Bits and Pieces

Life seems to have been very 'bitty' over the past few days, so this post is about bits and pieces of the last week.

I showed you the yarn that appeared on Saturday:

Well. Post haste, the lighter coloured grey has been turned into this:

This is for my wonderful FIL. Over the past few years he has had numerous operations, chemotherapy and radiotherapy sessions. He has not an ounce of spare flesh on him. Even though he is in Texas, he is very cold at night and hadn't been able to find a hat that didn't come off. Hence...a knitted balaclava. The merino wool is buttery soft and the garter stitch is bouncy and stretchy, so hopefully he will find it useful. It will be put in the post tomorrow.

Now that the nights start so early, we like a candle burning. For years I have used apple and cinnamon scented ones at this time of year:

It brings back lots of memories. In the background are some warm fairy cakes I made after supper.

Atos was a street dog in Romania before he was rescued. He had to forage for food to survive. Though he now lives in the lap of luxury, old habits die hard:

Supper was what I think of 'pretend real cooking'. This comprises a selection of prepackaged foods:

Then real food is added. In this case, butternut squash, sweet potatoes, yellow peppers, fresh tomatoes:

Then add the pesto and salami and boil the pasta:

Bit of grated mozzarella on top and voila - pretend real food in just 20 minutes:

Talking of food...we got our usual online Sainsbury's shop delivered. Whoops. A little confusion. We wanted 6 cans of Heinz tomato soup - the ultimate comfort food. It transpires, however that we ordered 6 packs of 4! Note that in addition to the stacked cans, there are some still plastic wrapped on the top shelf:

Tomorrow's supper will be a black eyed bean and root vegetable stew with crispy baked dumplings:

Finally, there is truth in the phrase that opposites attract: