How quickly the days pass.
There were (and still are) some hot days. Many weather forecasters in this country are jubilant every time the sun is shining as they announce the arrival of more ‘lovely’ weather. They’ve taken to describing 28 degrees (which for this part of the UK is very unusual) as ‘warm’. Only a few years ago the same temperature would have been described as ‘very hot’. There hasn’t been any rain for several weeks, which is also unusual for this part of the UK. I try to stay away from getting too overtly political here but global warming worries me, and I find this normalising of rising temperatures by the mainstream media to be particularly alarming.
I find myself uncharacteristically short of patience in hot weather; I’m not good at tolerating extreme heat and very bright sunlight. Thank goodness for autumn waiting around the corner and the return of darker nights. I caught the faintest whiff of autumn early yesterday morning, and soon the light will begin to change.
In the meantime of course I keep going, because this is life and there is joy in every day. The joy might not always be immediately visible on the surface, but it’s there nevertheless just waiting to be found.
There was a funeral this month for our friend. A day edged with sadness but filled with happy memories of an amazing woman and a talented artist. We are so lucky to have known her during her long life.
Sometimes if there’s a bit of border yarn left over I curl it around in the corner as you can see below. A kind Instagram reader commented that it looks like a Koru (I had to look it up) which symbolises harmony and eternal movement, and how lovely is that.
The other side isn’t always that neat, but then I think neat can be over-rated.
I’m immersed in the creation of video lessons at present for my new paper-pieced patchwork course. It’s slow going but I think it will be ok in the end, as most things are.
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I am glad I am not the only one who looks forward to autumn! Beautiful stitching.
Thank you – ha, indeed! I like a nice cardigan, and if it’s not cool enough for a cardigan then it’s too hot. I sometimes feel like a bit of a misery complaining about hot weather because many people seem to enjoy it so much, but cooler is definitely better for me.
I’m definitely part of the ‘Cool’ gang! Wouldn’t it be lovely to have an autumn with lighter evenings though! Currently I’m stitching with a towel wrapped around a cool block next to me so I can wipe my hands every so often! 🥵
ha I hear you… it’s just awful to be so hot. At least in winter you can put another jumper on 🙂
Heat is hard yes, but aaaargh the humidity :/ autumn is my personal happy zone as well.
How nice to discover the word Koru, thanks to you and your reader.
indeed – it was a new word for me. Yes, the humidity is hard to handle, particularly overnight. Hooray for autumn 🙂
There is a Vonnegut quote about humans thinking the world wasn’t worth saving because the ROI wasn’t good enough, or something like that. But, of course, we all can do whatever we can to mitigate climate change. May not add up to a hill of very large beans (not flying in my case — but I’m in Scotland and my family is in the US, so it’s a sacrifice), but it’s a start. We’re going to have 3 flushes of the dreaded midge this year, it having been so wet and warm; 17C used to be “summer” and now it’s more like 20C. Not good.
Really love your July. I find myself using up all my bits and pieces of yarn and thread (and a bit of yours!), so that’s another small climate positive: using stash. I’m behind with my “days”, as usual, but do enjoy catching up.
I’ve not seen the Vonnegut quote but it sounds about right. It seems, to the privileged few in charge of these things, if it’s not profitable then it’s not worth doing. I don’t (or won’t) fly either, but then I’m not a good traveller anyway so it’s no sacrifice for me. A difficult decision if, as in your case, family is overseas.
So glad you’re enjoying using up lovely thread ends. Maybe stay inside stitching while those pesky midges are out and about…
I am one of those lurkers who read your blog regularly, but don’t comment. I thoroughly enjoy the zen quality of following your stitching. Koru – what a lovely concept. (I would order your patterns, but have been unsuccessful in getting my credit union to authorize any out of country charges.) We are always hot and humid this time of year in the US heartland. I much prefer fall and winter.
a warm welcome and thanks so much for taking the time to comment 🙂 – but sorry to see you’ve had some trouble with the online shop. Hot and humid is hard work… hopefully cooler weather is on its way.
condolences on the loss of your friend and fellow artist …
I have for many years now used the term “global weirding” as it is not just warming that is happening … this year our Texas garden thinks it’s already autumn as we have had an abnormally wet July … everything is green and growing instead of the usual brown and dormant for this time of year … and I heard a recent public radio piece that stated “normal” temperatures are calculated using the past ten years of readings, none of which are anything close to the “normal” temperatures of 50 or 100 years ago
Thanks so much, Liz. My friend had a long life (she was 82) and had so many amazing adventures. She touched many lives and it’s a privilege to have known her.
