Saturday- Lazy morning, ate Vegetarian bacon for the first time from the Milkman- it was really tasty! It smelt like Frazzles but I really liked the texture. We ate it with eggs, tomatoes, homemade fried bread and rocket. In the afternoon, we drove over to CBC's old housemate's home and had delicious hot chocolate and marshmallows courtesy of Hotel Chocolat's Velvetiser and had some nice chats. We returned home to eat delicious left-over Thai Green Tofu and vegetable curry and also naughtily supplemented it with Salt and Pepper prawns and pancake rolls from the Chinese!
Sunday- CBC went off cycling and I watched the Youtube church service and did some watering. His brother and partner came over via train. They sat in the garden drinking a cup of tea and then we drove (everyone wearing face masks!) to Lion's Creek where we did a lovely walk along the creek and the river Crouch to Paglesham. We went via the Coop to get some lunch for a picnic. Excitingly, we reached the Pillarbox where we intended to have our picnic and the people there had spotted seals! We saw the odd seal popping up all over the place quite far off. One guy got in and waded and I noted it as a possible future swimming point. Everyone else departed and we sat and ate our picnic. Excitingly, all of a sudden, a seal popped up right in front of us a bit further out and stayed in position, his head popping up and grinning at us for a full 10 seconds!!! After this, we walked into Paglesham and had a cup of tea in the beer garden. In advance of this walk, CBC's brother had commented on my Instagram post of Blackberries saying he loved fresh blackberries so I had come prepared with 3 takeaway containers in hope of finding blackberries en route! I was explaining to M and showing him how to spot fresh blackberries and then we found an absolutely massive glut of huge ones!!! M and I were excitedly collecting them (his first time collecting them) and then CBC and his brother joined in. We ended up completely filling all 3 takeaway containers AND the Quorn Scotch-egg box from lunch! It was a beautiful walk and we sent them home with 3 out of the four tubs! It was a mighty fine haul!
Monday- We headed off to Walton-on-the-Naze to meet my friend Lara and her husband for the day. Her parents have a beach-hut and we were going to spend the day there. We arrived at around 12pm. We went for a wander along the beach, then ate our picnic in the beach hut which was wonderfully quaint- finally I got to be a smug beach-hut 'owner'! The weather was very changeable going from wind and rain to sun! We walked along the beach past the rapidly and quite dangerously eroding cliffs - wanting to tell off 3 children who were wacking at the cliff with their spades- they could have brought the whole thing down on their heads. We admired a beautiful old tree which was precariously hanging (roots actually swinging) off the edge of the cliff, then walked to the Naze tower where we had an ice-cream. Walking back to the beach hut, we had our 3rd cup of tea of the day (oh how wonderful to be able to make tea at will at the beach!) plus Lara's homemade dairy-free chocolate brownie biscuits and then I had a paddle. Lara and I beach-combed lots of whelk shells for her crocheted hermit crabs. We then packed up the beach hut and went along to the pier for a walk to the end. We then bought fish and chips which was freshly cooked in really clean oil (I worked in a chip shop- I know!) and sat on a bench to eat it under the watchful eye of a line of seagulls. We drove in convoy back homewards, L and I exchanging silly texts as we drove, and went home- it was SUCH a lovely day. The brilliant thing was, because the day had started out with torrential rain and was windy, the beach was very much deserted so there were no worries about having to stay distant from hoards of other travellers. We agreed that we would go back later in the year together. L enjoyed her first outing as beach hut hosts - she said it was like seeing it with fresh eyes taking visitors!
