Shopping for prezzies for the Clover

Junk shops + vintage shops + thrift shops = Happy! Because the one thing I absolutely love doing is finding one-of-a-kind, unusual things for my children (and me). And thank goodness for my iPhone. Happy little iPhone; clandestine little photo taker. :D Let me show you a favourite shop in our market town: The Old Pill Factory.I absolutely fell in love with this little mirrored photo frame,(and the enamelled jug), but the frame was a bit pricey at about £28 (if I remember). Might have to go back for it thought because the more I look at it the more I love it to pieces.Old books are absolutely my weakness and look at these beautiful covers!I loved the gentle girliness of this bench and pillow, and I love that the cover on the bench isn't perfect matchy matchy. That's how my quilts usually turn out...lol...so I feel most gratified.And look what I found! Now this is the perfect man-cave that I can live with. Aren't those chairs and that sofa just to die for? I can see them being in some ol' boy's club in Oxford, smelling of cigars and scotch. That wine rack would be full of lovely wine bottles and on the wall facing the sofa would be a roaring fire with those plush fire guards, you know, the ones you can perch on. Heaven. Actually, I think I might expropriate this man-cave for myself and call it a girly-grotto.I took at least an hour exploring the nooks and crannies of this lovely store. It's impossible to see it all in one go. I think I might have to go back next week. :)Hope you're having a relaxing weekend across the ol' globe.

Beginnings

Holy smokes folks we've had some Wagnerian weather! Wow 2014 sure is off to a lion's roar. {Why should that only apply to March?...lol} The trees bend over something scary in the worst of the gales. At our nearby reservoir, the gusts were measured at 56 miles/hour. Lovely to stay inside the cottage where it's warm and dry. How lucky we feel that we have this cozy, beautiful cottage, which is so snuggly.Chloe called at 2am. She's come down with some sort of stomach bug and by the afternoon in Van, she was feeling like death ready to expire any minute. I stayed on the phone with her till my 7:30 when the nausea subsided somewhat, the second Gravol took some effect and she managed to drift off to sleep. Poor little button. Isn't it the way that when your kiddo is sick, it doesn't matter how old she is, she is immediately reduced to a five year old in a mom's brain. Speaking of mom, she was with C yesterday and I hope she doesn't catch this. Mom's had the flu shot so I hope she'll be OK. C caught it from her plague infested friends on New Years! Wonder if any of them had the flu shot. It's still a bit of a gamble this flu shot business, isn't it? I've never had one and very rarely catch anything, and mom has to have one to work in the hospital, and last year she had a monsteroonio of a flu. Anyway, I spoke to C this evening/morning Van, and she is feeling much better but still a bit weak. It's probably only a 24 hour thing but I'm taking the phone to bed!In between the rains we rolled my beautiful mini shell out of the garage. Robert has been working on the body in my absence almost each day cutting out and welding in new bits to get rid of any rust and dents. Then sanding and filling and sanding and filling..ad infinitum, putting the majority of his own projects on hold, and finally it is painted that beautiful Oxfordshire sky grey I was telling you about in the summer. Isn't he just the most amazingest? And didn't I choose an amazing paint? Look how it changes from almost blue to almost khaki under different light sources. I love it. It's called tweed grey and is an old Austin mini colour. I'll do a better post soon and show you the transformation. R says it's such a Vancouver shade, it's sooo me...allergic to colour! I'm like, "what? it's going to have orange lights!"  :)We've been putting in long days these days working on projects and sometimes our wee pea brains don't function as well as they should. Last night one of us closed the living room door and trapped Theo in there all night. Poor little buddy, he shot out first thing this morning and has been Velcro cat all day. I gave him a slice of ham at lunch.Yesterday I picked up my paints again. I've been working on the maps and small book page paintings in watercolour and chalk and it was lovely to rummage thru my boxes of oils. Oh my gosh I love the smell and feel of oil paints.You know the funny thing? In Vancouver I'm really big on on particular blue, an ultramarine blue - it's a really warm, violety blue - but when I bought this lot of oils second hand from Ebay.uk, (from the girlfriend of an American artist who left England after they broke up...without his oils and brushes), that artist who used them used blue-green cobalt colours. I thought I would miss my blue, but really don't. The other thing is that artist had...and now I have...about seventeen different yellows!Anyway, R was off for the day on Thursday and I painted three canvases in acrylics as a quick under-painting, {acrylics dry fast, cover and tone the canvas and save my more expensive oils}, then I painted one of the canvases in oils. I had in mind to paint a small beach scene, a field scene and R asked for a bird of prey which lives in our fields called a red kite. I'm sure I told you about them. Graham the butcher throws them meat scraps and Theo the terrorizer sits in the middle of the scraps muttering, "here birdie, birdie, birdie" under his little cat breath.This is what the studio looked like mid afternoon before I got to the oils.And here are the two smaller paintings. I think they're finished.Linking with Nancy for some random, even if there are six this week...{sometimes I have too much to say} :D And the Wordpress weekly photo challenge. 

