Counting my blessings

I haven't been around for a while; life just gets busy sometimes.  At the moment I am counting my blessings, simple things that bless me and my family.

Blessed by flowers from my garden

We have been on a lovely holiday; the Teen went to Guide camp so the Engineer and I went to Wales for a week.  We had a wonderful time: lots of history, industrial history, social history and beautiful countryside.  The Engineer and I were in our element.  We didn't eat flashy food or visit expensive places but we thoroughly enjoyed one another's company and the new places we saw.

A "yarn bombed" tree in Abergavenny Castle - each of the squares was in memory of someone special.

 Below are some photos of our holiday, the weather was typically British - sunshine and showers.  The first one is the view from the patio of our cottage, where we managed to eat breakfast a couple of times and sometimes we were accompanied by a baby robin which would sit on one side of the table and watch us eat.  (sorry no photo of the robin).

Views from our cottage, Cardiff, Blaenarfen Iron works and Tintern 

Railways and Canals

While we enjoyed peace and quiet the Teen was enjoying an active holiday with lots of other young people, Guides and Scouts from all over the country.

The only bit of drawing I have been doing lately is in my sketch book, where I have done a Clematis

These are growing in my garden.

We spent the day today tidying up the garden, clipping back bamboo and weeding.   My rose which I planted last year and which seemed to give up is now growing amazingly well, I have had one flower on it but no more.  Whilst digging today I found two really interesting snail shells (both empty with no one home) which I think I will draw.

What simple things are you blessed by?

A hellebore, crochet and a gert big axe

I went to a Botanical Illustration work shop recently; it was all about contrasts.  There were some gorgeous dark hellebores contrasting with pale snowdrops.  I chose just one hellebore and two snowdrops in the hope that I could actually finish something within the 3 days as I work quite slowly as I use colour pencil.  It turned out that we were all using coloured pencil on the course and it was really interesting to see how others use the same medium.  It was a very relaxing weekend, but at the end of each day I was very tired.  I was concentrating hard for three days and was very happy with the result.

Hellebore and snowdrops in colour pencil

I treated myself to a new book last month and this is the result: 

Edward's Menagerie

I love the book, the patterns are really easy to follow and the animals very cute.  I did get my first rabbit wrong and it turned out alarmingly large, but I figured out what I had done wrong and its now a better size.  The only extra thing I found I needed was a block of sticky notes and a pen so I could keep track of where I was.  Being dyslexic, its quite easy for me to get lost.

The blanket they are sitting on is a work in progress.  Its a costal ripple blanket from Attic 24 and its very relaxing to do.

I did however make the Engineer a friend to go in his shed, (when its finished!); its an Aardvark, well more of a Shedvark and will eventually have a Dr Who scarf.

Shedvark with hat

The engineer is a happy bunny at the moment as he has just bought himself a big axe, or as my Grannie would say, a "gert big axe", so that chopping our fire wood can be a little easier. 

He was given the Norwegian Book of Wood Chopping for Christmas and read it from cover to cover.  He could already chop wood, but now he can chop it the Norwegian way!  We are stacking the wood so it can season for next winter.  

When bringing logs indoors for burning we have to be a little careful; we often get sleepy wasps who wake up when they are in the warmth of the house and begin to buzz around.  The Engineer also found a hibernating butterfly in the log stack once.

 

 



Theatre and and Orchid

The end of January!  Eeek!  Time seems to be flying by. Unfortunately my garden isn't going well.  The broad beans have been decimated by black fly (this mild weather seems good for them) and the wet.  My broccoli is looking a little sorry for itself and my garlic is struggling.  Oh well, if they don't survive I can always plant more.

This weekend the Su+2 household went to the theatre.  We bought the Teen tickets to see Hetty Feather at the Chichester Festival Theatre for Christmas.  So yesterday we spent an afternoon in Chichester enjoying the sunny but cold weather, having a late lunch in ASK and spending some money in Lush before heading to watch the performance.

The Teen enjoying the programme

I've not read Hetty Feather but the Teen has been a Jacqueline Wilson fan for many years and was eager to see the show.  The whole performance was wonderful as the cast members played multiple roles and also played some of the musical instruments.  Everything was so very well choreographed; you had to use your imagination a bit as they couldn't really get 4 horses and an elephant onto the stage, let alone a bustling London street.  I think, however, that if you were to ask some of the younger members of the audience in 5 years time what they remember, they may well remember seeing real horses and a real oak tree and hundreds of people in Hyde park. 
Once we got home the Teen was inspired to get out all her Jacqueline Wilson books to re-read them.  She's acquired quite a number over the years from birthdays, Christmases and also from charity shops.

A brilliant show (these are just 3 of the Teens Jacqueline Wilson books)

Late last year the Engineer bought me an orchid from a supermarket; it was the last one, languishing at the back of a shelf as it had one black leaf, but he thought the markings were interesting and that I might like to draw it.  I did my usual sketching:

Thumbnails at the top of the page

Then I did a line drawing:

A complicated flower

Well, I started on this back on the 21st of October 2015. Then started it again a week later.  I haven't worked on it every day since then but I have spent many, many hours on it.  Luckily the plant itself hasn't changed too much except for the fact the buds are now flowers.

I learnt a lot.

So what's next now I have finished (I think) the orchid?

Well, as spring is approaching I am looking at daffodils, putting a few in a sketch book just to see how the colours look.

Christmas Eve

I am sitting in the lounge at my in-law's with the lights dimmed and Carols at King's on the TV, their beautiful voices getting us ready to celebrate the birth of Christ.  This Christmas Eve the weather has been sunny and bright and so, as the last few days have been wet, we took advantage and went out to Saltram House, a National Trust property, for a walk.  Some of the rooms in the house had been decorated for Christmas; they were lit with "candles" and other discreet lighting.  They were very atmospheric and quite beautful. Sorry about the shaky photos but I was using my phone.

 

In the kitchen - The temple at the back was made of sugar cubes

In the kitchen the Saltram chef was making bread, mince pies and soup.  We had some of the soup but didn't wait around for the mince pies. 

Photo from the Saltram Web site.

 We had lunch in the very busy café and then walked around the gardens making the most of the weather.  We are now settled in and getting ready for tomorrow where nine of us will exchange gifts and share Christmas lunch; we are so blessed.

We here at Su+2 wish you all a very happy Christmas and a peaceful new year. 

Christmas Thoughts, Angels and a Crocheted Wreath

There has been quite a long gap since my last post but life gets busy, especially at this time of year. 

On the 1st day of December I got out my Advent calendar; I love Advent calendars - ever since I was a child they have seemed magical and exciting, you never knew what was behind the next window.  That was in the days when Christmas decorations didn't go up until Christmas Eve and the shops started putting Christmas stuff out in the Middle of December rather than the end of September.  So the calendar really was all about waiting and anticipation just as Advent is. 


When I was a child my Grannie lived with us and had her own sitting room/bedroom.  Every year she would get out her own Christmas tree; it was a small silver one which she would put on a little table near her fireplace and around the base would go cotton wool snow and a plastic church that lit up.  For me as a child it was completely magical, it was even better than the tree we had in the family lounge which was bigger and green.  When she died and I helped to clear out her things, the Christmas tree was a rather scraggy balding scrap of silver but the memories it provoked were very precious.

This year we have an artificial tree as we are not at home for Christmas; we do have a house sitter but we thought it a bit unfair to ask them to water a tree. 

As you can see we have a nativity scene as part of our decorations, for me this is central to everything for the Su +2 household.  Advent is the waiting time and Christmas day and season the celebration.  You may have spotted that I have rather a lot of angels in the scene - these stay out all year round, scattered about the house but they come together to be part of the heavenly host for the nativity scene.  (and yes, there is the odd snowman, star and a Winnie the Pooh too)

I have made a Christmas Wreath; it took a while but I am happy with the result.  Its jam packed with holly leaves and berries, pompoms, stars and snowflakes, all crocheted and is definitely very Christmasy.

Cooking and a Curly Leaf

As last weekend was so cold I spent it washing (or rather the machine did) cooking and drawing.  I love my slow cooker; I batch cooked Caribbean pepper pot stew, beef bourguignon and chicken curry.  There are two meals for two in each batch so these will be our ready meals when we are home late.  I also did a delicious roast (the Engineer's words, not mine) and used up the remaining butternut squash from the pepper pot stew, roasting it with the potatoes - yummy.  With enough of everything left over for my lunch at work and for another chicken based meal for two at home later in the week, it all worked out rather well. 

 

I have been doing a leaf in pen and ink and am quite enjoying it.  Although I know it’s a curly leaf, I’m not sure anyone else looking at it would see that. 

 

 

We also took the Teen into town to get a new mobile phone and new contract.  Luckily I was able to slip away to the library for a little bit as the choices are diverse.  Happily the Teen is quite sensible at times and we told her how much things were costing - how can she know the value of money if she doesn’t know what the costs of things are?  She now has a new phone and a reasonable contract for a phone with an i in front of it so she is extra happy!  Oh, the power of the media. 

 

We had our first proper frost this week too; I had to scrape the car before venturing on the roads.  Out came the hat gloves and scarf - finally a touch of winter. 

Remembering.

Today was another damp and grey day, but very mild.  I am glad it didn't rain this morning as the Teen was taking part in the Remembrance Day parade as part of the Girl Guides.  For two minutes around the local war memorial people of all ages were silent, some remembering friends and loved ones and some thinking about what they had seen on the news or learnt in history lessons.  But hopefully everyone was thinking of the same thing at the same time.  I thought of my dad for whom remembrance Sunday was very important; he saw active service in Korea and lost friends.  He never talked about his experiences but they helped to shape who he was.  He was a large gentle man who loved his family and friends and would help anyone who needed it.  His faith remained very strong throughout his life and he always said it was the prayers of his father that helped sustain him when he was fighting.

Picture from Wikipedia

In the garden at home it is so mild at the moment that I have flowers on my broad beans (in November) as well as some very persistent slugs that have taken a liking to my broccoli.

Broad beans

Indoors, I have finished the scarf I have been crocheting.  It has turned out well and it's warm but light and I have enjoyed the rhythm of making it.

One of the few times we've lit the fire recently

Ta-da!

I'm not sure what my next crochet project will be, maybe another scarf but in a silk or cotton yarn, as although this wool is soft, its still a bit scratchy next to the skin.