Gone

My beautiful, funny, creative, caring, generous, supportive, stubborn friend has died.

I cannot believe she has gone.

Tonight I am here doing my dead friend's laundry. Her two children have had their innocent childhood ripped from them. Her husband is facing their ninth wedding anniversary tomorrow alone, planning her funeral.

There seems no point to this blog any more.

And still it rained!

This is now our 8th week of rainy weather here... I know because we are going on holiday to Yorkshire on Saturday, and 7 weeks ago we we were having a wet time at the Lincolnshire coast after already having endured a wet week at home! So, you can imagine that packing is a conundrum: wellies and woollies or sunhat and suncream?


Last Saturday we had a wonderful time. Little chap was staying with his grandparents (an having a great time might I add. He could not wait to get rid of me!), and we saw an ad in the local paper for a show on at our local theatre... and so we went... and became acquainted with the Spooky Men...

In their own words:

" It is not possible to state when the existence of the Spooky Men first came to light . Early settlers in the Blue Mountains reported attacks on livestock and evidence of scats and the occasional pawprint. It is only in recent years that sceptics have been disabused of the notion that the Spooky Men's Chorale is the stuff of fanciful legend.


The Spooky Men come down from the Mountains like a wolf on the fold. Forged in the red-hot cauldron of Georgian table singing, where anvil strikes bread and like their brothers of old they raise the morning sun with uplifted arms, their ecumenical embrace now extends to songs Paulian and Johnian. They sing paeans in praise of hardware yet are unafraid to face the existential angst that stares up at them from the debris of breakfast. In confronting the big questions facing men today (are they not pretty enough?), the Spooky Men strike while the irony is hot."


They were brilliant! A 20 or so string band of Ozzy a cappella folk singers with the odd comical send up too! A great night out. You can hear some of their tracks on their website, and they are currently doing a UK tour - well worth trying to get along.


The stash busting continues, and the count of little woolly hats for the Big Knit challenge is growing. I have also made a neck warmer and 2 hats for the OCC boxes. I am pleased with this progress considering it is the school holidays. Today I took little chap to the park, and he has now mastered riding his bike including starting, stopping, turning corners, and rising at speed through muddy puddles! He is feeling very pleased with himself, and I am tempted to think that this milestone has been aided by a reverse Samson effect (i.e. I have cut off all his hair for a cooler, easier summertime coiffure).


I have packed some yarn to take on holiday, and my paper and pencils, and a good book. However usually there is no time left for any of those pursuits. We are looking forward to visiting Dracula's landing place in the UK, some Moorland walking ("stick to the paths"), proper fish and chips, and a trip over the Humber Bridge on the way. "See" you when we get back!

Stash Busting!

I am on a mission to deplete my stash by the end of this year! Now I have never heard anyone else say that, so I might now be evicted from the circle of knitters and crafters for such a piece of heresy.

Here is a picture of what is left of my stash after a couple of weeks of intense depletion. I have found all my odds and ends and unused skeins, and am completing planned projects (e.g. lace cowl) or am knitting little woolly hats for the Big Knit challenge, or am making hats, scarves and mittens for the parcels I am making for this year's Samaritans purse. Last year we had so much pleasure from knowing that our parcels would be opened by needy children on Christmas Day and that the contents would bring them a little happiness. This year, I am trying to make a boy and a girl parcel for each of the age ranges covered by Operation Christmas Child. It is humbling to think what simple items will be so appreciated: a notebook and pencils, a toothbrush and toothpaste, a soft toy or a ball.

Back to the stash bash, though. I intend to empty this basket completely so that I can start afresh. The only thing not included in this basket are packs of decorative threads for my sewing.

A similar fate awaits my pile of fabric too. Much will be destined to make toy sacks for our local toy library, although I also have an ambitious embroidery project on the back burner. I want to reclaim my work room, and have chance to think afresh what projects I want to tackle.