Reflections and tea on this last day of 2013

I'm watching two blackbirds chasing each other in the garden. The tree where the bird feeders are hung has three blue tits and the garden robin on it waiting their turn. Tomorrow will be a new year for us all, but not for my birds. They will continue to live, to thrive, to survive, to grow.Sometimes I think we should be more like the birds. Not set endings, beginnings, values on life.I made a cup of tea for myself in this little Victorian cup. It's a little old, a little bit worn, and a little bit tired...but isn't that true of us all? Aren't we all a little bit old and worn and tired? Some of us might be tarnished and even cracked or broken.But then we learn and experience and grow. We grow and we bloom and we shine even if we are broken and tired and old.So our time goes by and we make another cup of tea and have the last mince pie and wave the old year goodbye and greet the new, and a new beginning so we can all grow and blossom.I wish you all a blessed and happy New Year dearest hearts. I'd like to leave you with some profound thought or some quote, but I keep staring at the sign in the pantry here in West Cottage. It belonged to Robert's father and hung in his naturopathic surgery.I wish you all focus and happiness and joy and growth for 2014. Thank you for being here for me, with me, holding my hand and supporting me in the things I do. I offer you my support and love whenever you need me. I'll be there.With Terri and Martha and Sandi.

Road trip!

Robert bought a new boot lid, (trunk lid), for his new experimental mini on Ebay.UK. So we jumped into the mini, (what else would we drive to another mini enthusiast's?), and we drove 42 miles away to Old Stratford to pick it up.Beautiful day for a road trip. We started off on the A40 (it's a highway) but soon left the tall banks of the A for the scenic, smaller country roads. It's great he had window tinting done, as it keeps the heat and glare to a comfortable level in the car.Contact Dalo Auto Glass Tinting for St. Louis window tinting if you are struggling to find a reputable glass tinting company.Today was perfect with that silvery, low, cold winter light.We chose smaller roads,then lanes, driving from tiny village to tiny villagewe peeked thru every gate,We appreciated each village church,And we were very careful to share the road.We got lost once......OK twice......and we drove thru some flooded marsh lands which splattered the windshield and broke a fuse which cut the fuel pump and the indicators. Suddenly Robert was without power. We coasted to a stop and Robert rewired the fuel pump, started the mini and......cleaned off the windshield so I could take some more photos. :D (Love that man)We found our destination, got the boot lid and turned round and headed for home under beautiful Buckinghamshire skies.We drove on till we got to Oxfordshire......crossed the Thames and we were home.Lovely day :D

Random things I love

I love that I have green eyes and Chloe has blue and Jonathan and Kerstie have brown eyes. I love that I have the whole gamut in the family. Robert's eyes are very unusual because they tend to be very chatoyant and can look blue, green and even hazel/brown depending on his mood. I love that too.I love pebbles. I pick them up everywhere and stick them in my pockets. They usually end up in the garden or in craft projects or just in random arrangements in jars or on plates.I love fantasizing about living in all sorts of places and houses. I look at a lovely house and then think about how much it would cost to live there. Like this place in London. And then I think about the reality and realise that it's actually 1,2,3,4...15 flats! Yeah. But sometimes I think about selling the Vancouver house and the Oxfordshire house and ending up with enough money to buy a dream like this place in Vermont. (eight times over!) :D And having all that land...and chickens...and rescuing great big Morgans and Clydesdales. (sigh)I love drawing on old pieces of paper; maps, books, found bits of cardboard... I love the thought that I've taken that worthless bit of paper which someone discarded and I've given it worth with my art. Transformed it into something special, multiplied its value exponentially. And then I'm always so gratified to give it away.I love my iPhone as a repository of photographs and notes. Spur of the moment ideas, someone's emails or websites I want to check out, images which inspire me...never has there been a better system. I'd never want to be without one again. :)Linking with Nancy and looking forward to catching up with everyone's random.

