Well then......

 It would seem that I tried this last year at about this time.  A lot has happened since then the most momentus being the death of my much loved husband of nearly 64 years at the age of 93 having had the last 12 years whittled away by Alzeihmer's. 

 

No longer a 24/7 carer I am now free to go out and about again.  I emerged to what I call the "App and Tap" world.  I had to get my daughter to give me a crash course.  Even getting on and off a bus was a whole new experience.  A very good frend invited me to stay with her in North Lincolnshire for a week last November.  It was wonderful, we walked every day visiting Lincoln and Beverley.  Since then I have been tried to go up to London as often as possible for London was my love before I met Ken.  I fell for it when on the first morning of my visit aged 11    I was taken to Lyon's Corner House on the Strand for breakfast.  For Breakfast can you imagine how exciting that wa.. It had snowed heavily overnight but the sun was shining and we made our way to St James Park and that is when I fell in love, it looked like Fairyland.  

My first trip out was to take an Uber boat from Greenwich to Tate Britain.  On a sparkling September day I was as excited ar an 11 year old.

 

 

 Since then I have made quite a few trips, some brilliant other not so much but it doesn't matter.  The other large part of my  life now it my garden, this is  the exciting time of year when anticipation and hopes are high. Hopefully I can be disciplined and document it all here,  Thank you Blogger for remaining in existence in my absence.

Still here

 I want to show store pictures of my garden this year so trying to see if my old blog still works. 

Lockdown production.......

.....and watching the clous roll by.

I named this one "When I grow up I want to be a thunderstorm" and it did.

 

This one is "Taking the kids for a lockdown walk"

 

amd this is the lockdown pile.

This is a flip through of a lap book journal I 've just finished.

and this is a flip though of a lap book I have just finished.
 https://youtu.be/jI0ZB8gYGFA

Now how to amuse myself today?

The top ten........

........I have been a member of my local Operatic Society for nearly fifty years, I retired   from performing many years ago but as I was honoured with a L:ife Membership I like to keep in touch when I can which these days is not as often as I would like,.  During the lockdown the members have taken to the internet to organise quiz nights and concerts and this week there is even a disco.  To keep us further entertained one very clever young man organised a poll to find the member's most popular musical.  As you know I have sturggled with keeping this blog going, I can only marvel at the amoount of effort it took. You can find all the entries on Alex's blog Alex Writes Stuff here which, incidentally, is usually dedicated to some entertaining and interesting book reviews.(I told you he was clever).

Three of mine didn't make it into the top 100, definitely an age thing I think because I had not heard of a couple of shows that did,  I remarked that it would be interesting to repeat it in 10 years time with the same members.

It was really hard to chose and took me a few days but it was great fun and brought back many magical moments in the theatre, interesting that none of the shows I have performed in or worked on made my list. 
So finally my Top 10 with reasons and favourite song.

Crazy for You – Good all round but the best Act 1 finale of any show I’ve seen. Favourite song = I’ve got rythmn

Me and My Girl – Same again good all round . Nostalgia, comedy, romance and a touch of the Cinderella’s. =  Once you lose your heart.

A Chorus Line – Original West End version, no interval and I’ll swear I didn’t breathe for the last ten minutes  or so. Definitely not the film version = One

Merrily We Roll Along = not the travesty at the Menier  Chocolate Factory a few years back. – Old Friends

Follies –  It was difficult to chose when it came to Sondheim –Beautiful girls.

Into the Wood -  not the film = Witches lament (Children will listen)

Salad Days -  Sweet  taste from the past.  Memories  of seeing the original in London in the ‘50s and of our production at the Hall. = We said we wouldn’t look back

La Cage aux Folles  - Have loved every production I have seen , from the original West End with a wonderful George Hern to John Barrowman a few years back . I have long wished that the Society would give it a go = A little more mascara.

Jersey Boys- love the songs and it was so well constructed. = Who loves you Pretty Baby

Nine- Again not the film which was truly dreadful.  Loved working with the Youth theatre on this but would love to see an adult production at the Hall. – My husband makes moves/the Grand Canal segue Every Girl in Venice.

Well there you go, not sure they are in perfect order. Some people who know me will be surprised not to see  Hamilton or Wicked  on the list but they would definitely have been in the next ten.

My Chelsea......

......it should have been the Chelsea flower show this week, in its place there are a series of television programmes looking back.
My garden is tiny but how fortunate, in these isolation times, that we have this small space, my heart goes out to those who don't have even a balcony. We have been able to enjoy the exceptional weather of the last few weeks and one of the results of this weather is that all the roses have come early and all together.

 

How about this beauty, scent is good too

 

and this is not a rose but it is certainly very happy, it has grown from a small cutting given by a dear friend who sadly died so in rememberance I am especially happy to see it thriving.

 

Let's go out............

.........well not really, of course in our locked down state.

