Wife died today

[sallymk1]

Hi Brian
Just to say I did post on one of my threads how much I loved your Tasmanian Devil. I have two motley muts and have fostered/adopted many more in my time. Sadly all gone now.
I hope your meeting with the funeral director was not too distressing for you, they are sympathetic and very caring but when its so hard to think and theres so much to do, and whats more its all stuff you don't want to do. Just do what you need to focus on, one thing at a time and then put that to bed. Go off, walk the dog, do some carving or photography to distract yourself. Eat well and try to relax. Wish I could do the crafts, my hobby is/was gardening and theres not much call for that at the moment.
Sending you peace of mind as best as I can.
Pam

[GHOST]

R

[longedge]

Oh, the hours that Chris spent sewing, and the money it cost me when a new model of machine came out! Bernina must have made a fortune out of me  . We first met when we were 16/17 and she made all her own clothes, even made shirts and occasionally trousers for me. She was never happier than when she was making something. I even got roped in sometimes when she was quilting (making paper templates). About the only thing that I've got left now is a drawstring bag for my camera tripod, oh and all the curtains and bedding in the house  .

Your theory about anybody being able to learn crafts is suspect as far as I'm concerned Brian. I am living proof of the fact that you've either got it or you haven't and I found that out many years ago when my eldest daughter was about 5 years old and sat drawing one rainy day. She drew me and I drew her - after that I refused to do any more drawing with her!!

[Karena]

well done Emz.
I have been known to make costumes -which are wearable -but never normal clothes, well not since i made a sundress at school There is probably nothing "normal" about a 70,s hippy style sundress now though.

Longedge it isnt that you cant do crafts you just havnt found the right one.My gran spent a lot of time trying to teach me too knit but the only thing i ever finished was a baby cardigan -not entirely sure what went wrong but when the baby i knitted it for was two it fit her.You would think crochet is the same but i was sat on a camp site chatting with friends and one of them was managing to chat, consume copious amounts of wine and crochet all the way through in the twighlight without error so i got her to show me the basics and googled the rest. I have to say though my gran would not have been very impressed. In her world there was a hieracrchy or yarncrafts and crochet was at the bottom.She used to do something called tatting which was very complicated -thin threads and lots of shuttles from memory -i dont think i have the required attention span for that either.

Brian having the flu doesnt help of course but this whole grief process is exhausting and that goes for people who were formerly very confident,so even more so for you - so well done on what you have achieved with sorting things.I can only really repeat take small steps and rest -and if resting for you is getting out into the woods and watching the birds thats what you do.

[GHOST]

T

[Emz2014]

Flowers sound beautiful    xx

[longedge]

It's good that you've got Rory Brian, has he had a haircut before? Ours used to turn into a vicious little demon at the sight of the scissors. Even with me holding her she seemed to be abl;e to turn around in her skin somehow and snap at them. As far as crafts are concerned, I used to knit (on a machine) sometimes but only simple things. I knitted the dogs tail into the machine one day coz she always wanted to sit on your knee  .

[GHOST]

[

[longedge]

Had to look "intarsia" up (patterns made with multiple colours) . My inexpert explanation = knitting is just making a series of connected loops in yarn. The machine had a bed of perhaps 150ish needles with a little catch built into the round end of each one. As you pass the head across the needles each one pops up and through the previous row of knitting and pulls a loop of the yarn through so each time you pass the head from one side to the other you add another row of knitting. When you need to do anything fancy like casting off you shout for the boss to come and do it  .

Lovely idea to make and donate something in memory of Ruth by the way.

[GHOST]

Y

[longedge]

  "an art or technique of decorating a surface with inlaid patterns, especially of wood mosaic, developed during the Renaissance. "

P.S. I know you're interested in photography - have you got a good view of the moon this evening? I tried a few photos but totally disastrous!

[GHOST]

w

[longedge]

It's a blue moon tonight  . Close to earth and full as well. I was trying hand held (steadied on door frame). I have a Panasonic GH3 with the 14-140mm lens. Trouble is that there are far better results online than anything I can manage  .

[Emz2014]

Love the idea of a trophy :-)  something that will last and be loved by many

Oh George I really laughed at the knitted dogs tail!    thats the type of scrapes I'd imagine any of my dogs getting into!  My current dog, lurcher, doesnt have hardly any fur so he'd be safe from knitting, but my springer spaniel would have!   
My nan used to have one of those knitting machines, I remember me, my nan and mum all trying to work out how to get it to started, picking up the wool :-)   I can just about knit with needles - only scarves though (can't change widths lol!)

Feel envious about both of your photography skills - would love to be able to photo the moon.  I'm fascinated by the moon/planets and would love to have a look at them through a telescope, I did sign up for an event once where people who knew what they were doing would have telescopes etc so people could see but it was cancelled due to cloudy weather. I must have a look whether there are any groups about which would allow a newbie to have a look, haven't seen any other events

Hope everyones day is kind to them.  Im struggling with anxiety this week, going to have a cuppa catchup with a good friend (he used to be my boss when I was about 18), looking forward to talking things through with him xx

[Karena]

what a lovely idea Brian and a really good way for you to start to become more integrated.

My mum had one of those machines -it was a manual one -my role was too put the skeins of wool over the back of the chair then wind it into a ball -the machine had a winder on it and the ball was then held in asome kind of cup.But the thing was so tempremental, swish too fast or two slow or dont push down to apply exactly the right weight and all the stiches came off.Now you have got me wondering whatever happened too it (and hoping she gave it away and its not festering in the loft somewhere waiting for me to deal with)
Pointy sticks -techically knitting needles -there is a bag of those somewhere too - too free to good home.

So many times i have gone off onto the moors complete with camera and flask to see the northern lights or persoids that are predicted only to be thwarted by clouds.Then at a campervan meet in cumbria everyone was going to get up at 4am when some meteors were due -  i was the only one who did get up -and there it was clear sky no light pollution perfect -thatll teach them to stay in bed - and i saw - precisely nothing.
So as usual last night i looked at where the moon should be- and it wasnt there.
I did get some photos of a supermoon in the past once -and like you, discovered how much it is actually moving -but unbelievably the best one of the lot was on the mobile phone i was slagging off earlier on this thread.

Hope you are feeling better Emz.