It was the first day of 6 weeks of the school summer holiday today. We made the most of it. Last night I made a chicken korma, and little chap and I played at Indian Restaurants with candles, popadoms and chutneys, the works... lots of fun, and reinforcing an adventurous eating habit with him. We are off to a friend's 60th birthday celebration meal next week, and it is at an Indian restaurant, so this little practice will come in very handy!

We have made a list of all the things we would like to do this holiday, and are going to have lots of fun from a train ride, to picking fruit, to camping in the back garden. I am really looking forward to it all.

Another hat

I have been busy knitting little woolly hats for the Big Knit challenge, and have also finished a full scale hat for myself. This is a felted cloche hat from a kit given to me by Monica as part of SP10. I'm really pleased with it... the colour, the shape and the overall amount of felting (quite lightly felted). Given the refusal of the British summer to arrive, I am looking forward to taking this on my holiday to Whitby in a couple of weeks.

In other parts of life... little chap has been in his first school play! He was a wiggly bee, with a very cute group song and dance routine. I have the play on video, so family members who read this can look forward to seeing the performance soon. He was very proud of his role and took it all very seriously. It was part of a key stage one (important newish UK teaching milestone) celebration day and the tone of the day was very nice. 3 years' pupils took part in the play (reception, year 1 and year 2) with the older pupils having the speaking parts and the younger ones singing, dancing and playing instruments. The play was called Honey and is about the workings of a hive, so it was educational too. I am very pleased that our school encourages all areas of development - there are lots of good lessons to be learned from working together to perform a play. This week the older years (key stage 2) do their play, including a performance to the senior citizens of the town who visit from a couple of the local day centres and care homes - so there is important community involvement too.

The school summer holidays start on Friday, so I am aware that my time for crafts and blogging might be hard to find for the next few weeks. Little chap and I have made a list of summer holiday activities we want to do, this includes learning a song on the recorder so that we can perform it by the end of the summer. Little chap is keen on putting on a "concert" for his Dad! I ordered a couple of recorders from Amazon, and was amazed to find they still sell the recorder book that I learned from at school back in 1972!!!!! I don't imagine we will set our sights much higher than twinkle twinkle little star, but I think it will be a good summer holiday achievement.

I have also finished sanding down the old oak stairs in our house, ready for the arrival of my newly ordered handwoven jute stair runner, which should come around the end of the month. The hall redecoration is now on the home stretch with the stairs sorted (pending fitting) and new (low energy) light fittings ordered. We have also hung or recently acquired collection of mirrors, and this weekend will also rehang other decorative pieces such as my collection of fish plates.

As I don't imagine I will get much painting done over the summer, I decided to unearth an old hobby and gave my clarinet an airing this morning. It took a while to get to grips with it again, and an effective and reliable embroucher still evades me, so I am prone to the odd ear piercing squeak. I have found a local teacher, however, so I shall enquire about some lessons for September time. A neighbour of mine plays the saxophone, and I hear him practising as I walk back from dropping little chap at school. At present he is trying to master Habanero, so as you can imagine, it puts a spring in my step!

I have just been given a leaflet for the knitting and stitching show at the NEC in September. I am very tempted to try to go. I'll look into it a bit more.

Rural France

I managed to keep my Wednesday date with my paintbrushes today, and here is the result. I am moderately pleased with this. There was a bit more in the foreground, but it suffered my usual vagueness, so I cropped it.

Here is the whole thing for comparison... thoughts?

And the winner is...

Thanks to everyone who entered my recent competition (Can you guess what it is yet - June 2007) to guess what my two boys bought their Dad for Father's Day.

The answer is that it is a a digital wireless rain gauge... so as a slightly nerdy family we can monitor the daily rainfall from the dry comfort of our kitchen! It has provided hours (well actually millimetres) of fun so far. Let me know if you want the monthly UK fall from now on! In fact I might just post it anyway!