A late afternoon walk and a happy birthday wish

This has been a wonderfully lazy day. We read about the queues waiting to get into London or Oxford stores for the Boxing Day sales and we laughed about it all. There's no way, that's not our style. We went for a walk instead. Oxfordshire has a ton of lakes around; remnants of gravel extraction. These lakes make great habitats for birds and water fowl. Most of the lakes have public footpaths thru them and this is one such walk we found.This walk goes to and over the Windrush River. That's the river which flows around our next door village and joins the Thames five fields away. There are holiday lets (rentals) all along one side of one of the lakes. We were thinking that this must be a lovely place to spend a couple of summer weeks swimming and boating around; especially for city people.We stopped on the bridge across the Windrush for several minutes and looked at the sky.And on the way home, a promise of spring. Pussy willows starting to open.I spoke to my mom this evening, (morning in Vancouver) and wished her a very happy birthday. She's making roasted ducks for a few friends who will gather at her home. Love you mom, and I hope you have the best day. :D

Merry Christmas everyone!

Good morning, good afternoon and evening too, where ever you are my dear hearts, new friends, friends I haven't met yet but know I'll love. Did you have/are you having a lovely Christmas day?We have had a wonderful peaceful day with much love, texts and emails from friends and cuddles from Theo.Christmas here in England is all about the Christmas lunch and this means TURKEY, lots of it, just around 3pm, right after the Queen's speech, so the turkey went in by 11am.Open wood and coal fire all day, open prezzies and happy moments.Theo could smell the turkey and knew there was a piece there for him, but had terrific trouble waiting.At last our Christmas lunch was ready.And Theo got up on his window ledge to wait for his share.When it was his turn, after we ate, (remember, ex pub cat with little discipline if he's allowed), he gobbled up the turkey so fast I couldn't get a clear photo of him. I guess it met with his approval...lol. (Don't worry he got a huge bowl of turkey in the kitchen.)With our candles lit and a cheery fire, we watched the Doctor Who Christmas special. I'm afraid we sort of lost the plot. We ended up scratching our heads and asking each other where the heck was the story...and what was the story anyway? Anyone get it? Please let me know.It's evening now in England and I'm thinking of what has now passed, what is to come, where we're headed. Robert is rubbing Theo's soft ears and Theo is out like a light beside him. What a beautiful night this is...this Christmas night. The fire is cracking and the candles are burning down. There's a soft, warm glow in my heart.

Whirlwind days

I'm sure we're all feeling much of the same sameness, aren't we? 'Tis the time for Christmas magic, visiting good friends, running around like crazy trying to get everything done and fitting in the unexpected.Us? We're baking a giant Christmas cake this evening and will continue baking it to about 10pm. (I know, what are we like?)Yesterday was a glorious day. The sun was mostly shining and we were invited to friends for lunch and supper.We left a little past 11am and returned a little past 11pm. (Theo was not impressed with us)We visited Catherine, bringing prezzies and hugs. We played with the beautiful Jet in the sunroom and coaxed Sable down from the linen closet. We chatted and hugged and had a lovely time, and said our goodbyes and drove to Geoff and Dawnie's to see Geoff's wonderful car collection, Dawnie's stunning horse Murphy and have the loveliest supper with them. Dawnie had just come back from riding Murphy at Windsor Castle in the Windsor Great Park by special permission. That must have been something special; riding your horse in the Queen's back yard.Today we've had several power cuts. The weather had been Wagnerian to say the least, with heavy rain and fierce trees-down winds. Robert's childhood friends lost their mother and her funeral was today. So we drove the 35 miles to a beautiful little village with a beautiful little stone church which shook and rattled in the wind and supported our friends and their family in their grief. After the service we followed the pallbearers up the hill and into the grave yard watched them lay their mother to rest.The vicar's words resonated with me, "Farewell, dear Voyageur - 'twill not be long.Your work is done - now may peace rest with thee."Linking with Mary at the Little Red House and wishing everyone a tranquil last couple of days before a magical Christmas. :D

