Goodbye sunshine

The clocks have fallen back. Undoubtedly, the extra hour has been greatly appreciated; the day has seemed elongated and full (baking and reading to accompany homework.) This weekend always seems to herald the beginning of life without sunshine however. Dark in the morning on the way to work. Dark coming home as well. Fluorescent gear will come out of the cupboard. Will hope not to get run down on quiet and gloomy country roads…

Thankfully, it’s been half term with some pretty fantastic autumnal weather (bright, blustery and beautiful) with the chance to get out on the bike and on foot. Although weekends will provide some respite, and outdoor activities will be planned into the school week, there won’t be so much sunshine for me for the next few months.

Goodbye sunshine, you’re great.

Forever Spinach

We were woken up by the fog horn this morning, with bright sunshine shining through it all. We haven’t been to the allotment in months, but a morning like this (and weeks of procrastinating) finally lured us down. In August, we left the allotment bare, and cleared of years of endless spinach. I suppose we expected the odd repeat weed, but we didn’t plan on a full spinach harvest.

We’re trying to clear a space to plant potatoes and onions before it’s too late. But, with this amount of spinach, I think it’ll be a while before we diversify.

Whistle Stop Winchester

A week’s gone by, and I haven’t even taken a moment to mention Tom’s birthday last weekend. We had a great time celebrating in our much-loved old home, Winchester last weekend; enjoyed some comedy at the enviable Discovery Centre, celebrated with the Jays on their engagement (congratulations guys!) and wandered around the Farmer’s Market, buying things that were far to heavy to carry back to the Island.(but we did anyway, and we had a delicious meal at home with plenty of Hampshire fare.)

Happy (belated) Birthday Tom. xx

Seeing Stripes

All this sudden summery weather has got me seeing stripes; on the deckchairs at Ventnor Beach, winding through pebbles at Steephill Cove and in the Minghella’s ice cream I simply had to have two scoops of.

At home I’ve been playing with stripes in fabric and yarn. The folks over at Design*Sponge have done a great sewing 101 on making cushions, which finally spurred me on to turn this lovely Backstitch fabric in to something useful.

And Jane Brocket‘s indefatigable knitting of socks got me making my own. They took three months, two unpickings and one mighty strop, but I got there in the end.

They took so much time, I’m not sure I’ll ever want to walk on them. So I might just lie on the couch and admire my feet instead.

PS You can find more of my knitting over at Ravelry.

Pedalling the Island

We found this quote on an apron at a little shop on our Sunday morning bike ride. And while this Island may not be the only one, it is certainly our favourite. We spent the weekend exploring both ends of it by bicycle, stopping for local food and plenty of coffee, and sometimes, just stopping to enjoy the view.

Vincent Cox holds the Guinness world record for the fastest circumnavigation of the world by bicycle. At the recent intelligence squared cycling festival he celebrated the power of the bicycle to transport us at the perfect speed; to notice every small detail, and yet cover enough ground to see plenty of it.

This is surely the best way to travel.