Tuesday- We woke up early and drove to Norfolk to Hethel where CBC went to have a bike measuring at Factor Bikes showroom/warehouse. I slept and read in the car whilst he was having his tests. We then drove to Norwich to go and have some lunch whilst his own bike was being adjusted based on the tests. We ate some delicious pasta in Al Dente which was blissfully empty, compared to Wagamamas which we passed which was super full. I was very pleased to see everyone wearing face masks there. We headed back to Hethel and CBC went out to try the bike of Factor Bikes' Owner/founder. Whilst he did that, I went for a walk. I got talking to a very friendly farmer over the fence after I went to watch as the cows all lovingly galloped up to him as he fed them. After my walk, I returned back with CBC. We then drove back to Essex. CBC made a delicious Butternut squash, bean, courgette and chard risotto.
Wednesday- After a quick breakfast, we drove over to my Mum's. We went to the Heights, a country park not too far from her along with my niece. We picked several boxes of blackberries together, we also found some trees full of apples which we picked AND a big patch of Wild Rocket! We went home laden with our spoils! We ate lunch in the garden- cheese, bread, home grown beetroot and tomatoes plus the foraged rocket. For dessert, we ate homemade Blueberry and Lavender (all home grown) Sorbet. We had fun with my niece- I squirted her with the hose which she appreciated very much. It is always a delight to look round my mum's garden. She sent me home with a pump spray, a big pot and 3 Cucamelon plants which we were given by my Grandad's old bee-keeping friend who my Mum has been friends with ever since he died. In the evening, CBC heated up the rest of the Risotto with added vegetables. It was delicious!
Thursday- I awoke at 7.10am and phoned the Doctor and amazingly got through first time. I asked for an appointment and they asked me to come at 8.25! Result! I got dressed and cycled into town to the Doctors where I was seen by the Nurse Practitione. I had a big swelling under my arm which had grown in a week and it seems that a pore or duct has got blocked or infected, which is what I suspected. As I left, I nipped into Gregg's in town to grab a Bacon and sausage baguette plus two Vegan sausage rolls and then cycled to the Pharmacy to get my antibiotics. My Brompton bike was admired by many. In the pharmacy, a lady came in who was panicking over having a face mask on- she was hyperventilating because she hates having things over her face. They allowed her to take her mask off because they were worried she might faint - I edged right to the side of the shop whilst awaiting my Pencillin. Back home, CBC was still in bed, after watering the garden and doing epic washing up, I ate my Baguette and tea in the garden. CBC came down and we both ate a bowl of blackberries, nectarine and then homegrown raspberries and blueberries. After a lazy morning of reading and playing Scrabble Go on my phone, CBC went out for a cycle. I did two loads of washing and did all the washing up and did some sorting out of clothes- I discovered a few items that don't fit me anymore sadly- so bagged those up for giving to my sister and to charity. The dress I wore to my Mum's wedding- a beautiful Coast dress embroidered with ribbons- no longer fits- I was sad as this is such a pretty dress! And the dress I wore for my first ever concert with CBC!
Tonight, CBC made a delicious Vegan dinner of curried Romanescu cauliflower with tumeric and spices along with a delicious Dhal using tomatoes and our own homegrown Swiss chard. It was delicious!
Tomorrow- we are going over to my Mum's to take my Niece down to the beach front early to have a quick swim, trying to avoid the hoards- we will have to make a decision if it is too crowded or risky- and rethink if so.
What have you been up to?
Thursday, July 30, 2020
Tuesday, July 28, 2020
TARDIS Tuesday - A Good Man Goes to War- Amy Pond
Hello there!
Apologies, I have been a little bit AWOL from here!
Firstly, before I continue, I want to thank you for all the lovely comments on the Bloggers Art Gallery and thank you for visiting other artists. If you didn't comment, or were having trouble commenting (like Mike's, I had trouble commenting at first!), please do go and say a quick , "Hi!". I'd also like to invite you to visit Rach's posts too- she joined in last minute and she is the reason I blog- it's her first blog post in FIVE years so the posts on her art are super special. Plus, her art is SUPER varied and interesting!
