It is cold and very windy here in the UK. Yesterday I attended a graduation ceremony which took place in a large marquee and the wind was so strong I imagined the marquee blowing away like Dorothy’s house in the Wizard of Oz.
Today, I turned the heat on and wore a scarf and hat and coat, and talked with a raspy throat, and knew in my bones that autumn is here.
So, to cheer myself up, here is a clip from Crete, of another very windy day. This was taken at sunset in Matala, which was immortalised by Joni Mitchell in her song “Carey”. (If you have your sound on, the wind is very loud.)
My friend Jonathan took this clip; you can see me on the beach knitting, and then he pans around to the famous cliffs filled with many levels of caves, and then out across the water to where the sun is setting over some rocks (the Paximadia – two small islands off the coast). The caves were a famous hippie hangout in the 60s and Joni spent some time there. You can find the words to Joni’s song here; if you scroll down to the notes, there are transcriptions of various introductions she has given to this song at concerts. These are pretty interesting.
Today, we drove through the wind and rain and fog on the M4; I’d rather be knitting in Matala.
Enjoyed reading all the Joni Mitchell intros. Thanks. And yes, Autumn is really here. Scarves, hats and mitts out.
They were fun, weren’t they? Glad you liked the link.
PS I ended up going down a rabbit hole and watching the Joni Mitchell tribute concert. Cyndi Lauper did a great version of Carey.
Do I get extra points for leading you down the rabbit hole? I am off to listen to Cyndi sing Joni…..
We have just returned from our cabin, where it was windy, cold and rainy. We took out the dock, a marker that it is indeed fall. I juxtaposed that with putting the dock in, in May. And all of the accompanying hope — longer, warmer days. Warm water and swimming. Shorts and sandals. Sun warming bare skin. Easier living.
Dock in, dock out – a ritual that marks the seasons. I love the summer, but I know that without the cycle of seasons the summer loses some of its magic. There are some good things in winter too – hot chocolate, warm sweaters, wood burning stoves, snowball fights, lots of knitting….
I am a Joni Mitchell fan too. When i was 17 i bought ‘the hissing of summer lawns’, one of her later, more jazzy albums. I have then bought almost every LP, one by one, when I could afford ir
I love Joni, too. Such an amazing voice and a great songwriter too. My first Joni album was Court and Spark and I listened to it all the time.
I too am a Joni Mitchell fan – I still love the music that I listened to in my teenage years. I found it so interesting to watch your style of knitting. Everyone knits in such an individual way – since I started knitting more seriously about six or seven years ago, and with computers and Youtube at my disposal, it was fascinating to see that there were more ways to knit than just English style or just Continental style and all the permutations within each. I transitioned from English style (lever rather than throwing) and now knit Continental style (thanks to Liat Gat videos for technique). It’s such a big knitting world out there!
Hi Kim, I too am always fascinated by the many permutations of knitting. I think of myself as an English knitter because I hold the yarn in my right hand, but I clearly don’t “throw” with my right index finger as many others do. I am also left-handed which may influence my style. I used to be a very fast knitter but after suffering from wrist and hand problems and undergoing surgery, I purposely slowed down my knitting style. While my hands are now much better, I still think I am terribly slow. My wish is to now perfect two-handed fairisle knitting so that I can get my left hand trained up to knit continental style. However, I do think that my stitches are lovely – even and consistent – and I do not want to lose that. In the end, knitting is about fun and relaxation and creativity, no matter how you do it. (By the way, I eagerly watch all of the Miss Marple characterisations to see how they hold their knitting; so hard to pay attention to the plot when there is knitting on-screen!)
Kelly, I thought you were pretty darn fast in the video!