On the sixth day of the new year I have six random photos for you.
The first - is a photo I took six days ago when we were spending all our days in the apple orchards, brush cutting and netting most rows and trees. At night we'd come in and collapse and I'd knit stripes on my socks. Since this photo was taken I have knitted the feet, turned the heels and now I'm knitting up the legs.
This Trailing Clouds yarn is the best fun ever. There was a stage when I had considered only knitting with Australian or naturally dyed yarn this year, but after buying this stuff in a Facebook destash a few weeks ago, I left that resolution way behind.
The second - is a photo I took this afternoon while we were spinning six frames of honey we took from our bees yesterday.
I only took one photo of the bee visit itself on my phone, because as I took off my glove to snap it I was stung. Although it's probably been 20 years or more since my last sting, the second it happened I recognised that burning feeling and knew what it was. And although I felt awful for the loss of the little bee's life, I felt glad of the reminder to slow down, respect and remember who the real bosses are. Sorry bee. x
The third - is a cute little enamel egg cup my Mum bought for me recently for no other reason than she thought I'd like it. And I love it. So much so that as soon as I got it into my kitchen I gathered some old scrunched up brown paper and a dozen eggs and had a little photo shoot. So much fun - do you do that too?
The fourth - is a photo of the book I'm reading but not loving. I'm not really sure what to do about it either. I am such a loyal and monogamous reader that the thought of not finishing this book has hardly crossed my mind even though I am 200 plus pages into it and not loving it at all. What if something big is about to happen and I miss it? What if the whole first 200 pages are a set up for what happens next? And what did happen to Robyn anyway? But on the other hand what if nothing much ever happens?
I loved The Goldfinch so I feel like I need to give this one as good a go as I can. And there's a chance that I'm only not loving it because no book can ever come after The Poisonwood Bible. But what book should I read after this? Maybe I'll just read a bit more tonight before I decide for sure....
The fifth - is when Indi came home!! Yay!! Five days away and we missed her like crazy.
The sixth - was tonight's sunset. A beautiful end to a beautiful day (except that part where it took me AGES to work out what was wrong with the brush cutter only to find a mud wasp's nest in the exhaust).
Go gently my friends.
I'm off to make a pavlova and wrap my farmer boy's birthday prezzies.
Lovelovelove x
lovely images and happy birthday to your man
ReplyDeleteThanks Anna, I'll pass it on. x
DeleteLovely photos as always. Especially loving the photo of your three girls.
ReplyDeleteAnne xx
Thanks Anne, me too! I think that photo says so much about their relationship. We're all so happy she had a city adventure but we are thrilled to have her home. x
DeleteHey Kate, I LOVED The Goldfinch too even though i actually found that was slow to begin with, so maybe theres hope yet?Im loving the daily posts ,thank you for taking the time . Have a gorgeous day tomorrrow , hugs from the BURBS x
ReplyDeleteYeah you're right, it was slow to get going I forgot about that.
DeleteAnd thanks for the feedback. I do wonder if I'll be driving people crazy by the end of this month. xx
I'm the absolute same with books, I'm always reading and find it so frustrating when I'm struggling with one, I feel as though I've been defeated!
ReplyDeleteThat yarn is fantastic! I'm really into self-striping yarns at the moment....and love the photos, as always...and the relationship between your girls just shines out of them...
ReplyDeleteHi Kate!
ReplyDeleteI'm so happy to have come across your blog!! Your photos are stunning and I cannot wait to continue to follow along on your journey.
Regarding your "do I keep on going?" with the book...I'm completely the same way about feeling like I cannot abandon a story once I start it. (But sometimes it is so hard! I read a book over the summer that made me so angry with the way it was written that I wanted to toss it out a window! I kept hoping it would redeem itself, but it never did. ugh! Very frustrating!) I'm about to wrap up North of Normal right now and have really enjoyed it - it's a whirlwind of a story and comes with lots of emotions, but I found it very interesting.
Looking forward to reading more!
Love and light,
Jessica
hmm I'm like that with a book, I feel so guilty if I don't want to finish it I usually skim read it to the end! Not that that happens often, I'm quite lucky I don't choose many books I don't like x
ReplyDeleteI wish I had good news about that book but I've tried to read it several times over the years and I just can't get into it. I hope it gets better for you soon. I hate to give up on a book but sometimes it's the only recourse. :)
ReplyDeleteYou are not driving me crazy with the daily posts - you are driving me happy! I love them because your words and photographs are always so beautiful; I particularly love the photo of Indi's return. I am in love with your stripy socks. Isn't it brilliant that I can find out, via Australia, that the yarn I first came across on the Instagram feed of a Canadian knitter, and that I yearn for (London Underground self striping) is coming into stock in the UK, where I am. I do love the online crafting community. Happy reading, knitting, farming, birthdaying.
