Winter's Light

Sometimes, it is just a perfect day. I think Winter is my favourite season largely and contrarily because those days of brilliant crisp sunlight are so rare and fleeting.

"One of the secrets of a happy life, is continuous small treats"

Iris Murdoch. The Sea, The Sea

Housewifery.

Let me tell you a secret. Sure you won't tell ANYONE? Ok, then. I quite like housework. Not all the time, obviously but every now and again I take the notion for a good auld scrub.
Most of last week was spent writing in the perplexing brain-curdling mist that was my penultimate essay for my OU module for this year, just one more short one to go then the big EMA which is like a mini dissertation and then summer freedom. Hurrah.

After a good sleep I was ready to tackle the cob-webby slovenly hovel that my home turns into with a couple of days neglect. There is something about sitting down with a steaming cup of coffee and home made Lemon and Poppy seed cake and admiring order, clean surfaces, sparkling bathroom and a washing-line billowing with clean linen and all scented with fresh flowers and furniture polish. I found this cute tutorial for a Land-girl style head-scarf on YouTube, great for bad-hair days and protecting those victory rolls while playing at house. I am so tempted to do the shopping looking like this!

 

Hello, to all of you that are popping over from Daisy's blog. I am so sorry if you were disappointed that there has been no sewing. I wanted to try and source the pattern locally or at least on the island of Ireland but I have had no luck. I capitulated and ordered it from Amazon this morning.

I get so worried about our independent shops when browsing that site -no matter how many times I swear I am not going back I always do.  I am so consistently surprised at the range of items that Amazon carries, how can local retailers survive in this difficult economic climate? Last month, we lost our biggest newsagent in the town, Eason's have a chain of stores all over Ireland and while there were many faults with that particular shop it was a huge shock to lose them. We still have some gorgeous wee crafty shops hanging on my the skin of their teeth though, The Crafty Fox, Quaint, Breda's Wool shop and two of my absolute favourites, Kirwan's fishmongers and Sampson's Craft Butchers. I was a vegetarian for almost twenty years till I moved here...

Do you guys have any favourite shops? I wish I could go back for an hour or so to the weird and wonderful shops that we had when I was little. All family owned business and all so different even those the three I remember best sold the same stuff, groceries, sweets and newspapers. There was one shop that I cant even remember the name off, I don't think it even had a sign but it was run by this ancient old lady and her mother! They never took the dark red wooden shutter from the window and it was so dark inside but that is where my Gran got her newspapers and gossip and a comic for me every week. Twinkle, Bunty and then Judy. I still have some of the Christmas annuals of those comics and when I peek inside I forget I am a middle aged housewife and transported back to being a little girl with white socks and scuffed shoes again!