Walking round the pool.
Tuesday, July 18, 2006
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!
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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.
=
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!
Friday, June 02, 2006
Lovely day!
Today is my birthday and I'm not saying how many years that is. Too many! I remember when I was a child being vastly upset because my birthday was on the same day as the Coronation and that meant no post! To a child this was a disaster! Now the day isn't that important to me. However the sun shone and it was hot and balmy and so far its been lovely. I had a super bouquet of flowers from my friend Sue and Andrew my son sent me a pineapple slicer/corer which I am going to experiment with later tonight. It looks efficient but whether it works or not is another matter. Sarah my job share at work gave me a mystery book which will keep me lost to the world for some of this weekend. The title is actually 'Something for the weekend' which is apt!
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Now that I am so advanced in years I am making the supreme effort to adjust the size of my waist etc. So I have re-joined the fitness club I used to go to and have been swimming for the past two mornings. This has been so invigorating. There was no way I was going to swim in the sea. Much too cold! Amputation at the knee was on the cards if I foolishly tried that method of exercise. And I have started walking to work so with all that exercise and the eating regime I am hopeful of results.
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I am learning how to use Power Point. Of all the MS Office programs this is the one I've never used. But I have to get a slide show together by next week so I can have instruction on using digital tools in a class room situation. This is all new to me but should be fun.
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Long may this beautiful weather continue. At least long enough that we could take the boat on the river Fal on Sunday! We could even take a picnic! Shades of Wind in the Willows! That was one of my favourite books as a child. I think at heart I am still a child!
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Now that I am so advanced in years I am making the supreme effort to adjust the size of my waist etc. So I have re-joined the fitness club I used to go to and have been swimming for the past two mornings. This has been so invigorating. There was no way I was going to swim in the sea. Much too cold! Amputation at the knee was on the cards if I foolishly tried that method of exercise. And I have started walking to work so with all that exercise and the eating regime I am hopeful of results.
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I am learning how to use Power Point. Of all the MS Office programs this is the one I've never used. But I have to get a slide show together by next week so I can have instruction on using digital tools in a class room situation. This is all new to me but should be fun.
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Long may this beautiful weather continue. At least long enough that we could take the boat on the river Fal on Sunday! We could even take a picnic! Shades of Wind in the Willows! That was one of my favourite books as a child. I think at heart I am still a child!
Saturday, May 27, 2006
All go!
It has been a busy week as not only was it Martin's 60th birthday on Tuesday but also it was the last week of term for me. So a lot going on. We went out for a scrumptious meal on the Tuesday evening with our friends Sue and Matt and a good time was had by all. The food was out of this world amazing and it was served on beautifully shaped plates. I forgot to take photos of the starters but this was what I had. I started with sushi followed by sea bass (picture) with asparagus on a bed of baby new potatoes and peppers with a delicious sauce and then a superb butterscotch mousse with bananas,cream and chocolate. Very yummy and totally decadent. I then went out the next day and bought a 'salsacise' DVD to get in the mood for exercising and losing the extra weight!
Then I had to dye fabric for my students as it was the last class until September. The summer stretches ahead of me but it is amazing how quickly time will pass. I have all sorts of plans but I know very few of them will actually come to fruition. But some of them will have to be done. In September as well as running my usual patchwork and quilting class for thirty weeks I am also offering sixteen mini workshops - one a fortnight. These will cover all sorts of subjects from Christmas decorations to using oil pastels and paintstiks on fabric. A very eclectic set. I'm really looking forward to doing them and will get myself organised with samples and handouts over the summer plus classroom notes so that I am ready to go. The centre have purchased some digital projectors so I'm also hoping to have access to one for my classes and hopefully a camcorder so that I can use that for demonstration work. However the main thing now is to organise some tuition time so that I know how to actually use these pieces of equipment! Digital equipment is now so useful for teaching purposes and I want to make as good a use of it as I can.
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If the weather had been warm and sunny I am sure my garden would be now growing apace. However it has been inordinately wet and very cold as well as having strong winds. So nothing is doing very much at all. I'm just hoping we get some sun soon. May has been a miserable month compared to its usual weather patterns. I hope June is better.
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I'd like to wish all the English/Welsh readers a very good Bank Holiday weekend. I don't have anything against the Scots or Irish but I don't think they get this holiday! I could be wrong as it used to be the Whitson bank holiday before the powers that be messed around with it. I'm sure someone will tell me!
Then I had to dye fabric for my students as it was the last class until September. The summer stretches ahead of me but it is amazing how quickly time will pass. I have all sorts of plans but I know very few of them will actually come to fruition. But some of them will have to be done. In September as well as running my usual patchwork and quilting class for thirty weeks I am also offering sixteen mini workshops - one a fortnight. These will cover all sorts of subjects from Christmas decorations to using oil pastels and paintstiks on fabric. A very eclectic set. I'm really looking forward to doing them and will get myself organised with samples and handouts over the summer plus classroom notes so that I am ready to go. The centre have purchased some digital projectors so I'm also hoping to have access to one for my classes and hopefully a camcorder so that I can use that for demonstration work. However the main thing now is to organise some tuition time so that I know how to actually use these pieces of equipment! Digital equipment is now so useful for teaching purposes and I want to make as good a use of it as I can.
