Dogs, Chickens and 1920s Actresses

10 January 202111 January 2021 / darkislethebooks / Leave a comment

So, it’s been a couple of months since I last wrote a blog and that’s because November and December were pretty busy what with various birthdays and Christmas to organise. Not that we saw anyone over Christmas – my entire family stayed at home in their separate houses. We saw each other on Christmas Day via Zoom, but apart from that we didn’t get together. I also had a lot of work on before Christmas and had a chicken pen to erect which took a lot longer than I imagined (more on that soon).

Anyway, sorry for not being around. It’s been a weird time recently what with the pandemic, Brexit and what’s been going on in America with people storming the Capitol building. But, I’m not going to talk about either because they are just too depressing, so I’m going to start this blog off with something funny. Here’s some great animal videos I got on YouTube:

So, how are you all? Hope you’re well. Hmmm let’s see what’s been happening? Well, due to the pandemic I have not been going out. We’re now in total lockdown in Scotland, which means we can only go out for vital things (such as food and exercise). Even before this lockdown, I was pretty much staying close to home anyway. I have been taking the dogs out for walks though and it’s been lovely to speak to other dog walkers (socially distanced of course) along the way. The dogs have been a Godsend in this pandemic. They are just so full of joi de vivre and ours are such cuddly, loving wee munchkins that they’ve made being stuck inside more bearable.

I do still have the aforementioned chickens who have not laid an egg since October (gurn – I miss their eggs, they were gorgeous), so are not pulling their weight!! Ha hahaha. I’ve bought them a bigger, walk-in pen for two reasons: firstly, I had to get them under cover as there’s Bird Flu about and it’s the law that your domestic fowl have to be kept away from wild birds. They are not enjoying being incarcerated, but there’s nothing I can do about that. They’re original pen was too small, so I bought and constructed a new one. It’s much better, they have far more room.

Secondly, I was thinking about doing it anyway. They had been free range, but they cause chaos in the garden. I can’t plant anything as they eat anything that resembles tasty greens and they make a mess. So, into the pen they went and that’s where they’ll stay.

For the first time, I created and sold a calendar on Etsy. My Amazing Actresses of the 1920s and 1930s was packed full of beautiful black and white images of famous actresses of the time. And they are selling quickly. More coming soon. If you are looking for a calendar and fancy this one, buy it here: Amazing Actresses of the 1920s and 1920s Calendar 2021 | Etsy

I’m definitely going to do them again for the end of this year along with some other ones. Watch this space for more details!

What else have I been doing? Been back knitting for my Etsy shop. This time it’s vintage tea cosies. Will get those up for sale soon.

Books

Books I have been reading include Lady in Waiting: My Extraordinary Life in the Shadow of the Crown by Lady Anne Glenconner. It wasn’t as good as I had hoped. Although, in saying that I don’t know what I expected it to be like. It was nicely written and a great account of Anne Glenconner’s life as Lady in Waiting to Princess Margaret, the wife of Colin Glenconner and as a mother of five. She had a lot of good times and some tragedy, but this is not the tell all I’d expected. There aren’t any truly juicy stories, which I’m sure she knows a lot of, but was still relatively interesting.

I’ve started back reading the Harry Potter series and here’s why: my interest in rereading them started up again through watching the entire film series with my daughter. We’ve only just today finished watching them. I really like the films, but the books are SOOOOO much better. So, will be starting The Philosopher’s Stone tonight. For films, we’re starting on the Star Wars franchise.

TV over Christmas wasn’t great. There were A LOT of reruns. However, I did watch a few things that I really enjoyed including the All Creatures Great and Small Christmas special, Bridgerton (wow, the Duke – you know who I mean ladies) and (oh joy!) the second series of A Discovery of Witches (which only came out on Friday and I’ve watched the entire series). I also watched The Alienist on Netflix and it was really good. If you like Victorian crime drama, The Alienist is for you.

Cooking

Other things I have been doing over the festive period include getting back into cooking again. And it’s been quite enjoyable. I lost my love of cooking around the same time as Ian becoming ill and never really regained it. But I started up again over Christmas and I’m enjoying it again, which is great. I’ve made various dishes – most of which my daughter has turned her nose up at – including a very lovely Chicken Korma curry at the request of my son. Weirdly, he did not eat it, but the girl did. So that was a sort of win.

Right, that’s all I’ve got to say today. Going to feed the dogs and get the dinner on. It’s sausage and mash tonight…or should I make sausage and mash and Yorkshire pudding? Oh yes! The latter sounds great! Til next time.

Dawn xxx

Is it just me or is lockdown becoming really tedious?

2 October 2020 / darkislethebooks / Leave a comment

The lovely Matt Bomer in White Collar.

How’s your week been? Much like last week, I’ll bet. This virus stuff is getting tedious isn’t it? I know we have to stay away from other people as much as possible, but it’s hard. I daydream about going out as normal, meeting friends and family for lunch and having a laugh. However, in Scotland we’re not allowed anyone else in our houses. We can go out and meet them for lunch, but it’s just not the same. It’s not as relaxed. It’s always at the back of your mind that you could have Coronavirus and not know it and then pass it on to someone else, even though you do your best to stay two metres away. I see Donald Trump and his wife have now been diagnosed with it. I really hope this is a wake-up call to him. I don’t wish him or anyone to be seriously ill or killed by this disease, but he’s been so casual about it all in the past that it does feel a bit like karma that he has it. I hope he takes it more seriously now and starts listening to the experts about wearing a mask etc.

A wealth of lovely patterns and hand-knitted items at my shop.

