A little in love.

On Tuesday we took a little trip to Devon. Land of snarly trees, magical landscapes


and inspiration. I can see now where some of my blogging friends who live here get their inspiraition from. I'm almost brimful after just one day.


The weather was not kind to us and I lost my way a couple of times adding an extra hour on to what ended up as a 10 hour round trip.


Finally, tired and hungry, we reached our goal, and added a new member to our family. This little guy threw himself at us when we arrived and was just so eager to come away with us, that we knew we'd found our special pup. He's a 'pocket lurcher' which is much smaller than standard lurchers and he is a Whippet/Bedlington cross.


He slept for the entire journey home, only waking at a Service Station to use his puppy toilet!


After a mad charge around the kitchen and a small supper, he snuggled into his new bed,


and stayed there pretty much all night. What a great little dog.


I think you could say that we are all more than a little in love, although Arnie cat is less than impressed. We've kept pup and cats separate for now and the arrangement seems to suit them all :)

Beauty and happiness.

Sometimes beauty can be found at the most unlikely time. The same could be said for happiness.

After dropping the children at school, I decided to take a short drive past the lake. I almost crashed at the wonderful sight of the mist rising from the lake surface. I parked the car and grabbed my camera.


I fell wonderfully in love with these darling little coots. They aren't much smaller than my hens and are birds that I've so often overlooked. Up close though, they are lovely. Their beaks have the faintest tinge of pink and their legs are an amazing green/gold colour. They aren't just plain black either, their colours are varying shades of grey to black. As I sat very still, they moved around me with a boldness I've never witnessed before rather than the shy and scurrying birds they seem to be.


As I walked around the lake a deep stillness settled within my chest.


I think it was happiness.


It was most certainly peace.

Living with fear!

After taking the difficult decision to leave my job at the school, I felt that life could return to normal. That I could get back to the person I'd been but had neglected. Sadly the Universe had other ideas and plans laid out for me and my life at the moment is far from normal. When I stepped off the old wheel, I didn't realise that it was to be a totally new wheel that I'd find myself on, rather than a previous safe and settled one.

Most mornings I wake up and feel the fear in the pit of my stomache. I take a while for it to settle, for me to acknowledge it and feel it fully as I ease myself into the day. I'm not hiding from this fear any more or distracting myself with hyperactive excesses. I'm dealing with each individual part of it as I open a dialogue between my reasoning mind and the irrational feelings that threaten to engulf me.
I'm afraid of making the wrong choices, but we can only work with what we know or feel at the time. So choices, made carefully, are simply what they are, neither right or wrong, even though not everyone will agree with them.
I'm afraid of the future, well, so are a great many people, but we all have to move forwards and I choose to do it bravely.
As each fear surfaces, I try to handle it, to calm it with reasoning and rational thought. I'm so tired from the effort but I feel more alive than I have done for a good long time.

I spent some time with the ponies yesterday, calmed my erratic heartbeat and stilled my nerves so that I could carry on with the day. As I drove home, I watched the rain clouds pour over the hill ahead and then suddenly this beautiful rainbow lit up the sky. It gave me such terrific hope!



And then this morning, as I sipped my tea, my darling little Max staggered into the bedroom, exhausted from scaling the stairs. By all rights this old boy should have left me long ago, but I'm so grateful for his company now. Each day feels like his last and each new one feels like a gift :D



I would like to add, that in due course I'll be less cryptic about my circumstances, but for now I'll reassure you that my health is good and life goes on.x

Lovely things!

My dear little Arnold loves the blue patchwork quilt. He has a little 'mote' by his eye. Some people think these are fairies caught on film and it's more than likely that Arnold has a few fairies around him :D


My gorgeous new glass topped pins in one of my home made pin cushions.


Just a couple of the things I've snapped today with my new old camera!

Pictures.

At last I have a working camera now. Tomorrow expect pictures :D

Still, quiet darkness.

I love the pre-dawn darkness, the secret silence of it as the World turns closer to the wakening. In these quiet moments of solitude I sit in my bedroom, lit by a candle, gathering my thoughts to me as I weave together the strands for the coming day. My little piebald cat, old and saggy like bagpuss pressed against my legs, purring so very softly into the patchwork quilt.