The winner is Debbie - who concluded that it was a rocket launcher - congratulations! You made me laugh even though it was way off target.

A picture of the knitted flower brooch (pin) that I am sending to Debbie for her prize will follow.

Thanks also to Sun Pat for your suggestion - I couldn't quite see how the antenna fitted in, though. If you would care to elaborate on your answer to include this functionality, then I might stretch to a runner's up prize too!

I Count!

Have you heard of the I Count campaign yet? It is a coalition of 50 trusted campaigning organisations focused on "stopping climate chaos". See http://www.ICount.org.uk
I've already signed up online and they provide a range of good options for how I can be part of reducing my carbon footprint. There are probably some options you can act on too.

At Glastonbury at the weekend - where I Count was the headline campaign - over 70,000 new people signed up. It's hard to overstate the kind of leap. Now even bigger things are to come. On 7 July the worldwide Live Earth concerts promise to raise unprecedented awareness about climate chaos. I Count is one of the groups behind the event in London, and will use it to build pressure on politicians, and force political action.

Would you like to be a part of stopping Climate Chaos? The look up this site, and start taking action today. There are all sorts to choose from: from personal day to day actions to political lobbying and everything in between.

Raw 'n Pure

This is the name of the new organic box scheme which operates locally, and which I used for the first time yesterday. There have been other box schemes here, but one stopped because it became too popular (a weird kind of irony there) and others, in my opinion deliver from too far away, and so lose points on the eco front.

This one (Raw n Pure) are about 7 miles away, and is run by two very nice women. I had a veg "surprise me" box, and a fruit "surprise me" box. This gives you the best value selection of seasonal and available products with a guarantee that there will be at least 5 items in each. This cost me £10 plus £1 for delivery. Very good value I think. Feast your eye on this....

I also finished the felted bag I was making from yarn sent me by my secret pal. It has turned out a lot hairier than I thought, but it's just the right size to carry my keys and phone when I go to pick my chap up from school. The rosette, and embellishment at the top is made using sari ribbon. I am pleased with it.

I have also cast on the stitches and knitted about 2" of the felted hat kit (colourway: seabreeze and blush). Pictures of that next time. I am using the Denise needle set. They were odd at first - the plastic of the needles takes a bit of getting used to (they are very slippery), as does the very small length of needle, and the long length of interconnecting cord, but I am getting there now. I had to unpick it the first time, as I twisted it when I joined it into the round, so I had a nice Moebius strip of a hat developing. That would have been fun! Thankfully I caught it before I had got too far.

Oh I do like to be beside the seaside

I managed to put aside some time yesterday to sit and paint and enjoy. I seem drawn at the moment to try to capture my childhood experiences of holidays on the Lincolnshire coast. I am also trying to learn how to suggest distance and form with gradients of colour, and small indistinct marks, rather than lots of detailed brush strokes.

I quite like this picture, although I think the line of the sea needs to be less broken, and perhaps there needs to be something more for the eye to focus on.

The Big Knit

My new Denise Interchangeable needles arrived this morning - but more on that in another post. What also came in the parcel was a leaflet about Innocent's Big Knit Challenge. They are asking people to knit lots of little woolly hats for their smoothie bottles. These will then go into shops, and for everyone sold 50p will be donated to Age Concern. Last winter 25000 older people dies of cold related illnesses in the UK. Age Concern will use the money raised to provide support to older people including hot meals, blankets and advice on how to keep their houses warm.

Last year 230,000 hats were knitted and £115,000 was raised.

Please join in this fun and worthwhile campaign. There is further information at www.innocentdrinks.co.uk/thebigknit.

When you have made your hats send them to "Little Knitted Wooly Hats" Fruit Towers, 1 The Goldhawk Estate, London W60BA, with a note on the envelope saying how many hats are inside.

Rowan have kindly provided 3 patterns to get people started...