A museum afternoon

The thing about our birthdays is that we're usually always together for mine in July and 50/50 for Robert's in November, so we make up for it when we can.Eleven am Robert said, "let's have my birthday day at the museums today!" and so we jumped in the car and drove to Oxford and took the train into London.It's so easy to get to London via train, and, if you catch a fast train, you can be in Paddington Station in 30 minutes. We bought the economy train/tube pass and so walked out of Paddington and jumped on the tube to Earl's Court and walked over to the museums.I love Paddington Station, not just because of Paddington bear, but because my father had a huge old English sheep dog, who was the dirtiest mucky pup in the world and he was called Paddington after the dirtiest train station in London. :DThe greatest thing about London museums is that they are free! So one doesn't feel guilty about just checking out a section or two only instead of trying to get the full admission's worth. It takes so much pressure off...do you know what I mean?We started with the Natural History Museum. The outside of this beautiful building was being refurbished last summer and had green plastic and scaffolding down the walls. Now it's completed and shining. I asked Robert what the building used to be and he told me it was built in Victoria's reign to serve as the museum. Wow! Love those Victorians.We walked thru to the mammals. We walked around that wing and then we got hungry but we didn't fancy anything in the little restaurant there so......we walked past the skating rink to the Science Museum.I wanted to go have a skate so badly, but there wasn't time this time...because there is so much more to explore.The Science Museum is right next door to the NHM and this museum is really our favourite. When you walk in you see a giant three story ring which flashes and spins brilliant lights which occasionally collide to reveal text. Most spectacular.We had lunch in one of the little restaurants and R started photo bombing all my photos. :DR's favourite section is the engine section. He asked me to thoroughly photograph two engines for him.Then on to my favourite section, the Steampunk Wing! Actually, it's the King George III Collection. But it's just sooo Steampunk! I love it! I was jumping around pointing at things and taking about a million photos while my long suffering darling looked on.But I couldn't help myself. :)One more look at the giant ring, a good explore of the Who Am I gallery and off we went......across the street...to the...V&A!By now it was getting pretty late and it was the best time to explore the Victoria and Albert because most of the people had left.I don't know what it is about me but when I see a North West artist's work I feel so connected. Who else loves Dale Chihuly? That one year he did an installation at RBG Kew is still so memorable.So Robert and I ran thru the exhibitions picking out our future house looks...lol.But then we came to the Ballroom and it took my breath away. If only a waltz was playing.But then the day was really getting on and we were thinking of poor starving Theo tapping his toes on the window sill waiting for his supper, and we still had at least an hour and half in rush hour traffic to negotiate our way back to Paddigton and back to Oxford, so we had one last walk around the garden at the heart of the V&A......and walk across the street to the nearest tube station...and went home to cuddle and feed Theo.We had such a lovely time that we're already talking about going back in the New Year. :)

The return of the random!

Life here at West Cottage is pretty low key and less stressy than in Vancouver that's for sure. The birds have found the bird feeders to our delight and, in the mornings, there can be five or six blue tits and the garden robin on them or on the tree they hang from.They have started to sing a little in the mornings which is just lovely. And we love every morning that starts with sunshine, no matter if it clouds up later, because sunny mornings somehow always make the day better.Do you like interesting names for things/places/people? I love them. How's this for the best restaurant name in the world? It just seems so very friendly.Also saw a restaurant called "EVO LUZ IONE" Evolution? I thought so. Cool...huh?Robert is the prince of photobombing! I'm telling you, just try to take a serious arty photo with him around... :DI love images and usually collect postcards for no reason at all except that I want to possess the images. I picked out ten at the V&A and as I was standing at the post card wall there was a man behind me talking to his wife. He said, "Why do you want all them post cards then?" And she said, "I don't know, I just like having them around" He muttered something about a waste of money/time, and I turned to his long suffering wife and said, "I love having them around too." :) She was happy to have the support and smiled a big, broad smile at me.A peacock butterfly has decided to hibernate on the upstairs hallway lamp and the UK Butterfly Preservation Society tells us we have to be cruel to be kind and hoik it out of the house. :( I'm worried about that. Apparently we're supposed to put it into a log pile or somewhere but I'm so worried that a mouse or rat or hedgehog will come and eat it. What to do, what to do?Linking with Nancy and looking forward to catching up on all the randomness with everyone.