the patchwork dress

blog break

... a big thank you from my garden for naming all the plants - especially Vanessa, French Knots, Willowhouse and Ginny for being first past the post. I will get around to emailing you soon, or can you send me an email with your post addresses on? It may be a couple of weeks before I am organised enough to post out, so hope that's ok...

because just when you think you've got your work cut out with a 3000 word report and a script to write by next Friday...

...the laptop dies... What followed was a trip to see if we could repair the now "vintage" (at 5 years!!) laptop, and realising it was going to be cheaper and more convenient in the longterm to buy a new one! Followed by another return trip because the shop sold me the wrong one.. but eventually, hello to new all singing dancing Supermac.

...so while I catch up on myself and attempt to enjoy some life in between I am going to take a blog break until the end of May or so (unless I get very excited about something in particular). Feel like I need all my spare time to organise myself, engage with scriptwriting, do some house maintainance, enjoy the garden and have some fun... so will be back with you soon, hopefully with some adventures to report.

Have a good may!

how does my garden grow?

Ok, all you greenfingered folk out there! Can you help me identify what it is I have growing in my garden?

As well as the above photo (no.1) there are 6 more. Number 2 looks like chunky wheat - I hope it's not as there's loads of it. If you can tell me 1-7 what they are, I'll send a wee thankyou out to the person who can do just that!

...speaking of green fingers, I rather hoped Jane at Snapdragon might be reading this as you will know what all of these are! Just as I typed into my typepad account I decided to see who was typepadder of the day, which I haven't done for ages - to discover it's Jane! So well done Jane - enjoy the limelight!!xx

over 40's dancing competition...

Thanks Ginny for your comment yesterday!

All a bit funny because I caught myself having a bit of a sing and a dance to this in the kitchen this morning...

(I must say Yvonne's dress and high-heeled boots ensemble wouldn't look out of place in 1970's Birmingham.)

before heading off into Glasgow for a coffee with Suzanne - where I discovered for the first time there is an American Apparel store just by Urban Outfitters off Buchanan Street. I love all their multicoloured t-shirts, leggings, tube socks and legwarmers and feel as if I could quite easily drift into someone who dresses like they just fell out of 'Fame'!

Maybe I could get a part in this routine... it looks so much fun!

C'mon Ginny - get your legwarmers on!

Back in a day or two with a "name that garden competition"

bit busy lately

I've been having a bit of an 'unplanned' break away from blogging recently.

This is not through intention, but necessity. The last few weeks I went back to full-time art department work, which means for me, at the moment, an 8am-7pm kind of day.

By the weekend I feel a bit like this...

...just conking out on my back somewhere and staring at the horizon. But of course there is household stuff to catch up on... oh yes, and a post-graduate course! Any thoughts or time for nice things or any sense of Self, let alone blogging gets squeezed out - as anyone who works in the industry will tell you.

I don't want to keep going on about it, hence I haven't posted because it is rather all-consuming and I haven't done anything I've felt like sharing! I've a lot to be grateful for, with these kind of opportunities and some of my photos may be appearing on set - so as I was discussing with Suzanne earlier - it's like having 2 lives and having to switch from one to the other when and as you can.

Consequently I feel like spare time is used for some kind of self-maintainance and just catching up in preparation for the following week - let alone time for fun or crafting... It will only be for a few weeks, and I will get back into my creative swing after that... and after submitting my next 2 assignments mid May!

This was a sight on the bird table earlier in the week - a family of rooks have taken to visiting the garden, and I caught this one (they can sense you taking a photo, I'm sure!).

My...what a big beak you have! All the better to fly off with your fatballs with, m'dear!

I leave you with a funny thing I heard on BBC radio 4 this morning. In the 1970's Telly Savalas of Kojak fame narrated 3 short films on British towns - Birmingham, Portsmouth and Aberdeen. They were called Quota Quickies and were short British films funded to play alongside larger grossing US films. The Birmingham film is a hoot, and well worth watching for the over 40's dancers! Pure cheese. Who loves ya baby?

things that happened in last 24 hours...

sparrows ate my primroses

first thing seen this morning - a rabbit washing itself by the garden gate
I have never seen a rabbit here before... the day after I repot my parsley and think about putting it outside... Hmmm...

N saw a cat who had caught a rat, be chased by a dog - it dropped the rat, which was picked up and eaten by a rook!

a spring day

seeking some sanctuary from overdoing it a bit in a spring day...

all I want to do is sit outside and watch things grow... birds landing on trees...and the bird table. (a huge rook was ungainly cramped beneath the bird table roof today - his black mass filling the place as he hung upside down to eat the fat ball below. Robin was doing a hummingbird impression which he could sustain for about 2 seconds before pecking off a lump and flying down to eat it off the grass.)

went for a walk, but am enjoying the sunshine and a blue sky...

new seedlings

Yesterday I was up to my fingernails in earth repotting these seedlings...

It's the first thing I've grown from seed in ages, and I'm not very practiced.

I like the way all seeds kind of look like new beings stretching up to the light...

...and then they reveal that they are...

...parsley!

I'm going to have quite a lot, so if you know me, be prepared for a gift!

Apparently with the new moon over last weekend - it is a very good time to begin new projects or schemes. So if you have any new ideas do it now!

the lord giveth and taketh away

A couple of weekends ago our washing machine blew up. It wasn't a very convenient time, as not only did I not have time to go searching for another one, it was another expense I really could do without.

this was the machine we inherited when we moved in. I never liked it really. I knew it was playing a game of time with us and that sooner or later it would blow up, belch steam, cook N's trousers and melt the powder drawer - just to be totally sure it was gubbed.

Not perhaps the most interesting thing to post about, but, the next day I noticed a sign at work advertising a washer/dryer for £100 - which was 6 months new...

We picked it up this morning from a house which is about 5 minutes away as the crow flies, and discovered it belongs to a screenwriter!

Another thing I may not have mentioned here is that we discovered 'our' cottage once belonged to Tom Weir - Scottish naturalist, writer and tv presenter. We are hoping some of his good karma will rub off on us!

a day off out

After 12 days without a day off, on a job that was fun but also slightly testy - eg. trying to get paid or any information about getting paid was like David and a very big Goliath who was behind a wall somewhere and quite possibly deaf and not very interested either... but which did turn up some interesting finds (see tomorrow).

I had an artist's date to Edinburgh!...

after taking N to work, I found myself blissfully early on a train to the capital... lots of space, coffee and a bagel... an hour or so to daydream and look out of the train window on my way to see

this exhibiton at

It was wonderful to see his work in real life, as the tones and clarity can only be conveyed by the media they are shown on - to see the silver gelatine prints for real confirms his mastery as a photographer. I was also pleased to see he had travelled throughout New Mexico and a number of photos featured Taos and Hernandez.

afterwards across the road for more elevenses with Rowan, Craig and Jill from my writing course, here...

Afterwards I loitered along Princes Street enjoying the cold fresh air and emergence of spring...

(just noticed the reflection of the Scott Monument in the background)

any blossom?

...no, not here...

past the art galleries on the Mound...

where an exhibition by the RSA of contemporary watercolours and applied arts was going on...quite interesting

...nope, sorry, still no blossom here...

...ah, there it is - with the castle, ...of course.

and now, for some music...

Gosh, have just been too busy to post or even think/notice anything else...

...but have been enjoying this...

Nude...by Radiohead - it's better just to listen than watch the video - what a haunting song...

and

My Moon My Man by Feist...
I've always wanted to do something on those walkways - next time you're at the airport, why not give it a try?