It’s my –th birthday on 10th October and to celebrate (or commiserate) I’ll be giving away one of my handmade silk clutch purses.
I’ve chosen the embroidered Playful Pussycat Purse.
I thoroughly enjoyed making her. She’s lined in a pale sea green silk, the outer layer is cream silk dupion.
So if you would like her please just leave a comment below on why you like cats!!
I’ll make the draw on my birthday.
Slainte
Linda xx
Why is being at the beach so good for my soul? I’d been carless for about a week (don’t ask!) and while I’m within walking distance of all the necessary amenities – post office, library, vet, pet shop, corner shop etc, the one place I couldn’t easily walk to was the beach and that really upset me to feel so cut off from it. So when my car was fixed yesterday the first place I promised myself I’d go to was the water’s edge.
It’s 9.00am and I’m sitting outside with a free coffee (those loyalty cards really pay off!) from the beach side cafe, watching a Cormorant sitting on a groyne drying its wings. Dogs of all shapes and sizes walking past me, dog walkers of all shapes and sizes walking past me. A lady at the next table glancing over at me, probably visually disturbed at the bright fuchsia colour of my fountain pen ink against the white paper.
The horizon out to sea is one lovely long unbroken line from east to west. I can’t see France from here but I can see clouds ranging in colour from pure snowy white to steely blue gray. The sun is weak but getting stronger poking through the clouds as it travels across the sky.
The cafe is starting to fill up with weekenders sauntering in to order their breakfasts. All the dogs here (it’s a dog friendly cafe) are ever hopeful of snaffling bacon sandwiches from their owners or other sympathetic diners.
I can be full of tension, nerves stretched tight like a drum skin but half an hour walking along the shore listening to the waves rolling in leaves me calm and I don’t consider it a proper walk unless I come back with wet feet and tiny pebbles between my tootsies!
I think this is a little Turnstone. There were loads of them on the beach this morning. They’re aptly named as they dart around turning over stones looking for food.
I have absolutely no idea what this is! It is a white gelatinous mass – possibly a jellyfish washed up. I gave it a prod with my toe and it wobbled a bit. I loved the shape of it. Could those be two eyes over on the left?
Now this house is just behind the green sward which separates it from the beach. It’s up for sale now, so if you fancy a holiday home and have £2.8m in loose change it could be yours.
You can see how close it is to the beach. If you’d like a look inside see here. Enjoy!!
Slainte
Linda xx
I’ve been away for a few days concentrating on some aeronautical engineering and here is the result!
Okay, he might not make it into the Red Arrows but I love him anyway! ‘Little Red’ is part of my “Complete All My UFO’s Before I Buy Any More Yarn” project. He’s been languishing at the bottom of a bag in my wardrobe for yonks. I’m so pleased I’ve finished him as he makes me smile when I look at him.
More Red. I decided to treat myself to another of Button Meadows crochet hooks. This time I’ve gone for a nice red and white spotty one.
Again, something to make me smile while I’m finishing another one of my projects.
Not red, but just a pretty summer daisy chain. I enjoyed making it but I don’t think I’ll be doing another one – far too many ends to weave in!
Slainte
Linda xx
I’m almost at the end of another de-cluttering session. When I say session I mean a period of about 4 or 5 days over the last month. Most of the things I’ve been getting rid of have generated thoughts like “What was I thinking?” or “WTF!”.
Then I got to thinking about those days spent moving my stuff around, the time spent deciding what to do with it, the petrol spent ferrying unwanted bags of it to charity shops and the totally knackered and unrecyclable to the dump. All that time and energy devoted to stuff. It wasn’t productive time or fun time, although there was the satisfaction of seeing a pristine empty space at the end of it all. But what if I didn’t have that stuff to begin with, what if the money I spent on it had bought experiences instead? £15 spent on a few magazines could have bought admission to a beautiful garden on a lovely day with enough left over for a coffee or two. Then I would have had the experience and memories of sniffing roses (I can’t keep my nose out of them – I see a rose, I’ve got to sniff it), chatting to fellow visitors, snapping away at a few favourites and getting inspiration for my own flower beds. Instead my £15 bought me some shiny printed paper which is currently languishing at the bottom of my recycling bin.
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| Me after my first Gliding lesson |
£30 for a glossy coffee table book on photography could have been put towards the petrol for a pre dawn trip to the Jurassic Coast to photograph Durdle Door at sunrise. You probably get where I’m going with this. The money used to buy pointless stuff could have bought something much more precious instead – memories, a connection with people and nature. Where is the money now? On it’s way down the road in a huge refuse lorry.
My lovely blog friend Ilona of Mean Queen fame has the right idea. She regularly goes on what she calls a ‘Bimble’. She picks a location and either walks or drives to it and then has a bimble around looking at local landmarks, she chats to practically everyone she meets and records her experiences on her camera for her blog. She’s got hundreds of followers eager to read what she’s been up to. I don’t think any of us would read her blog if all she posted about was what she read in a magazine or how much stuff she bought last week (actually she’s far too canny to spend her money on rubbish). No, all we want to read about are her experiences, to feel that connection when she writes about somewhere we’ve been to as well.
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| My first Bungee jump – backwards! |
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| Me hanging around in space |
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| Coming back down to earth and raring to do it again! |
So why do we fill our lives with stuff? Have we been lazy and not worked out life for ourselves? Have we handed our decision making over to advertising companies who tell us our lives would be better if we bought x, y or z. I can tell you that x, y or z can’t give you a hug when you’re feeling down, selflessly leave you the last choccy biccie or leave a romantic post it on the fridge door. I’m now looking at my lovely empty spaces and I’m determined to fill them with laughter, clinking coffee cups and spontaneous ukulele lessons.
Slainte,
Linda xx
Just watched Doctor Who live to find out that Peter Capaldi has won the coveted sonic screwdriver.
Whilst I’m DEEPLY disappointed that Benedict Cumberbatch won’t be thrilling us in time and space, I think Peter will be excellent. I thought he was great in Torchwood and he has appeared in Doctor Who as Caecilius in The Fires of Pompeii with David Tennant. A real character actor.
But to console myself and Compostwoman here is another photo of Benedict….
And one of my all time favourite Doctor Who pre the Russell T Davies productions
Slainte
Linda xxx
Of course I am referring to the identity of the new Doctor Who. The BBC are screening a special edition of The One Show on Sunday at 7pm. The new Doctor will be revealed then.
I have no idea who they’ll pick, however I am hoping with all my digits crossed that he (has to be a he I’m afraid) will be Benedict Cumberbatch. I think he’d make a great Doctor and after all he did get a bit of sci fi training in the last Star Trek film.
It is a long shot I know as he’s filming the new Sherlock series at the moment and he can’t be in two places at the same time….or could he??
Apparently Ben Daniels and Peter Capaldi are also favourites for the role. If I had to go for second and third choices they would be Richard Armitage and Rupert Penry-Jones.
I do trust the judgement of Steven Moffat the lead writer and executive producer of Doctor Who and I know whoever he picks I will like. I find it so heartening to know that such a fuss is being made of this programme. I cried buckets when Michael Grade, Director General of the BBC gleefully axed it due to his personal dislike of the Doctor. What goes around comes around Mr G.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/doctorwho/articles/The-Next-Doctor-will-be-revealed-on-Sunday-04-August
Slainte
Linda xx
And here she is…..
I treated myself to a new crochet hook (apologies to anyone hoping to find reference to anything less wholesome!)
This pretty little crochet hook is made by Sue at ButtonMeadow. There are quite a few different designs and I know I’ll be treating myself to a few more as time goes on. I like the red and white spotty one. I did a test run last night and crocheted the blue rose you see above. It was lovely and light to use and very comfortable to hold in the hand. Do pop in and have a wee look at her shop.
