There was a moment recently when M found me almost buried under a mound of spaniels. I had one on my lap and one under each arm, all vying for attention, whilst I was actually trying to see over/through them to watch a film. ‘Well that looks cosy’ he said. ‘I’m in spaniel heaven!’ I replied with a big grin on my face. Given a few minutes more and he’d have found all three snoring in unison, once they’ve established who is sitting where they respond nicely to a film by late afternoon. Woe betide I should need to move though, the rigmarole has to begin all over again.
It’s a wonder that I ever manage to crochet with this much adoration going on. They do climb down for a stretch, the puppies in particular like to stretch full length alongside a sofa. Arthur will often twist over so that he’s belly up and baring all. Despite relaxed appearances they are up and on their feet in a split second if the need arises, machinery, dogs barking nearby or someone at the door for example. If I’ve put the oven timer on for natural dyeing purposes and they let me know I heap praise upon them and give them a small biscuit, though I think they are just pleased I’ve put a stop to the noise.
It’s quite the VW Campervan parts shop here at the moment. We’ve handed over the two new doors that came with the van, along with new metal panels that go across the middle of the sliding door. The dining room is full of smaller parts that will generally improve and maintain the van. It’s often the details that make a difference, last summer we finally fitted the glove compartment door and I’m incredibly happy that all our bits and bobs like masks, travel sweets, a first aid kit, tissues, small change for toll bridges and so on, are no longer on display. Likewise I’m looking forward to having the little black cog fitted on the triangular side window so that I can finally open it. It sounds like a simple job but it isn’t. The child/dog hammock has arrived but we won’t fit that until the work has been done. It’s an art form making the most of a small campervan for modern lives (not to mention 3 dogs) but it’s a challenge I’m always up for.
We took the van to a quiet spot near woodland recently. I packed a wooden crate with all the pots and pans and sieves and spoons I thought I’d need for an al fresco dye session. It was intended as a trial run to see if I needed to tweak my kit at all so that M can make a tailor made box/cupboard/table type thing to hold it all as well as provide the raised surface to put our Kelly Kettle on for the heat source. We bought the cooking attachment a couple of years ago and we’ve since used it so much more, often boiling the water for coffee or tea first and then putting the attachment on to cook a simple lunch. We also changed the standard orange stopper with the green whistling one, a totally useless bit of kit for me unless the dogs react to it or M is nearby to listen. For reasons I can’t quite fathom M insists on being the chief fire lighter, we often wait for 45 minutes or more for a kettle of water due to fire starting problems. As kids we had the luxury of being allowed to light a campfire in the garden whenever we fancied one, you soon learn what works and what doesn’t.
Winter really is a challenging time of year for natural dye plant material. I used bracken this weekend but I’d probably have been better off with brambles. In Spring the bracken would have yielded a brighter yellow/green colour and modified to a brighter green with a touch of iron. I stuck with the warm caramel tone this experiment achieved, thankful that it had even resulted in that because the ratio of material to wool wasn’t as high as I would have liked. I need to choose a deeper pot for future ‘on the road’ dye sessions. I also need to add ‘small stool’ to my kit list, there was a lot of standing around and bending over for me while M sat in the doorway of the van. Near to where we parked for this dye session (on the edge of the woodland) was a perfect clear running stream. Not only did it wash the dogs feet nicely prior to their re-entry to the van, I was able to rinse out and cool down all the pots and pans. It added that touch of dyeing in the wild and making use of what is around you. It’s that element that I like. A return to basics.
Although I must also confess that coming home to central heating and a hot shower is also pretty good. The older I get the longer it takes to actually warm up properly again. Even if we’ve departed van life with a hot drink I always make a hot chocolate on our return. After dyeing on a Kelly Kettle fire all afternoon we did stink of smoke and even after hot showers I could still smell it. Two days on and I finally twigged, it was my glasses! Somehow they’ve absorbed the smell, I think it’ll fade eventually. I don’t mind, it’s a nice reminder of a fun afternoon.
It’ll be a while before we can go on a proper van trip, due to both the work and the holiday time available. The latter isn’t as flexible as it used to be but I’m learning to use the waiting time to get things done before we go. France is top of our wish list but Scotland has so much to offer too. Going outside midge season is imperative. Last time we went to Scotland we had the majority of our trip midge free but as soon as June 1st hit, so did the midges, meaning we needed to be in the van with every single window closed by 8pm or so. Given that M devotes a large portion of his life to watching cookery programmes I’ve subtly suggested that we might up our game when it comes to meals on our road trips. I’ve purchased several books that could potentially inspire him to move beyond the soup and tinned chilli con carne. To be fair we did have sausages in baps quite a few times in Scotland but I feel the potential of one pot cooking hasn’t been explored much yet. As with home meals I think I might need to contribute firm ideas and then leave him to enjoy the actual process, he really does seem to enjoy the cooking part of putting together of a meal, a concept which is totally beyond me. I’d probably live on soup and toast if left to my own devices.
One of the activities we both do much more of on a road trip is read. M is very easily pleased when it comes to books and we’ve acquired some of his reading matter from those ‘leave one, take one’ free libraries we seem to sniff out along the way. We know a few good bookstores in places we’ve been before or pass through and can’t resist visiting over and over again. Both of us fear running out of reading matter! The van could really do with a book shelf but at the moment that is still potential chewing material for the puppies so that’ll have to wait. I’ve started a reading challenge with E. we both purchased ‘100 Top Books’ scratch off posters and with no set deadline in mind we are going to work our way through them. E has kicked off with Crime and Punishment and I’m about to start with Moby Dick. I’ve added to my reading challenge with a related crochet make for some too, hence the white whale who I feel really needs to hang from somewhere to give the impression of being suspended in water. Not all the books are old classics, some are newer, some are even children’s classics etc ting pu like ‘The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe’. Although I’ve read some of the titles I’m looking forward to revisiting some.
Somehow I’ve managed yet again to leave a half written blog post in my drafts folder! I usually update them before I press ‘publish’ but on this occasion I will just mention it was written months ago! The less said about the van not being ready the better. We now have a valuable bank of work free days and no van to go away in. It looks like the wild garden might get a bit of a hacking down and the shed (equally wild) might have a sort out. My outdoor dye kitchen has already been dusted off and seen some action. Random warm days have been truly seized and made use of. As usual I can’t sit still for long and I’m always trying new things. This week I have returned to washing a sheep fleece and preparing it for spinning. I can’t repeat what the men have said about the appearance and smell of the soaking Jacob’s fleece but it looks fabulous and I can’t wait to try it on my wheel.