The buttery candlelight creates a glamour that no lightbulb ever could and I savour these minutes as I savour my tea. Long, slow sips of magic.

The return of - ME!

At long, long last I've made some big decisions and it's time now to get on with living the life that is true to me. I feel that My ideals were put on hold for a while as I struggled to reconcile my working life with a life of simplicity. I've discovered a lot about myself and where compromises had to be made which areas of my life I was prepared to change and which things I simply couldn't give up!



Now, however, I've had to leave my job at the school, leave people that I enjoy working with and above all, some very special and wonderful children. I've been so upset but have had tremendous support from my co-workers and a pretty great boss and now can only move forward with hope for a stress free remainder of the year.

I won't stop working though, my direction will change back to embrace my ideals and I'm going to throw myself into my art work. Plans have had to change. Money will be tight, but hopefully not for long too long :D

Bleaurgh!!!

I'll be honest, the last couple of weeks have been diabolical. I've lost my phone with ALL of my contact numbers (I knew I should have stuck to a filofax!) and my work at the school has been hellish! No ones fault and nothing I can talk about, but sheesh, it's driven me to drink a couple of times!!!

I'm not going to dwell on the negatives though and instead focus on the lovely jams I've been making and the process of pulling the vegetable plot back into shape. There's still a long way to go, but the leeks are thriving and the beans have done well and now it's time to dig up the last stray potatoes and any pink fir apples that have escaped my notice :)

I'll be back later with updates and pictures, but for now I'm enjoying planning a day of wonderful household chores. I'm not being even slightly sarcastic here, I love getting my house in order, with the smell of line dried laundry and a little homemade wax polish. Wonderful :D

Work hard and play crochet.

Actually, it's only the first proper day back at school with all the children and it's been an emotional ride, I can tell you. I'm badly missing my yr 3's from last year, and they seem so grown up now in their yr 4 classes. I can hardly remember any of the new children other than the very naughty and the very, very good. I'm amazed at the boundless kindness and patience of some of these little Angels and can't sing their praises enough :D The particular child I'm responsible for is an engaging soul, but terribly hard work and tonight I'm totally wiped out!

All I can say is thank heavens for crochet, it's the new rock and roll :D I'm too tired to engage my creative cells, so I can lose myself in some wool craft, and you know what? It's already starting to resemble the item I'm attempting to make.

Every stitch reminds me of my Granny, how I used to sit and be mesmerized by her flying fingers and the growing blanket or squares. I feel connected to her at and remember the love, but more than anything I'm realising the huge amount of respect I had and have for her. She could be quite scarey at times, having only had sons and four of them, she didn't know how to be soft with Grand daughters. She hated my Sister's name and so insisted on calling her Valerie as she thought it a far more suitable name :D She was guilty of the most incredible malapropisms and had me and my sister actually wetting ourselves with laughter as she insisted on dressing my sprained ankle with a crap bandage! She was so very un-politically correct and called a spade a spade and people by every other awful nickname imaginable! We squirmed and we complained and we never realised what a wonderful person she was, with her 'tight to her head' permed curls and her constant shriek of 'EH?'!

She was self sufficient before it was fashionable and we endured such horrors as marrow jam and some home made meat jelly that had us running from her old fashioned kitchen, with it's Butler sink and boiler across the linoleum floor, down the long, long garden to hide in Grandad's greenhouse. He kicked us out as it was his only refuge! She scared and fascinated us by the bucket load and I'll never forget the day I lathered up my face with a scratchy brush and soap and used Grandad's razor the way I'd seen him do it ! I think that was the only time she showed her soft side. My face was bloody all over!!! She had a parade of little dogs and a screeching Minah bird that would yell 'EH?' at us as we tried to sneak off out of the house. She would make a kind of fat pudding for the birds in her garden and when no one was looking the little dogs would scoff it all up and then be sick behind the greenhouse. We never told on them and in return they would snap at us and show their sharp little teeth.

Isn't it amazing that all these memories surround me as I sit and reconnect myself to my lovely Granny through the beauty of woolen stitches and I smile to remember the lovely blankets she made and the money she raised by selling them for charity. She was a wonderful person and it's lovely to remember her this way :D

Miracles and Angels.