Slainte
Linda xxx
Totally unplanned trip on the Thames in London yesterday. I was going to do something else but it was such a beautiful day and the prospect of sitting on a boat in the sun on the Thames was too good to miss. So this is almost a wordless post!!
The stunning Battle of Britain Memorial by Westminster Bridge. So clever and effective to model it on a ‘Scramble’
Canary Wharf
The Cutty Sark at Greenwich
The London Eye
The wonderful replica of Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre
The Shard – I adore this building
The Tower of London
The Trinity Hospital Almshouses – beautiful building
Quantum Cloud Sculpture by Anthony Gormley. Can you see the shape of a man inside it?
The Emirates Air Line Cable Cars over the Thames
The O2 Centre
Half a boat – don’t ask, I have no idea why anybody would want to slice a boat in half!
The Thames Barrier
Thames Barrier close-up.
Fantastic trip and thanks very much to my dear friends Graham and Jan who made it possible and always spoil me when I come up to London and who also let me hug their cats (lots!).
Slainte
Linda xxx
I always try and find time each Sunday to pay a visit to my local animal sanctuary PAWS to show my support and cuddle every thing I can get my hands on! They do coffee, tea and cake on a Sunday, so I’m usually to be found sitting on a bench in their garden putting away a cupcake (or two). A couple of the resident pussycats have cottoned on to this, so now I have to share my cake with Misty, Felix and Handsome. They like the sponge bit of the cakes.
This is Misty a one-eyed Tortie.
I don’t know what her story is but she has been living there for some time. She gets a bit bad tempered sometimes but from observing her it seems to be when she can’t see anyone coming from her blind side. She tends to lash out if she’s taken by surprise and who can blame her. Now I only have to say “cake” to her and she follows me up the garden to get her reward. She’s quite a character.
I’m not sure of the name of this absolutely huge fluffy black and white cat, but suffice to say he was taking up most of the bench I wanted to sit on and wasn’t moving for anyone. I squidged myself on to the end. Cat 90% of seat, human 10%.
Another rose for you. It’s not one of my own, I snapped this in a garden centre. I was taken with how big it was and the two tone petals.
It’s called Rosa “Silver Jubilee”. BTW this image is straight from the camera, no messing with the saturation in Photoshop. It’s like someone has been splodging the leaves with paint. It’s on my list for future acquisition!
As everybody else has been doing them I thought I’d have a go at making crochet owls. I finished a batch of them this afternoon and took them outside to photograph them. I’m sure the neighbours thought I’d lost it.
I think they make a cute little family. They were certainly fun to make. I might even give them names – maybe I am losing it!!
Slainte
Linda xx
I am so pleased with this Gardenia plant. It’s now coming into bloom.
Last year I went on a ‘behind the scenes’ tour of my local garden centre which is part of The Garden Centre Group.
It was very interesting seeing how they grow the plants for their nurseries, the irrigation, temperature control etc. The nursery manager was so enthusiastic about all the plants, it really shone through in his talk. At the end of the tour we were allowed to take home a plant of our choosing for free. I picked Gardenia jas. Kleim’s Hardy. It was a relatively new plant to the centre and the one I picked was really tiny. The manager told me to keep it in a pot indoors during the winter and to let it stand on the patio during the summer. I’ve followed his instructions and now have a lovely plant in bloom with loads more buds to come out. The vanilla scent is wonderful too.
I was inspired by the lovely Tricia from SimplyStitcheduk to make a flower garland for my stall at the Brent Lodge Summer Fayre at the end of August. I’m really pleased at how it’s turned out.
It seems these days that every post has to include a pussy cat photograph and this post is no exception, here is a pic of dangerous Daisy taking in a few rays and generally being good which is very unusual for her as she generally lives up to the Naughty Tortie reputation.
And of course Tabikat. I usually like to take photos with my cats making eye contact but for some reason I’ve gone for this one. See what you think.
Slainte,
Linda xxx
