Mud and Doodles

After days of rain, this morning's clear blue sky drew us outside.   I had my to go for my week 3 couch to 5K run anyway and Himself supported by coming along and jogging beside me.  I'll be back up to speed by end of Feb but having not run at all for most of last year I'm building up slowly.  After a quick pause for a breakfasty, lunchy brunchy thing we set off again, boys in tow for long walk.

 It was long (4 miles).  And it was muddy.  And as much as I enjoyed having a blue sky over my head, the mud was a drag and you can tell I wasn't feeling the joy of it.

The countryside is so dormant at this time of year with confused tones, neither fresh nor colourful and the low sun brings long shadows.

And it's still watery!

And during the wet times of the weekend there was time for this sort of thing...

New Beginnings

After the glitter, food, friendship and cosiness of those dark Christmassy days, January is exciting because it heralds the arrival of new things to learn, bake, eat and share while waiting for the nights to draw out and the frosts (rains!) to pass.

My current New Thing To Learn is Zentangles and here’s my example created last night….

And here’s the official (!) description from the website :

Zentangles are miniature pieces of unplanned, abstract, black and white art created through a very specific Method from an ensemble of simple, structured patterns on a 3.5-inch (89 mm) square paper tile. Zentangles are not only exquisitely beautiful, they are fun and relaxing to create.
The process of creating a Zentangle is a form of “artistic meditation” as one becomes completely engrossed in making each pattern, deliberately focusing on “one stroke at a time”®. The creativity options and pattern combinations are boundless. And anyone can do it!

Those words “artistic meditation” really leap out at me having done little (oh ok, none) of either for too long! It’s worth having a poke around the internet for more images to see just how complex and beautiful this artwork can be and since my job and recent house move (more later..) requires that I live 95% of my time in my left brain, I’m interested in anything which prods my creative right brain into action. A word of warning – do not – no, really don’t – search for Renaissance Zentangles and don’t follow this link because you don’t need to know what gorgeous results can be got from tan coloured card and some red and white pens.

So back to that house move. Finally, after 6 years of only seeing each other at weekends because of our jobs and locations, things changed to enable us to actually move in together. It was enormously difficult to accept that I had to dismantle my lovely, comfortable, crafty Week Day Home and take that leap of faith but leap I did and am now happily nesting with Himself in a little cottage down a little lane in a little village buried deep in the South Gloucestershire hills near to Bath. Himself will have an official blog name at some point, I’ve asked him to think about it. It’s been equally challenging for Himself, who had to plaster walls, build wardrobes into nooks and crannies, endure visits to the big blue and yellow flat pack store, virtually dismantle his kitchen and rebuild a chimney to accommodate me and my ridiculously massive but satisfyingly solid cooker. It’s been a true labour of love for the past 6 months taking up our spare evenings and precious weekends to combine two houses and two lives into one but we’ve done it.
And here are 2 before and 1 after picture which show how much we both had to move not just mentally but physically!

Christmas was therefore spent together with me happily pottering around our newish kitchen enjoying baking and cooking for a bunch of people and experimenting with a whole load of new recipes. Some of which turned out to be real crowd pleasers! The recipes below were all tried and tested, sometimes more than once! (My hips hate me!) There was a wonderful Malted Chocolate Cheesecake which I forgot to photograph and some really light and simple Sea Salt Water Biscuits which I did photograph....

Sweet and Spicy Nuts

Biscotti

Although there was no time to make my usual stack of Christmas cards, time had to be found to use some  favourite stamps from waltzing mouse stamps This is my favourite place to go for stamping inspiration. The stamps are beautiful and unusual but all work well together so you can mix and match. This one for example is from the Folk Art Medallion set so it's not a festive one at all.  I hid away from the unpacking and tidying for an afternoon to make a limited collection of these…

And then over the break, once the food had either been eaten or turned into freezer soups and casseroles, I took a little time to do some miniature experiments with a new stamp called I Dreamed of Castles by Lindsay Mason...

So now the dust has settled, the holiday period is over and it’s time to create new routines to match my new life. I’m in a different location for work now with a different and shorter (phew!) commute which is a mix of country lanes and motorway and am discovering new places to go shopping, get fuel, buy chocolate etc. Life is finding a new rhythm and it’s all exciting and it’s only January!!

Camping and Wimbledon

We were promised a hot, sunny weekend, so we both booked Monday off work and on Saturday headed down the M5 to a favourite camp site near Woolacombe. You can't book pitches in advance so you have to just drive and hope. We were in luck and pitched in an area with fantastic views over the Bristol Channel.

