Monday in the fog
Since I moved down the mountain two years ago, I've been playing hide and seek with the fog. :)Higher up I used to be above the fog, but here, closer to the ocean it's 50/50.
At the river, the fog highlights the mystery of the old heritage shipyards.
The little fishing village strains to show its colours.
But somehow, the fog makes the inside so much cozier.
And inside, the colours stay vivid.
For the first time I get a peek into the restored boat building house...soon to function as a museum.
While the modern world stays quiet and still.
Sharing with Mary and all my mosaic friends. :)
Golden Sunday
I like the thought of a snowball rolling down the hill picking up layers of snow and growing.I have a dear friend, Joanne, who is wonderfully artistic, and thru her I met new wonderfully artistic friends Nadine and Renee and Tammie, and a new challenge. The challenge to depict a word as an image.
You know, sometimes I think it’s strange how some people link being creative to some mysterious, spiritual commodity. I mean like being somehow in tune with a god, or a muse or having some extraordinary genetics with which to paint, to write or dance. And I must admit it’s the first thing I thought of when I read the word “numen”. A divine creativity, a guiding force, a spirit guiding my hand on the paper.But I don’t think that numen means anything like that to me. I like to think of it as a creative genius laying in wait inside all our hearts, whether we paint or dance or write or manage a mean turn of double Dutch with the skipping rope. (Don’t laugh, it’s hard)I think it all hinges on every day rituals, repetition and quantity. It depends on the daily getting out there and dancing, or skipping or whatever takes your fancy and soon numen starts to manifest.
The snowball is rolling right now and I’m really enjoying my work. The more I turned the word over in my mind the more I felt flight and freedom and gold and music, so I tried to put those elements together in one image.I love the falling apart music note papers that I can break up and collage without feeling guilty for tearing them up. I also love vintage images for compositions; that’s where the idea for these swallows came from. (Because sometimes I get in the mood for immediate gratification and don’t want to look up what I want to draw and sketch it first and twist it around into positions and take all day about it.)
But most of all, it’s so satisfying to paint something which means so much freedom to me. And I already love this image as much as I love Sanctuary.
And, unlike most of the paintings which get stuck into a drawer somewhere, I think this one might hang around the house for a while. :)
Art: 10" X 14" paper collage on sturdy card, painted in acrylics, with India ink, gold powder and postage stamps.
Rising above our marshmallow world
When the winter fog sets in, I'm so grateful for our mountains.Today C and I went in search of warmth and of the promised sun.
This evening I decided to remember today with a little painting. A small jewel hidden inside an old tobacco tin.
Drawn in India ink on seven circles of mylar to mimic the foggy forest.
Some important letters for a random Friday
Dear self image,Oh you sweet, silly thing. You have this adorable idea in your head that being the international woman of mystery is sexy and sophisticated, when actually, being the international woman of mystery, means you arrive with five extra pounds and looking bedraggled like fat, fat the water rat, and feeling about as light and graceful as the plane you came on, and it’s going to take a good day for each hour of time difference before you feel normal again. So don’t go stepping on that scale and depressing yourself for at least the first week. Pretty soon you’ll feel better, (and lighter). PS. You know all of this!
Dear cats,I love you and want you to have the best of everything, and have really, really tried to live with your crinkly tube toy, and especially since it only cost $3 at the charity shop, but I can’t stand looking at that tacky leopard print. It reminds me of a call girl’s mini skirt, and, even if IT was cheap, I know YOU don’t want to be. So play your little hearts out...it doesn’t have long to live.
Dear smuggled San Francisco jade plant,What can I say? I’m so completely over the moon in love with you and your little roots and new little green shoots. Thank you or not dying in my absence. I’m sorry I couldn’t find a way to smuggle your British orchid sister to Vancouver, but then we probably would have been pushing our luck and, if I go to jail, who will admire you and write you love letters? So the best thing for you to do to say thank you for my love is to grow your little heart out. Grow for two. Glad you see things my way.
Dear my mobile phone provider,Stop calling me at suppertime! Stop calling me pushing your new contracts! Stop calling Chloe! Stop trying to sign me up for new options! Stop trying to explain those options when I tell you I'm busy making supper! Stop trying to argue when I say I don’t want my monthly bill to increase! Stop trying to insist that an increase of $7 will be the same as the contracts I have right now...$7!...That’s almost two Sbux chai tea lattes right there! You know what, tell me when your suppertime is and I’ll call you.
Dear brain,Do you see this right here, this tile? Last week you insisted you could never make something like this and this week you’re considering a series of bespoke tiles for the fireplace. How hard can it be? You can figure out how to do anything, let alone design, paint, and fire a few poxy tiles. So do myself a favour and disregard the odds against anything you ever feel like you want myself to do. Now follow your instincts, listen to inner desires, and be determined and persistent. Now chant this seventeen times/day.
