HOME FROM HOME.

 

Tottie. Just received Tom's latest embroidery on my phone today and it lifted my spirits after difficult day. I’ve handed in my notice, had enough of Bill’s sarcastic jibes. He was off work for ten days with a chest cold, but I’m sure it was that new strain of covid, and I like to think it was me who gave it to him. It was bliss not having him prowling about the office, and since everything is covered for the Christmas issue I’ve had plenty of time to follow up on the family tree research. Found some interesting stuff, but most interesting of all has been the connection to Charley Nadin, in that we share the same Great Aunt Emily, and that is also where the family name of Cranston comes in. I emailed Charley and he seemed more intrigued that I knew his old mate Tom than the family connection to Aunt Emily. Filled me in on how they met squashing pennies on the railway line in Cambourne, while doing A levels at Technical College. They lodged together and studied Maths, Physics and Chemistry. He also mentioned that Tom’s mother was an excellent cake maker, and they would stop off for tea on a Friday afternoon on the drive back to Liskeard. I found myself wondering about my own lack of friends from school and college days. Too busy following a career, and look where that got me, stuck in an office with wobble bottom Bill. I now have a months’ notice to work out before I can escape this place, and Bill seems determined to make that as difficult as possible. It started the day Tom left for WA. Something about me missing my snowflake.

Tom. A home from home, familiar and safe, but in saying that my eyes picked up on all the little changes during my four years absence. The most obvious was the growth that trees and shrubs had made, as well as those that hadn’t made it through summer droughts. There’s a new bypass being built around Bunbury and the scaring of the landscape is horrific. It has caused damage way beyond the movement of earth. The work is far from complete and we can expect massive traffic problems come the Christmas break, but once Bunbury is bypassed it may well be the making of the place. While others sit in queues during the Christmas break I’ll be ambling between pool and beach.

 The weather has been mild and no great heat waves this far south. I’ve had time to acclimatise but have also been found lacking in vitamin D. Well, that’s hardly surprising after last summer. I have just completed the Toucan ticking sampler. The background sample stitching is the final stage which does mean working the design around the foreground. Not very logical, but then logic has seldom had any relevance in the way I approach the creative process. This particular ticking sampler has been made using a Sainsbury’s tea towel as the support.