In absolutely no surprise to anyone, I have of course been completely and totally sucked into the DuoLingo-verse.

woo hoo – go Mummy!

In possibly related news, I may be developing phone-related RSI.

♥

Behold the very fabulous yarn for my next knitting project!

It’s Manos del Uruguay Alegria in the Carnaval colourway. I’m really loving this brand of yarn.

I’ll be making the Vibrance of Strangers shawl. I think for possibly the first time ever, the yarn called for in a pattern is available to me! Usually I’m having to make substitutions because there’s a fairly limited range available.

Feels very fancy!

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I have a dental appointment on Friday morning for yet another crown. I really hope this is the last of the hideously expensive dental work for quite some time! Though better to incur the cost now when we’re earning salaries than when we’re retired with much more limited incomes.

At least this time I have some idea what to expect, though this does not fill me with gladness. I generally like visiting the dentist^^, but the crowns process was quite awful and they took months to settle down.

I really need to set myself up with some cosy and nourishing post-tooth-chopping activities. Likely knitting or head in a book.

♥

^^ yes really! I had horrible teeth as a child, I’m ever grateful for dentistry.

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I’m definitely in a knitting phase right now and am finding it very restful and nourishing.

The latest item on my needles is the melodia shawl using Manos del Uruguay Fino in Admiral that I’d bought for that abandoned striped cowl.

It’s a merino and silk blend and undoubtedly the most expensive yarn I’ve ever bought, but it is amazing to knit with and incredibly soft!

The pattern is quite a bit less challenging than the enormous Be Kind shawl, but I am enjoying the process. I did not knit a gauge swatch and stuck to the recommended needle size. I’d not done a garter tab cast on before either, so I’m interested to see how it all turns out.

I’m fairly confident I’ll be done by the weekend and I already have two more shawls ready to go. Amazingly not in any shade of blue.

♥

Today we returned the garage to some sort of order after the exciting installation of additional power points.

We took the opportunity to take a hard look at one or two things. Some went in the bin, some to the e-waste. And we agreed it was time take the box of records that’s been sitting in the garage for about 11 years to the second hand record store.

We’ve both long envisaged a future state (possibly in retirement) when we’d have a tremendously expensive sound-system and sit about in our Eames-style loungers vibing to our carefully curated record collection.

As Don pointed out today: We are not living that life. Nor are we likely to.

So off they went!

From experience, we both agreed to not look in the box, because we’d be done for.

We exchanged them for a large pile of CDs and some cash – which paid for lunch!

Feels lighter already!

♥

In just over a week Joe/Frank will be moving out! (Temporarily)

He’s sub-letting for a friend for 6 weeks while she’s holidaying. It’s the perfect opportunity to get that first taste of independent living.**

Really very exciting and a huge milestone.

Fortunately he’ll be just down the hill, so I need not worry too much.^^

♥

** he’s solo Palace-minded for us before, but this is rather different!

^^ ha!

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I never expected I’d find myself on this app:

I suspect this will not align well with my desire to avoid obsessively tracking my progress on *things*.

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Three sequential days in office with an early start each day has left me much more exhausted than I’d expected!

The last 5 of 6 daily sky pix have been of black skies – largely a result of jumping out of bed and shoving the phone out of the window as I remember I haven’t taken anything that day.

03 July 2023: 8:45pm

Sometimes you just have to phone it in. And maybe a few blips in the bigger sequence is a fine thing too.

Both of which are a bit of a life lesson I think.

What will I do with these photos? Current idea is to print them on printer paper and bind them. I like the idea of a little book of sky.

♥

We’ve had our super-fantastic electrician at ThePalace(OfLove) over the last two days doing a few improvements.

Included in all this work: more power-points (outlets) added to the garage, smoke alarms replaced, a new exhaust fan to finally replace this one, a few minor repairs, and downlights added to most of the top floor (workspace, bedroom, cupboard and bathroom).

It being ThePalace(OfLove) there was an issue with the ceiling and we need a slightly different type of downlight for upstairs from those downstairs (which are now on order), but already the changes are astonishing!

I had no idea we’d been wandering about in near darkness for the past 11 years! Or perhaps it is just that my eyesight is 11 years older?

♥

04 july 2023: 7:06am

New boss is very high energy, with Big Ideas.

I think this will probably be a very good thing.

♥