Today, is one of those opportunistic cosplays. Here is an outfit worn by Amy Pond in a big denouement episode called A Good Man goes to War. She has given birth to her baby Melody and is trapped. She wears an all white outfit consisting of a linen shirt with brown coconut husk buttons, white linen trousers, boots and her hair tied up at the sides.
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| https://theultimateguidetothefashionofdoctorwho.wordpress.com/2018/03/11/amy-pond-a-good-man-goes-to-war/ |
And here's my version!
I have been an English postbox for my German cosplay friend Corinna again, so I am wearing her screen-accurate shirt here- way too big but that's ok!
The facial expression is angst- Amy's worried about her baby! That's Mr Pineapple tucked inside a sheet!
On my bottom half, most serendipitously, I decided to treat myself to some new pajamas from Debenhams. I have a continually expanding wardrobe but pajamas rarely get added or subtracted! I get very attached to them! I got them home on Tuesday from flute trios with these and suddenly,, when contemplating a TARDIS Tuesday, I realised my new pajamas would make the perfect trousers!
It's a very comfy outfit- not one I would wear out- maybe the shirt but these pjs are a bit translucent so I won't be wearing them in public without a dressing gown! Brilliant for Summer though!
What do you think?
x
Friday, July 24, 2020
Badger stories: Can't Get Under It; Can't Get Over It; Turn Around and Leg It.
I have a friend who encountered a badger inside her tent once. She woke up at 3am in the morning, having left her tent flaps open for ventilation. To her surprise, she saw a badger looking at her, right next to her. It left very promptly once both of them got over their startled state!
This comes about because CBC's wanted me to tell his story...
I didn't see the badger sadly but once I heard that it was at large in the garden, I roused myself from my sleepy state to go downstairs to make sure I protected the raised bed at all costs! Bleary-eyed, I grabbed pots, watering cans and anything I could to stand on the wooden sleepers where there were possible entrance points for Mr Badger to dig my plants up. As I did so, I could hear various rustles coming from the bamboo but in my semi-conscious state, I imagined it might leap upon me with massive claws, so I worked with trepidation. This morning, all seemed intact on the raised bed front so the double pronged attack seems to have worked!
My unexpected nature encounters seem to always have been with slow-worms,, not badgers. I have encountered three over the past few months, one in my compost, one in a pot at the end of the garden and one on the path of my regular field walk- we both jumped!
Over to you- have you had any up close and personal incidents with badgers specifically, or indeed with any other creatures? CBC would love to know.
P.S. If you haven't visited the Bloggers Art Gallery yet, please do here. Rach has also joined in and she has loads of amazing part! Rach is the reason I am a blogger!
This comes about because CBC's wanted me to tell his story...
"2am this morning, as I got up to go to the bathroom, I heard scratching sounds that could only be a badger using the fence as a nail file. On account of the fact that this fabled Badger had dug up our plants, burrowed in the veg bed and broken through a fence panel to travel easily between gardens, I decided to investigate. As I tiptoed outside, I assumed that, for some reason, the creature was on the neighbour's side of the fence and had intended to creep up on it, hoping to surprise it, possibly with a, "Here's Johnny!"-type scenario....or just quietly shoo it away, since this was the middle of the night.
It turned out that the badger was on our side, in our garden and was not frantically clawing at the recently-boarded up hole in the fence, to try and break through. I could swear that I then heard it attempt to scale the fence briefly before an about-face and then the fastest bolt towards the Bamboo at the back of the garden where it made its escape.
It was great to finally encounter this wild animal after so many reports from neighbours, local intelligence and a series of clues that have been left over the last few months. I doubt the boarding up of the fence will stop it from coming back, but it might stall it for a while."
I didn't see the badger sadly but once I heard that it was at large in the garden, I roused myself from my sleepy state to go downstairs to make sure I protected the raised bed at all costs! Bleary-eyed, I grabbed pots, watering cans and anything I could to stand on the wooden sleepers where there were possible entrance points for Mr Badger to dig my plants up. As I did so, I could hear various rustles coming from the bamboo but in my semi-conscious state, I imagined it might leap upon me with massive claws, so I worked with trepidation. This morning, all seemed intact on the raised bed front so the double pronged attack seems to have worked!