We treated ourselves to a lazy afternoon with beer and BBQ...

(The anaemic looking steaks are turkey)

Our restaurant for two :)

This place really lets you enjoy the rugged north Devon coast. You don't need to walk all over it, swim in it or sail past it. You can sit and watch it's moods change as the sun sets.

Sunday 7th July was one of those days you know you're going to want to remember where you were and what you did. We'd foregone breakfast and got down to the beach early to spend the morning surfing the challenging waves 2 ft (!) Lunch was a terrific roast in a nearby pub followed by a wander round the small town to find which pubs would be showing the Wimbledon final. We chose Captain Jacks as probably the coolest on that blistering hot afternoon.

We found a bench right in front of the screen and I vowed not to leave until Andy Murray won. (I was certain he was going to).

Three hours later the crowd in the pub erupted and the cheering and clapping was heart felt. We had a new champion and more importantly Andy Murray had created a new legacy for those of us from the same small Scottish town as him. It would have to taken something on that scale to keep me in a pub for 3 hours. I get bored very easily!

The early evening was spent recovering from achy muscles, trying to find somewhere to dry off our wetsuits and wallowing in the huge sense of contentment after an emotional Wimbledon final.

Rather than try to describe how pretty this area is, I took loads of pics for you of the views you get as you drive to the beach.

The roads are narrow,

and steep,

and twisty,

and worth it.

Back to the office tomorrow!

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Hausaufgaben!

Homework!

I enjoy learning German and for the past few weeks, each evening I have listened to a little German radio (B5 plus or Bayern 2) or watched some online TV. (Last night there was a programme called "Tierish' Tierish" and since there were lots of cats and dogs on it, I'm guessing it was about pets.)

Earlier on this year my energetic, warm and very funny German tutor died after suffering a massive stroke. The little local church could not hold all those who came to pay their respects to this lovely lady. A couple of weeks later I was allocated a new tutor but I found it hard to apply myself. Over the months since she took on the task of teaching me I have found her also to be warm, funny and supportive of my laborious attempts to understand cases, reflexive verbs and modal verbs.

(Even though as soon as I conquer one subject and learn another, I forget the first subject.)

Under my new tutor's care I've found my enthusiasm creeping back. Having the right teacher goes a long way to making you want to emerse yourself in the language or surprise them with a new word (my lessons are sadly full of surprising new words but I'm getting better!) I'm lucky to have had two tutors who know how to fire that enthusiasm :)

 

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The village fete

Each year the village holds a fete to raise money for the local church. Considering how small the village is, 2,000 people, there's always plenty to look at, listen to and throw things at.

Such as the skittle alley...

No win this time.

Or you can listen to the local brass band.

Or admire the view.

Or win a coconut.

Or have a nice cup of tea and a slice of homemade cake while you admire your coconut.

And when we tired of the fete, we went to collect no 1 son who had arrived back in the UK after a week away on a school exchange trip to Germany. Apparently it all went very week and we don't know how he did it but he managed to bring back a gift to warm any father's heart.

 

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Handmade Silk Paper

Nearly a year ago, I bought some silk fibers at the Malvern Quilts and Needlecraft Show with no idea of what I was going to use them for.  Luckily, my ever enthusiastic sewing teacher Catherine at onefatquarter.co.uk knew exactly how to use them and she kindly turned the usual weekly sewing class into a silk paper making session. Within an hour we had transformed a bunch of loose fibers into the papers below ready to be stitched into and used as if it were a piece of fabric.

We added a few thick pieces of wool across this piece.  Once it was fully dry I sewed some French Knots along one of the pieces of wool and added some beads along another length of wool.  I'm not sure exactly what type of silks we used on this. 

The piece pictured below was made with 2 textured silk fibers called Carded Cocoon Strippings and White Noil bought on the internet.

I'm already thinking of ways to use this new skill perhaps to make cards or as covers for handmade scrapbooks. We have lavender growing in Himself's garden which I'd like to try adding for texture, colour and if I'm lucky maybe scent too.  

Father's Day

Our tradition says that on birthdays and Father's Day, the person having the day gets to choose the activity and everyone has to join in. And no one is allowed to complain.

The cards were from one very organised son

And one less organised and slightly confused son

The day began with a trip to not one but three motorbike shops

Where we played the "how much?!" game on the price of accessories

And guess where it ended? I'm hoping this much patience around motorbikes has earned me a lot of brownie points the next time I want to visit a craft shop :)

 

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