GANEIDA'S KNOT.

Go mbeannai Dia duit.

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Quaker by conviction, mother by default, Celticst through love, Christ follower because I once was lost but now am found...

Thursday, September 23, 2010

My best friend is the man who'll get me a book I haven't read. ~Abraham Lincon.
It has rained every day of the first week of the holidays ~ a slow mizzling rain that leaks incontinently from the overburdened sky.  It does not make me want to go out & play.  Unfortunately it does not make me want to get stuck into the myriad of household chores that are just waiting to fill my spare moments either.

Tomorrow I drive Star out to the farm so she can spend some of her holiday time with her sister.  I am so grateful Sile is ok about this & is happy to have both my girls so they can spend some time together.  They miss each other but circumstances being what they are Liddy needs to be where she is.  They are shearing again on Monday so that will have Star grateful she's taking up music rather than animal husbandry!  And I've told Sile the girl is a good cook so make use of her!

At some point I really want to get to my mother's but Liddy's timing has rather put a spanner in the works so we will see.  It may have to be the week after.  As we have spent so much of this year behind the eightball, what's another term?!  Dearest gets antsy when I make going away noises because he knows the cats will have a serious meltdown & although they are both happy to have him in their orbit neither will let him do the necessary grooming ~ & it is tick season so groomed they must be.  Kirby, who is the more neurotic of the two, can be very difficult to manage though he is generally a sweetie for me.  However I know that is not the case for anyone else!

Plus I want to go though the pattern books at Lincraft & see if they have any pattens for salwar kameeze so I can make my own in the sort of colours & patterns I like, in the sort of plain dress that I am comfortable with.  I have been looking on~line for ages but I don't generally like the Indian patterns & would so much rather make something in the sort of small floral print cottons many Mennonite ladies wear, at least for the tops, with plainer trousers.  And it will be so much cheaper as well!  Besides it's one of those lovely vicarious experiences where you can gaze longingly at beautiful fabrics in designs you wouldn't be caught dead in in real life ~ well, I wouldn't.  Seriously, I adore looking at all the cutesy little buttons in their long clear tubes & the cards of pretty ribbon & lace edgings, the skeins of soft wool & silk threads for cross stitching.  Never use any of it but I like looking.  Am hoping to do that when I take Star to see Tomorrow When the War Began, which she read for English last term even though I don't like John Marsden.  His writing annoys me but most of mine have enjoyed his books & he is a very strong writer.  Unfortunately his main protagonist is a girl & she always sounds like a bloke in drag to me so  the books don't work for me.  The trailer looks good though so I have hopes the movie will be ok & Dino, who has already seen it, reckons it's all good.

However I had a score at the library ~ which had Star rolling her eyes in horror! I picked up Frances Osborne's The Bolter. Now for the uninitiated I first came across this choice epitaph when I read Nancy Mitford's Love in a Cold Climate ~ a hysterical & tragic commentary on upper class shallowness.  Mitford's character may have been, in part, based on Frances Osborne's great~grandmother ~ the bolter of the title, who scandalised Edwardian society, was at the heart of Kenya's White Mischief, married 5 times & had so many lover's she lost count. 

Not the most uplifting of reading I grant you but anyone who has a nodding acquaintance with this family knows 2 things: they write very, very, very well & they are very, very funny. Seriously, Mitford describing the *child hunt* wherein the children were given an hour's start before the hounds were set after them as they bolted for home across England's sporting grounds with their father chasing after them on his horse can have me laughing till I weep.  Only in England. So I was already half intrigued.  The Mitfords, the Sackville~Wests, all mad as hatters, outrageous, scandalous.  I forget which one of the Mitfords turned Commie [when it wasn't the done thing] & fell madly in love with Hitler ~ sorry, but I find that terribly, terribly funny, mostly, I think, because I don't believe for a moment they even believed themselves.  It was all an act & entertainingly funny but with terribly tragic consequences: suicide, depression, adultery, homosexuality.  The sad list goes on & on.  Terribly clever, terribly witty & totally amoral. How not to live a life.  I will enjoy the writing if the content rather less so, especially as ~ did I mention the rain?

23 comments:

Anonymous said...

Uh - have you read _Mary of the Celts_?

Siano

Ganeida said...

Um, no. Author please?

Ruby said...

Your first par. sounds just like here. The first week is up and not a jot has been done. And I cannot even claim to have been using the time for reading. Just gotta get this house in order before the term starts again.

Anonymous said...

Don't remember. Don't go and get it though, cos I have a copy for you. Just wanted to check that you didn't already have it :-)

Siano

Joyfulmum said...

Ganeida, hope you get some nice patterns for your salwar kameez as yes the Indian patterns can be quite LOUD :)

Ganeida said...

Ruby: Can't say i've even done that. I am plain exhausted & this is always the most frantic term with end of year concerts. Easier if I stressed less about Brisbane but Brissie just flips me out. Oh well...

Siano: Oh goody!

Rosemary: I don't supposse you have a pattern...? I'm seriously thinking of cutting one up just so I can draft a patten. And no, I don't like the LOUD ~ but I love, love, love the kameeze themselves. So comfortable! *sigh*

Amanda said...

When I think of Lincraft of other such fabric stores, I think of my dear Mum. I only ever went into these places, tagging alongside her. She was a brilliant dress-maker and sewed from home (for other people, bridal wear and all sorts of thing), all her married life.