Felted Goodies

On Friday I received another package from my secret pal, Monika. This ticks lots of boxes for me: hats, handbags, and felting courtesy of pick up sticks. Take a look at this:

There is enough yarn to make a child or adult version of the hat, and I am going to claim his one for myself.

I love this bag, and have just knitted my first I-cord, so am looking forward to applying this technique to the decoration of the bag.

Thank you, Monika - you certainly know how to spoil someone, and I have been amazed at your great choices, all of which I have enjoyed.

I have also ordered myself a set of Denise interchangeable needles from I Knit (great site with a fun blog), so that I can do larger projects in the round.

I have a whole range of projects on the go at the moment (bag, cushion, rosettes, collar, cards), all close to completion, so should have some FOs to post soon. It has been a mad couple of weeks, though. My little chap finishes the reception year at school on 3 weeks, and so the school is preparing them for moving up to Year 1, and all the independence and responsibility that involves. They now gather and line up in the big playground with the other children, and are led in by their teacher. Up to now the parents have gone in with them and helped them hang up their coats, find their name tags for self registration, and hand in homework/money for events/letters from home etc. Now we have to let them go on their own, with reminders such as "don't forget your reading pack is in your bag" ringing in their ears. The children are all ready for it, I think this period of adjustment is more for the parents!

I also have to complete a lot of applications for funding for our playground project as part of my PTA duties. We have raised £4,500 this year, and our target is £10,000. This will be used to regenerate the school playgrounds following major building work in the school. It will be used to buy shelters, seating, playground and sports court markings, play and sports equipment and storage. We are going to need to do a lot of fund raising activities next school year. It's quite a daunting prospect, but we'll get there.

I haven't managed to do any painting for 2 weeks, but hope to be able to find some time for that today as well.

SP10 comes to a close

The end of SP10 is approaching for all participants. I for one have had a wonderful time. This was my first exchange of any kind, and I could not have wished for better either in terms of my pal (Monica at Knitty Goodness) or the person I was spoiling (Nephele at ADKD).

Thankyous have been exchanged all round, but you can never express too much gratitude so I would publicly like to thank Monica for the wonderful job she did of spoiling me - she sent we wonderful yarns, lovely and useful accessories, introduced me to sock knitting, and kept my little chap entertained as well with models and chalks.

I also want to thank Nephele for being so responsive to the packages I sent her. It was great fun to read about her receiving and opening the parcels, and hear the plans she has for the yarn I have sent her. I was particularly pleased to find some hand dyed yarns that from The Yarn Gallery that she had not come across before. Here are a few pictures.

More textiles

I promised more textiles for you to feast your eyes on. Well here are two of my favourite pieces from the recent LUSAD exhibition I went to this week. Actually, one is textile, and the other isn't but they are both beautiful, and to me have great similarities. The colours, shapes and textures are just wonderful.

I have been collecting gold and green threads and fabrics for ages now, intent on doing a mixed media Klimt inspired embroidery. This might be just the push I need to get started. One thing I learned from the students' technique books is the value of swatching!!! Testing the individual elements, and the individual techniques in small samples, and then combining and recombining them to learn what really works. It sounds so obvious, but let's face it, when you find a few moments to indulge in crafty pursuits, it can be all to tempting to dive in rather than take a structured and academic approach to creating. I have seen a lot about "inchies" on sites like Dot Frankston's maybe that might be a good way in.

Anyway - the credits for the pictures shown above are:

(top) Mixed media textile by Stephanie Nixon

(bottom) Fictional Artefact in silicone, oxidised stainless steel and guilding metal by Nicola Stock

Can you guess what it is?

OK! Here is a bit of fun... this is a picture of what my two boys bought my husband for Father's Day. Can you guess what it is?

I will make a knitted flower brooch for the first complete, accurate and correct answer, or the most original and amusing suggestion received by Fri 29th June!

