Tuesday, July 18, 2006


Starting off on my morning walk! Before it gets too hot!  Posted by Picasa

Getting nearer to the beach!  Posted by Picasa

Early morning sun on the beach. Posted by Picasa

Walking round the pool. Posted by Picasa

Small backwaters with moorhens and ducks.  Posted by Picasa

Ducks out for their morning constitutional! Posted by Picasa

Swans and cygnets waiting for food.They had four cygnets this year!  Posted by Picasa

Looking back over the pool. Posted by Picasa

By the stream! Posted by Picasa

Signs of the past! Posted by Picasa

Homeward bound! Posted by Picasa

Doesn't time fly when you're having fun!


-This Friday will be our 40th wedding anniversary! Where has the time gone! Martin and I were so young. When I met him he was eighteen. Well we are still young in spirit if not in years! Looking back those forty years have been full. Not a year has gone by without some major happening or event and not all of them good either. Through it all my husband has been my constant friend and lover! He has supported me in all I have wanted to do; rejoiced with me over the triumphs and commiserated with me over the failures. Together we have survived forty years of laughter, fun, tears and disappointments. The overall picture is one of happiness and contentment. For all of this I am profoundly grateful and it has made me stop and think about life in general, my life and where I want to be in another forty years. Well let’s not be too ambitious….let’s say twenty years!
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I bought a book! It is called ‘Lose 7lbs in 7 Days’ by Jason Vale. Well I had put off buying this book or any of his books due to a couple of poor reviews on Amazon and then I thought why let a few bad reviews outweigh the many good reviews so not only did I buy it but I also followed the plan too. I have just completed a week of juice only and have lost 8lbs! Not only that but also several inches too taking me down a whole dress size! I haven’t been hungry and have felt totally satisfied. The main thing though that this book has done for me is re-program how I view food. I have a completely different attitude to what I am putting in my mouth and how often I do so! At this moment I have every confidence that I can continue to eat healthily and naturally until I reach my desired size. Part of this plan (only a week on juices then a more rational approach with whole foods) has been the daily exercise and on my morning walk I have had lots of time for thinking which brings me back to what I said about life and where I want to be.
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Rest, relaxation and recuperation have been my guiding lights. I have not felt creative nor wanted to go into my workroom and do anything in the sewing/textile/craft line at all. But thanks to my new found philosophies I haven’t been letting it worry me. The weather has been too good to be incarcerated indoors. Gardening, swimming or even just reading a book in the shade of the trees has been much more enjoyable. So I haven’t let it eat away at me as come the autumn I’m sure I will be back into creative mode with a vengeance and all the wonderful things I’ve seen and done will be there in my memory banks or caught on camera to inspire me for months to come. I live in a most delightful part of the country and my morning walks are to dye for! (Sorry!) Down to the sea, along the beach and home through a nature reserve and woody lane. All those colours! What more could one ask. The sea in all its glory; always different and always inspiring: small streams trickling over moss covered stones with lush riverbank foliage and the occasional dragonfly: leafy glades where one can catch a glimpse of a squirrel or find small flowers tucked away in the roots of the trees. All this is an inspiration for me and makes for such pleasurable walks. What has hit me most is that whatever one is doing it is best to get the most from it. It’s a waste of time to bemoan what one isn’t doing! Just enjoy every minute of what is being done even if it’s only sitting and staring into space. And I’ve stopped resenting the fact that I have to work at a mundane job each afternoon for four hours as those hours make it possible for me to live without being dependent on creating or selling something. What I make out of my craft is an extra, a bonus and is the more precious because of it. I don’t have the driving ambition to be a star. If I had I’d have got there years ago or burnt out in the process! I know I have talents and I will enjoy them and continue to pass on what I have learnt through my teaching but I won’t let them rule my life anymore. If I don’t want to be creative then I won’t feel guilty about it. I’ll just keep on stocking up the inspirational larder and wait for the muse to move me. I’ll be ready when she does! And hopefully thinner and more energetic. I am such a lazy person I have to force myself to exercise! But I’m getting there!
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I wonder if others are feeling like this as I’ve noticed several blogs have vanished or had no entries for months. What has happened to Frances at Island Threads; Angela in Scotland (I forget her blog name) and Lisa at Procrastinator Extraodinaire to name but a few. Perhaps like me they are all blogged out! Like Gabrielle at Handmaiden I too feel that I haven’t got a lot to say and so don’t blog for weeks on end. Because I’m not doing much, if anything, in the creative line I feel I haven’t got subject matter though I could ramble on about life and the small minutiae of life I suppose. Whatever I promise not to bore you with angst! Onwards and upwards and lots of Bon Jovi!