Enjoy your book! It does sound strange but interesting lol.

Ganeida said...

Amanda: Yes, my mum is a brilliant sewer & sewed all our clothes as a child so I have many memories of choosing fabric for a dress or skirt.

The book is proving very enjoyable. lol

Diane Shiffer said...

Yes.. you did mention the rain...;-)

I love your idea of the salwaar kameze (did I spell that correctly) in your own preferred colors and patterns. That is my fave thing about sewing; being able to make precisely what you want to wear. I hope we'll be able to see pics when you're done☺

MamaOlive said...

>>Quiet sort just browsing around<<

How are ya? I'm busy and tired! The worst part is not knowing when it will settle down again. Hopefully by Christmas anyway.
XO

Ganeida said...

Persuaded: If I lived closer I'd be on your doorstep whinning for help. lol Pics if I can actually turn up a patten. I may have...

MamaO: Now you know I know you're there! lol [was just visiting you in fact] & I know you're the quiet sort & that is perfectly fine. Just stay in touch. I don't like losing my cyber friends. Travel safely. Say hi to London for me. ☺

Ganeida said...

Rosemary: to be really clear ~ I am chasing a paper patten ~ not cloth or clothing. lol Thought I was being more than unusually obscure.

seekingmyLord said...

Has it rained there lately? We could use some rain here.

I wish you well on your project.

We are still working on the matching apron project ourselves. If I had done it alone it would have taken a day, but then the Princess would not have learned anything. Of course, what she learned the most is that Mama often thinks the instructions need to be much better and do not teach finishing touches well enough, so she needs to think beyond the instructions...or just ask Mama.

Finding Joy said...

Have you read the two book written by Frances Osborne- they make for very interesting reading - in particular "Lilla's Feast" which is about Frances' great grandmother who was interned in Japan during the war. The Bolter was also interesting, but not as good Lilla's Feast. In the process of reading this book I learnt all about the opium trade with Britain.

We are enjoying some sunny spring weather, but it is a little spoilt by the cool wind.

Joyfulmum said...

Ganeida, I am SO....sorry can't help you there:( my mum is returning from India in a month or so, I will ask her if she can get one from there (though not knowing much about sewing myself I don't know if that would be helpful or not to you:)). Let me know....
I understand - they are very comfortable things to wear:) If I were in India I would still wear them I reckon, much more than Sarees - they were the most uncomfortable things I've ever worn lol! So glad I don't need to wear them anymore:)

Ganeida said...

Seeking: Yeah, finish is important & I'm a little careless that way myself ~ though it does depend on what I'm making. I used to be particular about the seams on the kids shorts just 'cause they were so hard on everything. Good luck with the apron!

Jo: I am sooo thrilled to meet another Christian who reads this sort of thing. The writing is just supurb ~ which is what attracts me ~ apart from the social history, which is amazing. I will definitely look for the others by her.

Jo: I read somewhere that the technique is handed down so it is really hard to get a patten. I wouldn't want your mum looking specially [& I am happy to reimburse for any expense incurred] but if one turned up I'd be delighted. I can't draft & I can't sew without a patten so I am sort of stuck. lol Never been in to saris but salwar is to die for.*swoon*

Ganeida said...

Sorry Rosemary...been driving all day & I'm now a long waaay off the planet. The last comment is for you! ☺

Joyfulmum said...

No worries, I will talk to her and see what she can do, will let you know if she can help at all:)

Kate said...

Someone else who reads Rumer Godden and Nancy Mitford and isn't impressed by John Marsden's books. And likes browsing in Lincraft, too. Nice to meet you!

Ganeida said...

Rosemary: I will be indebted to you forever if you turn up a patten for me. I have been looking on & off for years.

Kate: It is lovely to meet you. You own my all time favourite girl's name! ☺ And either you have been reading the archives or lurking if you know I adore Rumor Godden. ☺ And if you like Mitford & dislike Marsden we shall get along like a house on fire! Hopefully I will visit you tomorrow. Tonight I have issues. I have driven ~ & what is left of my mind is seeing white lines.....

Pen Wilcock said...

I tried salwar kammez for a while before capitulating to the full skirts & aprons etc; I like them; very comfy and practical. I gave up on that because though my hubby loved them, they were too bright & jazzy for me - *patterns*, you know...
I have some kind of genie aladdin baggy hippy trousers you can have if you like, I'll send you a link on Facebook so you can see what kind I mean. They are rayon, solid colour. If they look like your kind of thing, sned me your address on a Facebook message and I'll hurl them across the world.

Anonymous said...

Greetings. Thought I'd delurk and say I enjoy reading your thoughtful blog. Now regarding the salwar k. have you tried googling tunic and pants pattern (you probably have :)There's a pattern called Bali collection sewing patterns made by batik butik (Canadian, but there's an Australian supplier). Looks very comfortable and simple to make. Or perhaps you know someone going to Bali?? I'm from WA and Bali is cheaper to go to than Rottnest Island or Margaret River!!
kindest regards
geraldine

Joyfulmum said...

Ganeida, just came back to clarify (from this sewing ignorant person:)) that you are after the actual pattern (that gives you instructions on how to make a salwar kameez) and not the material is that right? lol!