the heating doesn't automatically come on. Maybe in about one hundred years we'll recoup the cost of the door from our heating bills....

I was so fixated on how the new front door (it's composite by the way) would look from the front of the house I hadn't considered how it would look inside.

We have the same amount of light as before, just a different layout. I love it. It feels like we redecorated. 

In case you're wondering why the hall is so tidy, this is out hall cupboard. We also have a large internal garage just off the hall into which we throw everything we don't know what to do with.

Anyway those home improvements were all very exciting. The living room is so warm that we haven't even had to light the fire yet this autumn. 

Outside, the landscape is slowly changing around us.

There is still quite a lot of green around but, with every week that goes by, everything gets a little paler, a little more yellow and orange.

The seasons are shifting around the house too. There are chrysanthemums in pots and bulbs ready to be planted.

A couple of weeks ago, I swapped over the summer for winter clothes. Bought tights and dug out my boots.

Logs were delivered and stacked.

Autumn cooking is my favourite, I think. The apples and pears. pumpkins and squashes  - the shift towards soups and stews and slow bakes.

New recipes have been tried: apple and cinnamon fritters

pumpkin spiced latte cake

and roasted tomato soup. 

Many, many tomatoes, a couple of red onions, a couple of carrots, some garlic, were all tossed together in olive oil then roasted.

Once cooked, I blitzed the lot with my stick blender and added a little stock, to loosen it, and Greek yogurt (I didn't have any single cream). I ate it with a toasted cheese sandwich and it was good, autumnal comfort food, and there are lots of portions in the freezer now too.

There have been some lovely moments of creativity over the last few weeks. My friend Abbie and I went to a collage workshop at Winter's Moon in Chichester. One whole glorious day to sit, listen, learn and try out a new skill.

It was led by artist Jacqui Mair, who brought with her a huge array of beautifully coloured and textured papers and showed us how to layer them to create a still life.

Our first task was, with a very short time limit, was to create an A5 practise piece. We were given a couple of minutes to choose our papers, a couple more minute to cut out shapes, and five minutes or so to glue them into position. Working with these time constraints was actually rather freeing, as we all just made very quick decisions and selected colours and shapes quite instinctively.

Mine is top left, the tulips in the white vase, and Abbie's is top right. I love the off centre position and use of text in the vase.

Then we had the rest of the day - about four hours - to work on our own A4 piece. Most of us went with some version of a still life and I think they are all wonderful. I decided to try to use the old, striped jug of flowers on the table as inspiration, and mine is bottom right. 

I loved that the point of the day was not the finished article, but the process and the time to just create. Such a treat and worth every penny. If you have a chance to sign up for one of these classes (or any type of creative class) I urge you to try it.

Crochet has been limited to this top.

No pattern, just two balls of sock yarn in "Neon Only" from The Wool Kitchen which I crocheted into two long, rectangular strips then sewed them together up the front and back to create a V-necked top.

The yarn is bright and light and summery, and I wore it a lot in late summer. It also looks great over a long-sleeved t-shirt with skirt and boots.

All other creative endeavours have gone on to my holiday embroidery, or my patchwork quilt (still going some six years on....). I have lots of yarn and lots of patterns but no head space to sit down and actually get to grips with one. The thought of doing a tension gauge and following a pattern makes me feel exhausted, telling me that it's ok to not start any new crochet yet. I'm allowed to leave it for now, despite the craft baskets staring at me.

That's all our news. Ziggy says hi. Happy autumn!