Anyway, that is my moan for today. So, what have I been up to lately? Well, it’s much the same as always: I work on our script, I write my SOS book, I work on my social media business and my vintage knitting business, Vintage Knit Treasures (that’s got some items for sale in it now including scarves and hats, see here for more info). It’s been very much ‘Groundhog Day’ for us, as I’m sure it’s been for everyone else. I have been comforting myself with watching tv (yesterday I decided to start watching White Collar again cos I love it and Matt Bomer is just yummy). Watched Enola Holmes and really enjoyed it, although I thought the ending was a bit flat. Really hope they do another one. Millie Bobby Brown is really good in it and Henry Cavill (does that man ever smile?) and Sam Claflin play her brothers Sherlock and Mycroft beautifully. Plus they are both good to look at. 😉 What? A girl needs a bit of eye candy every now and again. Widowhood can be quite dull you know!

Millie Bobby Brown leads the cast in Enola Holmes.

That about sums up my week. It feels lately that we’re just sitting in limbo at the moment. We can’t look forward to Halloween or Guy Fawke’s because that’s been cancelled. I had to tell the kids they couldn’t go out guising this year (guising is the Scottish word for trick or treating) and they were disappointed. Our local Guy Fawke’s Night celebration at our scout hut has been cancelled due to the Coronavirus. Tell you a laugh, my American friend, the lovely Terry Wells Brown asked me why the British celebrate Guy Fawke’s Night and I told her about the bomb plot to blow up parliament and the king in 1605 and how it was stopped and ever since then we celebrated every November 5. Then it occured to me: do we celebrate because it was stopped or because he tried to blow up parliament?? I hadn’t really thought about it before. Obviously, the celebration must be about because the plot was stopped, but if you speak to people about him they talk about the Gunpowder Plot with glee and Guy Fawke’s almost like a hero. It’s almost like it’s a bit of a joke that it happened. 🤔 On Guy Fawke’s Night, we let off fireworks, have sparklers and have a party. There’s always a bonfire where an effigy of Guy Fawke’s is burned (the real Guy Fawke’s was tortured and hung for his part in the plot). Hmmm.

Guy Fawkes was also known as Guido Fawkes.

Moving on to Christmas and I fear we won’t be able to visit family on Christmas day. It will be rubbish, but if it has to be, it has to be. The worst case scenario will be that I will set up a Zoom call with them. Anyway, we have 12 weeks (?) til then. Hopefully something good will happen and the virus will die off (miraculously) and we will be able to get together after all.

Right, enough of my musings. I am away to do some work (I’m always working, keeps me out of mischief!). Til next time.

Dawn xx

Birthdays, lunches, reading, making…but no tinsel

5 December 2017 / darkislethebooks / Leave a comment

I am not doing it. Not yet. No sir. There will be no baubles, tinsel or elves on this blog this week. They might appear next week, but this week is strictly Christmas free. It’s not that I am being bah humbug about this, but I like to leave Christmas decorating until nearer the big day. So you’ll not be finding Christmas decs up at my house just now…that’s a job for this weekend or maybe next week.

So how are you? Hope you’ve had a good week. I’ve been really busy over the last couple of weeks with social events galore. I have barely been in. Last month, there were five family birthdays and four practically family (but not blood or marriage related) birthdays (ie close friends) to celebrate, including my own and the boy’s. Most recently me and the kids were at an 18th party at my friend’s house. Her daughter, who is just lovely and I wish I could adopt her, turned 18 and there was a big family bash. It was a great night. I thoroughly enjoyed it although I partook of too much wine and suffered for it the next day. Happy birthday E…have a great party weekend with your friends this weekend.

I’ve also been lunching and that’s thrown my diet right out of the window so have decided to ditch it until after Christmas when, I hope, my new kitchen may be usable. Talking of that, the extension has been going on good guns: the roof is on, the windows in and they are doing the insulation as I write. Am so excited. It’s already looking amazing.

Other big news and DarkIsle is now available in a special 10th anniversary edition. So go and buy it now. If you know me personally I will be happy to sign it for you.

Also want to give a wee mention to my Uncle Ian who sadly died this month. He was a lovely man, an ex Glasgow policeman who was full of good humour and a brilliant mimic. He will be missed.

What else have I been up to? I’ve been knitting away for my new Etsy shop called CosyCosy Studio (link is here: https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/CosyCosyStudio?ref=shop_sugg). I’ve only got a few things on there just now, but will be adding to it. Would appreciate genuine and helpful feedback on my products if you have the time. At the moment, there are some hand knitted lap blankets and hand-made cards, but I have some scarves to add this weekend. Am just about to add the lining to them and then they will be ready. The first is a hand knitted yellow Alpaca lap blanket, the second a hand knitted green basket weave pattern blanket and the hand stamped and hand painted Three Kings Christmas card.

Books I have been reading over the last couple of weeks include Ruth Goodman’s How to Be a Tudor (am right into the Tudor era at the moment) and Alexander Langland’s Craeft. Both of them you may know from the Tudor Farm, Wartime Farm etc programmes (which I love). Ruth, in particular, is a lively and interesting writing and I’ve read books of hers before. This is the first time I’ve read anything of Alex’s and I’m enjoying it too. Hers is about – surprise surprise – ordinary folk in the Tudor era and his is about lost crafts. Loving reading both.

If you are wondering about the photos used in this blog today, they were taken before 9am on various mornings over the past week except for the last one, which was an afternoon pick a few weeks ago. I love the autumn colours and the blue skies. If you look carefully at the pics you’ll see three wee dogs running around having fun. The pics were taken on our daily walks around the River Clyde area where we live. They love it, I love it. Even when it’s freezing cold, it’s great to get out into the fresh air and enjoy the views of the river.

Right I am going to finish up here and wish you adieu until next time!

Dawn xxx

My favourite pic from the last couple of weeks: