Gawrsh

I've managed to finish my next page in the Creative Art Journal A - Z. (click for a closer look if you like)


The girls said

"Goofy

A mate of Mickey's, protruding teeth, to act in a silly manner or something a bit daft.

Show us Goofy in your space..."

Truly Goofy here, Robbie about 10 years ago.


Richard age about 7 for some reason popped his hair up in elastics.


Dee and a friend - they look completely goofy in this photo, especially the friend Emma, although in fairness that is a wig she's wearing.


Is this a restraining hand on my shoulder? All I remember is that it was Christmas, and what else are you to do with a plastic moustache you find in your cracker. I really did used to wear a blouse with a bow tie? At Christmas? I think I thought I was the bees knees. Didn't we all?


Not only is a 10 yr old Robbie pulling a Goofy face, he's wearing a Goofy t-shirt.

OTHE STUFF.
I am going to go and pop one of these cards through my friend Christine's door tomorrow, her father has just died of prostate cancer with multiple secondaries. From a sketch again, the butterfly is cuttlebugged twice, once from patterned paper, the second time from vellum , then dry embossed, and inked. The tag says 'I am so sorry for your loss' and flips over to say 'please know that I care'.

We had top your own pizza on Thurs. First I made the dough.

Then the boys topped as wished (Rick's is mainly tomato and peperoni)

(and Robbie's is Hawaiian)

HOUSE UPDATE.
Our buyers want us out as soon as possible. Rick, Dee and I went to see another house this morning (G was ever so busy on a golf course, as he will be again tomorrow) and it looks as though this is the one. As in, the only one available. Really.
Not going to say anything else for now, apart from this one fact: In order to afford to rent this house I must work. And Robbie and Debbie must both contribute. Frying pan and fire spring to mind, not that my opinion is valid.

On that sombre note, I shall go and twiddle about with some embroidery cotton, as I have a beautiful fabric art journal on my desk, in which I am to make a mini quilt on the theme of autumn. I have a yearning to do a Helen Stevens harvest mouse, although I cannot afford the silk threads she uses, I shall do my very best.

Meet Woody

Suzy and Louise said
"The opposite of Beauty, and partner to Belle. Whether you have the mini type or the large type, show us Beast in your space."

Well, on Tuesday we had a minor drama here, involving a small beast, a rather lovely small beast, so if you're sitting comfortably...

Once upon a time there was a long tailed field mouse (henceforth known as Woody the wood mouse) who lived comfortably enough in a garden compost heap, wherein his diet was rich, comprising as it did smaller beasties than he, such as worms and centipedes, also seeds and fruit pips. The humans at the dwelling, however, were owned by four felines, one of whom, Buffy the mouse-slayer haughty, came frequently to the mouse's residence for landlord's inspections.
On a sunny day in May, she persuaded Woody to leave his home for a short stroll up the grassy field.

Of course, upon seeing Buffy rushing meandering rather purposefully aimlessly, Richard went to investigate. His shouts drew Mother and Tappi outside, amid which excitement Woody became disorientated and ran hither and thither. This in turn drew Buffy and Tappi rather too near, which resulted in Woody being gathered up into Richard's careful hands, lest he trip up his cat friends.

Buffy and Tappi meanwhile began arguing over who should play with Woody first (hopscotch maybe, or hide and seek) so Richard relinquished Woody into the safety of Mother's skirts, whilst he took the quarrelsome pussies indoors for TIME OUT.

Mother, however, was a little careless and a moment's scaredypantsness inattention resulted in Woody taking refuge inside the Black and Decker drill box.

