What a Fantastic Surprise!

After my long daily commute yesterday, I was trudging home in the chilly, damp darkness, feeling tired and completely fed up with winter. I turned the corner around the hedge near our front door, and caught sight of something sticking out of our mail slot at a funny angle. And you’ll never guess what it was – I know you won’t, because I couldn’t guess either, which made it a delightful and cheering surprise! The wonderful Deb had sent me a beautiful card and a Just Nan chart, Satin Blossoms, for no reason, just because. Isn’t that the most wonderful thing? I have to tell you, it made my whole week. It’s just so lovely meeting all you wonderful people through stitching and blogging, and I just can’t thank Deb enough for her unexpected generosity and kindness – I was really touched! Even better, I didn’t already have the chart, and I was looking for something with flowers on it in a long and narrow shape, so this is absolutely perfect! Thank you again Deb :)

I managed a good bit of stitching last night, although you wouldn’t really know it – I worked on Paradigm Lost and mainly extended the borders, which isn’t very exciting, but is one of those very necessary tasks. I did a few smaller motifs as well, but I kept getting distracted by ‘The Bourne Ultimatum’ which we had put in the DVD player. We’re halfway through it, so I’m looking forward to watching the second half tonight.


I am quite pleased with myself as well – I’ve managed to get my blog reader down to…zero! Yes, I have read (well, not EVERY word, but most of them!) all your blogs and completely caught up to date. You are such inspiring people – I am constantly intrigued and amazed by what you all get up to!

Now, having grown up in small town Canada where driving is a key skill, I, along with most of my friends, rushed out to get my learner’s license at 16 and had my full license a couple of months later. H, however, spent his teen years in Dublin, where there is a pretty excellent bus service and where traffic is always heavy, parking is scarce, and insurance costs are exorbitant (think in the many hundreds if not low thousands for adding your young learner driver to your insurance). So he never got around to getting a license. Now, however, it’s all changing! He got his learner’s permit here in the UK last summer, and today he had his very first driving lesson (I am overlooking the 2 lessons he once had about 9 years ago in Dublin) and is determined to get his full driving permit. Better late than never I say! The lesson went really well, and H proudly – and apparently very cautiously ;) – negotiated a big, busy roundabout. Next lesson is Wednesday, so hopefully he’ll get a test date soon (there’s always a waiting list, sometimes of several months, for road tests). In the UK, it’s quite common to fail your test once or twice (or, in exceptional circumstances, 8 or 9 times!) before you get your license, so I hope he’ll be practicing lots and fingers crossed everything will go smoothly!

Happy stitching!