Well I can hardly believe that after my last post my little Max cat is improving! I had the vet booked as Max was so weak and lifeless and then began having little nosebleeds. It seemed the fairest thing to do, even though I really didn't want to. Hubby and children convinced me to postpone the visit and blow me down, but Max started to eat and drink a little. He's still only eating enough to feed a sparrow, but slowly his strength has returned and he's tottering about like normal.

After such a strained weekend of worry, it feels like a little miracle and I'm drawn to look at the Angel I'm painting, a large picture that's to go in my bedroom. I find Angels to be very comforting in a non-religious way and believe so fully in their existence. The weekend was a struggle as we all worried about Max and the return to school and then on Sunday I broke a tooth. It felt like the final straw on top of so many broken things that day, promises, hearts and friendships. I sat at the field and just let it all out. Afterwards I felt so much better and then such a deep peace settled on me. I looked up into a beautiful sky, one of those breathtaking displays of sun on cloud all gold and rose and I felt comforted and truly at peace.

We are on borrowed time with Max and nothing in life is really ever stable, things can change so suddenly, the loss of a job a sudden change in the path you're on. But I was reminded that we're not alone and help is there if we open our hearts and look for it.

My tooth has been mended and other things will mend too, with time and care and a little help :D

Oh heck!

I don't want to be miserable, but when I am, I try to confine it to this blog, rather than clutter up the other one. Some of you may know that 17months ago, my beautiful cat Max was diagnosed with a terminal tumour in his bowel. Against all odds he carried on as well as he could and confounded the vets at every visit (I'd like to think it was the Reiki, but he's a stubborn little imp). We always knew we were on borrowed time, but now it seems that we've run out.

Most pictures of the children have Max in them somewhere.








He is nearly 19, so I guess I've had more time than many owners get with their pets. He's just been such a big part of my life and the children have never known a time without him.


A nasty cold has taken hold and things aren't looking so good. This picture was taken last week and is how I'll always remember him, cuddled up to me while I type on my lappy (laptop)!

After the storm!

Eeek, it's been a tough old week. I cannot say how much hard work and effort went in to preparing the Exhibition set up. Juggling art and egos has been tricky and I'm desperately looking forward to a few days rest afterwards.

I need to fit in a mighty clear up around the outside of the house and at the field, as we had a real life 'Dorothy' style storm last night and it's left everything looking thoroughly shaken up! I'd also quite like to take a couple of days out to do some decorating inside, as the house is looking sorely neglected and hasn't been touched since shortly after we moved in many, many moons ago. Then I'm going to sell up and move to Wales, haha!

A couple of lovely days out with the children are on the cards plus an awful lot of knitting. More paintings are swirling around in my head, but these will be for me, for my wall :)

Thin on the ground.

I'm sorry that my posts here are very few and far between at the moment, but my time is so much in demand! The time I'm spending with the ponies and children leaves me little room for anything else and not much worth writing about.

The veggies are ticking along and I'm leaning more towards a low maintenance style at the moment, haha!
Sadly I lost one of my chickens on Thursday, my beautiful silver sussex, Oona. I think she had an internal prolapse of some kind. She'd had a prolapse before, but it went back in ok, but this time I think it probably twisted as it went back, as her abdomen was so distended. There was nothing I could do, so I tucked her up in a deep straw nest and left her sleeping. The next morning she was gone. She was only a young bird, but I just guess she wasn't as fit and well made as the others. The other 3 have formed a tight knit group and seem to be managing well now. They do feel grief and loss though, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise. I've had so many first hand experiences of the emotions of chickens!

Merlin has a mare visiting him at the moment, and that takes up a lot of time as I rush back and forth to the field making sure that he's ok. He's still my baby and I'm very pleased to see that he will come to me for cuddles and will even leave the field and be brushed and checked all over. Personally I think he's glad for the break from this demanding woman! It's been a steep learning curve for me and everything has gone really well, although I've had my hands places I would not want to share with you! I will be glad when we can get back to normal though, and I'm missing Toffee terribly as he's had to go and stay elsewhere for the sake of his sanity!


Merlin is behind his mare, who is much larger than he is, but between them, I forsee beautiful babies :)

In and out of love - with my garden.