OHHHHHHHHH NOOOOOOOOOOO. Mother and Richard were too too stupid. Woody needed asssistance to extricate himself from the safe place silly corner he'd got himself jammed in, but gentle shaking made him dizzy and as he fell with a soft plop onto the grass, he gathered his wits and made straight for the nearest dark place.
THE DRAIN. Aiyiyiyiyi. Foolish fellow.
Richard ran for a sieve.
The sieve was too wide.
Richard ran for a ladle.
The ladle was hiding in the dishwasher.
Richard begged mother to do something. Anything.
Mother rolled up her sleeve and plunged her arm down into the stinky festering drain water and plucked the bravely paddling but going nowhere Woody to safety.
Richard fetched his best terry towelling napkin and Woody sat still, wide-eyed and shivering.


A little later, his adventure all but forgotten, and his coat drying nicely, Woody tucked in to Richard's best 'Tesco finest fruit & berries muesli', in the seclusion of a corner booth in Restaurant Curver.

By the following morning, Woody had spilt his water twice, cracked and eaten 17 sunflower seeds and disdained the mango from Thailand, although he could have done with a few more Sri Lankan coconut pieces, and the Chile flame raisins were tasty enough he supposed. About the British barley flakes he made no comment other than to curl his lip in disgust. The fleece blanket was too warm and the shredded junk mail too hard, but hey, it was free.


On Wednesday Woody was relocated to a purpose built new pad up at Town Lane Allotments. A wooden construction, lined with moss, a bed of hay and in a prime discreet situation just within the boundary of the neglected plot owned by Beardy the mad doctor, but with access from Plot 27, the best looking plot on the whole allotment. With thanks to Richard Enterprises, housebuilders par excellence, for the hours of labour. Materials and transport provided by Mother.
Press photograph to follow.

Coming Soon... Part 2, 'Molly the Allotment cat'.

Another photo from the archives, completely UNphotoshopped, apart from cropping and border, just one of those chance sightings, taken at Knowsley Safari Park in 2001.




I'm sure Royal Mail have delivered by now, so here are the cards I sent to ...
Callie (my niece) and Peter (her hubby)

and Sally (my sis) and Kevin (BIL)

Both cards from sketches, there are some fab card sketch sites around just now. If I was organised I'd know where each one came from to give credit. Please know that I am grateful for the inspiration however.

Barbara from choir died last week. We will miss her beautiful voice and lovely kind nature. Love to Mike and family. xxx

Hi ho, hi ho, it's off to work we go

Still on the dwarfish dwarvish Snow White theme. Whilst I was handweeding the evil chickweed from in between the parsnips yesterday, someone snuck up on me and took a photo.

That's spinach yum in front here.
The carrots in the further bed have had no such trouble with weeds, and the difference is that that bed was black plasticked over winter. You live and learn.
Just to show that there is actually the odd parsnip in this little lot, this is a parsnip leaf resting prettily on my wrist, and I still had no idea I was being photographed until I uploaded these back at home.

However, Rick didn't know I was snapping him, either. This is the allotment plot from the very bottom, behind me is a fence and then a stream called Fine Jane's Brook. You can see that by now I have managed to clear almost half of the parsnip bed. The fact that a mere half dozen wilting parsnips remain is neither here nor there. Is it?

Getting up to date with the dwarfs, again digging in the archives (still on the shovel theme here) next came SNEEZY:

And Robbie's oh so happy caught a fish face. How we laughed when I unearthed this one, notice the (slight) discrepancy between what he thinks is the size of the fish as evidenced by the position of his hands, and the actual size.

And here is the happy gappy toothed fella again, how he adored his baby brother, who you can see has greatly filled out from the tiny premie scrappit a few posts back.

Oh I have loved the theme this week, thank you SuzyB and Louise. Here's another sleepy,

And another, (yes it's that scrippit again, that's mother's milk for you), although someone told me he would always have the dwarfish elfin CHIN signifying early arrival. He still does, although I think it's probably an old wife's wive's wives' tale.

And my last sleepy, Dee this time - is it me, or do blokes never quite get the hang of "SUPPORT THE BABY'S HEAD you fool."

Today it's BEAUTY, and like a sheep I follow the floral example set by my betters and show an allotment pansy, with its sweet little face.

