My favourite sounds.

I am one of those people who loves the sound of silence.  I need some to start and finish my day.  If I can get plenty in between then I'm happy too. Lately though I have been thinking about the sounds I really love and there are so many different things that make me sit up and listen.  As I am typing away on the keyboard I am aware that this sound is one that fascinates me.  I love the gentle clicks of an Apple keyboard. Not like the clatter that I made when I was learning to type on a Remington manual!

I have been indulging in a week of crochet - this is where I am with my squares:

I completed the squares from the larger circles as Lewis Hamilton drove his way to a thrilling victory in the Spanish Grand Prix. The little circles are stashed away for the coming weeknights. Two per night should be do-able. I came across another sound I like - the noise of the crochet hook on the table when I put it down to cut the threads. It doesn't work with wooden hooks. It needs to be metal.

Now do you want to hear something sad/weird? These little squares do not show the circle as well as I thought so I went trawling on Ravelry and found a square that shows the circular centre better. I couldn't get this out of my mind and had to try it.  5.30am on Wednesday found me sitting in the beautiful morning sun making one of these:

Obviously it won't fit in seamlessly with the other squares but I will be making some of these in the future. About an hour later I heard another sound I love, the gentle pitter patter of rain on the window when I am cosy indoors. The next noise was me blundering around trying to get ready for work because I got engrossed in the pattern and completely forgot the time.  If I leave after 7.15 even a few minutes late, the traffic on the A1M is a nightmare. We meet every morning at 8am. Made it by the skin of my teeth.

That morning I discovered another sound that makes me feel good inside. Delibes 'The Flower Duet' - and that got me thinking about all the music that makes me feel good:  piano, violin and clarinet solos top the list. The silky sound of Madeleine Peyroux, the haunting voice of Etta James. The deep tripe rattling drums in the 1812 overture. Is it then the feel of the sound, like the chattering noise of mah jong tiles, the clickety click of chocolate chips before they melt? The crunchy sound of pure cotton sheets as you flick them over the bed - am I strange or do you have sounds that stop you in your tracks just so that you can listen with pure pleasure?

I was very organised this morning and got our Sunday dinner prepared and all the ironing done before I sat down to crochet to the sound of F1 cars (sadly not a patch on previous years because they've changed the engines this year). We haven't has a roast for a few weeks but I got a nice little joint of pork yesterday. Enough for the dinner and some cold cuts after.

A tip from my mother in law - use two small eggs or an egg and an egg white (they freeze well) and your yorkshires stand tall! 

Talking about eggs looky look!

One of my little silkie hens has laid an egg - don't know which though. How sweet are they are and dinkie compared with a normal hen egg.

Sorry about the crochet fest but I got these done too:

From a pattern that Karen B kindly gave me.

And a mandala pattern to be sent to Lucy at Attic 24 for Yarndale 2014. I'm quivering with excitement for that but it's not until the end of September. Some things are well worth waiting for though.

I had to have a smoothie to celebrate! 

Saturday's choice was banana, blueberries (frozen), blueberry yoghurt and a splash of milk.

I'm not keen on drinking too much milk with my smoothies due to the extra calories it provides but have found a good alternative - almond 'milk':

Which became a Sunday mid-afternoon pick me up.

Apricot and almond smoothie with some milled linseeds for extra goody nuttiness. Almond milk makes lovely rice pudding too. Fruity smoothies are my weekend indulgence. The vegetable smoothies are more energising, especially the dark green ones.

Now I'm going to dive into my sweetie jar just for the hell of it.

Non-fat treats. Then I'm going to do - well, nothing, I'm all up to date. Pure joy. A couple of chapters of my latest book 'Bad Luck and Trouble' by Lee Child, watch a bit of 'Vera' and record the last bit for tomorrow, a good night's sleep in my cotton sheets (aahh) and I'll be ready for the week ahead.