My unexpected nature encounters seem to always have been with slow-worms,, not badgers. I have encountered three over the past few months, one in my compost, one in a pot at the end of the garden and one on the path of my regular field walk- we both jumped!
Over to you- have you had any up close and personal incidents with badgers specifically, or indeed with any other creatures? CBC would love to know.
P.S. If you haven't visited the Bloggers Art Gallery yet, please do here. Rach has also joined in and she has loads of amazing part! Rach is the reason I am a blogger!
Tuesday, July 21, 2020
Bloggers Art Gallery- Welcome to my Gallery
Before you start, please start this video for accompanying music (80's child here!)
Welcome to my Gallery!
If you have been hiding under a blogging rock these past few weeks, you will not know I've organised a Bloggers (please don't ask me about the Apostrophe, I am ignoring the issue!) Art Gallery.
Please go and visit all the other virtual galleries- you will find direct hyperlinks at the bottom of my post. It would be LOVELY if you could comment on any galleries you visit- even just a little comment to show you visited!
Let's start off in the bedroom.
This piece hangs above our bed and is a limited edition print (We own 21 out of 250) by P.Stangroom http://www.paulstangroom.co.uk/ bought from the Prudhoe Art Gallery. Most of his paintings are of Northumberland and he does window views out of dilapidated buildings with Northumbrian countryside but this one was from a period in his life when he lived in the Himalayas and depicts a giant Rhodedendrum tree which was the view from his garden, dwarfed by mountains. It is entitled Rhodendendrum.
The next piece is an abstract sea-inspired piece by Leigh-on-Sea artist, Emma Bell. It hangs above our built-in wardrobes. She uses gilding and gold leaf in her paintings as well as sea-colours. We bought this one in her sale last year.
On the radiator (switched off), there are two pieces of artwork. The left view of Ox-eye daisies (my favourites) was actually the wedding 'card' (one-sided- it has a message on the reverse) made for my by my dear friend Eleanor Steinitz (started her Art Foundation and Art Degree course in her 70's- she is the coolest!). https://www.instagram.com/curlewcall123/ is her Instagram handle. It is a dear favourite. The photograph on the right is by Peter Bolton and is number 5 of 50 which CBC bought at an Art fair quite soon into our relationship.
We are taking you into the Study/Library (3rd bedroom now) to the first of three collaged fabric works by Leigh-on-Sea-based artist Katrina Parris ( https://katrinaparris.wixsite.com/onlinehttps://katrinaparris.wixsite.com/online.) We are Katrina's biggest fans and I was so happy when she greeted me with a big hug last time she saw me at the Leigh Art Trail as we follow each other on Instagram and she loves how much we love her art.
This is called, 'Fragment of Monet's garden'.
This piece is all made up of pieces of material which she has painted and cut to size and collaged by stitching or gluing. It's hard to tell in this picture but if you look below, you can see the orange flowers are a sort of silk/satin which shines in different lights.
The next piece was a present from my Mum and perhaps you might call this craft rather than art, however, I think that all handicrafts count as art. It is a flower made out of old books and it is fitting it is in our 'library room'
Beneath our electric piano, you can spy this oil painting painted by my husband. This is CBC's Sixth-form common form, known as the Winter garden which is at Queen Elizabeth High School in Hexham. He started painting in characters who dominated the social hierarchies of school but left these unfinished so they appear as ghosts. When we found this in his Father's house when clearing it out, he was going to chuck it out but I insisted he keep it.