Lastly,
The boy is back in town.
Properly.
For good.
At least for now.
So I baked some cinnamon rolls.

One of the things we loved about the breakfast buffets in the US was the variety of pastries and buns, soft fluffy and delicious, so when I stumbled upon (yes I stumble, do you stumble?) the cinnamon roll recipe, I knew we would love them. The recipe said makes 8. It made 16 and they are still on the large side, but so light and tasty (if I say so myself) that you could eat four three two easily.
Second guitar lesson today (G has now found out, and will put a stop to the lessons I'm sure, so make the most of this one Rick). Bond theme tune coming along nicely. And scale of C. Up AND down!

more dwarfs

Had a few moments to myself this morning, so catching up on some prompts. All old photos, which is fine by me as it means I get to sort through boxes and turf stuff out keep the lot.
Friday was
'Just a shy guy this fella, Bashful'

Debbie went through a phase of being shy when a camera was pointed at her, she was nearing the end of this phase as you can see by the smile.

Yesterday was

'Grumpy

Now was this dwarf really as miserable as his name?'
I remember this well, Debbie had recently acquired Maxie and had hinted that she might feel unwell the following day, and stay at home (to play with new kittie). When mother said absolutely not, a mild grump ensued. Only a mild one though, cos she loved school, did Debbie, strange child.


This one I don't remember, probably as I wasn't there, it was a walk in Squirrel Wood. Clearly something dad had said had rubbed Robbie up the wrong way.

And here's three for the price of one, as, if I wait for the end of the seven to post it, I'll likely forget. (I've been trying out new frames around my photos, not sure if it's worth the effort. I'd really like to add brush effects, but not good with digi downloads yet. Hopeless in fact)



Today it's Dopey's turn, and here's an early photo, again of Deborah, in which she looks, well, not all there, bless her. She doesn't mind me posting these photos. Or at least, I know she won't mind if when I ask her.

Still looking at babies, here's a very recent one indeed, which has been twiddled with to match the other one (both sent by email, thank you xxx).

Proud daddy Peter:

Proud sister Alicia:

Mummy Callie and Grandmummy Sally umpteen years ago: (why oh why is half my sister's beautiful face chopped off)

Grandmummy Sally, Mummy Callie, and Auntie Elise (at my wedding)

I love this next photo, with so many different expressions, I'd forgotten I'd got it, it really must be used on a layout.
Top row, L - R Megan (doing AS levels now), Elise (teaching in Primary School), Callie (enjoying motherhood)
Bottom row, L - R Robbie (at Uni), Luke (serving a mission in New Zealand), Debbie (at college) and Fern (doing A levels now).

I made cheese straws.

Gay abandon.

Horses on the beach

The difference between our Tuesday trip to the beach and the Sunday one, was quite striking. It was almost deserted.

But it was a disappointment to a certain young lad and his game mother to see that they couldn't swim in the sea.

But there was plenty of other entertainment to be had - identifying (dead) crabs. This is one which doesn't walk sideways, a masked crab. The pointy bit is its antennae, modified into a tube for breathing.

To see how far out the tide is, can you see the horses in this photo? The tide is almost as far out again as they are.

This I know because we reached the sea. Eventually. After stopping a few times to rest my unexercised legs build a dam and dig for worms. But here we are at last.
Rick loved these barnacles.

And this homeless hermit crab.

I have been busy finishing the latest fabric art journal entry, this one for MrsMcF, on the theme of ART. The square is 6 inches.

(there are French knots in those little centres, and the bigger centre below is ruched ric rac and tiny seashells)


I made a card using a butterfly stamp I have had for a very long time, and a small sentiment stamp.

HS:MS is being managed by SuzyB and Louise for a while, and Suzy said:

"What's up Doc?
Good morning chaps!

Whilst Anita and Kirsty are busy bunnies, I would like to invite you to get in touch with your inner child.

I thought it might be fun to go back to our childhood's and use those old faithful Disney characters for a bit of photographic inspiration.