Textile Exhibition

Yesterday I went to Loughborough University School of Art and Design to see the final year textile students' exhibition. WOW! What a wonderful array of woven, printed and mixed media textiles (actually they called it 'multi-media', but to me that means video, sound and printed word in a kind of hi-tech presentation, so I am sticking with 'mixed media').


Anyway, back to it - such talent! So many beautiful textiles displayed as swatches or sometimes used as clothing, upholstery, wall art, or even translated into wallpapers.


The students displayed their textiles, and also their research and technique portfolios - these were fascinating, and it was so good to see where they had drawn their individual inspirations from, and how they had examined the elements of these and interpreted them into their own work.


Each student had these lovely photographic cards to advertise themselves and their work. I have many more to show you, so watch this space for more to feast the eyes upon.

Credits for work shown here (left to right):

Blues and golds: Alexandra Brown, Charlotte Jane Winn-Morgan, Alice Janssens, Daniel Michael Smith

Blacks and White: Katie Leamon, Kathryn Neville, Madeleine Wass, Joanna Parkin

Yellows and golds: Stephanie Earnshaw, Gemmas Wade, Linda Mackie, Sarah-Jane Skrynnyk

Pink and reds: Katherine Dawson, Rebecca Cox, Georgina Reynolds, Beth Morton

A weird kind of surprise

I have felt a strong urge to tackle and achieve something major and tangible this week. So I have gone for a bit of a bathroom makeover. Now our bathroom is really nice. It is huge, and it has wild wallpaper which was put up by the people before us and which I absolutely love. There was one major problem with our bathroom however, and that was the carpeted floor. I dislike carpets in bathrooms, they just don't seem very hygienic or practical. Add to this the fact that we inherited the carpet, and also that it extended sixteen inches up the back wall behind the cistern and basin (yes really!), and you will see why this has been a makover on my mind for a while.

Another factor in the equation is that my husband works away all week, only returning home late on a Friday night, and then off again on a Sunday. So it is nice for me sometimes to take on a big job and do it while he is away, then he comes home to a great big surprise.

We do a lot of DIY. This is because we don't like to pay other people to do stuff we can do ourselves, and also because, although it takes us a lot longer than it would a professional, we believe that for the most part we get exactly the finish we want if we do it ourselves.

So with all this in mind, on Monday I ripped up the carpet from the bathroom. I have put down some vinyl flooring in the wet area of the bathroom, and am going to put a small carpeted area (yes I know what I said above) in the entrance part of the bathroom (you see the room is really big, so there is kind of a dressing area and a washing area, so two floorings will be OK).

As I mentioned, the old carpet extended up the wall (yuk!), and when I pulled it off I found out why. In the past someone had tried to box in the pipework, and had done a dreadful job, so the wall carpeting was covering various holes and gaps and unevenness. I was determined to improve this area, and so today I have gone for some pine panelling. Now this is actually my favourite part of the make over, because the panelling is made from recycled wine box lids. A few weeks ago I got 300 of these lids from a local wine merchant through freecycle. They were from 2-bottle presentation wine boxes, and the lids had been removed so that a corporate client could put their own printed lids on. I have been using these lids to paint on, for craft projects, and now for panelling my bathroom! I have teak oiled the panels (we don't like to put varnish on wood), and put some architrave on the top and as a skirting board, and I think it looks fine and dandy. It will amuse me for years to come that our bathroom is decorated with recycled wine paraphernalia.

Tomorrow will see the laying of the carpet in the dressing area. The previous carpet was a dark sage green, but I am going for a cream waffle effect carpet.

The room is just going to look so different, and I cannot wait to see my husband's face. When we first lived together, he used to play five a side foot ball on a Sunday afternoon, and would come home to find a room re-painted or some such, and four years ago I made and decorated a bar for him in the cellar during one of his weeks away. So this should bring back some fun memories for him.

I forgot to take a before picture, but here is just a small area of the part that has been completed.

