Blogtober 2023 : Day 12

Today’s weather report: no rain.  (Hooray!)

We did have fog, though, so the dog and I stayed indoors until later when the sun came out and then we went back to the Nine Arches (twice in one week!) as it was on the way to where I needed to pick not so small daughter up from after college.  The dog certainly wasn’t complaining as we set off along the path towards the arches.

Look at that sky!  It was a joy to see blue after so many days of what can only be described as murk and it was unseasonably warm as well as we walked along.

The canal was very still at this end, but further along the path by the bridge it was rippling as if there was a strong breeze, but the air was very calm.  Strange!

We rounded the path to another little bridge over the brook.  The water was quite high and flowing fast – we have had a fair bit of rain recently so it’s hardly surprising.

We turned off the path before the bridge and walked down beside the water.  The dog knows that he can get in to paddle a bit further down and his tail was held high with excitement as we walked towards the little “beach” where he can get in.  What a happy boy he was today!

A tree has come down since the last time we walked this path.  I hadn’t thought that it had been that long ago, but it’s been long enough for a new path to be trodden in around the fallen tree …

It must have been a strong wind that brought it down – you can see that it’s not a small tree!

We didn’t linger long here as the dog was impatient to get to “his” beach!

It does look like a bit of a muddy mess today, but where he’s standing is a shallow sandy bit that I know is safe for him to be on.  The water is a bit higher than usual but it wasn’t running too fast here so I knew he’d be OK.

I wasn’t too pleased when he seemed to be setting off in another direction, though!

Fortunately, by the time I took the photo he’d turned round and was heading back to where he could get out.  He has got form – he’s swum across the brook and taken himself off for a walk on the other bank before now and I was left not knowing whether to run all the way back to the bridge and round to try and chase him, or to stand where I was and hope he came back.  In the end, I stayed where I was and he did come back, but not before giving me a few heart-stopping moments when I thought I’d lost him!

I’ve spent the rest of the day doing all those jobs that need doing but I am very good at putting off: making vet appointments for the dog, putting washing in the machine, taking washing out of the machine, sending texts to remind not so small daughter to do things … I’ve got to say that my new system of having EVERYTHING written down and not trying to keep it all in my head any more is definitely helping, but it’s going to take time to clear the backlog of everyday jobs that I’ve ignored for a long time!

I also cast on a new sock 🙂

Well, to be truthful, after saying that it was too late last night to cast on the new Future Dreams yarn that arrived in the post yesterday, I did actually find myself sitting in bed with my needles casting on, but I didn’t get much further than that.  I picked it up again early this morning when I was up with not so small daughter getting ready for college, and it’s lovely to be knitting a DK sock for a change – they do grow very quickly!

The warmest place in the house in the morning at the moment is next to the Aga so I parked myself there whilst I waited for not so small daughter to be ready, and I had a very nice time being warm and knitting!

This is how the stripes are knitting up …

I like them very much!  I’d also forgotten how soft Colour Lab yarn was.  It’s 100% wool so you’d expect it to perhaps be a bit scratchy, but this is West Yorkshire Spinners and they don’t make scratchy yarn so I should have remembered!  It’ll get softer when it’s been washed too.  I’m quite sorry I’ll be handing them over for the photo shoot and not keeping them for myself! 🙂

Right, I’m off to bed now.  These posts are getting later and later – I’ll try to post earlier tomorrow!