I used to be so in love with my garden that it was hard to imagine a time when I wouldn't be and yet the other day I took a long hard look and realised that I'd fallen out of love without even realising it! I guess life can be a little like that, things creep up or away from you and sometimes you hardly notice!

I think the change began with the arrival of the chickens many years ago. I fell so totally in love with them that I didn't mind what they got up to, how many bald patches they dug over or where they left their little 'bombs'. That was until recently, when I found I needed a retreat that I could get to in the silent hours before the rest of the world was up. Somewhere I could nurture my soul as well as my neglected plants.

The garden still has a long way to go yet, but I'm back to loving it and finding peace there and walking barefoot is such a pleasure now!

This is the front border that I've had an ongoing battle with. There is a particular plant that is so invasive that years after deciding to clear it out, I'm still swamped by it's cordlike roots and persistant regrowth! I'm afraid I've even used weedkiller, but it still survives. This Autumn I'm going to spray it again! This is just an example of how dried out everything has become, but some weedy little tomato plants (left over from all of my seeds germinating!) can have a go here and see how they do.


Finally some green beans have appeared, these are the Cherokee trail of tears from Danielle :)


Little Arnie cat in my favourite wild corner.


Here is my experiment corner, how much can you fit in to a small space? Well, the apples are doing well and I have more green beans growing in the tub. The pear and blueberries were a no-show, but under the hedge I have pink fir apples which are a small salad potato and they are well worth fitting in to any space :)


Another giant courgette, which is now the base for a scrummy ratatouille.


Finally some of my herbs, basil and coriander, which I use almost every day in the Summer and it's good to have my own fresh supply. These pots will come into the house in the Autumn and I'll keep them going all Winter if possible.


Finally, my Buddha in the front garden. So peaceful and calming, a reminder to me to stop once in a while and be mindful of the moment.

Flying past.

The days are truly flying away at the moment. The children and I have made a list of holiday activities to make sure that we fill this Summer with lots of happy memories. Memories have become very important to me lately and making good ones to cherish deep in our hearts has become something of a priority. After my own health scare earlier in the year, and now going through difficult times with loved ones, I've come to believe that strength comes to us in so many different forms. Cherished moments are one of them as are kind words and deeds. I told someone special just last week, that I cannot walk their path for them, but I could hold their hand along the way.

Still, this isn't to be a maudlin post, so I've posted another picture of my funny hen, Tao, whose name conicidentally means the Way or Journey! She is so sweet and affectionate, as is my other black rock hen Tiger. Tiger will run as fast as she can and take off to get to me when she sees me walking through the long grass at the field. It makes me feel great that these funny birds look on me as their mama :)




We have planned a few days out for the holidays and I've just discovered that Jane Austen's house is only a 40 minute drive from us. Moomin is totally in love with the TV versions of Jane Austen's work and so we've decided to take a drive over and spend some time absorbing the atmosphere.

There will of course be the annual pilgrimage to Glastonbury plus a few trips to nearby beaches, I also would like to go to Dorset and visit Durdle Door, which featured at the beginning of Prince Caspian.

I love the holidays and hope to take lots of pictures to share with you all.

Finally!

At last I have a home grown courgette, and isn't it a beauty? There is another growing on this plant and my globe courgettes have just begun to put in a little effort! Yaay, I'm so looking forward to the annual glut :) I love moaning about too many courgettes and making all sorts of wonderful dishes. It's more difficult in my household as I'm the only one who really likes courgettes and the others are simply perplexed by this annual game of 'waiting for the courgette'!!! I WILL NOT buy one from the shops, but wait instead for my own season to begin. The same can be said of my affair with spinach, I wait and then fall in a frenzy onto the yummy green leaves including them in anything and everything I cook. The waiting makes the food all the tastier and then as I begin to lose interest and start freezing pots of ratatouille the season is over and I make the pots last as long as possible into the winter. Then the wait begins again, but I won't weaken and buy a Dutch, Spanish or (Gods forbid) South American courgette!

Tonight I made a rissotto and even hubby enjoyed it.


He didn't, however, sample my home made stout. Yeesh, it was strong and not terribly fizzy, but I did get the giggles, so there was definitely alcohol in it! I now have a hankering for some steak and ale pie, served with a generous portion of courgettes :)

Getting it together.

