Let the clear-up begin!

I hope that you had a great Easter break and had a relaxing long weekend.

I'm pleased to report that I finished my banner and it was duly delivered to the church in time for the Easter service.  Here is a photo of it in the church.  The banner finally consisted of 93 felt daffodils plus 5 buds, and 10 "pebbles" made out of whatever fabric was to hand (two started life as socks!).

Now that I've finished the banner I don't have any excuse for not getting on with sorting out the house.  I'm dividing it into manageable steps and my first task is getting to grips with my extensive pile of recipes.  I'm a compulsive recipe collector and have to face the fact that I won't live long enough to try out every recipe I have cut out and saved from magazines, especially as I also have a huge collection of recipe books!  The other thing I need to bear in mind is that I may not be able to get some ingredients in Madeira, and probably should be considering simplifying my cooking to take advantage of the huge array of fresh fruit and veg that the island produces.

Over the last two days I have reduced two six inch piles of cut-outs to about one inch (sorry about the old measurements).  I have another pile or two to go and then have to start on the mounds of complete magazines! Finally I will attack the books themselves as there are some which haven't seen the light of day for a long time, and therefore are probably not going to be missed if they find themselves a new home via a Charity Shop.

Dave has been very busy painting our hallway in preparation for a new carpet to be fitted.  In typical fashion, we are getting around to doing the hall up for the future occupants of the house, rather than for ourselves.  If I told you that this task involves 14 doors and painted wood panelling, from dado downwards throughout, you might get some idea of the size of the task (and why we haven't got around to it before!)  Who ever said that you take retirement for a rest?

On another subject, the Bespoke Bra Making course that my lovely colleagues bought me for my leaving present started this week at Morley College in London.  The first class was mainly admin, scene setting and basics so there isn't anything to report yet, but I will keep you posted on how things progress. I love sewing and learning new things, so this is very exciting for me. More soon...

Easter is coming...

Well, all is relatively quiet in retirement land, but that doesn't mean it has not been busy.  I have been working hard on the daffodil banner as the deadline is approaching fast.  It needs to be finished for Sunday morning, and true to form, I finally am really getting on with it.   I will include a photo of the completed banner in my next post.

I ended up with 93 felt daffodils and 4 buds in total.  And then I had to sew them all onto the background.  I am so glad that I gave up work and no longer have to do the same repetitive things day in day out! 

One thing which is rather nice is my work room looks out on a flower bed which is waking up for the Spring.  I have been watching an industrious pair of robins frantically feeding their very demanding fledgling chicks.  Here is a picture of one of the chicks, just showing a flush of yellow on its chest.

Talking of preparing fledglings to fly the nest, Dave has been helping our younger daughter, Tania, to learn to ride a motor bike.  She hired a 125cc bike last weekend and they spent the time riding around the Kent countryside, like a mother duck being followed by her duckling.  I joined them on Monday and am so proud of her.

In terms of our future move to Madeira, Dave and I have been chatting with the builder who will be building our new house. We are getting close to a final design which would make any Bond villain proud! We are now looking for a white Persian cat.

Have a great long weekend all, and a very special Easter.

I wandered lonely as a cloud.....

No, this isn't a reference to the loneliness of retirement!  It is a reference to the project which has been occupying a lot of my time over the past week.  I am making a banner for my church and need to have it finished by Easter.  And that banner involves a large quantity of felt daffodils.  I have 58 at the last count and need to make between 80 and 100 in total!

A host of golden daffodils!

As I want to finish this first, I haven't managed any house sorting yet.  Also I am letting myself into this new phase of my life gradually rather then trying to get everything done at once.

However, we have been looking further forward to our move to Madeira in other ways.  Although we already have a house in the capital, Funchal, our longer term plan is to have a new house built for us in a different area.  When we were in Madeira back in March we visited a few plots of land in our favoured area, and have one in mind.  So we have been enjoying batting ideas around about what we want the house to look like, how many rooms, where my vegetable plot will go etc. We have even bought tickets to Grand Designs Live in May to get some inspiration.  It's quite a daunting thing to plan your home from scratch.  We usually adapt to what is already there.  It is exciting though.

When I have finished my banner I have to get down to some serious de-cluttering.  Having been in our current house for nearly 18 years I have accumulated a lot of stuff.  And I need to find a home for lots of work clothes that I don't need any more!  Maybe that'll be covered in my next post.