Hiatus

I've been off since December 5th and that lasts till January 8th when I start teaching at the Uni.  It's my little hiatus before 4 months' work, my biggest job.  A lot of students this year and my schedule has changed from teaching twice to three times/week.

In the meantime, hiatus... Since I'm done with Christmas knitting, I am attempting to finish some rather long-winded projects.  The Annabella Cowl (see sidebar) is lovely knit up with a blend of Alpaca, silk and mohair.  The CYT pencil ribbed skirt - not even half done, it is knit entirely in a 2x2 ribbed pattern that takes for. e.ver!  Then there are the thrummed mittens that I left unfinished last year that I have to figure out again...

I have two mini knitting projects from my River City Yarns advent box - some boot toppers and some wrist warmers... little Christmas trees and a pocket gnome that I will have to do needle felting for. Yikes!

I am just finishing up the loveliest book called the Keeper of Lost things.  A relaxing, funny, compelling story of the type that I love.  A Motley Crue of characters reunited in a HOUSE, form a family of sorts and work out life problems together.  A very humane and heart lifting story that is just right for the pre-Christmas season. There are goodness and evil, weakness and talent, mystery and mayhem as well as a ghost - all in a beautiful home called Padua somewhere in England

If you want to be entertained and not shaken and stirred at this time of year, this is the book for you.

On another note, on a recommendation from my sister and her husband, we have just finished watching a one-season series called The Halcyon.  It takes place in a 5-star hotel in London during the beginning of WWII and it is filled with beautiful scenery, the rich and the not-so-rich, the naughty, the nasty and the nice.  It also is my idea of entertainment. Although it is a drama, the good guys win enough times to keep the hope afloat. This series does not discourage.

Lastly, I have begun a series called: The Loch (see sidebar). You may or not know that I am a crime-drama aficionado and this one takes place on the site of the famed Loch Ness. Here's a Scottish ditty for ye

O ye'll tak' the high road and I'll tak' the low road

An' I'll be in Scotland afore ye;

For me and me true love will never meet again

On the bonnie, bonnie banks o' Loch Lomond.

How does it come to be that a French-Canadian girl from western Canada knows this tune? Well, my Mama was a young woman during WWII and she learned all manner of tunes from the radio which she then passed on to her girls while getting the dishes done.

Scotland is our next destination triplet when we head back to France in 2018.  Can't wait to see the Highlands, taste the whiskey, walk around Edinburgh and buy some yarn for myself and tartan for my son-in-law!