If you turn around and look at one of our four book cases, you will spy this work of art lying on top of one of them. It is an unfinished violin made by my Grandfather. He began violin-making classes in his 70's or 80's and whilst my sister was promised the finished violin, since she doesn't play anymore, I nabbed this. It would be lovely for it to be finished but then I am not sure I want to finish it. The amount of careful measurements, precision and fine-tuning (no pun intended) it takes to make a violin by hand earn this beauty its place in my gallery.
This next piece used to be in our bathroom (where the fish are now) but CBC said it was too dark for the bathroom and moved it (yes, he is a grumpy so and so) to the study bookshelf which is a shame as it is harder to see it against books.
It was a handmade paper cut out which was a wedding gift from my work teacher colleagues who came to our wedding. It has our names and the date at the bottom but I have cropped this to edit them out!
We will return to the study later for some pieces which are being stored in there but are not currently being displayed.
Into the spare bedroom now and we find our second Katrina Parris piece. This is called The Rock Garden and it is based upon a scene from RHS Hyde Hall gardens. Katrina's pieces are so reasonable in price but you can see the painstaking precision. If you sleep in our spare room, this will be what you see when you wake up.
A little piece of art which is hiding on the bottom shelf of the bedside cabinet is this hand-made 3D decoupaged card made by my Stepmum- I thought this was exquisite. Even though is it made of shop-produced printed pieces, I thought it was so lovely, I have kept it over a decade.
Before we go downstairs, I will take you into our main bathroom to spy this beautiful little painting with gold-leaf which we bought in either Split or Dubrovnik, Croatia on our holiday back in 2014 or 15. I LOVE fish art-work and we wanted to buy something bigger but it wouldn't have fit in our luggage so we had to restrict ourselves to this little piece. It now sits on the shelf flanked by two big Aloe-Vera plants.
I love the way the light catches on the gold-leaf.
We are moving down to the kitchen now.
As you go down the stairs, you will see these two prints by a Northumbrian, Newcastle-based print-maker artist, Joanna Bourne (www.joannabourne.co.uk) - one is called . Both are inspired by a Danish island, off the coast of Sweden, called Bornholm. Her brother lives there (who is a photographer). CBC purchased them from https://www.robinsongay.co.uk/
"In the shade in the garden at Fru Petersen's cafe"
"Prevailing Wind, Westerly"
Into the kitchen now.
As you come in, you will see this little sculpture of a Nut Hatch. CBC bought this for me for my 38th birthday present. It was made by Robin Fox (www.TheArtfulRobin.com). It was such a sweet and unexpected present. I really like Nuthatches.
Below that, you will see my floral wreath which I made for Easter but is now part of the kitchen. I was rather proud of this so that's why it gets included in this gallery!
We leave the kitchen now and come into the main living room.
I apologize for the reflections. This Squirrel painting was painted by Margaret Bainbridge, a good friend of mine. This was her wedding present to us. She gave us her portfolio to look at, pre-wedding and asked us to choose a painting which she would get framed for us. CBC and I love red-squirrels and are a big part of our Northumberland love.
Below our TV sits a small hand-carved wooden nativity from a single log, made in Bethlehem and bought as a special present for my by the a wonderful Muslim mother from my school about 7 years ago. She bought it specially for me as she really valued the music lessons her son received and I was so touched she bought it specially for me.
Musical instruments can count as artwork if they are as beautiful as this. This is my Pemade (Per-Mad-aye), a handcarved, handpainted bronze and wooden metallophone bought in Bali, Indonesia.). It takes an artisan Gamelan maker or carver months to craft this,
They often depict scenes from the Ramayana, the story of Rama and Sita but this one featured birds.
Another hand-carved piece is this sculpture which sits in the corner by the piano. It came from Kenya and was a present from the family of a girl who left my school last year. Her Dad specially carried this home from Kenya for me and gave it to me after the holidays. It is solid wood and I dread to think how much he paid in excess luggage for it. It is entitled 'The family dance'. Another incredibly thoughtful gift.