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If the weather had been warm and sunny I am sure my garden would be now growing apace. However it has been inordinately wet and very cold as well as having strong winds. So nothing is doing very much at all. I'm just hoping we get some sun soon. May has been a miserable month compared to its usual weather patterns. I hope June is better.
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I'd like to wish all the English/Welsh readers a very good Bank Holiday weekend. I don't have anything against the Scots or Irish but I don't think they get this holiday! I could be wrong as it used to be the Whitson bank holiday before the powers that be messed around with it. I'm sure someone will tell me!
Sunday, May 21, 2006
I breathe! I live!
Dear Diary, I have neglected you. Where have you been I hear you say. Reminds me of the nursery rhyme which ends...I've been up to London to look at the Queen. Well actually I've been to London but it was to have fun with the grandchildren and my daughter. They were all sick but fortunately I remained well and continued to be well after returning home. This has to be a first. But to return to my neglect of you which was totally my fault but somehow I couldn't raise the energy to write. It seemed I had lost the will to communicate and only wanted to do things like dyeing and reading and walking with a bit of gardening thrown in for good measure. I have been unable to put my thoughts down on paper or rather screen and haven't felt at all sociable which hasn't been very nice of me. But I have done a lot of dyeing and I have done a lot of gardening. And while doing these two things I've been thinking and come to the conclusion that I am by nature one of life's bumblers. I enjoy what I do and have fun doing it but I don't want to be pressurised into doing any more than I have to. I will work when I want to, read books when I want to, garden when I want to and do only those things which are a necessary part of my daily life. In truth I am lazy and not at all focused. But you know I don't care and so much happier for having admitted to this rather than trying to be something I'm not. So I don't feel bad if I don't create something daily; I don't feel bad if I am not being totally artistic and I don't feel bad if I don't tell you my thoughts every day dear diary. As you know dear diary I am a Gemini and this could be today's tale but isn't necessarily going to be the story of the month. So we will wait and see what transpires.
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At the moment I am designing THE bag to end all bags. As some people have shoe fetishes I have a bag fetish. It is impossible to find the one bag that has all the features that I want. So I have decided to design it. It has to be able to be slung over the shoulder; to be big enough to carry everything but the kitchen sink including a book; to have lots of pockets, especially one on the outside for my bat phone. And some outside pockets across the width for just slipping things into like receipts and tickets. Plus inside pockets for things like driving license and MOT certificate etc; and a handy pocket for a compass, cigarette lighter (I don't smoke but I do burn fabric in shops to test content!),tape measure, plasters, nail file, fold up scissors, small spoon and knife. As this sounds like a suitcase job I might even include a pocket on the side for a bottle of water! I'm getting quite excited about this project. It could mean that I need never buy another bag again!
Tuesday, May 02, 2006
In the purple!
I spent yesterday, which was a glorious sunny day, in the garden mostly working but also just sitting and drinking juice concoctions from my juicer. I have to say that I am quite taken with juicing. And as well as making some weird and wonderful but quite strange drinks I've also made some lovely fruity ones. And adding ginger gives things a real zip. What is even better is that this new way of eating that I've been following for the last couple of weeks has lost me two inches round the waist! Even though I've had the odd cake or two!
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The rest of the day was spent dyeing as I had nothing in hand. I had a request for a large amount of lilac but one of the batches came out too dark so I overdyed it. The results were quite surprising. I overdyed with various pinks, greens, blues and yellows and expected to get variations on purple -either more red or more blue, plus different browns but the end products were quite different as you can see in the pictures below. Some lovely heathery pieces plus some really good sandy ones. And lots of lovely greens! I must do this more often. I like the surprise effect. I'll dye up a big piece of orange next as I know I'll get lots of good browns by over-dyeing with blue.
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Tonight I managed to pour boiling water over my foot. Totally my own stupid fault...mea culpa! But it is very painful and I'm hoping it won't effect my going to London at the weekend. Well I shall go come hell and high water but I don't want to be limping everywhere! The top of the foot is not a good place to burn as the skin is so thin and every time the foot flexes it hurts! Ouch! OK so enough of that.... I really just want sympathy! Grin!
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The rest of the day was spent dyeing as I had nothing in hand. I had a request for a large amount of lilac but one of the batches came out too dark so I overdyed it. The results were quite surprising. I overdyed with various pinks, greens, blues and yellows and expected to get variations on purple -either more red or more blue, plus different browns but the end products were quite different as you can see in the pictures below. Some lovely heathery pieces plus some really good sandy ones. And lots of lovely greens! I must do this more often. I like the surprise effect. I'll dye up a big piece of orange next as I know I'll get lots of good browns by over-dyeing with blue.
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Tonight I managed to pour boiling water over my foot. Totally my own stupid fault...mea culpa! But it is very painful and I'm hoping it won't effect my going to London at the weekend. Well I shall go come hell and high water but I don't want to be limping everywhere! The top of the foot is not a good place to burn as the skin is so thin and every time the foot flexes it hurts! Ouch! OK so enough of that.... I really just want sympathy! Grin!
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