Three hours of digging and planting gave me this unimpressive raised bed, but you should have seen it before! I was too ashamed to take before and after pictures as it was totally swamped with nettles! Now my strawberries have a lovely place to grow and produce lots of fruit! Sadly, the original strawberries were all strangled by weeds. This lot came from a garden center which is an expensive way of starting out, but the plants from the discount shop that I normally buy from, are usually weak and some simply give up and die straight off. There is of course the mail order option, which I've never tried for strawberries, but maybe this year I will. You can get some good deals and if the plants are healthy then it's worth a go. Beside the strawberries I plonked in some left over onions that had nowhere else to go! It's late, I know, but at least they won't go to waste and I could probably pickle them if they are too small.



Mabel was having a good go at helping with the weeding and this bed has just about been rescued from the weeds and just needs tidying and edging.



I think the problem is that I get so disheartened by the dock that pops up in the spring. The roots are deep and tough and this year I simply didn't have the time to battle it all. This year I'll get the beds dug and weeded and then cover them over with cardboard or newspaper to keep out the weed seeds. This worked perfectly when I did it before, but the grass mulch upset the nitrogen balance as it broke down and my potatoe crop failed. It's not rocket science, but to me it's as good as, haha!

Better.

Thank you so much to everyone for such kind comments on the previous post. I feel truly blessed to have met such wonderful people on line and today I feel a little better. I'm really not one to sit around and wallow, which is why when it hits me, it hits hard!

I have to share this picture with you. I love this little guy so much. Doesn't he look sweet and innocent? Well, let me tell you the following pictures had to be censored and then the camera was thrown quickly aside as Merlin decided that he'd quite like to try chicken for lunch! Poor Mabel flew like an arrow with Merlin on her tail! I leaped between them and somehow managed to grab her mid flight as Merlin ran off laughing, well that's how it seemed to me. Boy is he an indulged pony or what? I really couldn't see any of our neighbours letting their horses get away with such high jinks! Still lesson learned, ponies and chickens don't mix!



Most of the morning was spent pulling the vegetable plot back into shape which is looking slightly less neglected now. We have some strawberries and the beans are making a feeble effort to grow. I think the veg plot gets a little too windy for the beans where I have them and they just seem to have given up! Tonight I have leeks to plant and if I can still stand, then I'll start Merlin on the Parelli program, he needs distracting from chicken chasing, haha!

A piece of good news is that I have another commission for a horse portrait. This is fantastic as I am now officially BUSY! I have quite a few pictures on the go, some for me and some for customers. I also have a little idea brewing in my head, but more on that later :)

Right, I really have to get cracking and finish Bailey's portrait and then another for the Eriskay Society, phewee!!!

Strain.

Life has been a terrific strain lately and I find myself totally empty of words. My usual habit of throwing myself into hard work has left me drained and I'm just about hanging on. The Studio blog has to be maintained as it's my link to sanity, but beyond that, phew..... So, appologies for such infrequent posts, hopefully I'll be back to normal soon.

Perfect day.

What a wonderful day I've had! I got up at my normal 'silly oclock' to water the garden, to find that a gentle rain was doing it for me. The lawn looked totally shocked at the moisture landing on it and briefly put up a fight against absorbing any. Finally though, the rain did sink in as the grass gave a grateful glurp and accepted nourishment. I made a pot of tea and then wandered around the silent and cool house opening windows to let the in the damp breeze.

An hour later found me frantically packing lunch boxes and sending young ones off to buildings of education. And so I arrived at the field in time to see the rain clouds disperse and with them my mornings plans. A quick change about and I decided to seize the moment and take Toffee for a ride before the day either became too hot or too wet!

