Winter projects

I had a blindlingly good idea the other day. There was a solid oak refectory table for sale on ebay for £30 which I thought would make a fantastic desk for my Dad for Christmas. So, I bought it. It was covered in dark varnish, and about a century of dirt but I thought 'no problem. I can strip it down and make it look fantastic.' Hmmm.



Still a blindingly good idea. Next problem was how to pick it up from Evesham, where it was being sold. No problem, I thought. I'll get my brother-in-law to do it. He won't mind. He didn't. Still a blindingly good idea.

Then my brother-in-law had a family emergency and left the country. OK, I thought, this is getting a little troublesome. I don't drive. So I had to drag my sister off to Evesham with the promise that I wouldn't allow her to lift a finger - she's pregnant - and I would treat her to lunch. Problem solved. Off we went. The drive turned out to be straightforward. When we got there the table was nowhere in sight. The lady who was running the shop (and I use the term loosely as she was firmly fixed to the seat of a sofa and glued to her mobile phone) assured us it would be there shortly. Hmmm.

My sister and I went off to explore Evesham. This involved counting the tattoo parlours and adult shops, going into a pub for a lemonade and being jokingly greeted as lap dancers, and wondering why the place looked like such a mix of derelict and up and coming. Turns out it was badly affected by the floods and is still recovering. Many businesses went under and those that didn't are struggling to get back to business as usual. It was sad, and eye-opening, to see the damage the floods did first hand. And it was a lesson in not judging a book by its adult shops and peeling paint.

Anyway, back for the table. It had arrived and I got lucky in that the bloke who brought it over helped me to put it in the back of the car where it fit perfectly. Back to blindingly good idea.

We set off for home. When we got there I tested my assertion that I could lift the thing single-handedly. As it happens I could, so still a blindingly good idea. But before I could man-handle it into the house my lovely neighbour spotted me and ran out to help. I love my neighbours.

We struggled to the back gate - where we got stuck. We turned it on it's side, trapped our fingers, swore a lot and pushed it through. Then we got to the back door - where we got stuck. we swore a bit more, turned it up-right again, and pushed it through. I'd had enough at this point and the blindingly good idea had turned into a blinding headache. My neighbour had to clamber over the table to get out and we left it right where it was - just inside my kitchen door.



Satisfied that it was the stupidest idea ever I took my sister off for some well earned lunch. When we got back the table hadn't miraculously moved itself into my shed. I spent some time glaring at it and squeezing past it to get to the fridge. Then I decided to strip it where it was.



I'm only part-way through and it's really hard going. It is going to look beautiful when it's finished but I'm also pretty sure that my Mum is going to take one look and veto it as a gift for Dad on the grounds that it's too big.



So, the moral of the story is beware of blindingly good ideas.

Autumn sun, Autumn rain

The weather this weekend was beautiful. On Saturday the sun shone and the October light was stunning, highlighting all the gorgeous autumn foliage. It has to be said that I went an itty bitty bit nuts with the camera in my garden.



And on Sunday it rained all day and I went a bit nuts with the camera again!

I truly wish I could afford a decent digital SLR camera so that I can try and take the shots that I see in my head. But all I have is my (very good for what it is) point and shoot IXUS. Maybe if I win the lottery one day...

As well as going bonkers with nature and my camera, I also spent some time sanding and waxing this beautiful oak table I recently acquired. I wasn't too impressed with the original finish (I use the term loosely) so I've been DIYing as usual. The pictures are of the unfinished wood - which is basically four beams of green oak (one is missing in the pics as it's on the workbench for sanding). The weight of the wood keeps them together once made up. I will post a picture of the finished product once I'm satisfied with it.

Trust me - it will be stunning! The bubble wrap won't be staying.

So, not much to say - a little bit to show. I've been doing some fairly creative things in the last couple of months. But I could and should be doing much better. Nothing a swift kick in the pants wouldn't fix I'm sure...oh, and a personal trainer, personal chef and that previously mentioned lottery win.

The death of summer

I was at my parents on Saturday night. They were barbequeing, as usual, and I was completely hypnotised by the patterns the fire was making. It was utterly beautiful and I had to take a photo immediately.

I'm often overtaken by the urge to photograph stuff. I have a great deal of enthusiasm and a very clear idea of what I want the picture to look like. Unfortunately, I'm not that good! I usually end up with very mundane snaps. With the advent of digital photography and photo editing software, things have become slightly less hopeless. Sometimes I can produce something that almost resembles the picture I have in my head. Mostly, I'm still a point and shoot girl.