The new normal is frightening, I think, particularly as the powers that be are choosing how to set ‘normal’ and ‘the public’ doesn’t appear to be questioning why the weather is changing so unpredictably. We have a weather warning for tomorrow – torrential thunderstorms that didn’t happen half as often when I was a child. And that’s not *that* long ago 🙂
Yes, I totally agree. I think that the older we get, the harder it is to cope with extremes of temperature. I really struggle in the heat but then I also hate being cold too. Never satisfied !! Roll on the autumn & more tolerable temperatures. I had noticed that the weather reporters talk about 28 degrees as being “warm” when a few years ago that would have been deemed “hot”. Maybe they are breaking us in for more extreme temperatures.
Yes exactly, Ann I think that’s right – it seems to me the rewriting, or creation perhaps, of a new narrative pretending that everything is normal. It irks me that the weather people rarely mention global warming as the cause of extreme weather. The increasing heat isn’t a good thing, particularly for our wildlife and native ecosystems. But also yes, same here – can’t tolerate heat or cold, but I think I’d rather be too cold than too hot. Will warmly welcome autumn and winter 🙂
I envy you your change of seasons, as I live in the land of eternal summer. (It is not a good fit for me.) I grew up with seasons and never feel completely comfortable here. Even here we are hotter than we should be and we spend a great deal of time wishing for rain, for without it we have terrible fires that are difficult to deal with. (This is new and how the weather changes are impacting us here.)
I still see people in aging RVs who first arrived here after the Camp fires.
I think to understand why the news is doing what it is now doing, you have to trace back to who exactly owns it and what other pots their fingers are in. It can be a very telling exercise. But the fourth estate appears to me to be in a bit of trouble. My own hope is that local papers arise again with true journalists at their helm.
And it is lovely to attend a celebration of a life well-lived, even as it is painful and creates a new space of loneliness to lose that person. My condolences.
Yes indeed – you’re absolutely right I think, the people driving the ‘it’s all fine’ narrative have fingers in all sorts of pots. As you say, maybe if independent journalists can get their voices heard then that might make a difference.
Even our seasons aren’t what they were. We rarely have snow any more in this area, and not even much frost in recent winters. Winter is just rain now mostly, and summer is increasingly blistering. Despite our thunderstorms warning for the next 24 hours we’re forecast to keep the heat and humidity. The weather will break eventually, of course, and at least we do still have some seasonal changes. I can’t imagine permanent heat 🥵
Meanwhile here we are having a very mild winter. Anemones, daffodils, magnolias, flowering cherries all blossoming way too early.
I love the koru. I am a wee bit careful when I use it as I don’t want to cause any sadness because I have used it out if context.
Spring has been coming to us earlier and earlier too… a similar issue, where everything starts flowering in a mild winter and is then destroyed by an unusually late frost.
I genuinely didn’t know about the koru and was intrigued to learn its meaning in Maori tradition. As far as I was aware, I was stitching a general spiral shape, similar to a fern head for instance or the ancient spiral shapes on rock art here in the UK. I do completely understand the need for caution though where a motif can be construed as coming from another culture. Some shapes – circles, spirals, etc – seem to be universal across the ancient world.
Hmm.. I did try to leave a comment.. Sending sympathy – a long life, well-lived, can be much missed by those left behind.
It was a strangely happy day despite the sadness but yes, hard to accept. Thank you 🙂
toujours aussi amoureuse de votre travail
je sais qu’ un jour je reprendrai ce genre d’ouvrage : un peu sur le long temps
d autant que j ai une graaannndddeee réserve de fils 😀
à bientôt sur votre blog
merci beaucoup Sylvie… sorry my French doesn’t go much beyond that but I hope that you will return to some gentle stitching. I think you must if you have a large collection of threads 🙂