Black Dog

For the past month I seem to have been in a bit of a dark place. I have not felt at peace nor at full energy. I can't put my finger on it, and there is nothing tangibly wrong. As the feeling is not seeming to go away on its own, I have decided to grab the bull by the horns and focus on all the good things that have happened over the past month, and there have been quite a few! So, please excuse this somewhat indulgent post of personal newsy "stuff". One of the things that has helped shake me out of the doldrums has been some lovely comments I have received on my blog... words of encouragement and friendship. Thank you to Monika, Nephele, Dancin' Fool and Covered in Yarn.

For the past 5 weeks my elder (step) son has been doing his GCSEs (school leaving exams). He visits us every second weekend, and we have been rallying round to help him with his revision - taking turns to work through revision papers with him, and discussing various aspects of his subjects over dinner etc. This has been such a rewarding time, as we have seen him put immense effort in during these periods, and we have benefited from some moments of real closeness with him. A treasured memory for me will now always be the afternoon he and I spent studying poetry together, and discussing what we felt and perceived in the various passages he has had to study. His last exam is this coming Friday, and I look forward to seeing such a large weight lifted from him. He would like to go on to college to do an engineering based vocational course - something like car mechanics. I think a practical course such as this would suit him.

My little chap has also had some significant educational moments over the past month. We had his first formal school report, and a parents evening, and received glowing feedback about his personality, and his diligence in his studies. We also had sports day where he came 3rd in the running race, and also participated in the beanbag race and ball race. I am a very proud Mum! I was very impressed by how the school ran the sports day - all the children seemed genuinely pleased to take part, and there were lots and lots of parents there to cheer them on and support them. Given the worrying statistics on childhood obesity in the UK (currently 1 in 4 children classed as obese), I was very pleased to see how "lean" the school seemed, and this impression was backed up a few weeks ago when I volunteered to help out on a school trip, and so was able to see first hand what most children ate for their packed lunch. Although there were more crisps and sweets in many packed lunches, I was pleased at the healthy sandwiches I saw, and the amount of fresh fruit, and the healthy life style taught and encouraged by the school. I have a great interest in food, cooking and nutrition, and in some of my madder moments, I have considered putting together a healthy eating course aimed at parents of children under 11. I am lucky t have two boys who are very good eaters, and who are mostly happy to try new things and eat a good range of fruit and vegetables.

We also took part in little chap's school summer fete. This is the major fundraising event of the year, and all proceeds are currently going towards regenerating the school playgrounds with new sports court markings, game areas, play equipment, storage, seating, shelter and the like. We have a target of £10,000 and the fete raised £1400. We ran a stall at the fete. It was a bean bag target game. We made a large target with 5 holes and decorated it, and the children had to throw beanbags at it, and score more than 90 points to win a prize. We raised £48 which equates to 96 visits to our stall. We had the local radio station do a broadcast from the fete, and they sent their mascot "Oakey Bear" to open the fete and entertain the children. It was a lovely day, and the sun shone, and lots of fun was had by all.

In the middle of all this was my wedding anniversary. Somehow we didn't manage to get out together this year - first year that hasn't happened. One year for our wedding anniversary we booked a baby sitter and went and had a grown up picnic on a craggy hill, and one year my husband booked us back into the hotel where we had our wedding reception and we had a VERY POSH 7 course gourmet meal! So, not doing anything this year sounds bad, but we have booked two summer holidays - a week in Yorkshire in a cottage just a skip away from the cliffs and a lighthouse. I feel a few Bronte moments coming on! And the second holiday in Ireland (husband's homeland) as part of a family reunion. So we have special times coming up.

By now you must be wondering why I have been feeling down when life has been full of so many good things - and to be honest so have I. And it just gets better, as tomorrow I am going to the local art college degree show (fine art, ceramics, jewellery, furniture and textiles!!!) with two very good friends of mine. I cannot wait to immerse myself in the talent and beauty of the local art college and their students, and also spend time with good friends.