ReplyDeleteMsZeb X
I found a mud wasps nest in a notions bag in my craft room over the weekend. They best in the weirdest places!
ReplyDeleteI Ioved the Poisonwood Bible and the Goldfinch, what about Secret History by Donna Tartt that was a good read too.
ReplyDeleteThe Goldfinch is on my summer reading pile ... Hope it's good!!
ReplyDeleteI am so guilty of the random photo shoot...but my egg cups are not as cute!
THE LAKE ISLE OF INNISFREE
ReplyDeleteBy William Butler Yeats
I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,
And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made;
Nine bean rows will I have there, a hive for the honeybee,
And live alone in the bee-loud glade.
And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow,
Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings;
There midnight's all a-glimmer, and noon a purple glow,
And evening full of the linnet's wings.
I will arise and go now, for always night and day
I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore;
While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements gray,
I hear it in the deep heart's core.
1892
Beautiful images - thank you.
ReplyDeleteI abandoned that book too!
ReplyDeleteI was thinking about this this morning, how after you finish a really brilliant book it becomes so much harder to find the next thing to read. I finished reading The Silver Dark Sea (Susan Fletcher) on the weekend, and everything else I've attempted since just falls a bit flat. Loved your photos, as usual.
ReplyDeletehappy days! I'm enjoying your daily series x
ReplyDeleteSo much goodness Kate...but I adore that egg cup! Can a girl ever have enough enamel ware? I think not. Yes, I often whip up an impromptu photo shoot, usually at the most impractical time of the day when other things need doing! x
ReplyDeleteI'm doing Pip's reading challenge this year. I'm reading The Strays by Emily Bitto & I really like it. I don't have a heap of time to read but a few pages here & there is better than nothing right? x
ReplyDeleteKeep reading - it's one of my favourite books ever - I was actually a bit disappointed by the Goldfinch. Also, you should check out Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. It's a non-fiction account of her family's year of trying to grow/produce/locally source all their food. Inspirational and very down to earth.
ReplyDeleteI love your blog! I don't comment very often, because my English is not as good as I, but I read every post you write and I adore your fotos!!
ReplyDeleteGreatings from the snowy cold German winter
Jutta
I'm so impressed with your sock knitting. In fact, you inspired me to learn to knit, and so far I have made one pair of socks and I'm super proud of them. The only thing is that they took me 6 weeks. So, I'm wondering if you have any tips for speeding up the process a little, or is it just that I'll get faster with experience? I am knitting top down and one at a time, on 4 needles- do you find the toe up, in the round method speedier?
ReplyDeleteThat's awesome that you're knitting socks too!! Yeah six weeks is quite the long project isn't it. My first pair were cuff down, one at a time and I'd never do it again. Much slower and trickier. As for four needles I've never tried, that looks way too complicated. Get yourself a long circular and have a go at magic loop knitting and then go toe up I'd say. And my speed varies according to how much time I have or how distracted I am but I'm sure experience helps too. Have fun, hope that helps. xx
DeleteHi ! If you like self-striping yarns, you might like this one : http://biscotteyarns.com/collections/felix-self-striping-hand-dyed-yarns
DeleteLove your blog by the way : every picture is a work of art !
Thanks for your input Kate, I will definitely take your advice. I'd love to be fast enough to make socks for my family to enjoy!
DeleteWow - these random 6 were amazing and I'm so glad you shared them. I also love that your mum gave you an egg cup for the pure reason that she knew you'd love it - aren't mums great?! Thank you for sharing, J9 x
ReplyDeletebeautiful images....(do LOVE that little egg cup and it's special photo shoot!!!!) and I know what you mean about ending a GREAT book and finding it hard to dive into something that isn't. :(
ReplyDeleteI really struggled with Donna Tartt's The Secret History and everyone else seemed to LOVE it - was so infuriating! Have you read any Joan London? I loved her latest one, The Golden Age (and her previous two: Gilgamesh and The Good Parents). Kim xx
ReplyDeletehttp://www.randomhouse.com.au/authors/joan-london.aspx
I just dumped The First a Fifteen Lives of Harry August. I'm an ex-loyal reader. I decided quite a while ago that life is far too short and my list of books I want to read far too long to stick at something that I wasn't loving... x
ReplyDeleteNot liking the book?- consider the trade off. Is muddling through it worth the time from your life it will take to finish it? will you always wonder if you don't? Decisions, decisions...
ReplyDelete