Way back when I was 15, I learnt to crochet, and crocheted over 70 squares for a blanket I was planning to make for my bed. GCSEs hit, and the squares ended up in a box in my parents' loft ... for nearly 15 years, when I searched them out to sew them together to make baby blankets for Simon, for my sister Ruth's first baby, and for a friend's baby.
During our last year or so in Benin, I got back into knitting, thanks to some knitting needles left to me by my predecessor, Grace. I could buy wool in the local market - fairly basic, but quite a choice of colours, and I completed some small projects like these "monsters" as Christmas presents for our kids.
I wanted to take up crocheting too, but decided that since I didn't remember anything about it, I would do better to wait until I was in Europe and had access to a faster internet connection and therefore the possibility to watch crochet tutorials. I also picked up a great magazine in the UK which gives you the wool to make different projects set out inside it. And here are my first attempts:
I am quite proud of myself and feel inspired to keep going ... and if once I'm back in Benin someone feels like sending me a copy of this magazine, that would be such a treat!!!
When we're in Benin I sometimes manage to get my hands on a women's magazine, which I will read zealously from cover to cover. I love reading recipes, though generally speaking I can't find most of the ingredients I would need to make the meals.
So while in France I am enjoying actually being able to make some of the interesting recipes I find. Yesterday evening Marc and I ate together after the kids were in bed, and I made an Indonesian dish I had found. I don't know what an Indonesian would have made of my efforts, but we found it delicious!
It hasn't been a particularly cold winter this year. But we returnees from Africa bundle ourselves up pretty well when we go out, anyway.
Yesterday we were going to visit friends who have a new baby, and we took the bus there. When we got to the right stop, the boys got off the bus, and I tried to lift Eve out of her seat. There was some resistance, I pulled, and I heard something snap. I realised it must be her mitten - they were attached by those strings that go through the coat - saw one string dangling from a sleeve, and tried to spot the missing mitten. It wasn't on the floor, and I was very aware that Simon and Benjy were outside the bus, that I couldn't hold the doors open *and* search for the mitten, and that I was therefore going to have to abandon the search and get myself and Eve off the bus before we were carried away again. (Later I realised I could perhaps have called to the driver, but being right at the back of the bus that didn't seem an easy or obvious solution.)
So we got off the bus with just one mitten, and Eve cried bitterly (for a minute or two) when she realised what had happened.
Since colder weather is being forecast, I didn't want to leave it too long before buying her new mittens, so popped into town this morning.
I went back to the market stall where I'd bought the original pair, and where the (very honest) stallholder had told me I wouldn't need a spare pair because of the string. After greeting her, I held up the solitary mitten on its string and said, "I'd like the same again, please!" "Ah," she said, "even with the string they *can* still get lost!"
After buying the new mittens, and waiting for her to change a note (it reminded me of Kandi, where you often have to wait in the market while change is found!), I said I didn't know how she put up with the cold.
"This isn't cold!" she exclaimed, "In fact that's our problem this year, no one is buying anything!"
"They are talking about snow next week," I said hopefully.
"Oh, snow's no good, no one comes to the market in the snow!" she replied, "Snow's no good, rain's no good...!"
As I left her, it began to rain...
This photo was taken by Marc's sister Marie, on January 2nd, in front of the big Christmas tree on Nancy's Place Stanislas:
We began January with a New Year's Day walk...
and some sibling love (awww...)
In February the kids got new clothes
In March we got some weird weather, and the kids played in the village with their friends
In April we went to the sunrise service (photo taken as people left)
and Mummy and Eve did some dancing...
In May we went to more than one wedding, and ate lots of wedding food
In June we started saying our goodbyes, this photo taken when we were at the Kandi-Fô church for our last time
In July we left Benin and had some holiday time in England
In August the kids spent time with their French grandparents while their parents were finding a flat to rent in Nancy
In September the kids started school
In October we enjoyed autumn
In November Eve and I travelled in England to visit churches and family
In December we celebrated Simon's birthday (you saw the Christmas photos last time!)
A very Happy New Year to all the readers of this blog! I'm not a big one for New Year's Resolutions, but I will try to keep writing regularly this year.