It was wonderfully cool under the trees as we set off and it seemed that many of our neighbours were out on foot, taking advantage of the break in the heat. As we plodded down the Beech Hill, which we call the Magic Road, I could hear something big and noisy coming towards us. It was a little alarming that we couldn't yet see it, as this meant that it must be very, very big! It came around the bend and was one of the biggest tractors I could ever hope to meet. All red and shiney with yellow swirly, spikey things for turning the hay. So here I am, halfway up a steep hill, with a steep bank on one side and a massive drop on the other. Did I mention that I ride bareback? Thankfully the driver must be aware of the fear his monster tractor inspires in horses and riders, as he stopped at a wide-ish part of the road. We approached and I urged Toffee forwards, not thinking for a second that he would scramble UP the steep bank! I managed to stop him and turn around but as he scrambled back down the bank, my legs were now around his neck and I was sitting almost in his mane! I hope the driver saw the funny side, I did afterwards. Once back on the road I dismounted and led Toffee past with no trouble at all, despite surprisingly wobbly legs, mine not his! I'd be lying if I said that getting back on was easy!

Finally we continued and our path took us up a steeply wooded incline, parallel to the road we'd come down. It was dreamily quiet, with just the birds rustling and twittering above us. Perfect, until Toffee decided that speed was the only way to proceed and as he took off I slid back and came to rest on his rump. Thank goodness he's a little fatty at the moment, otherwise I'd have shot off the end and probably rolled all the way back down the hill! We came to rest at a gap in the hedge overlooking a meadow and beyond that, Middle Earth. Every time I look at the view, my breath catches and I can see Hobbits and Elves and their homes. Today I saw Rivendell glittering in the far off sun.

Back home and Toffee gladly fell to munching his haynet as i took Merlin for a surprisingly uneventful walk! We simply mooched and hung out together, which was lovely :)

Then it was back home for a coffee and a roll stuffed to overflowing with salad, yum!

Between.

It's been a crazy, mad week with lots of laughter and a few tears too, although mostly tears of exhaustion.

As I mentioned on the Studio blog, we've been cutting hay for the ponies. I cannot describe the exhaustion I've felt in this heat and I've barely worked at all compared to hubby, who has been slaving away at it until we've cut nearly an acre. How people managed in the past is just a reflection of how soft we've all become. Mind you, they did die a lot younger than us, haha! Unfortunately, after one particularly hard morning, I pulled a muscle in my thigh which then went into spasm. Imagine a cramp that lasted 24hours. I was in tears despite some very heavy painkillers. By the next morning it was beginning to ease off, but has left me with a very stiff hip and a pain in the butt!


In between all of this, I've been preparing for the Mad Hatters Tea Party which is hosted by Vanessa at A Fanciful Twist. It's been a lot of fun and the Moomin has been a great help and does make quite a sweet 'Alice'.

I have to say though, that I'm looking forward to a quiet week of my normal routine. Most mornings I'm up at 6am to water the garden and tend my growing vegetables. It's become a very soothing start to the day and I guard those moments jealously. Sometimes I'm joined by Arnie cat or sometimes Charm, our bunny as we all revel in the coolness before the day grows hot. The vegetable plot at the field has taken a back seat this year, as I've just not had enough hours in the day to handle it. I'm simply going to lay the unnused beds down to fertiliser and give myself a head start into next year. I do have a bed filled with beans and another for my leeks, plus the raised bed has cucumbers. On top of that the muck heap has sprouted various 'visitors' in the form of potatoes and something that may be squash that has grown from composted seeds! So even on a slack year, the field plot has a half decent yield.

Have a lovely weekend everyone and here's hoping this lovely weather continues, but a little rain would be very welcome :)

Kitchen Witch!

I said I'd been busy this week, making, cooking and nurturing. It has been a lot of fun though and I think the best bit was taking my foraging basket and going with Moomin to raid the hedgerows.

We gathered nearly a basketful of elderflowers and along with some lemons from the shop we decided to make some elderflower cordial.



Arnie suggested I take the recipe from this book! Moomin needed some pringles to keep her going (to the right of the picture).



The recipe is:
24-32 elderflower heads
4 lemons
2oz citric acid
4lbs plain white sugar

Remove all of the flowers from the green stalks. Put the flowers, sliced lemons,citric acid and sugar into a big plastic bucket. Add a litre of boiling water and stir until all the sugar has dissolved. Keep the bucket covered and stir daily for 3-4 days, leaving the plastic spoon inside the bucket (not sure why, but I did it anyway).



Strain the liquid and then pour into clean bottles. I sterilise all my bottles and utensils as I think it's a good way to ensure the cordial keeps well.



It is thoroughly delicious served with tonic water and makes a nice squash with tap water. Not sure how long it will keep for, but I would think a couple of months in a cool place.



