Cornflower

A question

In a post titled Heuch! a few weeks ago, I explained that that word was the cry or exclamation uttered by dancers in a reel. A look at my visitor stats. tells me that what seems like an unusually large number of people have discovered this site through searching for that very expression.

I'm curious to know if the reason for the volume of queries is that "Heuch!" is the answer to some kind of quiz question, and speculating even further, I wonder if it could be the King William's College Test that has brought so many people to Cornflower. KWC is a Manx school which sets a fiendishly difficult general knowledge test each Christmas, and being Manx-born, I'd be both pleased and amused to have helped in a small way by being the possible source of an answer.

I could be completely wrong, of course, but if anyone who has found their way here through "Heuch!" has hung around long enough to read a bit more, I'd love to know if I am right about the origin of your query. Maybe someone will leave a comment and give me the answer to my question.

Flowers on a windowsill

When I took this photograph of yellow daffodils on a blue ground I must have been subconsciously reacting to yesterday's post. Several people asked me about the picture of the girl reading, and I had been trying to find a book we have on the painter and his work, but - frustratingly - my search was in vain. The picture is called "The Reading Room" and it is by the Swedish artist Carl Larsson.

His domestic interiors in particular are charming, and in his book "Ett hem" (A home) he recreates his family life, prompting me to think that he could have been a forerunner of some of today's webloggers! He and his wife Karin are credited as an influence on the popular decorating trend, Scandinavian country style.

This white tulip on its blue-grey background is a 'Gustavian' reference to continue the Swedish theme, but to finish, here is Larsson's own "Flowers on the windowsill":

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If you have not already done so, please do leave a comment on yesterday's post and enter the draw for the book. You have until 6pm (GMT) tomorrow, the 7th. Good luck!

Notes and queries

Several people have asked for the pattern details of the Kidsilk Haze scarf pictured yesterday. It is "Divine Lace" from Louisa Harding's book "Hats, Gloves, Scarves" and it had its own post a few weeks ago here.