I came across a story about the restoration on Rembrandt's  "the Night Watch" in the Rijk Museum.  Apparently to aid with the work of restoration they have photographed the work in thousand of pixels so that it can be examined without using microscopes. I am not sure if this is the actual photograph they are using but it is a fascinating way of getting closer to the painting than you will ever be able as when I goes on display again it will be diplayed in a glass case. A few years back on a brief visit to Amsterdam we were taken to a church in the evening which had various people in costume dotted around the edges of the chuch.

After a little while we took our places and the church began to fill with more characters in costume who eventually composed The Night Watch before our eyes.

Great fun, a very memorable evening. I once sad Van Gogh makes me think I can paint, Rembrandt shows me that I can't.

Well, well, well..........

Last time I posted Rob Gronkowski had just announced his retirement. It didn’t really end my life, though it may have looked that way.  Now low and behold he is coming out of retirement and joining his old mate Tom Brady, not in New England but in sunnier climes in Tamp Bay, Florida.  I enjoyed the glory years and will treasure the memories that  I hope their twilight  years will not spoil. I have always thought that “Retire at the top” was a good adage.

So here we are in lockdown for Covid 19 virus.  Because I am my husband’s carer in many ways life is not much different from normal but the restrictions on coffee with friends or popping out on a whim gets a little trying at times. We have a lot to be thankful for, my sister in law contracted the virus visiting her brother in hospital, the day before the lockdown and we have spent an anxious fortnight but she is now on the road to recovery.  I wish the media would give us more success figures instead of the just the daily death toll. Knowing what we went through my heart goes out to anyone with loved ones who are suffering. One of the other things to be thankful for is our garden, though tiny is is an outdoor space we can enjoy so we can take full advantage of the glorious weather, it seems ironic when the children cannot play out and trips to the countryside are forbidden even the Easter Bank Holiday, which usually guarantee rain and freezing temperatures was bright sunshine..


I actually started this post a couple of weeks ago, not much changed since then but there are rumblings to an easing of restrictions. It is the 75th anniversay of VE day tomorrow and being unable to goout and buy flags (or even have it delivered on line before June) I dowbloaded a file from Etsy and made my own.

This is a piture of my Lockdown crafting to date. Four journals, some bunting and a small town.

Rob Gronkowski retires

Thanks for all the fun and excitment and for the happy memory when you "spiked the mike" in Trafalgar Square.

 Good luck.

What can I say.......

.....I have had two blog nudges this week.  The first was when the wonderful Seth Apter nearly gave me a heart attack when he announced that his blog  The Altered Page would be no more. Relief, it turned out he had moved it to his very stylish web site Seth Apter

The second prompt was when I found that a young friend of mine had moved his book review site to his new site Alex Writes Stuff.  Again a very stylish looking site and I look forward to perhaps tearing myself away from chick-lit. lol.

My husband's illness has meant that my life is not as free as it was and my lovely days wandering round London or visiting exhibitions have had to be curtailed. So not so many photographs to share.  I am still making my journals, I have even bought a new bookcase to house them with the vow that when it is full I may think of selling them (in the hope that by then the quality will be of saleable standard).

So here we go, already a week into 2019  no resolutions but a hope that I can do something to share in this little space I call my own.

Nik the Booksmith's' challenge..........

......well that gave the brain a good workout. 

 Here is the very amateur video I made.
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9CX5WGpw-c&t=80s

I apologise for the inky finger and the rather rude looking sponge.
It really was the best kind of mind stretching fun. Something I might try again in the future.

Nik has created a Playlist of  videos here. There some wonderfully creative people out there.

 Just in case the sound isn't clear we were  marooned on a "Deserted Island" with only the items in our "fanny pack". We were allowed paper, one type of glue, scissors and needle and thread.  We could then chose only four other items to make a journal.  I chose Distress ink,  my widest washi tape, 1 yard of sari silk and a bookcover.

Unfortunately DH has been in hospital with a couple of infections for the last week so all crafting is on hold.  Hopefully he'll be home today or tomorrow.

I don't suppose ..........

.......that anyone will see this as it is so long since I posted but I wanted to make these notes for my own record.

Last week we went Sew Not Strawberry Jam  , one of my favourite places in the whole world.  We went for a workshop with Viv of Hens Teeth .    What a delightful day, Great teacher, delicious scones and cakes from Sam and great company.

A welcome from the geese,

 

and this is what we made,

 Mine is last on middle row.

I have not been idle, I have made several journals of differing sizes but the main thing that has kept me occupied is this.

I was bowled over by a You Tube video from Luna Rozu  called Book of Pockets. I watched it in awe several times and finally decided I had to try making something similar.  Oh what fun. 

I really need to make a video to show all the hidden places.

Now I am going to have a go at Nik the Booksmith's latest challenge.  Making a journal with only 8 items.  This already has my brain in overdrive, great stuff.