Now that I got that off my chest, I'm sharing with Nancy :D
de-Christmas-a-fying
It might only be the middle of January in the Great Pacific Northwest but yesterday in the sunshine it was warm enough to ditch the winter coat! Nice! It's making me feel like spring is just around the corner...and I'm not really a winter girl. I mean, if winter was fresh crisp snow and beautiful red cardinals and pastoral meadows, well, that might be a different story, but here and in Oxfordshire, our winters tend to be wet and leaden skies and boggy, flooded gardens.
So it's no wonder that I've had enough winter and now, with this lovely sunshine, I want to redecorate my space.First thing's first. Christmas has to go.
This year Christmas was in E and we took down the tree on twelfth night, but then I didn't get to Vancouver till eighteenth night. (Is there such a thing? :D )
Still, I took my time taking down the tree. I love my glass deckies, which is not to say that I don't love my deckies in West Cottage, I do, but it was lovely to see all the glass ornaments here.Now I'll keep looking at this photo each time I feel like buying more vintage ornaments...holy smokes...and this is only a part of the stash! Oh it takes some work to put it away!
But I'm not complaining. Spring, here we come. :)
New country, new things, new ideas
There's usually a fog which hangs around my head for those first few days back from England, but then at about the fourth day, the fog lifts and I can sleep and start to feel much better. At about the fourth night I tend to stop haunting the house at 3am; a sight rather spoiled by the comfy, pink, polka dotted pyjamas. (Repeat note to self: buy flowing ivory gown)I've been dying to make something...anything...and so pulled this funny, little table from storage to upholster the top and put into use in the living room beside one of the antique chairs.The table has a hidden compartment under a loose top, so it was rather a piece of cake to upholster.
I chose a little bit of this neutral fabric and used a very light stuffing just to give it a bit of body.I like it. :D
Then I made a cup of tea and looked at my darling prezzies from some lovely blogging friends. It's all new to me because I haven't been here and so only just got to play with all my prezzies.This darling tea cup was a Christmas gift from my friend Lorraine. It's Aynsley and the perfect turquoise.
On the left side is a prezzy from my friend Christie. She knows how much I love San Francisco and found these vintage post cards and sent them to me, along with a lovely secret note.On the right is a beautiful art card from my friend Dawn. I love the bold colours especially the turquoise and Dawn included one of her mandalas. It's actually a sticker.
And this beautiful little ceramic is a gift from my friend Celi. She sent it to me in E and it arrived one day before I left for Canada! Lucky! It had travelled the world with her and now it belongs to me and I promise to keep it safe. Celi said the fern is called Koro (pronounced Kor-roo - rolled r) and symbolises peace, tranquility and family.
Now onto new projects. Now that I have two beautiful art cards from friends...the cat card is also from Christie, I plan to display them somehow and keep them safe. I was thinking that maybe one of the old cigarette card holders I bought in E might be altered as a display book for art cards.
And now I want to go make more art cards. Boy, once you start making them, they're addictive. :D
Between work, a lunch at Burford Garden Centre
So, figuring that we can't actually work all day, we decided to go have lunch at the Burford Garden Centre.You'd love it here. Walking into the huge, multi-layered, multi-spaced complex and hitting this wall of jasmine was just magical, and, as you come with me, imagine the scent paperwhites and hyacinths and orchids of every description following you around.
There is everything here you could imagine, and I fell in love with the hand-spun and naturally dyed wool products, like these blankets, and the hand woven market baskets. The lovely thing is that mostly all of the products are made in England by small British enterprises.
Robert and I planned on how we can construct a barn board table like this one.I thought about painting some fabric for pillows.
Or maybe just stitching up some gingham pillows for the spring. Aren't they fresh and lovely?
And they have the loveliest collections of old china.
And tea services.
Then we got silly trying on the hats. (no sniggering at the "thing" behind me please)
But of course, since this is a garden centre, there are garden supplies, and loads of beautiful rustic pots. Those are my favourite.
And, apparently, it's time to think about planting potatoes and onions. Not in this soggy ground, I'm afraid.
But then, I bet there's still loads of time. :)
Last randomness from E
So, it's almost that time again, I have to switch countries.Yesterday Robbie and I took down the Christmas tree and all the deckies. We kept it up extra long because neither one of us really wanted Christmas to end, (even though we did tell ourselves that our visiting friends Chris and Diane needed to see the tree), actually, deep down we both know that our time in E is coming to a close and it'll be 2-3 months before we are together again and neither one of us wants that, but then neither one of us wanted the inevitability of R having to take down the tree and deckies by himself...too sad.So the only thing Christmas left at the cottage is this basket of nuts and one box of R's After Eights. (we also finished the Christmas cake last night). I have a toothache, so I should better go to Apple Tree Dental tomorrow. I remember I felt something in the morning when we ate nuts.But then, it's time to focus on spring and new projects.