We all know these characters Im sure and I bet a lot of us have them around the house in many different guises. For those that like a challenge, interpret the prompts in whichever way you wish, but for days when the old grey matter just wont work, if you have this particular character in your space, just snap it as it is - an easy get out!

Louise has very kindly agreed to lend a hand so I hope you'll enjoy playing along until Anita and Kirsty come back.

First up, those little dudes that were so kind to Snow White... Our first dwarf is Doc..."

And so here is my Daddy, after his retirement in 1993 from a working lifetime devoted to the National Health Service, as Consultant in Accident and Emergency at Northampton General Hospital. ( That wasn't quite the Bach I wanted, but I think Robbie has the B minor Mass with him)

And finally, no photo yet, but I am a Great Auntie once more, as Callie and Peter have had a daughter Hannah. Sister for Alicia, second grandaughter for my sister Sally, and another great grand daughter for my Mummy. Love to them all, especially Callie.xxx

12 years ago

12? how can that be?
12 years ago last Sunday, was the early, scarily too soon arrival of this tiny little scrappit (here held by Bernadette the midwife)
Rather small, but a few weeks in SCBU and he was this little scrippit, ready to come home.

12 years later, here's the boy having a birthday jump at the dunes.

This has to be my favourite pic of the day:


He'd opened a smashing book from Clare in Devon (I feel a physics unit coming over me ;))

A fab collection from Bobs in Scotland

and a card made by his mama.


He built a fort at the beach
And yesterday, back at home, made plans for another


The apple trees have more blossom on them than the last ten years put together. Pity we won't be here for the harvest.
Tappi keeps trying to catch the falling petals

Which tires her out, so she went to sleep on a potato sack
But mother had to disturb her for a kiss
Rightio, off to pack up the picnic bag, we're going to the seaside again.

***XXX remembering Caroline, Richard's twin sister XXX***

Little bee

that's me, as in busy (not my pic btw).
Don't seem to have made much of a dent in the piles of 25 years of accumulated guff, but got to keep on with it. Went to see 2 rental houses yesterday, either would do, but one is preferable as the owner of the other would actually prefer to sell it, and so I might have to keep showing people around, and it might not be leased for more than 6 months, then another move. There isn't room for the piano in either of them really, but I'm working on it. The better house is set well back from the main road, and backs onto fields, which is good, as far as the cats are concerned. Just need absolute confirmation from solicitors before committing. I'll carry on ringing round and looking. There's a fab one by the big park, but, as you'd expect, it's over £1000 a month. In my dreams - we're just getting shot of a £15oo/month mortgage, so would prefer a lot less in rental.
Robbie's been home for a few days, has had his tooth sorted by Dr Quinn, sedatives given, CVs printed and given in to various potential employers around town, and G's taking him and Sarah back to Stafford tonight for a few more weeks until he comes home for good for the summer. No-one seems to give application forms anymore for this kind of job, just say bring in your CV. Hopefully as good a chance as anywhere, with all the seasonal work a seaside town has.

Rick is strumming away on his new guitar, ready for his first lesson with Will Halligan next week. He's also doing some claymation with the quickcam. I love his little productions, hopefully he'll let me put one on here soon.
He caught some shots of Mango on the bench the other day, behind a tray of onion seedlings. Looks like he's growing there with them.

Here's a quick (actually it wasn't quick, by the time I'd fiddled about with it, but I now know I could make it again very quickly) hello card, using cricut and cuttlebug.
And this one is a lift of Jennifer Meyer, the leaves are stamped on the cream, then stamped again on the lilac and just the leaves trimmed out.
My little naughty girl keeps having flashbacks to when she was a kitty, with a litter tray in the sitting room, and weeing where it was. Simple solution would be to put another litter tray back there again but I broke the spare one banging it against the garden wall to shake off the drops after I'd hosed it, and I keep forgetting to get another. She wees standing up, so needs a splashback too.

A few days in the life of the rhododendron.