I also made some lemonade, which is a lot quicker to make. Squeeze the juice of four lemons onto 2lb of granulated sugar. Boil 2pints of water and pour onto the sugar and lemon juice. Stir until the sugar has dissolved and add 2 teaspoons of tartric acid. When cool pour the liquid into bottles and serve diluted with water.



With some more of the elderflowers I melted some shea butter and coco butter in a bowl over boiling water. Added the flower heads and a large splash of comfrey infused oil (which I made last year). After about 15mins I removed the bowl from the heat and when cool enough to handle I drained the oil from the flowers. I added a few drops of benzoin which has a lovely scent and acts as a preservative then poured the mixture into sterilised make up pots. This is a beautiful, healing handcream and is great for chapped hands and cracked heels.


I also made a fruit cake - it was scrummy :)

Turn and turn about.

Just lately I've had some major disappointments, mostly regarding my art and the direction I was hoping it would take. It's knocked me back, I'll be honest. But like most life lessons, I've taken what I needed to learn and have moved on. It's funny, therefore, that last week I was visited by these two beautiful creatures.

(please excuse the shocking windows!)


Moths and butterflies are symbolic of growth and change - transformation.



I've taken a little time to reflect and think about my life and how it affects those around me. My focus has therefore been on my home and family this week. On caring for those who are always there for me and who rely on me to be there for them. I've been baking and nuturing and have now found the peace I need, that we all need, to live a full life. I'm not sure how long it will last before my workaholic muse sends me chasing my tail again. But for now I'm living in the moment, mindful of each task and doing it well :)

I suppose I'm trying to say that it's good to look for yourself and your true North, but sometimes along the way it's easy to be chasing so many paths that MAY lead North - or not at all!
The Romanies have an expression which amounts to this
'A man cannot ride two ponies with just one butt'

Birds!

It's a post about birds - my chickens and me, haha!

I went to visit a friend last Friday, who happens to be a breeder of rare poultry. She also breeds hybrids and knew that I'd been after a black rock for quite some time. She dangled the carrot and obediently I ran to view them. I was actually very restrained and only came away with two, despite many of the other wonderful offers she made me. One such offer was of a broody Maran who was constantly hatching any egg that was offered. The result being a brood of mixed origins who would accompany mama hen. I'm still very tempted and have a couple of weeks to make my mind up! One of the chicks is a Poland, which the Moomin is desperate to own, so I'm under pressure! She also wants to start a business hatching quail so broody hen would be useful for that too.

So I'm pleased to introduce Tiger Lilly (the black rock) and Oona (silver sussex). These are easily the fanciest and most expensive hens that I've ever owned and I love them to bits. Mabel is really put out and even gentle Lottie is being mean to the pretty girls. I hope they settle soon, cos jealousy is such an ugly emotion!


And last bird picture is of me in my fancy dress costume for School last week. The occassion was Egyptian Day and I really couldn't throw together anything suitable or even that I would want to wear. As it turned out there were at least 30 Cleopatra's in any case!
So what am I wearing? My best steampunk costume in an attempt to be Howard Carter's assistant/wife! It was a fun day and as there were two Howard Carter's I didn't feel too odd, but Moomin totally disowned me, and one child asked if I'd been riding my horse, hahaha!

Where have I been?

Actually, no where, haha! I think I've been suffering from an extreme bout of tiredness as everything seems to be soooo hard to do, even finding words for my blog has been an effort. I have absolutely no energy at the moment and my limbs feel so heavy. I think maybe I was doing too much and trying to fit everything in has taken it's toll. Last week was spent catching up on housework and trying to finish some art work and I've not achieved much else. A few days of rest are needed, and then next week, slowly get back into my routine.

The weather change has been a blessing, as it means I can spend a little time inside and play around with some sketches and sculptures. Although, that still sounds a little like work, I know, but at least it's not hard manual labour :) I've been telling a lot of people lately to take time out and be kind to themselves, but I've not been taking my own advice! So instead of going to the market and giving myself a day of preserving to deal with, I'm just going to feed the ponies, then come home and be peaceful.

I'm going to take a leaf out of the hens book, and mooch around. Sounds like a good plan to me :)