Took Theo to the vet this week because he was acting like perhaps something was stuck in his teeth, or his mouth. The vet found a loose and infected tooth...poor old buddy...and she hoiked it out :( and sent us away with anti-inflammatory drops for him, which will also help his arthritis in the cold weather.We also found out that he's lost a bit of weight, which we don't like, so we've been spoiling him rotten with assorted bowls of yumminess. We thought his head might explode at the choices, but he just dives right in!
This winter R and I completed a few projects, like insulating a part of the attic space previously uninsulated, and clearing out and reorganising the shed...you know...those mundane type things no one really wants to tackle. In Orlando FL bat removal is commonly needed so insulating the attic and filling the holes was an important thing we needed to do before winter. So we're really happy it's done!
I did some research and found out that there is no easy way I can take my orchid to Vancouver...barring three separate permits and inspections to protect Canada from imported British pests and diseases...Boo! That means I've just lumbered Robbie with a fifth house plant to take care of while I'm not here, and while I take houseplants as a replaceable commodity, he takes it all very seriously and wants them to survive and be happy until I get back. And he's not a plants person at all! Poor R.
But for now, we still have a couple of days and open fires and healthy Theo and each other. Counting our blessings. :)
Sharing with Nancy and the random crew. :)
Tea in Wallingford
Well, all the wind and rain has resulted in some localised flooding. I joked that now we live in The Lake District, because all the fields are lakes! The Thames and Windrush have resulted in some sewer and drainage problems in Northmoor and so what are we going to do?This:
We went for the day to a lovely market town about 23 miles away to have a mooch in the antique arcade and a bit of lunch.The first thing I saw was the stall with this shelf. OMG! I loved everything on it! I loved the dog and the funny harlequin cat, that weird...thing in between, and I love the paintings. Wanted to buy it all. Ok, let's just get something straight right now. I actually wanted to buy 75% of everything in the arcade...lol.
But I wanted to have a look at some lovely tea also. What do we all think about the tiered plates/cup/thing? I kind of like it. The cup might hold some flowers while the plates hold the goodies. (Assuming the water doesn't run out thru the hole.)
You know, I really would love to learn how to carve wood because these funny ducks would be the first thing I'd carve. Love how they sit in this basket.
Look at this! Here is an exquisite hand-painted Victorian tea service.
And Robbie found a friend! This is Milo, the same name as one of our Vancouver cats and so we loved him right away. He was such a soft, foxy, friendly little thing.
And then this! The next tea tray I make will have a friendly pig in the centre.
After we had a good look around, we went to find a lovely spot for lunch. At first we thought about a pub, but then we found this lovely, friendly, yellow cafe called Catherine's cafe, which had a great view of the arcade.
We chose this little table upstairs in the tea rooms, with turquoise seats, flower pots and a reading angel. Catherine is a retired English teacher and has brought her classic book collection into the tea room for customers.
I bet you're all wondering what I bought. I wanted to buy absolutely everything, but I bought this little green hat pin and this lovely old Christmas bobble.
AND ALL THIS EPHEMERA! Not sure how these things will end up being used, but it'll be great.
Thank you so much for this lovely day Robbie...PS. I'm going back for that painting. :)
Sharing with Terri and Martha and Sandi and Bernideen.
Walked down to the village...it rained...we didn't care
This morning Robert said, "what's that strange light?" It was the sun! So despite the gale blowing outside, we decided to go for a walk down to the village to see our Knight Templar and his Lady in the church.
West Cottage is on the outskirts of the village, and almost half way between two villages but we belong to the Northmoor parish and it's lovely to walk down there.We walked under an ominous sky, past the fields of clever sheep who know better than to get blown away. They were looking at us in a "there go some crazy people" way...
...past the houses...
...until we got close to the pub and then it started to rain like the dickens.
So we ducked into the church.
And said hello to Thomas Moore and Isabelle.
We had a little rest...
...and looked out the windows to see the rain stopping, and so we continued with our walk.
Back up at the pub we saw the big rain cloud moving away.
So we decided to take the long way home, in sort of a triangle, from the village, up Marsh Lane, across the fields and home.
We said hello to the Northmoor herd and admired their fluffy winter coats.
A little further up the lane the wind had blown all the crab apples down and they bobbed along in the stream like beautiful little balls.
Some berries were still firmly in place though. Nice for the birdies.
When we got to the public foot path we ran into a bit of a problem! Umm :( We thought about wading thru, we thought about taking our runners off and just going for it...but in the end we decided to take the extra long way home, back the way we came.
But we had a lovely walk. :DLinking with Mary for Mosaic Monday