You know, I feel a lot better already. Counting your blessings may seem like a very old fashioned thing to do, but it's also a good barometer for life.

Catch up

Sometimes you just have to wait until the time feels right to do something... and that has been the case with blogging, knitting and painting the last couple of weeks. However, last night I got the needles going again...

I have finished the socks (yes both of them!). I won't post a picture as there have been many pics of yarn and progress in recent posts.

I have also wound the Noro yarn I bought with the gift voucher from my secret pal, and have started knitting with it... it is a beautiful mix of colours, and works up nicely in this broken rib pattern. I can't say what I am making as it is going to be a gift for someone.

I frogged the black felted bag I was making. I ran out of wool for the pattern I was working to (which was going to have an eyelet design along the top threaded with sari ribbon), and am now going to do something smaller, and perhaps beaded. (I have a lovely stash of assorted beads, and have to confess that I have just ordered a whole pile more from Jilly Beads). I have also been making various brooches and charms... many of which are destined to find their way into Christmas presents (yes, I said the "C" word, but sorry, I am notoriously early in planning!). It is not too clear in the picture, but the bottom one is a beautiful set of tiny Russian Doll beads.

I have made a rosette from the sari ribbon, which I intend to embellish with some beads, and actually, I really like it made into these small items, so I might well make some more for brooches and pins).

I have also been butchering my wardrobe, and cut up a dress bought years ago to make a nice summer skirt. I loved the fabric but the shape of the dress was rather unflattering. Actually, I have just noticed that the fabric is very similar to the wallpaper we have recently put up in our hall, so I had better not stand around in our hallway too much when wearing this skirt!. I just cut it shorter, elasticated the waist (nothing fancy), and think it will look nice worn with a wide belt. I have kept the top part of the dress as well, and think I might just about manage to turn it into a top to wear with jeans. (So thrifty!)

I also drastically shortened a long line tweedy skirt that my husband finally admitted he hated. I zigzagged the bottom and was going to turn a hem, but I noticed the zigzag has made the hem nicely fluted. So I am going to keep it with this rather raw finish. I made a contrast tweed flower to put on it, and reckon it might just see me through this summer.

This wardrobe refashioning has been inspired by the fact that I have managed to lose a bit of weight over the past couple of weeks. I have set myself a target to regain my ideal weight (according to the WHO BMI) before my 40th birthday, it's a bigger target than I have wanted to admit.

Holiday inspiration

I had a day of painting today, which was lovely. I am experimenting with some dilute acrylic mix on gesso, the idea for which I got from Judy Scott. And have also taken some memories from my recent holiday to inspire me to get back to the fun of painting in watercolour (something which has eluded me for a few weeks now).

We stayed in a farm cottage on our holiday and every day was filled with the sights and sounds of swallows and sky larks. It was beautiful (despite the very wet weather!). Anyway - here is my attempt to capture some wonderful moments.

Sevens

I have been tagged by Dancin' Fool to complete a meme of 7 strange facts about myself. I have done this before, but felt she deserved 7 new things about me, so here goes.

1. 20 years on I still have occasional nightmares about taking my A levels: basically I dream I have skipped 2 years of classes and then have a month to make up all the work!

2. I love handbags.

3. One day I would like to be a librarian.

4. I live in a 300 year old house.

5. I love the works of Thomas Hardy, having first been introduced to his poetry and novels when studying for my O' levels (23 years ago!).

6. As a baby in Cyprus, my parents were offered 2 goats in exchange for me (fair deal I would say!).

7. If you put all the books we own on a single shelf, it would be over 90 feet long.


As I have done this before, it is difficult for me to tag 7 people, so I am going to tag 2 very special people... my secret pal, and my secret pal match (ie the person I am sending stuff to). I have to do this by (anonymous) email as until June 15th we do not reveal our true identities.