Where did all the hours go...

It has been a long time since I started this blog - a lot of things happened since then.

The year 2007 passed quickly, lots and lots of translation work, taking care of the family (husband had broken his leg), work in the house and garden and a fascinating trip to China with all the family. I did get in some freeform work and knitting for friends! And I discovered wonderful freeform artists and their work on Ravelry.

In May of 2008, visiting our daughter and husband in the UK, my husband suffered a stroke from which he recovered admirably during the following 6 months, with the help of incredibly patient, hard-working and encouraging physiotherapists in the UK and later in Germany at the excellent Kliniken Schmieder in Allensbach, where we experienced and received so much help, support and guidance beyond measure. And the family pulled together, our daughters and son-in-laws, no effort was spared, we had simply every imaginable, loving support. We were able to get back home in October. Our life together found and settled into a new routine.

While staying in the UK, not only did our UK-based family provide every help possible - we were overwhelmed by the thoughtfulness and kind offers by people we had not even known before, such as Pat Ashforth and Steve Plummer of Woolly Thoughts and in Germany the local Ravelry group (Bodenseetreff) went out of their way - literally! - to help us. We even took smaller trips, perfectly organized, lovingly and patiently carried out by our Germany-based family. To ALL a big thank you from both of us.

So now I am back to a renewed effort of writing a blog more regularly than on a yearly basis :-) You might want to read about the log cabin blanket called HOPE that I made as a gift for Holly, daughter of Joy from the Chorley Hospital. The second one was for Victor, our grandchild, who was born in March 2009.

It is still cold here, pheasants and partridges are slowly strolling through the meadows and the occasional woodpecker raps his staccato beat on the ancient oak trees...

May 2010. Reading Antonio Tabucchi's book "It is getting later all the time" I found a wonderful Haiku:

Das Blatt fällt
Im Oktoberwind
Leicht schwankend.
Schwer wiegt die Zeit eines Sommers
Den wir in der Ferne verbrachten.

The leaf falling
In October winds
Gently swaying.
Heavy the burthen time of
The one summer we spent away