Anyway, watching the fire and feeling pretty chilly, I realised that summer was all but over. I haven't blogged in months so I thought I'd take a look at my photo files and see what exactly, if anything, I'd done during the summer months. Here are a few...

Discovering the joys of the digital macro function on my camera! And bugging a poor, busy spider.

Indulging my daisy obsession.

Sunbathing on a beach in Devon. What? It was nice but not bikini weather!

Finding stones with beautiful lines and markings - fantastic.

The typical beach clutter that I adore - stones, driftwood, seaweed...

Stones and water

More stones and water - and just really cool shapes.

This was Project Garden Beautification - involving my family (those in the vicinity) and much hard work!

In the beginning.....there was turf.


In the beginning, the middle and most of the project....there was mess. Gulp!


Hidden treasures - these stepping stones were found buried under the grass. I'll be re-using them. I love to recycle this kind of thing.

The beginning of order - sort of!

The slate starts to go down.

We christen the cute little pot-bellied barbeque that my parents got me as a garden treat.

And the rain came!! Luckily we'd finished the barbeque at this point. Mother Nature.

So, those are a very few of the things I did during the summer. I also ran Race for Life - alas no photos as it was pouring and I didn't want to be carrying my camera around the track with me.

I've done a bit of writing - a very small bit. If I'm extremely lucky some paid work may come of it.

What I haven't done is learned to drive or managed to escape the insanity that is my current job. They are now on the list for next year. Of course I'll be 40 by then and all grown up and stuff. Sort of.

It's a cat's life.

Long time no post. I'd love to say that it's because my life has been full to bursting with activities and project progress but in fact I've had a bit of a lull.

I've failed to do anything creative, failed to look for another job let alone get one, failed to go swimming or cycling, failed to write any of my book and I haven't acheived much in the way of decorating or DIY in the house lately. Hmmm. I sense a pattern.

There's no real reason for this slackness that I can figure out. Work has been odious and busy and stressful but that's not too unusual. The weather has been a bit rubbish but then I like the rain so I can't use that as an excuse. Basically I have been lacking in motivation and energy.

I have, however, been doing some walking. I get off the bus about 2 kilometers from my house and, because I am then basically in the middle of nowhere, I have to walk or I'm stuck until the next bus comes along. This strategy seems to work OK. It' s made me realise how horrifically unfit I am though. I'm doing the 5K 'Race for Life' for Cancer UK on Saturday and I'm slightly concerned about getting round the course - which is truly pathetic.

I've also been re-designing my garden. Much to my disgust I forgot to take any 'before' photos but 'after' photos will follow at some point. My foxgloves are a thing of beauty - I'm so proud because I grew them from seed. Does that count as creative do you think?

So, an uneventful update. I need to give my motivation a swift kick in the pants. Trouble is I have all the energy of my mother's cat in his favourite sunspot....

Lazing in the sunshine

I spent this last weekend doing very little. I'm not sure exactly why but it was one of those weekends where I was seriously lacking in motivation or energy and I was generally very lethargic. However, don't run away with the idea that it was a bad weekend. Far from it.

On Friday night my sister cooked a fantastic meal. She made my favourite - chicken fajitas - and we slobbed out in front of the weirdly fascinating Fringe. On Saturday morning my brother-in-law and I went shopping for wood to make shelves. This may not sound very exciting to a normal person but I get very enthusiastic about wood and DIY stuff. We went to a timber yard. This was my ideal Saturday morning shopping trip. After all, you don't have to worry about whether a plank of wood is going to fit you, or make your butt look big!

Then on Saturday afternoon my sister and I gardened. Correction, she gardened, I watched! This is not usual for me. I like getting my hands dirty and planting things that grow. But on Saturday I just sat in the sun and daydreamed. My sister planted her vegetables and I acted like one! I was joined in this exhausting endeavour by my sister's cat, Pixie. Although technically she can at least claim to have chased a few dancing shadows and the odd insect.

On Saturday evening my sister and I went to my parents for a barbeque. I suspect you're seeing a pattern here by now. On Sunday I was so worn out by all the eating and daydreaming that I didn't do much. And now I'm back at work.

What I learned this weekend is that I carry a lot of guilt around about not getting things done. It tends to eat into my enjoyment of the weekend. Sometimes it's OK to do nothing. I would even say that sometimes it's necessary to do nothing. I didn't achieve anything but I do feel recharged.

