Saturday 1 September 2018

Windfalls



 In other news, I knitted a bunny for grandson 
as a companion for the elephant I knitted granddaughter
using another one of Julie Williams' wonderful patterns.
I cheated with the jumper as I had some self-striping wool 
left over and it meant fewer ends to sew in.



The garden is getting tangled and unmanageable.


So naturally I turned my attention to something tangled that I could sort out -
the ribbon drawer.
This is kept in a small chest of drawers that used to house
 my father's wireless-making equipment.
Top drawer buttons,
second drawer spools of thread,
third drawer tape measures, needles, pins, fixings and scissors,
fourth drawer, ribbons.

As a child there was a ribbon drawer for my hair.
I loved choosing a ribbon for the day.
They didn't stay in my hair for long though.
Now I come to think of it, there was a handkerchief drawer too.
Does anyone still give a child a clean hanky each day?
We had a pocket in our school knickers for them.
How bizarre!
A colourful hanky was a vital accessory for the ferryman game.
You chanted in a line opposite one child,

Ferry me across the river,
do boatman do.
For I've a penny in my purse and my eyes are blue.

(They aren't but that didn't seem to matter.)

Then the boatman would say. 
I'll ferry you across the river if you can show me something with the colour ...
and then you had to produce said item.
If you couldn't and with a brown school uniform it was a challenge
for the unprepared,
you had to race across the invisible river without being caught.



Miniature autumn tints in the bonsai walk at Wisley.



Giant pale pumpkin looking like 
a giant something else in the vegetable garden.


Windfall apples in the orchard at Wisley.
Too tempting not to try several of them and lament 
the paucity of choice in our supermarkets and greengrocers.
They all tasted so different.
When I say all, I mean a few.


I so wished I could pick these for crab apple jelly.


I seem to have been waylaid by Instagram. I thought it would never happen.
You might like to pick up some windfalls over there from time to time.

10 comments:

  1. What a lovely post. I carry a hankie everyday, something left over from my childhood too. I have been picking windfall apples and plan to make a crumble tomorrow. I love the bunny, it is so very cute. Xxx

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    Replies
    1. Thank you. I'm afraid I have lowered my standards and may only be found with emergency loo paper in my pockets.

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    2. Loo paper here too, but now you've made me feel nostalgic for hankies...

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  2. If they're tangy and crisp, I'd like to have one of those bright red apples to use in some endive salad tonight. Usually apples that colour are wooly.

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    Replies
    1. The ones in the last picture are crab apples I think. We found some waxy skinned red apples, tiny, sweet and aromatic on the ground. And so many varieties from the pippin and pearmain groups.

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  3. Are you on instagram? If so, I would gladly see you there!
    https://www.instagram.com/s.etole/

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  4. Gorgeous! Bunny, ribbons, apples, all... I'm sure the ribbon with roses on is exactly the same as the one I used to have in my hair on non-school days... (For school it had to be navy blue to match uniform and regulation knickers!)

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  5. Love the bunny and the jumper. Haven't used a hankie for many decades, although I still have a couple of pretty embroidered-edge ones from my youth in a drawer. Still have a ribbon stash, too, though not for my hair anymore. :)

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  6. I especially love impressionist painting picture 8!

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