Learning.....

...... I have just finished my my Scholar's Ledger course with Nik the Booksmith. It is a paid course but something I have been wanting to to do for a while and it didn't disappoint.  It was a lengthy process but I think that is because I was trying to make sure I didn't make (too many)mistakes. This is Nik's You Tube Channel and This  is her Teachable channel     

I have kept the inside very simple, lots of room for journaling, if that is your thing or they could be decorated in other ways.

The middle signature is a foldout with an extra space for writing and a couple to tuck spots.

This is an adaption(mistake) from Wendy's video.

So this now joins the ever growing pile of journals, I have no idea what to do with them butI don't suppose that is going to stop me making another.

In case you were wondering.....

.....probably not but going about making a journal the wrong way, well for me anyway, had a very interesting out come.

 This

 very blousy

journal which has nothing at all to do with Venice .

It never fails to fascinate me as to how the journal takes over and becomes what it wants to be,

Yesterday was a good day.  We went to a workshop at the Cockpit Arts studios in Deptford.  The subject was paper marbling and it was fun. Workshop was run by Lucy of Marmor Paperie  We started with just one colour and then went on to try several techniques and the day ended too soon. 

The first laughter of the day came when we looked at the aprons we had been given, summed us up perfectly, my meticulous friend and me.

Everything we needed was provided.

These are our first efforts.  There were six of us and, as you can see,  all had very different effects. 

These are our later efforts hanging out to dry.

Lucy was a good teacher and thanks also go to her friend who hung the papers so that we could get on with the exciting stuff.
 Hoping we will get the chance for another session sometime now we have the manner of it.

The long hot spell had finally broken and today we have rain.  It was funny to hear one of the children playing outside shouting, in great excitement, "It's raining".  Hope we don't now have too much to ruin everyone's holidays.

Comfort zone .........

..........I'm out of it. I started to work on a  new journal and it wasn't working.  I couldn't decide what was wrong and then I suddenly realised that I was out of my comfort zone.  An expression one hears and uses quite often but I think I now fully understand what it means.  This is how it happened.

I have made several journals lately and they have all been in my usual muted earth tones.  Entirely happy.  I decided as it was summer it would be fun to do something a little more colourful. First mistake.  I made this

I thought it would make a fun cover, don't judge a book by it's cover they say, so how do you make a book to live up to what is on the front. Second mistake, I decided my theme would be carnival, of Venice, to be precise.     I have never been to the carnival in Venice so I have no ephemera of my own.  Searching the internet soon revealed that all those people who have been don't publish copyright free images.  I found a few but it will be a stretch.  Third mistake, I got organised.  I made a box of scrapbook papers, some papers I made myself, searched out fabrics and dyed lace and now I have this really scary box challenging me to do something with it.
I made a page

and usually I can tell that something is right (for me in any case) but I keep looking at this and I don't get the expected "done" feeling. Just realised there is no tie in the tag but I don't think that's it.

Analysing my mistakes for future reference.  1. Decide on the cover when the signatures are finished. 2. Have a vague idea but don't be too specific at first, let it grow.  3. Don't try to second guess exactly what you are going to need, leave room for serendipity.

I am going to try and continue, mainly because I have done so much work so far, usually the journals take over and decide how they want to be  so I live in hope.

Two whole weeks of glorious warm weather, loving not to have to put on my usual many layers. 

It all makes work.......

.......for the working man to do!  This just about sums up my life at the moment, the man came to mend the fridge and managed to knock down part of my garden wall.  I've been waiting a week for them to come and fix it.   Enough moaning.

Last week we went to the Summer Exhibition at the National Gallery, looked forward to it because it was co-ordinated by Grayson Perry   and it didn't disappoint.  One of my favourite things about the Summer Exhibition was the smaller rooms crammed with all kind of art, chocolate box next to surreal and people, This year n the first gallery, which is usually reserved for reverential large canvases by Royal Academicians, was hung in the same way on bright yellow walls.  The effect was exciting.

There was a lot of "political" subjects, things to scratch your head over but also things to make you smile,
Want an idea to use up all your old jewellery?

Or perhaps you have an old rug you could re-cyle?

This was fun

The bits Constable left out by Chris Orr RA

as was this

Seaching for the Missing Button at Jackson's Chris Orr.

Our only criticism was that if anything there was too much of a good thing, we were in brain overload when we came out but that might have been due more to advancing years than anything else.  I would love to go again and start at the other end.

The fun started even before we went in as we paid our compulsory visit to look at Fortnum and Mason's window displays. The theme was picnics.
There were chimney pot raised pies,

loaves of bread with sunglasses

and tennis ball fizz.

I have been making journals but haven't got round to photographing them yet.  I would like to make another video but it all takes time which seems to be short at the moment.  Past the longest day.  Horror.