Sunrise on a misty morning

I spend a huge amount of time commuting by bus. I get on the bus at 6.45 every morning and get off it at around 6.30 every evening. I actually don't mind the travel, although it makes for a very long day and I'd rather skip the work bit in between. Some days you get a sunrise that is so beautiful (picture taken through a very grubby bus window - trust me, it was a gorgeous ball of orange flame), the pheasants, deer and rabbits are all out in the fields at the moment doing whatever they do at 6.45 am and life seems pretty much OK. Cheesy I know, and I now have an image of Disney's Bambi in my head! But you know what I mean. I so often find myself bitching and moaning about life that it's nice to appreciate those moments when it makes you smile.

I have made a pact with myself that I will do at least one hour's writing every weekend and I'm pleased to say that I managed more than that on Sunday. I started work on a children's novel that has been lying dormant for almost four years now. I had a whole two sides of A4 typed up before I abandoned it but it's been nagging at me to be written and I need to get it out of my head.

So, all in all, I haven't been doing too badly with my fortieth year plans. My tattoo is now four weeks old so I can start swimming (that's one I'm really going to have to push myself hard on). I'm writing again. I have plans to swap my bike, a mountain bike that I don't get on with at all, for a second hand town bike, which I hope to use around the very hilly town I live in. I figure I can work up some enthusiasm for a bike ride that has a country pub and a long cold pint in the middle of it!

That's how things stand on April Fools' Day. It's not a plan that's going to set the set the world on fire but it's mine and it's progressing.

Tattoos and winter trees

Well, I can report that I did in fact have a tattoo. Hurrah! Strike one item off my to do list. I still plan to have one done in Florida nearer my fortieth birthday but I'm hoping that the terror will be slightly lessened by my practice run! I've had it a week now and it's healing up fine. It's very small and simple so I'm not discounting the possibility that the birthday one will hurt but this one really didn't. It was more like a hot, scratchy feeling.

Reactions have been mixed including 'Is it real?' and 'You drew that on with a biro, didn't you?' Apparently I really don't look like a person who gets tattoos - whatever that means. Maybe I don't but the fact is I did it, I have one, and now I can move on to some of the other items on my list.

The area I work in is surrounded by trees like this. While I love the stark beauty of the branches against the grey sky I'm finding myself longing for spring this year. I was unreasonably excited to find a clump of snowdrops in my garden and some blue crocuses are pushing their way through the mud left by the snow. I really want to go out there and get my hands dirty and make colourful things grow but it's a little cold and miserable yet. Roll on the sun - which is not something you'll hear me say very often!

Doing, not thinking...

So, I've been thinking a lot lately about some of the things on my mid-life crisis to-do list. I even got as far as phoning my local swimming pool for the times and prices in an effort to get fitter. Then I went out and bought a bar of chocolate! Not productive.

One of the themes of my life is that I'm a lot more pro-active about the stuff that has a negative impact on me. Don't ask me why, it's a gift! I'm trying to do something about it.

I met up with a friend http://annabelshouse.blogspot.com/ for coffee at the beginning of the week. It's fun to talk arts and crafts, inspiration, efforts to change our lives and of course tattoos. I always come away from our meetings excited to actually do something. This time I was determined to get the tattoo - I'm going into the shop on Saturday to make the appointment, I have a project I'm going to start alongside painting my kitchen cabinet doors - I'm going to paint a small step-stool, and I'm going to go swimming.

If I write it all down and put it out there for any poor unfortunate soul who gets caught on this blog to read then I have to do it. Right? Right.

Watch this space!

Snow

I got' snowed in' last week - in other words there were no buses into Oxford from my neck of the woods. This was a first for me. I don't even remember having snow days from school.

It was pretty exciting to have a guilt free couple of days off work and I took my camera out to snap the very alien landscape I was suddenly living in.

An hour of wading through snow up to my knees, discovering that there was no milk or bread at the supermarket because the delivery trucks couldn't get through, having very beautiful trees maliciously drop snow down my neck and struggling back up a hill worn to ice by thousands of feet, and I was feeling slightly less romantic about the snow.

Still, it was very pretty.

and a cow...

Art...kind of

Well, I'm surprised to find myself back here posting for a second time. It must be the beginning of the new year that has inspired me to write something.

2009 is the year of my mid-life crisis. I have a plan for this (no spontaneous purchasing of flashy cars for me). It involves being more creative, finding a more satisfying job, getting fit, learning to drive - again, and of course the previously mentioned tattoo.

I decided to ease back into the art/creativity gently. Start small I thought. So I painted a couple of canvases for my one year old nephew who, lets face it, isn't going to be much of a critic.

So, one frog and one cow, looking nothing like nature designed them to look. But they're bright and he likes them so I'm happy with them too. And it felt really good to be doing something creative again. Perhaps I can make myself actually write something after this. Who knows.