The largest artwork in our house is also our newest. This is a 100m squared painting by Emma Bell (https://70thebroadway.co.uk/) We bought it two weeks ago as I wanted to invest some of my saved train journey money into a local artist. We love this abstract sea-view which is in shades of turquoise blue, brown and large swathes of gold leaf (which are hard to see in this picture). We are going to hang it above our sofa but CBC has not put it up yet! It looks very much like an aerial map-view.
Finally, in the lounge, is this oil painting by Oliver Hurst (www.oliverhurst.com). He is a book illustrator as well as an artist. CBC loves owls like I like squirrels. This was CBC's 'support an artist during lockdown' purchase. A lot of artists painted small affordable pieces for people to buy during lockdown and CBC loved this one. It is painted on board and currently sits on our piano until it finds its display place.
Let's make a detour into the downstairs bathroom.
On the wall, you will see this South African batik cotton art work (if you hold it up to a window, it is translucent) which I bought in Cape Town. Hanging this in there was one of my lockdown projects- I sewed and tied it to a stick from the garden!
Above the window hangs this willow-heart with Rose-quartz which was a wedding present from 2 of my dearest pupils made by their talented Mum. The pair of girls came to my wedding.
Continuing the Giraffe theme is this hand-carved giraffe bought from Cape Town from the Artisan's market. You will see a pretty ceramic candle-holder behind it which CBC bought me from Costa Rica.
Into the front room/dining room now and on the wall hangs this photograph of a beautiful Lake District view of Buttermere, Rannadale and Crummock Water (not totally sure). The story of this is a little bit sad as CBC bought it as a present for his sister. She didn't seem to like it or want it so CBC's father, WOMOTM hung it in his bedroom (as he was a big Lake District fan). We gave it a home when he died. It's hard to see with the reflections but it is such a beautiful picture.
Let's make our final destination stop to the entrance hall.
A selection of photos, arty bird calendar plus art works hang here.
Up first, we have a piece by one of our Bloggers Art Gallery Participants, Alison Wale. Alison is incredibly generous with her Zentangle artworks. She made this Fox Zentangle for another Participant, Bev, but she made a copy of it for me! Isn't it beautiful!
Alongside it is another of her Zentangles, specially made for me, a musical Zentangle.
And now let's return to the study for a few pieces which are not on display at the moment sadly...
Here is a beautiful cloth piece I bought in Bali when I lived there, Batik with gold glitter. It may be mass-produced by I suspect not.
When I studied in Bali, two of the artists I met gave me their artworks. I sadly don't still have the first one (painted by Filipino artist Thomas Daquiag) but I still have this personalised goodbye painting by Dania, who went on to marry Katerina, my Greek room-mate from when we first arrived.
The Jon Pertwee print was a limited edition one I bought aged 16 from a print and framing shop in my childhood town. I paid a pound or so a week to buy this.
The top TARDIS was a gift from a blog swap with Janet who used to blog at JBistheinitial.
The Radio Times frontcover also came from that childhood shop.
The other two TARDISese were all blogswap gifts. I also had a beautiful Zentangle TARDIS from Alison but I'm not sure where it was!!! Ahrgh!
And now, please take your time (can be done over a few days) to visit the other artists participating in my Blogger Art Gallery. It would be so nice to support all of those who have generously shared their art from their houses when maybe you can't visit art galleries in person. Comments, no matter how brief (but of course, feel free to leave lots!), kindly, are really appreciated.
Here are all the participants. I think everyone, except one person, has their posts up! Participants, feel free (and please do) edit and add this to your post so your readers can click easily on hyperlinks to visit the other galleries
Updated:Rach has also joined in and she has loads of amazing part! Rach is the reason I am a blogger!
Thank you very much for participating and commenting everyone. Lurkers are invited to come out of the woodwork! I will be off to visit everyone's posts over the next day or so, leaving happy comments! Thanks for all of you who I can see, have already been commenting and visiting!
Much love,
Kezzie xx
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